The Bible and EARTHQUAKES! Is this a "SIGN" of the end approaching?

MSNBC News Services
Updated: 10:02 a.m. ET Dec. 26, 2004JAKARTA, Indonesia - The world’s most powerful earthquake in 40 years triggered massive tidal waves that slammed into villages and seaside resorts across Asia on Sunday, killing more than 7,000 people in six countries.

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Tourists, fishermen, homes and cars were swept away by walls of water up to 20 feet high that swept across the Bay of Bengal, unleashed by the 8.9-magnitude earthquake centered off the west coast of the Indonesian island of Sumatra.

Stunned Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra called the tsunamis unprecedented.

“Nothing like this has ever happened in our country before,” he said.

In Sri Lanka, 1,000 miles west of the epicenter, more than 3,000 people were killed, the country’s top police official said. At least 1,870 died in Indonesia, and 1,900 along the southern coasts of India. At least 198 were confirmed dead in Thailand, 42 in Malaysia and two in Bangladesh.

But officials expected the death toll to rise dramatically, with hundreds reported missing and all communications cut off to Sumatran towns closest to the epicenter. Hundreds of bodies were found on various beaches along India’s southern state of Tamil Nadu, and more were expected to be washed in by the sea, officials said.

In Vatican City, Pope John Paul II appealed for swift international help to those afflicted by the earthquake and subsequent tidal waves.

“The Christmas feast has been made sad by the news that reaches us from Southeast Asia,” he told a crowd in St. Peter’s Square for his Sunday blessing on the day after Christmas.

“We pray for the victims of this enormous tragedy and we assure our solidarity for those who are suffering, while we hope that the international community will get moving to bring help to the stricken populations,” the pope said.

The European Union has said it will send an initial $4 million in aid to the region, Reuters reported.

An 8.9 magnitude temblor
The U.S. Geological Survey measured the quake at a magnitude of 8.9. Geophysicist Julie Martinez said it was the world’s fifth largest since 1900 and the largest since a 9.2 quake hit Prince William Sound Alaska in 1964.

“The weather was fine with no clouds, there was no warning and suddenly the sea water just hit the city. In some parts the water was up to chest level,” Bustami, a resident of the Indonesian city of Lhokseumawe, told Reuters by telephone.

“People are panicking now. Some of us are walking by foot and others are on military trucks going to higher ground," Bustami said.

The effects of Sunday’s quake rippled across the region, as towns were crushed by floodwaters and fishermen were swept out to sea.

In Sri Lanka, the office of the prime minister said that more than 3,000 people were killed. Some 1 million others — 5 percent of the population — were displaced by the waters.

“The death toll is going up all the time,” said Lalith Weerathunga, secretary to the prime minister.

“The president has declared a state of national disaster due to the seriousness of the situation," President Chandrika Kumaratunga’s office said.

An Associated Press photographer near Colombo, Sri Lanka, counted 24 bodies in a stretch of four miles. Rows of men and women were standing on the road asking if anyone had seen their family members.

Beyond comprehension
In India, beaches were turned into virtual open-air mortuaries, with bodies of people caught in the tidal wave being washed ashore. The states of Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Pondicherry were hit hardest, officials and rescue workers said.

Residents of Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh states said 12-foot storm surges slammed into shore.

“I was shocked to see innumerable fishing boats flying on the shoulder of the waves, going back and forth into the sea, as if made of paper,” said P. Ramanamurthy, 40, who lives in Andhra Pradesh’s Kakinada town. “I had never imagined anything like this could happen.”

Cabinet Secretary B. K. Chaturvedi told reporters that the Indian air force would drop food packets, medicines and diesel generating sets in the affected areas.

In Indonesia, hospital and local officials said the death toll had reached at least 1,870.

Communications were down in several coastal towns facing the epicenter of the undersea quake off the western coast of the island’s Aceh Province, raising fears of widespread and as yet unreported damage on the island.

“We have never seen anything like this. The waves just kept coming. We have fled to high areas for safety,” Kibaret Sarumaha, a resident on Nias, told Metro TV.

Nearly 200 people died in popular southern Thailand resorts, officials said. The Narenthorn Center of the Public Health Ministry said people were swept away in Phuket by a tsunami with 16-foot waves. More than 1,900 were injured and many others were missing.

Waves reported to be up to 30 feet high crashed into beaches, where thousands of tourists were lazing on the country’s renowned white sand beaches when the earthquake struck. Hundreds of bungalows, boats and cars were carried out to sea.

Police and rescue workers in Malaysia said 42 people were killed. More than 1,000 homes across numerous fishing villages were destroyed as waves roared into the coastline, leaving hundreds of families homeless, disaster officials said.

Two-thirds of the Maldives capital, Male, was flooded and officials voiced anxiety for the fate of dozens of low-lying, palm-ringed coral atolls crowded with international tourists for the holiday season.

'Ring of Fire'
Indonesia, a country of 17,000 islands, is prone to seismic upheaval because of its location on the margins of tectonic plates that make up the so-called the “Ring of Fire” around the Pacific Ocean basin.

The Indonesian quake struck just three days after an 8.1 quake struck the ocean floor between Australia and Antarctica, causing buildings to shake hundreds of miles away but no serious damage or injury.

Quakes reaching a magnitude 8 are very rare. A quake registering magnitude 8 rocked Japan’s northern island of Hokkaido on Sept. 25, 2003, injuring nearly 600 people. An 8.4 magnitude tremor that stuck off the coast of Peru on June 23, 2001, killed 74.

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.


For anyone who may be doubting the authenticity of Bible prophecy.


Matthew 24:7

7 “For nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be food shortages and earthquakes in one place after another. 8 All these things are a beginning of pangs of distress.

9 “Then people will deliver you up to tribulation and will kill you, and you will be objects of hatred by all the nations on account of my name. 10 Then, also, many will be stumbled and will betray one another and will hate one another. 11 And many false prophets will arise and mislead many; 12 and because of the increasing of lawlessness the love of the greater number will cool off. 13 But he that has endured to the end is the one that will be saved. 14 And this good news of the kingdom will be preached in all the inhabited earth for a witness to all the nations; and then the end will come.

Mark 13:8-13

8 “For nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom, there will be earthquakes in one place after another, there will be food shortages. These are a beginning of pangs of distress.

9 “As for you, look out for yourselves; people will deliver you up to local courts, and you will be beaten in synagogues and be put on the stand before governors and kings for my sake, for a witness to them. 10 Also, in all the nations the good news has to be preached first. 11 But when they are leading you along to deliver you up, do not be anxious beforehand about what to speak; but whatever is given you in that hour, speak this, for you are not the ones speaking, but the holy spirit is. 12 Furthermore, brother will deliver brother over to death, and a father a child, and children will rise up against parents and have them put to death; 13 and you will be objects of hatred by all people on account of my name. But he that has endured to the end is the one that will be saved.



This is an old quote from an article I was researching:

In the Italian journal Il Piccolo, of October 8, 1978, Geo Malagoli observed:

“Our generation lives in a dangerous period of high seismic activity, as statistics show. In fact, during a period of 1,059 years (from 856 to 1914) reliable sources list only 24 major earthquakes causing 1,973,000 deaths. However, [in] recent disasters, we find that 1,600,000 persons have died in only 63 years, as a result of 43 earthquakes which occurred from 1915 to 1978. This dramatic increase further goes to emphasize another accepted fact—our generation is an unfortunate one in many ways.”


Any further thoughts???

jojofran said:

VoicesCarry said:

jojofran said:

In the Italian journal Il Piccolo, of October 8, 1978, Geo Malagoli observed:

“Our generation lives in a dangerous period of high seismic activity, as statistics show. In fact, during a period of 1,059 years (from 856 to 1914) reliable sources list only 24 major earthquakes causing 1,973,000 deaths. However, [in] recent disasters, we find that 1,600,000 persons have died in only 63 years, as a result of 43 earthquakes which occurred from 1915 to 1978. This dramatic increase further goes to emphasize another accepted fact—our generation is an unfortunate one in many ways.”

Like who, the Associated Press? Or maybe Reuters?

Record keeping was not really top notch for most of that time period. Comparing modern earthquake data to that is completely specious and pointless.

jojofran said:

VoicesCarry said:

Like who, the Associated Press? Or maybe Reuters?

Record keeping was not really top notch for most of that time period. Comparing modern earthquake data to that is completely specious and pointless.

Those are your only thoughts? Okay.

welcome 2 the dawn



The Electric Purple,
Prince

Seriously though, people, whatever you believe, this is a tragedy. 8,500 dead was the last figure I heard quoted.

Appaling.

bUcKaRoO said:

Seriously though, people, whatever you believe, this is a tragedy. 8,500 dead was the last figure I heard quoted.

Appaling.

...and have you seen what's going on in Israel during the last three months? The Sanhedrin is back together after almost 2000 years (in preparation for a new temple and the coming messiah), a marriage took place on the Temple Mount (the first in almost 2000 years), water is now pouring from the Temple Mount in preparation for a new priesthood, and they just had a water libations ceremony a couple days ago on the Temple Mount. And they once again marched around with the cornerstones to be laid for the third temple. Not to mention that Arafat is dead and Sharon says he's willing to make some big compromises for peace.

edit: for those who don't read your Bible, this means the end is very near
[Edited 12/26/04 10:40am]

Some people really need to get a grip on reality. This is just scaremongering.

So in your eyes your God wipes out thousands of innocent people just to signify "the end"?
Hmmm..how loving.

There's thousands dead and missing, and all you can do is speculate whether your God is trying to tell us that the end is near? That's just sickeningly thoughtless.

axlfilth said:

Some people really need to get a grip on reality. This is just scaremongering.

So in your eyes your God wipes out thousands of innocent people just to signify "the end"?
Hmmm..how loving.

There's thousands dead and missing, and all you can do is speculate whether your God is trying to tell us that the end is near? That's just sickeningly thoughtless.

axlfilth said:

Some people really need to get a grip on reality. This is just scaremongering.

So in your eyes your God wipes out thousands of innocent people just to signify "the end"?
Hmmm..how loving.

There's thousands dead and missing, and all you can do is speculate whether your God is trying to tell us that the end is near? That's just sickeningly thoughtless.

jojofran said:

axlfilth said:

Some people really need to get a grip on reality. This is just scaremongering.

So in your eyes your God wipes out thousands of innocent people just to signify "the end"?
Hmmm..how loving.

There's thousands dead and missing, and all you can do is speculate whether your God is trying to tell us that the end is near? That's just sickeningly thoughtless.

To be totally and unequivocally honest with you Axlfilth, I have said nothing at all. Let me clarify... I am only asking for the thoughts of those who are interested in the issue.

VoicesCarry said:

sosgemini said:

VoicesCarry said:

It could be a sign, I don't know. No one but God knows.

The end is nigh! Repent! Repent! Repent!

... ah fuck! Just spilled mah beer.

Shapeshifter said:

AsianBomb777 said:

AsianBomb777 said:

AsianBomb said:

1 Thessalonians 5:2 says that the Lord will come like a thief in the night. Matthew 24:36 says that "But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only." (KJV) Revelations says that before the end times, Israel would become a country again, so we've seen tons of predictions since 1948.

When I was a kid, someone put flyers in all the windshields in the church parking lot giving us "88 Reasons Why the Rapture Could Be in 1988." The next year, it was 89 reasons. I understand how people can see prophesy being fulfilled, but it's futile to try to put a date on the Rapture or Jesus' return.

bUcKaRoO said:

ehuffnsd said:

No.

"Think inside out."

bUcKaRoO said:

bUcKaRoO said:

AsianBoi777 said:

AsianBoi777 said:

ehuffnsd said:

bUcKaRoO said:

So many non-religious folk responding in a negative way? I really did think that folks would see a corolation to these versus. Maybe television and movies have deadened our senses to the point where we can no longer clearly identify catastrophy and anomally. Twenty-three thousand people have perished in one day and that is just the current figure. Actually people scoffing at the idea of Bible predictions and prophecy is nothing new. I know Jehovah didn't cause this event to happen but it reminds me of what I used to think regarding the account of Noah and the Flood, "How could all those people be so blind to his warning? How could SO MANY PEOPLE just not take "any" note? Even though God "did" cause the flood their was warning given. I don't know about any one else on this thread but I was mortified at the loss of life to the point of tears. Prayerfully, Jehovah will remember all people that have suffered and lost their lives in such tragic events. So many of the prophecies fortold by Jesus are happening in our day that it is beyond my comprehension why some people don't at least consider the notion of authenticity and corolation.