Run for Your Life

God is about to destroy Southern California for its sinfulness. Driven by this conviction, nearly 600 members of half a dozen pentecostal churches in the Golden State are pulling up stakes and getting out before the holocaust.

The inspiration for the exodus comes from the Rev. Donald Abernathy of the Apostolic Gospel Church of Bell Gardens, a Los Angeles suburb. Last spring he had a series of visions that convinced him that the Los Angeles area would soon be torn apart by an earthquake. In his graphic revelations, Abernathy said, "buildings crumbled, freeways buckled, water gushed up from cracks in the ground and volcanoes erupted in the nearby mountains. Then the destruction moved north toward San Francisco." In two subsequent visions, Abernathy saw an airplane ticket stamped with the word "Atlanta." Taking this as divine direction, he led 180 members of his congregation on a migration to Atlanta last month. They traveled not by airplane, however, but in cars with trailers.

Before leaving California, Abernathy repeated his vision to several other pentecostal congregations. Most of them, too, have decided to move. Last month more than 100 members of a church in Avenal, 50 miles southwest of Fresno, emigrated to Kennett, Mo. A 50-member congregation in Porterville transferred to Independence, Mo. One hundred members of a church in Lompoc also trekked to Georgia. The Rev. Robert Theobold, pastor of the Friendly Bible Apostolic Church at Port Hueneme, plans to resettle his congregation of 90 men, women and children in Murfreesboro, Tenn. Theobold, who claims to have received mystical confirmation of Abernathy's vision, believes that the earthquakes "will leave Southern California like Sodom and Gomorrah before the end of 1970." Theobold says that his flock will leave before Oct. 12, "the deadline given me by God for departure."

While there are personal hardships involved, members of the emigrating churches are convinced that they are obeying God's will in leaving their homes and jobs. They also believe that Southern California has only itself to blame for the imminent disaster. Pastor Theobold despairingly cites "the amount of wickedness here: Hollywood, big business, prosperity, homosexuality, topless places." If the horrible event happens, seismologists will not be surprised. They have repeatedly warned that, because of the stresses along the San Andreas fault extending through the state, California is overdue for a disastrous earthquake.

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