Bock

Martyrdom in Eastern Turkey, A Letter from the Church There – April 24 (updated May 29)

The original letter that was here has been updated with more accuracy. It can be found with the entry entitled at the start “Clarification” from May 1. I have received more than one email asking about the source of the May 1 clarification. It comes from the same sources that originally gave the first letter who are in touch with those who at the original scene who themselves had access to better information. So the better information about this incident is found there.

The original letter that was here has been updated with more accuracy. It can be found with the entry entitled at the start “Clarification” from May 1. I have received more than one email asking about the source of the May 1 clarification. It comes from the same sources that originally gave the first letter who are in touch with those who at the original scene who themselves had access to better information. So the better information about this incident is found there.

4 Comments

  • Ken

    The Letter from Turkey
    Dr. Bock,

    Would you allow this letter to be published in our church bulletins?

    Thanks for your consideration.

  • Pam Wilson

    PLEASE REMOVE LETTER
    Dear Darrel,

    We appreciate your concern but the letter you have posted on your site is NOT written by anyone connected with any of the three brothers, though she is a believer in Turkey. It is full of inaccuracies and causing the widows much distress. They have requested it be removed whenever any of us (they were my coworkers) see it. I am printing below a letter written by another coworker who was asked to do so by the widows:

    Dear Friends

    In the aftermath of the tragic killings of three of our brothers in Malatya last week, I am sure many of us have been sending information for prayer back to friends and churches in our home countries, asking that they would stand beside the church in Turkey at this time. Please continue to do this.

    It has become apparent however that some of the information being sent out is not altogether accurate, and has perhaps been picked up from hearsay or press reports. In particular I have become aware of a letter “from the Protestant Church in Smyrna” which describes in long and graphic detail the events of last week. While this has been dramatically and emotionally written, there are clear inaccuracies in the report, and the broadcasting of certain details is not healthy or helpful.

    This letter included graphic details about the extent of the wounds on the bodies of the victims. I have been asked by one of the families to state that some of this information is clearly untrue and overstated. And to be honest, when those close to the victims come across such information reading it only causes further distress. These men gave their lives for the Lord; does it matter if there was one wound or one hundred?

    Can we also be cautious about the terminology used in describing these people? We should not give them titles that they did not use themselves. Whenever the Turkish press uses certain labels or titles they are doing so with a certain degree of criticism, and I suggest that we should not imitate this. Tilmann’s wife was quoted in one press report as follows: “He wanted to work like the Turks, not just to be a foreigner who gets money from abroad. He wanted to show that you can be both a Christian and a normal worker.”

    I would like to ask that we be more sensitive in our communications,

    in order not to cause further distress to families and others grieving
    in order not to spread inaccurate information (don’t believe all you read in the press)
    in order not to cause problems for or otherwise compromise anyone else living and working in Turkey.

    In the light of this I would like to ask too that the letter referred to above is not sent out widely until it is revised and corrected.

    Thanks Doug Jarvie

  • Gerard Dalboussiere

    Martyrdom in Eastern Turkey
    Dear Darrell,

    Thank to have shared on your blog the letter from the Protestant church about the martyrdom of 3 christians in Eastern Turkey.
    We heard the news on the radio and television here in France but it is one thing to just briefly hear it and another to have the details given in the letter. It struck us that in a country located on the border of Europe and which wants to join the E.U., a missionary and 2 turkish christians can be slaughtered for the faith and love to Jesus Christ.
    We found admirable Mrs Susanne Tilman’s declaration in a television interview. She gave a strong testimony to what the love for Christ can produce in a christian heart.
    My wife and I have been praying for this missionary’s wife and her children as well as for the 2 other turkish christians’families.
    We also pray for the 5 young boys who committed these atrocities that a complete change may occur in their hearts by accepting Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord.
    I intend to read some excerpts of the letter in our local church so that commun prayers can be addressed to our God and Father for His protection towards the christians there, His consolations towards the grieved families and the conversion of many turkish unbelievers.

    Sincerely

    Gerard Dalboussiere

    Note : I have been a reader of your book “Breaking the Da Vinci Code” which I found excellent as being comprehensive on the subject.
    I have also been a reader of your blog about the so called “Jesus tomb”.
    I agree with you that nowdays the christian believers must engage the secular culture to be able to answer questions from unbelievers taking into account the ever growing biblical unculture of most of the population (at least in France). But also to be ready to answer questions from christians specially the young ones who are confronted to the spreading of these subjects by the media.

    • bock

      Martyrdom – DLB
      I have posted the more recent letter and will remove the original, which we just have technically been able to do.