Looking for His glorious appearing! Titus 2:13

Pope Francis to Address Gathering of World?s Wealthiest and Most Famous
Sep 12th, 2016
Daily NewsLifesitenews
Categories: World Government

ROME, Italy, September 7, 2016 (LifeSiteNews) — Time/Fortune Global Forum 2016 announced that Pope Francis will give an address to their inaugural gathering of the world's top 500 CEOs and Time magazine’s 100 most influential people. The unprecedented meeting will take place in Rome and the Vatican on December 2-3. The two-day conference will be capped by an address from the Holy Father, Time announced Tuesday.

The grand event follows Time magazine’s nomination of Pope Francis as the Person of the Year in his election year of 2013. In a video titled “Why TIME chose Pope Francis,” TIME contributor Howard Chua-Eoan explained that it is Pope Francis’ “openness” to people with homosexual tendencies, women who have had abortions, and “divorced” and “remarried” Catholics that inspired the nomination. “He is just more open so these people are willing to come back to the Church without having to deal with the actual rules.”

Regarding the choice of placing the global conference in Rome and the Vatican, TIME explained that Pope Francis plays a central role in the efforts for social justice by speaking out on issues as global economics, the growing wealth gap, and his statement that the “distribution of the fruits of the earth and human labor is a moral obligation.”

“Time Inc. is honored to present this unique gathering of global influencers and to facilitate discussions around some of the most critical issues of our time. We are hopeful that this rare event in partnership with the Vatican has the potential to impact the way the world thinks about these issues,” said Joe Ripp, chairman and CEO of Time Inc.

With the motto “The 21^st Century Challenge: Forging a New Social Compact,” CEOs from companies including IBM, Johnson & Johnson, McKinsey, PepsiCo, and Siemens as well as non-profit organizations, including the Rockefeller and Ford foundations will lead discussions aimed toward finding concrete solutions for problems of global health, food and water, energy, the environment, and financial inclusion to combat poverty on an international scale. The Rockefeller and Ford foundations have deep ties to Planned Parenthood and have supported efforts to spread abortion in other countries.

It is not the first time the world's rich and famous have been afforded unprecedented Vatican access. Forbes magazine revealed that the Sistine Chapel was rented out in 2014 to the Porsche company for a $10,000 a plate dinner and concert fundraiser. Last May, “The Edge,” guitar player for the Irish rock band U2, was invited to stage the first-ever rock concert in the Vatican’s Sistine Chapel. The concert was embedded in the framework of the Cellular Horizons Conference to combat cancer.

While the upcoming Global Forum certainly gives Pope Francis the possibility to get up close and personal with the stars, the question remains if the attendees will be able to grasp the Catholic spirit of helping the helpless. For the Catholic, the dignity of any person – rich or poor – comes from the dignity imbued by God in creating man in His image and likeness. The agenda-laden philanthropy of the major corporations is a far cry from selfless love; the foundation for giving oneself on one’s own expense to Christ in the neighbor, an example given freely by so many saints.

Pope Francis putting his head together with the most influential and rich people in the world – a world that usually has nothing good to say about the Church – might give the impression of submission to the world. The autonomy from the world’s machinations that Pope Francis enjoys merely by being the Vicar of Christ on Earth may be compromised by the world’s largest corporations trying to drag him to their side. Should not the Pope be the “stumbling stone” for those who seek self-gratification in their philanthropic works? The question remains: Does the Pope need the visits of these celebrities, or do the celebrities need them for their own careers?

Persecution of Christians in China Intensifies
Sep 12th, 2016
CommentaryTom Alago
Categories: Persecution

With one additional twist: the Chinese government is actually going so far as to control the use of tithes and offerings and to demand that permission is requested from it with regards to how church finances are administered. 

Veronica Neffinger of Christian Headlines.com recently described how this process is happening as part of a crackdown on Christianity by Chinese authorities that seems to have originated in China's province of Zheijiang. 

"The government officials will interfere with church affairs, managing our donations and some large-scale projects. We have to obtain their (the government's) permission if we would like to buy equipment or decorate the church. We will have to ask for permission for any expenses more than a few thousand yuan," a source told China Aid, which has been described as a watchdog for Christian persecution in China.

China has been increasing its persecution of Christians and crackdown against Christianity in the last few years. Neffinger points out that such incidents were triggered in 2014 when China's president Xi Jinping began a "Beautification" campaign called the "Three Rectifications and One Demolition" campaign. 

Authorities have since used this campaign as an excuse to demolish hundreds of churches and crosses. A number of Christians, pastors, and human rights lawyers have also been arrested for refusing to comply with the authorities' demands.

Chinaaid.org notes that this year's annual report by the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom ranked China among the "countries of particular concern" where "the governments either engaged in or tolerated 'particularly severe' violations of religious freedom."

Chiqui Guyjoco for the ChristianTimes.com gave some troubling details of how some of these severe violations are occurring in China. The communist state reportedly has a command and control center dedicated to persecuting Christian churches, according to a Christian member of a targeted house church in the country.

The Christian interviewed, who is also a member of the Houshi church - the largest house church in Guiyang - revealed that there is a special government office with the unique task of targeting their church as well as other Christian churches.

Speaking in anonymity for security reasons, the member shared that their church currently has six separate cases facing trial, including five church members of who two are pastors and one a non-Christian

Two of the five members, Yu Lei and Wang Yao, were the ones who exposed a confidential document that tells of the existence of the state body created for church persecution. Yao personally considered the expose of the leaked confidential document as most unexpected. He thought that the document only revealed that the government has a big plan under wraps and that targeting their church is just part of this big plan.

He said, "I knew [the government was] going to do something about the church, but I didn't expect it to be so serious. If they have a [command and control center] they can mobilize all their resources. At the beginning, I just thought it was just at the city-level, but this document suggests that there must be some provincial level [government body] or an even higher on the operation."

Guyjoco noted that early in May, an annual report published by China Aid indicated that 20,000 Chinese Christians were persecuted for their faith in 2015 alone.

To combat the persecution, Yao revealed that their church is currently meeting in small groups and in private residences. However, he worried that some of the leaders of these small groups still need proper training. On the upside, the man believes that the persecution only strengthens the rise of Christianity in the country.

"According to the Bible, the church grows even faster under persecution," he said. "In China, even though there is so much persecution, the church still grows." 

This echoes what Bob Fu, China Aid president, had previously stated that the communist state fears a growing population among Christians, their public presence, and social influence.

According to Christian Post reporter Stoyan Zaimov, government officials have been persecuting minority religious people on an increasing basis. Not surprisingly, many churches have therefore opted to operate underground.

Let the Headlines Speak
Sep 12th, 2016
Daily NewsFrom the Internet
Categories: Today's Headlines

Oil falls as U.S. drills more
Oil fell for a second trading day in a row on Monday, after speculators cut their bullish bets by the most in three months last week and U.S. crude drillers added more rigs for a tenth week running.  

Senator holding up Israel defense deal, insisting on role for Congress
"I'm offended that the administration would try to take over the appropriations process," Graham, who chairs the Senate subcommittee on the foreign affairs budget, told The Washington Post over the weekend. "We can't have the executive branch dictating what the legislative branch will do for a decade based on an agreement we are not a party to."  

Magnitude-5.3 earthquake jolts southeastern S. Korea: meteorological agency
SEOUL, Sept. 12 (Yonhap) -- An earthquake with a magnitude of 5.3 jolted the country's southwestern region, South Korea's meteorological agency said Monday. Busan Regional Meteorological Administration pinpointed the epicenter of the quake at 8 kilometers south of Gyeongju, some 371 kilometers southeast of Seoul. The quake was felt throughout Gyeongsang Province.  

High Court scolds government for not upholding Western Wall deal
A Monday hearing on a 2013 petition against the Western Wall Heritage Foundation and the Prime Minister’s Office served as a forum for the High Court of Justice to scold the government for not upholding its deals...  

Russia Flexes Military Might In Massive Military Exercise Involving 12,500 Troops In Crimea
The display of military might took place in Crimea on Friday as Russia showcased its ground, marine and air forces in the biggest exercises held on the strategic peninsula since its 2014 annexation from Ukraine. The drills involved 12,500 troops, fighter jets and anti-aircraft missiles, and happened at the Opuk training range on the Black Sea coast.  

The worst condition Hillary Clinton suffers from isn't pneumonia, it's dishonesty
This display of infirmity came at the very worst moment possible: a ceremony to commemorate the victims of 9/11. America feels vulnerable, it needs direction and strength. The sight of Mrs Clinton’s fall suggests that she isn’t physically capable of providing either.  

Pope Francis to address gathering of world’s wealthiest and most famous
Pope Francis will give an address to their inaugural gathering of the world's top 500 CEOs and Time magazine’s 100 most influential people. The unprecedented meeting will take place in Rome and the Vatican on December 2-3. The two-day conference will be capped by an address from the Holy Father, Time announced Tuesday.  

Duterte says he wants US special forces out of southern Philippines
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte on Monday called for the withdrawal of US military from a restive southern island, fearing an American troop presence could complicate offensives against Islamist militants notorious for beheading Westerners.  

Scientists find DNA of bacterium behind London's Great Plague
This is the first time that plague DNA from 17th-century Britain has been pinpointed and marks a breakthrough in Great Plague research. The 1665 outbreak was Britain’s last major bubonic plague outbreak and claimed the lives of an estimated 100,000 Londoners.  

Turkey removes two dozen elected mayors in Kurdish militant crackdown
Turkey appointed new administrators in two dozen Kurdish-run municipalities on Sunday after removing their elected mayors over suspected links to militants... Police fired water cannon and tear gas to disperse demonstrators outside local government buildings in Suruc on the Syrian border as new administrators took over, security sources said. There were smaller protests elsewhere in the town.  

Calm before storm? Pressure mounts as MSM admits Clinton’s health is ‘campaign issue’
Hillary Clinton’s admission that she has pneumonia after allegedly becoming “overheated” at a 9/11 event has even some in MSM acknowledging that the issue of the Democratic candidate’s health can no longer be ignored, as her tour has been put on hold.  

Mexico Helping Unvetted African Migrants to U.S. Border, Many From Al-Shabaab Terror Hotbed
Hundreds of African asylum seekers have flooded Mexican border cities with the U.S. in an effort to get to California and Texas to obtain U.S. asylum — many of the unvetted migrants are from the terror hotbed of Somalia. Rather than having to hide along the way, the African migrants have been getting a special permit from Mexico that gives them a free pass to the U.S. border.  

US military: Iranian behavior getting worse in Persian Gulf
Iran has stepped up its harassment of U.S. Navy ships in the Persian Gulf, angering the U.S. military and members of Congress. Since the international nuclear deal with Iran was implemented in early January, the number of incidents involving U.S. and Iranian ships in the Gulf has approximately doubled.  

Clinton cancels California trip after pneumonia diagnosis
US Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton has cancelled a campaign trip to California after being diagnosed with pneumonia. Mrs Clinton was taken ill on Sunday at a 9/11 memorial ceremony and was seen stumbling as she left the event early. The candidate's team initially said she was "overheated", later revealing she had been diagnosed on Friday with pneumonia.  

Mexicans march for gay marriage after opponents rally
Supporters of gay and lesbian rights marched to Mexico City's Metropolitan Cathedral in response to protests on Saturday opposing same-sex marriage. Demonstrators carried banners saying "I respect your family, respect mine." The cardinal of Mexico City, Norberto Rivera Carrera, denied the Catholic church was behind the protests in cities across the country.  

Senator holding up Israel defense deal, insisting on role for Congress
Senator Lindsey Graham is holding up the conclusion of a critical, decade-long defense deal between the US and Israel...that would increase US aid ...next year by over $300 million... Graham's effort is an intentional finger in the eye to the Obama administration, which has spent over a year negotiating a complex memorandum of understanding with Israel that will...increase US defense aid...from $3.1 billion to $3.3 billion a year in 2018.  

Murder Rates Rose in a Quarter of the Nation’s 100 Largest Cities
Murder rates rose significantly in 25 of the nation’s 100 largest cities last year, according to an analysis by The New York Times of new data compiled from individual police departments.  

NHS chiefs warn that hospitals in England are on the brink of collapse
The body that represents hospitals across England has issued a startling warning that the NHS is close to breaking point because of its escalating cash crisis.  

Florida “earthquakes” actually Navy’s 10,000-pound bombs
Another apparent earthquake off Florida’s Atlantic coast has been attributed to the U.S. Navy testing the seaworthiness of a new vessel. The Daytona Beach News-Journal reports the Navy conducted a shock trial Sept. 4 on the USS Milwaukee off the Volusia and Flagler county coastlines.  

Hillary Reportedly Rushed Out Of 9/11 Memorial After Suffering ‘Medical Episode’
Hillary Clinton reportedly suffered some sort of “medical episode” at Sunday’s 15th anniversary of 9/11 memorial service. According to Fox News’ Rick Leventhal, the Democratic presidential nominee was escorted from the memorial ahead of schedule and fainted on the way to her van.  

Salt Cave Collapses Near Lot’s Wife in Sodom — Family Escapes
An avalanche of rocks caused the collapse of at least one of the salt caves around the area of Sodom, near the site where the formation known as Lot’s Wife stands, as the Sabbath drew to a close on Saturday. The caves are located along the Israeli shoreline of the southern end of the Dead Sea.  

Huge 5.1 magnitude earthquake shakes Pacific island
A MASSIVE 5.1 magnitude earthquake has rocked the Pacific Island of Papua New Guinea.  

Magnitude-5.3 quake hits Macedonia; at least 30 injured
An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 5.3 struck on the outskirts of Macedonia's capital on Sunday, injuring at least 30 people and causing minor damage to buildings, authorities said.  

5.9-Magnitude Earthquake Shakes Northern Tanzania, Killing at Least 11
A 5.9-magnitude earthquake has left at least 11 dead in the Lake Victoria region of northern Tanzania on Saturday. According to the Associated Press, the country's president, John Magufuli, said that many had been killed by the quake that struck at 3:27 p.m. local time.

Israeli Victory is the Only Way to Bring Peace
Sep 12th, 2016
CommentaryGREGG ROMAN/MIDDLE EAST FORUM
Categories: The Nation Of Israel

At his first security briefing, Avigdor Liberman, Israel's Defense Minister, declared that Israel no longer has "the luxury of conducting drawn-out wars of attrition." 100 days into his term, with no sign of the decades-long conflict slowing, it is clear that the time has come to apply that principle to the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. 

In order for there to be peace between Israel and its Arab neighbors, Israel must win and the Palestinians must lose.

For most of human history, military victory ended wars. The Pax Romana, a period of 200 years of relative peace within the Roman Empire, began only when Augustus defeated Marc Antony in the Battle of Actium. When the North ravaged the South in the American Civil War, it caused the seemingly intractable conflict that claimed three quarters of a million lives over four years to fade away. 

The South, knowing it was defeated, never made trouble again. German and Japanese ill-will toward Western democracies in World War II rapidly dissipated, thanks to the bitter pill of defeat; friendship soon followed.

Today's conventional wisdom holds that conflicts are best resolved through negotiation and compromise. But let's look at the facts. After 40 years of negotiations to reunite Cyprus, the island remains divided, and 60 years of standoff over the Korean peninsula have achieved little. 

In Syria, the killing continues unabated despite five years of talks to reconcile Sunnis and Alawites. And at the same time, years of diplomatic efforts to roll back Iran's nuclear program ended with the West's capitulation to Tehran's demands.

The crux of the conflict is simple: Israel wants to survive; the Palestinian leadership wants to destroy it. Some Palestinian leaders make no secret of this. Hamas leaders' open incitement to violence spawned the so-called "stabbing intifada," and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas praises the Palestinian "martyrs" and names streets after them. 

Others talk peace but demand a Palestinian "right of return" to Israel, a requirement that would effectively eviscerate the Jewish state by allowing millions of Arabs of Palestinian descent to resettle permanently within Israel's borders. But no matter their angle, all Palestinian leaders preach hatred towards Israel.

American policy has long been to prevent Israel from achieving a decisive military victory over its adversaries. In 1956, President Eisenhower forced Israel to abandon its territorial gains from the Suez Crisis. Similarly, following the 1967 Six Day War, the U.S. helped engineer a U.N. resolution calling on Israel to return unspecified "territories occupied" in the war. 

The Reagan administration stopped Israel from obliterating Yasser Arafat's PLO forces in Lebanon in 1982, and, most recently, the Obama administration pressured Israel to limit its objectives in its 2014 war with Hamas. These concessions, which are often unilateral and irreversible, include settlement freezes, prisoner releases and forfeiture of territory.

Such policies deliver pernicious results; American "restraint" of Israel encourages its enemies to take risks. Much like government bailouts encourage banks to make high-risk, high-payoff investments by removing the consequences of failure, Israel's adversaries need not fret over irrevocable loss because they know the international community will admonish Israel for any gains it achieves.

Moreover, restraining Israel legitimizes and nourishes Palestinian rejectionism, defined as the refusal to acknowledge Israeli sovereignty and right of Jews to live in their ancestral homeland. Because it knows there will be no consequences for its sophisticated propaganda war, the Palestinian Authority can continue to demonize Israel. 

"To become a normal people, one whose parents do not encourage their children to become suicide terrorists, Palestinian Arabs need to undergo the crucible of defeat," writes Middle East Forum President Daniel Pipes.

When Israel has licensure, without American opprobrium, to unleash its military might after a Palestinian rocket or terror attack, as when Liberman ordered over 50 airstrikes on Hamas military infrastructure in Gaza in response to one rocket, the Palestinians retreat. The fear of crushing defeat is a potent weapon in neutralizing Palestinian resistance.

America's handling of the Arab-Israeli conflict is preventing the kind of metamorphosis in Palestinian thinking about Israel that peace requires. It's time for Washington to allow Israel to demolish the Palestinian dream of a one-state solution, free of Jews. As Ronald Reagan said regarding the US fight against communism, the only way to "win is if they lose."

This doesn't mean the U.S. should support a winner-take-all settlement of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. But we must dispense with the fallacy that Israel is only a concession or two away from an American-brokered diplomatic breakthrough. As Gen. Douglas MacArthur said famously, "there is no substitute for victory."

Islamism, Europe and Elections
Sep 12th, 2016
CommentaryZALMAN SHOVAL/ISRAEL HAYOM
Categories: Contemporary Issues

The defeat of German Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democratic Union in her home state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern is a warning sign for the ruling party in Germany and proves that the United States may not be the only country where a political drama will be unfolding over the next few months.

The potential for political transition exists mainly in Germany and in France, but Britain beat them to the punch with the Brexit vote in favor of separating from the European Union. 

Each one of the political storms now waging, and those expected to begin shortly, occur due to specific reasons, but behind all of them is, in one form or another, concern about Islamism and its implications -- whether in terms of terrorism or in terms of destroying the cultural fabric and upsetting the demographic balance.

Popular Swiss daily Neue Zurcher Zeitung published a detailed article about the incremental strategy used by the Muslim Brotherhood and Salafi movements in their efforts to take over the world: a small concession here, a small concession there, apparent setbacks on unimportant issues like dress or education, promoting Sharia law, etc. 

All this on the pretense of equality and human rights -- until the walls of Western democratic society are completely breached in a decisive attack. The article's author is not a character like French writer Michel Houellebecq, who describes the Islamist victory over France as a near foregone conclusion, but rather a respected professor of political science and Middle Eastern history at the University of Zurich.

While Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump leverages the Islamist threat, in Merkel's Germany, it is already a reality. In a country that absorbed about a million immigrants, the vast majority of them Muslims, and which will take in a further 300,000 before year's end -- all this on top of the near 3 million Turkish immigrants already living there -- the Islamist issue has become a political and electoral time bomb. 

Merkel herself stands at the flashpoint, as her opponents, and even some of her supporters, blame her -- as Vice Chancellor and Social Democratic Party Chairman Sigmar Gabriel has expressed -- for miscalculating the challenges facing her liberal immigration policy. 

Gabriel is calling to limit immigration to Germany, and even Merkel, though she opposes this step, has recently called on Germany's Muslim residents to demonstrate greater loyalty to the country's social and democratic values.

As a result of this situation, alongside the growing power of figures among the extreme Right -- some of them bearing fascist overtones -- we are hearing calls to replace the leadership in the elections this coming year. It is not likely to happen, but nonetheless, Germany's political stability has been badly cracked.

In France too, even more so than in Germany, Islamism is set to play a central role in the upcoming presidential election, and even in the earlier race for centre-right candidacy, which has become a close battle between former French President Nicolas Sarkozy and his rival, Bordeaux Mayor Alain Juppe. 

In the previous election, leftist French President Francois Hollande defeated Sarkozy thanks to the Muslim vote, and it seems now that Juppe has chosen to follow in his footsteps. Instead of focusing his campaign on the war on terrorism, as Sarkozy did, he is calling on France to embrace its Muslim citizens.

For Israel, it doesn't make much of a difference who ultimately ends up in Elysee Palace. All the candidates admit that Israel is an important friend to France -- though so are the Palestinians -- but the deciding factor is the traditional stance of the French Foreign Ministry since the Venice Declaration in 1980 that sought to include the PLO in any negotiations on the Palestinian issue, and its position taken in 1967, siding with the Arabs and Russia on U.N. Security Council Resolution 242.

While France is not currently a major player in the Middle Eastern arena, despite its best efforts, what happens there now may determine its character more than some failed attempt at foreign policy. In any event, the developments in France, in Germany and in other places testify to the fact that Islamism will play an increasingly larger role in the politics of the free world.

Concern Grows That a Megaquake is Going to Hit the Middle of the United States
Sep 12th, 2016
CommentaryMichael Snyder - End of The America Dream Blog
Categories: Contemporary Issues

Did you know that Oklahoma was just hit by the largest earthquake ever recorded in the history of the state? And did you know that Oklahoma absolutely shattered their yearly record for earthquakes in 2015 and may break it again this year? 

According to the USGS, the number of significant earthquakes in the eastern and central sections of the nation has more than quintupled in recent years, and concern is growing that we could soon see a "megaquake" in the middle part of the country. 

Of course no discussion of megaquakes in the middle part of the country can leave out the New Madrid fault zone, which is approximately six times larger than the San Andreas fault zone in California. 

Scientists assure us that the New Madrid fault is around 30 years overdue for a major seismic event, and when it does happen it is going to be the biggest disaster in modern American history up to this point.

Late last month, eight states took part in a major drill that simulated what the damage from a New Madrid earthquake might look like. The following comes from a news report that was posted on August 24th...

Eight states are taking part in a multi-state disaster drill Wednesday.

Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois, Tennessee, Kentucky and Arkansas all took part in the "Show Me Mass Care Exercise" to practice how they would react during a major earthquake along the new Madrid Fault Line, which is a major source of earthquakes in the Midwest and south.

As I mentioned above, the New Madrid fault zone is about six times bigger than the San Andreas fault zone, but because of the nature of the earth's crust in the region, a New Madrid earthquake would be felt in most of the nation. In fact, the Missouri Department of Natural Resources says that earthquakes along the New Madrid fault "shake and damage an area approximately 20 times larger than earthquakes in California"...

Due to the harder, colder, drier and less fractured nature of the rocks in the earth's crust in the central United States, earthquakes in this region shake and damage an area approximately 20 times larger than earthquakes in California and most other active seismic areas. 

Even though large earthquakes occur much less frequently in the NMSZ than in California, the long term average quake threat, in terms of square miles affected per century, is about the same because of the approximately 20 times larger area affected in the central United States

Back in 1811 and 1812, a series of earthquakes along the New Madrid fault were so powerful that they actually cracked sidewalks in Washington D.C. and rang church bells in Boston. Testimony from eyewitnesses to those earthquakes sounds like something from a post-apocalyptic science fiction novel...

The Midwest was sparsely populated, and deaths were few. But 8-year-old Godfrey Lesieur saw the ground "rolling in waves." Michael Braunm observed the river suddenly rise up "like a great loaf of bread to the height of many feet." Sections of riverbed below the Mississippi rose so high that part of the river ran backward. Thousands of fissures ripped open fields, and geysers burst from the earth, spewing sand, water, mud and coal high into the air.

In those days not many people lived in the middle of the country.

What in the world would such an earthquake look like today?

I also want to point out that there are 15 nuclear reactors sitting inside the New Madrid fault zone, so if a megaquake did hit the region we could be looking at Fukushima times 15.

And the earthquakes in Oklahoma (not a part of the New Madrid fault zone) just continue to keep getting bigger and bigger. The USGS now says that the earthquake on September 3rd was the largest ever recorded in the history of the state...

The earthquake that shook Pawnee, Oklahoma, on Sept. 3 is now the state's largest temblor on record, according to the U.S. Geological Survey, which just upgraded the magnitude to 5.8.

The earthquake was previously pegged at magnitude 5.6. But further analysis of the seismic recordings from the event found the quake size to have a bigger moment magnitude, according to the USGS.

As I sit here writing this article, a magnitude 3.0 earthquake struck near Perry, Oklahoma just about an hour ago.

In the old days, you would never think of Oklahoma as a place that was at risk for major earthquakes

Unfortunately, those days are long gone.