NY Pastor Meets Meriam Ibrahim in Sudan, Offers to Help Bring and Take Care of Her Family in US
New York City pastor William Devlin has traveled to Khartoum in Sudan where he has met Christian mother Meriam Ibrahim and offered to help bring and take care of her and her family in the United States.
"The Devlin family has offered to bring this family back to the USA from Khartoum and have them live with us. I have been interviewed by the U.S. State Department in Washington D.C. and I have also met for three hours with the U.S. Ambassador to Sudan here in Khartoum – and his senior staff," Devlin said in an email to The Christian Post on Sunday.
"Furthermore, because of my long term friendship with the Foreign Minister of Sudan, I have met personally with him and asked him to advocate for this family – and have the Sudanese authorities release this family to me to bring them back to U.S.. I have offered to pay for their flights (the four of them) to America and to house them indefinitely in our home – and to provide for their needs."
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Ibrahim, her husband, Daniel Wani, and their two young children, Martin and Maya, are currently waiting to be granted permission to fly to America.
Ibrahim was initially sentenced to death by a Sudanese court for her Christian faith and for marrying a Christian man. Following an international outcry, the mother was released from prison in June, but was briefly re-arrested after attempting to travel with her family out of Sudan with what authorities claimed were fake travel documents.
Last week, the family received good news after a lawsuit by her Islamic relatives seeking to prove that she is a Muslim and belongs to her Muslim father, was dropped.
Ibrahim has said that she was raised by her Ethiopian Orthodox Christian mother and has identified as a Christian her entire life. While in prison, the mother was also offered to renounce her faith and escape the death penalty, but refused to do so.
Devlin, who leads Manhattan Bible Church in New York, said that he was able to meet with Ibrahim and her family at a safe location where they are currently staying.
"I, along with another brother in the Lord, were able to go to the Safe House where this persecuted family is currently living in Khartoum and minister to them for over an hour," the pastor noted.
"I had the joy of asking Meriam if I could hold little Maya (who was crying at the time) and my eyes welled up with tears as this little girl, born in prison, fell asleep in my arms as I rocked her. At the end our time together, I was able to lay hands on this family and pray for them in the Name of Jesus."
The mother initially feared that Maya could be physically disabled following the rough prison birth, but a doctor who visited the family at the U.S. embassy in Khartoum said that there are hopes that the girl will be fine, and added that an ultrasound will be needed to confirm that she will be able to walk.
