A faith to die for
BILL BULEY | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 13 years, 9 months AGO
<p>JEROME A. POLLOS/Press Michael Paul discusses his role working for the U.S. military as an interpreter in Iraq and how his Christian faith changed his life after converting from Islam as a teenager.</p>
Bill Buley covers the city of Coeur d'Alene for the Coeur d’Alene Press. He has worked here since January 2020, after spending seven years on Kauai as editor-in-chief of The Garden Island newspaper. He enjoys running. | March 20, 2012 9:15 PM
COEUR d'ALENE - Michael Paulus grew up in Iraq. His family is there. He would like to return to his home.
The problem is, if he does, they may kill him.
"He loves the Iraqi people and his own country so much, his desire is to go back," said Paul Van Noy, pastor of Candlelight Christian Fellowship church. "Even though it will probably cost him his life, that's his goal."
He likened Paulus to the apostle Paul, who wanted to return to Jerusalem and spread the message of Jesus Christ, and did.
"It cost him his life. They killed him there," Van Noy said.
Paulus, standing in Van Noy's upstairs office at the church on the corner of U.S. 95 and Dalton, said he can't worry about what could happen if and when he travels to Iraq again. He doesn't even know if that time will come.
What he does know is if it does, he'll be ready.
"When God will tell me, I will go," he said.
As a native Iraqi, Paulus served the U.S. military in Iraq as an Arab/English interpreter during Operation Iraqi Freedom. The former Muslim converted to Christianity, too.
That didn't make him wildly popular back home.
"In Iraq, if you become a Christian after being Muslim, it's punishable by death," Van Noy said.
As a result of his faith, and because he was also accused of being a spy, he was kidnapped several times and tortured. He was beaten nearly to death, his ribs were broken. He lost contact with his family, his wealth and his heritage.
Paulus managed to escape to Turkey, and last year was granted citizenship in the United States. He spoke at Ground Zero on Sept. 11, and today, he lives in Coeur d'Alene.
"God actually saved his life physically through our military," Van Noy said.
The 42-year-old will be speaking at 7 tonight at Candlelight Christian Fellowship on his experiences. He wants to thank the men and women of the military for their sacrifices in coming to Iraq.
The U.S., he said, set Iraq free. It wasn't about oil. He said he knows the pain and fear Iraqi citizens once lived under. Millions of Iraqi citizens were affected for the better by the U.S. military's involvement there, Paulus said. Hundreds of thousands of children were saved.
"I want to let all America know, this was a holy war for me," he said.
Paulus pointed out he served on the same base as Spc. Nicholas "Nick" W. Newby, 20, of Coeur d'Alene, who was killed in action in Baghdad, Iraq, on July 7, 2011.
"From the same city where God give me new life and a new home here, he give his life to save Iraq, and save me," he said.
Asked if he considered telling his antagonists he would surrender his faith in Christ to end the torture, Paulus looked a bit puzzled.
"To deny him?" he asked. "I don't like to be Peter," he said, referring to a passage in the Bible when Peter denies Christ three times.
Despite what he endured, he said he's not "an Iraqi superman."
His goal is to share the message that "with Christ, you can do everything."
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