Monday, April 16, 2012

Are Weather Issues A Result of God Punishing the English Speaking Nations?



With all the tornadoes, earthquakes and other disasters that  have been in the news over the last several months; the various COG's have been kicked into a frenzy of "prophecy in action" articles and postings.  Due to the non-provable belief in British Israelism, these COG's feel that it is God taking his wrath out on the lost 12 tribes.  One person who harps on this worn out line constantly is Prophet Thiel.

He writes:

Perhaps the record weather problems can serve as another wake-up call. As my book indicated, weather-related troubles with their related food issues, of course, are biblically expected as Jesus stated:
7…And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places. 8 All these are the beginning of sorrows. (Matthew 24:7-8).
8 For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be earthquakes in various places, and there will be famines and troubles. These are the beginnings of sorrows. (Mark 13:8)
We may be at this prophetic point as all the earthquakes and other weather problems that have happened in the past year or so could be considered as “troubles.”
Much is going on that we in the Living Church of God have expected would happen. For example, LCG’s Dr. Roderick C. Meredith, who expect certain prophetic issues to rise up this year, years ago wrote a booklet related to coming weather problems titled Who Controls the Weather?
2012 is already been a turbulent year.

The Gun Lap site has a great article up with loads of statistics that make mincemeat of these doom and gloom scenarios.


The Seventh Day Churches of God (COGs) believe that natural diasters are fulfilling Bible prophecy of the end-times. Can this view be supported by the data on natural disasters?

The COGs also believe that the white English-speaking peoples are descended from the twelve tribes of Israel and that these nations are being punished by natural disasters because they once knew the God of the Bible and rejected him and his truth. Is it true that these nations are suffering from natural disasters worse than other nations?

The English-speakers are not believed to be all of the tribes, just the leading tribes. The COGs believe the other tribes migrated to Northwestern Europe or remained in Judea (Palestine). In this article I will use refer to any nations the COGs regard as part of the twelve tribes as "Israel" and call the rest of the world "Gentiles".

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Severity and Frequency
 
The COGs have been saying that both the severity and frequency of disasters is increasing in accord with Bible prophecy. So we will look at both the severity and frequency of disasters. Proving that neither one or the other is increasing should be enough to get open minded people to do a serious re-think about COG prophecy.

Looking at some "worst-ever disasters" lists is easy to do and shows no evidence that the severity of disasters is increasing as time goes on. 

First, let's look at the frequency, i.e. are disasters getting more common with time? [Keep in mind that I researched this article and wrote it up in 2010 so the lists could have changed since, but the main trends should be the same].
  1. Six of the 10 deadliest-ever natural disasters were before 1950.
  2. Four of the 10 deadliest natural disasters of the last 100 years (1910 to 2010) were in the first half of that time period (1910 to 1960).
  3. Five of the 10 deadliest-ever tornadoes happened since 1969 (but none were in the last 20 years).
  4. Five of the 10 deadliest-ever storms were in the 1800's.
  5. Five of the 10 deadliest-ever blizzards were before 1975 and five since then.
  6. Nine of the 10 deadliest-ever tsunamis were in 1908 or earlier.
  7. Nine of the 10 deadliest-ever volcanic eruptions were in 1919 or earlier.
  8. Four of the 10 deadliest-ever cyclones were in the 1800's.
  9. Seven of the 10 deadliest-ever earthquakes were in 1976 or earlier (though two were since 2004).
  10. Of the 20 deadliest-ever famines, 17 were before 1950 (even though world population has skyrocketed since then).
Now, let's look at where the worst disasters occured.
  1. Not one of the 10 deadliest-ever natural disasters took place in "Israel", all were in "Gentile" countries.
  2. Not one of the 10 deadliest natural disasters of the last 100 years were in "Israel", all were in "Gentile" countries.
  3. Nine of the 10 deadliest-ever tornadoes were in Gentile countries.
  4. Eight of the 10 deadliest-ever storms were in "Israel."
  5. Five of the 10 deadliest-ever blizzards were in the USA, but the death toll in the 1972 Iran blizzard far surpassed all of them combined.
  6. Nine of the 10 deadliest-ever tsunamis did not strike any Israelite countries (the one that did also struck Gentiles).
  7. Nine of the 10 deadliest-ever volcanic eruptions struck Gentiles.
  8. All 10 of the 10 deadliest-ever cyclones were in Gentile countries.
  9. Of the 70 deadliest-ever earthquakes, 69 were in Gentile countries. One was in the USA. It was ranked last (least destructive).
  10. 19 of the 20 deadliest-ever famines were in "Gentile" countries. 

Check out the entire article here as they make mince meat of LCG, PCG and RCG's doom and gloom scenarios.  Natural Disasters Are Not Getting Worse!

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

thank you for posting reality. The COG minister types who use this kind of proof are mere bible readers and fools. Do your homework. I'll meet any of you in a neutral place and reduce you to ashes...in a debate

Andrew said...

I think it is easy to make a shoddy case that disasters are getting worse as we "get closer to the end" merely by using a measure such as financial loss or loss of life without taking into account inflation or rising populations. Such arguments sound convincing at first, but when tough questions are asked (and answered honestly) it usually becomes apparent that there is no change in the quantity or severity of natural disasters over time. However, most people never think to ask any questions, let alone tough ones. If tough questions were to be asked of a minister, he is just as likely as anyone else to become evasive or else outright lie to protect himself from appearing to be the fool that he is.

I am sure that any truly scientific study of the frequency and locations of natural disasters will show that there are no significant differences between the recent past and previous times.

Anonymous said...

Further indication of mental disorders.

There's nothing like sharing delusions.

Flat earth, earth center of the Universe, Stargates admitting demons to earth, residents of the center of the earth coming out the North Pole in Flying Saucers, Great Tribulation 3 to 5 years away, Christ returns soon -- it just goes on and on.

In the meantime: Not a single word about Jesus assuring redemption, forgiveness, the Peace of God and (gasp) church unity.

Hyperbole designed to cause a fear reaction. Scare people into your cult. Oh, sure, it works so well in the long term when people find out the truth.

Depressive doom, disaster, death: All negativity incarnate.

But Thiel has books to sell.

NO2SIN said...

No, there's no increase in the number and intensity of EQs.... its all a seismic fraud.

NO2SIN said...

OK, you don't believe in G-d. we get it.

You're teaching that 'gospel' to a lot of people.

Just don't be changing your opinion on your death bed.

Assistant Deacon said...

Ironically, NO2SIN can't even live up to his/her own pseudonym.

Steve said...

NO2SIN said...
"Just don't be changing your opinion on your death bed."

MY COMMENT: Can I change my opinion if I bust out of my grave?

Anonymous said...

NO2SIN,

I believe in God.

I do not believe in your god.

It is an idol.

False prophets everywhere:

Just where is the gospel of redemption in Armstrongism?

Oh, right, you have to scare people with non events into keeping old covenant laws to provide money to your ministers.

And you came from a church you rejected that Herbert Armstrong said had the truth.

Your logic escapes me -- but not to worry: It seems to have escaped everyone else as well (except for the few Kooks who follow Armstrongism).

We might consider your god if any of the prophecies came true, but after 70 years, we're tired of waiting.

Ronald Weinland represents you all. When Jesus doesn't return on Pentecost May 27th and he goes to trial for Income Tax Fraud, guess what? He will be the shining beacon of dashed hope furthering yet another example of what Armstrongism is all about.

Byker Bob said...

Slight upticks in natural disasters are not the beginning of prophecy fulfillment. No disasters which have happened during my lifetime rise to the level of Biblical prophecy. That is absurd.

By the way, we were in a minority amongst Christians in that we were programmed towards the negative. I've discovered over the past five years that many Christians believe that the preaching of the gospel will be hugely successful, that the fulfilling of the great commission will be sufficient so that the apocalypse will be averted, and the return of Jesus will occur in a peaceful and triumphant setting.

So again, we have an example of some very positive thinking contrasting with Armstrongite "suppository" thinking. But, what else is new?

BB

Richard said...

Another angle to this "line of reasoning" is the often-made claim that big disasters and mishaps occur "right before God's Holy Days."

Yet the massive Indonesian tsunami of 2004 occurred on December 26. In an area of the world which doesn't normally keep Christmas, either.