abigya
Member
- Joined
- Jun 5, 2006
- Messages
- 1,085
In Turkey, you'll find the grave of Tillman Geske, a man who died for a cause; to expand the Kingdom of Christ! He was one of three bold believers who died a martyr's death on April 18, in the offices of a Christian publishing company in Malatya, Turkey.
The other two men killed that morning were Turkish; former Muslims who had left the hopelessness of Islam to follow Jesus Christ. Necati Aydin was a pastor and church leader; following Christ had cost him his family when they turned their backs on him. Ugur Yuksel was still alive when police arrived at the publishing house, but sadly he died at the hospital later.
A Bible study was scheduled for the publishing house on April 18. Five young men "seekers" were invited to attend and study the Scripture. But the young men had other plans, they came with knives and locked the door behind them and tied the three Christians to their chairs. By the time the police had burst in, it was too late; all three had their throats slit - leaving two women without husbands and five children without fathers.
Turkey is a country of more than 70 million people, yet less than 5,000 of them are evangelical Christians. To leave Islam to follow Christ can cost much, and sometimes it can cost everything.
In the days and weeks that followed, the sentiment that was expressed by some Muslims was, "what did they expect? They were doing Christian work in a Muslim country."
But the church was not defeated. In fact, the church was able to communicate directly with an entire country. Susanne Geske and Semse Aydin appeared on national TV and the message they communicated was not one of anger, instead they offered grace and forgiveness to the men who took their husbands' lives.
Both of the women know that God called their families to Malatya and have the calm assurance that they were there as a part of God's plan. They are confident that, even on that horrible morning, God's plans were being fulfilled.
"I think the Body of Christ is just unbelievable," says Susanne Geske. "And if you tried to explain to someone who doesn't believe, they don't understand. But I think this is such a nice thing to see that this Body of Christ is really working. And it's working together like the Lord wants us to work together and pray for one another. I really want to thank these people for praying for me, all over the world, for praying for me and my kids and my family...."
The other two men killed that morning were Turkish; former Muslims who had left the hopelessness of Islam to follow Jesus Christ. Necati Aydin was a pastor and church leader; following Christ had cost him his family when they turned their backs on him. Ugur Yuksel was still alive when police arrived at the publishing house, but sadly he died at the hospital later.
A Bible study was scheduled for the publishing house on April 18. Five young men "seekers" were invited to attend and study the Scripture. But the young men had other plans, they came with knives and locked the door behind them and tied the three Christians to their chairs. By the time the police had burst in, it was too late; all three had their throats slit - leaving two women without husbands and five children without fathers.
Turkey is a country of more than 70 million people, yet less than 5,000 of them are evangelical Christians. To leave Islam to follow Christ can cost much, and sometimes it can cost everything.
In the days and weeks that followed, the sentiment that was expressed by some Muslims was, "what did they expect? They were doing Christian work in a Muslim country."
But the church was not defeated. In fact, the church was able to communicate directly with an entire country. Susanne Geske and Semse Aydin appeared on national TV and the message they communicated was not one of anger, instead they offered grace and forgiveness to the men who took their husbands' lives.
Both of the women know that God called their families to Malatya and have the calm assurance that they were there as a part of God's plan. They are confident that, even on that horrible morning, God's plans were being fulfilled.
"I think the Body of Christ is just unbelievable," says Susanne Geske. "And if you tried to explain to someone who doesn't believe, they don't understand. But I think this is such a nice thing to see that this Body of Christ is really working. And it's working together like the Lord wants us to work together and pray for one another. I really want to thank these people for praying for me, all over the world, for praying for me and my kids and my family...."
