PART OF A REPORT FROM HAL LINDSEY......
The Biblical proportions of this disaster become clearly apparent upon reports of miraculous Christian survival while nonbelievers were less fortunate. Christian persecution in these countries is some of the worst in the world. Eight of those nine countries--Malaysia, Myanmar, Bangladesh, Somalia, Maldives, Sri Lanka, India, and Indonesia are among the top 50 nations who persecute Christians. Depending on the list, "Open Door" or "International Christian Concern," Maldives, Myanmar and Indonesia rank among the top ten.
One pastor from India said that two churches where he was supposed to speak on Christmas and New Years were swept away into the ocean and thousands went with them, but the pastor at one of the churches reported that not one Christian was harmed. Instead, a fisherman, who lost his family, received salvation. Another report from the disaster area described buildings that had collapsed under the immense pressure of the waves and the only survivors were Christians. Still another report came from a ministry who has pastors and Bible students throughout the coastline of Southern India and not one Christian member of that ministry was scathed. God said in Isaiah 43:1, 2,"Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name; You are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you." We are not given to a spirit of fear, but one of faith. These times will cause us to wonder, but do not let your faith wander. You are under His divine protection. John writes in 1 John 5:4, "For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the worldour faith."
A pastor who reported in said that he needed neither verse nor knowledge to prove that God is sparing His people. "I do not come to an idea that God provides PROTECTION TO BELIEVERS BY READING SOME VERSE OR BY LISTENING TO SOME INTELLIGENT ARGUMENTS. I HAVE EXPERIENCED AND I AM EXPERIENCING THIS...GOD PROVIDES US A GREAT PROTECTION IN THE TIMES OF TROUBLE!"
Typical of the news reports are stories like this: an Indian woman surrounded by bodies on her knees with her arms outstretched to the heavens crying, sobbing, "Why, God, did you do this to us? What have we done to deserve this?" It is interesting in a land where people worship over 330 million gods that when disaster strikes, they turn to the one true God and demand to know why He did it. On a beach in Indonesia, a similar scene where a man mourning the loss of his entire family, looked to the sky and demanded to know from God why He did this to him. He did not make his demands on Allah, but rather God, the one true God. People are either thanking God for their survival or demanding from Him an explanation, even cursing Him. And this is the way it will be in the end.
It is in these moments that there are many believers
perhaps not many who are saved, but many who now believe that there is one true God. But they make demands of Him after worshiping other false gods. As we enter into the fulfillment of the Biblical prophecy of what Jesus called "the beginning of sorrows," there will be many more catastrophes. Man will stand at a crossroads. Man can continue to worship false gods, a blasphemy unto eternal death; or he can continue in his sinshomosexuality, child sacrifice, adulteryand receive judgment. Or he can turn his heart toward the one true God and receive the gift of eternal life.
Insider's Take: There are many men and women of God who sense in their spirits that the year ahead will see many, many Biblical prophecies fulfilled. They sense that there will be world-changing events in epic proportions. The Indian Ocean disaster of '04 could be the beginning. And there will be many questioning, "Why did God do this?" God does not owe man anything, yet John 3:16 says, "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life." America is not immune from such disaster. And the way she is behaving by accepting the sins against God and by participating in dividing the covenant land of Israel, surely catastrophe lies ahead. Remember that the Lord protects His own, and in this season the harvest is ripe. So many questioning people, and you have the answer, Jesus Christ