Natural Disasters

When my wife and I get up to have our morning coffee, we often say, “Shall we turn on the news and see what ‘blew up’ last night?” We wonder: What disaster, murders, shootings, riots, robberies, accidents, fires, pandemic deaths, political bickering, legislative logjams, scandals, bankruptcies, lawsuits, debt increases, or other negative things happened since yesterday? There is usually something to sigh about.

News reports occasionally feature "The Big One"—the expectation of an earthquake of mammoth magnitude wreaking widespread destruction. What did Jesus say about earthquakes? Does the Bible foretell a massive earthquake striking the Earth in the last days?

For the last few months, the novel coronavirus pandemic has seemed at times like a cosmic black hole: It has relentlessly consumed everyone’s attention—especially in the media. Turn on the television or radio, scan headlines on the web, or swipe through the news on your phone, and COVID-19 often dominates the headlines and discussion. However, behind the ominous, ever-present cloak of the virus, the world is suffering from numerous other calamities.