Saturday, September 5, 2009

A young man named Hope's story

Here in this country Hope is a man's name. I have been in contact with this young man for about 2 weeks now. He requested some books from the website so we sent them. After that he wanted another book so that is when we started correspondence. He said that he already believes in Jesus Christ as his Savior. This is what he says happened after that. This is all according to him. I have no reason to think he would be making it all up. All of this took place in about a 4 month period. One day his mother put the Koran in front of him and he pushed it aside and pulled out his New Testament. His mother called for his father and his father hit him and broke his jaw. Later they sent him off to a different city to sit at the feet of the teacher at the mosque. He still didn't change his mind and he was kicked out of his house. He went to another city where his grandpa lives and his grandpa gave him some traveling money. Sometime after he left his uncle and his dad came with a gun to supposedly kill him(His grandpa told him this. He had already left). He told the military police but they said they wouldn't interfere in family matters. Throughout this period he was attending a fellowship in Istanbul. He then came to the city that we moved to. The day he came was the exact day I happened to be in the city getting the electric and water turned on for our new apartment. He was at a bible study the night we met. He couldn't find work in this city so he went back to his city to try to find work. This is the time he contacted the website. Keep in mind we didn't know each other. Not until two days ago did I realize this was the same guy I had met just weeks ago. Now we have been corresponding. I have tried to encourage him with scripture. He told me Romans 14:8 really influenced him. Look it up. It is a good verse to remember. He wanted to know what repentance meant. To the best of my knowledge I explained to him what repentance means. There is a totally different concept of the meaning of repentance in Islam. Please pray for courage and strength for this young man and that I could be an encouragement to him.

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