FULFILLED PROPHECY : THE BEGINNING OF SORROWS - 14
Copyright 1994 - 2008 Endtime Prophecy Org
Last Updated : July 23, 2006
Tornadoes, World Weather Gone Amuck, Science And Medicine's
Losing Battle, Medical Errors, False Peace And War, Threat
To American Power, Y2K And Cyber-Terrorism, God Of Love And
God Of Wrath, God's Forewarning, Don't Fear - Trust And Obey
God Shakes The Earth, Evil Children Of Disobedience, Price
Of Knowledge, Christian Persecution, Keep Your Eyes On Jesus
Within the continental United States of America, there is an
area which encompasses some of the Central and Mid-Western
states which has acquired the name of 'Tornado Alley'. While
this is not the only area of the United States where this
phenomenon strikes, percentage-wise, there is no doubt that
this area holds the record for the formation of these deadly
storm systems. Unlike a hurricane which forms out over warm
tropical ocean waters, usually reaches maximum sustained
winds of 75-150 miles per hour, and then weakens once it
reaches land, tornadoes form over the land, can clock wind
speeds of over two hundred miles per hour, and during their
short lifetime, can create as much devastation as, or more
devastation than, a hurricane which can survive for several
days or longer before dissipating. Consider the following
reports issued by CNN and Disaster Relief concerning a
series of deadly tornadoes which struck the Oklahoma-Kansas
area the night of May 4, 1999:
----- Begin Quotes -----
Tornado Toll 43; Neighborhoods Wiped Out
OKLAHOMA CITY (CNN) -- President Clinton issued federal
disaster orders and rescuers searched for more victims in
Oklahoma and Kansas on Tuesday, the day after dozens of
tornadoes laid waste to entire neighborhoods, killing at
least 43 people.
Throughout the region, hundreds of people were injured and
thousands of homes and businesses were lost.
Most of the destruction was in Oklahoma, where some
communities "simply don't exist," Gov. Frank Keating told
CNN. "It looks like a huge battle has taken place."
In the path of dozens of tornadoes, rows and rows of houses
were reduced to rubble. Cars were tossed about and crushed.
Natural gas spewed from ruptured lines. Power poles were
reduced to kindling, and broken, twisted wires littered the
ground.
Oklahoma hospitals were overwhelmed with injuries as a
result of the "monster" storms that Keating described as the
state's "largest tornadoes ever."
The biggest of them formed near Chickasha, 45 miles
southwest of Oklahoma City, and cut a path at least a
half-mile wide as it moved north and east. Skipping across
the flat Oklahoma countryside, it toppled trees, power
lines, outbuildings and cars until it ripped into south
Oklahoma City.
While many tornadoes are short-lived, this one stayed on the
ground for about four hours, the National Weather Service
said. Forecasters said it might be categorized at least F-4,
the second-strongest tornado classification, with winds of
at least 207 mph.
The path of tornado destruction in Oklahoma City was 19
miles long and up to a half-mile wide, said Mayor Kirk
Humphreys.
2. Entire neighborhoods were wiped out in south Oklahoma
City, with survivors aimlessly wandering through the debris,
some disoriented, others refusing to go to shelters, opting
to sleep in their cars, reports from the scene said.
An estimated 1,000 homes were blown away in Oklahoma City
alone and hundreds more were badly damaged, police said. "In
some cases, entire residential neighborhoods were leveled,"
said Oklahoma City Police Capt. Charles Allen.
* In Moore, a suburb of Oklahoma City, police said 7,500
homes were damaged or destroyed -- half of its 15,000
single- family residences. "It looks like a bomb hit here,"
said mortician John Ireland. "Houses are just leveled. It
looks like a battlefield."
* In nearby Del City, an area two miles long and a mile
wide was cordoned off where officials said homes were
reduced to their cement slab foundations.
. . .
Tornadoes Devastate Oklahoma
More than a dozen tornadoes roared across Oklahoma and
Kansas Monday night, killing at least 41 people and
destroying more than 2,000 homes. Oklahoma Gov. Frank
Keating said the storm system probably was the worst in the
history of Oklahoma, which has seen its share of twisters
over the years.
Initial reports indicated at least 36 people were dead in
Oklahoma and five others were killed in Kansas. However,
officials on the scene said they expect the death toll could
rise as the sun's first light reaches the area.
At least 1,000 homes reportedly were destroyed in Oklahoma
City alone. In Moore, south of the capital, hundreds of
homes were damaged or destroyed. Video footage showed
vehicles twisted and smashed and spread across highways.
Keating called in the National Guard to cordon off a
25-square-mile area of southern Oklahoma City where
thousands were without power and witnesses described a scene
of bedlam.
"It's just absolutely unprecedented. No one has ever heard
of something like this," said Keating. "There are a lot of
communities we are getting information from the highway
patrol and sheriff's office that have literally been
obliterated."
"There was a massive amount of damage," said David Imy of
the Storm Prediction Center in nearby Norman, Okla. "There
are blocks completely gone."
Imy said at least 12 tornadoes ripped through the area
Monday night. Area hospitals reported receiving hundreds of
injured shortly after the tornadoes struck.
"We are getting so many injuries we are just tagging them
and bringing them in," said Shara Findley, a spokeswoman for
Hillcrest Health Center in Oklahoma City.
American Red Cross spokesman Kristen Hall said, "It's just
been total devastation in many of the neighborhoods. They
have been completely wiped out from the foundation on."
At least one of the tornadoes that struck Oklahoma City
reportedly was a mile wide at times. Scientists at the
National Severe Storms Lab in nearby Norman, Okla., said at
least one of the twisters appeared to have been an F-5 - the
strongest possible tornado, which can pack winds higher than
260 mph.
Several tornadoes formed over a five-hour period Monday
evening, and at least three warnings were issued as late as
10:30 p.m. Most of the damage appeared to have been done
between 6 p.m. and 9 p.m. At least 250 people were injured
in Oklahoma.
----- End Of Quote -----
For any honest person who is reading this series, it should
be obvious by now that the world's weather system has truly
gone amuck. No country has been left totally untouched by
the many droughts, floods, monsoon rains, severe storms,
heat waves, hurricanes, typhoons, tropical cyclones and
tornadoes which have been loosed on the world by a wrathful
God during the past several years.
From the United States of America, to Europe, to Asia, to
Africa, to South America, to Australia, everyone has felt
His Hand of Judgment in one way or another. The reports I
have included in this series, and there are many, many more,
prove this point beyond a shadow of a doubt in my mind. Even
if certain countries haven't been directly affected by these
'natural' calamities, they have been affected indirectly due
to the global economy which necessitates international trade
with those countries which have been directly affected by
these plagues, or by the movement of great masses of people
from the affected areas. As a few honest people have been
willing to admit, something very strange is going on when a
country is repeatedly hit by droughts and floods, sometimes
during the very same year.
In like manner, in spite of all their boasts which appear
frequently in the mass media, it should also be apparent
that the science and medical community do not possess the
power, or the knowledge, to hold back the new and powerful
pathogens, that is virii and bacteria, which are resulting
in plagues and epidemics of various proportions the world
over, such as the AIDS epidemic. Again, I have presented
clear evidence from the false prophets, the mass media,
themselves. Proud, foolish man is simply not winning the
battle as he claims. In fact, in spite of all of the good
which modern medicine appears to be doing, as the following
startling reports reveal, every single year, a minimum of
44,000 to 98,000 people die in the United States of Amercia,
as a result of errors in medical procedures, whether it be
due to prescribing the wrong medicine, or something even
worse:
----- Begin Quotes -----
Chat Transcript: Dr. Gordon Schiff On Medical Mistakes
(CNN) -- Dr. Gordon Schiff discussed the medical errors
estimated to produce more than 44,000 deaths in the United
States each year during a CNN.com chat on December 7, 1999.
Dr. Schiff serves as Director of Clinical Quality Research
in the Collaborative Research Unit of the Department of
Medicine at Cook County Hospital in Chicago.
. . .
DR. STEVE SALVATORE, HOST: Welcome to YOUR
HEALTH. I'm Dr. Steve Salvatore.
To err is human, but when it comes to the practice of
medicine, it can be deadly. And a new report suggests it
often is. In fact, the study shows medical errors are now
the eighth-leading cause of death in America. That's ahead
of highway accidents, breast cancer, and even AIDS.
If that's not bad enough, experts say the numbers are
probably underreported.
So what's wrong with our health care system? And more
importantly, what's being done about it?
CNN medical correspondent Eileen O'Connor takes a look.
EILEEN O'CONNOR, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT
(voice-over): The Institute of Medicine cites studies showing
between 44,000 and 98,000 people die as a result of mistakes
by medical professionals each year in the United States.
DR. DONALD BERWICK, INSTITUTE OF MEDICINE
COMMITTEE MEMBER: That's probably an underestimate,
for two reasons. One is, there are many kinds of errors that
we never learn about, even in retrospective studies, because
they're never written down. And second, these studies do not
include other areas of care, like home care, nursing homes,
and ambulatory care settings.
O'CONNOR: The majority of errors, the report says, are not
from recklessness but from basic flaws in the way care is
organized, like stocking hospital wards with full-strength
drugs that can be toxic unless diluted, making a mistake
more likely. Others are the result of simple human error,
like a hurriedly written order on a chart that is
misinterpreted.
----- End Of Quotes -----
To add to man's dilemma, in spite of so many deceitful
treaties, and false cries of 'Peace, peace!', the world has
never been so near to the brink of destruction, as it is at
this current time. More nuclear, biological, and chemical
weapons are possessed by more nations now, than at any other
time in the world's history, and the number continues to
grow. With good reason the government of the United States
of America is concerned about the proliferation of nuclear
arms. Not only do these weapons in the possession of other
nations threaten her position as the 'Queen of the World',
but many of those weapons are, or will be, pointed right at
her evil, selfish, proud, lustful, and oppressive heart! All
it takes is one misunderstanding, one occasion of being
pushed beyond the limits, one nervous finger, one misjudged
feeling of a sense of superiority and false confidence, one
occasion of being pushed back into the corner too far, to
set things off; and it is bound to happen sooner or later.
Man has his atomic toys, and he is just dying to play with
them; and when he finally does, many people will indeed be
dying!
To complicate the Endtime scenario even further, in recent
years, a new form of militancy and rebellion has come to the
fore. With the advent of the computer age, cyber-terrorism
has made its appearance, and now threatens us every time we
log on to the Internet and check our email, or visit a web
site. In recent months, the mass media has reported quite a
few new viruses and trojans which have been released upon an
unsuspecting naive public; and many servers, both government
commercial and private alike, have been victimized by these
unseen, sick terrorists, who simply find their thrills in
defacing a web site, or in crashing a personal computer. Of
course, there are also serious hackers of foreign nations to
deal with as well. With only two weeks to go until we arrive
at the new year, and learn the verdict of the Y2K glitch,
the expectation is high that many cyber-terrorists, both
private, and of foreign governments, will take advantage of
the confusion which may result from Y2K, in order to release
a wide range of new and destructive viruses and trojans upon
the worldwide cyber-community. Consider this recent report
released by CNN news:
----- Begin Quote -----
FBI, Pentagon Brace For Y2k Hacker Attacks
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The FBI and the Pentagon are
planning a special vigil as 1999 comes to a close, fearing both
government and private sector computers could come under
attack as the calendar changes to 2000.
Terrorists, hostile nations, criminals and recreational
hackers could all launch assaults at the same time -- and
could use Y2K malfunctions to hide their actions.
"It is not at all unreasonable to expect the people and the
groups who engage in those activities every day might focus
their activities at the same time around the date change,"
said Michael Vatis, head the National Infrastructure
Protection Center (NIPC).
Established at FBI headquarters in February 1998, the NIPC
is the government's control center for threat assessment,
warning, investigation, and response for threats or attacks
against critical infrastructure.
Potential targets include computers that handle government
agencies, banking transactions, utilities, transportation
systems and communications networks.
While the FBI has not identified any specific threats, it is
preparing a large-scale response.
24-Hour Command Post Planned
From December 29 through January 5, the FBI will maintain a
24-hour command post at its headquarters and run similar
operations at all 56 of its field offices throughout the
country.
A Pentagon monitoring station also will be on alert to guard
against intrusions.
The intensive government response is, in part, a reflection
of a growing trend. Every day there are 80 to 100 hacking
attempts on Pentagon computers and still more on other
government databases.
This year there have also been a number of virus attacks
causing widespread disruption to private businesses.
Computer Crime Caseload Growing
In fact, the FBI computer crime caseload has doubled each of
the last two years. In October, the agency reported 800
pending cases.
"They have vulnerabilities even without the Y2K opportunity
added on to them," said Richard Power of the Computer
Security Institute. "So that's why there is activity about
contingency plans."
Companies around the nation are taking the potential threat
seriously.
"Y2K and concern about viruses and other cyber crime during
this millennium transition is something that is very
important to our customers," said Marc Soqol, senior vice
president of Computer Associates, one of the largest
providers of computer security software.
FBI officials don't want to scare the public, but, they say,
high profile events like the millennium change are often a
magnet for criminals, even those operating in cyberspace.
----- End Of Quote -----
While many hard-hearted pagans and unbelievers of the world
will continue to attribute all of these calamities to such
things as 'El Nino', 'La Nina', sun spot activity and other
'natural' causes, as well as to wars and the evil fruits of
wars, we Christians who know the Lord and His Word, know the
truth regarding these matters; or at least we should. God is
trying to get the world's attention through their suffering,
in order to bring repentance to the lives of many. They need
to forsake their false religions, their corrupt political
and economic practices, their oppression of the poor, their
ungodly lifestyles, their violent wars, and their industrial
assault on the natural creation.
Undoubtedly, some people will accuse me of painting God as
some kind of unloving monster. This includes some Christians
who, because they are not familiar with the true Word of
God, are of the erroneous opinion that God is only love, and
thus He would never allow such tragedies to happen to His
children. If you are one who has embraced this view, then
may I encourage you to re-read the Scriptures I shared with
you earlier in this series, as they speak for themselves. If
the children of ancient Israel did not escape the Wrath of
God when they displeased and rebelled against the Almighty,
for what reason then do some Christians, such as some
self-righteous Christians in the United States of America,
think that they can escape His Chastisements when they
likewise fail to obey His Word? To even think this way is
extremely hypocritical.
You must decide for yourself if you wish to believe God's
Word as it is recorded in the pages of the Holy Bible, or
else continue to cling to your own misconceptions and false
ideas, which you may have obtained from organized religion,
which incidentally, is currently doing its best to present a
politically-correct image to the world, through its serious
compromise of Scriptural truth. For more on this topic,
please read such articles as 'Modern False Prophets And
Worldly Ecumenism'.
As all of the previous verses and news excerpts clearly
indicate, while God is indeed a God of Love, He is also a
God of Wrath; and sometimes His Divine Love as our Heavenly
Father, must be manifested to us through the righteous
exercise of His Wrath upon His wayward children. If you are
not yet convinced of this fact, then may I encourage you to
read some of my other articles which discuss this very same
topic. This includes 'Beholding The Evil And The Good', 'Are
Personal Tragedies Due To Sin?', 'Love, Mercy, Chastisement
And Forgiveness', etc. For the time being, allow me to share
a few additional verses with you which will further prove
this point:
"Open rebuke is better than secret love."
Proverbs 27:5, KJV
"And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto
you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the
chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of
him: For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth
every son whom he receiveth. If ye endure chastening, God
dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the
father chasteneth not? But if ye be without chastisement,
whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not
sons...Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be
joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the
peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are
exercised thereby. Wherefore lift up the hands which hang
down, and the feeble knees; And make straight paths for your
feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way; but
let it rather be healed." Hebrews 12:5-8, 11-13, KJV
In conclusion, whether or not people agree with them, or
understand them, as we saw at the beginning of this series,
the Lord Himself forewarned us of these things almost two
thousand years ago. He wanted us to know about the coming
wars which would scourge the world, the incurable plagues
and the epidemics, the widespread famines, the devastating
earthquakes, the prolonged draughts, the many hurricanes,
typhoons and tropical cyclones, the tidal waves, the floods
and the tornadoes. God likewise wanted us to know of the
rising tide of evil in the world as men oppress men through
political, economic, military and religious means in order
to make themselves lords over the poor of the world. Jesus
referred to these things as the 'Beginning of Sorrows'; only
precursors of worse things to come. Not only that, but as I
mentioned earlier, He also said that men's hearts would fail
them for fear, that is, they would have heart attacks, when
the final Endtime events began to occur upon the Earth in
earnest:
"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." Luke 21:26, KJV
While many people who do not know God's Word will fear as
these Endtime events begin to escalate upon the Earth, as
God's children, He tells us not to fear. That is precisely
one of the reasons why He has chosen to impart to us this
knowledge; because knowledge of the Divine One's Ways and
Will removes ignorance and fear. As the Prophet Amos was
inspired to write:
"Surely the Lord GOD will do nothing, but he revealeth his
secret unto his servants the prophets." Amos 3:7, KJV
Thus, rather than fear, we are to trust in Him completely,
knowing that He does indeed love us, and that He will not
allow anything to happen to us unless it is in accordance to
His Divine Will, and for our own good. Please consider the
following verses:
"Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed
on thee: because he trusteth in thee." Isaiah 26:3, KJV
"Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto
thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him,
and he shall direct thy paths." Proverbs 3:5-6, KJV
"And we know that all things work together for good to them
that love God, to them who are the called according to his
purpose." Romans 8:28, KJV
So again, Jesus knew that these things would come upon the
Earth, and He wanted us, His children, to know about them,
so that we would not fear, but trust in Him; therefore,
there should be no doubt that they are ordained of God. El
Shaddai, the Almighty God, is indeed allowing these things
to happen, because the stench of man's sickness, perversity
and evilness has filled His nostrils; and He has risen to
shake Himself, and the Earth, once more; and we are only now
seeing the beginning of His Divine Chastisements upon a
rebellious and anti-God world; the 'Beginning of Sorrows'.
As the Apostle Paul wrote:
"See that ye refuse not him that speaketh. For if they
escaped not who refused him that spake on earth, much more
shall not we escape, if we turn away from him that speaketh
from heaven: Whose voice then shook the earth: but now he
hath promised, saying, Yet once more I shake not the earth
only, but also heaven. And this word, Yet once more,
signifieth the removing of those things that are shaken, as
of things that are made, that those things which cannot be
shaken may remain. Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which
cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God
acceptably with reverence and godly fear: For our God is a
consuming fire." Hebrews 12:25-29, KJV
Before bringing this series to its conclusion, I feel that
there is one more issue which we must discuss. While the
Lord has indeed chosen to impart this knowledge to those of
us who study and believe His Word, there is a price to pay
for imparting this same saving knowledge to others; and this
price will become more apparent as time goes on. As I have
already made clear, while we Christians understand the true
nature, origin and purpose of 'natural disasters' and other
calamities which are befalling the people of the world, due
to their sins of rebellion and unbelief, most people refuse
to accept them. As such, the more we try to tell them the
truth, in the hope that they will repent of their sins, and
accept God's Saving Grace through Jesus Christ, the more
they will hate us for it. This is because they are the evil
children of disobedience who walk the broad way, as we see
by these verses:
"Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of
this world, according to the prince of the power of the air,
the spirit that now worketh in the children of
disobedience:" Ephesians 2:2, KJV
"Let no man deceive you with vain words: for because of
these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of
disobedience." Ephesians 5:6, KJV
"For which things' sake the wrath of God cometh on the
children of disobedience:" Colossians 3:6, KJV
"Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and
broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many
there be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate,
and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few
there be that find it." Matthew 7:13-14, KJV
As I explain in such articles as 'Civil Disobedience And
Christian Persecution', the time is coming when some of us
may be called to face ridicule, persecution, and possibly
even death. Yet in spite of this, the Lord still requires of
us that we trust in Him. Consider these verses:
"But before all these, they shall lay their hands on you,
and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues, and
into prisons, being brought before kings and rulers for my
name's sake. And it shall turn to you for a testimony.
Settle it therefore in your hearts, not to meditate before
what ye shall answer: For I will give you a mouth and
wisdom, which all your adversaries shall not be able to
gainsay nor resist. And ye shall be betrayed both by
parents, and brethren, and kinsfolks, and friends; and some
of you shall they cause to be put to death. And ye shall be
hated of all men for my name's sake. But there shall not an
hair of your head perish. In your patience possess ye your
souls." Luke 21:12-19, KJV
"If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it
hated you. If ye were of the world, the world would love his
own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen
you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.
Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not
greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will
also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will
keep yours also. But all these things will they do unto you
for my name's sake, because they know not him that sent me."
John 15:18-21, KJV
"Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall
suffer persecution." 2 Timothy 3:12, KJV
To conclude then, as each Endtime sign is fulfilled, and as
gross spiritual darkness fills the world more and more, and
as the rebellious children of the world begin to rise up
against us more and more, in order to quench the brilliant
Light of Truth which we bear, please remain faithful and
obedient to the Lord. Let nothing turn your eyes to the
right hand or to the left. Let your eyes continue to look
right on to Jesus, the Author and the Finisher of your
faith. If you do this, surely you will receive a Crown of
Life:
"Let thine eyes look right on, and let thine eyelids look
straight before thee. Ponder the path of thy feet, and let
all thy ways be established. Turn not to the right hand nor
to the left: remove thy foot from evil."
Proverbs 4:25-27, KJV
"Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great
a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the
sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with
patience the race that is set before us, Looking unto Jesus
the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that
was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame,
and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God."
Hebrews 12:1,2, KJV
With these inspiring words I will bring another series to a
close. I pray that it has been a blessing and instructive in
your life; and that it will motivate you to make sure that
your heart is right with the Lord, and that you are doing
your best to please Him. Time is growing short. Are you
ready?