JD: David, talk to us about your favorite Christmas story at Bethlehem.
DD: Well Jimmy I think I’ve mentioned before on your program one time in the mid 90s when the late Yasser Arafat the PLO leader, the Palestinian Authority leader then, when his car nearly ran me over. I was out for CBS Radio in the Bethlehem area and I just stepped off the curb to interview some Palestinians to get their reaction to Christmas and this Hummer came around the corner going very very fast. It turned out it was Arafat and his driver and a couple of others. They were moving real real fast. One of the people I was interviewing grabbed me. Just reached out and grabbed me and pulled me onto the curb or I might would have been a Christmas pudding myself.
But Jimmy I also remember the first time in 1988 that I
worked for CBS, the first Christmas I worked for CBS. It was the first year of the
Palestinian uprising. And I had been out there for Moody Radio and others in
the 80s earlier. It was always a lovely time to go out and hear all the choirs and
see everybody gathering. But this time there was hardly any foreign visitors at
all; violence was raging all over the area and just a few tourist had come. But
there were still some Christian choirs that had decided to come from various
parts of the world. One was from Texas. I interviewed some of them and there
they were up there singing their hearts out to an almost empty major square. It
was so unusual but there were far more Palestinians than normal there that year
because nobody else was there. So they were coming out. And one of the people
said to me on the choir. I interviewed her. She said we’re just so glad to be
able to give the gospel of Christ in this war situation. She reminded me that
when Jesus was born in Bethlehem the Romans were in control, there was a lot of
tension, a lot of violence, there were uprising, and upheaval. So nothing had
changed in that since but the gospel was being sung that starry Christmas Eve
at almost midnight and that remains in my memory to this day.
JD: David Dolan with two of his favorite Christmas stories as it
relates to the city of Bethlehem.
We report this information because it is setting the stage
for Bible prophecy to be fulfilled.
Dave’s stories not only speak of Christmas in Bethlehem but
also the 4,000 year old conflict between Jacob and Esau. These twin brothers became
two peoples. The Jewish people and the Palestinian people. Two peoples who have
had a 4,000 year old conflict that will culminate with the return of the
Messiah Jesus Christ, that’s found in Obadiah verses 15-18. That is a prophecy
soon to be fulfilled.
