Dr Paul Allen

In the book of Revelation, John mentions an earthquake at the end of the seal, trumpet, and bowl judgments. Is this a prophecy of a real earthquake that signals that the end has come? Do these prophecies predict suffering through earthquakes that believers have to endure? For John, the earthquake is an image of the end. The relevance of the Old Testament and Jewish tradition of the eschatological earthquake makes this a powerful symbol of God revealing himself in power and glory, in judgment and vindication. John expects that God, whose voice shook Mount Sinai, will at the end once again shake heaven and the earth. The eschatological earthquake is not a sign of the approaching end: it is the end. Will this earthquake be a literal event? Since the earthquake of Mount Sinai was a physical phenomenon, and since John’s readers in Asia Minor were all too familiar with real earthquakes, wreaking havoc on their cities, it is very plausible that the end will begin with a violent earthquak...

Tidal force as appearance of Gravity force (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) It's almost an institution, in our culture, in our nation, to describe God as a  higher power , something greater than ourselves. What's that, "the force be with you"? What is this higher power— gravity , lightning, earthquakes ? Now one thing about this nebulous, amorphous, nameless, characterless power, is that first of all it is impersonal , and second of all and most important, it is amoral. See, there's an upside and a downside to worshiping a higher power—a nameless, faceless, force like gravity, or cosmic dust , or lightning, or thunder . Here's the upside to a sinner. A force that is impersonal and amoral makes no ethical demands on anybody. Gravity does not make judgments about people's behavior unless they jump out of windows six-stories high. But even at that, there is no personal condemnation that comes from gravity, or an earthquake. Gravity has no voice; it sa...

Image by Getty Images via @daylife The following are a handful of Christian relief organizations who are responding to the earthquake and tsunami disasters in Japan . You can join in the effort by praying for them and by giving financially. Churches Helping Churches Churches Helping Churches (CHC) is working with  CRASH Japan  to establish a base camp near Sendai to distribute relief supplies to the community. They are appealing to their church network to take a special offering for Japan on the weekend of March 26–27. (A video will be available on their site for those who wish to show it in their services.) Food for the Hungry Food for the Hungry ( FH ) is working with local partners on the ground in northern Japan to initiate relief responses including provision of medical care, canned bread, rice and water to survivors. Currently the response is based in Sendai, a coastal city in northeastern Miyagi. FH’s focus is strengthening local churches to be conduits for ...

Image via Wikipedia There can be few more frightening experiences than an earthquake, and last Friday’s quake that has devastated Japan will rank among the strongest ever recorded. Ranking 9.0 on the scale of magnitude, the Sendai , Japan quake ranks fifth among earthquakes in recorded history, coming after the 1960 quake in Chile (9.5), the 1964 quake at Prince William Sound , Alaska (9.2), the deadly Sumatra, Indonesia quake of 2004 (9.1), and the 1952 quake at Kamchatka, Russia (9.0). But then, adding misery and terror to the devastating damage caused by the earthquake, a massive tsunami caused by the quake inundated countless miles of Japan’s coastline, taking several villages completely out to sea. The loss of energy caused by the quake and tsunami then led to another looming disaster — at least a partial meltdown of the reactor cores at two, and possibly more, nearby nuclear power plants. As if all that was not enough, a volcano in southern Japan erupted on Sunday, underlining ...