Posted by David at Bremerton on 13:03:51 7/13/2002 from 12.229.56.58:
There are two prophetic verses in Holy Scripture (there may be more) that amount to predictions of two massive earthquakes in the earth's future. So...here is a problem in earthquake prediction evaluation…what technique was used? How did the prophets arrive at such astounding conclusions?
Obviously...the identification of the mechanisms of plate tectonics was millennia away...and yet...both prophecies are tectonically correct. It is doubtful that these two ancients were even aware of faults...and yet...both prophecies place these future seismic events in areas that involve the same well known fault; i.e., a left-lateral strike slip fault that is actually a plate boundary...the Dead Sea Fault.
So...how was it done...did these prophets understand the concept of strain energy accumulation? No...that hypothesis is doubtful. There is no indication that either of the men ever experienced an earthquake of any great magnitude...let alone a seismic event of sufficient strength to cause surface rupture and the consequent identification of the source of the phenomenon.
Were these men aware of extra-terrestrial objects that could intersect the earth's orbit at some future date? Now then…that might be a likely premise to pursue...we might be "getting somewhere" if we look for some object that could precipitate such a dramatic movement within the fabric of the earth.
But first...let us examine the first of the two prophecies that predict impending catastrophe. It has to do with two invasion routes so that armies will be able to travel "dryshod" (presumably to the place of battle).
"And the Lord shall utterly destroy the tongue of the Egyptian sea; and with his mighty wind shall he shake his hand over the river, and shall smite it in the seven streams, and make men go over dryshod. And there shall be a highway for the remnant of his people, which shall be left, from Assyria; like as it was to Israel in the day that he came up out of the land of Egypt."
-- Isaiah 11:15,16
Clearly...if the Egyptian sea is construed to be that body of water currently referred to as the Red Sea...then there are two choices for this "tongue"...it is either the Gulf of Suez...the logical choice...or the Gulf of Aquaba...not a choice required to improve an invasion route.
The quoted verses also have a "companion" verse to support the contention that the earthquake of Isaiah provides an invasion route out of Africa.
"...at the time of the end shall the king of the south push at him: and the king of the north shall come against him like a whirlwind..."
-- Daniel 11:40
Thus...Isaiah implies another invasion route out of east Asia...Daniel confirms it...as does the following verse.
"And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates; and the water thereof was dried up, that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared."
-- Revelation 16:12
Thus...if we choose the Gulf of Suez as "the tongue of the Egyptian sea"...then we see that such an occurrence as it's destruction is not only conceivable...but...is tectonically-correct. This is so because the Dead Sea Fault is a left-lateral strike-slip "leaky" transform fault zone that is the plate boundary separating the African and Arabian tectonic plates. Over time...this fault has produced the Dead Sea Basin...one of the largest and deepest pull-apart basins on the earth...rivaled only by Death Valley in California.
Left-lateral...or sinistral...means that...if one were standing on the Arabian Plate facing west and looking at the African Plate across the Dead Sea Fault during this prophesied earthquake...the Sinai Peninsula would move to your left...or...to the south toward Egypt and the Gulf of Suez. Thus...in such a scenario...a titanic earthquake slams the Sinai sub-Plate into the African Plate...closing the Gulf of Suez...or...by the description of the prophet Isaiah...utterly destroying "the tongue of the Egyptian sea".
In context...the time of this great earthquake of the prophet Isaiah is in our future "...in the day of his fierce anger...the day of the LORD...".
"Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate..."
-- Isaiah 13:9
"...I will shake the heavens, and the earth shall remove out of her place, in the wrath of the LORD of hosts, and in the day of his fierce anger."
-- Isaiah 13:13
The second prophecy of a great earthquake concerns the environs of Jerusalem...specifically the mount of Olives.
"And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which [is] before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, [and there shall be] a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south."
-- Zechariah 14:4
When asked...via e-mail...to comment on this verse...Stanford University geophysicist Amos Nur responded as follows: "An earthquake on a strike-slip fault oriented north-south with a pull-apart basin, with the eastern side moving north and the western side moving south."
Thus...the same motion in this earthquake prophesied by Zechariah as in the earthquake prophesied by Isaiah. One can only wonder at the remarkable consistency between the two prophecies. Did Isaiah and Zechariah understand plate tectonics? Did Isaiah and Zechariah realize that there was a strike-slip fault along the lineament of the Jordan River...the Dead Sea...and...the Gulf of Aquaba? Did Isaiah and Zechariah realize that this strike-slip fault was left-lateral? Did Zechariah understand the concept of parallel left-stepping strike-slip faults forming a pull-apart basin between them?
Because...it would take an understanding of these highly technical details of a science that was unknown until the 20th century to logically make such mutually consistent tectonically-correct prophecies as these.
The time of this great earthquake of the prophet Zechariah is also prophesied to happen on "...the day of the LORD...".
So...it would seem that the earthquake of Isaiah that is to "...destroy the tongue of the Egyptian sea..." is the same earthquake of Zechariah in which "...the mount of Olives shall cleave...". Remarkable...both men writing about the same earthquake producing different results in different locations...and both results being mutually consistent and consistent with the tectonic configuration of the region.
Now we shall return to the question of an event sufficient to trigger such a gigantic earthquake...and...quite remarkably...this event is also prophesied in holy scripture. In Revelation...an extra-terrestrial object "Wormwood" is prophesied by John to impact the earth at the time of the third trumpet...very near when "...there should be time no longer..." and very near when "...the mystery of God should be finished...".
"And the third angel sounded, and there fell a great star from heaven, burning as it were a lamp, and it fell upon the third part of the rivers, and upon the fountains of waters; and the name of the star is called Wormwood..."
-- Revelation 8:10,11
So...there we have it...one tremendous earthquake...prophesied by two different men...and...an extra-terrestrial object...prophesied by a third man...impacting the earth with sufficient energy (remember...it is to fall upon the third part of the rivers) to trigger such a titanic seismic event.
And again...the question is asked...is it likely that these prophets had the scientific skills necessary to logically make such predictions? And...the question is answered...no...that scenario is not very likely at all. And so...there seems to be only two alternative explanations that remain.
Either...Isaiah and Zechariah made such good guesses (about the same seismic event) that the odds against such accurate guesses are astronomical...or...Isaiah and Zechariah were inspired by Almighty God to make these prophecies. Just as John was inspired by Almighty God to prophecy the event that is to trigger such a catastrophic seismic event...at the time of...the third trumpet.
So...there we have it...tectonically-correct Biblical prophecy. Over the past several years...this article has been posted on numerous electronic "bulletin boards"...and...to date...not one single line has ever been written in response to refute its assertions. Much consternation...and much virtual teeth gnashing...but...not one single line able to refute its assertions of a remarkable earthquake prediction method.