The prophecy preachers keep talking about the
things predicted in Matthew 24 as being signs of our time and proof that Jesus
is coming soon. One of the things mentioned is earthquakes (Matthew 24:7). They
say that never before in out history have there been such catastrophic and
devastating earthquakes as we are seeing today; therefore, the coming of Jesus
must be soon!
Well, let’s see!
Pompeii was destroyed by an earthquake in A.D.63
and so it was one of those predicted by Jesus in Matthew 24.
But the prophecy preachers say that earthquakes
are more devastating today?
Do they read history? If they did, they would
know that in 1556 there was and earthquake in the Shensi Province of China
which took 800,000 lives (I read in one place 830,000 lives). That was one of
the greatest disasters in the world’s history! And that was over 500 years ago.
Did Jesus come then?
In 1693 an earthquake on the island of Sicily
took 60,000 lives.
Early in the 18th century the Japanese City of
Edo (now Tokyo) was destroyed with the loss of 200,000 loves.
In 1755 the city of Lisbon, Portugal, lost 60,000
persons to an earthquake (the shocks were felt in southern France and North
Africa)
In 1797 40,000 lost their lives in an earthquake
at Quito, Ecuador.
In 1896 and earthquake caused 2,000 square miles
to sink and become the bed of a lake in the state of Kutch in India.
In 1883 a violent eruption at Krakatan in Sunda
Strait caused the deaths of 36,000 people.
In 1896 an earthquake in Japan took 26,000 lives.
Lesser earthquakes have been occurring since
those mentioned, which, of course, could not be any sign of a soon-coming
Christ. He did not come at any of these events.
The same thing can be said of the other things of
which Jesus spoke in Matthew 24, all of which occurred between the time of His
predictions and A.D. 70 when all those things had taken place, including the
abomination of desolation (Matthew 24:15) and the great tribulation (Mathew
24:34). Jesus had said,
“Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not
pass, till all these things be fulfilled.” (Matthew 24:34).
So the next time you hear your pastor on T.V.
evangelist talk about the earthquakes we are having today being a sign of the
soon coming of Christ, tell him to go read his history books, and he will learn
more than he has learned from the Bible!
Jesus didn’t come following the earthquake in
1556 which took over 800,000 lives, nor following any of the other great
disasters occurring since then. But preachers keep right on preaching Matthew
24 as though it is a prophecy for our times and proof that Jesus is coming
soon.
Let’s think for ourselves!