{"id":472,"date":"2015-06-02T12:59:24","date_gmt":"2015-06-02T09:59:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/atcmiddleeast.wordpress.com\/?p=472"},"modified":"2015-06-02T12:59:24","modified_gmt":"2015-06-02T09:59:24","slug":"reports-from-yerevan-what-god-is-doing-on-the-highway-now","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/derechavraham.org\/reports-from-yerevan-what-god-is-doing-on-the-highway-now\/","title":{"rendered":"Reports from Yerevan: What God is doing on the Highway now"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Turkish

Turkish and Armenian Christians pray at the Armenian Genocide memorial in Yerevan in April 2015.<\/p><\/div>\n

What follows is a series of testimonies given during the At the Crossroads gatherings in April by different Christian workers serving along the Isaiah 19 highway.<\/p>\n

In Armenia<\/h3>\n

An Armenian pastor washes the feet of a Turkish pastor. The Turkish pastor before had said to his Armenian brothers: “I have come here from Turkey – such a huge and wealthy country – to ask for your forgiveness. We have everything \u2026 except peace. Our hearts are hardened to the Gospel and I know it\u2019s because of the sins that my people have committed against you. So I come to you and I beg for your forgiveness and for your blessing upon our people – the blessing of repentance and forgiveness in Jesus\u2019 name.”<\/p><\/div>\n

A group of pastors and\u00a0leaders,\u00a0all involved in ministering on the Isaiah 19 Highway met in Yerevan, Armenia on April 13-18 for the\u00a0100th commemoration of the\u00a0Armenian Genocide (1915).\u00a0It was striking that many, if not most, of the participants were refugees: an Armenian Christian who grew up in Iran, but had to flee to Turkey; a Yezidi Kurd taking refuge in Armenia; a German Jew, whose father fled to the US, now living in Israel; a pastor in Cyprus housing in their church Palestinians\u00a0fleeing\u00a0from Yarmuk, Syria.<\/p>\n

The meeting in Yerevan\u00a0was\u00a0especially poignant because it was our Turkish brothers who had asked to meet\u00a0in Armenia in order to seek forgiveness for what their fathers had done to the Armenian people. After\u00a0morning reports about what God is doing around the region\u00a0(and worship in 5 languages), we visited\u00a0different churches. Our Turkish brothers asked for forgiveness at different congregations and in one church washed\u00a0the\u00a0feet of an Armenian pastor.<\/p>\n

From Iran<\/h3>\n

We are the servants of God. \u00a0And He the Father of all nations! \u00a0We give all glory to God who is doing great things. \u00a0I come from Iran. \u00a0You know, when God wanted to punish His people Israel, he sent them to Assyria. \u00a0When He wanted to bless them He used Iran. I believe Iran is the key for the evangelisation in the Middle East. \u00a0God has used the Persian\u00a0people\u00a0before to rebuild and I believe it’s the same today.<\/p>\n

\"Iran<\/h4>\n

Before the 1979 Revolution there were many missions, schools, hospital – but there were few Muslims coming to the Lord. After the Revolution – after the missionaries pulled out and the schools, churches, Bible Societies were closed – there are many more believers in Jesus! \u00a0Because of Islam hundreds and thousands of\u00a0Iranians are coming to Christ.\u00a0Missionaries\u00a0couldn’t do it, money couldn’t do it – But God’s love can! \u00a0 So\u00a0for our brothers in the West – \u00a0I pray for persecution!<\/p>\n

The Islamic leaders are shaking – they’re afraid.\u00a0Two years ago they closed the Farsi speaking churches because they don’t want Muslims coming\u00a0to Faith. But it’s happening.\u00a0When they try to force people to Islam, it backfires.\u00a0So I praise God for the Ayatollah and for the Revolution!<\/p>\n

Our God is a chess player.\u00a0He knows where and how to place people and things.\u00a0He’s in control.\u00a0Remember how God prepared Esther. He doesn’t wait for governments to repent – but He does wait for the church to wake up!\u00a0\u00a0We are under His government and He will show us the next step. But we must be ready and willing to move when and where He calls.<\/p>\n

I’ve been in prison many times – the last time was in 2013.\u00a0 Then I was called in and given 3 choices: 15 years in prison; become an informant; or leave the country. So I now live in Yerevan.\u00a0How many Christians are there in Iran? Only God knows.\u00a0People are coming to the Lord, but the churches\u00a0are being led by new believers. We need to train our leaders for this big moment. So let\u2019s pray for Iran – but we had better be ready!<\/p>\n

From Cyprus<\/h3>\n

Palestinian\/Syrian refugees fleeing from Yarmuk, Syria, are stranded in Cyprus after their boat sunk. They are now being housed and cared for in our church building.<\/p>\n

From Turkey<\/h3>\n

A donation from churches and congregations in Israel sponsored 15 Syrian Kurdish refugees (Muslim background believers) to attend a study centre to learn about the Father Heart of God and to experience inner healing.<\/p>\n

See below one of the responses when they learned their costs were supplied by a gift from Israel:<\/p>\n

I want to thank you very much.\u00a0<3<\/code> I hope to come to [Jerusalem]\u00a0<3<\/code> Thank you <3<\/code><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

From Armenia to Azerbaijan<\/h3>\n

On our visit to the 4th C. Geghard Monastery, Affan, one of our Turkish, former-Muslim\u00a0brothers\u00a0went up to one of the women selling sweets and souvenirs outside the walls. “She knew I was Turkish, but when I said I was a Christian, she exclaimed, “You’re Armenian!” Though we could hardly speak together, we could both speak the language of love.”<\/p><\/div>\n

My focus is Armenia and Azerbaijan. Most Armenians see themselves as the protector of Christianity against Islam and that the conflict with Azerbaijan is part of the Armenian Genocide. But we see God changing things. We are reaching out \u2013 not just talking about God – but about conflict. Everyone in the Middle East knows about \u201cthe Genocide\u201d and when they hear about Armenians reaching out, it\u2019s powerful. God said, \u201cBlessed are the peacemakers\u201d so we\u2019re bringing in the Peacemaker.<\/p>\n

From Istanbul<\/h3>\n

We are ministering to the poor and to drug addicts, and after 2 years we have 60 people in our church. God has taught us something – if a leader knows not to pray, he can\u2019t lead the people. So we are praying. I know that what is happening today is because of the prayers of the people before us. PRAYER opens doors. Even if Muslim countries are closed, the nations are spread around the world and we can reach out to them there. The nations are all around us!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What follows is a series of testimonies given during the At the Crossroads gatherings in April by different Christian workers serving along the Isaiah 19 highway. In Armenia A group of pastors and\u00a0leaders,\u00a0all involved in ministering on the Isaiah 19 Highway met in Yerevan, Armenia on April 13-18 for the\u00a0100th commemoration of the\u00a0Armenian Genocide (1915).\u00a0It […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1689,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","spay_email":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4,6],"tags":[19,29,34,50,90,107],"class_list":{"0":"post-472","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-practical-initiatives-updates","8":"category-regional-updates","9":"tag-armenia","10":"tag-christians","11":"tag-cyprus","12":"tag-iran","13":"tag-reconcilation","14":"tag-turkey"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/derechavraham.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/ATC-logo-featured.jpg?fit=1400%2C700&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paVWuv-7C","jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/derechavraham.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/472","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/derechavraham.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/derechavraham.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/derechavraham.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/derechavraham.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=472"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/derechavraham.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/472\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/derechavraham.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1689"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/derechavraham.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=472"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/derechavraham.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=472"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/derechavraham.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=472"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}