Posted on 05/17/2008 2:52:18 PM PDT by NYer
The world has endured an almost mind-numbing series of shocks in recent weeks, from the unprecedented swarm of tornadoes across the American Midwest to the death and destruction wrought by Cyclone Nargis as it tore a path through Myanmar, better known as Burma.
There were 368 documented tornadoes in the U.S. in January and February of this year, shattering the previous record of 243 over that two-month period, set in 1999. February's total of 232 tornadoes also shattered previous records.
Cyclone Nargis ripped Burma apart, killing at least 128,000, according to Red Cross estimates, and creating some 2.5 million refugees.
Al Gore was quick to blame global warming. In an interview on NPR to plug his appropriately named book on global warming, "Assault on Reason," he told host Terry Gross: "And as we're talking today, Terry, the death count in Myanmar from the cyclone that hit there yesterday has been rising from 15,000 to way on up there to much higher numbers now being speculated. . … And last year a catastrophic storm last fall hit Bangladesh. The year before, the strongest cyclone in more than 50 years hit China – and we're seeing consequences that scientists have long predicted might be associated with continued global warming."
Maybe. But Germany's Institute of Marine Scientists says we're in for a 10-year period of global cooling. There sure seems to be a lot of opposition to what is supposed to be "settled science."
Global warming can't explain away the devastating earthquake that all but flattened a huge portion of western China. The death toll from Monday's quake is approaching 20,000, with twice that number still listed as missing. According to the U.S. Geological Survey, Monday's earthquake was the 25th "significant" earthquake registered so far this year.
(Excerpt) Read more at worldnetdaily.com ...
When Jesus was asked by His disciples to tell them what "signs" would precede His return at the end of the age, He warned that "nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines, plagues and earthquakes in various places," He said (Matthew 24 and Luke 21). Using an analogy immediately understandable to all peoples in all nations, he said of these signs, "All these are the beginning of birth pains."Jesus used a Greek word for the labor pains of a woman about to give birth. Jesus knew that every generation could understand the illustration. His meaning is clear. Just as a woman experiences birth pains that increase in frequency and intensity just before giving birth, so ALL the signs of His return would increase in frequency and intensity just before His return. Hey, for he first time in history, all of the signs have appeared together in the same time frame and are increasing in frequency and intensity. That, coupled with the fulfillment of the great predicted sign that Israel became a nation again after 2,000 hopeless years of worldwide dispersion, indicates that Jesus Christ is already at the door ready to return. Are you ready?
Okay ... I'm having a little fun here. But I'll bet many people are thinking this. I don't take Hal Lindsey seriously but ... for all the Bible thumpers out there ... what say you?
I say Nostradamus predicted this as being signs of the end of the world.
Yeah. No one knows the hour. Not even Jesus. But we were instructed to be prepared and know the signs.
I kind of keep it in the back of my head.
Stuff happens. Usually in threes.
“There were 368 documented tornadoes in the U.S. in January and February of this year, shattering the previous record of 243 over that two-month period, set in 1999. February’s total of 232 tornadoes also shattered previous records.”
How many years did these records cover, out of the billions the world has existed?
“Cyclone Nargis ripped Burma apart, killing at least 128,000, according to Red Cross estimates, and creating some 2.5 million refugees.”
Natural tragedies will naturally kill more people as the world population climbs. You’l be chilled to know (though I wasn’t;) that the total world population recently passed 6,666,666,666. lol
“Global warming can’t explain away the devastating earthquake that all but flattened a huge portion of western China. The death toll from Monday’s quake is approaching 20,000, with twice that number still listed as missing. According to the U.S. Geological Survey, Monday’s earthquake was the 25th “significant” earthquake registered so far this year.”
Again, with the population in China, it’s not terribly surprising that a major earthquake killed a lot of people.
Considering God could simply wipe the planet out with a single asteroid strike, or making the Sun explode, the events you cite seem awfully weak evidence for anything.
I remember Hal Lindsey 40 yrs. ago yapping on this.
In the mean time has has made millions on his books etc.
Many folks are so into his type of thinking, one reason they (as so called conservatives)are voting for Obama
to fulfil the endtimes.
As a strong believer in Orthodox Judeo - Christian beliefs
spare me from the Lindsey, TV preacher types.
I’m thinking about climbing the 90’ pines around my house (yes, I know I live in a hurricane prone area) and waiting in the top branches to await the Rapture (like some group did in the late 1890s).
“The Great Disappointment was a major event in the history of the Millerite movement, a 19th century American Christian sect. William Miller, a Baptist preacher, prophesied that Jesus Christ would return to the earth during the Jewish year 1844. A more specific date, that of October 22, 1844 was calculated by Samuel S. Snow. Jesus did not appear as expected on the appointed day and as a result October 22, 1844 became known as the Great Disappointment.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Disappointment
“Miller was a prosperous farmer, a Baptist layman and amateur student of the Bible, living in northern New York, in the region of that state which has come to be known as the Burned-over district. Through a literal reading of the Bible—particularly the prophecies of Daniel and using the year-day method of prophetic interpretation, Miller became convinced that Christ’s Second Coming was revealed in Bible prophecy.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Millerites
Day by day, day by day, oh, dear Lord to you I pray,
Day by day...
The end times preoccupation I think is to compensate for the lack of sacraments and liturgy. Where we adore Christ, they must bludgeon people over the head with threats of hell, or flights of fancy (rapture).
"The most preposterous notion that H. Sapiens has ever dreamed up is that the Lord God of Creation, Shaper and Ruler of all the Universes, wants the saccharine adoration of His creatures, can be swayed by their prayers, and becomes petulant if He does not receive this flattery. Yet this absurd fantasy, without a shred of evidence to bolster it, pays all the expenses of the oldest, largest, and least productive industry in all history."
-- Lazarus Long, Time Enough for Love, Robert A. Heinlein
Sorry, Hal. Try again. ;)
I’m must waiting, with baited breath, for Pat Robertson to tell us for sure.
The pertinent question to ask regarding "Like in the Days of Noah" might be this:
Why did God determine that a flood was necessary in order to set things right? Why destroy all of creation?
Yeah. No one knows the hour. Not even Jesus. But we were instructed to be prepared and know the signs. 5 posted on May 17, 2008 4:02:59 PM MDT by Crazieman
There is only one Feast Day commanded by YHvH That is the Feast of Trumpets. No man know the day nor hour.
shalom b'SHEM Yah'shua HaMashiach Adonai
for which no man knows the day nor hour.
Because it requires the sighting of stars
and the crescent of the new moon in the evening in Jerusalem.
This year it will be evening of September 29.
As I said above, I put little credence in Hal Lindsey who made a good buck on his book The Late Great Planet Earth. Just to "pique" your interest, however, it is worth noting that back in the 1930's our Lord appeared to a Polish nun who had a limited education. He asked her to be the secretary for His Divine Mercy message. The red text are His words.
"Your task is to write down everything that I make known to you about My mercy, for the benefit of those who by reading these things will be comforted in their souls and will have the courage to approach Me." (1693)
The Divne Mercy message is one of great love. It is a message that our Lord wanted to renew in mankind and to St. Faustina, he gave this beautiful image to be venerated, along with a chaplet of prayers.
He also told her:
Write this: before I come as the just Judge, I am coming first as the King of Mercy. Before the day of justice arrives, there will be given to people a sign in the heavens of this sort: All light in the heavens will be extinguished, and there will be great darkness over the whole earth. Then the sign of the cross will be seen in the sky, and from the openings where the hands and the feet of the Saviour were nailed will come forth great lights which will light up the earth for a period of time. This will take place shortly before the last day. (83)
Here below is a compendium of the messages given to St. Faustina.
Sorry, I’m not a Bible thumper...I’m a bead rattler, and therefore not qualified to comment ! ;-)
Sounds like human nature to me...
The Divine Mercy is one of the most beautiful devotions around. I have the diary of St. Faustina.
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