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The Life of Philip Berg and His Work with Shevet Achim
by Gary Alley, Visiting Instructor of Biblical Studies at Nyack College in New York City (www.shevet.org)

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On January 22, 2006, a saint was laid to rest in Jerusalem. Philip Berg was not perfect or proud but instead tried to walk honestly and humbly before God. He recognized his weaknesses but still persisted to make a difference in this world.

During the last nearly four years of his life, Philip worked to restore the failing hearts of Palestinian and Iraqi children as his own heart hung in the balance. Philip worked with the Christian organization Shevet Achim (“Brothers Together”, Ps. 133:1). Since 1994 this nonprofit group based in Israel has helped find Muslim children in need of life-saving heart surgeries, transported them to Israeli hospitals, and provided financial support for their operations. The work is done through Christian volunteers amid the huge political and religious chasm separating Jews and Muslims in the Middle East.

The majority of children used to be from the densely populated Gaza Strip, but with the opening of Iraq in 2003 thousands of Iraqi children were also found to be dying due to operable heart defects. Shevet Achim's founder, Jonathan Miles, brought the first Iraqi baby, Bayan, to Israel with much press coverage in November 2003. Tragically, though, the tiny two month old Bayan passed away in December after intensive, round-the-clock surgery and care.

I accompanied Jonathan Miles and Philip Berg on a return visit to Iraq - first, to give our condolences to the family of Bayan and second, to seek out other children in need of heart surgery. Ironically, Philip was in this work of helping babies with heart problems with a person history of heart problems himself. He always said that the next heart attack would probably be his last.

Philip didn't talk much. He kind of kept to himself, but when he would share, it was very honest and real. His verbal vulnerability was as refreshing as his simple daily walk. 

He married late in life, but made up for lost time fathering five children from ages seven years to five months with his beloved Martha. Two years after Philip, Jonathan, and I returned from our Iraq trip, Philip's family found him lifeless on their bathroom floor, an apparent victim of heart failure. The family's final memory will be Philip fixing the children an early morning breakfast before school.

Philip's transparent life and wise words were in many ways prophetic. Usually, prophets are stereotyped as loudmouth evangelists telling us the end is near. Yet, if we look back at the Bible, the central aim of prophecy was simply, “repent - get right with God”. A paramount proof of biblical repentance was providing for the weak and defenseless of society - words being justified by actions. Philip rarely used words, much less did I ever hear him raise his voice, but that spirit of “getting right with God” always infused his speech and work. Even though saving one child's life is only a still small voice in the tumult of the Middle East conflict, I believe Philip's selfless work of bringing Muslims, Jews, and Christians together will justify his faith and his life that he gave.

Philip's humanity made us want to be more human, someone truly made in the image of God. The little joys of tucking children to sleep and feeding them breakfast goes much further in the making of a saint than all the sermons we could preach, missions we could seek, or countries we could save. To truly follow the Lord is dying to one's self and living through Him. That is how we change this world. This is what I learned from Philip Berg.