7 Churches of Revelation - now Turkey
Tuesday, April 24, 2007 at 10:18AM Turkey is the geographic location of all 7 churches of the book of Revelation. The Ten Tribes lead by Joseph’s son Ephraim the remnant of Jacob, were deported to this location by the Assyrian King in 721bc.
The Bible states all twelve tribes will return to the land of Israel before Messiah returns based on what the Gentile (you and I) do to assist their return to their God given land. The 7 churches are still held captive by the Eastern King (now called Islam) to date, they have not returned to their promised land.
The e-Mail below comes to us by way of our friends at Cops for Christ, Macedonia, Eastern Europe.
dear brother and sister,
last week 3 of our brothers in malatya killed,
that is very difficult for us.
I am and our church pastor is very busy with that.
we have many meetings with this and we have many things about it.
but we believe that God is control, and He is going to use that for
His Kingdom.
Please pray for us and for their family…
soner
there is news in english abut it.
FLASH from COMPASS DIRECT NEWS
News from the Frontlines of Persecution
Summary:
ISTANBUL, April 19 (Compass Direct News) - In a gruesome assault
against Turkey’s tiny Christian community, five young Muslim Turks
entered a Christian publishing office in the southeastern province of
Malatya yesterday (April 18) and slit the throats of the three
Protestant Christians present. Two of the victims, Necati Aydin, 36,
and Ugur Yuksel, 32, were Turkish converts from Islam. The third man,
Tilmann Geske, 46, was a German citizen. Today the Turkish press
reported that four of the five young men, all 19 to 20 years of age,
admitted during initial interrogations that they were motivated by
both “nationalist and religious feelings.” “We did this for our
country,” an identical note in the pockets of all five young men read,
Channel D television station reported. “They are attacking our
religion.”
**********
Young Muslims in Turkey Murder Three Christians
Deaths mark first known martyrdom of Turkish converts since founding
of republic.
by Barbara G. Baker
ISTANBUL, April 19 (Compass Direct News) - In a gruesome assault
against Turkey’s tiny Christian community, five young Muslim Turks
entered a Christian publishing office in the southeastern province of
Malatya yesterday (April 18) and slit the throats of the three
Protestant Christians present.
Two of the victims, Necati Aydin, 36, and Ugur Yuksel, 32, were
Turkish converts from Islam. The third man, Tilmann Geske, 46, was a
German citizen.
Today the Turkish press reported that four of the five young men, all
19 to 20 years of age, admitted during initial interrogations that
they were motivated by both “nationalist and religious feelings.”
“We did this for our country,” an identical note in the pockets of all
five young men read, Channel D television station reported. “They are
attacking our religion.”
According to today’s Hurriyet newspaper, one of the suspects declared
during police questioning, “We didn’t do this for ourselves. We did it
for our religion. May this be a lesson to the enemies of religion.”
In a demonstration against the Zirve Publishing office in Malatya two
years ago, local protestors had claimed its publishing and
distribution activities constituted “proselytism” among Muslims and
should be closed down. Turkish law, however, guarantees the right to
engage in religious evangelism if it does not contain proven political
motives.
The three Christians were found tied hand and foot to chairs at 1:30
p.m. yesterday in the liaison office of Zirve Publishing in Malatya’s
Niyazi Misr-i district. Their throats had been cut and their bodies
marred by multiple stab wounds.
Both Aydin and Geske were already dead when local police discovered
their bodies. Police had received a call from a nearby office in the
building about a “disturbance” happening in the Christian publishing
house’s third-floor office.
Although Yuksel was still breathing and rushed to a nearby hospital
for massive blood transfusions, he expired soon afterwards.
When police stormed the building, one of the killers threw himself
from the third story to the street, suffering a broken leg and severe
head injuries. The other four suspects were apprehended as they tried
to flee the building, still holding their bloodied knives.
During interrogation, the four confessed killers claimed the attack
had been planned by the fifth suspect, now hospitalized in serious
condition. But today Malatya Gov. Halil Ibrahim Dasoz announced that
five additional suspects had been arrested in the police
investigation.
Turkish government leaders were quick to denounce the murders and
promise a full investigation. The police, meanwhile, fielded
conjecture that the suspects were linked to the Turkish Hizbollah, a
Kurdish Islamic movement calling for a Muslim state in southeastern
Turkey.
According to Zirve Publishing’s general manager, Hamza Ozant, the
company’s Malatya staff had received death threats in recent months.
All three of the men worked in the office and attended the local
30-member Kurtulus Protestant Church pastored by Aydin.
Aydin is survived by his wife, Semse, and a son and daughter, both
preschool age. Geske with his wife Susanne had two sons and a
daughter, ages 8 to 13 years. Yuksel was engaged to be married within
a few months.
Forensic authorities surrendered Yuksel’s body last night to his
family, who buried him this morning in his home village in Elazig.
Aydin’s funeral has been set for Saturday afternoon (April 21), at the
Anglican Church in Izmir, his home city in western Turkey.
It is not yet known whether Geske’s widow will decide to inter his
body in Malatya or Germany.
In a bold initiative this afternoon, Pastor Ihsan Ozbek, chairman of
the Alliance of Protestant Churches in Turkey, led a press conference
broadcast live from Malatya by CNNTURK and shown simultaneously on
several other TV channels.
Flanked by the churches’ legal representative, Orhan Kemal Cengiz, and
Istanbul pastor Bedri Peker, Ihsan distributed a forthright press
release to the Turkish media headlined, “A Horrible Brutality, But
Not a Surprise.”
“Yesterday, Turkey was buried in the darkness of the Middle Ages,”
Ozbek declared. He compared the nation’s ongoing conspiracy theories
and missionary phobias to the witch-hunts of the Middle Ages.
“We know this will not be the last [martyr]. But with all our hearts
we wish it would be the last,” Ozbek said.
First Convert Martyrs
Yesterday’s deadly attack was the first known martyrdom of Turkish
converts from Islam since the founding of the Turkish Republic in
1923.
But it was the third tragic incident targeting Christians in Turkey in
the past 15 months to spark major international media coverage. Last
year an Italian Catholic priest was shot to death while kneeling in
his church in the Black Sea port city of Trabzon. This past January, a
prominent Turkish journalist of Armenian Christian descent, Hrant
Dink, was murdered in Istanbul.
Over the past three years, top government officials have been accused
of fanning growing hostility against non-Muslims by openly criticizing
Christian missionary activities. Local prosecutors and police
authorities are often reluctant to pursue reported incidents of
vandalism or threats against church buildings or personnel.
The last deadly attack targeting Turkish converts to Christianity took
place in Gaziantep in 1997, when an extreme Islamist group bombed a
Christian bookstand at a local fair, killing a small child and
injuring many bystanders. The culprits were arrested and sentenced to
heavy prison terms.
END
**********
Copyright 2007 Compass Direct News