On the PHILIPPINES: October 2025

Psalm 104:31-32

King James Version

31 The glory of the Lord shall endure for ever:

the Lord shall rejoice in his works.

32 He looketh on the earth, and it trembleth:

he toucheth the hills, and they smoke.

We've been having a spate of earthquakes in the Philippines recently.

Just the other day, my city was hit by an Intensity 5 earthquake at 10:30 a.m.

It may have been brief, but it was enough to make people scramble out of buildings.

And City Hall let out a long, low siren.

After which, long lines formed, mostly teenage students, all bound for home.

Classes on all levels had been suspended.

One government hospital created an outdoor emergency area, to take in at least 46 patients who suffered panic and anxiety attacks.

Older residents surely remembered the terrible 16 July 1990 earthquake that nearly demolished our city.

Was there to be another one of those?

Today, the HOLY SPIRIT led me to something relevant, and interesting.

I learned that close to our country, up north where I live, is the LARGEST caldera in the world.

It's called the Apolaki Caldera:

"The Apolaki Caldera is a volcanic caldera with a diameter of 150 kilometers (93 mi), making it the world's largest caldera. It is located within the Benham Rise (Philippine Rise) and was discovered in 2019 by Jenny Anne Barretto, a Filipino marine geophysicist and her team."

-- Wikipedia

We also learned, from the same source, that it was named after a "god":

"The name "Apolaki" means "giant lord" in Filipino, and is also the name of the god of sun and war in some pantheons in Philippine mythology and the indigenous Philippine folk religions. The volcano has been inactive for millions of years."

Being born again, this watchman doesn't care for "gods".

We're not into idolatry.

We only serve the ONE, TRUE GOD.

As for the "millions of years", then again, we question that.

Answers in Genesis says we have a "young earth", like 6,000 years only.

Before GOD made me born again, I was actually already skeptical about claims of fossils being millions of years.

Somehow, I wondered how scientists were able to determine that far.

My initial instincts were correct.

Going back to our caldera subject, we learn that Apolaki Caldera can be found within the Benham Rise:

"The Benham Rise, formally designated as Philippine Rise (Filipino: Talampas ng Pilipinas)[3][4] by the Philippine government, is an extinct volcanic ridge located in the Philippine Sea approximately 250 kilometers (160 mi) east of the northern coastline of Dinapigue, Isabela."

-- Wikipedia

To make matters more interesting, the Philippines is part of the "Pacific Ring of Fire":

"The Ring of Fire (also known as the Pacific Ring of Fire, the Rim of Fire, the Girdle of Fire or the Circum-Pacific belt)[note 1] is a tectonic belt of volcanoes and earthquakes.

It is about 40,000 km (25,000 mi) long[1] and up to about 500 km (310 mi) wide,[2] and surrounds most of the Pacific Ocean.

The Ring of Fire contains between 750 and 915 active or dormant volcanoes, around two-thirds of the world total.[3][4] The exact number of volcanoes within the Ring of Fire depends on which regions are included.

About 90% of the world's earthquakes,[5] including most of its largest,[6][7] occur within the belt."

-- Wikipedia

Should we be worried?

I only look to the imminence of the Rapture.

Wherein JESUS can return, any moment GOD decides, and believers will meet Him up in the clouds.

1 Thessalonians 4:16-17

King James Version

16 For the Lord himself

shall descend from heaven with a shout,

with the voice of the archangel,

and with the trump of God:

and the dead in Christ shall rise first: