Holy warrior

As a boy he fled school, slipped into the mountains of his native Afghanistan and became a mujahedeen, a holy warrior. He fought in the jihad against the Russians and their efforts to dominate his country. Now nearly 20 years later, Hussain Andaryas is still a holy warrior.

“I’m a different kind of warrior now,” he says. “When I was a young man, I fought as a patriot for my country.” Today he fights for the souls of his countrymen from an apartment in the United States.

Andaryas is an evangelist, producing gospel radio programs broadcast into Afghanistan from the Seychelles. He also maintains two Web sites which carry the JESUS film in five of the six languages of the Afghan people.

In a day when it is difficult, if not impossible, for Christians to go into Afghanistan, his efforts are a missionary presence.

“Afghans are crazy for radio,” he says. ”They are addicted to BBC [British Broadcasting Corporation]. Everyone has access to radio.

“You see, you cannot go into Afghanistan right now, but radio can.”

Afghans hide while listening to his broadcasts. To be caught listening could bring a beating or worse. Evening programs are evangelistic and target nonbelievers. Weekend programs are for believers.

Andaryas receives letters and e-mail testifying how important these broadcasts are to those who listen. One group of 26 Afghans who became believers tells of going to a lake and baptizing each other.

The letters not only speak of conversions, they tell him the broadcasts are often the only form of worship people have.

“They don’t know how to worship,” he says.

“There are no churches in Afghanistan, so they cannot pattern their worship after them. Most of the people cannot read or write. This is the only worship they have.”

His Web sites draw 200,000 viewers. Most e-mail he receives through them is positive.

“They say, ‘We thought Christianity is Madonna or Michael Jackson or Hollywood and all these vulgar things, you know? If what you preach, if what you say that this is is what Christianity is, then this must be the perfect religion,’” he says.

But not all are positive.

“We do get 20 percent of the letters which are threatening our lives,” he says, “that we will be killed, or if we we are found, we will be cut into pieces.”

Andaryas has heard these threats before. He knows what it costs for a Muslim to accept Christianity.

While a student in Iran—while studying to become an Islamic scholar—he began studying the Bible with an Iranian Christian. When discovered, he was detained and tortured for three days by “keepers of the religious peace.”

His body still carries scars from the beatings and electric shocks he received.

Later, he was expelled from Syria and Egypt for owning a Bible. In India, where he became a Christian and began his radio broadcasts, he also was beaten several times. And members of his family would kill him for abandoning the Muslim faith if he returned to Afghanistan.

It would be easy for him to hate.

“But you cannot hate people and bring people to God,” Andaryas says. “And you cannot hate people in order to set the people right.

“Yes, I am a different kind of warrior now,” he continues. “I have different weapons, a different method of war. And this war? It starts with love.”

Above In their apartment in the United States, Hussain Andaryas takes a moment to play with his children.