These and other converts are rejected by their families and often worse.  One man I spoke with travels the countryside showing the Jesus Film in one village after another.  He has been arrested 6 times.  On occasion, entire congregations are put in prison and their meeting places closed.  Life is, however, getting easier for them because Turkey is trying to enter the European Union and has to become more tolerant and liberal to do so.

I conducted two large conferences on healing and grace in Istanbul and IZMIR.  My book, Authority to Heal, is translated into Turkish and many have read it, so they already knew me.  My teaching and the presence of the Spirit were warmly received.  I also met privately with numerous church leaders - probably most of the leaders in the country and certainly, those who are key.

The Christian family there is fast growing, but still small enough so that everyone knows everyone else.  Many more will benefit from this conference via tapes and CD's.  Imagine being able to influence the Christian leadership of an entire country!  My head is still spinning.  Please pray for them.  They want me to return often and I intend to do just that.  I think this is a providential and very important development.  Thank you for making it possible.  Please keep supporting and praying.

One last story.  A blind man who attended the meetings in IZMIR asked for my book to be read to a group of blind people at the library.  The reader was on the last chapter before a government official got wind of what was going on.  He put a stop to it - but it was already too late.  The damage was done.

Future Trips:  The scheduled trips to Korea and India in January and February have been postponed.  It looks like they will be replaced with Nicaragua and Venezuela instead.  I will keep you posted.

Peace and all good,

Ken

Turkey

Cradle of the Gentile Church

I had planned to be in Pakistan and Turkey in November and December, but those plans changed due to a car bombing in Pakistan.  The government cracked down and my visit was cancelled, so I extended the time in Turkey - one of the most interesting and important countries in the world.  A Muslim nation today, but up until the seventh century  it was entirely Christian.  Modern Turkey was, in fact, the cradle of the Gentile church.  Ancient Ephesus, Galatia, Colossae, Troas, Antioch, Smyrna, Philadelphia, and Laodicea were all located there.  I literally walked where Paul walked in Ephesus and stood on the very spot where he caused a riot (Acts 19: 23 - 41).  I taught Paul's letters to the Galatians and Ephesians to the descendants of those who first heard them read 1,950 years ago.

Turkey has a population of 70 million.  About 3,000 of them are Christians from Muslim backgrounds - 2,000 of which converted in the last three years.  It was not until 2001 that they got the Bible translated into Modern Turkish.  All the converts I spoke with came to faith via dreams and visions.  Here are two examples:

A government translator had a dream of Jesus handing her a wedding dress.  Turks take dreams very seriously, so she phoned a friend in the U.S. to ask what the dream meant.  Her friend told her that Jesus was calling her to be His bride.  That did it for her.  She converted.

A scientist had a vision of a man wearing a white robe riding toward him on a horse.  The man called out, "I am your Lord."  He contacted an Orthodox priest to ask the meaning.  The priest told him to read the New Testament until he found.  He finally came to Revelation 19: 11, "And I saw heaven opened; and behold, a white horse, and He who sat upon it is called Faithful and True..." and he converted.