Are the Haitian and Chilean Earthquakes a Sign of the End?

For decades now, modern-day prophecy writers have been claiming that the increase and severity of earthquakes are sure indicators that the rapture is near. Carl G. Johnson wrote in 1972 that “the greatest earthquakes that have ever shaken this world have all come since the close of World War I. Several of them shook the whole earth.”[1] How does he know this since the development of modern-day earthquake measuring equipment didn’t get their start until 1880? The Richter Magnitude Scale wasn’t developed until 1935. Were there more severe earthquakes before 1880? The Lisbon earthquake of 1755 is estimated to have been 9.0 on the Richter scale. John Wesley (1703–1791) mentions a great earthquake that hit Sicily in 1692, describing it as…More