A Triumph For Christianity in Qatar

With Islam on the march and warpath it may seem hopeless sometimes for some, but God is still in control in this world. Nothing is impossible with Him. The truth will stand even in darkness.

In the last few weeks in e-mails and during a chat with my Turkish boyfriend, he has expressed a desire to become a Christian. He says he wants us to be the same, and since as he says he dislikes Muslims because they think only about war and killing, he says he prays to Jesus now. His grandfather came from Greece and his grandmother from Bulgaria. He also told me recently that one of his grandfather's grandparents were Christians but was forced to become a Muslim by the Ottomans. I feel guilty because I have not be dilligent in sharing my faith, even with him. Still despite my laxity, he seems to be discovering Christ on his own. On a personal level Christianity may be triumphing.

Today I found this article about the first church being established in the Arab Gulf nation of Qatar. Truly God is in control and the church and the truth will not be defeated by darkness:

Christians in Qatar will celebrate Easter this year in a church for the first time in 14 centuries.

Next month, the St. Mary’s Catholic Church will be among the first of a series of churches to open its doors in the Qatar capital of Doha. Anglican, Greek Orthodox, and Coptic churches are expected to soon follow.

"A few years ago, opening a church in Qatar was sort of impossible, but Qatar has changed since the coming of the new emir,” Italian ambassador Igantio Di Pashi recently told a local Qatari newspaper, noting the significance of the country’s first church since the 7th century. (Continue)

My Favorite Spot During My First Trip to Turkey

When I traveled to Turkey in May 2003 as a tourist, my favorite sacred spot that I was able to see in Istanbul was the church of St. Savior in Chora. The mosaics in this church (now museum) were to me masterpieces of Byzantine art. I also very was moved to see what looked to me like an artist's attempt to even portray the Holy Spirit. Information about the history of St. Savior can be read here.


Also you can see here frequent traveler to Turkey, Dick Osseman's photos of mosaics in the church.

For Christians who feel that YouTube is a worthless contaminant, these two videos from YouTube shows the usefulness of the site for Christians who seriously want to expand their knowledge of places and lands where Christianity was once the chief religion and where the love, hope, and peace of Jesus Christ must be taught again.

Knowing The One True God Alleviates Fear

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; For You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me. (Psalm 23:4) New King James Version

There is so much fear in the world now because so many people do not know the One True God. Fear drives people into murder and the biggest form of murder of all, war. Fear is causing people to close themselves off and not attempt to trust anyone. Fear is leading others down the road into intense depression. So many people live in fear on a personal, national, and international level.

I look daily at a blog written by a young Turkish guy who writes for a major newspaper in Istanbul, Turkey. I have traveled to Turkey 5 times, and have developed strong friendships with a number of people there. My boyfriend is Turkish and searching for God even without my help. He is a nominal Muslim, so perhaps the Holy Spirit in me has spurred him on to try and find the truth.

In Turkey I see a nation of people who are in a terrible spiritual struggle between secularists and Islamists. God and Satan are in a struggle for Turkish souls. There are a few Christians there to give off a little light, but in Turkey there is a form of opaque darkness. Turkey is where so much of the early church had its' home. Most American Christians do not know that New Testament books like Ephesians was written to the church in Ephesus which is in modern day Turkey.

Getting back to this young Turkish journalist who writes a political and cultural blog. I used to write on there, but he developed a very hostile, untruthful, and arrogant tone in his writing. When he eventually allowed a Turkish guy who lives here in the states, and who seems to be extremely bitter, paranoid, and hostile to begin writing there, I quit making comments. Over time this guy's blog has become an arena where he repeatedly expresses his four fears:

1.The European Union continues to drag its' feet on accepting Turkey as a full member.
2. Racism is rising worldwide, particularly against Turks in Germany.
3.The lie of the Armenian Genocide and the Armenian diapora's campaign against Turkey
4.The headscarf issue is the biggest issue in Turkey today.

For all his liberal and humane talk he never mentions the women, children, and old people who beg on the streets of Istanbul. He thrives on conspiracy theories against Turkey. I am African-American, and the word "racism" shows up on his blog more regularly than it does in my conversations in several months.

This poor guy shows obsessive tendencies, and it is really sad because he once wrote about art, literature, and Turkish history. Now all I see is helpless rage and pessimism. He is convinced that Germany is heading in the direction of another Kristallnacht and that the Neo-Nazis will take office in Germany and that there will be another Holocaust, but this time against Turkish Muslims. Are things really that bad in Germany? Anything can happen with people. But...

Then this guy starts about his fear that the present government in Turkey is moving the country down a path that will make it into another Iran ruled by imams. One of my best friends lives in Istanbul, and she voted for the Islamist party that is in power. She does not wear a headscarf, is educated, and does not feel that Turkey will become another Iran.

Over the past year since I began to follow his blog a blogger from the Netherlands who lives in Istanbul with his Turkish wife has tried to get him to see reason and to stop embellishing the truth. He has reached out to him, and even asked that they meet. This poor journalist seems to be so fearful and paranoid that he has yet to meet the older Dutch blogger.

Fear seems to have caused this blogger to not accept reality. A few weeks ago he made a post in which he claimed that only older Turks were addicted to smoking. This is totally untrue. There is huge concern because so many teenagers are addicted to nicotine there. When I worked in Istanbul, I would go upstairs to the canteen at our school where so many students, both male and female, would be smoking that the atmosphere in the area looked a smoky blue.

I had planned to write about something else here, but when I saw this blogger's entry for today, it did not touch me until a little later: Christina Who Saves The World. At first I laughed to myself because the title seemed so naive and childish, but then I thought "Christina" and then "Christ." Christ came in to the world to save it. He was promised by God from the very beginning after Adam and Eve fell. This little girl that this blogger is putting so much hope in CANNOT change the world or attitudes in her country permamently, only Christ CAN save this world. When I saw this title, I began to wonder if this was that blogger's silent outcry unknown even to him to the real God, not the Allah that he follows. I hope God is working on him.

This blogger and I used to exchange friendly e-mails about our common interests, but he always appeared to me as a young man who was very fearful. Even through a veneer of intellect, I saw a very weak side; a person who was stiff, lonely, and who was only comfortable with his education not really with people. I saw a person who believed he was tolerant of other opinions until someone disagreed with him. He seemed to have built a cocoon around himself, as one person commented the other day on his blog. It is really sad. I ask here that you pray for Emre (the name of this blogger) and his country and that the light of Jesus Christ can rescue so many people there who are searching and empty. Neither politics, the EU, the eradication of headscarves, their dead president who is also the secularist's God Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, or Allah can save Turkey.

Emre is not the only fearful Turk. I have met others in person who were fearful but unlike him were more humble and not quite as tormented.

Remember how often in The Bible that God would tell His people to "Fear not"? I wish Emre knew this.

"Fear not, neither be discouraged." (Deuteronomy 1:21) New King James Version