“The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit” (Psalm 34:18). For the past few weeks, my Finnish missionary colleague and friend Rev. Pasi Palmu and I have been assisting two Persians requesting emergency church asylum here in Germany. One case ended well (see my last two posts), but, unfortunately, we were not able to help the other man, an Iranian Christian who had requested asylum in another European country. He had two local pastors and a clever lawyer on his side, and his application process was advancing. But rather than await a probably positive outcome, he panicked. Someone had ill-advisedly suggested that he bolt from that country and come here. But even if his request for asylum in that country had failed, he would at least have received an official document ordering his deportation back to Iran. With that paper, he could have requested church asylum in Germany, after which he would probably have been granted asylum here. But since he fled, he never got that document—and that destroyed his chances in Germany. Rev. Pasi and I met with him several times but could never quite figure out why he had taken that poor advice. So, we asked him straight-up. He was afraid he might be arrested, he replied somewhat sheepishly. “But this is Europe! The police can’t arrest you before a verdict is handed down,” we tried to explain. Then Rev. Pasi put his finger on it: “He doesn’t realize that the European legal system is fair towards everyone,” he whispered to me. “He only knows Iran, where the police [IRGC, Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps] often act without restraint.” Sadly, traumatized people do sometimes act irrationally. Praise God, we know that the “Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit.” At the same time, we pray that Jesus Christ would still work out a temporal solution for this man. May he be spared deportation to his homeland, where a dire fate awaits those simply wishing to live out their Christian faith. And may He also have mercy on us all, as we try to help those in need amid difficult and confusing circumstances.
[Image: at a Hamburg McDonald’s, trying to work out a solution with the man].
The Tiews in Germany 