PERSECUTION

A friend sent me this. It could totally not be true, but it still is very like things we know are going on in this world. Its intense, and is the kind of pain and struggle that a vulnerable church should be aware of and not denying.


A letter to the Global Church from The Protestant Church of Smyrna

Dear friends,
This past week has been filled with much sorrow. Many of you have heard by now of our devastating loss here in an event that took place in Malatya, a Turkish province 300 miles northeast of Antioch, the city where believers were first called Christians (Acts 11:26).

On Wednesday morning, April 18, 2007, 46 year old German missionary and father of three Tilman Geske prepared to go to his office, kissing his wife goodbye taking a moment to hug his son and give him the priceless memory, “Goodbye, son. I love you.”

Tilman rented an office space from Zirve Publishing where he was preparing notes for the new Turkish Study Bible. Zirve was also the location of the Malatya Evangelist Church office. A ministry of the church, Zirve prints and distributes Christian literature to Malatya and nearby cities in Eastern Turkey. In another area of town, 35 year old Pastor Necati Aydin, father of two, said goodbye to his wife, leaving for the office as well. They had a morning Bible Study and prayer meeting that some other believers in town would also be attending. Ugur Yuksel likewise made his way to the Bible study.

None of these three men knew that what awaited them at the Bible study was the ultimate testing and application of their faith, which would conclude with their entrance into glory to receive their crown of righteousness from Christ and honor from all the saints awaiting them in the Lord’s presence.

On the other side of town, ten young men all under 20 years old put into place final arrangements for their ultimate act of faith, living out their love for Allah and hatred of infidels who they felt undermined Islam.

On Resurrection Sunday, five of these men had been to a by-invitation-only evangelistic service that Pastor Necati and his men had arranged at a hotel conference room in the city. The men were known to the believers as “seekers.” No one knows what happened in the hearts of those men as they listened to the gospel. Were they touched by the Holy Spirit? Were they convicted of sin? Did they hear the gospel in their heart of hearts? Today we only have the beginning of their story.

These young men, one of whom is the son of a mayor in the Province of Malatya, are part of a tarikat, or a group of “faithful believers” in Islam. Tarikat membership is highly respected here; it’s like a fraternity membership. In fact, it is said that no one can get into public office without membership in a tarikat. These young men all lived in the same dorm, all preparing for university entrance exams.

The young men got guns, breadknives, ropes and towels ready for their final act of service to Allah. They knew there would be a lot of blood. They arrived in time for the Bible Study, around 10 o’clock.

They arrived, and apparently the Bible Study began. Reportedly, after Necati read a chapter from the Bible the assault began. The boys tied Ugur, Necati, and Tilman’s hands and feet to chairs and as they videoed their work on their cellphones, they tortured our brothers for almost three hours*

[Details of the torture--
* Tilman was stabbed 156 times, Necati 99 times and Ugur’s stabs were too numerous to count. They were disemboweled, and their intestines sliced up in front of their eyes. They were emasculated and watched as those body parts were destroyed. Fingers were chopped off, their noses and mouths and anuses were sliced open. Possibly the worst part was watching as their brothers were likewise tortured. Finally, their throats were sliced from ear to ear, heads practically decapitated.]

Neighbors in workplaces near the printhouse said later they had heard yelling, but assumed the owners were having a domestic argument so they did not respond.

Meanwhile, another believer Gokhan and his wife had a leisurely morning. He slept in till 10, ate a long breakfast and finally around 12:30 he and his wife arrived at the office. The door was locked from the inside, and his key would not work. He phoned and though it had connection on his end he did not hear the phone ringing inside. He called cell phones of his brothers and finally Ugur answered his phone. “We are not at the office. Go to the hotel meeting. We are there. We will come there,” he said cryptically. As Ugur spoke Gokhan heard in the telephone’s background weeping and a strange snarling sound.

He phoned the police, and the nearest officer arrived in about five minutes. He pounded on the door, “Police, open up!” Initially the officer thought it was a domestic disturbance. At that point they heard another snarl and a gurgling moan. The police understood that sound as human suffering, prepared the clip in his gun and tried over and over again to burst through the door. One of the frightened assailants unlocked the door for the policeman, who entered to find a grisly scene.

Tilman and Necati had been slaughtered, practically decapitated with their necks slit from ear to ear. Ugur’s throat was likewise slit and he was barely alive.

Three assailants in front of the policeman dropped their weapons.

Meanwhile Gokhan heard a sound of yelling in the street. Someone had fallen from their third story office. Running down, he found a man on the ground, whom he later recognized, named Emre Gunaydin. He had massive head trauma and, strangely, was snarling. He had tried to climb down the drainpipe to escape, and losing his balance had plummeted to the ground. It seems that he was the main leader of the attackers. Another assailant was found hiding on a lower balcony.

To untangle the web we need to back up six years. In April 2001, the National Security Council of Turkey (Milli Guvenlik Kurulu) began to consider evangelical Christians as a threat to national security, on equal footing as Al Quaida and PKK terrorism. Statements made in the press by political leaders, columnists and commentators have fueled a hatred against missionaries who they claim bribe young people to change their religion.

After that decision in 2001, attacks and threats on churches, pastors and Christians began. Bombings, physical attacks, verbal and written abuse are only some of the ways Christians are being targetted. Most significant is the use of media propaganda.

From December 2005, after having a long meeting regarding the Christian threat, the wife of Former Prime Minister Ecevit, historian Ilber Ortayli, Professor Hasan Unsal, Politician Ahmet Tan and writer/propogandist Aytunc Altindal, each in their own profession began a campaign to bring the public’s attention to the looming threat of Christians who sought to “buy their children’s souls”. Hidden cameras in churches have taken church service footage and used it sensationally to promote fear and antagonism toward Christianity.

In an official televised response from Ankara, the Interior Minister of Turkey smirked as he spoke of the attacks on our brothers. Amid public outrage and protests against the event and in favor of freedom of religion and freedom of thought, media and official comments ring with the same message, “We hope you have learned your lesson. We do not want Christians here.”

It appears that this was an organized attack initiated by an unknown adult tarikat leader. As in the Hrant Dink murder in January 2007, and a Catholic priest Andrea Santoro in February 2006, minors are being used to commit religious murders because public sympathy for youth is strong and they face lower penalties than an adult convicted of the same crime. Even the parents of these children are in favor of the acts. The mother of the 16 year old boy who killed the Catholic priest Andrea Santoro looked at the cameras as her son was going to prison and said, “he will serve time for Allah.”

The young men involved in the killing are currently in custody. Today news reported that they would be tried as terrorists, so their age would not affect the strict penalty. Assailant Emre Gunaydin is still in intensive care. The investigation centers around him and his contacts and they say will fall apart if he does not recover.

The Church in Turkey responded in a way that honored God as hundreds of believers and dozens of pastors flew in as fast as they could to stand by the small church of Malatya and encourage the believers, take care of legal issues, and represent Christians to the media.

When Susanne Tilman expressed her wish to bury her husband in Malatya, the Governor tried to stop it, and when he realized he could not stop it, a rumor was spread that “it is a sin to dig a grave for a Christian.” In the end, in an undertaking that should be remembered in Christian history forever, the men from the church in Adana (near Tarsus), grabbed shovels and dug a grave for their slain brother in an un-tended hundred year old Armenian graveyard.

Ugur was buried by his family in an Alevi Muslim ceremony in his hometown of Elazig, his believing fiance watching from the shadows as his family and friends refused to accept in death the faith Ugur had so long professed and died for.

Necati’s funeral took place in his hometown of Izmir, the city where he came to faith. The darkness does not understand the light. Though the churches expressed their forgiveness for the event, Christians were not to be trusted. Before they would load the coffin onto the plane from Malatya, it went through two separate xray exams to make sure it was not loaded with explosives. This is not a usual procedure for Muslim coffins.

Necati’s funeral was a beautiful event. Like a glimpse of heaven, thousands of Turkish Christians and missionaries came to show their love for Christ, and their honor for this man chosen to die for Christ. Necati’s wife Shemsa told the world, “His death was full of meaning, because he died for Christ and he lived for Christ… Necati was a gift from God. I feel honored that he was in my life, I feel crowned with honor. I want to be worthy of that honor.”

Boldly the believers took their stand at Necati’s funeral, facing the risks of being seen publicly and likewise becoming targets. As expected, the anti-terror police attended and videotaped everyone attending the funeral for their future use. The service took place outside at Buca Baptist church, and he was buried in a small Christian graveyard in the outskirts of Izmir.

Two assistant Governors of Izmir were there solemnly watching the event from the front row. Dozens of news agencies were there documenting the events with live news and photographs. Who knows the impact the funeral had on those watching? This is the beginning of their story as well. Pray for them.

In an act that hit front pages in the largest newspapers in Turkey, Susanne Tilman in a television interview expressed her forgiveness. She did not want revenge, she told reporters. “Oh God, forgive them for they know not what they do,” she said, wholeheartedly agreeing with the words of Christ on Calvary (Luke 23:34).

In a country where blood-for-blood revenge is as normal as breathing, many many reports have come to the attention of the church of how this comment of Susanne Tilman has changed lives. One columnist wrote of her comment, “She said in one sentence what 1000 missionaries in 1000 years could never do.”

The missionaries in Malatya will most likely move out, as their families and children have become publicly identified as targets to the hostile city. The remaining 10 believers are in hiding. What will happen to this church, this light in the darkness? Most likely it will go underground. Pray for wisdom, that Turkish brothers from other cities will go to lead the leaderless church. Should we not be concerned for that great city of Malatya, a city that does not know what it is doing? (Jonah 4:11)

When our Pastor Fikret Bocek went with a brother to give a statement to the Security Directorate on Monday they were ushered into the Anti-Terror Department. On the wall was a huge chart covering the whole wall listing all the terrorist cells in Izmir, categorized. In one prominent column were listed all the evangelical churches in Izmir. The darkness does not understand the light. “These that have turned the world upside down are come hither also.” (Acts 17:6)

Please pray for the Church in Turkey. “Don’t pray against persecution, pray for perseverance,” urges Pastor Fikret Bocek.

The Church is better having lost our brothers; the fruit in our lives, the renewed faith, the burning desire to spread the gospel to quench more darkness in Malatya …all these are not to be regretted. Pray that we stand strong against external opposition and especially pray that we stand strong against internal struggles with sin, our true debilitating weakness.

This we know. Christ Jesus was there when our brothers were giving their lives for Him. He was there, like He was when Stephen was being stoned in the sight of Saul of Tarsus.

Someday the video of the deaths of our brothers may reveal more to us about the strength that we know Christ gave them to endure their last cross, about the peace the Spirit of God endowed them with to suffer for their beloved Savior. But we know He did not leave their side. We know their minds were full of Scripture strengthening them to endure, as darkness tried to subdue the unsubduable Light of the Gospel. We know, in whatever way they were able, with a look or a word, they encouraged one another to stand strong. We know they knew they would soon be with Christ.

We don’t know the details. We don’t know the kind of justice that will or will not be served on this earth.

But we pray-- and urge you to pray-- that someday at least one of those five boys will come to faith because of the testimony in death of Tilman Geske, who gave his life as a missionary to his beloved Turks, and the testimonies in death of Necati Aydin and Ugur Yuksel, the first martyrs for Christ out of the Turkish Church.

Reported by Darlene N. Bocek (24 April 2007)
-.-.-.-.-.-.-
Please please please pass this on to as many praying Christians as you can, in as many countries as you can. Please always keep the heading as “From the Protestant Church of Smyrna

MERCY MINISTRY AT MY CHURCH

I wrote this to my session as a report of the conference I went to last weekend - the PCA Mercy Ministry conference. And so I thought posting in here would be a good thing.


PROBLEM:
I went to the conference realizing that we as a church:
1. don't have many people who are involved in Mercy ministry
2. have a lot of people weary of those who are continually taking and manipulating at the same time
3. when we do Mercy we are more reactive than proactive - as a team, we mostly deal with those coming to ask for money - I wonder if as a church that is the majority of most members' individual mercy as well as the experience of the team as a whole - we deal with those who walk up to us, who generally have their own agenda in mind and are not teachable and do not really want change, they just want their version of a quick fix - we developed Sunday Nights at Crossroads for Kids (SNACK) trying to be proactive, but I often wonder if this is a program that the community in Maplewood really feels like they need - if they did want it, wouldn't they use it? - its not that simple I know, but I'm not sure we made the best use of our time and resources in developing SNACK as an outreach to the community (its great for our church for sure, I'm not saying its not a good thing somewhere) - and even more, if we come to someone saying that we've decided that they need a certain outreach, isn't that insulting to that person that we think we know what is best for them? - that certainly doesn't help class or race relations

WHAT I LEARNED AT THE CONFERENCE
1. We have to get in the community in relationship with others there- of course there are some moral lines that we shouldn't cross, but if we decide that we are not going to relate to anyone who sins, then we'd just have to get out of the world- just like Paul the apostle says when he says that yes we are to stay away from immorality, but if we refuse to associate with any sins ever, then we may as well leave this world - and then how does that fit with all the commands to love and help the needy and the unsaved? - obviously its a both/and
2. people come to the church because of relationships - our God is relational and the pattern he sets for evangelism and outreach is relational
3. 5 barriers to igniting a Mercy ministry movement in your church (very applicable to us, but so long that it would make a whole nother e mail!)
4. a continual reminder of how Mercy must be grounded in the cross
5. when people (like me) have different kind of boat rocking views, like this, then often we feel like we are just being critical - but actually, it can mostly be coming from the fact that there are different members of the body with different views, which is a good thing - so we must listen to each other

HOW I APPLY IT TO CROSSROADS (correlated with the #'s directly above)
1. getting in the community - for example, we have had a great opportunity to meet and minister to and earn the trust of single moms with the baby showers we've had and the help we've given - if we refuse to do this because they had sex out of wedlock and we don't want to condone their sin, then we may as well just get out of the world and be our own self righteous moral little church who doesn't relate to others
2. relationships - listen to this e mail I sent my Kingdom Group and the Goodman KG dealing with this topic:
Way to go people, about the cookout at Douglass Manor last night! It totally reinforced what I learned at the Mercy Ministry conference this last weekend. At the conference, we talked about how mercy ministry has to be done through relationship. Here's an example, imagine this - what if a German woman (a different culture) came knocking on your door and said, "You have to come to this German dancing every Monday night - it will change your life." We would be polite, but we really probably wouldn't consider going. An invitation from a complete stranger seems whacky. That is similar to how it probably is when we go door to door handing out fliers or invite people to church. I am not trying to be disrespectful to when we have done that, and to those who decided that we do that, but I just wonder if it is an effective use of our time and people, and I am realizing that more and more I think it is not the best use. Why do people outside our church start coming to Kingdom groups? Its usually because they have relationships with one of the people in the KG. Karen and Dessie are coming to my KG because they know me, and Tony is coming because he knows Dessie. Relationships are the key to reaching Maplewood for Jesus. And you all did that so well last night. You entered into conversations. You let your kids go off and get dirty playing with the kids that we didn't know well. People in the lower class expect middle class people to keep their kids away from the lower class kids, as if the middle class kids are too good for them. But there the kids were, playing soccer in the middle of the parking lot while the adults looked on and had some great conversation. The entire apartment complex came out, even those "tough" guys who got their food and then went away to eat it on the stoop. We advanced those relationships where we've had baby showers or helped with other needs, and we developed some new relationships. This is how we wisely and effectively advance the Kingdom to reach those non believers who are culturally and/or socioeconomically different!
3. I came away with practical ways for the Servant Ministry Team (SMT) to work to overcome the barriers to igniting a movement of mercy that I am going to discuss with Matt and we can start implementing as it is right
4. let' s begin within the SMT to check on each other spiritually and help each other grow spiritually so that we can be even more effective and stay grounded in the cross
5. strive to make the SMT more diverse of different kinds of people in the Body

BIPOLAR DISORDER OR MANIC-DEPRESSION

Here's a note I wrote to a Kingdom Group leader in our church giving advice for how to run a group with participants with bipolar, and I thought it might be helpful to post here also.


With bipolar they are usually either totally down or manic-ly up. Its very hard for them to find an in between. Everything is in extremes. So when they come to KG then they are probably extra "up" and with that comes excessive talking, often not quite making sense or having a point. And also not answering the question or sticking to the issue but letting all the jumbled thoughts in their head just flow out of their mouth. They are child like in this way and need to be helped to stop just like a child would. So don't hesitate to redirect or to say let someone else have a turn or to cut them off and say we need to move on. You may need to go to them in private and say that they are taking up too much of the sharing time and not giving others a chance to share. But at the same time, as they are adults, do it all with as much tact and gentleness and respect as possible. As the leader of KG it will be a challenge, but I know you can do it!

AN INTERESTING VIDEO

I want to post this, not because I agree with it all, but because some of it is very thought provoking on good thoughts that the church as a whole often misses. Don't get hung up on the part that he misses the gospel (a very big flaw!!) but listen to what he says about the poor. Click on the box above; I'm still not good at adding stuff to my blog, so that box looks funny but it works!

WITH GOD ALL THINGS HAVE A PURPOSE

I was just thinking that statement a minute ago, and I believe that it applies to a vulnerable church. If we believe that with God, all things have a purpose, then we are more able to be vulnerable with each other.

Here was my thought process: I was looking out the window at the sad trees and flowers. They are sad because they are cold because its 23 degrees outside. We're having a cold snap for several days. And I hear all the people on the news saying that its wrong for it to go back to being this cold, and that we may loose all of the apple crop for the year. But God doesn't do wrong things. And I wonder if the weather was touched by the fall of man - I kinda don't think so; so I don't think the weather is tainted by sin. And I was thinking about how there has traditionally been a lot of forest fires out west, and then with civilization, the fires were decreased a good bit. Well this caused major damage to the plants and animals eventually, because God created the world so that an occasional fire made everything die and start over and therefore grow better. When this doesn't happen then the plants don't thrive and the animals run out of things to eat. So what may seem "bad" in the form of a fire or a cold front, is probably not bad at all - its probably needed to help the growth of everything. Can we humans maybe learn a lesson from this? That what seems "bad" may not be bad at all but instead vital to our growth?

But I don't want you to hear me saying to buck up and have faith and not be hurt by hard things. Hard things hurt. Period. So grieve. But grieve with hope, knowing our Father knows best.