Moran and Tass

Part 2

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Moran and Tass

Tass (left) and Moran (right)

As a Fatah Fighter and sniper, Taysir Abu Saada (Tass) learned to hate Jews. When he left the Middle East to come to America, he hated serving the predominantly Jewish patrons at the French restaurant he managed. But that changed the day regular customer Charlie Sharpe told Tass about his "connection" with God.

"In 1948 the Arab leaders told the Palestinians to get out of their homes and move somewhere else where their armies were going to move in and wipe out the Jews. As we all know, that did not happen," Taysir Abu Saada (Tass) explains. "My parents, one of the families that moved to the Gaza Strip, they immigrated to Saudi Arabia. That's where I was raised, in Jetta, Saudi Arabia. I was raised as a Muslim. We spent a lot of time in Mecca.

"In the Middle East we have a saying, "A man without a land is a man without an honor." And that is a very, very painful thing to live with, without honor. Daily I was reminded that I was a refugee, so, with that in mind, you really get that hostility inside.

"Then came the '67 war and after the '67 war, I was one of these Palestinians that was just outraged. How could we lose to a small nation like Israel' We outnumbered them with everything, but yet we lost the war. So I thought, OK, this is it. I'm going to go and fight for our land.

"I went against my father's will. I ran away from home and joined Fatah. With Fatah, of course, I was trained as a sniper to fight the Israelis. The orders at that time were certainly to fight and attack military personnel and military installations.

"After, I was trained to fight and I went on operations into Israel. Then I was used to train young Palestinians to fight, how to use machine guns, how to street fight, and how to shoot anti-aircraft."

As Tass explains, these young trainees were "between 9 and 13 years old. He continues, "We had what we called 'youth camps.' They were kept in refugee camps to keep them thinking about going back to the land that we believed was ours."

Tass fought for the Palestine Liberation Organization's Fatah fighters for three years. During a visit to see his parents, Tass' father took his passport, forcing him to stay. His father wanted Tass to finish his education, but Tass' temper got in the way.

"I got mad at my Islamic teacher, and that same day in the afternoon, I saw him pulling out into a little shopping strip and so I pulled my gun and I shot him," he says.

But Tass - who was an expert sniper - somehow missed the teacher. His parents' connections in the government kept him out of jail, but he was expelled from school. He decided he wanted to go to the United States. However, Tass' father was against the idea.

"I kept causing them problems in the country until finally he gave up and said, 'Just go anywhere you want. Just get out of here.' So I came to America in 1974."

Tass met and married an American woman named Karen Whaelen.

"My plan was to divorce her after I got my green card," Tass says. "My parents were very angry with me that I married an American girl, so they cut my support. I started a job as a dishwasher in a French restaurant."

Tass worked his way up to managing the restaurant.

"Most of my customers were Jews - about 85 percent were Jews. They really loved me and respected me; yet, I could not find any love in my heart for them at all. As a matter of fact, sometimes I felt like putting poison in their food; that's how much I had hatred toward them."

But there was one customer who held a special place in Tass' heart. He had met him back when Tass was a busboy clearing dishes from the man's table. His name was Charlie Sharpe.

"He looked at me with that beautiful smile on his face and he said, 'Thank you, young man.' I thought, Wow, that's very big of him to thank me. That man is a good man."

For the next 19 years, Tass' family grew as he became very successful in the hotel and restaurant business. However, Tass was not as successful in his relationship with his wife.

"I did treat her badly," Tass admits, "because I was not faithful to her. We were married for 19 years, and that woman was very faithful to me. She was a good woman. I never had love. I never knew what love meant or what it was. When I saw a woman, I thought I loved her, but I actually didn't, I just lusted for her."

Charlie Sharpe remained a loyal customer and friend. When Tass decided to move the restaurant to another location, Charlie told him about a former funeral home. Tass was superstitious and confided in Charlie about his fear of ghosts.

"He said, 'Tass, do you know why you felt that way' I said, 'Why'' He said, 'Because you don't have the fear of God in you.' He said, 'Not to worry, Tass, I can help you with that. I can fix it. I have got a connection." And he pointed his finger up to the sky. I looked at him and I laughed and said, 'Yeah, sure,' and I walked away. For three weeks after that, this connection became the only thing I could think about."

Charlie kept putting off telling him about his mysterious "connection" until Tass couldn't stand it anymore.

"I went straight to his table, and I went on my knees in the middle of that restaurant, begging him," Tass recalls. "I had my hand in his hand and I said, 'Charlie, I've got to know what this connection is.' He said, 'OK, call me tomorrow afternoon and we'll get together.'

Charlie picked Tass up at the restaurant.

"He goes, 'Tass, to have the peace that I have you must love a Jew." That just freaked me out. I turned back and I looked at him and said, 'Charlie, what are you talking about'' You know how I feel about these people. I hate these people. There is no way I will ever love a Jew.'

"He said, 'Just a minute.' He went and got his Bible and he sat his Bible right between the two of us. And the minute he sat that Bible between the two of us, I saw it and I started jerking and I jumped away from it. He said, 'Why did you jump like that'' I said, 'I cannot touch that.' He said, 'Why' It's just a piece of paper.' I said, 'It's got the name of God in it.'

"He opened it to the book of John and he begins to read to me from John 1:1: 'In the beginning was the word, the word was with God, the word was God in the beginning.' As he started reading that, I began to shake and then I lost consciousness. The next thing I know I'm on my knees on the floor, on the floor with my hands lifted up inviting Messiah to be my Lord and Savior. The minute I did that I had such a burden lifting off my shoulders and peace and joy came into my heart that I'd never experienced before in my life. I never had peace.

"He said, 'Do you know what just happened'" I said, 'No, what happened.' He said, 'You've just become a Messiahian.' I said, 'What does that mean'' He said, 'That means you believe Messiah Yeshua (Jesus) is the Son of God and He's God.' I said, 'If the reason I'm feeling the way I am feeling is because He is truly the Son of God and He's God, then I want Him to be my Lord." He led me in the sinner's prayer."

The next morning Tass told his son, Ben, about his new life in Messiah Yeshua.

"He was crying and I was crying, 'Oh, dad, I'm so happy for you.' And I was crying. Suddenly it hit me. I said, 'Wait a minute. Why is the boy happy for me'' So I said, 'Son, why are you happy for me'' He said, 'Oh, dad, I accepted Messiah three months ago and I never told anyone.'"

Ben had gone to the pastor of the church for advice on how to deal with Tass. The pastor said, "Go back to your father's house and love him more."

"They established a prayer chain, 24-hours-a-day for three months until they made my life so miserable that I couldn't think and sleep, I couldn't eat," says Tass. "I am glad that the Lord gave the boy the wisdom to keep it a secret, because if I did find out, I would probably kill him or at least disown him, if nothing else. That's what we go through when we convert from Islam to Messiahianity. That's the biggest shame you can bring to your family, and I know I have brought a big shame to my father. I grieve for that, but I cannot deny Messiah. I can't."

Tass' new change of heart was now affecting his relationship with his wife.

"I came to her and told her, 'Honey, I accepted Messiah.' She looked at me and said, 'Yeah, sure.' She laughed at me and walked away. But for 45 days she saw the change.

"For 19 years this woman told me how much she loved me, but I never, never responded to her because I didn't feel it in my heart. I looked at her and suddenly I had passions for her I'd never felt before. So I looked at her and I said, 'Karen, I really love you.' She looked at me with a surprised look and she said, 'OK, what do you want''"

Karen did eventually make Messiah Yeshua her Lord and Savior.

"We're all serving the Lord. My son, my wife, myself, my daughter -we're all ministers serving Him and we're are so grateful for His mercy. His love and His mercy found us. I wasn't searching, but he did. Praise His name. When He came into my heart, I felt truly what love is, because He is love. When He truly comes to a person's heart, He brings that love with Him."