Recently, the number of earthquakes and other natural disasters has increased significantly. And there will be famines, pestilences and earthquakes in places Gladas pestilences earthquakes in places

About 144 - Earthquakes; About 145 - Global earthquakes; About 146 - Glads and pestilences; About 147 - Weather; About 148 - Later rains.

Signs of nature are categorized as earthquakes, famine, disease, and weather.

About 144 - Earthquakes

PROPHECY

Luke 21: 7, 11 (A.D. 32)

“And they asked Him: Teacher! When will it be? and what is the sign when this should happen? ... There will be big earthquakes in places, and famines and pestilences, and terrible phenomena and great signs from heaven. "

1. From the above, it is clear that the Great Tribulation will be characterized by many great earthquakes. It can thus be assumed that the number of large earthquakes will increase as the Lord's return draws near.

2. The frequency of large earthquakes since the end of the 2nd World War (earthquakes with a magnitude of 6 and above are indicated): 1947-56. - 7; 1957-66 - 17; 1967 - 17; 1968 - 19; 1969 - 21; 1970 - 24; 1971 - 34. In July 1979 it was reported that in the first half of 1978 there were 47 recorded earthquakes above 6 on the Richter scale. Seven of the bottom was above 7 on the Richter scale. It should be noted that in the decade 1967-76 there were 180 earthquakes above 7 points.

3. In the early 1980s, it was reported that the earth swayed on its axis; its movements reach 15 cm. In addition, the frequency of major earthquakes has been found to correlate with the maximum burst of sunspots, which repeats every 11 years. For example, of the 8 largest earthquakes that have occurred in the past 150 years within a radius of 80 km from the Golden Gate Bridge, each earthquake has occurred within two years of maximum sunspot activity.

4. The main area of \u200b\u200bearthquakes is the Pacific Ring of Fire, another line of earthquakes runs through the Middle East, Iran and Burma. About 80% of earthquakes occur near the Ring of Fire, 15% in the Middle East, and the remaining 5% are scattered throughout the rest of the world.

5. More earthquakes have been recorded in the 20th century than in the previous 5,000 years. Of the 13 largest earthquakes known to history, 10 have occurred in this century.

6. We have listed the most significant earthquakes:

856 - Greece

1556 - China

1737 - India

1755 - Portugal

1883 - Dutch India

1902 - Martinique

1915 - Italy

1920 - China

1923 - Japan

1927 - China

1932 - China

1934 - India

1935 - India

1939 - Chile, Turkey

1948 - Japan

1949 - Ecuador

1960 - Chile, Morocco

1962 - Iran

1968 - Iran

1970 - Peru

1972 - Iran

1972 - Nicaragua

1974 - Pakistan

1976 - Guatemala, China, Philippines, Turkey

1978 - Iran

1980 - Algeria, Italy

7. At the beginning of this century, there were large earthquakes every three years. There are many large earthquakes every year now.

8. Another area of \u200b\u200bseismic activity is volcanoes. In the early 80s, Mount St. Helena literally exploded, causing widespread disaster. In addition, a new island was formed in the ice due to volcanic activity.

9. An international flight by British Airways to Australia was interrupted by a volcanic eruption in Indonesia. The plane lost power to four engines and fell six miles until they started up again.

10. When the Lord Jesus Christ returns, His feet will touch the Mount of Olives. There will be an earthquake and the Mount of Olives will split in two, allowing those in Jerusalem to be saved (Acts 1: 10-12, Zechariah 14: 4-5).

11. Recent events:

1978 Devices worth $ 6.5 billion against earthquakes are installed in Tokyo.

1979 Scientists warn that disasters are inevitable by the end of the century due to significant movements of the San Andreas Fissure.

1985 A wave of earthquakes up to 8.1 on the Richter scale destroyed Mexico City, killing over 10,000.

1987 Between 1931 and 1982 there were 6,200 earthquakes above 6 on the Richter scale.

1988 In December, the city of Leninakan in Armenia was destroyed by a magnitude 6.9 earthquake, killing at least 55,000 people.

1989 In 1988, the earth entered an era of increased seismic activity. During 1988, there were 16 earthquakes above 7 points.

1989 The earth continues to shake. Over the course of several weeks, 22,000 tremors were recorded on the Japanese Shimuzu Peninsula.

About 145 - Global earthquakes

PROPHECY

Haggai 2: 6-7 (520 BC)

"For thus says the Lord of hosts: once more, and it will be soon, I will shake heaven and earth, sea and dry land, and I will shake all nations, and the One Desired by all nations will come and fill this House with glory, says the Lord of hosts."

1. This prophecy refers to the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ and the great earthquake that will then occur.

2. The Lord shook the heavens, earth, seas and dry earth before the previous world judgment through the flood. That the flood was worldwide is shown in Genesis 6:17.

3. The relationship between the flood and the Second Coming is demonstrated by the Lord Jesus Christ in Matthew 24: 37-41 (A.D. 32): But as it was in the days of Noah, so it will be in the coming of the Son of Man: for, as in the days before in the flood they ate, drank, married and got married until the day Noah entered the ark, and did not think until the flood came and destroyed everyone - so will the coming of the Son of Man; then there will be two on the field: one is taken and the other is left; two grinding in millstones: one is taken and the other is left.

It should be noted that this passage of Scripture, which is often regarded as a description of the Rapture of the Church, refers to the Second Coming. Those who remain are blessed because they move into the Millennial Kingdom to populate the earth, and those who are taken away are condemned.

4. The shaking of the earth during Noah caused the axis of the earth to shift from its original position from 5 degrees to 23.5 degrees. During the Second Coming, it is possible that the axis will move back to its original position. However, we know that there will be no repetition of the worldwide flood, when the water gushing out from under the earth and on the earth was added to the water of the firmament that was above the earth (Genesis 9:15). The judgment in the Second Coming will be fire.

About 146 - Glades and pestilences

PROPHECY

Matthew 24: 7 (A.D. 32)

"For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines, pestilences and earthquakes in places."

1. Hunger and world population growth are two sides of the same coin. Even producing wonderful varieties of staple crops that can significantly increase yields does not win the war against world population growth. The explosion of population growth is best seen in the table indicating the date when the world's population crossed the border of every billion:

The current world population is thus approximately 5.2 billion. (1989), and it doubles every 35-40 years.

2. Manufacturing of products. The following facts are relevant:

a) To feed more people, food production must be quadrupled between 1975 and 2000.

b) To keep the current, low level of food availability, 10-20 million hectares of new farm land must be developed annually.

c) Every day 10,000 people around the world die of hunger or malnutrition.

d) Most of the world's arable land is under pasture or already developed.

3. Hunger and food production are largely influenced by weather conditions, which many meteorologists agree are unstable and unpredictable.

4. A thinking person, seeing a large increase in the world's population and data on food production, comes to the conclusion that hunger is inevitable. In fact, in the 1980s we see an increase in hunger, especially in Africa, despite the joint efforts of Bendade and Sportade.

5. With the greenhouse effect, people are cutting down forests, while population growth requires more arable land for production.

6. In 1975, the World Food Conference in Rome announced that 57 million died of hunger that year, or 156,000 every day of the year. The death toll from hunger in 1975 was three times that of 1970. At the 1978 Manila Food Conference, it was stated that one in three babies would never reach the age of five due to malnutrition.

7. The UN claims we are in the grip of the worst food problems the world has ever seen.

8. The only countries with additional food are Europe, the United States and Australia.

9. Ninety percent of the world's food is grown in regions where a 5% change in rainfall will make yields less productive.

PROPHECY

Revelation 11: 3, 6 (A.D. 96)

“And I will give to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy a thousand two hundred and sixty days, clothed in sackcloth ... They have the power to shut the heavens so that it does not rain on the earth in the days of their prophecy, and they have power over the waters - to turn them into blood and smite land with all kinds of ulcers whenever they want. "

1. Two prophets who served in the first half of the Tribulation caused drought throughout the earth.

2. Drought causes hunger and great trials.

3. This situation is also shown in Joel 1: 15-20, where a great famine with attendant horrors is shown in connection with the Lord's day.

4. In days of extreme distress, it sometimes comes to cannibalism (Isaiah 9: 19-20).

5. The time of the Great Tribulation without the restraining influence of the Holy Spirit will be a time of great cruelty and violence.

6. Diseases:

a) Although the scourge of smallpox was removed from the world, many other diseases began to better resist the drugs, and began a counterattack. New diseases such as AIDS have emerged that are of global concern.

b) In 1976, a meeting was held in the United States between leading American and British experts, where great concern was expressed in connection with the decrease in the effect of antibiotics, because the immunity of organisms that cause diseases was increased.

c) In 1965, it seemed that malaria would soon be replaced with the use of DDT. However, by the 1980s, malaria had returned extensively in Africa, Asia and Latin America, causing 120 million cases a year. In India, in 1966 there were 40,000 cases of malaria. In 1972 the figure rose to 430,000 and further climbed to 5.8 million in 1976.

7. Recent events:

1978 Worst drought in China in 100 years.

1979 12 million of the world's children die each year from preventable diseases but lack of funds.

1984 13,000 AIDS cases occurred worldwide in August.

1984/5 An estimated 2 million people have starved to death in Africa, 100 million are starving.

1986 At least 250 million people will contract malaria this year.

1987 The UN World Food Program listed 15 African peoples in need, estimating their needs at 2.7 million tons of food. These are Angola, Botswana, Chad, Ethiopia, Malawi, Mozambique, Nigeria, Somalia, Sudan, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda, Zaire, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

1987 Global Plan 2000 calls for a population reduction of 2 billion by the year 2000.

1987 FAO predicts that if nations develop as they do today, 64 countries will experience critical food needs by the year 2000.

1987 UNICEF reports that 40,000 children die every day as a result of poverty and malnutrition.

1987 Several new viruses similar to AIDS were found in West Africa and Europe. One of the HIV-2 viruses cannot be detected by the blood tests that are used today. It is considered unlikely that an AIDS vaccine will be found by the mid-1990s. By 2000, in Uganda, one in two sexually active adults will be infected if the disease continues to progress at its current pace.

1987 More than 500 insect species are immune to insecticides. About 15 species resist them so well that they are very difficult to kill.

1988 It is expected that if the population does not begin to decline, then some of the greatest cities will be in dire straits in the next 40 years. By 2025, Mexico City will have a population of 37.5 million, Shanghai 36.1 million, Beijing 31.9 million, Sao Paulo 29.6 million.

1989 The number of people infected with AIDS doubles every year, this year 600,000 cases.

1990 The world population is 5.3 billion. According to current estimates, will double and in 35 years it will be 10.6 billion.

About 147 - Weather

PROPHECY

Luke 21:25 (A.D. 32)

“And there will be signs in the sun and moon and stars, and on earth there will be despondency of nations and bewilderment; and the sea will clamor and revolt. "

1. During the Great Tribulation, extreme disastrous weather changes will occur. In the last ten years, weather conditions have changed and began to fluctuate greatly, according to data from different regions.

2. Foretells that the weather will change due to the greenhouse effect when higher temperatures will cause sea level rise.

3. In the first half of this century, the world has enjoyed better weather than in the previous thousand years. Since then, however, the weather has changed around the world to a less pleasant rate. It was during this period that the number of the population increased by 2 billion. Changing weather will affect food production and bring hunger to many.

4. Current events:

1978 The heaviest rainfall India has ever experienced.

1979 Scotland recorded the lowest temperature drop in its history, the sea froze. Moscow is red-hot, a record for the heat of this century. The worst hurricane of the century in the Caribbean.

1982 It was reported that the ice caps are melting, causing sea levels to rise. This phenomenon is believed to be caused by the greenhouse effect.

1983 El Niño causes weather problems in the Pacific, including drought in Australia. Jet Stream has increased from 100 to 150 km.

1986 A violent hailstorm in China destroyed 100,000 homes, killing at least 120 people.

1987 More than 15 million trees were swept away by a hurricane in October 1987 that struck southeast England.

The 1989 International Conference on Climate Change is held in Nairobi in July, with a particular focus on the greenhouse effect.

About 148 - Later rains

PROPHECY

Hosea 6: 3 (780 BC)

“Let us therefore know, let us strive to know the Lord; like the morning dawn - His appearance, and He will come to us like rain, like a late rain will irrigate the earth. "

1. Here the latter rain refers to the Second Coming of Jesus Christ.

2. According to the tradition of the rabbis, since the destruction of the temple in AD 70, the rainfall in Israel has been intermittent.

3. Since 1948 there has been a significant increase in rainfall in Israel, with an increase of 200 cm or 8 inches in the mountains and coastlines since that time.

4. The annual average rainfall in Israel (in mm) is as follows.

The earthquake in Japan in March 2011 with a magnitude of 8.9 caused a great resonance in the world. It seems that not so long ago people were worried about those killed in Chile and Haiti, and here again the Earth is shaking, bringing grief and destruction to its inhabitants.

Very often on the news we hear about the next tragedy associated with natural disasters. And sometimes it even seems that such information is acquiring frightening regularity.

Many Christian believers perceive the recent increase in earthquakes as a certain sign from above. After all, Jesus Christ in the Bible predicted that the time before His second coming would be characterized by climatic catastrophes, hunger and disease: “There will be great earthquakes in places, and famines, and pestilences, and terrible phenomena” (Gospel of Luke 21:11, see also Matthew 24: 3-7).

Let's see if there is any cause for concern.

It is difficult to talk about gladness and morals, because people have always died of malnutrition and disease. But the fact remains: today in poor countries people continue to die in thousands from hunger and epidemics. And in developed countries, death takes away many more relatively young people with cancer, heart disease, blood vessels, strokes, despite the achievements of modern medicine.

But what about earthquakes and terrible phenomena? Indeed, statistics say that recently the number of natural disasters in the world has increased significantly.

The statistics on earthquakes are eloquent:

Until the 20th century, large earthquakes over the centuries were numbered in a few.

In the XX century, 46 significant earthquakes were recorded.

More than 30 major earthquakes have already been counted in a little over a decade of the 21st century.

Not only earthquakes, but in general, natural disasters have become more frequent. Storms and hurricanes, earthquakes and typhoons, floods and severe droughts, torrential rains, avalanches, landslides, volcanic eruptions, snowfalls in warm latitudes, thaws in cold ones, etc. etc. - the news about these events does not leave our screens. But this is not a struggle of channels to raise the rating by broadcasting sentimental materials. The fact of frequent natural disasters is confirmed by impartial statistics.

According to the data cited by the director of the analytical department of the UN Department of Economic and Social Problems Rob Vos (Rob Vos), natural disasters occur in the world four times more often than 30 years ago, and the economic damage from their destruction has increased sevenfold.

Over the past 48 years, more than seven thousand natural disasters have been recorded, resulting in the death of at least 2.5 million people. The consequences of disasters are becoming more and more devastating. About 30 million people annually become "climate refugees" - people are forced to change their place of residence due to the deteriorating environmental situation, lack of resources, natural disasters.

With sad thoughts and sorrowful feelings, the apostles followed the Lord from the temple. They did not dare to break the silence of their Teacher any longer, silently ascended one of the heights of the Olives, which was directly opposite the temple. At the top of the mountain, everyone stopped: the Lord sat down to rest. Not without a sense of fear, the closest and most beloved of the Lord apostles - Peter, Andrew, James and John, witnesses of the most intimate deeds of the Teacher, - taking advantage of the distance of others, approached Him and, seeing that His eyes were fixed on the temple, decided to offer Him the one who was tormenting them question: WHEN HE WAS SITTING ON THE MOUNTAIN OF ELEONSKAYA, THE DISCIPLES ONE STARTED IT AND ASKED: TELL US, WHEN IT WILL BE? AND WHAT IS THE SIGN OF YOUR COMING AND THE END OF THE WORLD? “We started in private,” says St. Chrysostom, “because they had the intention to ask about such important subjects. For they impatiently wanted to know about the day of His coming, as they longed to see that glory, which will be the cause of countless benefits. " Moreover, they were so confident in the immutability of the Old Testament institutions that two events: the destruction of the temple and the end of the world in their thoughts were combined into one. The Lord was not pleased to give a direct answer to their question. Later, after the resurrection, He told them bluntly that it was not their business to know the times and years that the Heavenly Father had put in His power; but now he only made it clear that His Second Coming and the end of the world would not follow very soon after the destruction of Jerusalem. He clearly said that in vain the Jews think that the Messiah will come to free their holy city: Jerusalem will not escape the judgment of God for her sins. In one line, He means the continuation of time between the judgment of Jerusalem and the judgment of the world, but how far this line extends - He alone knows. Jerusalem, He said, "Will be trampled by the pagans" (as a prisoner is trampled by a winner), "Until the times of the Gentiles are over" ().

This instruction, though vague, was enough to warn the disciples against many temptations and troubles. The time of separation from the Lord came for them, after which they were to become teachers and leaders of all believers, of the whole Church of Christ. And the first Christians in all their sorrows found consolation in anticipation of the imminent coming of Christ. It was necessary to warn them not to be drawn into deceit by some false Christ, so that the unfulfilled expectation of the imminent coming of Christ would not cool their faith and extinguish hope, not shake the very foundations of the Church of Christ. And these warnings, these instructions the Lord gives in His prophetic discourse about the destruction of Jerusalem and the last days of the world. Both of these events in the speech of the Lord are depicted as if in one picture: many of the most distant events, which have to take place at the end of the world, seem to be modern to the destruction of the holy city, and this is because the judgment of God over Jerusalem was a prototype, an omen of the coming final judgment of God over the world ... Then the fate of the Old Testament Church ended, and in the last Last Judgment of God, the fate of the New Testament Church will end. The connection of these two great events is inseparable, and therefore in the prophetic speech of the Lord they are portrayed inseparably, so it is sometimes difficult to determine with certainty which event certain words of the Lord refer to, and not all, even ancient interpreters, explain some of Jesus' sayings in the same way. Christ themselves point out this difference. At the same time, one must remember that before the eyes of the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like one day. The main points of this speech, its basic tone, are four instructions: "Beware!" , "Look!" , "Be patient!" , "Pray!" ... JESUS \u200b\u200bTOLD THEM IN ANSWER: you do not worry about the future in vain; many temptations and temptations await you after being separated from Me. Beware, SO THAT WHO DOESN'T FLUFF YOUregarding My Second Coming. Soon I will go to My Father; then the lies and deceit will intensify to the point that false Christs will appear: FOR MANY WILL COME UNDER MY NAME, AND WILL SAY: "I AM CHRIST", the time of the Messiah has arrived. There are many who will believe them and be deceived: AND MANY ADVANTAGES... But you do not follow them - beware! This prophecy of the Lord came true soon after His ascension: many false Christs-seducers appeared. "The country," says the Jewish historian Flavius, "was full of sorcerers who led the people into the desert to show miracles there, allegedly produced by the power of God."

Such were Dositheus the Samaritan, who called himself Christ, Simon the sorcerer, also a Samaritan, who wanted to buy the gifts of the Holy Spirit for money and boldly argued with the Apostle Peter; Menander, a disciple of Simon, Thebda, who led a multitude of Jews to the banks of the Jordan, promising to share the waters like Elijah and Elisha; some Egyptian mentioned in the book "Acts of the Holy Apostles", and others. “War, as the Lord says, will be of two kinds: from the side of seducers and from the side of enemies; but the first is much harsher, because it will be revealed under vague and terrible circumstances, when people will be in fear and confusion ”(St. John Chrysostom). ALSO HEAR ABOUT WAR AND WAR HEARS. SEE, and no matter how terrible these rumors are, DO NOT FEAR, FOR ALL THAT SHOULD BE... Do not be afraid that with this confusion the preaching of the Gospel will stop: everything that I have said will come true without any harm to her. “If events happened by chance,” says Metropolitan Philaret of Moscow, “then it would be impossible to put a limit to fear; but when you know that all events, not only favorable, but also capable of disturbing and frightening, what are the news about "Wars and rumors of war", there are how "should be", under the invisible guidance of the Providence of God, in the direction of the good goals of the Divine world government, then at least all the peoples of the world have risen to frighten you, this fear, if you trust in God, can be as small as small before All nations are God, and they, according to the prophet, "Like a drop from a bucket and ... like a speck of dust on the scales" (). So, keep the faith, truth, hope in God, and do not be timid, entrusting yourself to God's Providence "..." See, do not be horrified, for all this must be. " Saint Philaret of Moscow remarks: “an inquisitive mind can say: how“ should be ”such events as battles, calamities, sufferings of even the best of men, and this is under the guidance of a wise, righteous and good Providence? This objection may seem strong, but in reality it is only bold, because through it the dust of the earth attempts to fly up to heaven, judge the Creator and Judge of the world and comprehend the secrets of His world reign. Let's give the co-questioner a short answer. Have you not heard that Christ said about the battles and misfortunes of His followers: "All this must be"? Can you doubt that Christ is the very Wisdom, the very Truth, the very Goodness? How can you doubt that if something, according to His provision, under His dominion, “should be”, then it certainly happens and will be in accordance with wisdom, truth and goodness? You can see it in the events themselves, if you look with a clear eye. "

“The Lord speaks of those wars that had to be in Palestine, and not in all places of the universe. For what need is there for His disciples? " - remarks Saint Chrysostom. BUT IT'S NOT THE END YET, not suddenly after that the end of the temple and the city will come. Even greater disasters will come: FOR PEOPLE WILL RISE ON PEOPLE, AND KINGDOM TO KINGDOM; AND WILL BE EYE, SEA (hunger and pestilence) AND EARTHQUAKES ON LOCATIONS and there will be great signs in heaven. But even these horrors, which will be taken by many as a decisive sign of the coming of the Messiah, will in fact be only the beginning of birth diseases, the first birth pangs of the great calamities to come. ALL THIS IS THE BEGINNING OF DISEASES... “The Lord foretells all this,” says Saint Chrysostom, “as assurance that He Himself will rise up against the Jews and will fight against them with a famine, an ulcer, an earthquake; He Himself will let there be wars, and all this will not just happen, but by the wrath of God. Therefore, he says that this will not happen by chance or suddenly, but with signs. " And it all came true exactly. Before the destruction of Jerusalem, there was turmoil and strife everywhere. Indignant against the Romans, the Jews quarreled among themselves, and before fighting with their enemies, their blood poured from civil strife. In Rome, after the death of Nero, three emperors were replaced in a year and a half, and each change was accompanied by indignations of the army and people. Rumors of these disturbances reached Judea, and a resident of Jerusalem might have thought - there is bloodshed everywhere; the last days have come! In the book "Acts of the Holy Apostles" we read that the prophet Agabus predicted a famine in Judea, which, according to Josephus, was so strong in Jerusalem that many people died from it. From 41 to 45 years from the birth of Christ, therefore, seven or ten years after the ascension of the Lord, there was four times famine in Rome, Greece and Palestine. There were devastating ulcers, as the historians of those times write (Joseph and Tacitus). There were also earthquakes that destroyed the cities of Laodicea, Hierapolis and Colossus, and from which they suffered: Smyrna, Chios, Miletus and Samos. In addition to these calamities, the Lord showed special, miraculous signs of His justice over Jerusalem: for a whole year a comet was seen over it like a sword, in the temple at night daylight was seen; a lamb was born from a cow led to a sacrifice on the feast of unleavened bread; the eastern gates of the temple, covered with brass, opened by themselves at midnight, whereas usually twenty people could hardly open them; chariots and troops appeared in the clouds; on the day of Pentecost, at the entrance of the priests to the temple, an extraordinary noise was heard and finally a separate voice: "Let's get out of here!"

This is exactly how the word of the Lord was fulfilled: "There will be big earthquakes in places, and famines, and pestilences, and terrible phenomena, and great signs from heaven" (). The Lord compares all these calamities, all these terrible signs with birth pangs according to their severity and sensitivity. Foretelling them, He tells His disciples: do not be afraid of these calamities, they are inevitable according to the fate of God. First of all, you yourself face great dangers: be courageous! Even before the beginning of general disasters, you will have time to experience all kinds of misadventures. For all your innocence, the hatred of all nations, the anger of Jews and Gentiles, will turn on you. THEN they will lay their hands on you and persecute you, WILL BEND YOU TO TORTURE, they will lead you to kings and rulers, they will beat you, imprison you. In a blind frenzy of prejudice, the closest relatives - parents, brothers, friends - will become your persecutors, traitors, murderers. AND will be KILL YOU; AND YOU WILL BE HATE BY ALL PEOPLES, but at the same time rejoice, for you will endure all this FOR MY NAME... Your very name - Christian - will be hateful to Jews and Gentiles; but do not be discouraged; over you will be Providence and love of the Heavenly Father; without His omnipotent will, not a single hair will fall from your head. AND THEN WILL BE SEDUCED BY MANY, and fall away from the faith; more painful and dangerous than all persecutions will be the fact that at this time love will grow cold even between their own, discord and enmity will open, traitors and traitors will appear even between those who are in the faith: AND EACH OTHER WILL BREACHThose who have renounced the faith will betray those who remain faithful to please the persecutors, they will point to their former brethren, to their dwellings and refuge, so that the persecutors could either seduce or torture and kill. AND WILL HATE EACH OTHERthose who have rejected the faith will hate those who are firm in the faith, for the latter with their firmness will denounce their betrayal; AND MANY FALSE PROPHETES WILL RISE, both among the believers themselves and among the Jews, And delight many by their false teachings and heresies. Mutual trust will diminish, friendship and love will diminish: AND, FOR THE CAUSE OF MULTIPLICATION OF ILLEGALITY, depravity of morals, LOVE WILL COOL IN MANY: the more there are sins, the less love will be, so that faith itself will be eclipsed. There will be difficult times, but you, My chosen ones, must redeem souls with patience: The one who has suffered the same to the end will be saved... He who has kept the faith, despite all the temptations, will be saved. All these predictions of the Lord were fulfilled in the apostles and believers of the early days of Christianity; but all this will still be repeated to a greater extent in the last times of the world before the Second Coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Disasters of the last time - God's punishment, revelry of elements or coincidence? Let's try to understand these complex issues.

In a prophetic conversation on the Mount of Olives, Jesus said that at the end of time "there will be great earthquakes in places, and famines, and pestilences, and terrible phenomena, and great signs from heaven" (Luke 21:11). According to the secretariat of the International Strategy for Disaster Reduction, over the past ten years, 3.8 thousand natural disasters have been registered in the world, as a result of which at least 780 thousand people died. Damage caused by these natural disasters exceeded $ 960 million. At the same time, 60% of all victims of natural disasters died from earthquakes, and 85% of all natural disasters that have occurred in recent years have occurred in Asia. Why is this happening, do not God's Old Testament judgments continue to descend on Earth?

The most radical point of view is the preacher Pat Robertson. He stated that the earthquake in Haiti was the result of a pact with the devil, concluded by the locals to free the island from French colonial rule. Earlier, Robertson said that Hurricane Katrina is a punishment sent by God to the United States for sins. It is unknown if the pact with the devil helped, but the Haitians defeated the French colonists in 1804 and declared independence. According to one of the historical versions, the uprising broke out under the leadership of the followers of the voodoo cult. After the bloody sacrifice, the believers fell into a religious trance and went to destroy their masters. In the massacre, neither women nor children were spared. The uprising continued until there was not a single white man left in the country. After the "victory", voodoo became the official religion in the country.

Other Christian ministers acknowledge a number of problems that were in the country before and during the earthquake, but they believe that the earthquake was caused by natural causes.

“Despite our independence, we have a lot of problems,” said Jules Casseus, president of the North Haitian Christian University, in an interview with the Protestant newspaper. - In a political sense, things are not very good. Our government is not the best, and in connection with this earthquake, everything has become much worse. It looks like we'll have to start from scratch

In an interview with the same publication, the leader of the Rescue 24 team, Dr. Bela Szilagyi, said:
- Some say that it was just unlucky, others believe that it happened due to the fact that Haiti is located on the fault of tectonic plates, the third does not care - it happened so. There are those who call the earthquake God's punishment for something and believe that this is their chance to come to the Lord ...

When believers try to give a spiritual explanation for the disasters that are happening, society begins to "poke" on them: "How can you, there is such a grief, and you climb with your" heavenly punishment. " And again, a gap arises between believers and society. Unwillingness to accept another person with his worldview, position and opinion leads to scandals. And a believer in our society cannot express his opinion, because it offends humanists.

Of course, it is impossible in today's complex world to clearly define that someone suffered for their sins, suffered punishment for a depraved lifestyle, or for a “wrong” religion. Perhaps, if God's judgments had come, then no more than 10 righteous people would have survived in each city. That is why God is longsuffering, desiring the salvation of our soul.

In the Old Testament, there are many cases when it was the judgments of God that came down to earth as punishment for human sin. Thus, one can recall the great flood, in which only the family of righteous Noah found salvation. Ten Egyptian executions for the pharaoh and his people opposing the freedom of the Jews. One of the famous cases - the destruction of the Tower of Babel - is described in the 11th chapter of Genesis. The tower, as a symbol of human pride, was a pagan temple of the god Marduk. Another story is connected with the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, located in the Siddim Valley. These cities, along with Adma and Sevoim, were destroyed for the sins of its inhabitants. Later, the lands where these cities were located were flooded by the Salt Sea. All these biblical stories may well become the rationale for the position of believers about heavenly punishment. However, they belong to the times of the Old Testament history. In the New Testament, God appears to us as a loving, not a punishing Father.

In the time of Jesus, the destruction of the Tower of Siloam was known, in which 18 people died. This is what Jesus answered to those who asked Him: “Or do you think that those eighteen people on whom the Tower of Siloam fell and struck them were more guilty than all those living in Jerusalem? No, I tell you, but if you don’t repent, you will all perish in the same way ”(Luke 13: 4,5). Thus, Jesus does not establish a direct connection between sin and the tragic death of man. Meanwhile, Jesus talks about sin, which leads to death, and reminds of the need for repentance as an opportunity to gain eternal life. The times of the New Testament are times of grace, when the possibility of salvation exists for everyone.

Earthquakes in the past five years

2004 year:
On December 26, one of the most powerful and destructive earthquakes in modern history occurred off the eastern coast of the Indonesian island of Sumatra. The tidal wave caused by this earthquake with a magnitude of 8.9 on the Richter struck the coast of Sri Lanka, India, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia. The total number of victims in the countries affected by the tsunami is still not known for sure, however, according to various sources, this figure is about 230 thousand people.

2005 year:
On October 8, an earthquake with a magnitude of 7.6 on the Richter scale in Pakistan was the strongest ever seismic observation in South Asia. According to official data, more than 73 thousand people died, including 17 thousand children. According to some estimates, the death toll was more than 100 thousand people. More than three million Pakistanis were left homeless.

2006 year:
On May 27, an earthquake of 6.2 points on the island of Java in Indonesia killed 6,618 people. The city of Yogyakarta and the surrounding areas suffered the most. The tremor destroyed about 200 thousand houses, seriously damaged the same number of buildings. About 647 thousand people were left without a roof over their heads.

2007 year:
On August 15, Peru, in the Ica department, 161 kilometers from the capital, Lima, experienced the strongest earthquake in recent years. Cities along the country's southern coast were affected by tremors of magnitude 8 on the Richter scale. Killed at least 519, about 1.5 thousand people were injured. Almost 17 thousand people were left without electricity and telephone communications. The cities of the southern coast, Chincha Alta, Pisco, Ica, as well as the capital, Lima, suffered the most.

2008 year:
On May 12, in the Sichuan province in southern China, 92 km from the provincial capital, the city of Chengdu, there was a powerful earthquake with a magnitude of 7.9, which killed up to 87 thousand people, 370 thousand were injured, and 5 million people were left homeless. The main earthquake was followed by over ten thousand repeated tremors. The Sichuan earthquake was the worst in China after the Tangshan earthquake (1976), which claimed about 250,000 lives.

year 2009:
In October, there was a series of strong earthquakes in Sumatra (Indonesia). According to the UN, at least 1.1 thousand people died. Up to 4 thousand people were under the rubble. On the night of April 6, near the historic city of L'Aquila in the center of Italy, there was a devastating earthquake of magnitude 5.8, which killed 300 people, injured 1.5 thousand, more than 50 thousand were forced to flee their homes.

2010 year:
On January 13, two powerful earthquakes within a few minutes occurred a few miles off the coast of Haiti, their magnitudes were 7.0 and 5.9, respectively. In the capital of the republic, Port-au-Prince, several buildings collapsed as a result of two tremors. There are dead and wounded.

Lately, we hear more and more about various disasters, wars, floods and earthquakes. They come to remember the Word of the Lord that these are all signs of the end times. People are dying, houses are destroyed, floods wash away everything in their path.

Over the past 100 years, there have been so many wars and calamities on earth that every true believer must raise his head and say: Truly the coming of the Lord is approaching.

It is unpleasant to hear the news of earthquakes and loss of life, but nevertheless they happen more and more often. A similar thing happened on January 12 in Haiti ...

"Everyone around was shouting that the end of the world had come"

Hundreds of dead, thousands of injured. On January 12, a powerful earthquake hit Haiti, the epicenter of which was 16 kilometers from the capital, Port-au-Prince, where more than two million people live.

Almost all multi-storey buildings in the city collapsed, including the city hospital and the Japanese embassy. The exact number of victims is unknown, there may be thousands of people under the rubble.

Haiti's Ambassador to the United States, Raymond Joseph, said that his country is experiencing a global catastrophe.

“I'm sure we will need everything. The White House in Haiti - as we call the presidential palace - has been destroyed. Small towns that stood on the hills in the Port-au-Prince area collapsed like houses of cards, ”the ambassador said.

This is what the presidential palace looks like after the earthquake. The headquarters of the United Nations has been destroyed. It is not possible to get in touch with the UN staff.

The communication system is damaged, information from the affected region is coming in bit by bit. There is no electricity. The city plunged into darkness with the onset of night. Thousands of people were left homeless.

The authorities of Haiti, a state where 80 percent of people live below the poverty line, turned to the United States for help in eliminating the consequences of the snow storm.

Recall that two shocks with a force of 5 and 7.4 were recorded off the coast of Haiti, an island state located in the Caribbean Sea. The echoes of the earthquake were felt in Cuba and Venezuela.

The Associated Press emphasizes that the January 12 earthquake was the most destructive in the history of the region. US President Barack Obama has already expressed his readiness to assist in eliminating the consequences of the disaster.

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