Sendai, Japan. The television screen was filled with pictures of devastation in Japan this weekend as we worked on the very last details of the manuscript for Thunder of Heaven, the second novel in our futuristic fiction series, due for release in June. The similarity between the images on the screen and theme of Thunder is startling. This novel continues where Edge of Apocalypse left off, and this time will place the family of our hero Joshua Jordan right at the center of titanic, global events, including massive disasters of the kind that Jesus predicted in Matthew 24, when He warned of those “birth pangs” (v. 8 ) that would precede His coming, including “earthquakes” (v. 7). The earthquake in Japan was estimated to be a 8.9 and along with the resulting tsunami has taken at least 10,000 lives thus far and has left millions homeless. Experts have quickly assessed its shocking power and are now discussing the pattern of earthquakes world-wide. According to ABC news, the quake was so violent that it accelerated the earth’s rotation and and shifted the entire island of Japan by 8 feet, quoting a NASA geophysicist. Is there a pattern? There have been more 8.0 + earthquakes in the last 8 years than in the preceding 30 years. The Smithsonian Institution had ranked earthquakes over the last 100 years back in 2007. It is interesting to note that in ranking the magnitude of those quakes from 8.5 to 9.5, the Smithsonian listed the most violent ones occuring in the most recent decades. The earthquake in Japan just confirms that pattern. According to Geoff Abers of Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory at Columbia University, there is now “some debate” among scientists as to the increase in these high magnitude earthquakes and whether this pattern is “statistically significant.” The people of Japan need our prayers and help. At the same time people everywhere need to consider the fact that they have a future beyond this present, groaning earth. God’s Son will return. There will be a new heavens and a new earth. Are you ready for it?
(c) 2011 Tim LaHaye and Craig Parshall
All Rights Reserved
I am so happy that you posted this and also what the Smithsonian said about earthquakes.
I am a Christian and I do believe we are in the end times, but am so tired of the world laughing at us, so really wanted to see scientific evidence that earthquakes are becoming more frequent and more violent. Thank you.