May 19, 2008
The China Quake
It is very strange to have written an article about the sharp increase in natural disasters last week, and now, seven days later, to find myself compelled to comment about another major natural calamity. The Myanmar government
was nowhere near getting a rough estimate of the extent of the damage caused by the cyclone that killed as many as
130,000 people when China was struck 10 days later by one of the most deadly
earthquakes in that nation's history.
The 7.9 trembler that occurred in Western China devastated a region of small
cities and towns set amid steep hills north of Sichuan's provincial capital
of Chengdu. Because the quake occurred in the midafternoon, thousands of
factory workers and school children were crushed by falling structures.
More than 4 million apartments and homes had been damaged or destroyed in
Sichuan province, according to Housing Minister Jiang Weixin. Jiang said the
water supply situation was "extremely serious" in Sichuan, and that water was not flowing at
all in 20 cities and counties.
Because towns and villages were reduced to a mass of twisted metal and concrete,
recovery teams used sniffer dogs and cutting equipment to locate victims. The passing of the critical three-day window leaves little chance that any new survivors will be recovered from wreckage. The current death
toll stands at 50,000.
If you read last week's Nearing Midnight Update, you remember the long
list of topical storms featured in the article. We have now reached the
point at which I could create a similar list of the unusual occurrences of deadly earthquakes.
Over the past 200 years, we normally only see quakes that kill more than 15,000 people
once about every ten years. So far, in the past decade, we have seen six quakes of this nature.
Aug. 17, 1999 Izmit, Turkey 17,000
Jan. 26, 2001 India 20,000
Dec. 23, 2003 Bam, Iran 30,000
Dec. 26, 2004 Indonesian 270,000
Oct. 8, 2005 Kashmir, Pakistan 55,000
May 12, 2008 Western China 50,000+
The law of averages should allow the world to take heart in the knowledge
that another major quake would not occur until 2018. At the current pace of acceleration,
however, we'd be lucky to make it past 2009.
Some folks might argue that the reason we are seeing more deaths from quakes is
because the human population has increased. Well, it hasn't increased fast enough to account
for the huge spike seen in recent years. Any rise in the population should be more than offset by the vast improvement in building codes. The Chinese city of Chegdu, with 11 million
people, is near the epicenter of the quakes. Because it is a new city with
modern high-rises structures, there was very damage to its buildings.
Anyone who has been observing the daily news from a newspaper, the web, or the
evening news has to be wondering what in the world is going on. It seems like
a series of unrelated conditions all around the globe have some connection. One
report this week said the number of tornadoes during this season is already at the
level we see this time in late August. Unless we go into a dry spell, this will be a record year for twisters.
I have one possible explanation for why Myanmar and Western China suffered
these deadly blows. The idea was sent to me by a reader: "As you know, God
uses catastrophes to allow his word to penetrate areas that leaders,
politicians or others are shielding from the world. The increase in these
catastrophes may be a sign that he's pushing the spread of the message into
previously unreachable areas and people who weren't in a position to listen
now they are. It's definitely a sign."
I see all these birth pangs as a very serious matter. God did not flippantly
allow 180,000 to be wiped out. He purposely meant for these two signs to be a
warning to the world that greater judgment is coming soon. Because we Christians
will be the first to stand before the throne of judgment, we need to be all the more
diligent in going about our Lord's business.
"Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men..." (2 Cor. 5:11).
-- Todd
The Greening of America
Evolution, the chief tenet of the religion called humanism, now has a unifying doctrine, and it is a color. Want to guess the color? That’s right, we are hit between the eyes today with the doctrine every time we watch TV, listen to a radio, or read a newspaper or news or other magazine. Oh, and we must not forget that the doctrine is ubiquitous on the internet, every time we light up our monitors and log on.
Green was once popularly used to express the unattractive color of envy, of jealousy. The phrase “the greened-eyed monster” was unflattering when applied. Today, a green-eyed monster is assaulting us from every angle. It comes at us with the incessant hue and cry that America is the most evil national entity of all when it comes to harming Planet Earth. We use most of the world’s energy sources is the rave, thus we are chiefly responsible for polluting humankind out of existence, according to the ecological priesthood who police the rest of us. The green-eyed monster is focused on America, because we won’t simply divide up this nation’s wealth and distribute to the have-not peoples of the world.
This accusation that the U.S. is the most culpable in destroying earth’s ecology comes against America, even though we are first and with the most in assistance any time there is a major disaster anywhere in the world. For example, we are providing, or have offered to provide –when the dictators allow—almost the entire needed disaster relief, through supplies and funding, in the wake of the cyclone in Burma and the earthquake in China. The oil-rich middle eastern monarchs and dictators give next to nothing while piling up the petrodollars paid them in large part by the citizenry of the United States of America.
The world envies America with green-eyed jealousy, and at the same time has its hand out for all it can get from this nation. It holds a stiletto in its collective clenched fist behind its back desiring to stab America with thrusts of vitriol from the United Nations and from every other quarter that wishes us ill.
The evolution/humanism doctrine of “greening”–the rant that constantly seeks to inculcate the world with the specious claims that we must come together to save Mother Earth’s ecology by doing all things environmentally safe—is indeed “greening” us. We remember the term used in movie-makers’ attempts to recreate jargon that was part of the lexicon of days of the old West. John Wayne would call someone a “Greenhorn.” Or, he would ask someone trying to con him: “Are you “greening me?” This would usually be followed by the Duke’s right fist flattening the one trying to take advantage, or “green” him, in those old movies.
One dictionary definition of “green” is the following: "(of a person) inexperienced, naive, or gullible (The Oxford Pocket Dictionary). Those global elitists who are determined to fund their grandiose changed world order by picking America’s pocket in trying to get us to join the Kyoto protocols and other “green” endeavors' call to “save the planet” are “greening” us, dear reader. Even though they don’t truly realize the purpose of the new world they want to shape, they nonetheless serve the true conspirator, Lucifer, who wants to get things ready for his man of the tribulation hour–Antichrist.
America, if naďve, if gullible, will succumb to the same siren call of great cultures of the past. Here’s what God says about this oft-repeated “greening” by Satan throughout the annals of human history:
“For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness; Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them.
For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power
and Godhead; so that they are without excuse: Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools,
And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and four-footed beasts, and creeping things.
Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves:
Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen” (Rom. 1: 18-25).
This recent version of the doctrine of Satan’s eco-worship is, like the color of the fourth horse of the apocalypse, chloros green, the color green of a decayed corpse. The doctrine is deceptive; it is deadly.
Does this mean that Christians should ignore our environment, and treat it like a refuse dump? Of course not, and a true child of the Living God would never treat the planet God gave us to live upon in such a manner. But, that’s the diatribe of all who are attempting to “green” us. If we won’t fall for their con job like greenhorns, we are out to destroy the planet is the mantra with which they try to shame us.
We should keep Planet Earth clean by our daily efforts to personally not treat it like a garbage dumpster. We must not, however, worship “Mother Earth” –a beast that exists only in the minds of those who worship the creation more than the Creator.
Don’t let them “green” you.
--Terry
