A file photo for US evangelical David E. McDonnall, who was killed in Mosul in March

BAGHDAD, August 30 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - Wassin Jamil is an Iraqi convert from Catholicism to Evangelicalism, who says that the US-led invasion of his country has fulfilled his dream of proselytizing as many as he can in the overwhelmingly Muslim country.

"It's the mission of all Christians to carry their cross and follow Christ. Iraq should not be left without a God," Jamil told Agence France-Presse (AFP).

The 38-year-old former motor parts dealer opened his own evangelical church in September last year, only a few months after the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime, and says he now has a flock of 160.

"Under the dictatorship, it was not allowed. Now everything is possible," says the former Catholic from the northern city of Mosul who converted in 1999 to an evangelical denomination calling itself "Holiness and Revival" during a trip to Amman.

Declaring he enjoys miraculous healing powers, Jamil fetches a lanky 15-year-old who insists that his mother Fahima "was healed from a liver cancer when the preacher laid his anointed hands on her stomach."

"Since this miracle... I am ready to devote my life to God," the youngster stutters. "We are preparing him to become a servant of God," Reverend Jamil says.

He, however, assures that his healing powers cannot cure "Muslims, Buddhists or any non-Christians".

"I would not refuse to treat these people, but I heal in the name of Jesus Christ. The sick has to believe in Jesus Christ in order to be healed," says the Reverend.

'God's Land'

One theology student visiting Jamil from Amman adds: "Iraq is God's land, one of the cradles of Christianity which was later occupied by other religions. We should not abandon Iraq, on the contrary."

"When I finish my studies, I will come back to settle here, no matter what situation prevails in this country. Reveal Christ to the Iraqis, such is my mission," says this young man who refused to give his name "for security reasons".

There are some 700,000 Christians in Iraq, representing only three percent of the country's population of 24 million.

Since the fall of the Iraqi regime of Saddam "at least six evangelical churches have opened in Baghdad," says Nabil Sara, a Baptist preacher, who proudly shows off the little church he inaugurated in February 2004.

"It's the mother church in Amman that pays us our salaries and finances us. The worshippers also make their contribution to the growth of the church," added Jamil.

'Provoking Muslims'

The developments of evangelical churches in Iraq makes other Christians a little uncomfortable though.

"In these difficult times, we should refrain from provoking the Muslims," says Farid Fatallah, an Iraqi Protestant.

Sara, for his part, stresses that Baptists only welcome Christians, most of them Catholics disappointed with their leadership.

"The (Iraqi) law forbids Muslims to convert to Christianity or any other religion," he explains.

British reports revealed in December 2003 that US missionaries, mainly evangelicals, are pouring into the predominantly Muslim Iraq, shrouded in secrecy and under the guise of humanitarian aid.

The Muslim World League (MWL) warned in April 2003 that some “non-Muslim organizations” were preparing to enter Iraq to start their activity under the cover of providing humanitarian aid.

The US military announced in March that four US missionaries had been killed in a drive-by shooting in Mosul.

A wave of deadly attacks targeted churches in Baghdad and Mosul on August 1, killing 15 people. The barbaric attacks drew immediate condemnation from the Iraqi Muslim leaders.

Two weeks after the bombings, Iraq's Displacement and Migration Minister Pascale Isho Warda was quoted as saying that 40,000 Iraqi Christians had fled Iraq.