Earthquake!

Earthquake! A word we hear with trembling, reverential, silent awe. A silent inexpressible experience with cringing fear that shakes every member of our body. A slumbering earthquake that suddenly became murderous and all devouring, jarred and jolted Athens, the capital city of Greece, a city priding itself on being impregnable to earthquakes. It was a paralyzing shock that shattered families and genuinely humbled the most indifferent and unscrupulous character, many screaming to a Supreme God for mercy in their plight. A city that the Apostle Paul visited often and preached, “then stood Paul in the midst of Mars’ hill and said, Ye men of Athens, I perceive that in all things ye are superstitious. For as I passed by, and beheld your devotions, I found an altar with this inscription, To the Unknown God. Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship him declare I unto you.” (Acts 17:23)

It was a carefree, empty day, for many the same normal routine of endless idleness and motionless. However, this was to violently change. Here was a land that by a burst of genius, opened the way to our modern world and modern man, the birth of reason; the miracle of Greece, a place on a small rock-bound Mediterranean peninsula 2,500 years ago. For the people of ancient Greece, drama and the theatre was a towering religious experience, with all the ritualistic grandeur and mystery of a High Mass. Drama was a religious rite, a source of wisdom, and a showplace of the spirit. The Greeks, in their theatre invented “comic relief. Side by side with tragedy, comedy was religious in origin, springing as it did from ancient revels that celebrated the god Dionysus.

But here was unfolding a modern day Greek tragedy that was to have no comic relief, no horseplay and mockery, vulgarity, license or libel. It was just another day but with prophetic significance… “As the days of Noah” whereas indicated Jesus Christ in His prophecy about “the conclusion of the system of things”, making specific reference to “the days of Noah”. He pointed to the flood as a warning example of a greater destruction to come during “the presence of the Son of man”. (Matt. 24: 3, 37-39)

“So shall also the coming of the son of man be. For as in the days that were before the flood which occurred over 4,350 years ago, were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage until the day that Noe entered into the ark.” (Mat. 24:27,28) What else? There was violence in the land. (Ez 16:49; Luke 19:2-25)

It all began with a sleepy, deathlike calmness, a displeasing ominous calm that was a strange chilling experience; a period of grim…silence. Prophetically, when all the heavenly harpers leave the courts above to come to this earth with their divine Lord as He descends to gather the fruit of His redeeming work, will there not be silence in heaven? (Daniel and Revelation, Ch. 8 pg. 473) “But the Lord is in His Holy Temple: Let all the earth keep silence before Him.” (Hab. 2:20) “And when He had opened the Seventh seal, there was silence in heaven about the space of half an hour.” (Rev. 8:1)

The Greek sparrow abandoned the bird feeder; it was songless. The neighbour’s two Maltese dogs were nervously yapping. Strangely the unvarying barometer fell, predicting stormy weather, yet there was not a cloud in the sky. Ironically, for days I would pass and observe the precarious position of a tall Hungarian porcelain vase perched atop a high cabinet shelf. Perceptively or obliviously I moved this treasured piece to a secure rail-lined bookshelf.

The “calm” was suddenly broken, demolishing the myth that Athens is “earthquake proof, safely placed on a firm foundation of “rock”. “Wherefore, let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.” (1 Cor. 10:12) The smitten rock; as “God heard the murmurings of the Israelites and bade Moses speak to the rock, that the people might have water. Moses smote the rock in wrath and took the glory to himself.” (E.W. 163) There is, however, an impenetrable nature of rock. “Everyone therefore which heareth these words of Mine, and doeth them, shall be likened unto a wise man, which built his house upon the rock: and the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat upon that house; and it fell not; for it was founded upon the rock.” (Matt. 7:24, 25, R.V.). What is your foundation?

At precisely 2:56 p.m., Tuesday, September 9, 1999 a strong earthquake of a frightening 5.9 on the Richter scale suddenly struck Athens and its suburbs for an agonizing 10-15 seconds. It came without warning as, to-date, earthquakes cannot be predicted. In the letters to the churches of Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea, the Lord spoke, “Remember, therefore, how thou hast received and heard, and hold fast, and repent, if therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee.” (Re. 3:3) We are the Laodician church of today; living in that solemn period of time. (Rev. 3:15,16) Calamities come suddenly and cause the ruin of many. (Prov. 24:22) Isaiah wrote, “the multitude of all nations shall be like small dust, and chaff and at an instant suddenly; and be visited with earthquake and great noise” (Isa. 29:5,6)

Greece is encompassed by the Mediterranean and is an area that is known the world over for being a cauldron of high seismic activity. Turkey also falls into this category, which only a few weeks before was struck by a devastating earthquake, killing 17,000. This Eastern part of the Mediterranean Sea occupies the highest seismic activity of the whole world, a zone of extreme danger. One-hundred thousand earthquakes of varying magnitude have taken place in and around Greece since the beginning of the century. Here are two major quakes occurring in less than one month!

Dishes rattled and fell out of the cupboards. Books tumbled out of their shelves. Bookcases toppled over like dominoes. The untuned piano slid crazily across the marble floor playing an impromptu maddening chord. The filing cabinet reels with a deadening force. Pictures awkwardly cant and tilt. Outside, treetops bowed down almost to the ground. Billows of dust and plumes of smoke rose from distant buildings through a haze of concrete dust.

The thundering sound that accompanied the sharp tremor was moaning, grating, a mourning-like cry. Some reported sounds much like a rapidly racing train passing through the living room. Others heard a sound like an explosion. One compared it to a storm at sea or hooking a shark. We vacantly looked at each other and quickly lurched under the doorframe, trying to keep our balance and bracing ourselves. Maria quickly uttered a soft, earnest prayer in those tense seconds that seemed like an eternity. “Lord, we place ourselves in your hands.” My first spontaneous impulse was to pray too. My heart led me quickly to Psalm 23, then skipped quickly to Psalm 46, but it was almost over before I could even whisper the first verse. I was pathetically speechless arid muddled a short silent prayer only. “I was dumb with silence, held my peace, even from good; and my sorrow was stirred.” (Psalm 39:2)

We lurched again to the stairwell door, and onto the quaking steps, slipping almost falling and tumbling downward, pitching almost helplessly from landing to landing from the fifth floor. We heard screaming as we passed the floors, and pleas for mercy. Maria clutched her woe-comforting Bible tightly, and ironically the house keys, as we burst out to the ground floor. We expected flying debris to fall on us. We then quickly joined our stunned, ashen-faced neighbours, some in pajamas, with crying children fyeld tightly in their arms by the garden-pool. The water was still sloshing and splashing wildly all by itself. We meekly returned to the apartment shortly thereafter, against the warnings of the gaping, trembling crowd, for a second aftershock, looking back on them with mixed feelings of pity and compassion. The ground bobbed and weaved as the second aftershock suddenly came, followed by many more intermittent tremors throughout the day and night and for many days to follow. Remembering Luke 21:11 “and great earthquakes shall be in divers places, and fearful sights and great signs shall there be from heaven”, in speaking of the last days. I was comforted by his formula (as a wise physician, also) for replacing worry with faith, “fear not therefore: ye are of more value than many sparrows.” (Luke 12:7) We passed through the quakes first short vibrations. What swept on was a series of long energy pulses, but still brutally powerful.

We are few and will continue to be few. The Lord assures us further by saying, “fear not little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the Kingdom.” (Luke 12:32)
Thousands of dumfounded Athenians fled from the state capital (population 4 million). Household water was cut off. Electricity was quenched shut. International and – local telephones were dead. Mobile-phone networks were also inoperable. Tourists abandoned their hotels. 9T 92-93 was an imposing prophesy in reality.

Hampered rescue teams frantically dug under collapsed apartment blocks, and factories, trying to free pinned survivors from piles of rubble. This included the Greek Emergency Rescue Squad, Fire Brigade, and thousands of Army personelle. France, Italy, Czech Republic, Germany, Switzerland, Cyprus, the Ukraine, Israel, and others offered unbidden and spontaneous assistance by sending special rescue squads. Their motto was “hope never dies”, as they dug furiously for survivors,

In the wake of the killer quake which hit Athens, and the more than one-thousand tremors which followed and continued over the next few weeks, seismology experts called on Greeks to “get used to living with earthquakes”. It was now called a “normal phenomenon”. What an ominous dread, a foreboding worldly prophecy! Earthquakes will, indeed, and most assuredly increase more and more (LS 411), more frequent and terrible before the second advent of Jesus (PP 108-9) and signs of the times (DA 636) and where least expected (TM 421); earthquakes in divers places (Matt. 24:27)

Many family tragedies were described including cases where children survived, yet parents were killed within the same room. Or where a father perished, but managed to protect his infant son with his body. Another heroic story was where a ten year old son was dug out alive in which the father held up a heavy beam for twenty-four hours to stop it from crushing his son. We can strengthen our faith in Jesus, in His love for us, for He “endured the cross(beam), despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God”. (Heb 12:2) And, “upon one Simon, coming out of the country, and on him they laid the cross(beam) that he might bear it after Jesus”. (Luke 23:26) “And whosoever doth not bear his cross and come after me, cannot be my disciples.” (Luke 15:27)

The sheer magnitude of the disaster exceeded the government’s gloomiest expectations, which was thoroughly unprepared for the emergency. Cranes, jackhammers, concrete-cutting saws -all tools of urban search and rescue were tragically scarce. Unpreparedness will continue to occur in the lives of many. In the parable of the ten virgins we are admonished again, “but the wise took oil in their vessel with their lamps. (Matt. 25:4) The death toll mounted to 143. 100,000 were counted homeless and many still unaccounted for, either missing or trapped under the rubble. The stench of death rose from mounds of concrete and twisted metal in some places under the scorching Greek sun. Thousands were injured, many seriously. A surgeon reported seeing many fractured spines and pelvises. Most were in bed when the house fell in.

Ironically, or miraculously, many say, the ancient monuments of Athens suffered only a few cracks, but no significant damage. Of particular interest was the austere Parthenon which still stood on the Acropolis. Measuring 228 feet by 101 feet, its 33 magnificent columns withstood the shock of the quake. When asked what will happen to the Parthenon if a massive quake hits Athens, experts were optimistic and noisily boasted that it will survive, of course, and withstand any further quakes, but “the pillars of heaven tremble and are astonished at His reproof. (Job 26:11) It was built to honour the God of wisdom, Athena, as the Champion of military power.

Red “X” markings have been haphazardly sprayed onto the facing of countless crushed or severely damaged buildings singled out by government building inspectors. A solemn ordinance spelling disaster for tens of thousands, condemned to live in tents and in the open in unsanitary conditions with little and inferior food. A yellow “X” marking designates, “in need of structural repairs, and uninhabitable until restored”.

The unwearied Church of Athens, surrounded by mountains, meets in central Athens, within sight of the Parthenon and the Acropolis. It is housed in an old classical structure. The building has been officially classified as a Historic Site; beautiful, ornate, but no longer practically sound. Of the six adjoining apartments of three unpretentious floors, all were severely damaged, uninhabitable, and in need of extensive repairs. Miraculously, however, the Lord preserved our sanctuary with no trace of damage; the fierce seismic waves having bypassed the House of the Lord. Unfortunately because of the looming danger to our church and imminent collapse with inevitable earthquakes, we were forced to seek another site, having received a yellow “X” classification – uninhabitable, and in need of extensive repair. “Trusting in Him at all times, the rock of our strength and refuge in the day of affliction. (Ps. 62:7,8; Jer. 16:19) We have been divinely blessed and directed to a northern suburb of Athens, and now meet temporarily in a home-like apartment, (Acts 28:30) We are further gratefully blessed that not one of our brethren were killed or injured, although some lived in the epicenter of the quake.

The first known or earliest known earthquakes in Athens occurred in the winter of 427 B.C.; and during that period there were repeated shocks in Athena, but also in Evia and Boetia, (taken from a passage of Thucydides, Histories, iii, 87), that refers to these events.
The shock waves from Athens stunned the world and echoed back an oft-asked question: Can we somehow see in advance the onset of earthquakes? Many nations are pursuing an elusive effort to predict earthquakes, nature’s most destructive cataclysm.

Continued next issue…