The earthquake that struck the Northeastern U.S. occurred concurrently with a television special broadcast by leading Christian Evangelist Pat Robertson called the ‘Sign of the Times’ on his ‘700 Club” program.

Robertson, a native of Virginia, the epicenter of the quake, has long associated natural disasters with the ‘end of times’ and prophecies in the Bible.

During the show on Wednesday morning (prior to the quake which hit just before 2 p.m.), Robertson asked Are we in the last days?

After the earthquake rattled the east coast, Robertson warned: The earth moved, and then it moved all over this part of the country.

Robertson explained on his show that earthquakes represent one of the birth pangs that Jesus Christ refers to in Matthew 24 when his disciples ask about what will precede his second coming.

It was the size of the quake that most confounded experts.

Indeed, Don Blakeman, a geophysicist with the National Earthquake Information Center (NEIC), told The Christian Post newspaper that the strength of Tuesday’s quake unusual.

Virginia has a fair number of quakes ... but they are typically small,” he said. “[Virginia] does have a number of them every year, but it is pretty unusual to have one of this size. We should expect some aftershocks, because when you have a good size quake like this then it’s pretty typical to have some aftershocks. It's possible to have some fairly large ones, but most of them will be [in the 3.0 range].

Earthquakes are also associated with the general deterioration of civil society – all pre-conditions for the return of Christ on earth.

Robertson was widely criticized for saying that the 2010 earthquake that devastated Haiti was punishment for the slaves making a deal with the Devil during a 1791 rebellion in exchange for independence from France.

At the time, Robertson said: “Ever since they have been cursed by one thing after the other, desperately poor.”

He also noted that Haiti is significantly poorer than its neighbor Dominican Republic, both of which occupy the same island.

Robertson has also blamed the 9-11 terrorist attacks and Hurricane Katrina on, among other things, the US practicing abortion and permitting homosexuality.

However, this time Robertson backed off from making similar remarks about the Virginia quake.

I can't claim any kind of particular revelation, Robertson he told viewers.

Disasters Abortion Earthquake Abortion