Ep 51: Unwavering Faith (Part 1) – Christmas Reflections and Armenian Quest for Peace

"Join us as we first dissect the complex tapestry of Christmas. Transitioning from the well-trodden paths of Jerusalem, we then navigate the storied resilience of the Armenian Church, a testament to faith’s enduring flame."

PlayGrounds section:
Today's PlayGround section was recorded after our 'CHRISTMAS JOE' performance.
Vicken & Jeannette Keshishian, Bruce & Christine Momjian, Wilma Cholakian
Armenian Martyrs' Congregational Church
Havertown, PA
Website: https://www.amccpa.org/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/amccpa/

Armenian Mission Association of America
https://amaa.org/

Ever found yourself pondering the roots of Christmas amidst the tinsel and twinkling lights? Prepare to embark on a journey through time as we dissect the complex tapestry of this beloved holiday, from its potential pagan beginnings to its place in the hearts of Christians as the celebration of Christ's birth. Listen in as Fred David Kenney Jr., peels back the layers of commercialism, we invite you to reclaim the joy and peace at the core of Christ's birth, reflecting on the moment the shepherds witnessed the heavens heralding Jesus' arrival.

Transitioning from the well-trodden paths of Bethlehem, we navigate the storied resilience of the Armenian Church, a testament to faith's enduring flame. Our fellowship with the Armenian Martyrs Congregational Church in Havertown, PA, becomes a portal to the past, tracing the faith's arrival in Armenia through disciples Thaddeus and Bartholomew and the transformative influence of Saint Gregory the Illuminator. This chapter isn't just a history lesson; it challenges us to examine the depth of our personal faith and the Armenian community's intertwined identity with Christianity, which has weathered centuries of change.

The episode reaches a crescendo as we shine a light on the plight of the Armenian people in Artsakh, where recent conflicts have sown seeds of suffering and humanitarian needs. The stories of bravery and communal strength resonate deeply, bringing into focus the crucial work of organizations like the Armenian Missionary Association of America and Samaritan's Purse. By sharing the tales of these ancestors, we paint a picture of unyielding spirit and faith—a call to action for listeners to lend their support, be it through donations or the power of prayer. Join us in this profound episode as we extend our hands and hearts toward fostering peace and offering hope to those in need.

BONUS: Extended Interview Link

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Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Lord, you know, you listen on the place of word.

Speaker 2: 0:03

A radio is the best.

Speaker 3: 0:05

Yeah, it's. When you enter a church over there, it's different than entering the sanctuary here. We believe in Christ living in our temple, but they believe they're going to God's temple. It's a different thing. They need to hear the word. One of the famous things is we approached one man on the street and he said I'm a Christian, but I'm not a believer. Yeah, so they believe because they are born in an Armenian family.

Speaker 2: 0:29

It's an identity, I guess.

Speaker 3: 0:31

They are automatically a Christian.

Speaker 2: 0:40

Yeah.

Speaker 4: 0:59

Hello and welcome to plays on word radio, where we discuss, analyze, work and play on the word of God. That's right. Thank you for joining us on this excursion today. Yes, let's join Pastor Teddy, also known as Fred David Kenny Jr, the founder of plays on word theater, as he does a deep dive into the word of God. Amen.

Speaker 2: 1:20

Amen, amen, welcome to all you listening to plays on word radio. My name is Fred David Kenny Jr. Yes, welcome to you all as we continue in 2024. I just wanted to touch on a topic about Christmas. I set out many Merry Christmas notes to many people this year and said Merry Christmas to a lot of people. I had some dear brothers and sisters in Christ reply voicing concerns about celebrating Christmas because, as they say or said, it's pagan or it is quote of the devil. I have a dear brother that he was actually saddened by what I said Merry Christmas to him.

Speaker 2: 2:02

Now, no doubt there are problems that have infiltrated the concept of Christ's birth and the celebration that we call Christmas, the over commercialism or the commercialism itself, the emphasis on magic and the massive distortion of Saint Nicholas. Absolutely, I'll give you that. Yes, and probably the number one problem many people have is that December 25th is, was and is a pagan holiday. We'll get into that in a second. But Jesus was probably not born on December 25th. Yes, that news flash. He was probably not. Most likely he was not born on December 25th. We do not know when he was born. That Bible does not give us a date. A PhD friend of mine actually makes a compelling case that he was probably born in the fall and that's a whole nother story. Send me an email if you want to get a link on that. But the date is not as important as the event. You know refugees from war-torn lands many times. Well, they don't have any birth records not all of them but there are many instances of refugees that are coming from a war ravaged area where their records are trashed and are gone. And even adoption agencies that get a baby dropped on the doorstep don't have an exact date. And since the Bible does not give an exact date, we don't need an exact date. What the Bible gives is an event. Now, early Christians, they celebrated the Feast of the Annunciation or the Feast of the Incarnation, and basically that's when Gabriel rolled up to Mary or flute, I shouldn't say rolled up, it's not like he was driving a Cadillac or something, gabriel. He appeared before Mary and announced that she would give birth to the Messiah. This is found in Luke 1, verses 26 through 38. And it has traditionally been celebrated as March 25th. Now the Christians went nine months from that celebration, nine months to the day. Now pagans celebrate on December 25th, or they celebrated what they called it was a celebration for the birth of the Son S-U-N. The Son God, and we Christians celebrate the birth of quote the Son of God, and this celebration is the one you know. The second, the latter, is the celebration that the majority of the world continues to celebrate to this day. Yes, with many problems and a whole bunch of things that have infiltrated, but the birth of the Son of God is the celebration that people think of when you think of December 25th, and the Roman and Greek and pagan celebrations are basically all but forgotten. Yes, there are some that still celebrate it to this day, there are still pockets, but overwhelmingly, the world celebrates the birth of the Son of God, not the birth of the Son God. The other ones are basically forgotten in comparison.

Speaker 2: 4:58

Now, having said that, listen to this. Listen to what God has actually said in Luke 2, verse 8 through 20, listen to this. These two are sitting their mind in their own business, right? These shepherds. They're sitting there chilling. It's not like they have a lot to do. They're sitting there watching a sheep in the middle of the night.

Speaker 2: 5:13

And verse 8, it says and there were, in the same country, shepherds abiding in the field keeping watch over their flock by night and lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them and the glory of the Lord shone around them and they were sore, afraid. That means they were terrified, man, they were really afraid. Verse 10,. And the angels said unto them Fear not, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which shall be to all people, for unto you is born this day, in the city of David, a Savior which is Christ the Lord, and this shall be a sign unto you. Ye shall find the babe, wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger". Now, this is the part I really want to drill into, check this out.

Speaker 2: 5:57

Verse 13,. "and suddenly there was, with the angela, multitude of the heavenly hosts praising God and saying glory to God in the highest, and peace on earth, goodwill toward men". Verse 15,. "and it came to pass. As the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another Let us now go even unto Bethlehem and see this thing which has come to pass, which the Lord hath made known to us. And they came with haste". They weren't dragging their feet, man, yeah, they kicked it in, they kicked in the gears. "and they came with haste and they found Mary and Joseph and the baby lying in a manger". That was the sign.

Speaker 2: 6:38

Verse 17,. "and when they had seen it, they made known abroad the saying which was told to them concerning the child". Basically what the angel just told them. "and all they had heard, and all they that heard it, wondered at those things which were told them by the shepherds. But Mary kept these things and pondered them in her heart". Verse 20,. "and the shepherds returned glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told unto them".

Speaker 2: 7:13

Now, I don't know about you, but that's a straight-up celebration in a few different places. I mean a straight-up heavenly celebration. A party man. The heavens opened up and they saw multitudes and multitudes of the heavenly hosts proclaiming glory to God in the highest. That's a heavenly celebration. And then the shepherds celebrated when they found what the angel said to them was going to happen, when they found Jesus, and everybody was. Basically, it was a celebration, not of a date, of the event of the Messiah, the Savior that has come to save the world. That's the event and that's what. That's what we celebrate. Well, that's what we should celebrate, I should say.

Speaker 2: 7:59

Unfortunately, the opponents to Christmas and my dear brothers and sisters that won't even celebrate it. They are correct. The world has bastardized and ruined in many ways the concept, because you can have a Christmas party, a Christmas celebration, and Jesus isn't even thought of or mentioned. He's not even an afterthought, not so. It plays on word, though. No, we, when we do our Christmas Joe celebration, it is about the event of Christ coming into the world to save sinful mankind. It's about the event. It's not about jingle bells, it's not about Santa Claus although St Nicholas is a legit, real person. That's all another story.

Speaker 2: 8:41

It's about the event and one of the things that what I do when I get distracted, when I'm doing a play, if I get distracted say, some kid is acting crazy or some adult is making noise or there's distractions there usually are distractions, but when there's a serious distraction, one of the things I do is I get louder and I turn up my volume and I get louder so that I I'm the you know, the distraction does not take away from the word of God I get louder and turn my volume up and that's exactly what Christians did many, many, many centuries ago. They basically basically took over the celebration for the sun, god and they got louder. And the fact that the world celebrates Christmas, the birth of Christ, the church celebrates the birth of the Messiah, what? The date's not nearly as important as the event. That's that's my point. And hey, if you don't want to celebrate it in protest, okay, I mean, I'm not mad at you. What do you think? Well, I have some dear brothers and sisters that I know are listening to this right now that don't celebrate it. You're still my brother and sister in Christ. Hey, it's all good. You don't have to agree on everything.

Speaker 2: 9:55

However, I I would just say we can focus on the event, which is biblical, and we can just join the celebration that already happened and is happening. You know the heavenly celebration and the concept of the event of the Messiah. We can do that and and we and we can have an incredible Christmas, in fact, the best Christmas is I've ever had. We're not about, you know, getting gifts from from Target, walmart, amazon, anything like that, but just sitting with family and reflecting on, first of all, what God did when he sent His one and only Son into the world that whosoever would believe in Him would not perish, but would have eternal life. Drop the mic right there. That's enough to celebrate and that's, at least from the place-all-word perspective, is what Christmas is about. So one of the places that we recently visited yeah, we did.

Speaker 2: 10:50

Speaking of the date not being important, the general date is December 25th. Little Christmas a lot of people celebrate would be January 6th, I believe, and that's when traditionally some people believe that the wise men showed up and all that. You know, that's a whole another podcast for a whole whole. Another day, a whole, a whole another episode.

Speaker 2: 11:16

But we went recently to the, to a church, and we did our Christmas Joe presentation and celebration, because it's a concert of hymns that celebrate the birth of Christ, not jingle bells, it's a, you know, we're celebrating the birth of Christ and we went to the Armenian Martyrs Congregational Church in Havartown, pa, which is basically Philly. It is Philly. We went there and we had it at just a tremendous time of fellowship. It was fantastic, a great time of fellowship, and we got to spend some time with some of the leaders of the church there and we interviewed them for the playgrounds section of the Plays on Word radio and so let's just jump in. I know you guys are gonna be blessed, I know you're gonna be blessed by this. We're gonna get a little history up in here and hear about some other brothers and sisters in Christ, so check this out. Okay, can you say your?

Speaker 3: 12:11

names, and my name is Vika, and Keshishian, and that's why we call you Vick. You can call me Vick.

Speaker 5: 12:18

And I'm Christine Momjan, or Momjan in English. I'm Bruce Momjan.

Speaker 2: 12:24

And Jinmit Keshishian. Can you guys tell me about the Armenian church?

Speaker 3: 12:30

What do you exactly want to know? The history of the church.

Speaker 2: 12:32

Yeah, because the people listening might not know. And there's a rich history. Give me bullet points, take me back to 301. There you go, 301.

Speaker 3: 12:40

AD, 301 AD times where Christianity came to Armenia and this is from what I know is Tadios and Bartolomis.

Speaker 2: 12:51

Tadios and Bartolomis were there. Yeah, yes, came originally from the disciples.

Speaker 3: 12:55

Yeah, and there were the original 12.

Speaker 2: 12:57

The original 12.

Speaker 3: 12:58

Came to Armenia so and from what I read is there were some people who were turned into Christianity, but what happened is during time of King Dirtad. He was a sick man and at the same time Gregory the illuminator, who he had put him in a pit.

Speaker 5: 13:17

but it was the king's wife that said, here's a holy man, he can kill.

Speaker 2: 13:21

Oh, okay, and he was.

Speaker 5: 13:23

Christian, saint Gregory was a.

Speaker 3: 13:24

Christian. Oh, okay, okay, he was in a pit and maybe she was involved in feeding him too, and taking care of him.

Speaker 5: 13:29

Well, that's right, because we left him 14 years ago.

Speaker 3: 13:30

So I'm just giving it very yes condensed.

Speaker 1: 13:33

So the finally, and you can still visit the pit Really. Yes, the pit, we've all been there, I think.

Speaker 2: 13:40

Yeah, we're trying to go.

Speaker 1: 13:41

Yeah okay.

Speaker 2: 13:42

When I go, I'm gonna FaceTime you guys or I'm gonna video call and be like I'm here.

Speaker 3: 13:47

So finally the king agreed so when he changed and accepted Christ, the Christianity at that time, since he was the king, so I was able to do it as the religion of the nation you wanna call it, and that was the first.

Speaker 2: 14:01

that was the first technically Christian nation.

Speaker 3: 14:04

They still go on that, they still say we're the first Christian nation. But at that time it was, and now I think it needs some work.

Speaker 2: 14:13

So yeah, there's a long history of Christianity but the in-between now and back then there's been a lot of ups and downs.

Speaker 3: 14:21

So I mean I give you a little brief. Since I lived overseas and I lived here, I just look at different needs as people have, what different things they look for. I guess the churches in Armenia were mostly built outside the city, away from the city, in the mountains, where it's hard to get to, and the first year I went there it just didn't make sense. Like why do you build a church where nobody could go, but they were a refuge place when they were attacked. That's what they used to go. So it's like different needs of. Yeah, it's, when you enter a church over there it's different than entering the sanctuary here. We believe in Christ living in our temple, but they believe they're going to God's temple and it's a different thing and it needs a lot. They need to hear the word it's. One of the famous things is one man. We approached him on the street and he said I'm a Christian but I'm not a believer. So they believe because they are born in an Armenian family.

Speaker 2: 15:28

Identity, I guess.

Speaker 3: 15:29

They are automatically a Christian, yeah.

Speaker 2: 15:31

I give an example of that. When I do my sharing of the gospel, I usually give an example. I say listen, there's a Midas, a Minakir Midas, right down the street. There it's an auto repair shop. If I was to go and spend the night in that auto repair shop, do you think I would ever wake up and be a car?

Speaker 4: 15:50

And everybody laughs. Just like that they're like, yeah, that's ridiculous.

Speaker 2: 15:53

I said, unfortunately, many people that think they're Christians think so because they spend time at church or they go to church. But going to church does not put you in the family of God. It has to be between you and him. You have to have a relationship with him, and so it's a similar type of thing and I've seen it in other places around the world also.

Speaker 1: 16:13

And this church is an offshoot of that, because in the mid-1800s missionaries, protestant missionaries, came to Armenia and brought the full gospel to. Armenia and a large number of people in all of our ancestors, I believe, became Christians through that process. There was some martyrdom at that time because obviously something about people being burned in a building. When was this?

Speaker 2: 16:37

1844?

Speaker 5: 16:40

1847 years ago.

Speaker 2: 16:51

That was right in the midst of the Ottoman Empire. And then what's interesting now?

Speaker 1: 16:57

and we've all been part of this, is that the full gospel is being brought to Armenia through the Armenian evangelical church so although we still have the state church, which everyone kind of feels like they're a member of, but it's like sleeping in a winery place. A lot of the growth and the activity is in the evangelical church. So we went to a small town near Gordy's, near Azerbaijan, and the Armenian official church is a tiny church that only has 15 people on for a Sunday and the week we were there they had a Wednesday noon prayer meeting with 26 people and we had another six people joining the church on Sunday. So when I talk to at dinner time to people who were not evangelical, I'm like, like why is your church so small?

Speaker 1: 17:46

This is a big town. Like imagine a town this size and there's one church. Like we've got three churches within, like you could probably throw to right. Like imagine a town that size and only one church. And he said well, you know, the mother church doesn't care about these smaller towns, but the evangelicals, of course, care about souls. So we're. There's a lot of outreach from the capital and also around all of the 26 evangelical churches in the country and revival is coming through those.

Speaker 2: 18:14

Are you saying, are you seeing fruit? You were just there, right? I mean, are?

Speaker 3: 18:16

you seeing seeing because I'm telling you, the gospel of Jesus Christ is the power in the.

Speaker 2: 18:22

Greek it's the dunamis is the word. The power for everybody who believes first, but it's you then for the Greek, and in the gospel of righteousness is revealed. It's the gospel of Christ that changes people.

Speaker 1: 18:35

That's right, we saw it. We were there in July. We technically went to visit one family who had needed medical treatment and visited us years, a few years ago.

Speaker 1: 18:43

But, one time we got there and we got to talk to the pastor and understand what they're doing. We spent more time really encouraging the pastoral staff and sort of understanding what they're doing. Same thing at the school. Same thing, and we're not going there to find out what your numbers are or what your budget looks like. We're trying to work out we pray for you what are your challenges and to help them see that they're not alone in some of this.

Speaker 2: 19:06

That's exponential. Heavenly work right there to encourage people on the ground and encourage God's workers, because I tell you, we all need encouragement. Bravo to you guys for doing that. Just a smile can go a long way to let somebody know that God has not forgotten them. That's right.

Speaker 5: 19:24

That's basically what he said. The pastor in Sisyon. He said Badvii Arman. He said do you coming here shows that you are praying, you care about us and that you haven't forgotten us.

Speaker 2: 19:37

So yes, that is so good and in many ways you guys were the face, the hands and the feet of God. Some people are on the edge and they're like Lord, please help give me a sign that you care. And so just by you guys going, you were God's hands and voice to encourage somebody, another brother. That's eternal type stuff.

Speaker 3: 19:59

Yeah. So it took me a while to understand that. It's like people ask me what do you go and do there and I tell them I don't know. I should, I shouldn't say that. Whatever God, amen, amen and people tell me things from 10, 15 years ago. You did this, you did that and I've forgotten all those stuff.

Speaker 2: 20:21

They didn't forget, and you know what else. Neither has God. First Corinthians 1558. You guys look it up when you get a chance. 1558, that's for anybody who's ever given a smile to somebody.

Speaker 3: 20:32

I grew up a lot going to Armenia. I remember times where I snickered at a request they had, yeah. Then I regretted my snickers and what I was thinking, what I was altering, or I mean they. They came and they said they, they need a kindergarten in one of the villages and I'm on a ladder wiring I'm listening to this conversation way in another room and but what I knew is that they used to have a kindergarten and the mayor sold it to somebody and I'm laughing. I said do you want a kindergarten? I know what happened to the old one, but I guess God had a plan. In about a year the next year, we bought a piece of land and in another year we built a kindergarten. So so I don't do that anymore.

Speaker 2: 21:23

That's why. So every question far as the people listening to this radio program right now what would you like them to know about what's going on? It's been since 2020. I mean, you could go back, there's all different types of events, but my buddy, wayne, is married to an Armenian girl and I remember I think it was 2020. We had long conversations. He's like you're not going to believe it. He was going to rallies in California. Where can you maybe explain what happened? Because there are people that have no clue, because the media has dropped the ball on sharing the information of the plight of Armenians.

Speaker 5: 21:56

So Azerbaijan is a Muslim country. Armenia is not, and there's a side. The way the land was I don't want to go too much into the history, but the way the land was broken up years ago by non-Armenians was that there was a section that was mostly Armenian that was put in Azerbaijan proper, which is called Artsakh, which you may also be here as Nagorno-Karabakh, and then you have Armenia proper. So, but the 120,000 individuals in Nagorno-Karabakh are Armenian. They've been there for centuries. Wow, 120.

Speaker 4: 22:36

There's monasteries.

Speaker 5: 22:39

There's presence, there's history in that land that these are Armenians, and so there was some skirmishes around that in September of 2020, which was the war you're referring to and I believe that's when the situation in Ukraine started, wasn't it? And so the news was on Ukraine, which I'm not saying it shouldn't be but.

Speaker 5: 23:02

Azerbaijan took advantage of the timing, came in and there was a war there and at that time Armenians in Armenia also sent men to fight to help their brothers and sisters in Artsakh. So there were a lot of lives lost in Armenia proper as well. And when we went to the village of Sisyan this July to visit that family, next to the church the mother church there was a cemetery for the soldiers who died and this young family. He's in his mid-30s. He was. He did not serve in the military because of health issues. He was excluded. But we went through and in traditional style the gravestones have an engraving of the individuals.

Speaker 5: 23:53

It's almost like a picture on the granite, so you can see rows upon rows of these young men, 18 to early 30s, and he knew almost all of them and he put his as we walk by, he put his hand. This person is this, this one I grew up with. This one has two young children, this one and we just went rows by rows and it was. It's hard to reconcile to that and you can almost feel the guilt in him as he's walking through because he didn't have to serve and he has a family as well.

Speaker 5: 24:27

So that happened. Then lives were lost and there was some hurt and at that time one of the organizations I'm on the board with, the Armenian Missionary Association of America was helping and trying to help the situation in humanitarian ways. And then fast forward to a little over a year ago. There's a little few miles corridor, the Lichon corridor, between Armenia proper and Artsakh where supplies can go back and forth. Azerbaijan closed that corridor so Artsakh was cut off from food fuel.

Speaker 1: 25:02

I remember everything.

Speaker 2: 25:04

I remember literally cut off.

Speaker 3: 25:06

No air, no air.

Speaker 5: 25:07

Yeah, they wouldn't even allow Red Cross to come in, so you're basically watching these people starve.

Speaker 1: 25:12

Yeah, it's really easy to get discouraged when you see that. You see, as you're saying, 100,000, yeah, 100,000 had to leave.

Speaker 5: 25:19

So you now have this country that is feeling pain themselves because they lost brothers and sisters and husbands, brothers and sons and husbands. So now we're absorbing this 100,000 who have come in. Imagine having to pack up whatever you have into, whatever you can fit in a car if you have a car and just leave you left behind your ancestral home, your farms, everything you leave and some people they can't start over. If you have someone in their 50s and older, how do you restart again? It's, how do you absorb those people?

Speaker 5: 25:55

to give them housing, to give them land, to give them farms. Not all of them can do the city. The city has a lot of resources. It's like there's museums, cultural events. Yerevan is very.

Speaker 1: 26:10

And the AMA is helping missionaries Very comfortable. The AMA association is helping with that and there's other groups helping. We had the explosion at the gas station as they were fleeing. We had the Samaritans first came in to do all the operations for the people at Burns.

Speaker 2: 26:29

And it was an explosion.

Speaker 5: 26:30

So, as they were fleeing, there was an explosion at the gas station.

Speaker 1: 26:34

Gas stations don't just explode. No, these are. This is not propane. This is. It's a special type of gas. It's actually explosive.

Speaker 3: 26:47

Probably it was both natural gas. Natural gas is.

Speaker 1: 26:52

And the way they built them. They have, when you get gas filled up, everyone who's in the car is supposed to go to another location while the gas is being filled and they have barriers between it. So they know that it's dangerous, right, natural gas.

Speaker 5: 27:04

But again it was an explosion. I don't know how many of them.

Speaker 1: 27:08

How many people were injured in this Over?

Speaker 5: 27:10

300, had 80% of the body.

Speaker 1: 27:12

Oh my goodness.

Speaker 5: 27:13

And on top of this, you don't have hospitals that you can access, you don't? So Shinet Lee, a board member from the AMAA, knows a board member. Through Samaritan's Purse. They sent doctors for over four weeks doing nonstop surgeries, seven surgeries a day on. These burn patients.

Speaker 1: 27:31

They basically airlifted a hospital. I saw them unloading the cargo plane yeah, the Purse is huge, yeah, big operation and they basically opened the side of this plane and all outcomes, all of the medical equipment.

Speaker 5: 27:43

There are, says, doctors.

Speaker 1: 27:44

And they just we did a medical thing, but it was tiny compared to the scope of this thing. But yeah, it's really easy to just get discouraged from this. But you look back on the whole history of Armenian and you even look at this church and you're like God has not forgotten you. We just feel like he's still rooting for us. He still wants us what was the?

Speaker 2: 28:06

young kid's name Mason Mason. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 4: 28:09

He's an inspiration.

Speaker 5: 28:10

Yeah, yeah yeah.

Speaker 2: 28:13

He's a young super. You know as much as you think. Okay, we're down, you're not out.

Speaker 1: 28:16

God's still on the throne. You gotta fixate on that.

Speaker 2: 28:19

If somebody wanted to learn more or possibly help out in some kind of way, would it be the missionary of? Where would they go?

Speaker 5: 28:26

I would say, Viken can also share, but I would say the AMAAorg.

Speaker 2: 28:30

AMAAorg yeah.

Speaker 5: 28:31

Go there. There's many resources. They can point you to.

Speaker 2: 28:34

That stands for Armenian Missionary Association of America.

Speaker 5: 28:41

And so, by serving on the board, I know that the work is being done, it's good, it's legit, so I can see for them. There is a need, there is a huge need still, and so you can support that way. Prayer is great.

Speaker 2: 28:56

Amen. Everybody listening to this can do that. Amen, amen. That is all the time that we have. We're going to continue this next week, though. We're going to continue with this interview and we actually have a little bit more to add to it, but until we get together again next week, may the Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. The Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.

Speaker 4: 29:49

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