Good sees the deepest dissembled thoughts, nay sees the thoughts before they are thought. God is just to exercise his might, and mighty to perform his justice. None should take life but him who gives it. God is good security of all the debts of the poor. There is no cause but one why one man’s nose is longer than another’s, but because that God pleases to have it so. The unlovely may work against us, but God sends us men when we want them. God has always been to me not so much like a father, as like a dear and tender mother, he turneth the shadow of death into morning. How much kinder is God to us than we are willing to be to ourselves! In 1760, John Michell, a British engineer and seismology pioneer, reported that Earthquakes and their resultant energy were produced by shifting masses of rock miles below the surface. The planet has seven major tectonic plates, which correspond with the seven continents, and about a dozen smaller ones; upon these tectonic plates sit all the continents and oceans. The plates represent a barrier between the Earth’s solid surface and its liquid core. Their various fault lines separate them from one another. Along these lines there are constant motions, so there are Earthquakes all day long, but many of them cannot be felt by humans. This is moderate, but highly consequential activity: During the past three million years, movement along the San Andreas Fault, on the California coast, which demarcates border between the North American Plate and the Pacific Plate, has shifted at a rate of approximately two inches a year (about the same pace it takes for a finger nail to grow).

How can we argue about God’s power in the other stars from the laws which he has given for our rule in this one? This Summer, 24 August 2014, at 3.20am, Napa, California USA was hit by a magnitude 6.0 Earthquake, on the Richter scale. Scientist are now using Napa as a laboratory because the closest, previously mapped fault was farther away, and was considered by state officials to be too old to be active, as the last time it ruptured was more than 11,000 years ago. When the fault ruptures—when plates crash or pull apart, when the Earth’s crust is broken—energy moves in waves throughout the planet, and we feel the outcome on the surface. However, inactive faults can awaken.  Even if there are not clues, faults can exist. And Evidence of recent movement can be washed away, or, as in the case of this section of Napa Valley, buried deep underneath soil deposits eroding from the mountains. Scientists had their suspicions that a fault could be buried in this area of Napa, but held back from mapping it because there was not enough evidence. Earthquakes are measured by the Richter scale, which was developed in 1935 by Charles Richter of the California Institute of Technology. It registers Earthquakes from micro (2.0 or lower) to massive (8.0 or higher). The largest ever recorded was the Chilean Earthquake of the 1960, a 9.5 magnitude on the Richter scale, which caused a phenomenon known as the free oscillation of the Earth. Seismic waves traveled around the planet for days after the initial shock. Scientists often have limited access to dig trenches and study possible faults, in areas filled with homes, that were built decades ago.

The Napa Earthquake woke several small previously unrecognized Napa Valley faults. The Earthquake tore up to the surface, producing a 9-mile-long scar that sliced through vineyards, asphalt and even homes, as the magnitude 6.0 on the Richter scale was the largest Earthquake to shake Northern California, in 25 years, injuring more than 170 people, killing 1 woman, who died from brain bleeding caused by a falling television. There were also 800 homes damaged, 103 were deemed too dangerous to enter. Most of the damage was centered on the West Napa Fault. The  U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) found that the West Napa Fault moved a total of 18 inches (46 centimeters) along a 9.3 miles long (15 kilometers) length, and the estimated damage is anywhere from $362 million to $1 billion. While these newly found faults let off the region’s pent-up strain, an Earthquake with 30 times more energy is expected to hit the region in the future. The Napa Earthquake on 24 August 2014, marked the first time, since the 1971 Sylmar Earthquake, that a temblor in California has caused surface rupture in a residential area. “We are going to be taking a really hard look now, everyone should always be aware of where all of these faults are when they’re building. However, we can’t go around just doing it on a gut feeling. We draw the lines with the best information that we have available,” reports state geologist John Parrish. As of December 2014, more than 160 buildings, in Napa California, were still red-tagged, or severely damaged, and more than 1,640 yellow-tagged, or moderately damaged. The city has issued about 980 earthquake repair permits, with many homeowners still waiting to see whether they can get some federal help for the repairs. At least people in Napa have someone to help, other victims of Napa are not so lucky.

In 1906, San Francisco, had a population of 400,000, and was the largest American city on the West Coast. On Wednesday, 18 April 2014, the San Andreas Fault began to rupture at 5.13am, , the 7.9 magnitude Earthquake, on the Richter scale  damaged electoral wires, and overturned candles and coal stoves, which sparked huge fires, as dozens of fires merged into one. In a desperate move, the city’s 585 firefighters were helpless in the face of the conflagration, and the underground water mains had been destroyed, so they decided that houses, like the Hopkin’s Mansion, which were standing in the path of the blaze, would be destroyed by cannon fire and explosives, creating a firebreak 175 feet wide. Many beautiful mansions were lost, but huge sections of the city were saved by the unfortunate act, and it took four full days to extinguish all the fires. Meanwhile, tens of thousands of refugees fled the city by rail. With the New King’s basketball arena being built in Sacramento, any wonder why the city tore down perfectly good buildings, and historic buildings for this project, as the infrastructure is not adequate, and if there was a disaster, and rush hour traffic, it is possible that police, firefighters, nor emergency services will be able to respond.  Look our Lord, this town is well situated, as you can see, but the water is bad and the land is unproductive. The city of Sacramento is already in debt $2 billion, the new arena has no parking, and after it is all paid for will have a grand total of $1 billion more debt for the city and investors (taxpayers) to pay off.  And they know what happened once could happen again.

Surely the absurdity of all the doctrines of religion, and the iniquity of man, are sufficiently evident. To fear a being on account of his power is degrading; to fear him if he be good, ridiculous. How can we argue about God’s power in the other stars, from the laws, which he has given for our rule in this one? Agree with your adversary quickly. Do it quickly—bring yourself to judgment now. In moral and spiritual matters, you must act immediately. God is determined to have His child as pure, clean, and white as freshly snowed powder, and as long as there is disobedience, He will allow His Spirit to use whatever process it may take to bring us to obedience. The fact that we insist on proving that we are right is almost always a clear indication that we have repoint of disobedience. This is what the LORD says, “Bring me a new bowl and put salt in it. I have healed this water. Never again will it cause death or make the land unproductive.” And the water has remained wholesome to this day.