A Sign of What Is Coming by Robert Socha

The following is taken from a prayerful post a friend of mine published a few days ago. It is especially important to me because I was stationed for /a 93-day short tour at Incirlik airbase in southern Turkey, near Adana, and became very endeared to the Turkish people. I then returned to Turkey in 1998 with a mission called the “Reconciliation Walk[i]” where we retraced the route of the first Crusade on its 900th anniversary wearing t-shirts imprinted with “özür dileriz” (we apologize) and a message in Turkish that read something close to the following although I could not find my journal as of this writing:

“Our forefathers came in the name of Christ and carried the banner of the cross and committed atrocities no human should have to bear. We come bearing the true message of the Cross of Christ, reconciliation between God and man.

Isaiah 61:1-3
1The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, because the LORD has anointed me to bring good news to the poor; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound;

2 to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favor, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn;

3 to grant to those who mourn in Zion– to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit; that they may be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he may be glorified.”

I remember handing this message to a number of stoic Turkish men and watching their countenance lift. I also remember one man, an officer in the Turkish military stationed near Incirlik Airbase who looked me in the eye and said it was one of the most beautiful things he had ever read.

(Note: it is notable that my friend remembers the event a bit differently. I kept the differences because I believe they provide a more complete picture just as the synoptic gospels present a more complete picture of Jesus’ ministry while he walked the earth although there are slight variations.)

The Turkish/Syrian Earthquakes
A sign of Increased Intensity of Birth Pangs? A Prophetic Prayer

On Monday, January 30th, 2023, Father strongly impressed a verse of Scripture on my heart. I was challenged to start praying it daily and to write it as an exhortation to others to start praying it over many situations where there needs to be a breakthrough. Here is the verse:

Isaiah 45:8
“Rain down, you heavens, from above, And let the skies pour down righteousness; Let the earth open, let them bring forth salvation, And let righteousness spring up together. I, the LORD, have created it.”

One week later, Monday, February 6, 2023, devastating earthquakes hit Turkey and Syria and the earth did open.

In the summer of 1999, we led a team from Christ for the Nations in Dallas and our home church to Turkey. We were participating in what was called “The Reconciliation Walk” for the sins of the Crusades asking forgiveness and handing out printed messages containing Luke 4:18 where Jesus described His ministry. We concentrated half of this trip in the current area of the earthquakes and especially Antakya which is Ancient Antioch.

An Increase in Intensity of Birth Pangs

I believe most of us sense that the birth pangs that Jesus speaks of in Matthew 24:6-8
have already begun.

“And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not alarmed, for this must take place, but the end is not yet. 7 For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places. 8 All these are but the beginning of the birth pains.” (ESV)

These earthquakes in Turkey may signify an increase in the speed and intensity of birth pains. Why do I say that?

This were two large earthquakes of 7.8 and 7.6 plus three aftershocks above six points. (There will probably be a long debate about whether it was two earthquakes or one and an unprecedented aftershock.) There have never been two earthquakes like this in one day in recorded history. Not only were there earthquakes but they hit the area of Northern Syria which has also been at civil war for many years, combining two types of birth pains together.

As I watched several hours of reporting out of Europe, I realized the incredible amount of land mass the earthquakes covered. At first, I thought Antakya missed the bullet because it was so far away. That did not prove right. Antakya is southwest 127 miles from the epicenter of the largest quake, and it was devastated. It took two days for a journalist to get into the area to see it. Most earthquakes of this magnitude would not devastate a city 127 miles away. Adana is 138 miles west and has damage. Diyarbakir, Turkey is 166 miles east and has much damage. Aleppo, Syria is 61 miles south of the epicenter with severe damage. At this writing Turkey has reportsof 11,342 buildings collapsed with 5,775 of those confirmed. Syria has 400 buildings collapsed and 1,300 severely destroyed. The World Health Organization (WHO) projects 23 million people are affected.[ii]

I am writing this Friday evening 2/10 and as of now, there are at least 22,000 dead (37,000 as of 2/14). I believe that figure is very low, and it will be many tens of thousands due to the land mass and the number of buildings that crumbled down as the world trade center did. As I just wrote this, I checked the number again and the World Health Organization just made a statement[iii]that the number of dead could rise 8-fold.

This afternoon there was a piece that after 5 days a teenage boy was pulled out of the rubble into his mother’s waiting arms. I cried seeing that. I thought that really is how the heart of God is even though these birth pains must come. He is waiting for many to be rescued from being buried alive in sin and deception and for rescuers to come from every nation of the world.

There is one other thing I want to share about this area of Southern Turkey/Northern Syria and the earthquakes. There was an Armenian Genocide in 1915-16. There were somewhere up to 1.5 million killed by 1923. A vast number were marched through southern Turkey into the Syrian desert and murdered. The Bible teaches that the blood of the innocent cries from the ground. Many of these Armenians were Christians. If you are interested there is a report dated April 15, 2015, of the 114th Congress titled “A Century of Denial: The Armenian Genocide and a Quest for Justice.”[iv]There is a quote of Pope Francis in this article that is a true statement: “Concealing or denying evil is like allowing a wound to keep bleeding without bandaging it.”

The depth of what is currently taking place could be tied together with this deep denial by the Turkish government. Hitler used this genocide to validate that if Turkey could get away with this genocide, He could also get away with the Jewish Holocaust genocide.

In conclusion, it is our duty as believers to sprinkle the blood of Jesus on the nations and especially when there is such a deep crisis/calamity and even judgment. Back to Isaiah 45:8. Can I exhort you to pray this over Turkey and Syria? Pray it in your own personal situations crying out for prodigals and the unsaved. The church desperately needs God to RAIN DOWN RIGHTEOUSNESS UPON US ALL. As the earth opened up in a huge fracture in Turkey may it be that God will again Rain Down Righteousness upon where much of the early church was both birthed and sent out. God is a God who restores old waste places!

“Rain down, you heavens, from above, And let the skies pour down righteousness; Let the earth open, let them bring forth salvation, And let righteousness spring up together. I, the LORD, have created it.”

For a harvest of righteousness,

Sally Green[v]

[i]Christians Retrace Crusaders’ Steps (probe.org)

[ii]https://time.com/6253208/turkey-earthquake-syria-updates/

[iii]https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-64533851

[iv]https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CHRG-114jhrg95113/html/CHRG-114jhrg95113.htm

[v]sallyanchoredinhope@yahoo.com