Posted on 12/27/2004 6:08:33 AM PST by NYer
The largest earthquake in the past 40 years and the resulting deaths of thousands from 33-foot tidal waves are being compared by an American reporter to descriptions of disaster from Holy Scripture.
"The speed with which it all happened seemed like a scene from the Bible – a natural phenomenon unlike anything I had experienced before," said Washington Post reporter Michael Dobbs, who was swimming off a Sri Lankan island when the disaster struck this morning.
"As the waters rose at an incredible rate, I half expected to catch sight of Noah's Ark. Instead of the Ark, I grabbed hold of a wooden catamaran that the local people used as a fishing boat. My brother jumped on the boat, next to me. We bobbed up and down on the catamaran, as the water rushed past us into the village beyond the road."
Officials at the U.S. Geological Survey the 9.0 quake centered off the Indonesian island of Sumatra was the world's fifth-largest since 1900 and the biggest since a 9.2 temblor hit Prince William Sound Alaska in 1964.
The temblor sparked a tsunami, a series of giant walls of water which left more than 14,000 dead in six countries, with the death toll continuing to rise.
Dobbs gives a first-person account of the dramatic event in the Post:
Disaster struck with no warning out of a faultlessly clear blue sky. ... I was a quarter way around the island when I heard my brother shouting at me, "Come back! Come back! There's something strange happening with the sea." ...
In less than a minute, the water level had risen at least 15 feet – but the sea itself remained calm, barely a wave in sight. ...
After a few minutes, the water stopped rising, and I felt it was safe to swim to the shore. What I didn't realize was that the floodwaters would recede as dramatically as they had risen.
All of a sudden, I found myself being swept out to sea with startling speed. Although I am a fairly strong swimmer, I was unable to withstand the current. The fishing boats around me had been torn from their moorings and were furiously bobbing up and down.
For the first time, I felt afraid, powerless to prevent myself from being swept out to sea.
I swam in the direction of one of the loose catamarans, grabbed hold of the hull, and pulled myself to safety. My weight must have slowed the boat down and soon I was stranded on the sand.
As the water rushed out of the bay, I scrambled onto the main road. Screams and yells were coming from the houses behind the road, many of which were still half full of water, trapping the inhabitants inside. Villagers were walking dazed along the road, unable to comprehend what had taken place.
I was worried about my wife who had been on the beach at the time I went for my swim. I eventually found her walking along the road, dazed and happy to be alive. She had been trying to wade back to our island, when the water had carried her across the road and into someone's back yard. At one point she was underwater, struggling for breath. She finally grabbed onto a piece of rope and climbed into a tree, while the waters raged beneath her.
An Italian scientist says the earthquake was so strong, it even disturbed the rotation of the Earth.
"All the planet is vibrating," Enzo Boschi, head of Italy's National Geophysics Institute said on SKY TG24 TV.
The U.S. State Department says at least three Americans are confirmed dead, two in Sri Lanka and one in Thailand.
A written statement from the White House says "the President expresses his sincere condolences for the terrible loss of life and suffering caused by the earthquake and subsequent tsunamis in the region of the Bay of Bengal.
"The United States stands ready to offer all appropriate assistance to those nations most affected including Sri Lanka, the Maldives, Thailand, and Indonesia, as well as the other countries impacted. Already relief is flowing to Sri Lanka and the Maldives. We will work with the affected governments, the United Nations, non-governmental organizations, and other concerned states and organizations to support the relief and response to this terrible tragedy."
Relief agencies say the full scale of the disaster is impossible to assess, since communications have been cut to remote areas.
Yes, see 178
The earthquake must have shook the hell out of the bellfre. I have never seen so many dingbats.
"Recent findings by a scientist confirm that the sun will flare as it interacts with a COSMIC DUST CLOUD - so as the Earth enters into the DUST CLOUD and the skies begin to darken, of course the temperature on Earth begins to drop - rather rapidly. But as the dust cloud gets thicker, almost making the Sun vanish from Earth sight, it flares as a result of the accumulated dust, and therfore GREAT HEAT FOLLOWS THE COLD. It sounds almost impossible, but when you connect all of the dots, you find out just how serious this thing is - for it spells the end of our global civilization. The information comes from both the ancients and modern cosmology. The Bible confirms that SPACE DUST IS INVOLVED IN THE DAY OF THE LORD. It is a day of DARKNESS, in which the Sun does not give its light, and the moon and stars do not shine. Then suddenly, the REVERSE becomes true, as the Sun FLARES.
To verify that this is indeed a SOLAR FLARE, the moon also will increase its reflective luminosity by seven times. This condition is, to say the very least, A CATASTROPHIC ANOMALY which has the gravest of consequences for mankind on earth. The comment, "His tongue is a devouring fire", indicates, along with a vast amount of other prophecy, that the earth temperature rises to unbearable levels. In fact, such a NOVA CONDITION would kill every living thing upon earth. unless other conditions occurred that prevented it. Jesus Christ makes several comments about it in the book of Revelation. But let's lay the groundwork first:
Luke 21:25-26 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; [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.
First, there SHALL BE SIGNS IN THE SUN...."
PING
"Yes, we may need to adjust the clocks or, if we've slowed or speed up, ALL the clocks would just be obsolete because it wouldn' be the same rate of speed at all. Think how much warmer our summers would be if we had a few more minutes of sunshine. We would shoot up five or six degrees and that would fry some of our crops. Also, our winters would be more cold."
In a related story, I remember back in the late 1960s/early '70s when Michigan finally went on Daylight Savings Time, a lady wrote a letter to the Detroit News complaining that the extra hour of daylight would burn her lawn.
The best think anyone could do would be to pray the Rosary and demand that the Holy Father in Rome along with the Bishops of the world consecrate Russia as The Blessed Virgin Mary requested at Fatima, in the manner that was requested and without delay.
What have we got to lose? Why hasn't it been done yet?
Has anyone started a thread for relief organization donations?
I wonder if the headline should have been:
WASHINGTON POST REPORTER GETS RIGHT WITH JESUS
Did the South American earthquake, in the 20th century, which registered 9.5 also change the earth's rotation? Maybe, this earthquake changed the rotation back to the original. Every nut bag "scientist" will jump in with a prediction regarding the earth's problem!!!
I've got my blessed beeswax candle as well as a blessed package of matches. I had them in the basket last Easter at the Blessing of the Baskets on Easter Saturday.
>> My only reservation would be if any of the material came from the "Bayside Prophecies" -- Veronica Leuken.<<
As I remember, the first time the "Three Days of Darkness" was brought up, it was Padre Pio.
Don't think so, but that is a great idea!
How about it FReepers?
>>I am guilty of one major thing on that list...I tend to pray for the end to wait, because I want to see my kids grow up and have children...and be happy...and not have to experience any more hell than they already have!<<
The one thing that gave me great comfort in reading about the three days of darkness is that my girls will be taken first.
Better they are happy in heaven! I think that God will make them so comforted that they won't even know I am not there yet.
>>Why do you people always blame it on Bush?<<
Please understand that people who say this are kidding because the left blames everything on him.
It has been used so often that no one gives it a sarcasm tag anymore.
>>I've got my blessed beeswax candle as well as a blessed package of matches. I had them in the basket last Easter at the Blessing of the Baskets on Easter Saturday.<<
I wish I would have done that. And some salt.
Does anyone know if the candles sold on Candlemas are actually beeswax? I have two from last year but it doesn't state it on the box. I researched and candles only have to be 51%, but I can't find what mine are. Is there some sort of guideline they use for the blessed candled sold in the church on Candlemas?
Perhaps Admin Moderator would like to start one "official" thread for links to honest relief organizations to help out?
GET HIS BANK'S ID AND ROUTING NUMBER AND HIS ACCOUNT NUMBER FOR SENDING AN EFT--Electronic Funds Transfer direct from your bank account.
Usually cheaper than a Western Union wire.
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