Earthquakes Since 1990   
The Poem, I Haven’t Time to Pray  Prayer, In Times of Disaster

Hosea 6:1-3 responsive

Come, and let us return unto Yahweh: for he hath torn, and he will heal us; he hath smitten, and he will bind us up. 

After two days will he revive us: in the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight. 
Then shall we know, if we follow on to know Yahweh: his going forth is prepared as the morning;

And he shall come unto us as the rain, as the latter and former rain unto the earth. 

 Prayer from Psalms 23:

Yahweh, shepherd me and I’ll not be needy.  Lay me down in green pastures; lead me along calm waters.  Restore my life.  For the sake of your name, O Yah, show me righteous pathways.  I won’t fear evil as I walk through valleys of deep darkness, for you’re with me, comforting me with rod and staff.  In the presence of my enemies, prepare a table of reconciliation.  Anoint my head with oil; my vessel overflows.  May goodness and kindness follow the days of my life as I dwell within your home, O Yahweh, as long as I live, even forever.  Amen.

 

Revelation 6:9-17 9 And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those that had been slain because of the word of Yahweh and because of the testimony that they held. 10 And they cried with a loud voice, saying: How long, O Sovereign holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth? 11 And there was given to them a white robe, and it was said to them that they should rest yet a while, till the number of their fellow servants and their brethren that should be killed as they had been should be fulfilled. 12 And I saw when he had opened the sixth seal, and there was a great earthquake, and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the whole of the moon became as blood, 13 and the stars of heaven fell to the earth, as a fig tree casting her untimely figs when shaken by a mighty wind, 14 and the heaven departed as a scroll rolled together, and every mountain and island were moved out of their places. 15 And the kings of the earth and the great men and the officers and the rich and the mighty and every servant and free man hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains, 16 and said to the mountains and rocks: Fall upon us and conceal us from the face of him that sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb. 17 for the great day of his wrath has come, and who is able to stand? (New Testament translated from the Codex Sinaiticus by H. T. Anderson edited by J. Snyder.)

Luke 11:l-4 And it came to pass as he was in a certain place praying, when he had ceased, some one of his disciples said to him: Master, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples. And he said to them: Whenever you pray, say: Father, thy name be hallowed: thy kingdom come: give us day by day our needful bread; and forgive us our sins, for we also forgive every one indebted to us; and lead us not into temptation. (New Testament translated from the Codex Sinaiticus by H. T. Anderson edited by J. Snyder.)

 

 

New Year

   Happy new year!  Who thought we’d live to see it?  I hope we’ve all taken time to count the blessings of 2004 and to look forward to fulfilling our resolutions for 2005.  (Share resolutions?  Predictions?) 

   Each new year I remember making a wager with the preacher’s wife in 1968.  She bet there’d be a man on the moon within the next year.  I said the idea was ridiculous –no one would walk on the moon ‘til after 2000, thirty-one years later. 

   Of course, I lost when our fellow Ohioan Neil Armstrong took off for the moon as part of the Apollo 11 mission, and stepped into the gray dust of the Sea of Tranquility on July 20^th, 1969 – less than eight months after the bet was made!  My prediction was thirty years off.  Since then, humans have accomplishments dwarfing that “one giant leap for mankind.”  In our day (as never before), “many run to and fro, and knowledge is increased” (Daniel 12:4).  Is there anything, anything, anything a man can’t do in our day of heroic achievement? 

   Now undoing – undoing’s a different story.  In the seeing generation, man’s also made some mammoth mistakes, colossal miscalculations, and committed unconscionable omissions.  Man has committed vast resources to worthless endeavors – the same resources that might’ve been put to good use had he more compassion, foresight, patience, insight, relational skills or “humanity.” 

 

Tectonic Shift

   Just before new year’s eve 2004, in the aftermath of the hubbub we call Christmas, one of the tectonic plates covering the earth’s surface beneath the Indian ocean broke free of its moorings, and with springboard-like momentum, caused an awesome earthquake measuring over 10 on the Richter scale.  Now that’s really awesome – with consequences that’ll last centuries.  This disaster is far too magnificent to comprehend intellectually.  We simply can’t get our minds around the enormity of it.  A trillion tons of TNT couldn’t reproduce such a tremor. 

   The earthquake moved landmasses significant distances – it pushed some islands over a hundred feet from where they’d been situated for a thousand years.  Other islands just disappeared into the ocean, along with their inhabitants.  A gargantuan tidal wave followed the quake which, when it hit land, was as high as an eight story building (by some reports), moving to at over five hundred miles per hour.   Can you imagine that?  No you can’t.

 

The Sixth Seal

   The earthquake and its super-waves spawned deadly hurricanes (or tsunamis) that came to land in many far east nations causing historic destruction and loss of life.  The result may be the worst single disaster in recorded history.  So far, authorities have confirmed over 150,000 deaths, admitting that this count may be only the tip of the iceberg.  There may be ten times as many casualties.  It’s as though we’ve scaled Prophecy Mountain to watch the smashing of one of Revelation’s great Seals.  John wrote,

Revelation 6:12-14  I saw when [the angel] had opened the sixth seal, and there was a great earthquake, and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the whole of the moon became as blood, and the stars of heaven fell to the earth, as a fig tree casting her untimely figs when shaken by a mighty wind, and the heaven departed as a scroll rolled together, and every mountain and island were moved out of their places. (New Testament translated from the Codex Sinaiticus by H. T. Anderson edited by J. Snyder.)

   There’ve already arisen a bunch of theories about what caused these “mountains and islands to be moved out of their places,” and that such a loss of life might’ve been avoided.  Some scientists predicted the tectonic shift and reported it to government officials.  But the predictions fell on deaf ears.  What was more important to the bureaucratic beast was for the tourist season not to be disrupted, with its gracious flow of hard currency into the coffers of merchants and tax collectors.  Loss of life might’ve been greatly reduced had someone in authority acted when the signs were clearly interpreted.  Don't be surprised if governments are overthrown in scandals of unpreparedness.  No doubt already,

Revelation 6:15-17 … kings of the earth, great men, the officers, the rich and mighty, even every enslave and free man will hide themselves in the caves, saying to the rocks: Fall and hide us …

There’s no excuse for no warning.  Anger will certainly take the place of grief.  Rage will replace anger.

 

An Act of God?

   Just about everybody put the great earthquake in the eclectic category of “acts of god.”

   But a curious article came out in the India Daily News that almost lays the blame elsewhere.  The article speculates (and I quote),

Was this an earthquake creation experiment that ran out of control?  Many [technologically advanced] countries are working on methods of creating massive earthquakes as means to defeat the enemy. Many all around the world are puzzled with the fact that Tsunamis never happen in South Asia. Also perplexing is the fact that Tsunamis traveled 1000 miles at a speed of 500 miles an hour and smashed the coastal lines of South and South east Asia where Tsunamis do not happen.  Another astonishing feature of this earthquake and Tsunami is the amount by which the Kar Nicobar Islands have displaced. The level of devastation simulates 10 or higher Richter scale earthquake.

   There are technologies on the research table that are used to create electromagnetic effects to release the gravitational effects which can cause this kind of massive earth movements.  We know many [countries] including India are working on anti-gravity lifters and devices.  Was this a showdown by a country to show the region what havoc can be created?  Was this an experiment that ran out of control?  (See the subsequent article for a shocker.)

   Imagine it coming out that this tidal wave was caused by a military test!  Both India and Pakistan have used the Indian Ocean to test their primitive nuclear weapons.  Would we be surprised if this turned out to be a military exercise gone awry?  No.  But it’d probably remain a mystery.  We might never know.

 

Persecution of the Saints

   Considering the political and religious tensions in the far east, the ongoing micro-wars, militant Muslims and Hindus constantly on the warpath against Christians, some place the earthquake neatly into the realm of “prophecy fulfilled!”  Two of the hardest hit nations, Sri Lanka and Sumatra, have been engaged in persecuting Christians for over two decades.  Note that the sixth seal is broken and the great earthquake event are brought on in by the cries of persecuted believers:

Revelation 6:9-11 I saw under the altar the souls of those that had been slain because of the word of Yahweh and because of the testimony that they held.  And they cried with a loud voice, saying: How long, O Sovereign holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?  (New Testament translated from the Codex Sinaiticus by H. T. Anderson edited by J. Snyder.)

   Exactly one year to the day before the plate shift in the Indian Ocean – on December 26^th, 2003 – was the great earthquake in Bam, Iran – which destroyed 90% of that city and killed over 26,000 people, leaving 5,000 orphans.  Iran, as you know, is a member of the “Axis of Evil.”  Are these earthquakes – exactly a year apart – a coincidence?

   Maybe you remember the Izmit quake and its hurricanes in Turkey, August 17, 1999, and a second killer quake in Duzce, Turkey November 12^th of that same year.  Those quakes reached eight on the Richter scale and they’re still digging out five years later.  The Turkey quakes are significant in Bible prophecy because the “Seven Churches of the Apocalypse” are located nearby the 1999 quakes’ epicenters.  At that time, I thought the Izmit quake might be the breaking of the sixth seal (see the research at 1 and 2).

   Didn’t Yahshua’s disciples ask him to identify the signs of his coming?  Yes – and he replied:

Luke 21:9-11,20 When you hear of wars and tumults, be not alarmed; for these things must take place first, but not immediately the end.  Nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: great earthquakes also shall there be, and famines and pestilences, fearful sights also, and great signs from heaven. (New Testament translated from the Codex Sinaiticus by H. T. Anderson edited by J. Snyder.)

Indeed, great signs are seen; but don’t be alarmed!  Your redemption is near!  While you await your redemption….

 

Hard-hearted Christians

  Don’t be like the hard-hearted crowd.  I’ve already heard from them.  They say, We’ll do nothing, for this Tsunami is a sign.  G-d is judging sin and sinners; we will stay out of his way of G-d. 

   Yet I tell you, whether G-d’s judging or not isn’t the point.  The true worshiper may never simply stand atop the pinnacle of holiness and peer down upon the handiwork of disaster – allowing nature to be nature or someone’s G-d to be our G-d.  No.  In the face of world crisis, our heavenly assignment remains: we have a perpetual responsibility to compassion and an eternal obligation to mission. 

   Whatever power was behind the Indian ocean maelstroms of devastation – leaving families all over the globe broken by death – superimposing a pale of fear on the whole world – we still know for a fact that the Savior of the World cares.  He has an all-encompassing compassion for each person who calls out to him – and he’ s always deeply involved in the affairs of the suffering, no matter the culture or religion.  If he has torn, in two days he will bind up and in three, raise up (Hosea 6:1-3).  If he cares to bind up and raise the dead, we must likewise care.  Do you care?

   Even if we’re incapable of the pity required of us, we still have access to his bottomless well from which to draw living water of Christian compassion.  Even if we haven’t the means to go forth on a mission – to step foot on foreign soil – to lay hands upon a foreign people –we still have unlimited spiritual resources from which to choose our tools for a foray into the valley of spiritual mission.  Even if global disaster hasn’t affected us personally or made us empathetic or even sympathetic, our bounden duty still remains.  Our loving Savior may be relied upon to present us with the necessary feelings and the essential resources for the mission, if we’ll but take the time to soberly ask. 

   “Duty,” you might remember, begins with “do” just as “calling” begins with “call.”  We mustn’t forget that WE CAN DO OUR DUTY AND FULFILL OUR CALLING because our Father in Heaven is entirely SOVEREIGN; exercising supreme, permanent authority over the entire earth – including those nations so bitterly wounded.  “Hallowed by thy name, O Yahweh!”

 

Thy Kingdom Come

   Hallowed be thy name.  If I were saying the Lord’s Prayer, can you predict the next line?  What’s the line after “Hallowed be thy name”?

“THY KINGDOM COME”

Exactly.  The reign of Yahweh comes to earth in fullness.  As to the disaster we’ve been espying from atop the mountain, well out of harm’s way, one or two sentences ought to be sufficient to get an idea of what the coming Kingdom should look like to those millions who’ve been touched by this present darkness –

Revelation 21:4,5.  for Yahweh shall wipe away tears from their eyes; there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, nor any more pain: for the former things are passed away.  He that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new.

That’s a beautiful idea –

No more pains: Yahweh reigns.

Death is past: Peace at last.
 All things new right on queue.

   So if we’re bound to undo the curse of sin and bring about the Kingdom-style life, what can we do now that’ll actually benefit those touched by tragedy?  Might we pack up the Byrnevillettes, charter a plane for Bangkok and do some hymn singing?  How about that?  Shall we take up a collection and send it along.  Sure, that would help, but an offering in this case might only ease our consciences, allowing us to say to ourselves – what a good boy am I!   I gave five dollars to bring the Kingdom to Sri Lanka!  An offering isn’t personal enough.

 

Take Time to Pray

   I’ve got one more idea.  The disciples asked Yahshua to teach them to pray.  Why?  Because they saw first-hand what a man of prayer he was, and they saw how affective his prayer was in sowing seeds to needs. 

   Man, woman – You need to learn to pray.  Prayer is your greatest power because you have such influence for good with the Almighty One.  Unfortunately, many of us frozen chosen simply won’t give the Almighty Yahweh the time of day . . .

 

Early up each morning, I rush on into my day.
So much to accomplish; I just haven’t time to pray.
I know all the desperate needs; But I must stay on task.
Can’t Yah care for desperate needs? I haven’t time to ask!
I know this old world is wasting, and the future’s bleak.
Can’t Yah take his time to pray? I haven’t time to seek.
Someone’s calling on the phone, then I must check my stock,
‘Tween the postman and my shows, I haven’t time to knock.
Asking, seeking, knocking, praying – that would take all day;
Now you see when you’re like me you haven’t time to pray.
-Snyder

 

   My friend, TAKE TIME TO PRAY.  Prayer is the means by which you can make your mark in the world for good and for Yahweh.  It doesn’t cost a cent; it’s easy to learn and it’ll eventually build you up and raise you up. 

   You watch the news, right?  You see pitiful situations on the news every day.  Why?  Because you’re supposed to do something about these situations.  You’re supposed to pray.   Pay attention!  Write down a couple of the destroyed people you see on the news, then take your little paper into a quiet place and spend half an hour every day praying about what you learned.  Just a half hour a day – you’d only miss one episode of The Flintstones or one appearance of Jan Crouch on TV.  That’s all.  You’ll make a far greater difference if you’ll just pray for a half hour a day. 

   Start your pray like this –

“Father Yahweh, I come to you in the name of Yahshua.  May your Kingdom come and your will be done in each of these situations I’ve learned about on the news.”

Go on from there.  If that’s all you know about praying, get a prayer book or take a hymnal.  Start out as I said, then READ some prayers out of the book if you need to.  If you’ll make a practice of this, you’ll cause a tectonic prayer shift in the balance of the universe.  Many will find the Kingdom, even in the very midst of their personal disaster.  And Jesus’ face will shine upon YOU and give YOU peace as well.

 

An exercise:

   Let’s try it right now.  Here are a few things I’ve written down from the news:

1.

2.

3.

 

And here’s a prayer out of a book to start off:

O Yah, you divided the waters.  In the Anointed Jesus, you stilled the storms, raised the dead and vanquished demonic powers.  Now, tame the earthquake, wind and fire – tame all the forces that defy control or shock us with their fury.  Keep us from always calling disaster your justice.  Help us in good times and in distress, to trust your mercy and yield to your power, this day and forever.  (Andy Langford, UM Book of Worship 509)

 

Then here’s our prayer to get into the news list:

Father Yahweh, I come to you in the name of Yahshua.  May your Kingdom come and your will be done in each of these situations I’ve learned about on the news.

 

Many Governments knew but did nothing to evacuate coastal areas
– global conspiracy, UFO threats or concerted failure?

Sudhir Chadda, Special Correspondent, India Daily

January 03, 2005

Now it is slowly coming out that almost all the Governments affected by the Tsunami knew about the earthquake and possible Tsunami hours before their countries were hit. by the killer tidal waves. The only local Government that did not have a chance to react or evacuate was in Sumatra and Andaman Nicobar islands.

Based on the analysis of the time sequence in which these Governments received information and failed or decided not to act is alarming. In Sri Lanka, India, Maldives and Thailand rumors in the main street are rampant that their respective Governments were told not to act by someone or some entity.

Indian Military for example clearly got the information two hours before the Tsunami hit the India’s mainland. An Indian Air Force base was wiped out in Andaman Nicobar island near Sumatra close to the epicenter if the earthquake two hours before the Tsunami hit the mainland India. When Indian Military tried to inform the Government, the Government did nothing as if they did not hear.

Same story is being repeated in Thailand, Sri Lanka and Maldives. How can all the countries decide to let Tsunami come and not evacuate a single human being?

Some are concluding that the Governments knew of some experiments by some country, agency or entities. They were clearly told not to react because it was in a controlled environment. Or, they may have just asked to keep quiet.

Recent alien contacts have been reported with the South Asian Governments especially India. UFO sightings have been rampant over the region affected. Some in Nicobar Island say that it was an experiment conducted by the alien extra-terrestrial entities to correct the wobbly rotation of the earth. And some of the Indian scientists are actually seeing that wobbly rotation of the earth has been corrected since the massive underwater earthquake and Tsunami.

In Indian capital of New Delhi, faxes were being sent to wrong fax numbers so that nothing much is done even though the Government clearly knew about the coming Tsunami. People have started asking the question – was this utter failure or global conspiracy to accommodate some entity or interest or was this for the good of the earth?

If this was an utter failure, how do you justify that all six Governments failed separately in their own domain one by one.

According to some extraterrestrial UFO observers, the UFO sightings before the earthquake and Tsunami were very unusual in that part of the world. They claim the world’s Governments were told not to act for some reason.

The most amazing thing is that United States Geological Survey and Ocean Monitoring agencies came to know about the Tsunami and earthquake but decided not to do anything. Well it seems the whole world decided to fail to do anything together at the same time. Are we missing something?

Can it be that all the Government Agencies knew what was happening but were told not to do anything? Who told them? Or is this just a tragic coincidence?

In Thailand some in the Government said, they decided not to act because that will just scare people. Really? Are we not supposed to get scared of scary things?

 

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