[A mosque still stands amidst the rubble of collapsed buildings in this aerial view of a neighborhood in the western Turkish town of Golcuk, 60 miles east of Istanbul, August 19, 1999.]
The recent earthquake in Peru, although not resulting in massive deaths, still has fallout which is more than nuclear. Turkey, Iran and Pakistan routinely have severe earthquakes, often resulting in the deaths of thousands. By an accident of sacred history, most of these victims are Muslim. In a number of ways these tragic events could be could be styled “an act of God.” To an insurance agent this would merely mean that it was one of those natural events which happen from time to time and are not covered in a standard policy. To Evangelical Christians, at least those who read KJV biblical prophecy as a Fox News documentary, it can easily become a special kind of act of God, not unlike the fire and brimstone that destroyed the wicked lot of Sodom and Gomorrah. But apocalyptic rhetor can boomerang, especially when the walls do not come tumbling down at the blasting away of the self-righteous.
Those looking for the signs of the times have no trouble finding them and earthquakes have always been near the top of the Armageddon countdown list. And if God is on “your” side, then an earthquake in someone else’s backyard is nothing short of divine payback.
Examples of earthquaking apocalypse can be found among Christian writers for almost any year since St. John had his Timothy Leary size vision on the Isle of Patmos. And surely when the land trembles under the feet of Muslims, the War on Terror would seem to the faithful a sign from above. Take, for example, the comments of fundamentalist Louis Bauman in his 1940 Light from Bible Prophecy As Related to the Present Crisis (N.Y.: Revell).
The ancient story of man is replete with evidence that when he departs from fellowship with God, nature works disastrously upon his habitations. It was well understood by the prophets that when ‘floods of ungodly men’ overflowed the peoples, ‘then the earth shook and trembled; the foundations of heaven moved and shook, because He [God] was wroth’ (2 Sam. 22:5,8)…”
Our most recent quakes would also justify the belief that there exists an intimate relation between the moral and physical worlds — that when the one suffers, the other suffers… As I write, the wires are flashing, and the radio waves are telling the story of an appalling disaster that has befallen Turkey, on the shores of the Black Sea. The earth there is still shaking. Windrows of the dead are being piled high. The latest report is that 46,000 are dead, with more dying. Their cities completely demolished, tens of thousands are wandering about without food, shelter, or warmth. Floods also have carried hundreds into eternity…. ‘Most water mains, railway tracks, and viaducts were shaken apart like match sticks. Minarets and mosques also toppled.’”
Was Turkey Innocent? We are hearing some complaints about ‘the goodness of God.’ God’s goodness needs no defense. However, it may be well to remind the world at this moment that God is just, even as He is good. The streets of the Turkish cities, now piled high with debris commingled with corpses whose only requiem is the groaning and the moaning of the dying — these are the same streets whereupon men, women, and little children were slaughtred without mercy only a few short years ago. Who can forget the Armenian massacres, when an expectant Armenian mother was cut open with less pity than if she were a rat… The rivers that then were clogged with the bodies of Armenians are now clogged with the bodies of Turks! Nature once more appears to be the avenger of a just and holy God!
God’s goodness, no matter which God you fall for, may not need defense, but this kind of offensive rhetoric surely does. If it was only a prejudicial sentiment of six decades ago, there would be little point in mentioning it. It may rain on the just and the unjust, but unfortunately there are still those who think earthquakes swallow the unjust so the just can feel good about themselves. And this should make all of us quake, no matter how firm we think the ground under our feet is. As for me, if the Richter scale exploded around me, I think I would rather take refuge in the mosque of Golcuk set comfortably next to a secular high rise than listen to the bombast of overly righteous God talk.
Daniel Martin Varisco