2005: Review of the year
The year 2005 could be described as a year of unprecedented natural disasters. The Boxer Day tsunami of December 26, 2004 in Southeast Asia, which killed more than 231,000 people, set the stage for 2005. The massive Indian Ocean earthquake, measuring 9.15 on the Richter scale, sent waves up to 30 meters and as far as 1000 miles in Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka and East Africa. The scene looked like something out of a Hollywood disaster movie. Entire coasts were altered as the seemingly endless rising tide pulverized everything in its path. A flood of donations immediately erupted from the international community to the affected area, so much so that at one point a charity requested that people stop sending cash.
The deadly tsunami quickly overshadowed other routine disasters that were not reported on the front pages of the media, such as earthquakes in Iran (612 dead), a magnitude 8.7 earthquake in Indonesia (1,000 dead) or floods in China (567 dead). . . In India, 1,000 people died when record rains caused major flooding and landslides. On August 29, Hurricane Katrina hit the coasts of Louisiana and Mississippi, killing 1,228 people. Later in October, a 7.6-magnitude earthquake struck northeast Islamabad, Pakistan, and in Indian Kashmir, killing 74,564 people. After this, Hurricane Stan struck Guatemala and El Salvador, killing about a thousand people. These seven natural disasters of 2005 claimed the lives of nearly 80,000 people, not including the Southeast Asian tsunami of December 26, 2004.
Tropical Storm Zeta, named after the sixth letter of the Greek alphabet, is now the 27th storm to form in the Atlantic this year. According to Chris Vaccaro of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, this is the first time in 154 years that the 21 storms recorded in 1933 have been exceeded. Of the storms for the year, 14 reached hurricane status. Hurricane Wilma, with sustained winds of 155 miles per hour, recorded the lowest barometric pressure on record of any Atlantic hurricane in history.
Scientists, pointing to changes in climate, believe that hurricanes and typhoons will intensify and become more frequent as warmer atmospheres create additional energy for evolving storms. According to scientists from Great Britain, this year has been the hottest on record in the Northern Hemisphere. Ocean temperatures, recorded in the Atlantic Ocean, have also been the highest on record. What does this all mean?
Regarding the signs of the end times, Jesus declared: “There will be signs in the sun, the moon and the stars. On earth, the nations will be in anguish and perplexed at the roaring and churning of the sea” (Luke 21:25 – NIV). One can only conclude that as we approach the Lord’s return, these events will become more severe. In fact, we are already seeing the shadows of the 21 judgments revealed in Revelation 6-19 and Matthew 24. I believe that Jesus identified the period in which we live now when he said in Matthew 24: 8, “all these are the beginnings of sorrows” . Just as the labor pains of a woman in labor become closer and more severe as the time of delivery approaches, so will the events leading up to the Lord’s return. Jesus promised us in Luke 21:24: “And when these things begin to happen, look up and lift your heads, because your redemption is near.”
We as believers need not fear, because we know that these “signs” are only predictors that our Lord is coming soon and that we must prepare for the next event on the horizon: the Rapture of the Church. Paul affirmed: “For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God; and the dead in Christ will rise first; then we who are alive, and who are left, will be caught up together with them. in the clouds, to receive the Lord in the air, and thus we will always be with the Lord ”(I Thess. 4: 16-17).