Weather disasters around the world

Saomai pounded the coastal areas with winds reaching 135 mph lashing the area with heavy rains. In the after effects of the storm more than 1,000 ships were reported sunk, power lines downed and at least six cities were blacked out.

Chinese officials say more than 50,000 homes have been destroyed and more than 3.5 million people have been affected. Last month a powerful typhoon killed over 600. Saomai's destructive force has brought storm related deaths in China to over 1,600.

While storms are very common in this region of the world during summer and early fall, experts say they have been unusually frequent and the magnitude of Saomai has been exceptionally fierce. The weather bureau said Saomai was the most powerful typhoon since its record-keeping began in 1949.

While the science/junk science debate over global warming rages on – with proponents claiming it to be the major reason behind the big killer storms lashing planet earth – evangelical ministers also proclaim it is God's wrath because of the sins of mankind.

Who is right? In this case, just about everyone. Mankind in his greedy despoiling of the earth for profit is intensely affecting weather patterns. But science overlooks the main source of this violent twist of the weather.

Roderick C. Meredith in his booklet Who Controls the Weather? Asks: "Are 'natural disasters' the impersonal workings of 'Mother Nature' or can they be a vital message from God? Weather calamites are sometimes called 'acts of God,' but what is His actual role in the droughts, famines, floods and earthquakes that affect our world? What does the Bible say about weather disasters at the end of the age?"

God in His Word said that He would bless those that obey Him with rain in its season and punish those who rebel with drought and famine. While most of the prophecies in the Bible regarding "natural" disasters are concerned with the modern scattered tribes of Israel, weather patterns affect the entirety of the world. All nations are breaking God's laws, which means the entire world is in rebellion against God and will suffer the consequences:

"He shall judge the world in righteousness and He shall administer judgment for the peoples in righteousness. … Put them in fear, O Lord that the nations may know themselves to be but men" (Psalm 9:8, 20).

Jesus Christ predicted natural disasters would be one of the signs announcing His return to this earth: "For nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences and earthquakes in various places" (Matthew 24:7).

You need to be aware of these dramatic end-time events; click on the "booklets" tab and read: Who Controls the Weather? It brings your Bible into today's news.