"Great Earthquakes Shall Be In Divers Places"

One of the sure signs of the soon return of Jesus Christ is "great earthquakes" in "divers places". Jesus was asked by the disciples what signs would precede His return and He responded by listing them. One of these signs regards earthquakes, or as Jesus put it, "And great earthquakes shall be in divers places,..." (Luke 21:11a)

The argument can absolutely be made that we are seeing more "great" earthquakes and we are seeing them in many, or "divers" places. And the effects of these earthquakes is more devastating than at any time in human history. To be sure, there have been events in the past that compare. But Jesus never said that there would be NO great earthquakes until His return, but that the geographic diversity, the sheer number, the magnitude and the human devastation would be like nothing the world had seen before.

But some argue that we are wrong in our understanding. They claim that the only thing that has changed is the fact that we have better capability to identify, track and assess the realities of earthquakes.

But this is a non-argument. Whether or not we are simply more aware and technologically advanced, the fact remains that until our present day, this prophecy could not have come true! If there were this many huge earthquakes in the past, there was no awareness of such and there certainly weren't nearly as many of the type that resulted in the massive loss in human life that we see in these last days. And when Jesus said, "great earthquakes," he clearly meant that they would be great in magnitude AND in effect.

The fact is, only in the past century have we been able to accurately say with certainty that "great earthquakes" are taking place in "divers places".

The Last Century: "Great" and "Divers" Earthquakes

In December of 2004, a horrible tsunami killed 250,000 people in eleven different countries. But what many seem to forget is that this was caused by an event on the bottom of the Indian Ocean: an EARTHQUAKE.

Some of the world's deadliest natural disasters — including earthquakes, tsunamis and volcanic eruptions — (all of which normall involve earthquake activity) since the start of the last century were listed by the Associated Press on December 26,2004. Here is that list.

Great and Divers Earthquakes: 1908-2008

Dec. 28, 1908 — A magnitude-7.2 earthquake kills 123,000 people in the Messina-Reggio Calabria area of eastern Sicily and southernmost Italy.

Jan. 13, 1915 — An earthquake with a magnitude of 7.5 leaves 29,980 dead in Avezzano, Italy.

Dec. 16, 1920 — Gansu, China is hit with an earthquake reaching magnitude 8.6 that kills 200,000 people.

Sept. 1, 1923 — An temblor of 8.3 magnitude in Japan destroys one-third of Tokyo and most of Yokohama. More than 140,000 are killed.

May 22, 1927 — An earthquake reaching 7.9 magnitude hits near Xining, China and kills approximately 200,000.

Dec. 25, 1932 — Approximately 70,000 people are killed after an earthquake reaching 7.6 magnitude hits the Gansu region in China.

May 30, 1935 — A magnitude 7.5 temblor strikes Quetta, Pakistan, killing more than 30,000 people.

Jan. 24, 1939 — An earthquake of 8.3 magnitude in Chile kills roughly 28,000 people.

Dec. 27, 1939 — More than 32,000 die in the Erzincan province in eastern Turkey during a 7.9-magnitude quake.

Oct. 5, 1948 — An earthquake of 7.3 magnitude in Turkmenistan kills over 110,000 people.

Aug. 15, 1950 — Up to 30,000 are estimated to have been killed in an earthquake of 8.6 magnitude in Assam, India.

May 31, 1970 — An earthquake reaching a magnitude of 7.9 in Peru leaves over 60,000 dead.

Nov. 13, 1970 — A cyclone in the Ganges Delta of Bangladesh kills at least 300,000 people.

Feb. 4, 1976 — A series of earthquakes reaching a magnitude of 7.5 in Guatemala leave over 23,000 dead.

July 28, 1976 — The worst earthquake to hit China in 20th century with an estimated magnitude at between 7.8 and 8.2 leaves more than 240,000 dead in Tangshan.

Sept. 16, 1978 — An earthquake of 7.7 magnitude in Tabas, Iran kills 25,000 people.

Nov. 14-16, 1985 — Volcanic eruption of Nevada del Ruiz near Bogota, Colombia, kills approximately 25,000 people.

Dec. 7, 1988 — A 6.9-magnitude earthquake in Armenia kills nearly 25,000.

June 21, 1990 — An earthquake of 7.7 magnitude in northwest Iran destroys cities and villages in Caspian Sea area and kills at least 50,000 people.

Sept. 30, 1993 — As many as 10,000 are killed from an earthquake of 6.0 magnitude that struck the state of Maharashtra in India.

Aug. 17, 1999 — More than 17,000 are killed as a magnitude-7.4 quake hits western Turkey.

Dec. 26, 2003 — More than 26,000 killed after an earthquake of 6.5 magnitude strikes the ancient historic city of Bam in southeast Iran.

Dec. 26, 2004 — A 9.0 earthquake off the western coast of Indonesia's Sumatra island launches tsunami waves that slam shorelines in Asia and Africa, killing more than 117,000 people.

Largest Earthquakes in the World Since 1900

The U.S. Geological Survey lists the most powerful earthquakes in the past 100 years, showing that we are definitely looking at a phenomena that can't be easily dismissed, in the light of the words of Jesus Christ and the fact that so many other signs are being fulfilled in our day.

1. Chile 1960 05 22 9.5 -38.24 -73.05 Kanamori, 1977

2. Prince William Sound, Alaska 1964 03 28 9.2 61.02 -147.65 Kanamori, 1977

3. Off the West Coast of Northern Sumatra 2004 12 26 9.1 3.30 95.78 Park et al., 2005

4. Kamchatka 1952 11 04 9.0 52.76 160.06 Kanamori, 1977

5. Off the Coast of Ecuador 1906 01 31 8.8 1.0 -81.5 Kanamori, 1977

6. Rat Islands, Alaska 1965 02 04 8.7 51.21 178.50 Kanamori, 1977

7. Northern Sumatra, Indonesia 2005 03 28 8.6 2.08 97.01 PDE

8. Assam - Tibet 1950 08 15 8.6 28.5 96.5 Kanamori, 1977

9. Andreanof Islands, Alaska 1957 03 09 8.6 51.56 -175.39 Johnson et al., 1994

10. Southern Sumatra, Indonesia 2007 09 12 8.5 -4.438 101.367 PDE

11. Banda Sea, Indonesia 1938 02 01 8.5 -5.05 131.62 Okal and Reymond, 2003

12. Kamchatka 1923 02 03 8.5 54.0 161.0 Kanamori, 1988

13. Chile-Argentina Border 1922 11 11 8.5 -28.55 -70.50 Kanamori, 1977

14. Kuril Islands 1963 10 13 8.5 44.9 149.6 Kanamori, 1977

Is It Just A Matter of Population?

"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.
"For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed."
Romans 10:9-11 kjv

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