The year 2005 could be portrayed as a year of unparalleled natural disasters. The Boxer Day tsunami of Dec. 26, 2004, in Southeast Asia, which killed more than 231,000, set the scene for the year 2005. The massive Indian Ocean quake, measuring 9.15 on the Richter scale, sent waves as high as 30 meters and as far away as 1000 miles in Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka, and east Africa. The scene looked like something out of a Hollywood disaster film. Entire coastlines were altered as the seemingly never-ending surging tide pulverized everything in its path. An avalanche of donations immediately poured forth from the international community to the affected area, so much so, that at one point one charity organization requested that the people stop sending cash.

The deadly tsunami quickly dwarfed other routine disasters that were not reported in the front pages of the media, such as, earthquakes in Iran (612 dead), an 8.7 magnitude earthquake in Indonesia (1000 dead), or floods in China (567 dead). In India 1000 people died when record rainfalls triggered major floods and landslides. On August 29, Hurricane Katrina hit the Louisiana and Mississippi coasts killing 1,228 people. Later in October, a 7.6-magnitude earthquake struck northeast of Islamabad, Pakistan, and in Indian Kashmir, killing 74,564. Following this, Hurricane Stan struck Guatemala and El Salvador killing about 1,000. These seven natural disasters of 2005 alone took the lives of nearly 80,000 people, not including the Southeast Asia tsunami of December 26, 2004.

Tropical storm Zeta, named from 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 recorded storms in 1933 have been exceeded. Of the years storms, 14 reached the status of hurricanes. Hurricane Wilma, with sustained winds of 155 miles per hour, registered the lowest recorded barometric pressure of any Atlantic hurricane in history.

Scientists, pointing to changes in the climate, believe that hurricanes and typhoons will intensify and become more frequent as warmer atmospheres create added energy for evolving storms. According to scientists in Britain, this year has been the hottest on record in the Northern Hemisphere. Ocean temperatures, recorded in the Atlantic Ocean, have also been the hottest on record. What does all of this mean?

Concerning the signs of the end of the age, Jesus declared: 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 (Luke 21:25 NIV). One can only conclude that as we draw closer to 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 that we are living in now when he said in Matthew 24:8, "all these are the beginning of sorrows." Just as the birth pains of a woman in travail become closer and more severe as the time of delivery draws near, so also will the events preceding the Lord's return. Jesus promised us in Luke 21:24: "And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh."

We, as believers, should not fear, because we know that these "signs" are only predictors that our Lord is coming soon and that we should prepare ourselves for the next event on the horizonthe Rapture of the Church. Paul affirmed: "For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord (I Thess. 4:16-17).