The 8.8 magnitude earthquake that struck Chile, and has continued to rattle the region with a flurry of strong after-shocks, has claimed over 700 lives, thus far. Rescuers are digging for survivors while government soldiers have taken control of the cities in the hopes of quelling the epidemic of looting.
Over 500,000 homes have been destroyed, or badly damaged. Thousands of people are missing. The country is in desperate need of field hospitals, temporary bridges, water purification plants and damage assessment experts. An appeal for more people to assist with the rescue efforts is also going out to relieve workers who have been laboring frantically since the devastating quake struck during the early Saturday morning hours.
The tsunami that resulted from the quake rose up and destroyed a beach side carnival in the village of Lloca. The fears that the tsunami would cause havoc on Japan and Hawaii once the swell reached those locations rose up with the tsunami warning, but Japan and Hawaii received only minor ocean swells that rose to about three feet. This is not to say that larger waves may still be on the way, but so far it seems that the tsunami danger is minimal.
The massive earthquake in Chile follows shortly behind a 7.0 that hit Haiti, a 7.0 off of the southern shore of Japan, a 5.9 near Eureka, California (one of a number of strong quakes along the California Coast), a 6.9 near North Korea, and a flurry of earthquakes in the South Pacific affecting Indonesia and the Samoan Islands.
All of the earthquakes discussed occurred along the Ring of Fire. The seismic episodes in the Ring of Fire region account for about 90% of the earthquakes worldwide. A large part of the reason so many quakes happen along the edges of the Pacific Tectonic Plate is because the Pacific Plate is moving westward under the Australia plate at the rate of about 9cm a year.
As these cataclysmic events transpire, Christians often refer to Matthew Chapter 24 where Jesus lists the birth pangs the world will suffer as signs that His return is near appear. In Matthew 24:7-8 it reads in the King James Version: "For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places. All these are the beginning of sorrows."
Christian scholars, preachers, and writers have long said that when Christ is near His return, the number of earthquakes will increase, and they will occur in various places that they did not before. Most prophetic episodes listed as signs of the end times are already common place. There has been war, and rumors of war, throughout modern history (verse 6). False prophets, such as Muhammed, Joseph Smith (Mormonism), Jim Jones, and David Koresh (to name a few), have emerged on the scene and have successfully deceived many (verse 11). Television evangelists with big shiny rings and their promises that your prayers will be answered if you just send them some money, and faith healers with their "your saaaaaved" slaps to the forehead, have all turned Faith in Christ into a circus side show, leaving many who had been searching out the Kingdom of God to shake their heads and walk away in disappointment and dismay. Deception, pestilence, famine, love grown cold, excessive drinking, sexual promiscuity, and an increase in the denial of Christ's sacrifice on the cross are all signs that have been present for a very long time. But the increase of earthquakes had not occurred, until now.
Or have they?
Though earthquake frequency seems to have increased, we have to remember that these quakes have occurred along an area where 90% of earthquakes already occur, so a large number of quakes in the Ring of Fire region is not unheard of. In fact, looking at the history of earthquake activity, the charts look like roller coaster rides that, like the natural phenomenon of global temperatures, rise and drop throughout recorded history.
What seems to have increased to the naked eye, however, is the number of intense earthquakes.
Whether or not you may believe there has been an increased number of more intense earthquakes, data currently suggests that even the number of intense earthquakes still remains fairly constant. If there was a stream of intense earthquakes that broke records and continued for a fairly long stretch, I would think that such a string of events would be a definite sign of the "end times." But currently, we just don't have that kind of activity.
As a Californian, of course, my attention to earthquake activity may be a little heightened. Every time a sizable earthquake strikes, I pop up and take attention. One must recognize that with each large earthquake along the Pacific Plate, it makes Californians more aware of the fact that "The Big One" may be on the horizon.
The biblical terms used in reference to the increase of the signs of the end times are "an increase in sorrows," and as stated in Mark 13:8 (which is another account of Christ's warnings regarding the end times scenario) "the beginning of birth pains."
Birth pains begin as subtle rumblings, gradually progressing to a level of increased intensity, and frequency, until finally it all reaches a crescendo, and the event is thrust upon the mother in a sudden surge of incredible pain and "gnashing of teeth."
The reference Mark makes to "birth pains" is a part of what has led students of the Bible to believe that as the return of Christ nears, the frequency of earthquakes will increase. I am one to believe that an increase in the occurrence of seismic events, as well as an increase in intensity, "may" be a sign that Christ's return is near, but I also have to take into account the fact that despite the podium pounding sermons of prophecy teachers that proclaim earthquakes are steadily increasing in number, when you look at an overall study of earthquakes over the last hundred years, or so, they are not increasing in number after all.
One must consider that either the end-times scenario is not upon us just yet, the increase of earthquakes in number and intensity has not happened yet, the increase of earthquakes in number and intensity will not occur prior to the commencement of the Great Tribulation, or earthquakes are something that is expected to occur throughout the Church Age, and will continue to occur well into the final seven years of this age, and will cease upon the commencement of The Millennium.
I am not trying to rewrite scripture, or denounce the writings and teachings of a number of fantastic prophecy scholars. I am simply saying that a few massive earthquakes do not an apocalypse make.
-- Political Pistachio Conservative News and Commentary
Death toll in Chile earthquake passes 700 - CNN World
1.5 Million Displaced After Chile Quake - New York Times
Earthquakes and the End Times - The GeoChristian
Strong earthquake injures 2 in Japan - USA Today
7.0 quake hits Haiti; 'Serious loss of life' expected - CNN World
Magnitude 5.9 - OFFSHORE NORTHERN CALIFORNIA - USGS
Significant Earthquake and News Headlines - USGS
Two South Pacific earthquakes unlikely to be connected, say seismologists - Syumanda Syndicates
Matthew 24 (King James Version) - Bible Gateway
Mark 13:8 - Biblos
Tsunami Hits Hawaii With Three-foot Waves - National Geographic
EARTHQUAKES AND THE END TIMES: A GEOLOGICAL AND BIBLICAL PERSPECTIVE - The Institute For Creation Research
Are Earthquakes Really on the Increase? - USGS
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