An Earthquake Escape by K. C. Russell

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D.C. · Jul 11, 1907

An Earthquake Escape

By K. C. Russell

K. C. RUSSELL

THE frequency of earthquakes and other calamities is filling the hearts of many people with fear and consternation, and they are asking the pertinent questions, What is the cause of earthquakes? What is their meaning? Is there any escape from them?

In answer to the first question, we will look in vain for a satisfactory reply from scientists. This was forcibly illustrated by an incident connected with the San Francisco earthquake. Professor Burckhalter, one of the great astronomers of the West, wrote on a bulletin-board outside of the observatory a brief statement of the cause of earthquakes according to the best scientific theories; but when the people blocked the streets, and wanted to know when the next one would come, he erased the preceding bulletin, and wrote: “The man in the street knows just as much as I do of the cause of earthquakes, and when the next one will come.”

An editorial in the Washington Post of April 25, 1906, makes the following significant and interesting reference to the scientific aspect of this earthquake: “Scientists in all parts of the world are rising up with proclamations, specious, alluring, and more or less satisfactory to the educated mind. The trouble is that they do not harmonize; and, therefore, the individual has no refuge more substantial than a guessing match.” Thus it will be seen that science can not be relied upon for a solution of the earthquake problem. We must look elsewhere for an answer to this question.

The following from the pen of Mrs. E. G. White is the clearest and most comprehensive statement concerning—

The Cause of Earthquakes

that has ever been written, and it is in harmony with the Bible, which has withstood both lower and higher criticism throughout the ages:—

“Before the flood there were immense forests. The trees were many times larger than any trees which we now see. They were of great durability. They would know nothing of decay for hundreds of years. At the time of the flood, these forests were torn up or broken down and buried in the earth. In some places large quantities of these immense trees were thrown together and covered with stones and earth by the commotions of the flood. They have since petrified, and become coal, which accounts for the large coal-beds which are now found. This coal has produced oil. God causes large quantities of coal and oil to ignite and burn. Rocks are, intensely heated, limestone is burned, and iron ore melted. Water and fire under the surface of the earth meet. The action of water upon the limestone adds fury to the intense heat, and causes earthquakes, volcanoes, and fiery issues. The action of fire and water upon the ledges of rocks and ore causes loud explosions which sound like muffled thunder. These wonderful exhibitions will be more numerous and terrible just before the second coming of Christ and the end of the world, as signs of its speedy destruction.”

“Coal and oil are generally to be found where there are no burning mountains or fiery issues. When fire and water under the surface of the earth meet, the fiery issues can not give sufficient vent to the heated elements beneath. The earth is convulsed, the ground heaves, and rises into swells or waves, and there are heavy sounds like thunder under ground. . . .

“God controls all these elements; they are his instruments to do his will; he calls them into action to serve his purpose. These fiery issues have been, and will be, his agents to blot out from the earth very wicked cities. Like Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, they go down alive into the pit. These are evidences of God’s power. Those who have beheld these burning mountains pouring forth fire, and flame, and a vast amount of melted ore, drying up rivers and causing them to disappear, have been struck with terror at the grandeur of the scene. They have been filled with awe as if they were beholding the infinite power of God.”

The Purpose of These Manifestations

“These manifestations bear the special marks of God’s power, and are designed to cause the people of the earth to tremble before him, and to silence those who, like Pharaoh, would proudly say, ‘Who is the Lord, that I should obey his voice?’ Isaiah refers to these exhibitions of God’s power where he exclaims, ‘O that thou wouldest rend the heavens, that thou wouldest come down, that the mountains might flow down at thy presence, as when the melting fire burneth, the fire causeth the waters to boil, to make thy name known to thine adversaries, that the nations may tremble at thy presence! When thou didst terrible things which we looked not for, thou camest down, the mountains flowed down at thy presence.’ Isa. 64: 1-3.

“The Lord is slow to anger, and great in power, and will not at all acquit the wicked: the Lord hath his way in the whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds are the dust of his feet. He rebuketh the sea, and maketh it dry, . . . and Carmel, and the flower of Lebanon languisheth. The mountains quake at him, and the hills melt, and the earth is burned at his presence, yea, the world, and all that dwell therein. Who can stand before his indignation? and who can abide in the fierceness of his anger? his fury is poured out like fire, and the rocks are thrown down by him.’ Nahum 1: 3-6.

“ ‘Bow thy heavens, O Lord, and come down: touch the mountains, and they shall smoke. Cast forth lightning, and scatter them: shoot out thine arrows, and destroy them.’ Ps. 144: 5, 6.

“Greater wonders than have yet been seen will be witnessed by those upon the earth a short period previous to the coming of Christ. ‘And I will show

wonders in heaven above; and signs in the earth beneath; blood, and fire, and vapor of smoke.’ ‘And there were voices, and thunders, and lightnings; and there was a great earthquake, such as was not since men were upon the earth, so mighty an earthquake, and so great.’ ‘And every island fled away, and the mountains were not found. And there fell upon men a great hail out of heaven, every stone about the weight of a talent: and men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail; for the plague thereof was exceeding great.’

“The bowels of the earth were the Lord’s arsenal, from which he drew forth the weapons he employed in the destruction of the old world. Waters in the bowels of the earth gushed forth, and united with the waters from heaven, to accomplish the work of destruction. Since the flood, God has used both water and fire in the earth as his agents to destroy wicked cities.

“In the day of the Lord, just before the coming of Christ, God will send lightnings from heaven in his wrath, which will unite with fire in the earth. The mountains will burn like a furnace, and will pour forth terrible streams of lava, destroying gardens and fields, villages and cities; and as they pour their melted ore, rocks and heated mud, into the rivers, it will cause them to boil like a pot, and send forth massive rocks, and scatter their broken fragments upon the land with indescribable violence. Whole rivers will be dried up. The earth will be convulsed, and there will be dreadful eruptions and earthquakes everywhere. God will plague the wicked inhabitants of the earth until they are destroyed from off it. The saints are preserved in the earth in the midst of these dreadful commotions, as Noah was preserved in the ark at the time of the flood.”

The Meaning of These Things

“The Saviour plainly teaches that ‘earthquakes in divers places’ are among the heralds of his return, when he will receive his faithful children unto himself. These things also herald the eternal night to those who have rejected his proffered grace.

“The signs of that coming day are thickening all around us. Cyclones and hurricanes, earthquakes and tidal waves, and strikingly fearful volcanic action are no longer among the unusual things, neither are they confined to a few localities. But storm-swept lands, bursting mountains, and lashing oceans tell in unmistakable language that the days of earth’s tranquillity are at an end.”

“Christ’s coming is stealing gradually upon the world as a thief. The sun shines in the heavens, passing over its usual round, and the heavens still declare the glory of God. Men are still pursuing their usual course of eating and drinking, planting and building, marrying and giving in marriage. Merchants are still engaged in buying and selling. Publications are issuing one upon another. Many are jostling one against another, seeking to get the highest place. Pleasure lovers are still attending theaters, horse races, and gambling hells, and the highest excitement prevails. Yet probation’s hour is fast closing, and every case is about to be eternally decided.”

The question of paramount interest to the reader should be, How may I escape these things, and be ready to welcome the Saviour’s return? Many people fled from San Francisco, and many have fled from Kingston, with the hope of escaping a repetition of the experience. It is certainly a natural and wise thing for one in danger to escape, if possible, to a place of safety. All should understand that the time is soon coming when there will be no place in this world to which one may flee from the terrors of an earthquake; for the Lord says, by the mouth of Jeremiah the prophet:—

“I beheld the mountains, and, lo, they trembled, and all the hills moved lightly. . . . I beheld, and, lo, the fruitful place [the country where the products of the earth are the most plentiful] was a wilderness, and all the cities thereof were broken down at the presence of the Lord, and by his fierce anger.” Jer. 4: 24, 26.

It will be easy for the remaining inhabitants of these stricken cities to appreciate these thrilling words of the Lord, and to understand how quickly the Lord can destroy “all the cities” of the earth. Again the prophet, in speaking of this time, says: “And every mountain and island were moved out of their places.” Rev. 6: 14.

In view of these facts, it is not strange that Abraham “looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God.” Heb. 11: 10. The apostle Paul, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, also said: “The things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.” 2 Cor. 4: 18.

Man’s Only Refuge

From these infallible statements of Inspiration, we can plainly see that we can not look to this world or anything it contains as a place of refuge or escape from these things. The only way of escape is through Jesus Christ, by obtaining a character which will survive the final dissolution of this earth.

Here are some of the many promises which afford sweet assurance to all who will place their trust in God and build upon his word as a means of escape from the destruction which is swiftly coming upon the world:—

“God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea.” Ps. 46: 1, 2.

“Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and he shall sustain thee: he shall never suffer the righteous to be moved.” Ps. 55: 22.

“When thou liest down, thou shalt not be afraid: yea, thou shalt lie down, and thy sleep shall be sweet. Be not afraid of sudden fear, neither of the desolation of the wicked, when it cometh. For the Lord shall be thy confidence, and shall keep thy foot from being taken.” Prov. 3: 24-26.

“Because thou hast made the Lord, which is my refuge, even the Most High, thy habitation; there shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling. For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways.” Ps. 91: 9-11.

“At that time [the coming of Christ] thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book.” Dan. 12: 1.

“Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man.” Luke 21: 36.

Dear reader, will you not comply with the conditions upon which you may escape all these things, by repenting of all your sins and receiving Jesus as your personal Saviour to enable you to live a life in harmony with God’s law, and so be among those of whom it will be said, “Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city”? Rev. 22: 14.

Takoma Park, D. C.