A Legacy of Forgiveness: The Story of Thomas Emmanuel Hermiz

What do you do when the bottom drops out on your life and everything you hold dear is taken from you? Persecution and extreme adversity can easily result in bitterness, withdrawal, and distrust. Being a target of unthinkable atrocities can do that.

We would certainly understand if Thomas Hermiz (1911-1996), a twice-orphaned young boy in present-day Turkey, chose to isolate himself from people and embrace the life of a lone wolf. As he was unable to escape the horrific images of his childhood, we can imagine how he might have sought to escape such horror. But as his wife, six children, and decades of ministry attest―that is not the legacy he left.

Rather than taking the more natural opportunity to avenge, condemn, or hate, he chose to do the most loving thing a minister of Christ can do: share the hope of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Although the horrifying details contained in this book are hard to fathom, this is Thomas’s story, written by his son John in collaboration with Mary Esther, Thomas’s daughter. Their hope is that their father’s poignant story will serve as powerful encouragement to believers everywhere―to hold fast to the Lord Jesus Christ and forge faithfully ahead to the glorious reward promised to those who love Him deeply and trust Him to the end.