This is the day I traditionally pray specifically by name for the salvation of my ex-wife, since it's her birthday. Soooo...I thought I'd refresh my memory on a few items from this date in history:
Four years ago (2004) Indonesia had an earthquake that caused the big tsunami that killed 266,000 people in the coastal regions of Africa and Asia. I checked that out on a Voice of the Martyrs world map a couple of days later...five of the six countries that got hammered hardest were the top five persecutors of Christians of all the nations of the world.
Five years ago (2003) 30,000 died in Bam, Iran by earthquake, ranked #9 in the world for persecuting Christians by Operation World, 21st Century Edition. "Bam" was an appropriate name for the way God got their attention! Wonder how many conversions have come out of that mess as a result of Christian mercy ministries?
Back in 1939 there was an earthquake in Anatolia, Turkey...the land that used to be called Asia Minor and housed the churches addressed in the Book of Revelation. The Ottoman Empire there had a good run from 1299-1923, when the Republic of Turkey was formed. It's been a stronghold of Islam all those years and made it to #39 on the current Persecution Index. Let's see, back in '39 was when God Caused World War II...good book title, I'd say...to get the attention of the largest number of people yet in world history...yet being the operative word, I think. Oh, Turkey's current motto is "The Eternal State." Someone better send them the Book of Daniel in modern Turkish to give them God's view on that particular subject!
In 1932, 30,000 lives were suddenly called into eternity through an earthquake in Kansu, China. China's an interesting story. Back on May 12, 2008 Sichuan Province had "the nineteenth deadliest earthquake of all time" according to my impeccable Wikipedia source. Hmmm... Operation World puts them at #3 on the Top Christian Persecutors index. The tally was, in round figures: 69,000 dead/374,000 injured/18,000 missing/4.8 million homeless. Back in 1976 (can you say Communist Cultural Revolution?), 240,000 folks shuffled off this mortal coil through the Tangshan earthquake.
I could go on with research and rambling for pages, but I'll wrap up with this fun USofA fact: The largest recorded earthquake in the United States was a magnitude 9.2 that struck Prince William Sound, Alaska on Good Friday, March 28, 1964 UTC....Seems I recall the firing on Fort Sumter to initiate the American Civil War was Good Friday, April 12, 1861. Guess it's merely a coincidence, Eh?!
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