And mwith support from Danish European Mission's donors is Atilla in a project to produce high-quality videos about the Christian faith, as seen by many Young Turks. But he had a long walk before he came to faith himself. On a recent visit to Turkey, he told me after lunch about his faith journey.
How did you discover Christianity?
As a starting point, I was skeptically over My own beliefs, Islam. I felt a lack of miracles in Islam and began searching for other religions that had clear miracles. Believe it or not, the first video I saw was A video from the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagazaki. Everything was destroyed, except for one church. It left me with big question marks and from here I started to search for more specific for Christian miracles.
What did you do after all your searching?
I went to a church service, because I had read something about the Holy Spirit. I wanted to see it. But I didn't find it," says Atilla in a cheerful voice. Instead, I heard a sermon about Jesus. Jesus was a lamb, but also a shepherd. God, but at the same time Human. Nothing made sense For me. So I said to myself: "I may not understand the philosophy of Christianity, but I canObserve, that the Christianswas somehowdifferent compared to other people I had met."
You didn't find the Holy Spirit, but did you find anything else?
Yes, but only after some time. A priest told me that I should come to Jesus.
If I wasn't confused before, I was now!If only Jesus was somewhere you could get to?! After the service, the pastor came to see me, and he asked if I wanted to come to Jesus. Even though I didn't fully understand it, I wanted to. That's why talked vi For a long time. About the lamb and the shepherd. About the Jesus as God and man. The priest was himself a Turk and could therefore explain to me it into a Turkish context."
And then you came to Jesus - or what happened?
Yes! The priest explained to me that I could come to Jesus by praying. So we prayed. The priest prayed and I prayed after.That night, with the priest, I didn't feel anything. However, it happened tois something the following week. A Muslim friend of mine came to me and said:"Atilla. I saw you in a dream. You were dirty.t and were disappointed in yourself, but you were greeted by a man who came down from the sky. HHe made you happy and proud. He made you clean."I took confused Back toto the priest and explained to him what my mnon-Muslim friend had said to me. I didn't find any deeper meaning in it. Since prest Heard it smiledhebecause he understood it well: I had become a Christian!
The purpose ofthat it was a Muslim who had told me that I had become a Christian, I didn't understand. So I defined it like thisGod used the most unlikely man, a Muslim, to tell me that I had become a Christian!
How did your family react?
When I became a Christian 10 years ago, my family was disappointedt and angry. I had dishonored the family and shamed them all. It was difficult because my loved ones were shocked and wanted me to renounce my faith in Jesus. However, I was determined to remain a Christian.
As the years have passed my father has realized that I take my new faith seriously. However, I still dishonor them, just because I am not Muslim, but slowly they accept me. I strive to do good, to show them that I love them no matter what.
Do you share your faith with other?
In the beginning, I told everyone on my path that Jesus was real! Everyone should know, Jesus was alive! However, I realized, that it wasn't working and started making amateur videos. I filmed my friends' conversion stories in different locations. It was a great timebut Fortunately, today I work more seriously with it. I work to spread the gospel amongt Turkish youth via videos On the web, among others. Youtubethat Turkish youth find interesting. It is aexciting work for the glory of GodAtilla concludes.
Thank you to everyone who supports the production of Christian TV for Turkey.
