The world was shocked when, on october 9, 2012, a young Pakistani blogger, named Malala Yousafzai, was shot by Taliban gunmen. Malala, all of fourteen years, has been an education activist and a regular blogger, writing of her life under Taliban rule since she was eleven.

Malala Yousafzai in better times (Photo: Reuters)

Pakistan and the rest of the world were shocked by the cowardly attack on this courageous young woman. To date she is recovering in hospital, but the Taliban is still making threats against her life!

Malala needs our prayers, for recovery and protection, but most of all she needs to hear of what Jesus did for her on the cross.

Malala comes from a Muslim family, living in a Muslim tribe, but few in the west understand that the people called Yousafzai are actually descendants of one Joseph, the son of Jacob, the patriarch of Israel!

A few years ago a Canadian-Jewish filmmaker named Simcha Jacobovici produced a documentary called Quest For The Lost Tribes. In Quest, Mr. Jacobovici traces the route of the northern tribes of Israel after they were captured by the Assyrians, and he actually found several of these tribes in places like Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Burma, and China!

I saw this documentary on CBC television sometime in the late 1990s, and it is now available in DVD format from Amazon.

Mr. Jacobovici spent some time among the Pathan tribes of Afghanistan and Pakistan, and was able to give substantial evidence that these people are actually remnants of the tribes of Israel, who converted to Islam some 1,100 years ago.

I have heard some say that if Israelites converted to other religions, then the promises of God no longer apply to them. I would have to say that if this is the case then those who follow the Babylonian Talmud would also no longer belong to Israel, nor have the promises of God apply to them either! The Talmud is a New-Age, pagan, reinterpretation of the Old Testament! The god of the Talmud is a corruption of the God of the bible, and is indistinguishable from pagan gods. Israel, however, is full of such people.

No! When God made promises to the descendants of Abraham, He is able to keep them even if they follow other gods, for a time. In fact these people are actually a fulfilment of Old Testament prophecy themselves;

Therefore will I cast you out of this land into a land that ye know not, neither ye nor your fathers; and there shall ye serve other gods day and night; where I will not shew you favour. Jeremiah 16:13

The LORD shall bring thee, and thy king which thou shalt set over thee, unto a nation which neither thou nor thy fathers have known; and there shalt thou serve other gods, wood and stone. Deuteronomy 28:36

And the LORD shall scatter thee among all people, from the one end of the earth even unto the other; and there thou shalt serve other gods, which neither thou nor thy fathers have known, even wood and stone. Deuteronomy 28:64

The people of Pakistan are praying for little Malala Yousafzai, but God won’t hear them because they are mostly praying to a false god, one Allah of the Qur’an! Christians need to pray for her in the name of Jesus, because God only hears prayers made in the name of his only begotten son!

13 And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it. John 14:13-14

An excellent study of the Pathan tribes can be found here. Notice the similarity of the tribal names to the names of Israel.

“No less interesting and significant are the names of the tribes which bear close resemblance to the Tribes of Israel. The Rabbani Tribe is really Reuben, the Shinware Tribe is Shimon, the Lewani Tribe is Levi, The Daftani Tribe is Naphtali, and the Jaji Tribe is Gad, and the Ashuri Tribe is Asher, The Yusefsai Tribe is sons of Joseph, and the Afridi Tribe is really Ephraim. These are the names of the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel.” http://moshiach.com/tribes/ns/3.html

While the world is shocked at the brutality of the Taliban, and they should be, please understand that these people are most likely from the same tribe as Malala. Furthermore, Jesus died for the Taliban, as much as he died for you and me.  No one deserves salvation, not you, nor me, nor Malala, nor the Taliban.  It is to God’s glory that He can save such wretched sinners.

The day is coming when the Pathan tribes will lose faith in the false god of the Qur’an, and turn back to the God of the bible. That day is drawing close, and while I can’t say exactly when it will occur, I expect that it will be in the aftermath of the Psalm 83 war, or failing that, it will occur after the Gog and Magog war. Both of these wars involve a major defeat of several Muslim nations, and both are preparing the world for the Great Tribulation. By the time these wars are over the Muslims will be ready to crown the Antichrist, just as the Christian west will be in full agreement!

Here is what the bible says about the regathering of Israel;

1 Gather yourselves together, yea, gather together, O nation not desired; 2 Before the decree bring forth, before the day pass as the chaff, before the fierce anger of the LORD come upon you, before the day of the LORD’S anger come upon you. 3 Seek ye the LORD, all ye meek of the earth, which have wrought his judgment; seek righteousness, seek meekness: it may be ye shall be hid in the day of the LORD’S anger. Zephaniah 2:1-3

They will turn to the God of the bible in name only, in lip service. In fact they will rejoice in the freedom they will have obtained, after some 1,100 years of Muslim tyranny, and will go wild! The early parts of Isaiah 3 describe the flaunting of sexuality, and debauchery, they will go through, until Armageddon. Isaiah 4 describes the aftermath of Armageddon, when Jesus comes to reign. They will be a very different people then, than they are now.

Notice that Zephaniah 2 describes Israel as a “nation not desired”. This is because they are still in the same condition that they were when they were scattered, some 2,700 years ago. In all this time they, for the most part, have not learned anything.

I have heard some say that the lost tribes will remain lost until after the Tribulation, when they will come back in belief. This is based on a misinterpretation of Ezekiel 39:25

25 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Now will I bring again the captivity of Jacob, and have mercy upon the whole house of Israel, and will be jealous for my holy name; 26 After that they have borne their shame, and all their trespasses whereby they have trespassed against me, when they dwelt safely in their land, and none made them afraid. 27 When I have brought them again from the people, and gathered them out of their enemies’ lands, and am sanctified in them in the sight of many nations; 28 Then shall they know that I am the LORD their God, which caused them to be led into captivity among the heathen: but I have gathered them unto their own land, and have left none of them any more there. 29 Neither will I hide my face any more from them: for I have poured out my spirit upon the house of Israel, saith the Lord GOD. Ezekiel 39:25-29

It will indeed occur that God will pour out His Spirit, and mercy, on Israel, after the Gog and Magog war, but first they will go through the Tribulation. Just as there are other gaps in Scripture, that are not readily apparent in the text, so there is one here. They will be gathered after the Gog and Magog war, then the Tribulation will come upon them, and then they will repent, and Jesus will personally save them.

There really is a gap there, but you can only see it if you cross reference all the pertinent Scriptures, especially Zephaniah 2:1-3.

So yes, pray for Malala Yousafzai. Pray for the Taliban, and pray that some of them will come to know Jesus Christ, the God of Israel. Pray that they will make it safely home to Israel. There are some fifteen million of them, so you know that when they do return, Zechariah 10:10 will be literally fulfilled (note that Gilead is the Golan, and Lebanon is Lebanon);

I will bring them again also out of the land of Egypt, and gather them out of Assyria; and I will bring them into the land of Gilead and Lebanon; and place shall not be found for them.

For further information:

http://www.amazon.com/Quest-For-The-Lost-Tribes/dp/B000R175DW

http://www.forbes.com/sites/markfidelman/2012/10/11/the-taliban-just-made-malala-yousafzai-heroine-for-life/

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-19899540

http://moshiach.com/tribes/ns/3.html