record-breaking disasters
TRANSCRIPT
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A new study found that people become more interested in
God when a natural disaster strikes. The study was
conducted just days after a powerful EF5 tornado ravaged
Moore, Oklahoma, on 20 May 2013. It has to take a natural
disaster to wake them up and make them sit up and think of
God. They dare not deny His existence. All agnostics (who
claim that people cannot know whether God exists or not),
atheists (who believe that God does not exist), freethinkers(who have their own opinions and beliefs), and others will
acknowledge His existence. As shown in Chapter 2, this will
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only happen in the Great Tribulation.
The Great Tribulation is an event that has no parallel,
that is, what occurs during the Great Tribulation is
unparalleled. For example, the whole earth will be shaken in
the Great Tribulation, and this event so far has never
happened in the past. It is discussed under the heading
“Shaking of the Earth” in this chapter.
Natural disasters have increased in number, frequency
and intensity in recent years. At the dawn of the New Year2013, disasters struck Australia. The states of Tasmania and
New South Wales faced one of the “highest-risk fire days in
its history” as wild fires spread out of control destroying
homes. Much of the country experienced a record-breaking
heatwave, and temperatures in the Tasmanian state capital
Hobart reached a record high of 41°C. And a news report
had this headline: “Sydney sizzles on HOTTEST day on
record! Mercury soars to 46.4°C in Australia as heat triggers
massive bushfires.” Another danger was looming ahead: a
cyclone was approaching Australia's north-west coast and
“intensified into a category four storm, the second-highest
level” with wind gusts reaching 250kph near the cyclone's
centre. The Bureau of Meteorology confirmed that “the three
summer months ending 28 Feb 2013 the hottest season ever
recorded.” The report said: "The Australian summer over
2012 and 2013 has been defined by extreme weather events
across much of the continent, including record-breaking heat,
severe bushfires, extreme rainfall and damaging flooding."
Australia was not the only country struck by disasters. Heavy
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snow fell in England causing chaos on roads, rail and
runways, grounding hundreds of flights and forcing
thousands of passengers to sleep on the floor at London's
Heathrow Airport overnight. Europe was also “hit by blizzards,
air traffic havoc, deaths.” “Temperatures drop to record low
as arctic blast sweeps Canada, US,” according to a news
report. Floods inundated the mega-city Jakarta of Indonesia
and caused many deaths. In the United States, a gigantic
storm “shattered homes and businesses around the Midwest
and South with tornadoes and high winds.” According to a
news report, arctic air swept through Canada and parts of
the United States and sent temperatures plunging to record
lows on Wednesday, 23 January 2013, with a wind chill of
minus 40°C. Public broadcaster CBC said Canada was the
coldest nation in the world at the start of the day with
temperatures as low as -43.1°C in the Northwest Territories.
All these disasters happened in the month of January
2013. Why did these disasters suddenly occur quite close to
each other? What do they signify? They are harbingers of
unparalleled disasters in the Great Tribulation and serve as
warning signs to the world that the Great Tribulation isapproaching.
On Friday, 15 February 2013, a rare event occurred. A
sizable meteor streaked across the sky and exploded over
Russia releasing shockwave with the power of an atomic
bomb. Buildings were damaged and glass windows were
shattered injuring more than a thousand people. Theshockwave was so powerful that it travelled twice around
the globe, scientists said.
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On the same day, an asteroid DA14 approached so close to
the Earth — the closest ever recorded in history — but
missed the planet by 17,200 miles (27,700 kilometres).
However, in that day, meteors and asteroids will strike the
Earth, causing the Earth to shake. A news report stated
that the asteroid Apophis, 1000 foot wide (304.8 m) could
smash into Earth in 2036. It brushed past the Earth at a
distance of 30,000km in January 2013. Scientists claim
“little chance of it hitting us, but scientists warn of 'tiny but
real' likelihood it may in 2036.’” The date could be brought
forward sooner than scientists think in the Great Tribulation
once the heavens are shaken, sending Asteroid Apophis to
strike the Earth and the impact is so great that the Earth
shakes. There will not be only one asteroid but many
others hitting the Earth during the Tribulation. Already
scientists discovered a massive 200-kilometre impact zone
in the Australian outback they believe was caused by an
asteroid which smashed into Earth,” according to a news
report in February 2013.
Earthquakes
The powerful Wenchuan earthquake that struck on 12 May
2008 was China’s worst quake in a decade, and it claimed
more than 60,000 lives. Almost 30,000 people remained
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missing and 300,000 others were injured. In the Great
Tribulation, millions of people will be killed and millions more
missing as they will have been swallowed up in the Great
Earthquake and their bodies cannot be recovered.
On 22 February 2011, New Zealand suffered its most
devastating earthquake in 80 years. It destroyed more than
100,000 homes, and the New Zealand prime minister said he
was “awe-struck” by the power of the earthquake and the
damage it had caused. In the Great Tribulation, people will
be not be awe-struck but terror-struck.
On 11 March 2011, a great Tohoku earthquake of
magnitude 9.0 in Japan was “so big its effects were even felt
at the edge of space,” according to a BBC news report. The
tremor sent sound waves through the atmosphere that were
picked up by a satellite. In the Great Tribulation, the tremors
of earthquakes can be heard around the world, strikingterror into the hearts of the people.
Over 110,000 people were killed in the Haitian
earthquake in January 2010, making it “the deadliest quake
on record in the Americas.” This Haitian quake was
considered as “the deadliest earthquake on record in the
Americas,” but the truly deadliest earthquake will occur inthe Great Tribulation and will break all records with a death
toll of millions, not hundreds of thousands, of people in
countries affected by this earthquake. Note what the
scripture say:
Revelation 16.18 And there were voices, and thunders,
and lightnings; and there was a great earthquake, suchas was not since men were upon the earth, so mighty
an earthquake, and so great.
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This earthquake is unparalleled: “such as was not since men
were upon the earth.”
Shaking of the Earth
A powerful earthquake struck Chile in March 2010 and
“probably shifted the Earth's axis by 8 cm and made days
slightly shorter,” a Nasa scientist said. It means the Earth
was shaken a bit but that shake pales into insignificance
when compared with the shaking of the whole Earth in the
Great Tribulation:
Hebrews 12.26 But now He [God] hath promised,
saying, Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but
also heaven.
Hebrews 12.27 And this word, Yet once more,
signifieth the removing of those things that are shaken,
as of things that are made, that those things whichcannot be shaken may remain.
The shaking of the Earth and the heavens is literal. The
Greek word for “shake” in Hebrews 12, verse 26, is seio
(Eng., "seismic," "seismograph," "seismology"), meaning "to
shake, move to and fro," usually of violent concussion, is said
of the earth as destined to be shaken by God.” (Vine’sExpository Dictionary of New Testament Words) God has
promised to shake the Earth — “all that was of the old
creation, all that was and is corrupt and rebellious,” . . . but
this will be introduced by judgments which will dissolve all
that man leans upon.”
When the whole Earth is shaken, what will happen to allthe infrastructures in every country? What will happen to all
the buildings, no matter how quake-proof they are, how
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shanty they are, how solidly built they are, how tall they are,
and how beautiful their architecture is? Most of all, when the
Earth shakes to and fro violently, what will happen to the
water in the seas, lakes, reservoirs and other large bodies of
water on land? It is just like swinging a basin of water
violently, and all the water in the basin is sent flying into the
air. Similarly, when the Earth is shaken, the seas, lakes, etc,
will also shake sending tonnes of water flying out of them far
and wide in every direction and hitting structures every
where around them. The impact of the water is so great (like
a super jumbo flying at high speed towards a tall building)
that it collapses buildings, bridges, flyovers, etc, and causes
floods. Many, many lives will be lost. The seas are shaken
triggering super tsunamis.
Haggai 2.6 For thus saith the LORD of hosts; Yet once,
it is a little while, and I will shake the heavens, and theearth, and the sea, and the dry land.
In March 2011, a powerful earthquake struck Japan so
much so it shifted the balance of the planet. “Japan’s
earthquake shifted balance of the planet. The devastating
earthquake and tsunami has actually moved the island closerto the United States and shifted the planet's axis,” said a
news report. The island has moved just very slightly but in
the Great Tribulation, mountains and islands will be moved
out of their places! The scriptures tell us so:
Revelation 6.14 And the heaven departed as a scroll
when it is rolled together; and every mountain andisland were moved out of their places.
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Revelation 16.20 And every island fled away, and the
mountains were not found.
The land shakes causing buildings to fall. Mountains skip,
and islands disappear into the seas. The heavens shake
causing the satellites and rocks to fall from outer space to
the earth. The ocean floors shake triggering super tsunamis.
People are terror-struck and die of heart attacks.
Super tsunamis
When the earthquake struck Japan in March 2011, the island
not only shifted towards the United States, it triggered a
giant tsunami that travelled as far as Thailand and India and
causing widespread destruction and loss of lives. A news
report mentioned: “The devastation is absolute, revealing
the utter force of the massive wall of water that struck
Japan's north-east Pacific coast on Friday, following a 9.0-magnitude earthquake − one of the biggest ever recorded.
Cars were thrown every where, crushed by the swirling
waves and then stuck incongruously into the few remaining
structures, or balanced on top of huge piles of wooden
debris that were once houses.” The tsunami was reported to
be 10-metre tall generated by a magnitude 9.0 earthquakethat struck off the coast of Northeast Japan and causing
massive devastation and thousands of deaths. This disaster
pales in comparison to the disasters that occur in the Great
Tribulation when tsunamis are much taller than 10 metres,
perhaps 30 to 50 metres tall, triggered by earthquakes of
magnitude much greater than 9.0, perhaps 18.0 and above.Nothing is impossible during the Great Tribulation. As stated
at the beginning of the chapter, all events are unparalleled.
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Luke 21.25 And there shall be signs in the sun, and in
the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress
of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves
roaring.
The “waves roaring” remind us of tsunamis that may strike
many coastal cities, archipelagos, and islands like Samoa
Islands, Baker Island, Canada’s Pacific islands, Vancouver
Island, Caroline Islands, Cook Islands, Fiji Islands, Hawaii
and its islands, French Polynesia, Society Islands, Galapagos
Islands, Solomon Islands, Japan and its islands, Philippines
and its islands, Malaysia and its islands, Sri Lanka, Indonesia,
Hong Kong, Singapore (a report said the island is not
immune from a tsunami), and many other islands, whether
big or small, in the world. People living on the thousands of
islands in the world are deceiving themselves if they think
tsunamis will never come to their islands just because theyhave never seen a tsunami hitting their countries. When the
whole Earth is shaken, all the body of water in the oceans
and seas will be sent flying far and wide in every direction,
racing like mad as the super tsunamis strike every coastal
city and island. Oh, believe it.
Most of the world’s populations are found in cities. Citiesare fascinating places to live and pass one’s time. They have
buildings with beautiful architecture, modern skyscrapers
zooming into the sky, infrastructures that power and sustain
the cities to make life comfortable and convenient: malls,
supermarkets, shops, cafes, bars, gaming centres, etc.
Entertainment centres, amusement parks, and suchlike offerpleasures galore — all will be destroyed in the earthquake.
Those who live in the cities perish in the earthquake. If they
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escape destruction the floods and storms will come and
finish them off.
Revelation 16.19 And the great city was divided into
three parts, and the cities of the nations fell: and great
Babylon came in remembrance before God, to give unto
her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of His wrath.
Shaking of the heavens
The heavens are beautiful to behold with a powerful
telescope but one can still see with a naked eye stars
twinkling in the dark blue canopy of the night sky. For too
long a time, men have taken the order in the heavens for
granted. They do not appreciate the beauty God had created
for them to see.
Psalm 19.1 The heavens declare the glory of God; and
the firmament showeth His handiwork.
But in the Great Tribulation, there will be no beauty but
chaos in the heavens.
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Matthew 24.29 Immediately after the tribulation of
those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon
shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from
heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken.
Mark 13.25 And the stars of heaven shall fall, and the
powers that are in heaven shall be shaken.
The shaking of the heavens causes celestial bodies, stars,
magnestars, rocks, asteroids, meteoroids, and other
extraterrestrial bodies to shake and go out of their courses.
The magnestars that are usually some 20,000 light years
away in our Milky Way galaxy are now sent nearer to the
Earth. They have a magnetic field thousands of millions of
times stronger than that of Earth and so powerful that it can
even tear atoms apart. The Earth’s own magnetic field is
overwhelmed by the magnestars that it could cause Earth to
spin upside down, North Pole becomes South Pole and SouthPole becomes North Pole. There will be catastrophic
consequences that words cannot describe. On 27 August
1998, a wave of radiation from a magnestar hit the upper
atmosphere of Earth, disrupting radio station transmissions
and causing two spacecraft orbiting Earth to stop for a while.
In the Tribulation, the consequences will be catastrophic.
Earth ‘flipping upside down’
A news report in October 2012 quoted scientists as saying:
“Earth's magnetic field is weakening and could all but
disappear in as little as 500 years as a precursor to flippingupside down.” The Earth’s magnetic field could disappear in
the Great Tribulation. According to one Earth scientist,
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“"Magnetic north has migrated more than 1,500 kilometres
over the past century.” In the Great Tribulation the magnetic
north could migrate many thousands of kilometres. Migratory
birds, bees, and ocean fish that use the magnetic field could
be greatly disoriented and confused. It would throw the
Earth into total disarray or turn it topsy-turvy. It could make
the Earth spin out of control — it is waiting to happen. Men
will die of heart attacks!
Luke 21.26 Men's hearts failing them for fear, and for
looking after those things which are coming on the
earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken.”
Global warming
Two research papers published in the journal Nature warned
that global warming could exceed safe levels in this lifetime.
The Earth is getting warmer and warmer. The sea levels arerising. There are more severe floods and droughts. But wait
till the Great Tribulation comes when the Earth is scorched
with fire:
Revelation 16.8 And the fourth angel poured out his
bowl upon the sun; and power was given to him to
scorch men with fire.Revelation 16.9 And men were scorched with great
heat, and blasphemed the Name of God, Who has
power over these plagues: and they repented not to
give Him glory.”
Men are such that if they do not repent today they will never
repent in the Great Tribulation. They just perish in the greatfire. Global warming is a good indicator that the Earth is
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heading for the baptism of fire. The Lord Jesus Christ is
coming. The Great Tribulation is coming!
The earth will not only experience baptism of fire, but
also baptism of water in some places. According to the
report released by the Organisation for Economic Co-
operation and Development (OECD) in December 2007, of,
“as many as 150 million people in the world's big coastal
cities are likely to be at risk from flooding by the 2070s, more
than three times as many as now. That 150 million would
increase manifold during the Great Tribulation.
World on the verge of a climate catastrophe
The United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki Moon has
warned that the world is on the verge of a climate
catastrophe. He gave the warning in his commentary in the
International Herald Tribune. He noted “recent accelerationin the melting of glaciers and polar ice, and pointed out that
the collapse of an at-risk Antarctic ice shelf could raise sea
levels by up to six metres, inundating costal cities New York,
Mumbai and Shanghai.” As Earth is becoming warmer,
climate zones may shift away from the equator and towards
the poles. This could result in “catastrophic floods anddroughts, rising sea levels and heat-wave deaths and
diseases.”
The climate change taking place in the world today is
the harbinger of the catastrophes — they are unparalleled —
that will strike the Earth in the Great Tribulation. It is coming!
Already “hurricanes, floods and other natural disastershit a growing number of people worldwide and are on the
increase due partly to global warming,” said the United
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Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction
(UN/ISDR) in September 2004. A recent report pointed out
that natural catastrophes in 2007 were more frequent and
costlier than a year earlier. It said there were 950 natural
catastrophes in 2007 compared with 850 in 2006, the highest
number since 1974. It is a warning sign of greater impending
catastrophes.
Storms
Superstorm Sandy struck north-eastern United States without
mercy in October 2012. It caused billions of dollars of
damage, US$42 billion in New York alone. It caused more
damage than the notorious Hurricane Katrina.
We have seen land storms, windstorms, ocean storms
but rarely solar storms. On 23 January 2012, the biggest
solar storm since 2005 pummelled the Earth and could havedisrupted some satellite communications. The radiation storm
was caused by a flare shooting out of the sun but did not
cause any damage to the Earth. The flare “sent off a very
fast coronal mass ejection travelling 6.4 million kmh,”
according to a report. It caused flights to be rerouted. It is a
warning sign to the world that there will be upheaval in theEarth’s atmosphere when it is hit by a super solar storm in
the Tribulation. Planes shall crash.
Floods
Read the following news headlines:
“Floods paralyse Philippine capital Manila. BBC News,7 August 2012.
“Floods in UK: More than 800 homes flooded as
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storms hit.” BBC News, 26 November 2012/
“Australia floods: Thousands evacuate NSW town.”
BBC News, 6 March 2012.
“Beijing chaos after record floods in Chinese capital.”
BBC News, 23 July 2012.
“Devastating India floods leave 95 dead, millions
Homeless." CNN, 4 July 2012.
What do these headlines tell us? The weather is getting
wetter. “2012 was the second wettest year on record in the
UK and the wettest ever in England,” said the UK Met Office.
It also suggested that “the UK may be getting increasingly
wetter.” A scientist at the Met Office said: “"The trend
towards more extreme rainfall events is one we are seeing
around the world, in countries such as India and China, and
now potentially here in the UK." In 2012, floods also hit the
United States, Malaysia, and other countries.There will definitely be floods occurring in the Great
Tribulation, but they will be more severe than those occurred
in 2012 but not to the extent of the Flood that covered the
whole earth in Noah’s time. God spoke to Noah and his sons
with him:
Genesis 9.11 “And I will establish My covenant withyou; neither shall all flesh be cut off any more by the
waters of a flood; neither shall there any more be a
flood to destroy the earth.
Genesis 9.12 And God said, This is the token of the
covenant which I make between Me and you and every
living creature that is with you, for perpetualgenerations:
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Genesis 9.13 I do set My bow [rainbow] in the cloud,
and it shall be for a token of a covenant between Me
and the earth.
Genesis 9.14 And it shall come to pass, when I bring a
cloud over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the
cloud:
Genesis 9.15 And I will remember My covenant, which
is between Me and you and every living creature of all
flesh; and the waters shall no more become a flood to
destroy all flesh.
Genesis 9.16 And the bow shall be in the cloud; and I
will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting
covenant between God and every living creature of all
flesh that is upon the earth.”
Catastrophes are more frequent
A British report published in March 2011 stated that “majordisasters like the Japanese earthquake and tsunami or
Pakistan's floods are likely to become more frequent, and
global governments must prepare for an uncertain future.”
There is no uncertain future in God’s plan as the whole earth
will be entering the Great Tribulation at the coming of the
Lord Jesus Christ. These natural disasters today areharbingers of unparalleled disasters and weather conditions
in the Great Tribulation. They will inflict maximum damage
and the greatest loss of lives that the world has ever known.
There are other phenomena waiting to occur.
Revelation 6.12 And I beheld when he had opened
the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake;and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the
moon became as blood;
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Isaiah 13.10 For the stars of heaven and the
constellations thereof shall not give their light: the sun
shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall
not cause her light to shine.
The disasters that have occurred in recent years are nothing
when compared with those in the Great Tribulation. They
serve as warnings to the people of the world of impending
doom. But people just take these disasters today in their
stride and think such occurrences are usual and they should
not worry about them. For those affected by disasters, it is
no laughing matter but cause for concern. Many have been
awakened to turn to God and the Lord Jesus Christ Who died
on the cross to save them. In the aftermath of the Haitian
earthquake, people started to flock to churches; many came
to Christ.
In Noah’s days, the people were warned of theimpending flood but the people just ignored the warning and
perished. And people today are like those people in Noah’s
days: they do not want to come to the Lord Jesus Christ to
be saved, and as they read the pages of this book, may the
Holy Spirit of God open their eyes to see their sins, and that
they are in great danger of perishing.With all these catastrophes and topsy-turvy in weather
conditions, living conditions, travel, business, work, e-
commerce, etc will be severely affected. There will be no
more carnivals, sambas, and festivities. People will be
mourning and feel frightened.
After writing this, a powerful tornado on 21 May 2013struck and pulverised an Oklahoma City suburb of Moore
with winds of up to 320kmh wiping out block after block of
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homes and affecting 33,000 people. 1,200 homes were
damaged or destroyed.
Photo: AFP
Central Europe was hit by floods after days of heavy rain.
The statue of world harmony leader Sri Chinmoy is partially
submerged in water from the rising Vltava river in Prague,
June 2, 2013. Photo: Reuters These disasters pale in comparison to those that occur in the
Great Tribulation.