We continue to pray for this godly man. His heart remains in the country of Turkey. God's will be done as far as the next location where he will serve.
I like that Pastor Brunson knelt in humbleness as he prayed before the Lord God of heaven for our POTUS. May he be blessed of the Lord. May Pastor and his family continue to pray for President Donald Trump!
Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:
Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God:
But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:
And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name:
That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth;
And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:5-11)
Turkish court decides to keep US pastor Andrew Brunson behind bars
- via hurriyetdailynews.com
The panel of judges overseeing the trial of jailedpastor Andrew Brunson, in a case that has inflamed tensions between Turkey and the United States, has decided to reject his demand to be released during the trial.
At the end of the hearing on May 7, the court in the Aegean province of İzmir (NT: Smyrna) decided to keep Brunson in jail up until the next hearing on July 18.
During the hearing Brunson denied the allegations of three secret witnesses who accused him of helping the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and the network of U.S.-based Islamic preacher Fethullah Gülen, referred to by the authorities as the Fethullahist Terrorist Organization (FETÖ).
Brunson, the leader of a small Protestant Christian church named “Yeniden Diriliş” (Resurrection), rejected all accusations in the second session of his trial, insisting that he “never permitted politics in church.”
“I do not accept the charges. I would like to say openly and clearly that the PKK is a terrorist organization … I do not support any Kurdish group that carries on terrorist activities against Turkey. If we were sympathizers of the PKK those Turks would not stay in our church,” he said.
“My service that I have spent my life on, has now turned upside down. I was never ashamed to be a server of Jesus but these claims are shameful and disgusting ... What more should I say? I want to return to my home,” he added, requesting to be released pending trial.
As many of you know, we have been praying for the release of ’88 alumnus and Protestant Pastor, Andrew Brunson , from the time of his arrest in Izmir, Turkey on October 7, 2016 to the present.
Imprisoned and held on false charges of terrorism, it is widely believed that Andrew is being used as a political pawn by the Turkish government to leverage the extradition of Turkish Muslim cleric Fethulla Gulen, who lives in Pennsylvania and is believed by Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan to be behind an attempted rebellion to overthrow the government in July of 2016.
Prior to his arrest, Pastor Brunson had peacefully lived and ministered in Turkey for 23 years.
Rev. Brunson has been scheduled to appear in court this Monday, April 16 at 9:00 am (1:00 am on Monday our time). If the charges against him are upheld - claiming he supported both the secessionist Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) guerrilla movement, and the outlawed organization of Turkish cleric Fethullah Gulen, Pastor Brunson could be sentenced to 35 years in prison.
Please pray for God’s peace to enfold Andrew, his wife Norine and their children. Pray that Andrew will know the reality of God’s presence with him and His love for him, and be able to trust Him with his life and future. Pray for the Lord to give Andrew words to say before the Turkish lawyers and government officials who are trying to trap and condemn him. Pray for the Lord to oversee all that happens in the Courtroom.
Most importantly, pray for the glory and renown of the Name of the Lord in the country of Turkey, once the seat of power of the Christian ruler Constantine. Pray, as in Daniel’s day, the power of the Lord will be revealed and the fear of the Lord would spread, overtaking the government rulers and officials who seek to dismiss and destroy His own. Pray that many in the country of Turkey and in the world will believe in the Lord as an outcome of Andrew’s imprisonment.
If you would like to join others in prayer, students have planned a prayer vigil in Gold Star Chapel in the Beamer Center throughout the day and night on Sunday, with plans to sing his hymn at 8:00 pm.
Thank you for praying and seeking the Lord in Andrew’s behalf.
Andrew Brunson was elated when Turkey’s Interior Ministry summoned him on Oct. 7 in the coastal city of Izmir. The ministry, the American pastor imagined, was granting him and his wife, Norine, permanent-resident status after they’d spent more than two decades preaching the gospel in Turkey. Instead they were arrested and detained for unspecified reasons.
So began a Turkish nightmare the couple is living to this day.
Turkish immigration authorities informed the Brunsons that they would be detained pending deportation from the country. Norine was released after two weeks, but her husband was held in the immigration-detention facility for another two months, including two days in solitary confinement. He was initially denied access to legal counsel, and two U.S. consular visits didn’t take place until after he’d already spent a month in the facility.
“What’s been frustrating is that no information has been given at any time,” a lawyer for the Brunsons told me in a phone interview. (The lawyer requested anonymity given the sensitivity of the case.) By all accounts Pastor Brunson loves Turks and Turkey. He raised his children in the country, and the Brunsons have had “zero issues for 23 years,” their lawyer says.
Yet overnight on Dec. 8 the pastor was transferred to a counterterror center, brought before a judge the next day and charged with “membership in an armed terrorist organization.” To this day the limited case documentation provided to the family doesn’t specify which “terror” organization the pastor supposedly joined. Court proceedings revealed, however, that the Turks may have pegged Pastor Brunson as a Gülenist.
Fethullah Gülen is a Pennsylvania-based imam whom President Recep Tayyip Erdogan accuses of masterminding July’s failed coup. For years Mr. Gülen’s followers worked hand-in-hand with Mr. Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party to purge the country’s secular establishment. The relationship soured in 2013, however, and a power struggle ensued between the rival Islamist camps.
Most observers in Turkey, including members of the opposition, believe Gülenists were behind the attempted putsch this summer. But “Gülen” plays the role of Goldstein in Mr. Erdogan’s personal “1984”—the devious traitor who lurks behind every doner-kebob stand and behind every tragedy. Under the pretext of rooting out Gülenists, the government has jailed or fired tens of thousands of police officers, prosecutors, judges, journalists, educators and members of the armed forces.
Now even evangelical pastors are secret Gülenists.
Pastor Brunson’s treatment is also symptomatic of growing Christian persecution in Turkey. “Turkish President Erdogan sees anti-Christian conspiracy theories as an effective strategy for galvanizing popular support for his one-man rule,” says Aykan Erdemir, a former member of the Turkish Parliament and a senior fellow at the Washington-based Foundation for Defense of Democracies.
A pro-government columnist in July claimed that Mr. Gülen’s mother is Jewish and his father an Armenian. Mr. Gülen himself “is a member of the Vatican Council” who “uses the methods of the Jesuit Order that captured the Vatican.” Another columnist the same month asked whether Gülenists might be hiding “in churches.” Still another tabloid doctored photographs to suggest Mr. Gülen is a Roman Catholic prelate.
Mr. Erdogan’s defenders insist the president has no say over what’s printed in the papers. But that’s hard to believe in a country where the state has banned at least 120 news outlets in six months. Nor is the government’s own rhetoric much better. At an anti-coup rally in August, Prime Minister Binali Yildirim denounced Turkey’s enemies as a “crusaders’ army.”
Then there are cases like Pastor Brunson’s. A court on Thursday denied his appeal against imprisonment. So far his is the most serious, but authorities have also expelled a number of evangelical missionaries in recent months and shuttered a Protestant church in Antakya for offering “unauthorized” Bible courses.
“The idea that Mr. Brunson’s arrest was related to his religious affiliation is ludicrous,” a senior Turkish official told me. “There are hundreds of thousands of Christians in Turkey who freely exercise their religion.” He added: “It’s absolutely crucial to avoid stereotypes and focus on the fact that Turkey has taken unprecedented steps in recent years to promote cultural diversity, including religious diversity.”
Promoting diversity and upholding basic rights aren’t the same thing. Turkey under Mr. Erdogan is fast coming to resemble the neighboring Islamic Republic of Iran. The difference is that Ankara is a NATO ally of the U.S. that shows little respect for Washington. Perhaps the Trump administration can restore the relationship to its proper balance. Meanwhile, say a prayer for an American pastor in an Izmir prison cell.
Mr. Ahmari is a Journal editorial writer in London.
The Izmir Dirilis (Resurrection) Church, where Andrew Brunson is the pastor. (WorldWatchMonitor)
The above is a continuation of the article on Andrew Brunson.
W.C. Alumni in Trending News, January 2017. Prayers, please.
(A)Andrew Brunson, '88 (and wife Norine, '89). Mr Brunson, an American citizen from North Carolina, held in a Turkish prison since October 2016. He has been a Christian pastor in Turkey for the past 23 years. Turkey's government, led by an Islamic party whose head is President Recep Tayyip Erdogan , has been increasingly paranoid since a failed coup attempt. They have been cracking down on Christians. Andrew's unjust imprisonment is just the tip of the iceberg of the turmoil in Turkey. He is accused of being part of a terrorist organization -- without any evidence! Please, please pray for this godly man currently held in an Izmir prison cell. Read more on this very dangerous situation here
Former Indiana Senator; and Ambassador to Germany (2001-2005), Dan Coats, has been recently nominated by President-elect Donald Trump to be the Director of National Intelligence.
