Mission Turkey:
Why The Church Needs To
Evangelize Turkey
Islam and Geography
No one can ignore the threat Islam poses to our world
today especially the Christian missionary. It is interesting to note as well that the many unreached people
for Christ are under the Islamic curtain.
According to Olson Islam is:
…the
most widespread of the world’s religions and is found significantly on two
continents and expanding into others.
It is the largest of the world’s religions (other than Christianity)
with over a billion adherents. It
is unique among non-Christian religions in that it not only claims to be the
only true religion, but it has followed up that claim by a sense of world
mission that the other religions lack.
This
means that if we as the church Universal are able to focus on any area with
zeal and organization it ought to be a Muslim area. Olson follows the above statement with the argument that
Islam cannot be addressed as a geographical phenomenon but a global one. This means that there is no
geographical area to focus on but instead a sense of world mission to
Muslims. While this is important
to be committed to it does not preclude the fact that ideas have their source. Mormons are influenced and encouraged
everywhere but predominately in Salt Lake City Utah. If I were intent on really making a difference in the Mormon
world I would want to win Salt Lake City to Christ and let newly converted
Mormons lead Mormons to Christ. In
the same vein, win Muslims to Christ and set them free to reach their own
people and we will see a third of the world evangelized. This is simplistic logic at best but in
attempting to pinpoint any area of need in missions it seems important to address
the places where people are in numbers.
In this case Islam is the center of the unevangelized. It is the job of any sending
agency to ascertain where that center is.
It is the contention of this paper that Turkey is the best spot to focus
on in terms of Muslim outreach that can literally impact the globe.
There
are essentially three schools of thought when it comes to reaching Muslims for
Christ. One idea is to race
against the sword of Islam to reach areas that have not been reached or
affected by this group. The second school of thought is to ignore and avoid
Muslims in giving the Gospel thinking that they are just too hard. These two ideas seem to be the modus
operandi of the church for the last bunch of years. The third idea is to engage Islam at the source and see
converts from the heart of the system that could then affect change from the
inside out. Paul took this
approach in that he went to the cities and not simply villages to ply his
evangelistic mission. The idea was
that the people from the cities would spread and consequently spread the Gospel
with them. This is precisely what
happened and what can still happen today.
Paul also challenged the major religious systems of the day at the highest
forums possible going directly to the source. Though he was in chains he went to the very seat of power in
the Roman Empire and gave the gospel.
Today in thinking about evangelizing Muslims Paul’s approach seems
best. Where then should we focus?
There
is an interesting book recently released by a secular geopolitical historian
named George Friedman. In his
fascinating book called The Next Hundred Years, he lays out from a purely geopolitical, secular
perspective where he believes the seat of Islamic power will reside. The point of his book is not focused on
this subject but instead is focused on the subject of examining history
according to geographical realities and broad global trends and patterns to
examine and lay out a possible scenario of the next hundred years. Friedman has from a purely secular
perspective laid out the geopolitical realities, a sort of forest rather than
trees outlook, of the movement that is Islam. He makes the case that Iran and Iraq are merely spasms that
are the result of the fall of the communist Soviet Union. His basic argument is that the Soviet
Empire held the warring Middle East in check and inadvertently created a sort
of stalemate in this area. What we
are seeing today, according to Friedman is the result of unintended
consequences. His point is not
that it is unimportant but in terms of geographical history it is
inconsequential. The real threat
from Islam he believes will come from an Islamic superpower. He examines three possible areas for
this super power to rise up.
According to Friedman:
Indonesia,
the largest Muslim state in the world, is in no position to assert itself. Pakistan is the second largest Muslim
state. It is also a nuclear
power. But it is so internally
divided that it is difficult to see how it could evolve into a major power or,
geographically, how it could spread its power, bracketed by Afghanistan to the
west, China and Russia to the north, and India to the east. After Indonesia and Pakistan there are
three other major Muslims nation-states.
The largest is Egypt with 80 million people, Turkey is second with 71
million people, and Iran is third with 65 million.
He
rejected Egypt as a potential superpower based on it recent failure to become
leader of the Islamic world under Gamal Abdel Nasser who consequently
antagonized key players like the Saudis. Given its insularity, isolation and
poor economy it is hard to see Egypt as a major player on the world stage. Iran is summarily rejected based on bad
geography, being surrounded by opposing forces and by a general bad reputation
by the United States. In short if
one were playing the game of Risk,
Iran is in a bad spot to be a power in the long term.
Turkey
is a different story altogether.
Having the seventeenth largest economy in the world with a GDP of about
660 billion it is a force to be reckoned with. Turkey is not only a major world economy but also the
largest in the region giving it the ability to grow without threat on the
borders. Again using the Risk analogy it can move in many different directions and
can remain off the radar of the United States because it poses no threat to
us. It does not, like Iran, have
to devote resources to protect and defend against the United States and so it
can grow and reemerge in its old role, as the dominant force in the region.
There
is one more factor making Turkey a viable candidate for the global super
Islamic power and that is its history.
According to Wikepedia.com:
The Ottoman Empire or Ottoman State (Ottoman Turkish: دولتْ
علیّه عثمانیّه Devlet-i ʿAliyye-i ʿOs̠māniyye,[3] Modern Turkish: Osmanlı İmparatorluğu or
Osmanlı Devleti), also known by its contemporaries as the Turkish Empire or
Turkey (see the other names of the Ottoman State), was an empire that lasted
from 1302 to November 1, 1922[4] (as an imperial monarchy) or July 24, 1923[5]
(de jure, as a state.) It was succeeded by the Republic of Turkey,[6] which was
officially proclaimed on October 29, 1923
At the height of its power (16th–17th century), it
spanned three continents, controlling much of Southeastern Europe, Western Asia
and North Africa. The Ottoman Empire contained 29 provinces and numerous vassal
states; some of which were later absorbed into the empire, while others gained
various types of autonomy during the course of centuries. The empire also
temporarily gained authority over distant overseas lands through declarations
of allegiance to the Ottoman Sultan and Caliph, such as the declaration by the
Sultan of Aceh in 1565; or through the temporary acquisitions of islands in the
Atlantic Ocean, such as Lanzarote (1585).[7]
The empire was at the centre of interactions between
the Eastern and Western worlds for six centuries. With Constantinople
(Istanbul) as its capital city,[8][9] and vast control of lands around the
eastern Mediterranean during the reign of Suleiman the Magnificent (ruled 1520
to 1566), the Ottoman Empire was, in many respects, an Islamic successor to the
Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire.
Friedman
says that today Turkey is an internally complex society, containing a secular
regime protected by a military charged with keeping peace as the culture moves
towards Islam. It is precisely this fact that causes
the United States to taut Turkey as the model of Islamic democracy a dubious
term that ignores the real threat that is Islam. Ultimately however the subject is not the government of
Turkey but its future center of Islamic power.
The Future Radical Ottoman Empire
As we see today, even though Turkey is run by a
secular government granting “religious freedom,” the reality is quickly
changing. Turkey is becoming daily
more radical and is less and less the model of tolerance our government
promotes. Turkey is beginning to
radicalize and is perfectly poised to spread radical Islam to the whole
world. One blogger commented
on the radicalization of the government of Turkey with these words:
The Turkish military has announced joint military
maneuvers with Syria. That means a NATO ally is working more closely--and to
some extent revealing military equipment and tactics--to a country that
sponsors Hamas, Hizballah and the Iraqi insurgents killing U.S. soldiers in
Iraq; orders terrorist attacks in Lebanon to assassinate political and military
figures there; wages war on Israel, and just got caught building a covert
nuclear weapons' building installation in conjunction with North Korea and
Iran… Turkey's regime has moved toward Iran, ignoring international sanctions,
in no small part due to energy needs. Yet the improvements of relations go well
beyond that. The latest step in rapprochement with the Iran-led alliance is the
announcement that Turkey and Syria, Iran's ally, will stage joint military
exercises for the first time, April 27-29…. While
Turkey is a NATO member, Syria is an Iranian bloc member and a sponsor of
terrorism in its own right. This is one more step in the erosion of any serious
effort to build an alignment against the growing power of the Iran-Syria
alliance and should be treated seriously. Unfortunately, Western enthusiasm
about Turkey as the perfect example of a Muslim-majority state being a
democracy and illusions about Syrian moderation will prevent this from
happening.
This
is significant on a geopolitical scale but it is the regular person on the
street commentary that paints a clearer picture. Daniel Blake, from Christian Today had this to write:
The three Christians who were martyred in Turkey last
week were horribly tortured for three hours prior to being killed, Christian
Today has learned, as details continue to emerge.
According to the Washington-DC based human rights
group International Christian Concern, the three were put through a horrific
ordeal which included multiple stabbings before finally being killed.
An ICC statement tells: "As difficult and
sorrowful as it is to learn more, we believe that we must expose the truly
hellish nature of this attack for what it is."
On Easter Sunday, five of the killers had been to a
service that one of the victims, Pastor Necati, had arranged in the city of
Malatya. The men were known to the believers as "seekers".
These young men, one of whom is the son of a mayor in
the Province of Malatya, are part of a tarikat, or a group of "faithful believers"
in Islam, ICC has learned.
"Tarikat membership is highly respected; it's
like a fraternity membership," ICC has stated. "In fact, it is said
that no one can get into public office without membership in a tarikat."
On the day of the killing, the young Muslim men had
arranged to meet the Christians at 10 am to learn more about the Bible.
"They had gathered guns, breadknives, ropes and
towels - they knew there would be a lot of blood - ready for their act,"
ICC said.
The
violence that is seen today in Turkey mirrors perfectly the Koran which begins
by calling for tolerance of the Christians and Jews but ends with the cutting
off of their heads. Literally by
the end of Mohammed’s life it was said of him that he met no person that he did
not either kill or convert.
Further even in the United States what most people are not aware of is
the threat moderate Islam poses.
There is really no such thing as moderate Islam because the doctrine
of abrogation, a doctrine stating
that later suras are to override and supercede earlier ones, means that the
peaceful loving sections are abrogated with the calls to “kill the
infidel.” This is an obvious fact
for any religious Muslim and leaves the Muslim either believing in a violent
religion of war or a bipolar religion making no sense. This fact was brought out during a Fox
News interview with the Son of Hamas, a man recently converted to Christianity
who is speaking out against Islam and Hamas. Further, in the ecumenical stage that is being set here in
the United States and Europe many have no idea that the Muslim spokespersons
can lie with a clear conscience to the infidels giving them incentive to
promote the peacefulness of Islam which is simply not real. When Islam is followed the people that
have religious freedom will see themselves under attack. Take the following shocking example:
In a
bizarre show of Turkish nationalism, a young Muslim here took a Christian Turk
at knife point, draped his head with the national flag and threatened to slit
the throat of the “missionary dog” in broad daylight earlier this week. Yasin Karasu, 24, held Ýsmail Aydýn,
35, hostage for less than half an hour on Monday (Aug. 3) in a busy district on
the Asian side of Istanbul in front of passersby and police who promptly came to
the scene. “This is Turkey, and
you can’t hand out gospels,” he yelled, according to the daily newspaper
Haberturk. “These godless ones without the true book are doing missionary
work.” About 99 percent of
Turkey’s population is at least nominally Muslim, and in the popular mindset
the religion is strongly connected with being Turkish. Karasu threatened to slit Aydin’s
throat if anyone came near him and commanded those watching to give him a
Turkish flag. Within minutes, Aydin told Compass, bystanders produced two
flags. Karasu, who has known Aydin for a year, wrapped the larger of the two
flags around Aydin’s head, making it difficult for him to breathe in heat that
reached the low 30s Celsius (90s F) this week. “Do you see this missionary dog?” he yelled at the crowd.
“He is handing out gospels and he is breaking up the country!” Karasu placed the smaller flag in
Aydin’s hand and commanded him to wave it. “Both flags came at the same time,” Aydin told Compass. “The
big one he put very tightly over my head, and in the heat I couldn’t
breathe.” The whole time Karasu
held a large knife to Aydin’s throat.
“You missionary dogs, do you see this flag?” he said, commanding Aydin
to wave the flag. “This is a holy flag washed in the blood of our
fathers.” Aydin said he told
Karasu, “Yasin, in any case this flag is mine as well! I’m a Turk too, but I’m
a Christian.” Karasu insisted that
Aydin was not a Turk because he had betrayed the Turkish flag and country by
his evangelism, according to Aydin.
Aydin said he told Karasu, “No, Yasin, I’m a Turk and I’m waving this
flag with love. This is my flag. I’m a Turk.” He said Karasu replied, “No, you
can’t be – you are breaking up the country, and I won’t allow it.” Police managed to convince Karasu to
put down the knife and release Aydin, telling him that if he killed the convert
Turkey would be ridiculed around the world, and that as a last resort they were
authorized to shoot to kill him.
It
is clear that Turkey is central in its power and radical in its movement. With 98 percent of the country being
Muslim it seems clear that this is an area of great evangelical need.
Missions in Turkey Today
In
light of these stories is difficult to ascertain the realistic mission work
going on in Turkey today. For example,
when the story of the young Muslim from Hamas previously mentioned came public
with his story there were assurances passed around in the Southern Baptist
circles that “we have stuff going on in turkey right now shhh.” This is all well and good but it
leaves one with the real problem of not knowing what impact if any that is
being felt there from the missions work.
One evangelical spokesman in turkey had this to say:
"Actually,
the state might be secular, but it's not making that distinction in its activities,"
said Isa Karatas, spokesman for Turkey's perhaps 80 evangelical Protestant
churches. Until religious
minorities succeeded in changing the law, Turkey required Christians and Jews
to study Islam in the religion classes that are compulsory in Turkish schools
from the fourth grade. The state has confiscated hundreds of church properties,
only recently returning portions under pressure from the European Union, which
Turkey is trying to join. With
perhaps 100,000 Christians in a population of 70 million, Turkey officially
tolerates and protects faiths other than Islam. Unlike Afghanistan, which last
month threatened to execute a Christian convert, the country has no laws
barring Muslims from leaving the faith or against attempts to lure them away. Yet Turkish police charged 293 people
with "missionary activity" from 1998 to 2001, a state minister told
parliament recently. People who place calls to Christian groups operating
inside Turkey are warned against uttering the word "missionary" on an
open phone line.
Olson
brings light to the fact that the problem faced in these areas is whether to
try to reach Muslims through the dead Armenian, Coptic, or Syrian churches or
whether to start over. Today with many missionaries going into
the region as “tentmakers” there is word of indigenous churches starting but
again this is hard to quantify.
Regardless of the specific numbers it is clear that this is an area not
being impacted for Christ.
What Can Be Done?
The irony of the whole contention of this paper is
that one of the very places Paul began, Ephesus, is where this paper believes
we ought to begin again. Ephesus which is located near the Aegean Sea in modern
day Turkey, was one of the great cities of the Greeks in Asia Minor and home to
the Temple of Artemis, one of the Seven Wonders of the World. Today, the ruins of Ephesus are a major
tourist attraction, especially for travelers on Mediterranean cruises.
According to the Tyndale Concise Bible Commentary:
Paul first visited Ephesus on his second missionary journey (Acts
18:19). He also spent between two and three years of his third journey in
Ephesus (Acts 19:8–10; 20:31). He left the city during a riot caused by silver
craftsmen who felt their religion and trade were being threatened (Acts 19:24–28;
20:1). Paul later visited with the Ephesian elders at Miletus on his journey to
Jerusalem (Acts 20:17–38).
The city ranked with Alexandria and Antioch of Syria as one of the most
important cities of the eastern Mediterranean Roman world. It was a port city
located on the Cayster River, three miles from the Aegean. It was an important
city commercially as the starting place of a great overland trade route to the
east.
Ephesus was the worship center of the Greek goddess Artemis (Diana in
Latin). The temple of Artemis was 340 feet long, 160 feet wide, and richly
decorated with 100 columns more than 55 feet high. The city was the guardian of
the sacred image of Artemis, which was believed to have fallen from heaven
(Acts 19:35).[16]
When Paul began making
converts in numbers he saw them burning their books of magic in the streets an
act literally turning Ephesus upside down (Acts 19). This paper is not arguing specifically for Ephesus as the
exact spot but the idea that Paul went to the center of power in Turkey and
spread the Gospel from there to the rest of the world. This is the same technique he used in
reaching the world from Rome and today it remains the best way of reaching the
many unevangelized Muslims. Begin
the center of influence and spread the furthest the fastest. Interesting Paul describes the conflict
in this area for the Gospel and in Revelation we see Paul praise this church
for standing doctrinally strong in the midst of serious cultural pressure to
depart. Where is the Ephesian
church today? This paper believes
it remains to be planted!
What
is the solution? Planting churches
through Muslim converts who are equipped prayed for and encouraged. One of the best ways to spread the
Gospel in Turkey is through mass media like television and radio. Currently Muslims in areas like Turkey
are accepting Christ in large numbers secretly. The problem is that Islam is a way of life and these secret
believers are afraid to come out about their faith. According to Mosab Hassan Yousef the son of one of the
founders of Hamas Islam is crumbling from the inside out. He claims that Islam has no ability to
argue for its own merit but by the sword.
The regular Joe Muslim cannot even read the Koran. For starters it is written in Old
Arabic a language not spoken today and so many in the Islamic faith get their
belief much the same way that those in the middle ages received theirs, priests
told them what to believe. For the
past fourteen hundred years Islam was able to hold its believers captive by
keeping out any influence from the outside but today almost any modern Muslim
can turn on their computer and get just about any information they want. At this point the lack of coherence in
Islam is being exposed for what it is and the perception of strength is just
that. In fact, according to
Yousef, a personal friend, Islam is being torn apart from the inside out by its
own inconsistencies. The
polarizing of the Islamic community is a reaction to this and must be seen in
some ways as the death throes of a false religion, he claims. If a Muslim comes out about their faith
they could face persecution of many types and this is truly a scary
prospect. It is imperative however
that Muslims stand up about their new faith and face what comes. At this point those having the ability
to support Muslims through their lives and witness ought to be willing to stand
with them. To begin Muslims here
in the United States ought to be encouraged to tell their families of their new
faith in Jesus and they must be accepted publicly and without fear by local
churches wherever they are found.
The church cannot hide it must be public in its stand and light. This paper is radically calling for the
possible persecution of many but it is the very way Martin Luther King sought
to change things here in the United States.
In
many respects this whole issue needs to be on the minds and hearts of
Christians from America because it is from here that so many of the world’s
missionaries are sent. If the
common American Christian is not really aware of the real need for prayer and
financial assistance needed they cannot be expected to mobilize. It is then the job of Pastors and
sending agencies to be bold in their cry for Muslim outreach. Turkey is ripe for the harvest are we
willing to go?
[1] C. Gordon Olson, What In The World Is God Doing?
(Cedar Knolls: Global Gospel Publishers, 1988), 289.
[16]Robert
B. Hughes and J. Carl Laney, Tyndale Concise Bible Commentary, The Tyndale
reference library (Wheaton, Ill.: Tyndale House Publishers, 2001), 588.
