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Chile: The Day After
By Mike Mickey
Yesterday's earthquake in Chile was so powerful it ranks among the top 10 earthquakes in recorded history. Let's have a look:
1. May 22, 1960 - Chile - magnitude 9.5
2. March 28, 1964 - Prince William Sound, AK - magnitude 9.2
3. December 26, 2004 - Sumatra-Andaman Isles - magnitude 9.1
4. November 4, 1952 - Kamchatka peninsula, former Soviet Union - magnitude 9.0
5. August 13, 1868 - Arica, Chile - magnitude 9.0
6. January 26, 1700 - Northwestern US coast/southern British Columbia, Canada) - magnitude 9.0
7. January 31, 1906 - Off the Coast of Esmeraldas, Ecuador - magnitude 8.8
8. February 27, 2010 - Central Chile - magnitude 8.8
9. February 4, 1965 - Rat Islands, Alaska - magnitude 8.7
10. November 1, 1755 - Lisbon, Portugal - magnitude 8.7
There are a number of ties in terms of magnitude included in the list of history's most powerful earthquakes prepared above, the simple point of which is to demonstrate that yesterday's earthquake qualifies to make anyone's list of 'Top 10' earthquake events in recorded history. If we grouped all tying events by magnitude, the 8.8 Chile quake would be tied for #5 all-time.
Not only did the earthquake itself leave many of us awestruck, approximately 25% of the world's population watched and waited to see what impact, if any, the Pacific rim rocker would have on the seas near them, with many still remembering clearly the horrific events of December 26, 2004 when a devastating tsunami generated by a 9.1 quake listed above killed hundreds of thousands of people in Asia. Fortunately, for all concerned, no waves of that amplitude struck but it is noteworthy to state ocean waters were affected by the quake's intensity as far away as Hawaii, Japan and Russia to name a few, an 'attention getter' if you will.
Jesus said of the end times, as recorded in Scripture:
Luke 21:11: And great earthquakes shall be in divers places, and famines, and pestilences; and fearful sights and great signs shall there be from heaven.
Mark 13:8: For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be earthquakes in divers places, and there shall be famines and troubles: these [are] the beginnings of sorrows.
For the people of Chile, reminiscent of a recent earthquake event that left many of the people of Haiti who survived in tears, yesterday's quake marked a "beginning of sorrows" for them. As such, we need to be prayerful for the Chilean people and charitable as we feel led but looking beyond the Chilean earthquake for a moment, Christ's prophecy indicates that a world that has forgotten its God is only now seeing the beginnings of things to come. As the old saying goes, we ain't seen nothing yet.
In 1st Thessalonians 5:3, Paul likened events connected to the end times to a pregnant woman in labor. Just as contractions become more frequent in occurrence and more intense in degree leading up to the birth of a child, that is what lies ahead in the immediate future.
Everything is normal - or not
In a LiveScience article that seemed expressly written to allay people's fears that the earth is shaking more violently than it has in times past, some scientists implied that the Chilean quake was "just Mother Nature as usual" but Stephen S. Gao, a geophysicist at Missouri University of Science & Technology, confessed "relative to the 20-year period from the mid 1970's to the mid 1990's, the Earth has been more active over the past 15 or so years. We still do not know the reason for this yet." What do his words tacitly admit to? From my perspective, that fulfillment of Christ's prophecies concerning the end times are manifesting in the world around us.
Keep your eyes on the skies! Jesus Christ is Lord and He IS coming soon!
Original Article
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