This is Brother Frank speaking to you from the International Mission Center in Krefeld, Germany.
Today I do have a very important subject to share with you. As you know, I do speak mainly about the Return of Christ, the fulfilment of Bible prophecies in our time, and today it has fallen my lot to share with you about the earthquakes, mainly about the earthquake that happened on Friday, 11th of March, 2011 in Japan. Such an earthquake we do not have recorded in the history of all the earthquakes. There is a list with the earthquakes which happened in the last one hundred years. But this one was the most severe, and not only an earthquake, which was 10 km deep, and then causing the tsunami with mighty waves which sometimes reached over 20 meters, destroying the whole area. And then even the reactor, the power plant, did not work properly. So three things happened, right one after the other. And then, of course, everybody has to pay attention to what will come next.
And we all would agree, that the Holy Scripture foretells what is to be on earth, what we are to expect before the Return of our Lord. Let me just read to you a few passages from the holy Word of God, because in God’s Word we have the whole history of the world, from the beginning of the creation to the very end of this present time. And then, of course, we also have the description about the new heaven and the new earth. It says here in Matthew 24, verse 7, “For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; and there shall be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes, in diverse places.”
Mark, chapter 13, verse 8, “For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; and there shall be earthquakes in diverse places, and there shall be famines and troubles: these are the beginning of the time of sorrow.” Just like a lady that is with a child must expect the pains, the sorrows to come, before the birth takes place, so the Lord God uses the same symbol “birth pains.” Before the new is born, the old must suffer birth pains.
One more Scripture: Luke 21, verse 11, “And great earthquakes shall be in different places, and famines, and pestilences; and fearful sights and great signs shall be seen from heaven.” So, beloved Friends, to make it very brief: we are living in that space of time, which the Holy Scripture calls “endtime”. And this is a prophetic age in which the prophecies and the prophetic Scriptures are becoming a reality before our very eyes.
The good part about it is that Bible prophecies must not be interpreted, they must be watched as they are coming to fulfilment. Now we had the terrible earthquake. Yes, it was a desaster. Nothing as this has taken place before: earthquake, tsunami, nuclear power plant catastrophy. And Friends, this is a sign that we pay attention to what God says in His Word, because He made the statement, “When you see all these things come to pass, then you know the time is near, even at the end. And therefore look up, for your redemption is drawing near.”
And there are three more Scriptures I like to read in reference to what is going to take place on earth in our time – not some time in the future, but in our time. Isaiah, chapter 24, verse 19 and 20, “The earth is utterly broken down, the earth is even dissolved, the earth is moved exceedingly.” You can read on. Something is in the making. Things will never be the way they were. And we should realise that this is God’s time to give us the warning, the warning that the time of grace is ending and judgment is coming upon the earth.
Then it says in Revelation, chapter 11, verse 13, “And the same hour there was a great earthquake, and the tenth part of the city fell, and in the earthquake were slain of men seven thousand; and the remnants were affrighted, and gave glory to the God of heaven.” Those who escape the direct outcomings of an earthquake should praise God for having saved their lives. But the saving of their lives is not yet the saving of the soul. And therefore it is not enough to be saved in a time of trouble from the destruction – we have to be saved by the grace of God, because the soul must receive eternal life, so we can live eternally.
The next Scripture: Revelation, chapter 16, verse 18, “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.” Everything is foretold in the Holy Scriptures.
And, Friends, there was a man of God living in our time. His name was William Branham. And he predicted that before the Return of Christ, before the Lord Jesus Christ would come back, as He promised in John, chapter 14, the earthquake in California would take place. And scientists speak about it all the time and expecting it to happen at any moment. And if that Saint Andreas Fault will give in, which the split goes right down, right down all, all through California, and when that part which is about the size of the country of Japan, when that size will split off and move into the ocean, you know, there will be a tidal wave, a tsunami, as the world has never seen.
And now we understand that these things are in the making. These are birthpains, forewarning us that we should come to the Lord. Because these things which are foretold must happen, even if every Christian would pray, “Lord, let it not be. Please, please.” There is no ‘please’ here, no. God said, it’s going to happen, and it is going to happen! Because this world must come to an end.
Now, we had a number of earthquakes: For instance, in the year 1923 also in Japan 143,000 people lost their lives. Again another one in January 1995 also in Japan: 6,400 lost their lives. Then we have the recording here: it was on Sumatra, Indonesia, March 2005, when 1,313 people lost their lives. And, by the way, as a missionary I was on a tour, on a preaching tour through Indonesia. And I was at these moments in the hotel lobby with others, just near the reception, when the earthquake happened in March 2005. And, Friends, we were swinging together, we were swinging like this. Not only the wonderful candlestick was swinging mightily like this, but we all were swinging with it. And the quake was 280 kilometers from where I and others were in the city of Medan on Sumatra. But then you go even to the earthquake in Alaska. And you go on and on and on, right to the earthquake in Christchurch, New Zealand, on the south island the main city. And we read and we saw the outcome of that earthquake.
So we understand from the Holy Scriptures … Even Haiti – after the terrible earthquake in Haiti I took a flight to Port-au-Prince. I saw the outcome of the earthquake in Haiti with my own eyes. And then, of course, you also have to go to Chile. In Chile in 1960 1,555 people died. In Chile. Then we had a tremendous earthquake in 2004 with a tsunami, also on Sumatra, Indonesia: 228,000 people died. And then, of course, we had again the earthquake in 2010 in Chile, where 524 people died. And you can go and go from country to country, from continent to continent: you can go right to Iceland, you can go to Russia, you can go wherever you wish: the whole earth is in birth pains.
And, Friends, we have to say this: As we read the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, speaking about the endtime, making the statement in Matthew 24:14, “This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached to all nations, and then the end will be.” And then our Lord speaks about the things which will happen in the last moments, before the end would actually be. Let me say this in love: The time of grace has a beginning, and the time of grace will have an ending. So now the last message of grace, of restoration, of preparation, of calling out is going forth. And this man of God I mentioned, William Branham, was commissioned to bring a message that would forerun the second coming of Christ, as our Lord God Himself promised in Malachi, chapter 4, and confirmed it in Matthew 17:11, and also in Mark, chapter 9, verse 12.
So now we must understand three things: what is happening in the political world; what is happening in the commercial world; what is happening in the religious world. These three we must observe very closely. And then, of course, we must understand the signs of the time. We had World War I, we had World War II, and even now there is war here and war there. There is unrest, nations are against nations, even now, if you look into the Arabic World, especially those countries surrounding Israel. There is something going on as never before and we have to say it: God’s people Israel is chosen for a specific purpose, and we have no right to judge them. If we look at our own failures we have no time to judge another nation.
But, Friends, let me say this in love: After World War II, and you all know, we had 55 million dead, 6 million Jews were killed … It was terrible. In World War II, which I experienced personally, especially the last few months since January 1945 to May 1945 it was hell on earth. But, Friends, even now, as I said, there are problems, there are wars, rumors of wars, no solution, no solution. Banks have no solution, governments have no solution. No solution everywhere. Everything is out of kilter, and every day we hear about “bad news”, “bad news”. There are simply no good news any more on earth.
So, these things speak a very loud language. And let me mention this, dear Friends: In August 1945 something very, very special happened. On the 6th of August 1945 the bombing of Hiroshima took place; on August 9th, 1945 the bombing of Nagasaki took place and 92,000 died. In 1945 World War II was over, on May, 9th, 1945. But the US wanted to try their achievement, wanted to know the outcome of their bombs.
And, Friends, let me say this: I knew the man personally, his name was Hal Herman, the one who was a Hollywood film maker, he was one of the famous film makers already during World War II, and then the US-government hired him to join the trip to Japan and to film the outcome of the bombings. His name was Hal Herman. I met him in 1949 in the city of Hamburg, Germany. And he testified what happened to him, when he returned from that mission: He was just walking down the streets, searching to hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and he gave his life to the Lord and became an evangelist, the most renown person in Germany after World War II as an American citizen, having his special meetings in Hamburg, Berlin and Stuttgart.
I am only mentioning these things, that I met someone in person who filmed the outcome of the bombings in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. My Friends, who will be here to film, when the last earthquakes will come, when Alaska and the coast of California will move and slide into the ocean? Who is going to be left to film that catastrophy? I just have to close in saying: we are now living absolutely in the last moments of the time of grace. Nobody knows the time or the hour of the Return of our Lord, but He said very clearly, “When you see all these things come to pass, lift up your heads, for your redemption is drawing near.” Please, please read Matthew 24, read Mark 13, read Luke 21 and read all the other Scriptures, and pray that the Lord may open your eyes.
May the grace of God be upon you. May your soul be saved, may you find your way to the Lord to escape, to escape all the things which will come upon the earth. To escape! There will be only one escape, and that will be through the Rapture, when our Lord returns and takes us home, before the final catastrophies will come upon the earth.
This is the calling-out time, the preparation time, the restoration time. May God’s blessings rest upon you in Jesus’ holy Name, is my prayer. Amen.