Sign of the Times, Pt. 1

Matthew 24:7

"For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places."

I'm not a doomsayer or a soothsayer. If anything, I'm just saying what the Bible prophecies state will happen in the last days. There's more in Matthew 24, but for now I'll focus on earthquakes.

The prophetic Biblical reference in verse 7 is not about the increase of the earthquakes' magnitude or frequency in the last days. It is indicating that there shall be earthquakes in "divers places". The Greek word, kata (Strong's # 2596), means among other things, throughout. That is to say, earthquakes will occur in various places. In my humble opinion, it points to places never thought of being prone to earthquakes.

  

Case in point #1:

Swarm of Quakes Have Experts Concerned

Reported by: Brooke Boone

Published: 6/23/2011 4:03 pm

Updated: 7/04/2011 12:39 pm

Hawthorne, Nev. -- Nevada Seismologists are keeping a close eye on an area southwest of Hawthorne, Nevada where hundreds of earthquakes have been detected since Sunday.

"It's a little bit concerning in a since. The largest earthquakes in these sequences are pretty large in size." Graham Kent is Director of Nevada Seismological Laboratory at the University of Nevada Reno.

He says there have been hundreds of earthquakes southwest of Hawthorne over the past few days. The largest-- recorded at a 4.4 in size.

"These are the biggest in a sequence we've seen at least in the last couple of years." Kent says unlike the 2008 quakes in Somersett that damaged so many homes, these earthquakes are fortunately not underneath a community.

Size is not the only reason Kent says they are watching the swarm of quakes closely. The location of these quakes is on top of a fault that has until now remained unknown or has not been active.

See rest of the story here: Swarm of Quakes Have Experts Concerned

Case in point #2:

Missouri Earthquake Shakes Nine States

ST. LOUIS (AP) – Just days after the 200th anniversary of a series of massive earthquakes in southeast Missouri, residents woke up Tuesday to a rumbling reminder that they live in one of the continent's most active seismic areas.

The U.S. Geological Survey said the epicenter of a magnitude-4.0 earthquake at 3:58 a.m. was located near the town of East Prairie, Mo., roughly midway between St. Louis and Memphis. Several people in five states — Missouri, Illinois, Arkansas, Kentucky and Tennessee — felt the quake, along with scattered people in four others, as far away as North Carolina and Georgia, according to responses to the U.S. Geological Survey website.

See rest of the story here: Missouri Earthquake Shakes Nine States

Case in point #3:

Here's a news story that strikes closer to home for us Yakimites/Yakimanians?

Newly Discovered Earthquake Fault Lines Mean Valley Is on Shakier Ground than Originally Thought

By Mike Faulk
Yakima Herald-Republic

Posted on Sunday, January 08, 2012

YAKIMA, Wash. — The scenic ridges that line the Yakima Valley and much of Central Washington have long been admired and touted as part of the region's charm.

Turns out they come with a potential price.

"Every one of those mountains has a fault or two associated with them," said Brian Sherrod, a geologist with the U.S. Geological Survey studying Central Washington faults. "And almost all of them haven't had much work done on them yet."

They include everything from the Yakima, Manastash, Umtanum and Toppenish ridges to Heaven Hills and Saddle and Rattlesnake mountains near Hanford. The information being gathered on them by Sherrod and other geologists is not only helping people understand the likelihood of an earthquake in our region, it's showing just how connected the state's tectonics really are.

Sherrod said recently geologists have been able to map a series of fault lines stretching across the Cascades -- including a group of faults along ridges between Yakima and Ellensburg that connect to faults as far away as Vancouver Island. Their discoveries are changing the way geologists see the relationships between earthquakes on different sides of the state.

Here's the rest of the article: Newly Discovered Earthquake Fault Lines in Yakima Valley

I hope you're prepared to deal with the ramifications of your decision to either accept or reject Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Saviour.

"That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation."     Romans 10:9-10

Finally, Romans 13:12 warns: "The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light."