How Has Hurricane Sandy Affected You Spiritually?
Hurricane Katrina in 2005, and now Hurricane Sandy. Why did this happen?
This storm was unlike any other. Several very powerful weather systems combined, slamming into one of the most populated parts of America: New York City and New Jersey.
In one example of the human tragedy of the storm, the Wall Street Journal reported on a community of elderly people on Staten Island that didn’t evacuate before the storm. Many lived, but some drowned alone in their homes. In all, almost 200 people died in the storm’s path. Besides the human loss, about $50 billion in property damage is estimated.
It seems like natural disasters are getting worse and more frequent
Jesus told His disciples that in the end time, “There will be famines, pestilences [disease epidemics] and earthquakes in various places” (Matthew 24:7).
Scientists reported in 2005 that while the number of hurricanes and cyclones had not increased, “the researchers did find a sharp increase during the past 35 years in the number of category 4 and 5 tropical cyclones, the most intense storms that cause most of the damage on landfall” (Richard Kerr, “Is Katrina a Harbinger of Still More Powerful Hurricanes?” p. 1807, Sept. 16, 2005).
Remember the awful earthquake and tsunami in Southeast Asia in 2004? That disaster killed 300,000 people, more than any from any earthquake in more than 500 years.
America is experiencing more and more of these intense disasters. A German insurance reinsurance company reported that between 1980 and 2011, the number of big weather-related losses increased five times!
Nature out of control
Jesus predicted some truly scary conditions that will happen right before He returns. He even said, “In fact, unless that time of calamity is shortened, the entire human race will be destroyed. But it will be shortened for the sake of God’s chosen ones.” (Matthew 24:21-22, NLT).
Isaiah put it this way: “Look! The Lord is coming from heaven to punish the people of the earth for their sins”” (Isaiah 26:21, New Living Translation).
Now what will you do?
Everybody’s heart goes out for the people suffering after Hurricane Sandy. It was the same after Katrina in 2005. In fact, rapes in one large West Coast city stopped for about a week after that hurricane. But it didn’t last. It’s like Hosea the prophet said: “Your love vanishes like the morning mist and disappears like dew in the sunlight” (Hosea 6:4).
But it’s all too easy to go back to our materialistic lifestyles. Football, basketball, movies, TV shows and video games are still there to draw our attention, as if nothing had happened.
That’s not what God wants. Just like Noah’s Flood, which killed everybody on earth except Noah and his family, people were going about their daily lives as if nothing bad was ever going to happen (Luke 17:26-30).
It’s the same today.
Nobody believed Noah in his day. And in the days of Sodom and Gomorrah, Lot sighed and cried over the sins of Sodom, but not even 10 righteous people could be found there (Genesis 18:32).
Don’t just study the prophecies of God, take action!
No matter what the nation does, you personally can swim upstream and change your own lifestyle to one devoted to God’s righteousness (Psalm 119:172).
Course Content
John Ross Schroeder
John died on March 8, 2014, in Oxford, England, four days after suffering cardiac arrest while returning home from a press event in London. John was 77 and still going strong.
Some of John's work for The Good News appeared under his byline, but much didn't. He wrote more than a thousand articles over the years, but also wrote the Questions and Answers section of the magazine, compiled our Letters From Our Readers, and wrote many of the items in the Current Events and Trends section. He also contributed greatly to a number of our study guides and Bible Study Course lessons. His writing has touched the lives of literally millions of people over the years.
John traveled widely over the years as an accredited journalist, especially in Europe. His knowledge of European and Middle East history added a great deal to his articles on history and Bible prophecy.
In his later years he also pastored congregations in Northern Ireland and East Sussex, and that experience added another dimension to his writing. He and his wife Jan were an effective team in our British Isles office near their home.
John was a humble servant who dedicated his life to sharing the gospel—the good news—of Jesus Christ and the Kingdom of God to all the world, and his work was known to readers in nearly every country of the world.
Scott Ashley
Scott Ashley was managing editor of Beyond Today magazine, United Church of God booklets and its printed Bible Study Course until his retirement in 2023. He also pastored three congregations in Colorado for 10 years from 2011-2021. He and his wife, Connie, live near Denver, Colorado.
Mr. Ashley attended Ambassador College in Big Sandy, Texas, graduating in 1976 with a theology major and minors in journalism and speech. It was there that he first became interested in publishing, an industry in which he worked for 50 years.
During his career, he has worked for several publishing companies in various capacities. He was employed by the United Church of God from 1995-2023, overseeing the planning, writing, editing, reviewing and production of Beyond Today magazine, several dozen booklets/study guides and a Bible study course covering major biblical teachings. His special interests are the Bible, archaeology, biblical culture, history and the Middle East.
Bill Bradford
Bill Bradford is a contributor to United Church of God publications in addition to being the pastor for several United Church of God congregations in Queensland, Australia.
