Kim Kardashian and how her family was rescued from the Armenian Genocide

Efim Klubnikin was an inspiring prophet who heeded God’s warnings to leave his homeland and journey to Los Angeles in the USA. This prophecy saved the lives of thousands who listened to his ominous message. The American celebrity Kim Kardashian’s great grandparents were saved from the horrors of the Armenian genocide because of Klubnikin’s faithful prophetic warnings. First the background.

Efim was born in the province of Erevan in what used to be called the Russian Empire in 1842. Today we would talk about the extreme north-east of Turkey. Efim’s family were considered by many to be dangerous heretics because they drank milk. At the time the Russian Orthodox Church insisted that the faithful should abstain from milk during fast days. A group of believers, dubbed the Molokans (milk-lovers) refused to do this. They also refused to recognize church hierarchy and kiss icons.

These Molokan believers were also known as jumpers because their worship of the Lord could be very enthusiastic and joyful. They were the Pentecostals of their day. They fasted and prayed diligently and they experienced times of renewal and revival.

Efim described how his father was tortured for his faith:

“When my father was 17 years old, he was severely punished for his Molokan faith. He was given 180 strokes with birch rods and on the next day again that many, after which he was turned over on his back and given another 180 strokes so that he could neither sit down nor lie down. When he again refused to return to the Orthodox Church the priest ordered the police to bind his head in wooden stocks and told them to tighten the screws more and more until he fainted, after which he was made to stand in the freezing cold for some time and then was sent home.”

Efim was an unusual boy who fasted and communed deeply with God. When he was about ten years of age, in about 1852, he received a remarkable and very alarming prophecy from the Lord while living in the village of Karakale in present-day Turkey. It went like this:

“Those who believe in this will go on a journey to a far land, while the unbelievers will remain in place. Our people will go on a long journey over the great and deep waters. People from all countries will go there. There will be a great war. All kings will shed blood like great rivers. Two steamships will leave to cross the impassable ocean.”

Efim was told by God that the Molokan people would have to leave their homeland because a terrible calamity would one day engulf the region. Further he was instructed to wait patiently for three signs to occur:

• The people will gather for prayers in the middle of the night.
• A light will flash across the heavens at night. It will be seen throughout the whole land.
• At night time, a song will be sung – A cry is heard; Behold the bridegroom cometh…

In about 1900 all of these three signs were fulfilled and Efim, now a middle aged man, began to tell many Molokan people that the time to leave had come. He warned the people living in Karakala and many other villages that they must leave and journey to Los Angeles if they wanted to avoid a terrible time of tribulation and catastrophe.

In April1900 a small group of Molokan believers set out for Canada. Prompted by Efim’s prophecy they then moved on to Los Angeles. Efim continued to warn many people of the impending calamity but some opposed the emigration project because of their wealth and possessions. We could say that they were blinded by the money god mentioned by Jesus in Matthew 6:24. They sneered at and mocked all those who trusted in Efim’s menacing prophecy.  The debate about emigration to the USA rumbled on in many of the Molokan villages for about three years until the winter of 1904.

In May of 1904 the first group of 30 believers boarded a ship to Odessa. From there they took a train to Bremen in Germany. From there they boarded a ship to New York. Some went on to live in Los Angeles while others stayed in New York. Thousands were to follow them to the west coast of the USA.

Los Angeles was very different then from now. Just over 100,000 people lived in this famous city. Many of the Molokan immigrants were able to find good jobs laying railway tracks for the Pacific Electric Railroad. Wages were $2 per day. Good money in those days. In 1906 the Molokan community was well-established in LA. They had their own grocery stores and meat markets. Many were to become prosperous.

In 1913 Kim Kardashian’s great grandfather Tatos Kardashian, aged 17, headed on a steamer to the USA. He, like many others, were attentive to the dramatic prophecy of Efim. All those who left the countries we now call Turkey and Armenia thus avoided the terrible Armenian genocide (1915-23).

The Armenian genocide was the deliberate killing and deportation of Armenians by the Turks of the Ottoman Empire. Armenian people are mainly Christian and the Ottomans were very unhappy with the existence of this Christian minority group. In 1915, during World War 1, leaders of the Turkish government instigated a plan to expel and massacre Armenians. By the early 1920s, when the genocide finally ended, between 600,000 and 1.5 million Armenians were dead, with many more forcibly removed from the country. Today, most historians call this event a genocide: a premeditated and systematic campaign to exterminate an entire people. In 2021, U.S. President Joe Biden issued a declaration that the Ottoman Empire’s slaughter of Armenian civilians was genocide. However, the Turkish government still does not acknowledge that this was genocide. During this terrible time the village of Karakala was totally destroyed and all the men, women and children living there were killed in the most gruesome ways.

The wise, faithful prophet Efim Klubnikin died in August 1916. He was fully aware of the horrors perpetrated by Turkish soldiers in the genocide. His prophetic warnings were completely vindicated. We can be certain that many people thanked him for his true and faithful prophecy that saved so many lives.

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Mark Roques

Mark taught Philosophy and Religious Education at Prior Park College, Bath, for many years. As Director of RealityBites he has developed a rich range of resources for youth workers and teachers. He has spoken at conferences in the UK, Holland, South Korea, Spain, Australia and New Zealand.

Mark is a lively storyteller and the author of four books, including The Spy, the Rat and the Bed of Nails: Creative Ways of Talking about Christian Faith. His work is focused on storytelling and how this can help us to communicate the Christian faith. He has written many articles for the Baptist Times, RE Today, Youthscape, Direction magazine and the Christian Teachers Journal.

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