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.
Those six events are: 1) A conquering; 2) A war; 3) A complex event in the market for wheat and barley; 4) Complex events in a quarter of the earth; 5) Persecution and death of Christians; and 6) "a great earthquake" in which "every mountain and island were moved out of their places".
The wheat and barley event is most significant--a prophecy that wheat will trade at three times the price of barley and that Oil and Wine will not be hurt. (Rev 6:6) Wheat has traded at three times the price of barley one time during the Church Age--May 1996; at which time the 200% penalty tax on oil and wine which was suspended and never collected, was ultimately terminated, assuring that the oil and wine would not be hurt. We believe 6:6 may have happened then.
The conquering was Saddam's conquest of Kuwait; the war was Desert Storm. The quarter of the earth in 6:8 is that portion of the earth between 76 degrees East Longitude and 14 degrees West Longitude; the war was Bosnia; the killing by beasts of the earth was by the desease transmitted by eating the flesh of the beasts (eboula; mad cow; etc.).
World Net Daily runs a continuing Chronicle of persecution and killing of Christians.
The next thing to look for is a Great Earthquake in which the mountains and islands are moved out of their places. Note that the word translated "islands" in KJV Rev. 6:14 is actually a Greek word which means shorelands, including islands.
I'd like to see his credentials...(Sarcasm)
If you're really interested read the link. (I spent a lot of time last winter in Alabama. Alabama in the winter is like Shemya in spring. I only saw ONE pick up truck with a "Confederate" (i.e., General Lee's) flag.)
bookmark
"the north pole is now located at Parma Ohio"
So, then, the polar ice cap is safe.
"An Italian scientist says the earthquake was so strong, it even disturbed the rotation of the Earth. "
All the msm have latched onto this one sentence by somebody ... sounds scary doesn't it?
Only one problem, it doesn't say a thing! "..it disturbed the rotation.." !!!??? What is that supposed to mean?
This just in...
CBS reports that astronomers at Apache Point observatory have just confirmed the earlier CBS report from Mount Palomar. The Director of the Astrophysical Research Consortium, noted authority Dr. Who, has just issued a statement indicating objects have been observed traveling on a trajectory from Mars to Earth. Using the facility's powerful 3.5 meter telescope to make the startling discovery, Dr. Who stated that while the observed phenomenon was subject to further investigation, it is widely felt that initial catastrophic conclusions were beyond question.
Let's do a poll of how many muslims and what were the percentages. Maybe it was "biblical"?
LOL, I said that on another thread.
Thanks for your explanations! I have been rather puzzled by this comment all morning, since it sounded rather dire, but your explanations have made sense of it.
I have clicked the link. That article helps. Thank you.
Yeah, they actually say,
"It is also possible that a large earthquake might affect polar motion, but to date, this effect has not been observed closely."
- interesting.
It'll take weeks before all the observations are in and the data reduced, but if it did have a measurable effect, I'm sure we'll hear about it.
"Disaster struck with no warning out of a faultlessly clear blue sky."
Sounds like 9-11...
Freedom, Wealth, and Peace,
Francis W. Porretto
Visit Eternity Road:
http://www.eternityroad.info
By now you've had several responses, but none have addressed the practical issue that animates many believers to not spell out "G-d".
It really has nothing to do with "a forum like this" or the fact that it's a political discussion or anything of that sort. The practicality is that many believe the hallowed name of the Creator should not be spelled out on any thing that might be desecrated: wadded up, soiled, dropped to the floor, etc. And web pages can be printed out ...and our posts here might even be cut-and-pasted onto DU, and there's no worse desecration! [grin]
Hence you will see this little formality observed by many as a sign of respect. As you know by now, it does not reflect any reluctance to acknowledge religion or belief or the Creator. Quite the contrary.
Some people hold the name of God in such reverence that it would be a violation of their convictions to spell it out. You should not take offence as it is a sign of respect and nothing else.
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