Disasters
1) Relating to Israel’s Covenant Land
Some disasters appear to be related to God's promise to bless those who bless Israel but curse those who slight Israel.
October 30 1991 As President George Bush (senior) is opening the Madrid Conference to consider "Land for Peace" in Israel’s Middle East role, the "Perfect Storm" develops in the North Atlantic, creating the largest waves ever recorded in that region. The storm travels 1000 miles from East to West (instead of the normal West to East pattern) and crashes into the New England coast. Thirty five foot waves crash into the Kennebunkport home of President Bush
August 23 1992 When the Madrid Conference moves to Washington DC and the Peace Talks resume. Hurricane Andrew, the worst natural disaster ever to hit America, comes ashore, producing an estimated $30 billion in damage and leaving 108,000 homeless in Florida.
January 16, 1994 President Bill Clinton meets with Syria’s President Hafez el-Assad in Geneva. They talk about a peace agreement with Israel that includes giving up the Golan Heights. Within 24 hours a powerful (6.9 on the Richter Scale) earthquake rocks Southern California. The Northridge, earthquake becomes the second most destructive natural disaster to hit the United States, behind Hurricane Andrew.
January 21, 1998 Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu meets with President Clinton at the White House and is coldly received. Clinton and Secretary of State Madeline Albright refuse to have lunch with him. Shortly afterwards on that day, the Monica Lewinski scandal breaks into the mass media and begins to occupy a major portion of Clinton’s time.
September 28, 1998 Secretary of State Albright works on the final details of an agreement in which Israel would give up 13% of Judea and Samaria. Hurricane George slams into the United States Gulf Coast. Winds of 110 MPH gusting up to 175 MPH. Hurricane George stalls. Clinton meets with Arafat and Netanyahu at the White House to finalize this land deal. Later Arafat addresses the United nations about declaring an independent Palestinian state by May 1999. Hurricane George pounds the Gulf Coast causing $1 billion in damage. At the exact time Arafat departs the country, the storm starts to dissipate.
October 15-22, 1998 Arafat and Natanyahu meet at the Wye River Plantation in Maryland. The talks are scheduled to last five days with a focus on Israel giving up 13% of Judea and Samaria. The talks are extended and conclude on October 23rd. On October 17th awesome rains and tornados hit Southern Texas. The rain and flooding in Texas continue until October 22nd and then subside. The floods ravage 25% of Texas and leave over $1 billion in damage. On October 21, Clinton declares this section of Texas a major disaster area.
November 30, 1998 Arafat comes to Washington again to meet with President Clinton to raise money for a Palestinian state with Jerusalem as the capital. A total of 42 other nations were represented in Washington. All agreed to give Arafat $3 billion in aid Clinton promised $400 million, and the European nations $1.7 billion. On the same day, the Dow Jones average drops 216 points, and on December 1, the European Market had its worst day in history. Hundreds of billions of market capitalization were wiped out in U.S. and Europe.
December 12, 1998 Clinton lands in the Palestinian-controlled section of Israel to discuss the "land for peace" process. The House of Representatives votes four articles of impeachment against Clinton.
May 3, 1999 The day Yasser Arafat is scheduled to declare a Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital. The most powerful tornado storm system ever to hit the United States sweeps across Oklahoma and Kansas. Winds are clocked at 316mph, the fastest wind speed ever recorded. The declaration is postponed to December 1999 at the request of Clinton, whose letter to Arafat encourages him in his "aspirations for his own land". He also writes that the Palestinians have a right to "determine their own future on their own land" and that they deserve to "live free today, tomorrow and forever."
October 11 1999 Jewish settlers in 15 "West Bank" (Israel) settlements are evicted from the covenant land in Israel. Dow Jones financial averages loses 5.7% in the worst week since October 1989. On October 15 the Dow lost 266 points. A hurricane slams into North Carolina. Next morning, October 16, a magnitude 7.1 earthquake rocks the Southwest in the fifth most powerful earthquake in the 20th century. The earthquake was centred in the California desert and did little damage but it was felt in three states.
August 2005 Jewish families were evicted from their homes in the Gaza communities as part of Ariel Sharon's "Disengagement" plan. This disengagement was a response to the American Foreign Policy pressure being exerted by Condoleeza Rice. As the world watched the Jews being removed from their homes, a weather system was forming in the Atlantic. This storm became Hurricane Katrina, which destroyed New Orleans, Louisiana - and an area the size of Britain, rendering thousands of Americans homeless and leaving thousands dead. Hurricane Katrina also spoiled the “Southern Decadence” weekend planned by the homosexual community for New Orleans and supported by the mayor of New Orleans. By September 7th, further parallels were becoming apparent. The Mayor of New Orleans, having been heavily criticized for ineffectiveness has ordered troops and police to evacuate all residents who refuse to leave. The police chief has expressed reservations about tackling defiant householders as it would be a "PR disaster. (These troops are local people)
Information from Bill Koenig www.watch.org All these disaster / coincidences (up to 2004) are discussed in William Koenig's book, "Eye to Eye - Facing the consequences of dividing Israel" 21st Century Press, Springfield MO, ISBN 0-9728899-9-X (wildolive has not yet read this book)
Could the loss of the Space Shuttle Columbia in early 2003, and the wreckage landing on Palestine, Texas have been a warning about the unfortunate fact that President George W Bush giving Ariel Sharon only six weeks for his new government to settle in before restarting the "Road Map" process of peace negotiations, which involve the establishment of a Palestinian state within Covenant land?
2) But can we treat disasters in this way?
The above only focuses on the government of the USA; Britain and Europe are not mentioned. USA is still a firm friend to Israel, while Europe, including Britain, is only hostile. If the USA is being chastised like a loved son, what can Europe expect?
David Pawson observed that six British prime ministers disappeared after slighting Israel.
David Parsons, of ICEJ, recently cautioned that while seeing these disasters as judgments may make us feel more righteous for supporting Israel, we may be uncaring towards our fellow humans and disrespectful towards God. Consider Jesus rebuke to his disciples' question as to whether they should call down fire on a village that would not receive them. (Luke 9 v53) or Jesus' response to the question about the guilt of some unfortunate disaster victims. ( Luke 13 v1-5) Remember also Job, who people assume was afflicted by God with all those calamities. However, it is made clear at the start of the book that God refused to touch Job, but allowed Satan some freedom to afflict him. And what of Job? "In all this Job did not sin nor charge God with wrong." If we assert that God hit the USA with Katrina, we could be misrepresenting God. God may only have lifted His protecting hand.
To interpret all these events only as judgment ignores Jesus teaching about persecution and disasters to come, the coming tribulation and the wrath of the Adversary against God's people in the end times.
What about the tsunami of 26th December 2004?
God didn't stamp in the Indian Ocean to kill hundreds of thousands of people.
A joint between two tectonic plates had built up so much stress due to their
movement, that one suddenly broke free and moved up over the other.
This moved a huge volume of water, starting a huge wave. This
process of plate movement is continuous, resulting in either relatively frequent
minor quakes or less frequent major ones, depending how much stress builds up
before a slip occurs. This is the way our planet is working at the present time.
( Remember also that there are accounts of how God protected his people
from this natural disaster)
Romans 8 v20 For the creation was subjected to frustration,
not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope
21that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and
brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God. 22We know
that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up
to the present time. 23Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits
of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the
redemption of our bodies
Matt 24 . "Tell us," they said, "when will this
happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the
age?"
4Jesus answered: "Watch out that no one deceives you. 5For many will come
in my name, claiming, `I am the Christ, and will deceive many. 6You will hear of
wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things
must happen, but the end is still to come. 7Nation will rise against nation, and
kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various
places. 8All these are the beginning of birth pains.
Luke 13v1 Now there were some present at that time who told Jesus about the
Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices. 2Jesus answered,
"Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other
Galileans because they suffered this way? 3I tell you, no! But unless you
repent, you too will all perish. 4Or those eighteen who died when the tower in
Siloam fell on them--do you think they were more guilty than all the others
living in Jerusalem? 5I tell you, no! But unless you
repent, you too will all perish."
The lesson
being that we all deserve disaster and need to seek salvation through repentance
and faith.
Luke 21 v25 "There will be signs in the sun, moon
and stars. On the earth, nations will be in anguish and perplexity at the
roaring and tossing of the sea. 26Men will faint from terror, apprehensive of
what is coming on the world, for the heavenly bodies will be shaken. 27At that
time they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.
28When these things begin to take place, stand up and lift up your heads,
because your redemption is drawing near."
The increasing frequency and severity of natural disasters
should be pointing us to how far we are along the End Times calendar.
David Pawson has produced three hours of teaching on the subject of the Tsunami.
3) Is mankind going to destroy the planet ?
Our scientists have been warning us for some time about Global Warming and a run away of the Greenhouse effect . Now they are saying that Global Dimming, due to particles floating in the atmosphere, has actually been slowing the warming, and that dealing with pollution will allow warming to run away faster. Others say that the layer of dirt on the polar ice caps is causing them to absorb more of the sun's energy and melt - so the effects observed may be being driven from this source rather than warming. Nobody really understands as clearly as they would have us believe.
But God's word has promised us a redeemed and restored planet in Jesus' Messianic reign, so this suggests that God is not going to allow sinful man to destroy the planet before that can happen. We know God gave mankind stewardship of the earth, and this should be exercised wisely, but we Christians should not be panicked by the scientists into forgetting that our God created and sustains the universe.
Israel in the world & prophecy
