[2025 Ramadan] Day 17 The final revival to complete the history, Turkiye! The World Missionary Outpost where Gentile Missions began, and where it will end! Cyprus!

(Turkiye)

Turkiye, which means “country of the Turks,” is located on the Anatolian Peninsula (Asia Minor) at the crossroads of Europe and Asia. The Turks, who originated in Central Asia, settled in the peninsula in the 11th century, and through the Seljuk and Ottoman Empires, founded the modern-day Republic of Turkestan.

[Turkiyeh, Islam, and Ramadan]

The Ottoman Empire, the predecessor of the Turkiye, was a world dominating Islamic empire, and the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire held the position of Caliph (Islam's supreme leader) and served as the guardian and propagator of Islam for nearly 600 years. The Islamic culture and traditions that were deeply ingrained within the Turkic people during this time still form the backbone of their hearts and minds.

The Turkish government has been implementing radical Islamization policies, especially over the past two decades under current President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Examples include lifting the ban on the hijab in public institutions (2013), re-converting the Hagia Sophia mosque (2020), and expanding religious education through the Directorate of Religious Affairs. In this context, the current government has been heavily emphasizing the importance of Ramadan, using broadcast media to encourage fasting observance and providing free iftar (breaking of the fast) meals on a large scale.

For Turkiye, Ramadan is more than just a religious obligation; it's a time to cement our ethnic identity.

Fasting together reinforces the notion that “we are Turkiyeh=Muslim=one community, one people”. While most participants participate in Ramadan as a collective, cultural, and political event, ignorant of or uninterested in its origins or spiritual meaning, the 30-day effect is powerful. Through the 30 days of fasting, which is repeated every year, one sentence is indelibly imprinted in their minds and subconscious. “We Turkiye are all Muslims, and we must be Muslims!”

<Situation and reconstruction in Turkiye>

Due to failed economic policies, Turkiye has been plagued by murderous inflation rates until recently. Inflation is especially painful for the youth, who have no economic assets to speak of. Not surprisingly, they are disaffected with the current government and often antagonistic or indifferent to the Islam it emphasizes. Just as light is seen more clearly in darkness, the darkness of Islam is paradoxically revealing what is true. Turkiye is a revival. The percentage of the city planted and the number of believers continues to grow. On the other hand, there have also been many recent expulsions of ministers. It's a sign that the government is sensing and fearing that the gospel is being uneasily witnessed in the land.

Amen. Praise be to the Lord, who is doing a new thing! Turkiye will not remember the former things, nor will it think of the old ones. Through our prayers, there will be paths of life in the wilderness and desert-like land, and rivers of living water will flow.. Rise up TURKIYE!

<Cyprus>

Cyprus is an island in the eastern Mediterranean Sea, bordered by Turkey (75 kilometers) to the north, Greece (400 kilometers) and Europe to the west, Israel (200 kilometers) and Lebanon (100 kilometers) to the east, and Egypt (380 kilometers) and North Africa to the south.

Known as Giddim, the grandson of Noah's son Japheth, Cyprus has historically served as a strategic point of influence for many empires and nations, including the ancient Mycenaean and Phoenician civilizations, Egypt, Assyria, Persia, Rome, Arab, Byzantine, Venetian, Ottoman Turks, and the United Kingdom. Today, it is divided into South Cyprus (Greek) and North Cyprus (Turkish), centered on the capital city of Nicosia (Lefkosha), making it one of the only two divided countries in the world like South Korea.

Cyprus was Islamized under Arab rule in the 7th century and was ruled by the Ottoman Turks in the 16th century for nearly 300 years. With the influx of Turks to Cyprus, the religion of Islam spread and today 99% of the population of North Cyprus (of Turkish descent) is Muslim, while 90% of the population of South Cyprus is Greek Orthodox. After independence from Britain in 1960, the main ethnic group in Cyprus, the Greek Cypriots, launched a military rebellion as a nationalist movement, calling for a merger with Greece. In 1974, the Turkish army invaded Cyprus in the name of protecting the Turkic Cypriots, and in 1983, the Turkish Cypriots declared the independence of Northern Cyprus. However, the international community does not recognize Northern Cyprus as an independent state, defining the Turkish military intervention as illegal, and only the Turkish Cypriots recognize Northern Cyprus as an independent country.

Because North Cyprus is an internationally unrecognized state, its education industry attracts a large number of international students. As a result, North Cyprus seems to be a melting pot of youth from all 10/40 windows of the world, including ethnic Turks, Arabs, Central Asians, Russians, Indians, Pakistanis, Africans, and others. Northern Cyprus has a population of only 500,000, but because of the large number of multiethnic youth and international students, it has 24 large and small universities, where university students make up a quarter of the population, and more than a third of the population if you count other youth. Shortly after arriving in Cyprus, a group of about 15 young people gathered together to worship, and it turned out that there were young people from Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan, Iran, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Syria, Libya, Congo, Zimbabwe, and South Korea. As we worshipped together that day, the Lord convicted our hearts that Cyprus is a “global mission outpost” where young people from all over the world will come to faith in Jesus, be made disciples, and be sent to the nations.

In the book of Acts, the early church preached the gospel day after day, confessing “Jesus is the Christ.” So there was suffering, and then there was the martyrdom of Stephen. Then those who were scattered because of persecution and tribulation came to Cyprus, which is now Gubro, and they preached the gospel, and those who heard the gospel went from Cyprus to Antioch, and they preached the gospel, and they planted the church of Antioch, which opened the door for mission to the Gentiles. And finally, they were called Christians. Hallelujah!

Later, Barnabas, a Cypriot (Cyprus), and the Apostle Paul teamed up together and were sent by the Holy Spirit from Antioch to Cyprus, where the first missionary team in the history of the Church was sent - the beginning of the mission to the Gentiles. In the eastern part of North Cyprus, in the region of 'Rice Rami', there are still traces of the road that Barnabas and the Apostle Paul walked after arriving at the harbor. It was along this path that the gospel of the kingdom of heaven was brought to us, and it will now be the path that we will follow as we advance through all nations to the final Jerusalem!

The YGs who are currently here are worshiping on campus and sharing the gospel with the youth of the land. Every week, young people of various ethnicities, including Arab, Persian, Central Asian, and African, come together to worship the Lord and dream of a revival of God's kingdom that is not their own.

We were especially blessed to see Muslim friends accept Jesus during a recent worship gathering on campus. A Kazakh sister S confessed, “Only Jesus' love is eternal, and I want to love Jesus like this,” and a Nigerian brother who grew up in a strong Muslim family confessed, “I am as happy as a blind man with his eyes opened to know and believe in Jesus, and I want to go and share this gospel with the people who don't know it. Hallelujah!!!

Ramadan here is not a time for Muslim youth to fast and reflect on their Muslim identity like in other Muslim countries. While there are some Muslims who observe the holy month, many young Muslims who have left their families and homes find it to be a time of questioning about Islam, and often spend it eating freely. Rather, it is our hope that this will be a time of transformation in Cyprus, a time of coming to the true Savior, Jesus Christ, who offers true spiritual freedom, and a time of being made disciples and missionaries of the Lord.

Just as the army of Gedaliah broke the pride of the kings who sought to overthrow God's people and raised up a strong and valiant people who knew only God, so will the army of the youth in Cyprus not only break and overcome the powers of the world, but also raise up an army of the last of all nations who know only their God and are valiant!

[Today’s Prayer]

1. While Turkiye is a secularist country, internally Islam is combining with politics and nationalism to form a powerful spiritual camp. May this jin be cracked and broken by prayer, worship, and the power of the gospel! May the workers and local churches be bold in grace, incorruptible, and ever more vigilant for this work!

2. A church needs to be planted in all 81 cities of Turkiye. There are still too many unchurched people who have not heard the gospel. Increase the grace to plant churches. Call laborers into the harvest from every corner of the world. Let all of Turkiye see the victory and revival You have promised!

3. Let the land of Cyprus, which was the beginning of the Gentile mission, be raised up as a world missionary outpost to fulfill the end of the Gentile mission with the youth of many nations here!

4. May the many multiethnic Muslim youth in Cyprus instead come to Jesus Christ, the source of true freedom, during this Ramadan, be saved and transformed, and rise up as an army in the final revival!