Two significant earthquakes shook disparate sections of the globe on Sunday, making some wonder if the end-of-days shake-up is warming up. 

Turkey: Messing With the Apple of God’s Eye

At 9:37 on Sunday morning, the Elazig Province in eastern Turkey was rocked by a  5.3 magnitude earthquake. Turkey’s Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu tweeted there were no immediate reports of casualties or damage.

In January, a 6.8 magnitude earthquake struck Elazig, killing 41 people in that province and neighboring Malatya. In October, a deadly quake hit the western port city of Izmir, killing 116 people.

Turkey sits on top of two major faultlines and earthquakes are frequent. Two strong earthquakes struck northwest Turkey in 1999, killing around 18,000 people. In January, Two weeks after Turkey’s Foreign Ministry issued a statement condemning Jews living in Judea and Samaria, a 6.8 magnitude earthquake hit eastern Turkey killing at least 36 people and injuring more than 1,600. In February, a deadly series of earthquakes hit the Turkey-Iran border, killing at least eight people and injuring 37 more. An estimated 1,066 buildings collapsed.

In January,  Turkey’s Foreign Ministry issued a statement condemning Jews living in Judea and Samaria. Two weeks later, a 6.8 magnitude earthquake hit eastern Turkey, killing at least 31 people and injuring more than 1,600. Some 30 buildings collapsed in the Elazig and Malatya provinces and hundreds of residents were left homeless.

The recent Turkish earthquake may be a similar subterranean warning. On Friday,Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told reporters Turkey “would have liked to bring our ties [with Israel] to a better point.” But this overture was probably a subterfuge, an attempt to open economic ties with Israel while continuing to harbor Hamas terrorists and advance his agenda to insinuate Turkish dominance in Jerusalem.

Turkey is considered probable participants in the pre-Messiah War of Gog and Magog. It should also be noted that according to Jewish tradition, God will also enter the fray, using the forces of nature as his armies. 

In a recent sermon, Rabbi Nir ben Artzi, a prominent mystic renowned for his accurate predictions, chastised Turkey, saying, “They believe there is no judge and no judgment.”

The rabbi paraphrased the Bible, saying, “The sea is noisy and turbulent. The sea wants Messiah. The ground is noisy and turbulent now because it wants Messiah. There is no order in the world. The oceans and the ground want a good end. They want the final order of Messiah. They know the Messiah will appear in Israel.”

Chile Shaken: Scene of Worst Earthquake in History

At 9.39 PM UTC on Sunday, a 6.8 magnitude earthquake struck just off the coast of Los Lagos in the south of Chile. The earthquake struck around 95 miles west-northwest of Valdivia at a depth of around six miles. The US Geological Survey (USGS) reported the quake was ranked as a “green alert”, meaning a “low likelihood of casualties and damage”.

There were no immediate reports of casualties or damage from the aftershock of the earthquake. The earthquake raised initial fears it might generate a tsunami until the Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre (PTWC) reported that none were detected.

 In 1960, Valdivia, near the scene of Sunday’s earthquake, was the site of the strongest recorded earthquake in history when a staggering 9.4-9.6 magnitude. An estimated 1,655 people were killed in the quake and the total economic damage reached $550 million. In 2010, Chile was struck by an 8.8 magnitude earthquake starting 1.9 miles away from the coast of Pelluhue killing a total of 525 dead.

At 6:44 AM on Sunday, a magnitude 3.9 earthquake shook parts of Northern California on Sunday morning, the U.S. Geological Survey reported.

PURIFICATION THROUGH DESTRUCTION

Earthquakes are prophesied to accompany the end-of-days. Earthquakes and volcanoes are explicitly mentioned by the prophets as playing a role in the end of days, preparing the world by burning away impurities as a crucible is used in metallurgy to purify metal. 

But Hashem God is the true God, He is the living God, and the everlasting King; at His wrath the earth trembleth, and the nations are not able to abide His indignation. Jeremiah 10:10

This multifaceted natural catastrophe scenario facing that region of the country conforms to the prophet’s description of the period preceding Messiah, which will serve as a process to purify the inhabitants of the earth for the Messianic period to follow.

“And I will bring the third part through the fire and will refine them as silver is refined and will try them as gold is tried; they shall call on My name and I will answer them; I will say: ‘It is My people’ and they shall say: ‘Hashem is my God.’” Zechariah 13:9