Thursday, January 13, 2005

IS THE END NEAR?

Does the Dec. 26 tsunami mean this is the End of the World? The whole planet is said to have “vibrated” on its axis, changing the geography of South Asia permanently. Sumatra, one of the largest islands in the world, moved 100 feet. Time is said to have stood still for three microseconds. The impact of the 500 mph waves was like one million atom bombs.


Put that together with what happened on Dec. 26 the year before, in Iran – another deadly earthquake, taking 25,000 lives, in “Bam City,” of all places – and you can see how some people believe there’s an “intensification of the birth pangs” leading to the Great Tribulation, Armageddon and the return of Jesus Christ.

Then read earthquake talk in Matthew 24:7, Luke 21:11, 25, and tsunami-sounding passages in the “little apocalypse” of Isaiah 24. The Lord turns the world upside down in v. 1 and, like we’ve seen on TV lately: “. . . and the foundations of the earth do shake; The earth is utterly broken down, the earth is clean dissolved, the earth is moved exceedingly. The earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard, and shall be removed like a cottage.” (vv. 18b-20)

These phenomena are predicted to bring “perplexity” (Luke 21:25) to all who see them. So, I was, like, buying all this, especially since the Huskers had such a terrible football season. That brought “perplexity” and turned OUR world upside down, all right.

But then, researching the recent tsunami, I came upon several other earthquakes that were much more severe and happened long ago:

Earthquake, Jan. 23, 1556, Shaanxi and Kansu, China . . . killed 850,000.

Earthquake, April 4, 1905, Kangora, India . . . killed 370,000.

Earthquake, July 28, 1976, Tangshan, China . . . killed 400,000.

Ohhhhhh. Nevvvvvver mind.

I’ll still be wearing a helmet next Dec. 26, though. How ‘bout you?

One last piece of evidence sealed my conclusion that it’s not yet The End: I heard about a little boy who was riding in a car on the way home from church and tried to squeak out the Hallelujah Chorus . . . on his ARMPIT.

That is . . . earthshaking . . . evidence that God isn’t through with us yet. He has a whooooooole lot more work left to do before we’re fit for halos and harps.
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Praise report: Thank You, Father, that my friend’s son David did NOT have a brain tumor or something terribly wrong with his vascular system. They were in the emergency room after the teenager suffered a severe headache and dizziness. He couldn’t even walk. Diagnosis: a really bad sinus infection. Whew! (Hebrews 10:35)

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