Have the countries affected by this most recent disaster forfeited the protection of God? Has God abandoned them? None of us can answer these questions with certainty. Nor should we try. Our present burden should focus on providing relief however we can. Again, please send your donations to ADRA. It's not too late to help. Thank you.

http://www.adra.org/president-tsunami.html

Mike A great deal of wondering was done over the 9/11 disaster here and elswhere in relation to God and His role. I see no harm in discussing a horror that is 3000% more deadly in number.

Sri Lanka is the birthplace of Buddhism; Muslim and Hindu nations are crippled. Hedonistic centers of Phuket and Phi Phi are throat-cut. Phuket is the sex-trade/AIDS capital of Asia, which oddly has not been mentioned in the news.

Of course none of these factors must deter those who are lead by the Lord to send aid to the suffering!!

Mike...sigh...Your quotes are originally from the Vol.5 of the Testimonies chapter 24 "The Seal of God".
Please! These folks had no knowledge of the Sabbath issue, true or false one! It is not in the mix.

This is why we need to look at the other reasons for this disaster, not the MOB of the Seal of God.

A child would be very confused if given right data for inappropriate situations...like this one!

Ikan, the "full cup" criteria is applicable in every disaster. Why? Because God will not permit it unless there is good reason. No one is left unprotected unless God decides they deserve punishment. In some cases God allows catastrophies to demonstrate how faithful we are. Nothing is the result of fate or an accident. God is still in control. I'm not willing to pass judgment on those nations and people who are suffering loss and calamity, but obviously God permitted it for reasons that can only make sense to Him. There's no way you or I or anyone else can articulate those reasons, and we are better off using our time, talent and treasure helping relieve their suffering. My wife and I cancelled a vacation and donated the money to ADRA to help with relief efforts in Asia. I only wish we could do more.

Mike,

What Ikan is saying is that the country's cup yes is full. Thailand is the center of the child sex trade, and that town in particular. I've been praying that God would save those children for years now. It may seem backwards to you, but who knows how many children were saved the horror of being forced in to sex-slavery? Look how many of the missing are children swept out to sea. A country who cannot and will not protect it's children and in a moment they are swept to sea.

Yes of course we should do all we can and I am so glad you were able and did cancel your vacation and sent that money to help. That is an honorable thing to do. I wish I could do something to help. I'm still searching for something since my finances are always nil.

Ikan,

Good to see you, I trust Francy is well? It has been a long time. I trust it won't be long now till we'll be seeing each other person however considering the direction of events.
Re: the EGW quotes, I was led to those very quotes in my earlier reading the night before when I was going to bed and then they were brought to my mind as I was reading Doug's post. God has us do everything for a reason doesn't He?

God bless,
Wendy

Wendy, I don't know how you and Ikan can say, with such profound confidence, that God allowed this terrible disaster to save children from being sexually exploited. Did God reveal this to you in a vision or a dream? Or, did you just put two and two together? If you are wrong, then you are dreadfully, dreadfully wrong. Why run the risk? At such times, silence is eloquence (unless you have received an inspired revelation).

....

[ January 01, 2005, 06:47 AM: Message edited by: Doug Meister ]

Mike,

Ellen White said at the end of time thousands of children and others that cannot defend themselves will be laid to rest. I don't have the quote, it's somewhere in Last Day Events so I'm sorry. Yes, I do believe the the evidence of so many of the dead being children, whereas in other disasters the children have seemed to be protected, shows that God has taken it into His own hands to protect the children. If God can protect the sparrow, can't He protect the children from suffering during this tragedy? How do we know that they didn't go quietly and peacefully because He, who controls the universe, protected them from the trauma. And yes, do the research okay? That city is the most prolific for selling children as young as 5 years old to 50 year old American perverts for sex. There was a 20/20 special on it where they had hidden cameras and they showed the children trying to sell themselves to the undercover reporters. It is vile but it exists. The disgusting things that go on in these cities will not be allowed to go on forever and just like Sodom and Gomorrah, where I am sure children were abused also, this city and others were destroyed. God will not allow His children, whom He favors the most, to be abused forever. He will preserve these littlest, most helpless ones until He comes and then take them home to a much better place where they will never be hurt again and they will never be hungry again!


child sex tourism


100 children sexually abused daily in Sri Lanka, a theme?


Police protect child brothels in Thailand


proof?




more?

And nobody is saying this tragedy is simply for the effect of saving the children from the sex trade. It's the natural course of events in the last days. However, what I said was that God can use tragedy such as this to possibly save those children from a far worse tragedy later on. We don't know. I don't know. We have no guarantees but that some of those children would have fallen victim to what happened to the children in those articles.

Clearly, Wendy has reported one factor in this hellish mess brought upon themselves. But there are many others. None would stop a christian from helping.

As far as being confident of my take on this situation, there is no need for a "revelation" for me: it is spelled out repeatedly in the EGW's revelations:

The time is at hand when there will be sorrow in the world that no human balm can heal. The Spirit of God is being withdrawn. Disasters by sea and by land follow one another in quick succession. How frequently we hear of earthquakes and tornadoes, of destruction by fire and flood, with great loss of life and property! Apparently these calamities are capricious outbreaks of disorganized, unregulated forces of nature, wholly beyond the control of man; but in them all, God's purpose may be read. They are among the agencies by which He seeks to arouse men and women to a sense of their danger." {PK 277.1}

Mike: I think the question of confidence and "special revelation" should be asked of Doug. He seems very sure that God and Satan had absolutely nothing to do with this disaster. Any back-up, Doug? Your posts are very similiar to deism.

[ December 30, 2004, 05:31 AM: Message edited by: Ikan ]