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"And great earthquakes shall be in divers places, and famines, and pestilences; and fearful sights and great signs shall there be from heaven." -Luke 21:11 The 7.0 magnitude earthquake that has essentially destroyed the nation of Haiti has refocused attention on the prophecies about earthquakes in the last days that we find in the Scriptures. Yahshua (Jesus) told us that we would see an increase in earthquakes as we approached His coming and that this would be a clear sign that the end times was at hand. Could the unusual shaking that we are currently seeing around the world be an indication that we are approaching the time prophesied almost 2000 years ago? You see, unfortunately the Haiti earthquake is not an isolated incident. 2010 is already a banner year for major earthquakes. For example, a 6.3 magnitude earthquake shook the ocean floor between South America and Antarctica on Sunday. A magnitude 6.0 earthquake hit Guatemala's Pacific coast near the border with El Salvador on Monday, but fortunately it did not do much damage. There have already been five magnitude 6.0 or greater earthquakes in the area of the Solomon Islands in the Pacific Ocean so far in 2010. The annual average of worldwide earthquakes measuring 6.0 or greater is 152. If the current pace continues, we will see 260 in 2010. The earth is shaking my friends.

"Almost 1,500 earthquakes have been recorded in Yellowstone National Park during a recent swarm over the last two weeks. Since Jan. 17 when the swarm began, there have been 1,497 earthquakes with magnitude 0.4 to 3.8 recorded on the west side of the park through 9 a.m. Thursday, Jan. 28, the park said in a news release. Over the last couple days, a pair of earthquakes of magnitude 3.1 and 3.2 occurred in the park, according to the University of Utah Seismograph Stations. The magnitude 3.1 event occurred at 12:52 p.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 27. The magnitude 3.2 occurred at 1:46 a.m. Jan. 28. Both shocks happened about nine miles to the southeast of West Yellowstone and about 10 miles to the northwest of Old Faithful. Both quakes were reported felt in the park. The largest earthquake in the swarm as of 9 a.m. Jan. 28 was a magnitude 3.8. Of the 1,497 located earthquakes, 12 events were of magnitude larger than 3, 111 events were of magnitude 2 to 3, and 1,374 events were of magnitude less than 2. There have been multiple personal reports of ground shaking from observers inside the park and in surrounding areas for some of the larger events, according to the park. Earthquake swarms are relatively common in Yellowstone, the park said. "Yellowstone Volcano Observatory scientists still consider that the swarm events are likely the result of slip on pre-existing faults and are not thought to be caused by underground movement of magma. Currently there is no indication of premonitory volcanic or hydrothermal activity, but ongoing observations and analyses will continue to evaluate these different sources," the park said in the news release. Click here for felt reports."

"BIBLE SAYS ISRAEL, WORLD TO FACE MAJOR EARTHQUAKES IN LAST DAYS: Israel not prepared Bible prophecies tell us to expect multiple severe earthquakes in the last days. * Speaking of the signs in the last days that will indicate His return is drawing near, Jesus Christ said: "Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and in various places there will be famines and earthquakes." (Matthew 24:7) * During the vision that the Hebrew Prophet Ezekiel had of events that would happen in the last days, the Lord said to him: "It will come about on that day when Gog [a Russian dictator allied with Iran, Turkey, Libya, et al] comes against Israel, that My fury will mount up in My anger. In My zeal and in My blazing wrath I declare that on that day there will surely be a great earthquake in the land of Israel. The fish of the sea, the birds of the heavens, the beasts of the field, all the creeping things that creep on the earth, and all the men who are on the face of the earth will shake at My presence; the mountains also will be thrown down, the steep pathways will collapse and every wall will fall to the ground." (Ezekiel 38:18-20) * During the vision that the Lord showed the Apostle John of what would happen in the last days, John wrote: "I looked and He broke the sixth seal, and there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth made of hair, and the whole moon became like blood….every mountain and island were moved out of their places. The the kings of the earth and the great men and the commanders and the rich and the strong and every slave and free man hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains; and they said to the mountains and the rocks, 'Fall on us and hide us from the presence of Him who sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb; for the great day of their wrath has come, and who is able to stand?'" (Revelation 6:12-17) Israeli experts indicate, however, that while the J

"Haiti's history is a catalog of political disasters, one after the other. In one account of the nation's fight for independence from the French in the late 18th century, representatives of the nation are said to have made a pact with the Devil to throw off the French. According to this account, the Haitians considered the French as Catholics and wanted to side with whomever would oppose the French. Thus, some would use that tradition to explain all that has marked the tragedy of Haitian history -- including now the earthquake of January 12, 2010. Does God hate Haiti? That is the conclusion reached by many, who point to the earthquake as a sign of God's direct and observable judgment. God does judge the nations -- all of them -- and God will judge the nations. His judgment is perfect and his justice is sure. He rules over all the nations and his sovereign will is demonstrated in the rising and falling of nations and empires and peoples. Every molecule of matter obeys his command, and the earthquakes reveal his reign -- as do the tides of relief and assistance flowing into Haiti right now. A faithful Christian cannot accept the claim that God is a bystander in world events. The Bible clearly claims the sovereign rule of God over all his creation, all of the time. We have no right to claim that God was surprised by the earthquake in Haiti, or to allow that God could not have prevented it from happening. God's rule over creation involves both direct and indirect acts, but his rule is constant. The universe, even after the consequences of the Fall, still demonstrates the character of God in all its dimensions, objects, and occurrences. And yet, we have no right to claim that we know why a disaster like the earthquake in Haiti happened at just that place and at just that moment. The arrogance of human presumption is a real and present danger. We can trace the effects of a drunk driver to a car accident, but we cannot trace the effects of voodoo to an earthquake -- a

"NEW YORK - Haiti can expect more aftershocks in coming weeks, and while the usual pattern suggests they will become weaker and less frequent, another one as strong as Wednesday's jolt is certainly possible, scientists say. The battered nation has felt more than 40 significant aftershocks since the Jan. 12 quake, with Wednesday's temblor the strongest. Originally estimated at magnitude 6.1, Wednesday's aftershock was later revised to a 5.9. These events are a sign the land is adjusting to "the new reality of the rock layers," said Bruce Pressgrave, a geophysicist with the U.S. Geological Survey. Eric Calais of Purdue University, who has studied earthquake potential in the region, said aftershocks could continue for several weeks and that another jolt as strong as Wednesday's would not be surprising. "They will be less and less frequent, but large ones can still strike," he said. So buildings are still at risk, especially those already weakened, he said. Julie Dutton, a USGS geophysicist, agreed that more aftershocks are probable and that another event like Wednesday's was certainly possible. "More likely we see that the earthquakes decrease in size, but you definitely have the potential that you can have a larger earthquake," she said."

"A seriously damaged national port. An already swamped airport. Hospitals in shambles. A homeless president. No fuel. A capital city without phone service or electricity. As military and rescue teams began to stream in Thursday from the U.S. and other countries, veterans of past disasters say the grim realities of the Haiti earthquake set it apart from many other calamities, including the 2004 tsunami that devastated communities around the Indian Ocean, killing an estimated quarter million people. "There are a lot of dimensions that make this an especially complicated situation," said Steve Hollingworth, chief operating officer at the Atlanta-based relief group CARE. Haiti's almost nonexistent government and its battered infrastructure are among the top challenges that will plague relief efforts in coming days and weeks, aid veterans say. Also high on their lists: the country's extreme poverty and history of violence. "When a country's capital city is decimated, you lose a lot in terms of staging and organization," said Randy Martin, head of global emergency operations at Mercy Corps International. Little organization and crumbling infrastructure has stalled relief efforts in Haiti, where time is running out for possible survivors in the rubble. Military and aid groups began to encounter huge obstacles getting relief into the country, less than two days after the earthquake killed an estimated 45,000 to 50,000 people. U.S. military specialists reestablished communications at the Port-au-Prince airport, but a lack of fuel and a crammed tarmac prompted the Haitian government to halt incoming flights. While one airport runway was usable, air-traffic control was limited, able to handle only four aircraft at a time, logistics companies said. "

"Haitians are lining bodies along the streets of Port-au-Prince, where thousands are feared dead after a massive earthquake destroyed much of the capital. The 7.0 magnitude quake that struck Tuesday was the most powerful to hit the Caribbean nation in 200 years. The temblor collapsed the presidential palace, ministries, homes, schools, monuments and the city's largest hospital. The International Red Cross says up to 3 million people have been affected. Bodies were pulled Wednesday from the collapsed United Nations headquarters in Port-au-Prince. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon says more than 100 U.N. personnel are missing, including the mission chief, Hedi Annabi. "

"PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti - The largest earthquake ever recorded in the area shook Haiti on Tuesday, collapsing a hospital where people screamed for help. Other buildings also were damaged and scientists said they expected "substantial damage and casualties." With communications disrupted there were no reports of deaths or injuries soon after the quake, as powerful aftershocks shook the country. The earthquake had a preliminary magnitude of 7.0 and was centered about 10 miles (15 kilometers) west of the capital of Port-au-Prince, the U.S. Geological Survey said. It had a depth of 5 miles (8 kilometers). It was the largest quake recorded in the area, said USGS analyst Dale Grant, and the last major one since a magnitude-6.7 temblor in 1984. An Associated Press videographer saw the wrecked hospital in Petionville, a hillside Port-au-Prince district that is home to many diplomats and wealthy Haitians. Elsewhere, a U.S. government official reported seeing houses that had tumbled into a ravine. Haiti's ambassador to the U.S., Raymond Joseph, said from his Washington office that he spoke to President Rene Preval's chief of staff, Fritz Longchamp, just after the quake hit. He said Longchamp told him that "buildings were crumbling right and left" near the national palace. He said he has not gotten through by phone to Haiti since. Don Blakeman, an analyst at the USGS in Golden, Colorado, said such a strong quake carried the potential for widespread damage."

"PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti - Troops, doctors and aid workers flowed into Haiti on Monday even while victims of the quake that killed an estimated 200,000 people still struggled to find a cup of water or a handful of food. European nations pledged more than a half-billion dollars in emergency and long-term aid, on top of at least $100 million promised earlier by the U.S. But help was still not reaching many victims of Tuesday's quake - choked back by transportation bottlenecks, bureaucratic confusion, fear of attacks on aid convoys, the collapse of local authority and the sheer scale of the need. Looting spread to more parts of downtown Port-au-Prince as hundreds of young men and boys clambered up broken walls to break into shops and take whatever they can find. Especially prized was toothpaste, which people smear under their noses to fend off the stench of decaying bodies. At a collapsed and burning shop in the market area, youths used broken bottles, machetes and razors to battle for bottles of rum and police fired shots to break up the crowd. "I am drinking as much as I can. It gives courage," said Jean-Pierre Junior, wielding a broken wooden plank with nails to protect his bottle of rum. Even so, the U.S. Army's on-the-ground commander, Lt. Gen. Ken Keen, said the city is seeing less violence than before the earthquake. "Is there gang violence? Yes. Was there gang violence before the earthquake? Absolutely."' Keen said some 2,000 Marines were set to join 1,000 U.S. troops on the ground and U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon announced Monday he wants 1,500 more U.N. police and 2,000 more troops to join the existing 7,000 military peacekeepers and 2,100 international police in Haiti."

Quake kills at least 164, injures more than 6,700 in China China's worst earthquake in three years on Saturday killed at least 157 people and injured more than 5,700. NBC's Ian Williams reports. By Michael Martina, Reuters Rescuers poured into a remote corner of southwestern China on Sunday as the death toll from the country's worst earthquake in three years climbed to 164 with more than 6,700 injured, state media said. Follow @NBCNewsWorld The 6.6 magnitude quake struck in Lushan county, near the city of Ya'an in the southwestern province of Sichuan, at a depth of 7.5 miles, close to where a devastating 7.9 temblor hit in May 2008 killing some 70,000. Most of the deaths were concentrated in Lushan, a short drive up the valley from Ya'an, but rescuers' access was hampered by the narrowness of the road and landslides. "The Lushan county centre is getting back to normal, but the need is still considerable in terms of shelter and materials," said Kevin Xia of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. "Supplies have had difficulty getting into the region because of the traffic jams. Most of our supplies are still on the way," Xia said. Pictures on state television showed toppled buildings and people in bloodied bandages being treated in tents outside the Lushan hospital. Water and electricity in the area were cut off by the quake.

How Hwee Young / EPA A strong 6.6 magnitude earthquake hit a remote, mostly rural and mountainous area of southwestern China's Sichuan province on Saturday, killing scores of people and injuring thousands close to where a big quake killed almost 70,000 people in 2008. Launch slideshow By John Ruwitch, Reuters LUSHAN, China - Hundreds of survivors of a 6.6-magnitude earthquake that hit southwest China, killing nearly 200 people, pushed into traffic along a main road on Monday, waving protest signs, demanding help and shouting at police. "We are in the open air here. No place to sleep, nothing to eat. No one is paying any attention to us," said Peng Qiong, 45, a farmer in Chaoyang village on the outskirts of Lushan, near the epicenter. China has poured resources into Sichuan since Saturday's quake, including 1 billion yuan ($161.9 million) from central coffers for disaster relief and compensation. About 18,000 troops are in the area.

"A powerful earthquake shook Haiti on Tuesday, leveling buildings in the capital, Port-au-Prince, and sending panicked residents into the streets, as beleaguered authorities braced for major casualties. The quake, which had a preliminary magnitude of 7.0, occurred about 4:45 p.m. and was centered about 10 miles west of the capital. The U.S. Geological Survey said it was the largest temblor ever recorded in Haiti, and witnesses reported a series of strong aftershocks. "People are out in the streets, crying, screaming, shouting," said Karel Zelenka, director of the Catholic Relief Services office in Haiti. "They see the extent of the damage," he said, but could do little to rescue people trapped under rubble because night had fallen. "There are a lot of collapsed buildings," Zelenka said in a telephone interview from Port-au-Prince. "This will be a major, major disaster." He reported that poorly constructed shantytowns and other buildings had crumbled in huge clouds of dust. Near the CRS headquarters, a supermarket was "completely razed," he said, and a gasoline station and a church were reduced to rubble. Among the worst-hit areas was the impoverished Carrefour section of Port-au-Prince near the sea. "

"PORT-AU-PRINCE, HAITI -- Desperate Haitians scrambled Sunday to find food and water and guarded their meager possessions against the advance of looters as the U.S. and other nations struggled to jump-start a sluggish relief effort. Even as Navy and Coast Guard ships arrived offshore, a round-the-clock airlift intensified and additional dignitaries appeared, the frantic victims of Tuesday's 7.0-magnitude earthquake were growing more fearful as they pleaded for help and security in a lawless city. With massive amounts of aid promised but not yet delivered because of the difficulty of operating in the crippled country, amid what U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called "one of the most serious crises in decades," the living banded together outdoors without shelter, sustenance or protection. There was widespread apprehension that, unless the pace of aid distribution quickens, there could be mass violence as hundreds of thousands of people suddenly lacking food, water and electricity begin to compete for scarce resources."

"Magnitude 6.9 Date-Time * Sunday, April 04, 2010 at 22:40:39 UTC * Sunday, April 04, 2010 at 03:40:39 PM at epicenter * Time of Earthquake in other Time Zones Location 32.093°N, 115.249°W Depth 32.3 km (20.1 miles) Region BAJA CALIFORNIA, MEXICO Distances * 26 km (16 miles) SSW (211°) from Guadalupe Victoria, Baja California, Mexico * 61 km (38 miles) SW (227°) from San Luis Río Colorado, Sonora, Mexico * 64 km (40 miles) SW (225°) from San Luis, AZ * 173 km (108 miles) ESE (106°) from Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico Location Uncertainty horizontal +/- 5.8 km (3.6 miles); depth +/- 21.1 km (13.1 miles) Parameters Nph=014, Dmin=76 km, Rmss=0.2 sec, Gp=292°, M-type=local magnitude (ML), Version=1 Source * California Integrated Seismic Net: * USGS Caltech CGS UCB UCSD UNR Event ID ci14607652"

"PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti - Prayers of thanksgiving and cries for help rose from a roofless cathedral and the huddled homeless Sunday, the sixth day of an epic humanitarian crisis that was straining the world's ability to respond and igniting flare-ups of violence amid the rubble. A leading aid group echoed complaints about the supply bottleneck and skewed priorities at the U.S.-controlled airport. The general in charge said the U.S. military was "working aggressively" to speed up deliveries. In the ruins of the Port-Au-Prince cathedral, gathered beneath shattered stained glass for their first Sunday Mass since Tuesday's earthquake, survivors were told by their priest, "We are in the hands of God now." But anger mounted hourly that other helping hands were slow in getting food and water to millions in need. "The government is a joke. The U.N. is a joke," Jacqueline Thermiti, 71, said as she lay in the dust with dozens of dying elderly outside their collapsed nursing home near the airport. "We're a kilometer (half a mile) from the airport and we're going to die of hunger." Water was delivered to more people around the capital, where an estimated 300,000 were living in the streets, but food and medicine were still scarce. Pregnant women gave birth in the streets. The injured arrived in wheelbarrows and on people's backs at hurriedly erected field hospitals. Authorities warned of looting and violence. In downtown Port-au-Prince, where people set bonfires to burn uncollected bodies, gunfire rang out and bands of machete-wielding young men, their faces covered with bandanas, roamed the streets."

"HONIARA, Solomon Islands - Landslides and a tsunami destroyed the homes of about one-third of the population on a Solomon Island, but lives were likely spared as residents with memories of previous disasters fled quickly to higher ground, officials said Tuesday. From the air, extensive damage could be seen on a remote western island after a 7.2-magnitude temblor triggered the landslides in the Pacific Solomon Islands on Monday, said disaster management office director Loti Yates. No injuries have been reported some 30 hours after the biggest in a series of quakes churned a tsunami wave that was up to 10 feet (3 meters) high as it plowed into the coast, officials said. However, more than 1,000 people have been affected after some 200 houses were destroyed on Rendova, an island some 190 miles (300 kilometers) from the capital Honiara. Only 3,600 people live on Rendova. Photographs taken from police helicopters Tuesday showed debris lining the foreshore and damaged houses on the coasts of Rendova and Tetepare, as well as deep scars on hills and cliffs caused by landslides. Yates said some 200 households were taking shelter in emergency centers on Rendova."

"A devastating quake left Haiti's capital in ruins, knocking down hospitals, high-rises, and churches Tuesday - and leveling the presidential palace. "There must be thousands of people dead," Catholic Relief Services representative Karel Zelenka told colleagues by phone, just before service went out. "People were screaming 'Jesus, Jesus' and running in all directions," said Reuters reporter Joseph Guyler Delva from the capital Port-au-Prince. "It's total chaos." "The whole city is in darkness, you have thousands of people sitting in the streets, with nowhere to go," said Rachmani Domersant of the relief group Food for the Poor. He and others have reported many downtown buildings collapsed in the city of 2 million, including the parliament, UN headquarters and other other official buildings. Photographs showed the famed domed presidential palace almost completely destroyed."

"LOS ANGELES - The second in a series of powerful storms roared into Southern California on Tuesday, bringing heavy rains and winds that smashed windows, submerged cars and flipped an SUV along a stretch of coastline. Forecasters said the thunderstorm was likely part of a tornado that surged ashore with fierce, rotating winds in southern Los Angeles County beach towns and areas of Orange and San Diego counties. Kimmara Acosta, 51, a saleswoman at Castle Tile in Costa Mesa, was sitting at her desk in a showroom when she saw palm trees outside blowing horizontally. "The wind kind of whipped through the parking lot and the window blew in," she said, still breathless a half-hour later. "It was like an explosion. My mind said 'earthquake!' and I ducked under the desk." The wind threw shards of glass across the room, but tile displays and a desk protected Acosta. No one was hurt. Niki Mojica, 31, a waitress at Woody's Diner in Seal Beach said, "It was crazy because the wind was coming down. The sky turned dark gray and then a huge gust of wind just blew open our front door.""

"Reporting from Washington - President Obama, speaking today from the pulpit of a church where the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. sometimes spoke, called on the congregation to rally around the spirit that had helped their ancestors pursue a long road to freedom. "It's that progress that allowed me to be here today," said Obama, the first African American president. The president, who doesn't frequently attend Sunday church services in Washington and has not found a permanent congregation for his family in the capital, joined in the services this morning at the Vermont Avenue Baptist Church. The president arrived with First Lady Michelle Obama and daughters Malia and Sasha. The church, founded in 1866 by seven freed slaves, originally was known as the Fifth Baptist Church of Washington, D.C. "It feels like a family," Obama told the congregation. There are at least a couple of occasions that might have prompted today's outing: the deaths of tens of thousands of Haitians in an earthquake that has shaken all of the Americas, as well as the birthday of the slain civil rights leader King, which is celebrated on Monday with a national holiday. "We gather here on the Sabbath at a time of extreme difficulty for our nation and the world," the president said, speaking much like a preacher from the pulpit. "We are not here just to ask the Lord for his blessing. We're also here to call on the memory of one of his servants, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr." Obama said he had come to a "a church founded by freed slaves . . . whose congregants set out for marches . . . from whose sanctuary King himself would sermonize from time to time." This was as much of a sermon as it was a speech. King "trusted God," the president said. "He had faith that God would make a way out of now way. . . . "Folks ask me sometimes, 'Why do you look so calm?' " Obama said on a particularly personal note, with his voice rising."

"The missionaries were arrested on Friday trying to cross into the Dominican Republic from Haiti with a busload of 33 children they said were orphaned by the January 12 quake. They denied charges they were engaged in child trafficking, insisting they were trying to help vulnerable orphans. Haitian police have said some of the children have living parents. The case could be diplomatically sensitive at a time when the United States is spearheading a huge relief effort to help hundreds of thousands of Haitian quake victims, and as U.S. aid groups pour millions of dollars of donations into Haiti. The five missionaries were questioned behind closed doors at Haiti's judicial police headquarters in Port-au-Prince, where they are being held behind bars. They were escorted from their cells by uniformed Haitian National Police officers to a separate room where the judge awaited along with a clerk and a translator. "I heard five of them. Then I will hear the other five tomorrow," Judge Ezaie Pierre-Louis said. "After the hearing tomorrow, I will make a report to the prosecutor, then he will decide what he does next." Communications Minister Marie-Laurence Lassegue said the missionaries did not have lawyers present. One of the missionaries, a woman, was returned to the police building on Tuesday after being treated at a hospital for hypertension. Before the hearing, prosecutor Mazarre Fortil said authorities were in the preliminary stages of the investigation. "I am here to hear the Americans, to know more about the case, about what were their intentions," he said. "We are looking deeper into what happened to determine the next steps." SOME PARENTS GAVE UP CHILDREN Haitian authorities have repeatedly expressed concerns that child traffickers could prey on children in the chaos that followed the earthquake that killed up to 200,000 people."