Experts say Hurricane Sandy could be one of the most disastrous storms in American history. Are they right? (photo credit: AP)
“For thus says the Lord of hosts, ‘Once more in a little while, I am going to shake the heavens and the earth, the sea also and the dry land. I will shake all the nations.” (Haggai 2:6-7) Just days before one of the most significant and momentous presidential and Congressional elections in American history, God is reminding us that America’s fate lies not in the hands of the politicians, but in His hands. Weather experts are warning Americans on the East Coast to “get ready, be prepared” for Hurricane Sandy, which they say could prove to be one of the most devastating storms in American history. Is that hype, or is it true? Tens of millions Americans are not taking any chances. They are buying water, food, gasoline and other supplies as the storm moves towards land. I can tell you that my family and I in the Washington, D.C. area are doing the same. As I discuss in-depth in the two-hour “Implosion Radio Special” — which will air on more than 700 radio stations this coming weekend — we live at a very dangerous moment in American history. It is a time when the Lord God Almighty is trying to get our attention and call us to repent of our sins and turn back to faith in Jesus Christ and back to reading and obeying the Bible. At the moment, we are far from God and far off track as a nation. Massive debt. Skyrocking murder and violent crime. More than 53 million abortions. The stain of pornography. The list of our sins is getting longer and longer each year. Yet the country has not yet woken up and realized that turning our collective backs on God is a recipe for judgment and disaster. What’s more, too many pastors are refusing to preach clearly and Biblically on the need for American to repent and ask God for a sweeping revival. There are many ways God could use to shake us further and try to wake us up to our need to turn back to Christ. War. Terrorism. Financial collapse. Natural disasters, and so forth. As I noted in Implosion, hurricanes along the East Coast and Gulf Coast pose grave dangers for the U.S. and could be used by God to shake us to our core. Hurricane Irene swept the East Coast of the United States in August 2011, causing the largest evacuation in American history as millions of Americans fled the storm’s path. When Irene hit, some 5 million Americans were left without power. Thousands of homes and businesses were damaged or destroyed, and dozens of people lost their lives. Irene became one of the top ten costliest hurricanes in American history. Yet it could have been much worse. At its peak, Hurricane Irene was about six hundred miles wide, or about the size of the state of Texas. Had it remained a category 3 storm—or even increased in intensity—it could have created the greatest natural disaster catastrophe in the history of the United States.Fortunately, that’s not what happened. The storm lost speed and power as it approached land, and by the time it reached New York City, most of its “teeth” had been removed. As the cleanup began, critics said the storm was hyped up and overblown by government officials and weather forecasters. But did the experts really badly misjudge Irene, or did God hear people’s prayers and have mercy on us by weakening the storm faster than the experts had predicted? I think both are true. I am grateful to the Lord for his grace and mercy on us.But what if God had not been so gracious? What if rather than shaking us and waking us up to what he could do, he actually let us experience what other nations around the world have experienced?
Consider the latest news coverage of Hurricane Sandy:
“More than 50 million people from the mid-Atlantic to New England braced Saturday for a potentially massive storm, as Hurricane Sandy churned northward on a collision course with another storm system that is sweeping in from the west,” reports the New York Times. “Thousands of people were evacuated from low-lying areas along the coast, governors across the region declared states of emergency, and federal officials issued urgent warnings for people to prepare, saying that the storm’s impact would stretch inland all the way to the Ohio Valley. While computer tracking models showed the center of Hurricane Sandy likely to make landfall late Monday evening or early Tuesday, the director of the National Hurricane Center, Rick Knabb, said that the weather was expected to worsen well before then, with high winds and heavy rains starting to batter the region as early as Sunday night. The exact path of the storm remained unclear, complicating preparation efforts. Federal officials, in a briefing with reporters on Saturday afternoon, said they could not say for certain where the impact would be the worst — only that it would be major. More than 60,000 National Guard troops in nine states were ready to assist the local authorities.”
The Washington Post reports: “Confidence is now high that the monstrous and menacing Hurricane Sandy will bring serious to severe wind and rain to the Washington, D.C. metro region. At this point there are essentially two scenarios for the area: a worst case scenario (less likely) and a very bad scenario (more likely) — but the differences between the scenarios are not significant for most of us….The worst of the storm will hit Monday into Tuesday. There will be a prolonged period of strong winds, potentially sustained at 25-45 mph, with gusts to 45-60 mph (likely higher east of the Chesapeake Bay) for a period of 12 hours or more during the height of the storm. Power outages are likely. Rainfall totals of at least 3-6” are a good bet. Flood prone areas are likely to flood. Start preparing now.”
“Forget distinctions like tropical storm or hurricane,” advises The Weather Channel. “Don’t get fixated on a particular track. Wherever it hits, the rare behemoth storm inexorably gathering in the eastern U.S. will afflict a third of the country with sheets of rain, high winds and heavy snow, say officials who warned millions in coastal areas to get out of the way. Hurricane Sandy, moving north from the Caribbean, remained a Category 1 hurricane Saturday evening, and was expected to make landfall Monday night near the Delaware coast.”
“‘Do not focus on the intensity of the storm, it is a minimal Category 1 hurricane right now, but certainly nothing like any category1 that we have seen,’ said Hurricane Specialist Carl Parker on The Weather Channel. ‘It is a very large storm, a hybrid storm, the area of strong winds is going to be absolutely enormous by the time it come into the northeast, and that’s why it is going to be a high-impact system.’ Sandy is expected to interact with a pair of winter weather systems as it moves inland, becoming a monster storm bringing nearly a foot of rain, high winds and up to two feet of snow. Experts said the storm would be wider and stronger than last year’s Irene, which caused more than $15 billion in damage, and could rival the worst East Coast storm on record. Officials did not mince words, telling people to be prepared for several days without electricity. Jersey Shore beach towns began issuing voluntary evacuations and protecting boardwalks. Atlantic City casinos made contingency plans to close, and officials advised residents of flood-prone areas to stay with family or be ready to leave. Airlines said to expect cancellations and waived change fees for passengers who want to reschedule.”
>> MY SPIRITUAL JOURNEY: How my parents & I came to faith in Jesus Christ.
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