The world will certainly not forget in a hurry the devastating December 26 tsunami that left behind some 150,000 people dead and 500,000 others injured last year. Yet millions of others were rendered destitute and homeless as trillions of dollars worth of property perished in a matter of minutes.
How did it
happen? The physics of a tsu-nami
(Japanese word for habour wave) is described in lay terms in the article by
Prof. Bolaji Aluko (www.dawodu.com/aluko107.htm). Following an
earthquake under the Ocean, the sea bed is pushed upwards several meters. This results in an
overflow of a huge amount of water which together with the waves, surge towards
land at an incredible speed that could be up to about 800 km/h, comparable to
the speed of a commercial airliner. The current tsunami is an example of what can result from such a
phenomenon.
It is instructive that people hardly consider the
possibilities that God might actually have reduced the possible impact of the
event (see Matthew 24:22 to confirm the consistency of this with His character)
or that He might not really have wished the event to have happened at all. (See
also Luke 13:1-5; Ezekiel 18:32).
Of the many lessons that could possibly be drawn from this incident,
Church Arise!, will want to soberly
point out a few. If learnt, then at
least those saddening loss of lives would not have gone entirely in vain.
First, is the
ephemeral nature of materials and utter helplessness of man. The energy of the tsunami was estimated as
greater than 10 times those of the atomic bombs unleashed on Nagasaki and
Hiroshima in 1945. We may guard all we
can against terrorism, war etc, but no amount of resolution-passing at the UN
can stop such, well, “acts of God”.
. Second is the
suddenness of it all. One fact that
struck most eye-witnesses was the brevity of the whole incident. One moment, calm and camaraderie, a sudden
gale of water, and 2 minutes later, all calm again, this time, a ghostly calm. The Bible says the coming of the Lord will
happen “in a twinkle of an eye’. One
moment, it will be business as usual, the next, it will be all over and the
world will never be the same again!
The above leads to the point on
the urgency of preaching the Gospel.
Unfortunately the vast majority of those who perished in the tsunamis
did not get to understand that through Jesus Christ, they could have a solid
hope for the eternity. Most eastern religions teach a hopeless future of
repeated reincarnation till one day one may earn enough good works to break the
cycle. And to think they only needed to
know the Truth to have had a gloriously different destiny. Now for these, it’s too late to preach!
Lastly, and perhaps most critical, is the problem of getting people to
respond to otherwise unpalatable realities. Virtually everyone knows that the fault lines are
there and that the Tsunami could, indeed MUST, one day happen. Prediction systems exist to warn people ahead
of a developing tsunami, but with these rushing in typically at a speed of 800
km/h, the real challenge is to get people to respond to this warning either on
time, or at all! According to a BBC
analysis: “An
operator sitting in an early warning centre in Jakarta might know about an
impending tsunami, but how does he warn the fisherman in Sumatra, the sweet seller in
Sri Lanka, the tribesman on Nicobar island?”
The
challenges of accurately predicting that a particular quake under the ocean
will develop into a harmful tsunamis are rather daunting that but for the
most advanced (and expensive) systems such as the Deep Ocean Assessment and
Reporting (DART), three in four tsunami alerts turn out to be false alarms (newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn6839). Evacuations in such
cases are very costly and can damage a delicate industry such as tourism. The inevitable resultant is complacency or wishful
thinking on the part of the majority!
Clearly there are some events for which preparations for possible escape
must not be delayed till they commence.
Certainly, the saddest (and least told
story!) about the whole Asian Tsunami is the fact that there were professional
scientists who seeing clearly the handwriting literally shouted themselves hoarse
hoping somebody will pay attention. The Newscientist article already cited
above, quietly mentioned the story of Samoth Dhammasaroj, a meteoroligcal
expert in Thailand. Soon after the
massive ocean quake, he realized that a deadly tsunami might be on the way, but
he was “unable to contact government officials to raise the alarm”. Even more pathetic is the story of Kerry
Sieh, distinguished professor of geology at CalTech, who several weeks before
the event repeatedly warned Indonesian officials that an earthquake and tsunami
would soon strike their shores.
Prof. Sieh, who has studied the region
for nearly a decade, was so frustrated in his attempts to get the attention of
Asia's leaders that, in desperation, he began handing out fliers, posters and
brochures to residents of the islands worst hit by the waves. He spoke at churches and schools – wherever
people gave him audience. According to a
report in WND (Jan 9, 2005), his appointment to discuss with Indonesian
officials, about a month to the catastrophe, “was reportedly canceled at the
last minute by the officials”.
According to Sieh, "No one can predict exactly when an earthquake
will happen, but it was clear that this area was at relatively high risk and
such an event would definitely happen one day," he said after the
devastation. "We told them
it would kill people, wreck infrastructure and destroy livelihoods. But our
warnings were falling on deaf ears. My team and I decided to bypass the
national and local government and start warning people directly. I hope our
efforts saved some lives."
The sad story shows how little things have changed
since the times of Noah or Lot! It takes great courage to warn people to flee from
the danger to come, especially when that means asking them to change
comfortable lifestyles, religions, professions, practices they have been
comfortably entrenched in. And with many
satanically-inspired doomsday date-setters periodically springing forth, it is
easy for men and women to brush aside sound clear Biblical warnings with a wave
of “we’ve heard all that before”.
But then how can anyone, like Prof Sieh,
possibly see the unmistaken signs of a great tsunami approaching –
unprecedented rot and immorality, including sexuality education taking deep
roots in society, increasing turning against God as people pay lip service to
righteousness and embrace various cults directly or indirectly, systematic and
clear efforts to zombifie the entire populace via many simultaneous efforts
including microchip implantation, using basic obvious baits, etc – how can one
see all these, understand the clear implications, and not warn the unwary to
depart from doomsland, no matter the cost?
Afterall what does it profit a man if he should gain the whole world and
lose his life? (Mark 8: 36?) Even when
one knows a priori that most will
either outrightly scoff, or politely ignore, can one but keep on shouting? The Lord has given the Word, who can keep
quiet! This is the watchman’s burden –
such as is borne by ministries like Church Arise! Mat 25:41 makes it clear that although many
will end up in hell fire, none is actually required to! The Word of God is clear. Disaster is coming upon the world that will
make the recent tsunamis look like a picnic.(see Rev. 16:1ff). Genuine faith in Jesus is the ONLY way out (1
Jhn 5:4-5). NOW, is the time to escape
for your life (Gen. 19:17). Come out of all ungodly relationships and
associations today! (2 Cor. 6:17, Rev. 18:4).
Remember Lot’s wife!
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