|
| a worker in Turkey passed this on to me regarding the killings of 3 brothers over there:
SECOND LETTER:
Esteemed brothers, I greet you in the love and
peace of our Lord and Savior, Christ Jesus. May the Lord abundantly
bless you and your families,
>
> churches and work.
>
> We know of your heart for us and we want to express our thanks.
> Brothers, over these past 10 days we have gone through some very
> difficult times the most of which cannot be expressed by mere words.
> This has only served to show us that our lives are as the Lord said:
> "What is our life? We are like the mist that suddenly appears and then
> disappears." Consequently we have again learned how we need to live
> our lives in holiness and closeness to the Lord.
>
> We also have learned that we are an emotional society and that in
> difficult days such as these we were not able to correct the wrong
> information passed along by some people whether they do this out of
> good intentions or bad ones.
>
> When this incident first took place besides the brothers there, we
> from Diyarbakir were the first to arrive there. When we arrived our
> brother Ugur was still alive but in serious condition and around
> 5:30pm he gave up his spirit.
>
> Dear brothers, this difficult time is just now slowly sinking in and
> we're beginning to see the incident more clearly. It seems that those
> who killed or had our brothers killed are now achieving their goals.
> We also with our reactions without realizing it are possibly aiding
> them in this matter. If we don't bring the truth to the surface these
> persons will have indeed achieved their aim.
>
> Our brothers Tilman, Necati and Ugur were viciously murdered that is a
> fact. However there are some details regarding the torture that was
> performed that are not true. According to some rumors Tilman was
> stabbed 156 times and our brother Ugur's stabbings were too many to
> number. This is most certainly not true. While we were placing
> Tilman's body which was wrapped in plastic into his casket in the
> morgue the employees and police present there became uncomfortable
> saying, "We should wrap the body otherwise this isn't right", so I
> conceded in order to do what was right in their eyes too. So I asked
> for a white sheet, then I and the employees there removed the plastic
> to the sides. Then I purposefully examined Tilman's chest as far down
> as his waist and I did not see any knife wounds. Only his neck was cut
> 8-10 centimeters and his chest was sewed shut from where the doctor
> had done an autopsy. Unfortunately the rumors spread about Tilman and
> Necati are quite different. It is rumored that their noses, lips and
> ears had been cut. This does not represent the truth in any way. I
> called brother Ed Grudier in Adana knowing that he had likewise seen
> Tilman's corpse. I asked him about the knife wounds on Tilman's body.
> What he said to me was as follows: "brother I only came across 3 or 4
> knife wounds around his chest, I wasn't able to see his back, I didn't
> see any knife wounds on his face but there were small marks maybe a
> result of some fall. Because I knew that our brother Ihsan Ozbek from
> Ankara had also seen the corpses I also asked him and he said the
> following to me: "I saw the chest area of both Necati and Tilman.
> Besides some bruises on Necati's chin and lip I didn't come across any
> knife wounds. I also looked at Tilman's chest but didn't see any marks
> of a knife wound." These are the brothers who saw the bodies.
>
> It is true that they were knifed and tortured but not as it is claimed
> with words like, "more wounds than can be counted." Ihsan and I didn't
> see any marks but Ed Grudier inspected the bodies more carefully and
> saw 3 or 4 knife wounds around the chest.
>
> No one was able to see the body of Ugur because his family came the
> day of the incident and around midnight took his body away.
>
> I also think that the stabbings that Ugur received were not that many.
> According to the things described he was stabbed all over including
> his sexual organ. I don't believe this. Why? Because if someone were
> to be knifed this viciously he would die on the spot. There is no way
> that he could have stayed alive that long, until 5:30 pm. It seems
> from the exaggerated accounts of the other brothers that Ugur was not
> subjected to this kind of abnormal treatment.
>
> In summary we can ascertain that indeed these brothers were tortured
> but not as much as has been described.
>
> We are the sons of the daughters of the truth. Consequently whether it
> is these unfounded rumors or the exaggerations of the media which have
> unfortunately gone all across the world, now our brothers and other
> sensitive people have been wrongly informed. Our intention here is not
> to offend anyone. However if there are a set of facts lets pass them
> along without exaggeration so that folks can evaluate the simple truths.
>
> So who are those that have spread this exaggerated news. We think
> there are two:
>
> 1. The people who have planned this crime thought of this ahead of
> time and the actual killers were only instruments. Their purpose in
> the killings and the exaggerations were designed not only to scare the
> Christians in Turkey and cause them to pull back but also to frame
> Turkey as a country that harbors and fosters such vicious massacres in
> hopes that it might create tension and even hinder their entrance to
> the European Union.
>
> 2. In every case we see that the media either makes our one zero or
> calls it
>
> one hundred. We explored for example the tattered and blood-stained
> clothes that the media portrayed as belonging to our brothers and
> found that they indeed did not belonged to them. Those clothes
> belonged to someone who was killed in gun battle weeks ago. But the
> media portrayed them as belonging to our brothers. Everyone knows the
> media's tendency to exaggerate and outright fabricate lies.
>
> On account of this brothers, we felt that if
>
> we didn't tell you the facts our hearts would not be at peace. The
> reasons I wrote this report was the differing reports that I was
> receiving from both inside and outside Turkey which I deemed either
> exaggerated or baseless. These are the true facts. Before I send this
> along, as you will see below I have included the reports of Ihsan
> Ozbek and Ed Grudier and I will have this translated into English and
> pass it along.
>
> May the Lord bless you abundantly.
>
> *_Ihsan �zbek's thoughts:_*
>
> Ahmet brother,
>
> What you have testified regarding my comments are correct.
>
> I have no objections regarding the rest.
>
> Thank you for writing these down. If everyone knows these it will be
> much better
>
> Greetings,
>
> Ihsan �zbek
>
> *__**_Ed Grudier's thoughts:_*
>
> Ahmet brother,
>
> Thank you for writing this. It will be good if we can correct this
> wrong information.
>
> What you have said is entirely right.
>
> May the Lord's grace be with you.
>
> Ed
>
> *_Zekai Tanyar's thoughts:_*
>
> Dear Ahmet,
>
> I cannot comment on this subject from first hand knowledge, however I
>
> personally met with Necati and Tilman's wives Semsa and Susanne and
> their impressions fit better with yours.
>
> Essentially
>
> there are extreme rumors of wounds and torture that remain unproven
> and it seems that in the shock of the incident unfortunately even some
> brothers passed these along everywhere.
>
> think the report you have prepared in order to correct this is very
> good and should be spread around as soon as possible in and outside
> the country.
>
> Blessings,
>
> Zekai
may the examples of our brothers and the suffering of Christ Himself spur you on!
| | |
| My earnest challenge and prayer for you is . . .
Women
- That all of your life-in whatever calling-be devoted to the glory of God.
- That the promises of Christ be trusted so fully that peace and joy and strength fill your soul to overflowing.
- That this fullness of God overflow in daily acts of love so that
people might see your good deeds and give glory to your Father in
Heaven.
- That you be women of the Book, who love and study and obey the
Bible in every area of its teaching; that meditation on Biblical truth
be the source of hope and faith; that you continue to grow in
understanding through all the chapters of your life, never thinking
that study and growth are only for others.
- That you be women of prayer, so that the Word of God will be opened
to you, and so the power of faith and holiness will descend upon you;
that your spiritual influence may increase at home and at church and in
the world.
- That you be women who have a deep grasp of the sovereign grace of
God which undergirds all these spiritual processes; and that you be
deep thinkers about the doctrines of grace, and even deeper lovers of
these things.
- That you be totally committed to ministry, whatever your specific
calling; that you not fritter away your time on soaps or women's
magazines or unimportant hobbies or shopping; that you redeem the time
for Christ and his Kingdom.
- That, if you are single, you exploit your singleness to the full in
devotion to God (the way Jesus and Paul and Mary Slessor and Amy
Carmichael did) and not be paralyzed by the desire to be married.
- That, if you are married, you creatively and intelligently and
sincerely support the leadership of your husband as deeply as obedience
to Christ will allow; that you encourage him in his God-appointed role
as head; that you influence him spiritually primarily through your
fearless tranquillity and holiness and prayer.
- That, if you have children, you accept responsibility with your
husband (or alone if necessary) to raise up children in the discipline
and instruction of the Lord-children who hope in the triumph of
God-sharing with your husband the teaching and discipline they need,
and giving them the special attachment they crave from you, as well as
that special nurturing touch and care that you alone are fitted to give.
- That you not assume that secular employment is a greater challenge or a
better use of your life than the countless opportunities of service and
witness in the home, the neighborhood, the community, the church, and
the world; that you not only pose the question: career or full-time
homemaker?, but that you ask just as seriously: full-time career or
freedom for ministry? That you ask: Which would be greater for the
Kingdom-to work for someone who tells you what to do to make his or her
business prosper, or to be God's free agent dreaming your own dream
about how your time and your home and your creativity could make God's
business prosper? And that in all this you make your choices not on the
basis of secular trends or upward lifestyle expectations, but on the
basis of what will strengthen the faith of the family and advance the
cause of Christ.
- That you step back and (with your husband, if you are married) plan
the various forms of your life's ministry in chapters. Chapters are
divided by various things-age, strength, singleness, marriage,
employment, children at home, children in college, grandchildren,
retirement, etc. No chapter has all the joys. Finite life is a series
of tradeoffs. Finding God's will, and living for the glory of Christ to
the full in every chapter is what makes it a success, not whether it
reads like somebody else's chapter or whether it has in it what only
another chapter will bring.
- That you develop a wartime mentality and lifestyle; that you never
forget that life is short, that billions of people hang in the balance
of heaven and hell every day, that the love of money is spiritual
suicide, that the goals of upward mobility (nicer clothes, cars,
houses, vacations, food, hobbies) are a poor and dangerous substitute
for the goals of living for Christ with all your might and maximizing
your joy in ministry to people's needs.
- That in all your relationships with men (not just in marriage) you
seek the guidance of the Holy Spirit in applying the Biblical vision of
manhood and womanhood; that you develop a style and demeanor that does
justice to the unique role God has given to man to feel responsible for
gracious leadership in relation to women-a leadership which involves
elements of protection and provision and a pattern of initiative; that
you think creatively and with cultural sensitivity (just as he must do)
in shaping the style and setting the tone of your interaction with men.
- That you see the Biblical guidelines for what is appropriate and
inappropriate for men and women not as arbitrary constraints on
freedom, but as wise and gracious prescriptions for how to discover the
true freedom of God's ideal of complementarity; that you not measure
your potential by the few roles withheld, but by the countless roles
offered; that you look to the loving God of Scripture and dream about
the possibilities of your service to him, with the following list as
possibilities for starters:
(pasted from Piper's "What's the Difference?" http://www.leaderu.com/orgs/cbmw/rbmw/chapter1.html)
(I'm learning about gender and couples and sexism and other such things
which poses plenty of questions like, do we maximize or minimize the
differences between genders? is gender really that important? am
i gonna be stuck walking around in circles cleaning my home my whole
life and making it 'pretty for God'? is this whole
leadership/submission thing just within a marriage and within the
church, or does it extend to other spheres of life? so what roles
would God have for me in proclaiming the gospel and advancing His
kingdom? read quickly through Piper's book and found it helpful,
though just a springboard..)
| | |
| if you're reading this, you're probably not there, but pray for the
thousands and thousands of people at urbana! can you imagine how
much God can use that conference for the sake of His gospel among all
peoples? pray for sustained passion and biblical conviction.
can't wait to hear about it when they come back :)
| | |
| if i ever promise you anything, or that i'll get back to you about
something, and accidentally forget..remind me! i seem to be
losing my mind lately, along with the random slips of paper i wrote
notes on... :)
| | |
| good things happen when you brush your teeth!
anyway, i was thinking about why american cooking is so much better
than asian cooking (or maybe to make myself feel better about getting
puzzled looks when i tell people i have no idea how to cook asian
stuff..although i did try my first stir fry on friday..).
american cooking often uses recipes and you get to pop it in the oven
lots of times. this is great because people like me who don't
know how to cook can have someone tell them exactly what to do.
your thinking is freed up! additionally, you can often prepare it
the night before. isn't that great?! i love cooking towards
the end of the day because the apartment is quieter and it's a good way
to unwind without your numbing yourself with a screen or feeling guilty
that you're doing nothing. chop, shred, stick it in a baking
dish, and you're good to go. mm..i feel like cooking now!
okay..til next time, whenever that is...
you know what..maybe this wasn't an epiphany after all..but from a
conversation with someone in 307..at any rate, it's too late to
remember anything..sad...and i thought it was so cool :(
| | |
|
