Dear friends, Greetings in the name of our peerless Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. We just received this message, which Tom immediately translated from Turkish to English, from the pastor of the Agape Church in Samsun, Turkey.
There have been innumerable attacks on Christians in the past months, and as you no doubt heard, Hrant Dink, the well-known Armenian newspaper man was gunned down outside his office in Istanbul about ten days ago for insulting “Turkishism”. Naturally, all Christians also fall into this category. Please pray for this young pastor and his flock right on the edge of the Black Sea in Turkey. Remember the words in Hebrews 13:3: “Remember those who are in prison, as though in prison with them; and those who are ill-treated, since you also are in the body.”
Sincerely, Lila and Tom Cosmades
“From Samsun Agape Church: May peace be on you. Unpleasant events have been going on for years. Now they turned against the believers in Samsun in a ferocious manner. Around 3 A.M. Sunday, (January 29), our church was targeted. Whole windows were smashed. The church sign with the word “AGAPE” was sprayed on both sides. The sign was rather high. In all probability, those who defaced it brought a ladder, or had a pick-up truck and spent considerable time to do the work. I went to the building with the police. We counted twenty-five to thirty stones on the floor. The police found a letter, but they didn’t disclose the content to me. They only said, “They have left a letter, but it is not important.” Had this happened on some weekday, our predicament wouldn’t have been as bad because we could have fixed what had been destroyed. But because it was done in the wee hours of Sunday morning, it caused a great shock to our congregation. Please pray for the difficult conditions under which we are carrying on in our building. Also, pray for God’s people in our fellowship. We are confident of His production. He will grant increase to our church under these unfavorable circumstances. Right now, our people are extremely stressed out. Signed, Pastor M. Orhan Picaklar, Samsun Agape Church. www.incilturk.com “I am the LORD, I have called you in righteousness, I have taken you by the hand and kept you; I have given you as a covenant to the people, a light to the nations” (Isaiah 42:6).
Tom Cosmades
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Περιττό θα είναι να προσθέσουμε περισσότερα σχόλια μας. Η βαρβαρότητα των αρνητών του Ιησού Χριστού δέν περιγράφεται. Η παρηγοριά όμως όλων μας είναι η υπόσχεση του Λόγου του Θεού: “Αλλ’ εάν και πάσχητε διά την δικαιοσύνην, είσθε μακάριοι· τον δε φόβον αυτών μη φοβηθήτε μηδέ ταραχθήτε” (A’ Πέτρου γ:14).
Γιώργος Οικονομίδης sporeas.gr