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What do we know about Turkey & Syria?

First, we looked at a News Article on the persecution of Christians in Syria / 2022

Then, a News Article on the persecution and rejection of Christians in Turkey / 2020

I can’t post these here without permission, however, it is easy to find news articles written by journalists who observed this recent history of the treatment of the Christian church in Turkey and Syria. …(KK)

Question: Are these earthquakes centered in Turkey and Syria sent by God as a judgment?

If I had time, I would delve into a large discussion of what I believe are the 4 stages of JUDGMENT of this earth we live on: (In brief a summary of my thoughts follow…)

1/ The first judgment covered the time of man from Adam to Noah, and it became a Whole World Judgment, as all creation fell under God’s ‘flood judgment’ in order to cleanse the earth of sinful followers of other gods and deceptions.

2/ The second judgment covered the time from Noah to Jesus, and it was a ‘Righteous God Judgment’ as God Almighty judged all the nations as they either accepted His rule or chose to follow their own rulers, either false gods, or perceived glorified human rulers (as gods).

3/ The third judgment covers the times we are living in and runs from the time of Jesus until He returns again to judge the earth. We call this the ‘Age of Grace’.

— I believe that in this age we judge ourselves by our society’s actions, and our acceptance, or rejection of the one ‘narrow way’ to escape our own path to destruction. If you missed my inference see Matthew 7:12-14.

4/ The age of judgment yet to come appears at the end of the thousand-year reign of Jesus. This we glimpse in small part in the book of Revelations chapter 20.

— At the close of this age, mankind and angel-kind will be judged by their final decisions as to who they chose to follow. And mankind will receive either a reward of eternal life or the judgment of the ‘second death’ in the ‘Lake of Fire’.

I would like to share my illustration of the ‘Third Judgment’ we are living in…

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An illustration of the ‘Third Judgment’ we are living in…

— Think about how we (mankind) can possibly judge ourselves?

It is like a beautiful city that we have built at the bottom of a steep valley slope…

— The foolishness of sin in this beautiful city is like the garbage and refuse that is taken and buried in a ‘garbage pit’ in the slopes above the city, hidden and covered up.

— What is the result of this building up of the acts of our ‘sinful nature’?
(see Romans 7:5 For when we lived according to our human nature, the sinful desires stirred up by the Law were at work in our bodies, and all we did ended in death.)

The effluent of hidden sins even seeps into the very water we live by, and all become contaminated and sick because of it.

This is shown clearly in the rise and fall of every culture that has ever ruled on this earth.

— Where and how does our own judgment befall us?

In this illustration, over time the refuse pit grows allowed and encouraged by us, to such an extreme that it collapses and all this garbage of our evil deeds and desires, comes careening down the slope to eventually destroy the beautiful city.

I ask you, do we not see this happening in our own society today?

Who is the author of the consequences of our actions? (Do we not reap what we sow?)
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How does this apply to Turkey and Syria?

— These countries are located along one of the most dangerous fault lines of the natural globe we call earth. These nations have persecuted and rejected Christianity, they have given up any protection from God Almighty. (However, even in the news I saw a Christian church building spared the utter destruction of all the buildings around it. – So God can still protect His own, even though they may be few in number.)

Also, Turkey lies at the crossroads of tectonic plate activity

Scientists have said, “The complex tectonic activity that lies beneath essentially ensured that a devastatingly strong earthquake would eventually rock the region.”

— Accusations of faulty building construction have magnified the disastrous impact of these earthquakes.

— Some of these construction faults were caused by people converting their buildings, weakening proper support mechanisms.

— Other construction faults have been blamed on the greed of contractors, who cut corners to increase their profits.

Surely we can see that under the imminent threat of large earthquakes, these failures due to man’s own foolish and sinful actions, contributed to the extreme magnitude of this natural disaster.

— Sadly, the sinful nature of mankind even hinders some efforts to give aid in such disasters…

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So what is a Christian supposed to do?
(That is the big question!)

— Do you think that in a situation such as this the teaching of Jesus using the ‘Parable of the Good Samaritan’ has any value? (See Luke 10:25-37) With the focus on His command in Luke 10:27-28… The man answered, ” ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind’; and ‘Love your neighbor as you love yourself.’ ” (28) “You are right,” Jesus replied; “do this and you will live.”

— If you still hesitate as to how to react, see that the question asked, “Who is my neighbour?” was answered by Jesus in this parable.

— So we should also do likewise, and hope to show Christ’s salvation to our lost and hurting neighbours

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