First Hand Report From the Clashes in Turkey

Posted by Joel on Jun 17, 2013 in Updates | 10 comments

Joel Richardson

For the past twelve years, I’ve maintained a keen interest in the future of the nation of Turkey, writing frequently over the years about the re-emergence of this nation as a regional leader. My particular interest has been how all of this relates to the testimony of the Biblical prophets and how it will affect the mandate of the Church to share the gospel in this nation and the surrounding region. So I found it quite providential that a pre-planned trip to Istanbul to film for a forthcoming documentary by WND films coordinated perfectly with the events of the past few days as they have unfolded here in a rather dramatic fashion. If you haven’t been following the news, the nation of Turkey is presently experiencing massive social and political upheaval.

When we arrived in Istanbul on Thursday, we were told that the protests in Taksim Square and Gezi Park had died down. According to our hotel manager, it was now little more than circle dancing and singing. So on Saturday night, we decided to check it out for ourselves.

We arrived a bit earlier in the day and had a few hours to wander about the park and talk to many of the protestors; secular Turks, Kurds, professors, reporters, and everyone in between. Tens of thousands of people milled about. There were numerous families with children in strollers, elderly and even several in wheelchairs. The police had the park surrounded with highly equipped trucks and hundreds upon hundreds of police outfitted with full riot gear and tear gas masks.

As the evening rolled in, some of the crowds began chanting. The confrontation had begun. Little did we know that this would be the night that the Islamist AK Party had planned to utterly purge the park. The police moved suddenly and rapidly into the crowds. If you have seen the trucks mounted with powerful “water canons”, I have something to tell you. They do not spray water. It’s actually some form of sticky, caustic substance, mixed with water. It took less then fifteen seconds after the trucks began spraying, for the entire park to be filled with a painfully acidic mist. The explosion of tear gas canisters began to thunder and surrounded us in rapid succession. Thousands were fleeing in every direction. There were many woman, children, and elderly caught in the chaos.

Quickly becoming overwhelmed by the effects of the gas, we made our way out of the park through a side street, content at this point just to escape, but the police had the opposite end of every street blocked. They began releasing more teargas grenades at the end of the streets, trapping those of us in the middle. Some were falling down. I was not far from doing so myself. Unable to see or breath, with no where left to go, we pushed our way into a hotel lobby. Hundreds of others followed. My team made our way to an upper floor hallway and allowed the effects of the gas to diminish. Through Instagram and Twitter we were able to follow what was happening in other areas of the square. In one case, the police actually released teargas into the hotel. There were many children and elderly incapacitated by the gas. Some were hit by rubber bullets. It was a brutal crackdown. And it is only getting worse. According to the Islamist AK Party controlled media, very little of this actually happened.

This was not the response of a government that genuinely values freedom of speech, protest, dissent, or even the lives of its own people. The AK Party chose to punish everyone and anyone in the park. It was a genuinely brutal crack down.

But the protestors are determined. After being removed from the park, they took to marching on the bridges.

On Sunday, we were told that the AK Party was planning to have a rally of its own, so we decided to see the other side. This wasn’t difficult because there were literally hundreds of free busses shuttling people to the event. As we approached the event, the Bosporus water way that separates the Asian side of Istanbul from the European side was filled with boats waving giant Turkish flags. Rows of large streamers alternating between the AK Party logo, PM Erdogan’s face, and the Turkish flag, literally ran for several miles running up the events. As we arrived, the throngs of chanting supporters were almost crushing. We made out way into the heart of the event.

Throughout the day, we were asked dozens of times if we were with CNN. I’m glad we were not. The people there did not like CNN as was evident by the fact that every time the name CNN was mentioned from the platform, the crowds would all boo.

For a few hours under the hot sun, my team and I were literally surrounded by well over a million AKP supporters chanting, “Recep Tayyip Erdogan!” Others chanted AKP slogans or “Allahu Akbar, Tafir!

I truly felt as though I was at the Zeppelin Tribune, Nuremberg, Germany, 1938.

Pray for the nation of Turkey.

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Film Update

Posted by Joel on Jun 10, 2013 in Updates | 7 comments

Hello friends,

The documentary project continues…  

One of the interviews we conducted earlier this year was with a friend who is an underground church planter and pastor in Iran. It was a very powerful interview. One of the stories that he shared, I need to pass on to you all.  

My friend—let’s call him Ali—while in Iran had heard about a man who had become a believer in a fairly remote village with no other known believers.  Wanting to find out how this man had come to believe in Jesus, he traveled to the village to meet with the man. The villager related how a man had visited him; he wore a white robe, had longer hair and a very commanding presence. The man in white spoke at length to the villager and told him to write down his words. The villager agreed. After hearing the villager’s story,  Ali asked him if he could see what was written that had caused him to become a Christian. The man showed Ali a large journal.  In Farsi, the first line began as follows: 

“In the beginning was the word. The word was with God, and the word was God…”

The man was holding a hand written copy of the entire Gospel of John. According to the man, it was the man in white who had relayed this story to him, verbatim.

Stories like this are actually common in Iran, where many new believers are coming to faith through divine encounters, dreams and visions. Hearing some of these stories was extremely encouraging.

Tomorrow, my cameraman and I leave for Turkey. As many of you know, the protests that erupted there seem to be continuing. We expect to be able to capture some of what is taking place there. We will also be meeting with various leaders in the nation, some nationals and foreign workers. We will also be meeting with Adan Oktar, a Muslim leader with whom I previously have met in 2009. His television show is broadcast widely throughout Turkey and on the internet. Pray that the meeting is guided by the Holy Spirit. 

After Turkey, we travel to Bulgaria for three days to minister to the Church there. The region we are visiting is a Muslim majority region. Pray that the believers are strengthened and blessed by our visit. We will also be interviewing a couple of former Muslims there as well.  

Finally, we continue to have some significant financial needs remaining to complete the film. We have peace, but please do pray that all of the final funds come in and that all of our deadlines are met, etc.

If you are able to give toward the project in small or more significant ways,

There are presently two ways to give:

To send a tax-deductable donation by check, make it out to “I2 Ministries” write nothing in the memo line and send to the following address:

Joel Richardson
Grandview MO
PO Box 776
64030
USA

If you wish to make a non-tax deductible gift online, you may use the following button:

Paypal:

Thank you for your prayers and support. I look forward to sharing more details and updates in the days ahead. Blessings!
 

Remember our families as we travel. Our wives are genuine super-heroes!

Thanks again.  
Many Blessings!
Joel

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Heartbeat of Heaven

Posted by Joel on Jun 6, 2013 in Updates | 1 comment

The image above is from the Cave Church at Mokattam Mountain in Cairo, Egypt. On my recent trip to Cairo, I was blessed to participate in an all night prayer meeting there on Pentecost. There were other opportunities for some sweet times of worship with the believers in Cairo as well. One of the worship leaders there is a young man, and a friend named Fady Gergis. I want to highly recommend his album on iTunes: Heartbeat of Heaven: Prophetic Piano Melodies, Vol. 1. In purchasing this album, you will not only be helping to support a worship leader in Egypt, but you’ll also be acquiring a genuinely wonderful album in the process. Enjoy!

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Stratfor’s Analysis of Turkey’s Uprisings and Future

Posted by Joel on Jun 4, 2013 in Updates | 10 comments

I frequently read Stratfor’s analysis, as they are among the most informed and foreword thinking. Here they discuss the present unrest in Turkey and what it means for the future of the nation:

The rapid escalation of anti-government protests in Turkey in recent days has exposed a number of long-dormant fault lines in the country’s complex political landscape. But even as the appeal of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s ruling Justice and Development Party (also known by its Turkish acronym, AKP) is beginning to erode, it will remain a powerful force in Turkish politics for some time to come, with its still-significant base of support throughout the country and the lack of a credible political alternative in the next elections.

Read the full article directly Stratfor

As I mentioned in a previous post, I will be traveling to Turkey in a few days as we work on my forthcoming film project that is directly addressing what is happening in the Middle East and how it relates to us as believers. We will of course, get a first hand look at what is happening with the unrest in Turkey. Please remember myself and my team as we go, in prayer. We also have some significant financial needs to complete the project. If you are able to give toward the project in small or more significant ways,

There are presently two ways to give:

To send a tax-deductable donation by check, make it out to “I2 Ministries” write nothing in the memo line and send to the following address:

Joel Richardson
Grandview MO
PO Box 776
64030
USA

If you wish to make a non-tax deductible gift online, you may use the following button:

Paypal:

Thank you for your prayers and support. I look forward to sharing more details and updates in the days ahead. Blessings!

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Is a “Turkish Spring” next?

Posted by Joel on Jun 2, 2013 in Updates | 7 comments

For the past week, protests that initially began to contest a construction project in Istanbul’s Taksim Square have become violent, turning largely into anti-government protests. According to news reports, the protestors are opposed to the present Islamist, increasingly authoritarian regime led by Prime Minister Erdogan. Some are thus asking if this could develop into a “Turkish Spring”. The Blaze has a piece asking this very question. So here’s the million dollar question: If the riots and protests continue, how will the Obama administration respond? On one hand, the present administration has supported every previous revolution in numerous countries where secular authoritarian regimes had previously reigned and where more Islamist leaning governments have prevailed. In fact, if you walk through the Cairo airport, you will even see signs quoting President Obama, lauding the revolutionary spirit of the Egyptian youth.

On the other hand, the present authoritarian / Islamist PM Erdogan is one of Obama’s closest allies and friends in the region. So what will happen if the Turkish youth, tired of an increasingly restrictive and Islamist government harness the same revolutionary spirit as the Egyptian youth? Will Obama support them, or will he support a heavy handed government response? If the protests continue, we will find out soon enough. Within a week or two, we will know if the Turkish protestors have the passion and determination to hold their ground. If they do, we will also find out soon enough how the Erdogan government will respond to such dissent. Erdogan has vehemently criticized the heavy handed response of Syria’s Assad against the Sunni extremists in his nation. Will he be able to take his own advice if his own people rebel against his leadership? Next year, Erdogan is said to be considering running for President, allowing him to remain in government for up to seven more years. How he handles this present crisis may very well determine his ability to remain a political force in Turkey.

Next week, I head to Istanbul. And you can be sure that we will be looking into some of these questions first hand. Please remember myself, my small team, and our families in prayer as we travel. Check back here here for updates.

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Bring back the Ottoman Empire

Posted by Joel on Jun 1, 2013 in Updates | 5 comments

Ten years ago when I began trumpeting the Biblically prophesied reality that the Middle East would one day experience another period of Turkish domination, the idea was largely ignored. Beyond this, the mere mention of the word “Caliphate” by then-President Bush was outright mocked by many in the liberal media. But little by little the mocking abated. Eventually, as the pattern always does, the conversation turned to the notion that a Caliphate could be a good thing. And now we even find the specific argument that Turkey, of all nations, is best suited to lead a revived Ottoman Caliphate. (With Israel under its patronage no less) But perhaps most surprising is the fact that it comes from the unlikely bastion of conservatism American Thinker.

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Two Turkish Projects

Posted by Joel on May 31, 2013 in Updates | 7 comments

First, there is this from the Turkish Hurriyet Daily News:

The groundbreaking ceremony for Istanbul’s controversial $3 billion third bridge over the Bosphorus was held yesterday, on the 560th anniversary of Istanbul’s conquest by the Ottomans. The ceremony was attended by Turkish President Abdullah Gül and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, and the name of the bridge has been announced as “Yavuz Sultan Selim,” one of the most prominent sultans in Ottoman history. “We thought a lot about which name should be given to the third bridge over the Bosphorus in Istanbul, and we have decided on Yavuz Sultan Selim,” Gül said at the ceremony.

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