Cities Swallowed up in the Earth

A recent headline blared “The town of Lutto Kututo in Peru disappeared overnight in huge Earth cracks” connected to a major landslide. According to geologists more than a million cubic meters of earth and debris came down burying the two that had fallen into a huge depression and buried the town.
    The disciple Nephi records the events that accompanied the crucifixion and following appearance of Christ in the Americas, telling us that the cities of Moronihah, Gilgal, Gadiandi, Gadiomnah, Jacob and Gimgimno, were sunk into the ground and buried in the Earth (3 Nephi 8:25; 9:6,8). It is interesting that in a small sleepy town 165 miles south of Cuzco this geological catastrophe took place.

(Image A – Top Left: A gap appeared in the earth and quickly widened until it swallowed up an entire town; Top Right: the steep upslope 9ibroken into Numerous blocks of earth and rock; Bottom: The  entire area was filled with a curving major surface failure and numerous fissure

 

In a surprising event recently, an entire town was sunk into the ground and buried by the Earth in Peru, as huge gaps and 125-foot deep fractures appeared in the ground, widening rapidly with the village sliding into the holes that were quickly buried by other earth. The extension and cracking in the upper portion of the mass, which fell in upon them. The cohesive nature of the slide was reflected in the steepness of the model headscarp, with the head of the slide having back-rotated thirty-degrees or more.
    Obviously then, a slide with a very steep headscarp and an upslope slide mass, which was conspicuously broken into numerous blocks of earth and rock. These were separated by impressive cracks and fissures snaking across the adjoining ground, sinking into the earth and destroying 106 houses.
    These cracks and fissures are still widening and swallowing up pieces of the ground, and the area is extremely unstable, with the size of the fractures between displaced blocks is quite remarkable. According to geologists more than a million cubic meters of earth and debris—enough to fill 480 Olympic swimming pools—detached from the earth around and fell in on the gap, burying the town overnight by giant cracks in the ground that were accompanied with loud thunderous noises.

The surface area, equivalent to 20 soccer fields, was fragmented into hundreds of uneven blocks, and separated by two 125-foot deep cracks in the Earth. The sinking ground swallowed up many homes and infrastructures in this Peruvian village as a huge crater in the earth opened in a dramatic landslide of the earth down into the chasm. It was as if the Earth had broken into small pieces described by witnesses as Apocalyptic!
    The area is still unstable, with the cracks and fissures still widening and expanding, making it risky for any work there to be done or even for people to be in the area as the terrain is expected to continue to fall.
    Some of the Nephite cities were sunk into the sea (3 Nephi 9:4), and since one of those cities was Moroni, we can conclude this had to have been connected to the Sea East, and its eventual receding eastward into the Atlantic Ocean. In addition, the numerous cities that sank into the earth, many were covered over by earth forming valleys and hills in their stead.
    Many theorists who include this type of information in their theories, often deal with it rather lightly, passing it off as no big event—in fact, John L. Sorenson claims these changes to the earth during the crucifixion were only cosmetic, which is an interesting choice of words since cosmetic means “beautifying; improving beauty.” In fact, if you describe measures or changes as cosmetic, you mean they improve the appearance of a situation or thing but do not change its basic nature, and you are usually implying that they are inadequate and will do nothing to help the situation long term.

Lightnings never before seen in the land

As the disciple Nephi described it: “the whole face of the land was changed, because of the tempest and the whirlwinds and the thunderings and the lightnings, and the exceedingly great quaking of the whole earth” (3 Nephi 8:12). And also, “And thus the face of the whole earth became deformed, because of the tempests, and the thunderings, and the lightnings, and the quaking of the earth” (3 Nephi 8:17).
    In fact, all this destruction occurred in both the Land Southward (3 Nephi 8:11) and the Land Northward (3 Nephi 8:12).
    In addition, roads were broken up and smooth places became rough (3 Nephi 8:13), and “the rocks were rent in twain; they were broken up upon the face of the whole earth, insomuch that they were found in broken fragments, and in seams and in cracks, upon all the face of the land” (3 Nephi 8:18), and the “face of the whole earth became deformed, because of the tempests, and the thunderings, and the lightnings, and the quaking of the earth” (l Nephi 8:17).
    It is hard to imagine that all this destruction did not change the appearance and topography of the terrain as so many theorists claim, yet the descriptions of the disciple Nephi suggests the opposite.
    In should also be kept in mind that the terrain involves the vertical and horizontal dimensions of land surface. The Latin word terra (the root of terrain) means "earth." In physical geography, terrain is the lay of the land. This is usually expressed in terms of the elevation, slope, and orientation of terrain features.
    This is what was changed.

Valleys rose to become  mountains “whose height is great”

After all, when mountains tumble and become valleys, and valleys rise into mountains “whose height is great” (Helaman 14:23). In fact, Samuel the Lamanite makes it clear that the changes were definitely observable when he said, “many shall see greater things than these, to the intent that they might believe that these signs and these wonders should come to pass upon all the face of this land, to the intent that there should be no cause for unbelief among the children of men” (Helaman 14:28).
    This cause for no unbelief should suggest to all that the changes that this destruction brought about was significant enough that those observing it could not deny the Lord caused it.
    After all, cities sunk into the ground and were covered by mountains, others were sunk into the depths of the sea. This latter is an interesting term when describing what happened to a Nephite city when the term “depths of the sea” refers to the deep parts of the ocean—so how did a city on solid ground end up in the deep or deepest parts of the sea? This can only be understood when we consider that the Land of Promise alone the eastern shore, was breached by incoming water as earth was displaced, causing a vacuum that swept the water and all that was in it across the rising land and out into the ocean.
    The point is, what the disciple Nephi describes is not only possible, but likely given the circumstances and events described. To think that this destruction was limited to a mere cosmetic or minimal change in the terrain is hardly realistic. Consider once again that cities were swallowed by the earth and mountains rose where they had been. Does anyone seriously think that the terrain not only would be different, but highly noticeable when mountains tumble and become valleys and valleys rise up to become mountains “whose height is great”?