BEWARE: EARTH SHAKER

Matthew 24:44

“Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh.”

The day was like no other.  The sky was clear and the weather most desirable.  Murphy reached for his spade. He decided to grow some lettuce in a container before going to work at ShopKo.

We can never have enough fresh produce, he thought as his spade plunged deep into the soil, breaking up clods of dirt. If I had more time to garden, I would be healthier without this fat paunch protruding over my belt. The seeds fell from his hands as they scattered upon the topsoil.  

Matthew 24

37 But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.

38 For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark,

39 And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.

Murphy, an assistant sales manager at a local retail outlet, sold dollar priced merchandise in Branson, Missouri. He and his wife Angie lived in Missouri for 10 years after moving from Erie Pennsylvania. I better hurry planting my seeds before I have to make the long drive into Branson. 

Murphy only lived 20 miles on the outskirts of Branson, close to Nixa, Missouri. Twenty miles may not seem far for some people, but in this era where gas prices keep going up through the roof, Murphy wondered if going to work was worth it at all.

Revelation 6 (INFLATION)

5 And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third beast say, Come and see. And I beheld, and lo a black horse; and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand.

6 And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine.

Murphy had just finished his plantings when the sky flickered. The sky flickered as if a light bulb had just gone out. "Angie, come here," Murphy yelled as if to warn her. What they saw terrified them. The sky and ground agitated and twisted so violently that it had a ripping and whipping effect upon everything within its reach. Chunks of debris and trees were fast approaching from all directions.   

Joel 2

1 Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in my holy mountain: let all the inhabitants of the land tremble: for the day of the LORD cometh, for it is nigh at hand;

2 A day of darkness and of gloominess, a day of clouds and of thick darkness, as the morning spread upon the mountains: a great people and a strong; there hath not been ever the like, neither shall be any more after it, even to the years of many generations.

They knew the storm shelter would be the place to run but it was too late. The shaking and wind sent them flying into the air and then it dashed them to the ground. Their barn was the first to collapse and fold on top of itself. Everything agitated like it was in a blender.

Haggai 2:6

6 For thus saith the LORD of hosts; Yet once, it is a little while, and I will shake the heavens, and the earth, and the sea, and the dry land;”

Murphy tried to see within those last moments of consciousness but it was like looking through a kaleidoscope of flying pieces of life threatening debris. In his last conscious moments, he knew that the worse had happened to him, his 1970 Ford Truck had landed upon him while crumbling his body like a limp rag doll.