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Thursday, April 26, 2007

A letter to the
Global Church from The Protestant Church of Smyrna (revised -- please use this
version)

By Dan Wooding
Founder of ASSIST Ministries

SMYRNA, TURKEY (ANS) -- Smyrna is an
ancient city (today known as Izmir in Turkey) that was founded at a very early
period at a central and strategic point on the Aegean coast of Anatolia.

It was the second city to receive a letter from the apostle John in the
book of Revelation. Acts 19:10 suggests that the church there was founded during
Paul’s third missionary journey. Due to the fact that the port city of Izmir
houses the second largest population in Turkey today, the site of ancient Smyrna
has been little excavated. Excepting the agora, theater, and sections of the
Roman aqueduct, little remains of the ancient city.

But there is a protestant church in there that calls itself
The Protestant Church of Smyrna and it has issued the following letter to the
Global Church which was sent to ANS.

Here it is in its entirety:

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 Christian and father of
three Tilmann Geske prepared to go to his office, kissing his wife goodbye and
taking a moment to hug his son and give him the priceless memory, “Goodbye,
son. I love you.”

Tilmann rented an office space from Zirve
Publishing. 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, bread
knives, 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 Tilmann’s hands and feet to chairs and as they
videoed their work on their cellphones, they brutally tortured our brothers
for almost three hours.

Neighbors in workplaces near the print house
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.

Tilmann and Necati had been slaughtered. 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 in Malatya. 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 the
case will fall apart if he does not recover.

The Church in Turkey
responded in a way that honored God as dozens of believers and 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 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, hundreds of Turkish Christians and workers 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 Geske 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 Geske has
changed lives. One columnist wrote of her comment, “She said in one sentence
what 1000 missionaries in 1000 years could never do.”

Many foreigners
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 perseverence,”
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 Tilmann Geske, who
gave his life as a foreign Christian in Turkey, and the testimonies in death
of Necati Aydin and Ugur Yuksel, the first martyrs for Christ out of the
Turkish Church.

Details in this letter were obtained through various
news and media sources based on preliminary press releases and interviews. The
court cases are pending and specific evidence and autopsy reports from the
crime are not yet available to the public.

Reported by Darlene N. Bocek (24 April 2007)

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” with this contact information: [email-masked] // http://www.izmirprotestan.org/

Dan Wooding is an award winning British journalist now
living in Southern California with his wife Norma. He is the founder and
international director of ASSIST (Aid to Special Saints in Strategic
Times) and the ASSIST News Service (ANS). He was, for ten years, a
commentator, on the UPI Radio Network in Washington, DC. Wooding is the
author of some 42 books, the latest of which is his autobiography, "From
Tabloid to Truth", which is published by Theatron Books. To order a copy,
go to http://www.fromtabloidtotruth.com/.
[email-masked].

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