Travel in Turkey: Seven Churches in Izmir

I have travelled to Turkey for 2 weeks and a little. There were many discoveries about their history and politics. However, I also understood how living in the current Turkey is dangerous mainly due to the online censorship, expansion of Armenian/ Byzantine/ Silk Road faction after the 2023 earthquake, and the current war situation around the Aegean Sea. This time, I mainly visited the province of Izmir and the Mediterranean Coast cities.

This is the places where I visited around Izmir province in this trip. It includes Selcuk, Kusadasi, Alacati, Cesme and Izmir. Some of them are very close to Greece. For example, Kusadasi is very close to Samos and Cesme has a port of the ferry which goes to Chios (Greece). The trip is just for 30- 60 minutes.

However, there were so many death incidents in the Turkey- Greece sea borders. Such incidents were famous for the "refugee ship accidents". But these accidents were not about the poor boats as stated on mass media. It was a gorgeous high speed ferries which caused such incidents, but media used the photos of the rescue boats as the shrunk boats... I will explain it in the next article because the discoveries in each cities/ villages were very huge. I need several articles to write about such discoveries.7[

Ephesus and Seven Churches in Revelation of John

One of the biggest discoveries in this trip was about Ephesus and the seven churches in Gospel of John. When I experienced the severe terrorist attacks in 2010s, my cyber space often showed Gospel of John related sentences, which is a part of a certain Christian sect. In war time, such doomsday cult (end of the world cult) often became popular historically. Revelation of John justifies mass murder by artificial flood, earthquake, thunder, pandemic etc. as "anger of God".

At that time, I got to know that most of "natural" like disasters have been caused by weapons, and they have been used to invade countries in a secret way. Seemingly, such disaster/ aid frauds were used in the past wars. It is still the same. However, thanks to the recent research, it becomes clear that the disaster terrorists cause flood by high dam and hydro-power plant. And it seems that such high dams were mostly constructed as a part of forced labor works (jail works) of the war criminals of WWII.

In any case, in Revelation of John, there are "seven churches" mentioned in Turkey. The prophet John sent letters to the seven churches (Pergamum, Smyrna, Thyatria, Sardis, Philadelphia, Ephesus, Laodicea) after he was arrested by Domitian (Pompey faction) of Romans an sent to Patmos.

Seven Churches in the Gospel of John

There are several maps about the ancient Greek colonies. But seemingly, most of the seven churches in the Revelation of John were within Doric/ Aeolic area or Lydia (the alleged first country which adopted Gold Standard system). Lydia was likely to be the ally of Dorians (Greek Orthodox Church) because a part of Lydia formed the Byzantine Empire.

Greek Dialects in the Classical Period

So, after Domitian arrested the prophet John and sent him to Patmos, the he wrote the letters to the seven churches which were located in the area of Aeolic/ Dorian Greeks. Only Ephesus is sometimes described as a place of Ionians (the name Ionia itself is identified as "John", so perhaps, this category itself may have falsified). However, the historic site of Ephesus was full of Christian places (Basilica of St. John, Church of the Virgin Mary, St. Paul's Prison, St. Luke's Grave etc.) The entrance fee of the Historic city of Ephesus was very expensive (65 euro -) compared to other Turkish artifacts. Even if this city is in Turkey, the price was written in Euro. Also, the sites are mostly Christian churches. So, I did not enter into the city of Ephesus.

Korean Mass Tourists in Selcuk

There was a Korean restaurant in Selcuk, and I ate Korean lunch. I talked with the waiter of the restaurant, and she said that there are many Korean group tours which visit the seven churches of the Gospel of John. I stayed in the restaurant just for one hour or some. However, I saw 3 of such mass tourism group (50 people in each group). Assumingly, so many Koreans visit the seven churches + Patmos by the group tour. In Korea, there are many cult group believe gospel of John kind of doomsday cult, and such cult groups are often regarded as spy group or private soldier. Many of such cult groups were banned by other countries due to their dangerous activities such as abduction, illegal espionage, terrorism, etc.

For example, Shincheonji Church of Jesus is based on the Book of Revelation by the prophet John. This cult became famous as an epicenter of Coronavirus in Korea. The founder Lee Man-Hee was trained in the mission of another cult by Park Tae-seon who studied in Japan.

Korean wiki about the Shincheonji Church of Jesus: 신천지예수교 증거장막성전 - 위키백과, 우리 모두의 백과사전

Korean webpage about Park Tae-seon: 박태선(4-73회 / 1915-1988)

These cults are originated in the the reconstruction of Korean War (1950s). Many cults were spread in the reconstruction era. And all of them believe the Book of Revelation written by the prophet John.

For example:

Olive Tree (religious movement) - Wikipedia

Shincheonji Church of Jesus - Wikipedia

Unification Church - Wikipedia

The most famous cult is the last one, "Unification Church". And this cult is also famous for their culture of "collective marriage". Just like the Hellenism era of Greece, mass marriage is conducted for political purpose. In Macedonia, men from Macedonia got married with women from Achaemenid Persia (or, perhaps the Achaemenid Persia at that time was already hijacked by Media. So, perhaps women from Media) collectively. In other places, Hellenists often used similar methods. In Germany, it had been called "Morganatic Marriage" (a marriage between nobles and slaves). Such marriage was prohibited in the medieval era. And if a person from noble family got married with the partner from slave family, the noble origin person lost his/ her rights of inheritance as well as the removal from the family registration.

So, assumingly, many Hellenism cults were spread in the time of reconstruction after the Korean war. And many people were forcedly converted to the cult. It is likely that the half of the cult members were originally abduction victims. However, such cult often kill the original members and sell their family register to spies (or illegal refugees), and it is called Ghosting or identity theft. So, I am not sure for the current portion of the abduction victims in such cult groups.

Arrest of John by Domitian

About the arrest of John, you can find several articles. Due to the religious activity of John, someone in Domitian dynasty sent John to Patmos (possibly, a penal colony).

John's exile to Patmos is believed to have occurred around 95 AD, during the final years of Domitian's reign. Roman officials transported him to the island as a form of punishment for his religious activities. Patmos, located in the Aegean Sea, served as a place of exile for political and religious dissidents. John of Patmos: The Exiled Apostle’s Revelations | Ertunga Ecir

The same article mentions that John was working as a fisherman on the sea of Galilee.

Who Was John? John was one of Jesus Christ's twelve apostles. He is often referred to as the "beloved disciple" in the New Testament. Before following Jesus, John worked as a fisherman on the Sea of Galilee. His close relationship with Jesus is evident, as he was present at significant events such as the Transfiguration and the Crucifixion.

This arrest of John happened in the context of the Roman inner conflict between Caesar and Pompey (Roman Civil War). Roughly speaking, Pompey fought against pirates and tried to maintain the "republic" of Rome while Caesar cooperated with/ or penetrated by imperial (Ptolemy dynasty of Egypt) faction and had love relationship with Cleopatra VII.

The founder of Flavius dynasty - Vespasian had a grandfather, Titus Flavius Petro was on the Pompey side during the Roman Civil War.

So, Domitian dynasty arrested John as a part of their war against pirates since Pompey era. Perhaps, the Pompey's struggle against pirates were affected by Persia. Some part of Greece cooperated with Persia in the time of Peloponnesian war. This story will be very long, so, I will write about it in the next article.

Short Summary

As a summary, John was arrested as a part of Romans' struggle against pirates. Pompey and Nero fought against Christianity and pirates. And then, Rome became the country of earthquake and volcano. It is not an coincidence that the Revelation. Gospel of John celebrates flood, earthquake, volcano kind of "natural" (?) disasters as "anger of God".