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TSUNAMI |
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| A
HORRIFIC FORETASTE OF WHAT IS TO COME ! |
| DEC
26, 2004 |
| "There
will be mighty and violent earthquakes in various
places ... and there will be signs ... upon earth
despair among nations, with perplexity at the roaring
and tossing of the sea. Men's
hearts will faint from terror, being apprehensive
of what is coming
upon the world." - Y'shua the Messiah. (Luke
21:11, 25-26) |
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| "The
foundations of the earth shake."
(Isaiah 24:18) |
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| "The
sea has come up over Babylon. She has been engulfed
with its tumultuous waves. Her cities have become
an object of horror."
(Jeremiah 51:42-43) |
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| "The
kings of the earth ... will weep and lament ... woe,
woe, the great city ... in one hour she has been laid
waste!"
(Revelation 18:9,10) |
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| My
dear Reader, |
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The world heaves to and fro; the masses are traumatised;
the nations stagger under the enormity of the tsunami's
destruction and human agony. The story gets worse
every day. |
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| Massive
earthquakes, massive tsunamis, massive death tolls;
possible widespread epidemics following; and a massive
cleanup and reconstruction account. |
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| This
is not just another suicide bombing; not just another
cyclone, not just another earthquake! This is earth-shattering.
This is being described as a "disaster of Biblical
proportions," which means, it's like the great
cataclysms that the Bible has warned will occur in
the last days. |
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| The
prophecies of Isaiah, Jeremiah and Revelation, quoted
on page one, describe events scheduled for the Great
Tribulation. "The great city" refers to
Commercial Babylon and the world's rebellious system. |
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| What
we have seen in the last week of December is a small
glimpse of what is to come! |
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| This
is a time when believers in Y'shua the Messiah must
stand up and proclaim the Word of God, for ... |
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| Yahweh
the Almighty "has fixed a day in which He will
judge the world in righteousness. Therefore God now
commands all people everywhere to repent." (Acts
17:30-31) |
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| Just
as 9-11 was a salvo of the war of terror, 12-04 may
be a massive warning of the impending Great Tribulation.
2005 may produce even more tremendous and fearful
developments. But believer, LOOK UP! |
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| The
coming of our Master is at hand ! |
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Redeem the time! |
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| Make
these days count for eternity! |
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| Y'shua
shalom be with you! |
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| Your
brother, Don Stanton |
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| "THE
WORST NATURAL DISASTER IN RECENT TIMES" |
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| IN
the wake of the devastation of December 26, the nations
are racing against time to save the survivors from
epidemics; and under way is the biggest and most costly
relief operation ever mounted. |
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| The
massive 9.0 earthquake and the waves of tsunamis that
slammed into the coastal areas of nations bordering
the Indian Ocean, from Indonesia to Africa, have added
a new dimension to the "terror" in these
endtimes.. |
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| The
tsunamis were triggered by the world's strongest earthquake
since a 9.2 temblor hit Prince William Sound in Alaska
in 1964. |
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| The
12-04 earthquake was one of at least six measuring
9.0 or above during the past 100 years. |
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| "This
may be the worst natural disaster in recent history
because it is affecting so many heavily populated
coastal areas ... so many vulnerable communities,"
said UN emergency relief co-ordinator Jan Egeland.
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| Chief
Minister Jayalalitha of Tamil Nadu, India, said: "It's
an extraordinary calamity of such colossal proportions
that the damage has been unprecedented. It all seems
to have happened in the space of 20 minutes. A massive
tidal wave of extreme ferocity ... smashed everything
in sight to smithereens," she said. |
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| In
Sri Lanka officials where more than 28,500 lives were
snatched away, President Chandrika Kumaratunga said:
"The scale of the tragedy is massive. Sri Lanka
has never been hit by tidal waves or earthquakes in
its known history." |
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| In
Trincomalee district of Sri Lanka, tsunami waves swept
more than two kilometres inland washing away entire
villages. And on a coastal track, a train was swept
away; and more than 1000 of its passengers perished.
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| WHAT
IS A TSUNAMI? |
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| A
tsunami is a series of large waves of extremely long
wavelength and duration usually generated by a violent,
impulsive undersea disturbance or activity near the
coast or in the ocean. |
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| When
a sudden displacement of a large volume of water occurs,
or if the sea floor is suddenly raised or dropped
by an earthquake, big tsunami waves can be formed
by forces of gravity. |
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| The
waves travel out of the area of origin and can be
extremely dangerous and damaging, as we have seen,
when they reach the shores. |
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| How
are they generated? |
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| The
most destructive tsunamis are generated from large,
shallow earthquakes with an epicenter or fault line
near or on the ocean floor. |
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They
usually occur along the edges of tectonic plates.
When these plates move past each other, they cause
large earthquakes which displace areas of the ocean
floor for up to 1000 km or more. |
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| The
sudden vertical displacements disturb the ocean's
surface, displace water and generate destructive tsunami
waves. |
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| The
waves can travel great distances from the source.
For example, a 1960 tsunami was generated by a magnitude
9.5 earthquake that had a rupture zone of more than
1000 km. Its waves were destructive not only in Chile,
but also as far away as Hawaii, Japan and elsewhere
in the Pacific. |
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| Usually
it takes an earthquake with a magnitude exceeding
7.5 to produce a very destructive tsunami. |
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| -
Source: International Tsunami Information Centre |
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The
Progress of a Tsunami |
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| 1.
The rupture on the seafloor pushes water upwards,
starting the wave. |
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| 2.
The wave moves rapidly across the ocean, reaching
speeds of up to 1000 km/hr - (faster than a passenger
jet). |
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| 3.
As the wave nears land it slows to about 45km/hr,
but is squeezed upwards, increasing its height. |
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4. The wave crashes onto the shore, and heads inland,
destroying everything in its path. |
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| THE
TERRIFYING TSUNAMI OF 12-04 |
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| "THE
DAY THE EARTH WAS SHAKEN TO ITS CORE" |
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| LIKE
9/11, which represents the daring and horrifying terrorist
attack in the US, 12-04 will represent the horrific
disaster caused by the world's worst tsunami in living
memory. |
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| More
than 150,000 people are believed to have perished
in twelve nations; and thousands of foreigners from
other nations have also died in the disaster regions.
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| Thousands
are still missing; a true count will never be made.
Hundreds of thousands of livelihoods have been wiped
out. Millions have been rendered homeless; and millions
are now threatened by life-destroying diseases |
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| One
seismologist likened the power of the 9.0 quake to
a million atom bombs the size of the Hiroshima bomb
on World War 2. |
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| "All
the planet is vibrating" from the quake, said
Enzo Boschi, the head of Italy's National Geophysics
Institute. Speaking on SKY TG24 TV, Boschi said the
quake even disturbed the Earth's rotation. |
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| The
quake was centered 155 miles south-southeast of Banda
Aceh, the capital of Indonesia's Aceh province on
Sumatra, and six miles under the Indian Ocean's seabed.
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| It
occurred at a place where several huge geological
(tectonic) plates push against each other with massive
force. |
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| The
violent grinding of two tectonic plates caused a rupture
in the seabed. The seafloor was pushed up by about
10m, and a 620-mile section along the boundary of
the plates shifted. |
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| This
movement triggered the sudden displacement of a huge
volume of water, generating the massive tsunami which
fanned out across the Indian Ocean at an enormous
speed. |
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| The
initial 9.0 quake was followed on the same day by
at least six powerful aftershocks, ranging in magnitude
from almost 6 to 7.3. An aftershock on Monday rattled
India's Andaman and Nicobar Islands, and in the first
three days after the quake, there were 31 aftershocks
measuring between 5.5 and 7.3. |
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| Walls
of water tens of metres high, and thousands of miles
apart, traveled across the seas at the speed of a
jet, wrecking havoc on at least twelve nations of
the Indian Ocean region. |
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| Some
people felt the tremors first, and headed for the
beach, thinking they would be safe there. After
a couple of hours they saw the sea sucked away from
beaches, only to return minutes later as a wall
of water up to 30 feet high or more. Some eyewitnesses
say that it appeared as though the entire sea was
rushing towards them.
In places,
the water rose to nearly 200 feet. |
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| The
waves of tsunami flattened houses, hurled fishing
boats onto coastal roads, sent cars spinning through
swirling waters into hotel lobbies and sucked sunbathers
and fishermen off beaches and out to sea. One survivor
said: "It was like being in a washing machine." |
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Madras
has one of the most beautiful beaches in India, stretching
more than seven km. It being a Sunday, many people
were jogging, walking and exercising on the beach,
while some were swimming. Suddenly, huge columns of
water surged towards the land without any warning.
In Indonesia the number of dead soared to well over
80,000. |
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| In
Aceh, the tsunamis reached 2km inland. In the coastal
strip of Acheh, whole towns vanished. In some places
soldiers were sent to recover bodies from trees where
they were dumped by the huge waves. |
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| Thailand's
coastal resorts saw the loss of some 8,000. |
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An
eye-witness in Andhra Pradesh, India, said: "I
was shocked to see innumerable fishing boats flying
on the shoulder of the waves, going back and forth
into the sea, as if made of paper."
The death toll in India rose to above 10,000. |
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| Thousands
of the victims being from the Indian territories of
the Andaman and Nicobar islands, where entire communities
were swept into the sea. The Nicobar islands, like
Aceh in NW Indonesia, are quite close to the epicenter,
and took "the brunt of hell's onslaught." |
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| Packed
holiday seaside resorts were walloped, and hotels
and shops were reduced to rubble. |
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| Low-lying
Maldives, more than 2,500km (1,500 miles) from the
quake's epicenter, was simply swamped. |
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| The
tsunami waves killed people also in Burma, Bangladesh,
and hit the east coasts of Africa - Somalia, Kenya,
Seychelles and Tanzania where many fisher-men were
lost. Huge waves were reported around Asia and even
on the west coast of Australia. |
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| The
number of children killed was enormous - young children
could not run, swim, or catch hold of any-thing secure.
Babies and toddlers were cruelly snatched out of their
parents' arms. |
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| The
cost in human trauma and agony is beyond estimation.
Heart-rending tales of the tragedy are endless. |
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| The
cost of the physical devastation and reconstruction
is being estimated in multiplied billions of dollars.
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| NO
WARNING SYSTEM IN INDIAN OCEAN |
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| This
tragedy was unexplainable in the eyes of many people,
because there was no warning issued whatever. |
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| People
in India and Sir Lanka are quite used to cyclones,
and many move to safety when a warning is given. Even
then, there are a substantial number of people killed
every year from cyclones, either because they can't
move in time, or they are too poor to move. |
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| But
this tragedy has not differentiated between the rich
and poor. Well-to-do tourists suffered along with
poor locals. Everyone was affected alike. |
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| There
was a tsunami warning from Honolulu within 15 minutes
of the quake, and more than an hour before the first
wave hit Sri Lanka and India. |
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| The
scientists, however, were not able to pass the information
on to the Indian Ocean region as they lacked the contacts.
The sad reality is that there was no warning system
for the Indian Ocean. And apart from Indonesia and
Australia, none of the region's governments have shown
any interest in having one. |
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| In
October, 2003, the 27 members countries of the International
Co-ordinating Group for the Tsunami Warning System
in the Pacific, decided to investigate an Indian Ocean
and southwest Pacific warning system. |
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| A
working group was set up to "evaluate capabilities
and requirements" in the region for an early-warning
system. Australia and Indonesia were the only Indian
Ocean members, and the budget for this year was a
mere $US 5000. So naturally, not much happened! |
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| Scientists
said the death toll might have been reduced if India
and Sri Lanka had been part of an international warning
system designed to advise coastal communities that
a potentially killer wave was approaching. |
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| After
the disaster, Australia pledged to develop a tsunami
warning system for the Indian Ocean region in co-operation
with other countries. Foreign Minister Alexander Downer
said: "I know it looks a bit like closing the
door after the horse has bolted, but there will be
tsunamis again in the future; hopefully never again
on this scale." |
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| Without
being a prophet, Downer is right. More Prophecy will
occur in these endtimes. |
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| THE
BIBLE'S EARLY WARNING |
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| There
are two Biblical prophecies that warn of the "ultimate
global earthquake" and its world shattering results.
Undoubtedly it will be the "mother of all tsunamis"
that will destroy whole islands, and bring mountains
down. |
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| The
enormous tragedy we have just witnessed is a powerful
warning of what is ahead. Could it be worse than 12-04?
Yes, a hundred times worse. Read the prophecies: |
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| "Terror
and pit and snare confront you, O inhabitant of the
earth. Whoever flees at the sound of terror will fall
into a pit, and he who climbs out of the pit will
be caught in a snare; for the windows above are opened,
and the foundations of the earth shake."The earth
is broken asunder; the earth is split through; the
earth is shaken violently. The earth reels to and
fro like a drunkard, and it totters like a shack,
for its transgression is heavy upon it, and it will
fall, and not rise again." (Isaiah 24:17-20) |
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| "There
was a great earthquake, such as there had not been
since man came to be upon the earth, so great an earthquake
was it, and so mighty. The great city was split into
three parts, and the cities of the nations collapsed.
And God remembered Babylon the Great and gave her
the cup filled with the wine of His furious wrath
and indignation. And every island fled away, and the
mountains could not be found." (Revelation 16:18-20) |
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| "It
will not rise again"
may seem to suggest that this is the total end of
the planet. But no, it is not yet the end of the world.
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| The
prophecy indicates that man's corrupt regime is in
ruins, and that man with all his scientific knowledge
and technology will be utterly unable to restore the
devastated planet. |
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| It
indicates also that the earth is unable to heal itself
from the apparent total wipeout. Only the Almighty
can heal and make things new! |
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| And
the good news is that there is a day of restoration
ahead, when, after this time of purging, the Almighty
will intervene in the course of the planet. The Messiah
will come to heal and restore. |
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| "But
for you who revere My Name, the Sun of Righteousness
will rise with healing in His wings." (Malachi
4:2) |
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| "Repent
therefore; return to God and be converted - be changed,
so that your sins may be wiped out, and in order that
times of refreshing may come from the Presence of
the LORD - the Sovereign Heavenly Master YHWH; and
that He may send Y'shua, the Messiah who was foreordained
and proclaimed to you - He who must remain in heaven
until the period of restoration of all things, about
which God spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets
from the most ancient times." (Acts 3:18-21) |
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| Yes,
Y'shua, Jesus the Messiah, will come to restore the
devastated planet, and to establish the Kingdom of
God "on earth as it is in Heaven." This
will be the ultimate fulfilment of the Messianic prophecies. |
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| "The
kingdoms of the world have become the kingdom of YHWH
our LORD and of His Anointed - the Messiah; and He
will reign for ever and ever." (Revelation 11:15) |
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| "In
the last days the mountain of the House of YHWH will
be established as chief among the mountains; it will
be raised above the hills, and all nations will stream
into it. Many peoples will come and say, 'Come, let
us go up to the mountain of YHWH, to the house of
the God of Jacob. He will teach us His ways, so that
we may walk in His paths.' |
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| "For
the Torah (instruction) will go out from Zion, and
the Word of YHWH from Jerusalem. He will judge between
the nations, and will settle disputes for many peoples.
They will beat their swords into ploughshares, and
their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take
up sword against nation, nor will they learn warfare
any more." (Isaiah 2:2-4) |
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| A
glorious 1000 years of the Messianic reign is ahead! |
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| Blessed
are those who share in the kingdom on the restored
earth. But even more blessed are the members of the
Body of Messiah who are caught up at the Rapture,
and will share His heavenly city both during the 1000
years, and for all eternity. |
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| Y'shua
said: "Let not your heart
be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me. In
My Father's House are many dwelling places; if it
were not so, I would have told you, for I am going
there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and
prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive
you to myself, so that you also may be where I am."
(John 14:1-3) |
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| "For
the Master Himself will descend from heaven with a
shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the
trumpet call of God. Then the dead in Christ - those
who died in union with the Messiah - shall rise first.
Then we, the living believers who remain, will simultaneously
be caught up together with them in the clouds, to
meet the Master in the air. And so we will be with
the Master for ever. Therefore comfort and encourage
one another with these words." (1 Thessalonians
4:16-18) |
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| This
is "the Blessed Hope" - the Blessed Expectation;
the Comfort and Encouragement the believer has - yes,
the Hope of Glory! |
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THE OFFICIAL DISASTER DEATH TOLL
As on 3 January 05: 140,000 and still rising
Indonesia: 100,000+
Sri Lanka: 29,744 +
India: 9,654+
Thailand: 5046+
Malaysia: 72
Maldives: 74
Burma: 53
East Africa: 154
Bangladesh: 2
The total death toll finally reached 230,000+ ( the
great majority in Indonesia)
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| VOLCANO-TSUNAMI
THREAT TO U.S. |
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| A
BRITISH geologist has warned that a tsunami, unleashed
by an imminent collapse of a volcano in the eastern
Atlantic, could destroy the US east coast. |
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| Tsunamis
are commonly caused by earthquakes under the sea,
but scientists have determined that such gigan-tic
waves could also be caused by collapsing islands. |
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| Since
an eruption in 1971 loosened a 12-mile-wide chunk
of the Cumbre Vieja volcano - part of the Canary Islands,
off the coast of NW Africa - there has been a very
real threat of an immense disaster. |
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| Dr
Simon Day, of the Benfield Grieg Hazard Research Centre
at University College London, says the 500 billion
tonne of rock could collapse the next time the volcano
erupts. The collapse would send a 100m high tsunami
racing across the Atlantic at 800-900 km/h. |
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| Waves
would hit the west coast of Africa and the south coast
of England within a few hours. Eight hours after the
collapse, the US east coast and the Caribbean would
bear the brunt. Waves would be capable of surging
20km inland, according to Dr Day's research. |
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| He
first published his findings on Cumbre Vieja in 1999
after a two-year study into the volcano. |
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He
found that a mass of about 500 billion tonnes of rock
is gradually detaching from the volcano and is already
slowly falling into the sea. A major eruption by Cumbre
Vieja could cause the whole rock to collapse and fall
into the sea, triggering a catastrophic tsunami.
Dr Day and his colleagues told a conference on global
geophysical Prophecy that Cumbre Vieja could blow
"any time," and that it's only a matter
of time before a killer tsunami hits New York and
the East Coast. |
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Sources: AFP / London Daily News / 28 Dec. 04 |
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