Blaine,

Thanks for the information. Yes I agree with your assessment of the situation. Sad thing is many of the citizens of that country are not happy with the situation, but due the very recent events most will just keep quiet, because as you say they could be arrested on jumped up charges like the many thousands that have already.

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Dave

We as a country America made a grave error with Iran when the unfortunate timing of monies were given back to that rogue nation and the release of not only our sailors but also several American citizens were released had the wrong timing.This has made a way for countries like Turkey to politicize action s in order to achieve what they want which is to extradite the cleric they said attempted the coup and as I understand resides somewhere in The U S. I believe in light of the recent assination of that Russian diplomats and the up coming talks between Russia and Turkey, it is evident that The U S has lost its position of major influence in that region of the world. I believe our politicians lack the skills and motivation nessary to handle such circumstances on behalf of its citizenry, all that said The Word of God does declare that the heart of the king is in the hand of God and like the rivers of water He turns what ever way He wills. I will join you all in asking The Lord for favor in the sight of our brothers judges and that The Lord, The great judge over all to have mercy on this brother and release him from those bonds.

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D.Miller

So agree my brothers. Will definitely be in prayer for this brother and those in Turkey.

Bro Blaine

Posted on The Blaze

Erdogan issues Christmas message while American pastor rots in jail in Turkey.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan wished Christian citizens in Turkey a Christmas message of hope Saturday, even as North Carolina pastor Andrew Brunson sits falsely imprisoned in the near-Middle Eastern country.

Erdogan’s message was released by his press office and attempted to sell the idea that Turkey is a nation of tolerance that welcomes and enables different traditions and beliefs. According to Turkish media outlet Andalou Agency, Erdogan believes that Turkey is a safe haven for repressed Christians and a place where they can live in peace:

“We, the members of this deep-rooted tradition, continue to embrace all the oppressed who have escaped war, oppression, and pressure,” the president [said].

His message stands in stark contrast to the stories of American pastors who have been leading congregations in Turkey, but who have faced persecution and imprisonment over the last few months as Turkey has grown increasingly anti-American.

Brunson, pastor of the Izmir Resurrection Church on the west coast of Turkey, has been sitting in a Turkish prison since early December for alleged ties to the Gülen movement, which Erdogan blames for being behind the attempted military coup in July and responsible for the recent assassination of the Russian ambassador in Ankara.

Christianity Today reports that the reprisals against Christians in Turkey is growing as fast as the anti-Gulenist movement:

The Gülen movement’s inspiration and namesake, influential cleric and political activist Fethullah Gülen, lives in self-imposed exile in Pennsylvania, and American authorities refuse to extradite him. The current treatment of American evangelicals in the wake of the failed coup is seen as retaliation, according to Armenian members of Turkey’s parliament.

“Protestant or Christian churches are seen as an American influence, and now that Turkey is anti-American, they are being targeted even more,” Aykan Erdemir, senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and a former member of the Turkish parliament, told Religion News Service.

The American Center for Law and Justice has taken up Brunson’s cause and is working to secure his release.

“As we approach Christmas—a season of hope and promise—we know that people around the world will stand with Pastor Andrew—will be Pastor Andrew’s voice—supporting his fight for freedom, and will join us in urging Turkey to release him immediately,” said Jay Sekulow, chief counsel for the ACLJ.

Non-Muslims comprise about one percent of the population in Turkey.

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Please let us remember this brother and his family in our prayers. Let us remember the Believers in Turkey in our prayers.

Only God knows how this will play out.

Bro Blaine

Fact Check: American Pastor Andrew Brunson is not being held with ISIS terrori

(Voice of the Persecuted) Andrew Brunson has been imprisoned and falsely charged with being a threat to Turkey’s national security. More recent reports have shared that Brunson is in grave danger and is being kept with ISIS fighters and Afghani rebels. His wife has confirmed the claim is false.

I want to clarify that Andrew is NOT being held with violent people in prison. He is in a room with 11 Muslims who are very devout so prayers are always going on in the small room. But these are not violent people and he is not in danger from them. They all sleep in bunks in a fairly tight space, and eat the meals in another room and have a small courtyard to go out to. I believe they are kept separate from everyone else.

The Brunsons have lived, including raising their children, in Turkey for 23 years. Andrew was a pastor at the Resurrection Church in Izmir before the couple was detained on 7 Oct. under Interior Ministry deportation orders.

During a trial on Dec. 9, Rev. Brunson was accused of being linked with a terrorist movement. He was then taken to Izmir’s Sakran 3 Nolu T Tipi Prison.

According to the ACLJ, Andrew was allowed to visit with family on Wednesday, and allowed to have a New Testament Bible which was previously denied. He was also given some access to his attorney, and has a visit scheduled for Friday with U.S. Embassy Officials. Yesterday, Pastor Andrew appealed his imprisonment, and was denied. Another appeal to a higher court is allowed, but it is uncertain how that appeal process will go. Due to an emergency decree in Turkey, those visits are recorded and any notes taken by his attorney are copied. Thus, Pastor Andrew has no attorney-client privilege.

“Pastor Andrew must be released,” said the ACLJ in a statement. “We are continuing our diplomatic efforts to engage the incoming U.S. administration, and moving forward with an appeal of his case.”——

Harsh comments pertaining to this case are being shared on social media. We in the West often voice our opinions without any thought as to how our words may negatively affect persecuted Christians. Mrs. Brunson has asked that we remain respectful.

Please pray that the Lord control the media: we do love the country of Turkey and pray for its blessing and urge that social media be kept respectful. There is no need to be aggressive. We are only looking for Andrew to be reunited with our children at Christmas. Please pray also that the court realize that the charges are clearly false.

Let us not take on a contemptuous attitude, but see the opportunity the Lord has given our brother Andrew. 11 men are in his midst who need to hear the life saving message of the Gospel. Let us praise God for this faithful brother andg the position he is in.

Let us read in Acts 16 and be encouraged as we remember Paul and Silas imprisonment.

22 The crowd rose up together against them, and the chief magistrates tore their robes off them and proceeded to order them to be beaten with rods. 23 When they had struck them with many blows, they threw them into prison, commanding the jailer to guard them securely; 24 and he, having received such a command, threw them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in the stocks.

25 But about midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns of praise to God, and the prisoners were listening to them; 26 and suddenly there came a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison house were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone’s chains were unfastened. 27 When the jailer awoke and saw the prison doors opened, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself, supposing that the prisoners had escaped. 28 But Paul cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Do not harm yourself, for we are all here!”29 And he called for lights and rushed in, and trembling with fear he fell down before Paul and Silas, 30 and after he brought them out, he said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”

The Jailer Converted
31 They said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.” 32 And they spoke the word of the Lord to him together with all who were in his house. 33 And he took them that very hour of the night and washed their wounds, and immediately he was baptized, he and all his household. 34 And he brought them into his house and set food before them, and rejoiced greatly, having believed in God with his whole household.

35 Now when day came, the chief magistrates sent their policemen, saying, “Release those men.” 36 And the jailer reported these words to Paul, saying, “The chief magistrates have sent to release you. Therefore come out now and go in peace.” 37 But Paul said to them, “They have beaten us in public without trial, men who are Romans, and have thrown us into prison; and now are they sending us away secretly? No indeed! But let them come themselves and bring us out.” 38 The policemen reported these words to the chief magistrates. They were afraid when they heard that they were Romans, 39 and they came and appealed to them, and when they had brought them out, they kept begging them to leave the city. 40 They went out of the prison and entered the house of Lydia, and when they saw the brethren, they encouraged them and departed.

Colossians 4 2 Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with an attitude of thanksgiving; 3 praying at the same time for us as well, that God will open up to us a door for the word, so that we may speak forth the mystery of Christ, for which I have also been imprisoned; 4 that I may make it clear in the way I ought to speak.

5 Conduct yourselves with wisdom toward outsiders, making the most of the opportunity. 6 Let your speech always be [c]with grace, as though seasoned with salt, so that you will know how you should respond to each person.

7 As to all my affairs, Tychicus, our beloved brother and faithful servant and fellow bond-servant in the Lord, will bring you information. 8 For I have sent him to you for this very purpose, that you may know about our circumstances and that he may encourage your hearts; 9 and with him Onesimus, our faithful and beloved brother, who is one of your number. They will inform you about the whole situation here.

10 Aristarchus, my fellow prisoner, sends you his greetings; and also Barnabas’s cousin Mark (about whom you received instructions; if he comes to you, welcome him); 11 and also Jesus who is called Justus; these are the only fellow workers for the kingdom of God who are from the circumcision, and they have proved to be an encouragement to me.12 Epaphras, who is one of your number, a bondslave of Jesus Christ, sends you his greetings, always laboring earnestly for you in his prayers, that you may stand perfect and fully assured in all the will of God.13 For I testify for him that he has a deep concern for you and for those who are in Laodicea and Hierapolis. 14 Luke, the beloved physician, sends you his greetings, and also Demas. 15 Greet the brethren who are in Laodicea and also Nympha and the church that is in her house.16 When this letter is read among you, have it also read in the church of the Laodiceans; and you, for your part read my letter that is coming from Laodicea. 17 Say to Archippus, “Take heed to the ministry which you have received in the Lord, that you may fulfill it.”

18 I, Paul, write this greeting with my own hand. Remember my imprisonment. Grace be with you.

May we stay in prayer and remember the same God who loved our early church brethren loves us and is with Andrew right now!

These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world.” John 16:33

Please keep Pastor Andrew and his family in your prayers.

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Brothers and sisters please pray that Andrew Brunson will be a light to those Muslims that he is imprisoned with. For God has placed our brother in a strategic position to reach those Muslims who are in darkness.

Also let us praise God that he has access now to a New Testament. Also access to his attorney.

Let us also call out to God for our brother's freedom. That God will set him free when the purposes of Christ are fulfilled in that prison.

Because of Him.

Bro Blaine

I just read this latest on the Al monitor news website on Andrew Brunson. Seems they maybe linking the extradition of Gulen to the release of Andrew.

Turkey’s Prime Minister Binali Yildirim called on US President-elect Donald Trump today to extradite Fethullah Gulen, the Pennsylania-based Sunni cleric who was named as the mastermind of the July 15 coup attempt. Yildirim told a news conference that Gulen's delivery to the Turkish authorities would help improve stormy relations between the two NATO allies.

Yet just as Gulen’s presence in the United States remains a thorn in Turkish-US ties, so too is the incarceration of American Pastor Andrew Brunson, whose case has gone largely unnoticed in Turkey,but not in the United States.
Turkish officials who spoke on strict condition of anonymity told Al-Monitor that they had been flooded with letters about Brunson’s plight, including many from Congress. In a stiff editorial for Fox News,Republican Sen. James Lankford of Oklahama aired their concerns,saying that Turkey had yet to provide compelling evidence of the pastor’s guilt. Lankford said he had met with Turkish Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag last month to discuss Brunson’s case, but “the situation remains bleak.”

Brunson, who led a small flock of Protestants in the western port city of Izmir for more than 20 years, was detained Oct. 17 with his wife Norine and held incommunicado until her release 13 days later. At an initial hearing Dec. 9, Brunson was charged with membership in an armed terrorist organization, and the officiating judge mentioned Gulen. Brunson continues to be held at the Sakran detention facility in Izmir and his lawyer is being denied access to his file. The terrorism charges against the pastor were based on a tip from a secret informant, the judge said. Sources familiar with the case speaking on condition that they not be identified by name told Al-
Monitor that the informant was an individual who had accompanied Brunson on a recent trip to the mainly Kurdish city of Diyarbakir, where they had a falling out. Brunson’s longtime friend and fellow Pastor Ahmet Guvener of the Diyarbakir Evangelical Church expressed doubt about this story in a Skype interview with Al-Monitor, saying, “I have known Andrew for 20 years. He is an extremely peaceful God-fearing man. It’s unthinkable that he would quarrel with anyone. And it’s unthinkable that he would have links with this or that terrorist organization."

Pressure on missionaries is nothing new in Turkey. They were formally branded threats to national security until the ruling Justice and Development Party took power in 2002 and launched a raft of sweeping reforms aimed at winning membership to the European Union. They included restituting
properties seized from the Armenian and Greek Orthodox churches and allowing Protestants to open at least 15 houses of worship. In 2015, the Great Synagogue in the Thracian city of Edirne was reopened upon completion of a five-year restoration project financed by the government.
To be sure, the AKP has been credited with doing more for non-Muslim communities than any of its predecessors. But the mood has turned ugly since the July 15 coup. Tens of thousands of people have been arrested on often thinly supported accusations of ties to Gulen and countless likely innocents like Brunson have been caught in the net.
Guvener said he would be demanding police protection for Sunday mass. “The climate is such that we worry for the safety of our congregation,” he explained. Fellow clergy worldwide share those worries.

Lankford warned that the United States will be watching.
“Turkey should consider carefully how it handles the case of Pastor Brunson,” he wrote. “America cares deeply about how our people are treated across the world, and we are watching closely. …
America sees this both as a matter of religious freedom and safety for its citizens. If this is how Turkey treats an American like Andrew Brunson, other Americans will hesitate before taking their business to Turkey.”
Read More: http://www.almonitor.com/pulse/originals/2017/01/turkey-asks-trump-extraditegulen.html

Keep praying for Andrew and the situation.

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Dave