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One of the most interesting to me, and by the look of the blog statistics, others as well, is earthquakes as an end times sign. Jesus said that as a sign of His coming there would be earthquakes in diverse places. (Matthew 24:7). Of course, He gave other signs too. And also of course, one earthquake does not mean the end is near.
The end time is actually the time when Jesus ascended and will end when He comes back. So by that token, there have been many earthquakes over the last 2000 years. So what makes so many of us so sure that this is the end of the end time?
Jesus also said that the signs of His coming will be as birth pangs on a woman. (many parallel verses here.) The earth will travail and groaneth as in labor. (Romans 8:22).
You have to think about how labor pains work. The pregnancy gestates, at first unnoticed. Then the baby bump appears. It grows larger, seemingly slowly at first, then quickly. Finally the labor begins with the water breaking (I liken that to the rapture). After the water breaks the real labor has arrived. At first the pangs are painful but bearable. They come far apart. But then they increase with intensity and finally they are unbearably overlapping, painfully crashing one upon the other.
So in the early part of the century there was an earthquake or two here and there. But now, the quakes (and other signs too, I hasten to add) are all happening more frequently with more intensity. So let's look at quakes.
There was only 1 major quake this past week. (June 10-16). "Major" quakes according to the US Geological Survey are quakes with a magnitude above 6.0 There was a 6.0 in Taiwan.
There were some smaller quakes in unusual places:
4.2 Pakistan
3.1 Dallas
2.5 Urban area Oklahoma City
2.8 near Oklahoma City
3.3 near Oklahoma City
5.3 Turkey-Iraq-Syria border region
2.6 Colorado
2.7 Colorado
4.0, 4.2, 5.7, 5.4, 4.6 Afghanistan
As I have been sharing, the end time prophesies are not just contained in Matthew 24. They are all over the entire bible. As a matter of fact, there is an end time judgment reference in every New Testament book except Philemon. And of course, Revelation is the granddaddy of the bible books with the most information in one place regarding the promises of God in the last days.
In Joel chapter 2 there is a reference to "columns of smoke".
"And I will show wonders in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and columns of smoke. The sun shall be turned to darkness, and the moon to blood, before the great and awesome day of the LORD comes." (Joel 2:30-31).
The Hebrew word defines column of smoke as a pillar or palm-like tree trunk. It is a vivid picture, and can, in my opinion, be interpreted as volcanic column of ash and smoke. For the last three years, volcanoes the scientists thought were dormant have been popping back to life, sometimes very unexpectedly (Chile's Chaiten).
Science fact of the day: Did you know that the biblical term for "brimstone" is the chemical element sulfur? Elemental sulfur can be found near hot springs and volcanic regions in many parts of the world, especially along the Pacific Ring of Fire. Hydrogen sulfide is the compound that smells like rotten eggs.
Smith's bible dictionary explains: "Brimstone, or sulphur, is found in considerable quantities on the shores of the Dead Sea. (Genesis 19:24). It is a well-known simple mineral substance, crystalline, easily melted, very inflammable, and when burning emits a peculiar suffocating odor. It is found in great abundance near volcanoes. The soil around Sodom and Gomorrah abounded in sulphur and bitumen." The bible refers to brimstone 14 times. The Lake of Fire burns with brimstone, "But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death" (Revelation 21:8).
Though I don't have quantifiable numbers, it seems that along with quakes, volcanic activity has dampened somewhat these last two or three weeks. The calm before the storm? Or the catching of breath before the next, bigger pang?
The end time is actually the time when Jesus ascended and will end when He comes back. So by that token, there have been many earthquakes over the last 2000 years. So what makes so many of us so sure that this is the end of the end time?
Jesus also said that the signs of His coming will be as birth pangs on a woman. (many parallel verses here.) The earth will travail and groaneth as in labor. (Romans 8:22).
You have to think about how labor pains work. The pregnancy gestates, at first unnoticed. Then the baby bump appears. It grows larger, seemingly slowly at first, then quickly. Finally the labor begins with the water breaking (I liken that to the rapture). After the water breaks the real labor has arrived. At first the pangs are painful but bearable. They come far apart. But then they increase with intensity and finally they are unbearably overlapping, painfully crashing one upon the other.
So in the early part of the century there was an earthquake or two here and there. But now, the quakes (and other signs too, I hasten to add) are all happening more frequently with more intensity. So let's look at quakes.
There was only 1 major quake this past week. (June 10-16). "Major" quakes according to the US Geological Survey are quakes with a magnitude above 6.0 There was a 6.0 in Taiwan.
There were some smaller quakes in unusual places:
4.2 Pakistan
3.1 Dallas
2.5 Urban area Oklahoma City
2.8 near Oklahoma City
3.3 near Oklahoma City
5.3 Turkey-Iraq-Syria border region
2.6 Colorado
2.7 Colorado
4.0, 4.2, 5.7, 5.4, 4.6 Afghanistan
As I have been sharing, the end time prophesies are not just contained in Matthew 24. They are all over the entire bible. As a matter of fact, there is an end time judgment reference in every New Testament book except Philemon. And of course, Revelation is the granddaddy of the bible books with the most information in one place regarding the promises of God in the last days.
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| Mexico's Volcano Popocatepetl |
The Hebrew word defines column of smoke as a pillar or palm-like tree trunk. It is a vivid picture, and can, in my opinion, be interpreted as volcanic column of ash and smoke. For the last three years, volcanoes the scientists thought were dormant have been popping back to life, sometimes very unexpectedly (Chile's Chaiten).
Science fact of the day: Did you know that the biblical term for "brimstone" is the chemical element sulfur? Elemental sulfur can be found near hot springs and volcanic regions in many parts of the world, especially along the Pacific Ring of Fire. Hydrogen sulfide is the compound that smells like rotten eggs.
Smith's bible dictionary explains: "Brimstone, or sulphur, is found in considerable quantities on the shores of the Dead Sea. (Genesis 19:24). It is a well-known simple mineral substance, crystalline, easily melted, very inflammable, and when burning emits a peculiar suffocating odor. It is found in great abundance near volcanoes. The soil around Sodom and Gomorrah abounded in sulphur and bitumen." The bible refers to brimstone 14 times. The Lake of Fire burns with brimstone, "But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death" (Revelation 21:8).
Though I don't have quantifiable numbers, it seems that along with quakes, volcanic activity has dampened somewhat these last two or three weeks. The calm before the storm? Or the catching of breath before the next, bigger pang?
I've commented before on Colorado earthquakes and the fact that they are NOT unusual. Please check out these web pages. They are legitimate sites. Colorado is a state where the mountains and the plains meet. The Rockies were pushed violently UP at some point in history (the Flood?) and continue to grow upward today. The area of the recently listed quakes is VOLCANIC in history - if you went there, you would see without even trying numerous ancient cones, plugs, lava fields, one of the best dikes around, etc. Look at the facts. Not every quake is listed on the USGS main page every day. There are 93 listed on this page alone for the week ending on June 19 in the Intermountain West page:http://www.seis.utah.edu/req2webdir/recenteqs/Maps/anss_imw.html
ReplyDeleteWhy did the USGS report the 2.7 in Colorado on the 13th and not the 2.7 in Gardner, Montana on the 17th? Because someone felt and reported the one in Colorado and not the one in Montana?
http://neic.usgs.gov/neis/bulletin/neic_b000afkg_h.html
Check out how many quakes have been recorded in this area since 1900 and farther down the page for since 2000. I don't call the 13th's event 'unusual'.
http://vulcan.wr.usgs.gov/LivingWith/VolcanicPast/Places/volcanic_past_colorado.html
scroll down to Spanish Peaks - the area directly west of the two Colorado quakes listed (Also very, very interesting - read Slumgullion section directly above. I've been here and it's fascinating to see what the earth moving at 20 feet per year is doing to the trees, road and surrounding area. Photos: http://actionmatrix.com/Travel/LakeCity/Places/CimarronPass.htm
http://www.cdphe.state.co.us/hm/rad/rml/energyfuels/preap/07docs/07earthquake.pdf
Colorado state map of faults and earthquakes
The reason I always react to this is the same reason you want Biblical proof texts whenever anyone says something. What is the TRUTH of the area? If someone is going to say an earthquake in Colorado is "unusual" and is therefore one of the indications that the Second Coming of Christ is going to happen very soon, then I want to KNOW that the earthquakes are truly unusual. Born and raised in Colorado I know they are NOT unusual (no matter what one woman working for the USGS said and was then picked up by hundreds of news sites who don't check their facts - there are dozens of reports and articles available on the internet that say differently).
As for the quakes in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Turkey-Iraq-Syria border region, these are some of the most active areas of the world. Why do you consider them "unusual"? http://neic.usgs.gov/neis/bulletin/neic_b000aflu_h.html
http://neic.usgs.gov/neis/bulletin/neic_b000agdn_h.html
Hi Anonymous,
DeleteGreat questions! This will be 2 parts.
Quakes can be unusual in several different ways, some scientific and some supernatural. Not all questions can be answered with science. But scientifically, in many of the essays where I’ve written about quakes I also include a science explanation and source to support the claim. For example, there was a weird quake in Italy. (Discovery’s headline, not mine. “Weird”=unusual? I think so!) It was unusual because it was regarded as a thrust quake but it was shallow, which thrust quakes aren’t, and it occurred hundreds of miles from the rift. There was no scientific explanation for that quake, hence it was weird.
I remarked on it on my blog here and inked to the science
http://the-end-time.blogspot.com/2012/06/earthquakes-in-diverse-places.html
Then there are deep-focus quakes. A swarm of deep-focus quakes happened in Moro bay in 2010. Scientists call these rare, deep quakes "seismic anomalies" because they are not supposed to even be able to happen at that depth, 600km. In the last 100 years there have been 18 such quakes, and then in 2010 there were three in one day. Unusual! I remarked on that and linked to the science, here
http://the-end-time.blogspot.com/2010/07/dengue-fever-rears-its-head-in-fl-deep.html
Then there are quakes in unusual places. Though as you correctly pointed out, much of the world is seismic, there are places where quakes don’t happen or are extremely rare if they do. Svalbard is one such place. I read the .pdf report behind the decision for putting the Svalbard seed bank aka Doomsday Vault at Svalbard. This location was chosen for the express reason that seismic activity rarely if ever occurs there. Earthquakes occur hundreds of miles away on the Norwegian mainland, but they are low in magnitude. The largest one on the mainland was 5.4 in 1904 and most eq's on mainland Norway are less than 4.0. The day they opened the seed bank, a 6.2 quake occurred. It was the largest in Norway’s history. I quoted and linked to the sources for all of that in the essay, here
http://the-end-time.blogspot.com/2010/06/language-of-god-earthquakes.html
All this to say that I do most always offer explanations on my blog as to why this quake or that quake is unusual or different or to be noted. I link to the source and I excerpt the source appropriately. Also I wanted to explain to you my definition for “unusual: they are unusual for location, depth, or quantity, frequency, among other reasons. (more on that in a minute).
I’d like to address two things you said, specifically. The first is that you noted there were quakes recorded and reported in Montana on that day, and you provided links. I understand that there are other reputable sites that are more location-specific. I also know that there are other reputable sites that record global quakes, like RSOE, the European-Mediterranean Seismic organization, and the Edinburgh Earth Observatory, not to mention the Japanese sites.
I choose to generally use the USGS across the board. I feel that picking and choosing some sites to remark on this time and another site that time skews the results and the general pattern I am attempting to show. For example, if I use the location-specific Utah site you linked to this time and a Montana one that time and then the USGS another time, it results in apples to oranges. Data presentation must be uniform or it skews the results. If I lived in Utah I might use that one. But I am showing the overall prophetic picture here. USGS is the generally accepted global standard. If I’m consistent with the daya it will show a pattern, and the pattern has integrity, statistics-wise.
Secondly, I choose to use the USGS’s available search limit is quakes only above 2.5. There are many quakes that happen that occur in the 1.5-2.5 range, but I exclude those because even as USGS admits, at that low range is takes a while to decide of the rumble was from a truck or a quake. I leave that to the scientists and go on the larger quakes.
Part 2
DeleteThe second thing I’d like to address is your statement here: “If someone is going to say an earthquake in Colorado is "unusual" and is therefore one of the indications that the Second Coming of Christ is going to happen very soon, then I want to KNOW that the earthquakes are truly unusual.”
As I’ve said many times, one quake here or there does not make an end times sign. Taking quakes alone as a sign isn’t proper, either. We can pick at specifics all day long, but the root of it is that you seem to be resisting either the notion that unusual quakes ARE happening or that they ARE a sign. We have to take into consideration the body of evidence across ALL the signs Jesus told us would occur, societal, geophysical, supernatural, etc. Earthquakes fit in there in context with all the other signs that show us the end of the age is near. Just as it wouldn’t be fair for me to take one quake and say “the end is near” it also isn’t fair to pick out one quake from the overall picture to say it isn’t. The overall picture definitely and assuredly shows that what Jesus said about quakes being a sign is happening.
Of Colorado seismicity, the USGS says, “Colorado is considered a region of minor earthquake activity, although there are many uncertainties because of the very short time period for which historical data is available.”
As for the quakes here you point out in the Middle East, yes Syria-Iraq is a seismically active region. Most places on the planet are seismically active, or have the potential to be. But when I look at the list of quakes every day I don’t see Syria listed every day, or even frequently. Sometimes quakes are unusual because of their prophetic location and combination of other events going on there. This is an example of how we are leaving the scientific and moving toward the prophetic. Such as the quake at Svalbard. That was a clear sign. Any quakes happening in what Rosenberg called the prophetic epicenter need to be looked at in context of other events happening at the same time. Syria is the location of a clear, specific, unfulfilled prophecy, there is a revolution going on there now that has the potential to fill the prophecy, and that there was a quake there at the same time. Unusual confluence of events.
Another example of an unusual quake is- perhaps it is occurring in a normally seismic place, like Chile, but it is happening under a dormant volcano (Chaiten.) Chaiten has never erupted, scientists say, in the last 9000 years. Yet one day it started rumbling seismically and then it exploded. You could charge me with being unfair to say a 'Chile quake is unusual', but the fact that it was seismic due to a dormant Chilean volcano coming to life definitely is! So there’s that to look at.
At some point we have to accept that even where there is no quake activity that a quake is going to happen there, because the bible says it will. There is a crossing over point from science and earthly provable pattern, to the supernatural. That is happening now. Hope this helps.
Anonymous, I've had trouble for the last two hours getting your comment up. Forgive me but this is the way I have to do it. It's awkward because my answer is above in 2 parts.
ReplyDeleteANONYMOUS COMMENT
I've commented before on Colorado earthquakes and the fact that they are NOT unusual. Please check out these web pages. They are legitimate sites. Colorado is a state where the mountains and the plains meet. The Rockies were pushed violently UP at some point in history (the Flood?) and continue to grow upward today. The area of the recently listed quakes is VOLCANIC in history - if you went there, you would see without even trying numerous ancient cones, plugs, lava fields, one of the best dikes around, etc. Look at the facts. Not every quake is listed on the USGS main page every day. There are 93 listed on this page alone for the week ending on June 19 in the Intermountain West page:http://www.seis.utah.edu/req2webdir/recenteqs/Maps/anss_imw.html
Why did the USGS report the 2.7 in Colorado on the 13th and not the 2.7 in Gardner, Montana on the 17th? Because someone felt and reported the one in Colorado and not the one in Montana?
http://neic.usgs.gov/neis/bulletin/neic_b000afkg_h.html
Check out how many quakes have been recorded in this area since 1900 and farther down the page for since 2000. I don't call the 13th's event 'unusual'.
http://vulcan.wr.usgs.gov/LivingWith/VolcanicPast/Places/volcanic_past_colorado.html
scroll down to Spanish Peaks - the area directly west of the two Colorado quakes listed (Also very, very interesting - read Slumgullion section directly above. I've been here and it's fascinating to see what the earth moving at 20 feet per year is doing to the trees, road and surrounding area. Photos: http://actionmatrix.com/Travel/LakeCity/Places/CimarronPass.htm
http://www.cdphe.state.co.us/hm/rad/rml/energyfuels/preap/07docs/07earthquake.pdf
Colorado state map of faults and earthquakes
The reason I always react to this is the same reason you want Biblical proof texts whenever anyone says something. What is the TRUTH of the area? If someone is going to say an earthquake in Colorado is "unusual" and is therefore one of the indications that the Second Coming of Christ is going to happen very soon, then I want to KNOW that the earthquakes are truly unusual. Born and raised in Colorado I know they are NOT unusual (no matter what one woman working for the USGS said and was then picked up by hundreds of news sites who don't check their facts - there are dozens of reports and articles available on the internet that say differently).
As for the quakes in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Turkey-Iraq-Syria border region, these are some of the most active areas of the world. Why do you consider them "unusual"? http://neic.usgs.gov/neis/bulletin/neic_b000aflu_h.html
http://neic.usgs.gov/neis/bulletin/neic_b000agdn_h.html