The Sumatran Tsunami

It's difficult to summarize the horror of an event that has killed at least 100,000 -- and counting -- across the shores of the Indian Ocean. We've been putting off commentary for a couple of days. Oh, why not admit it, we've been on "holiday" for longer than that, but the 9.2 quake and tsunami caused more delay ... what to say? Prayer seemed the better answer.

There are reasons why all citizens on this planet should contemplate this disaster and its physical, geopolitical and spiritual ramifications. First, the obvious:

Americans will respond in charity and kindness to the great physical needs of the victims of the region. We always have and there is no reason to believe that we will not do so again. The idiot director of disaster relief for the U.N. (we'll kindly not mention his name) has no clue as to the American character, the American system, or the American anger he has triggered. We believe the U.S. people will not take their anger out on the victims but in due course will deal with the excreble United Nations as is merited.

We are pleased that President Bush has created the nucleus of a disaster response coalition, including Australia, India and Japan, that will see that our governmental aid efforts are not siphoned off by the thieves in the rathole known as the U.N. Of course he will be accused of "uni-lateralism" (strangely enough) by the one-worlders at home and abroad. So what? Let the U.N. salvage something of its integrity by showing us how it spends the donations of other nations on this disaster, if it can. Let it prove itself worthy in one final crucial test, but with other people's money. Let our aid go where it is needed.

Before discussing the spiritual aspects of this world crisis, consider that:

• This Christmas Quake/Tsunami event comes one year to the hour of the deadly quake in Bam, Iran. There is a difference of 58 minutes.
• This event comes forty years after the Good Friday Quake/Tsunami in Alaska in 1964.
• Sri Lankan officials are reporting that very few animals were killed by the walls of waves that killed tens of thousands of people.

These observations could, of course, be coincidences. But in the light of certain private prophecies and revelations reported over the past 15 years there exists one possibility that you will not see in the mainstream media: the Sumatran quake/tsunami could be part of a larger event of natural disasters that is increasing in strength and frequency as part of a spiritual transition time for humanity. Could it be that a chastisement of modern humanity is beginning, a temporal punishment that is the result of an ever increasing distance between the world at large and the precepts of God?

"We know that all creation is groaning in labor pains even until now," Saint Paul wrote to the Roman Christians of his time (Romans 8:22), explaining that creation itself awaits a time of fulfillment and cleansing from corruption, a restoration of the divine order.

The late Maria Esperanza of Betania, Venezuela, a Catholic visionary who foresaw the events of 9-11 and other dramatic occurrences, warned before her death last August that the earth's core "is not in balance." She saw 2004 as the start of a series of events that, though horrific, will eventually lead to greater spiritual harmony and human happiness. She died just as Florida was subjected to a record four hurricanes. (For more information you should visit author Michael Brown's commentary on his website Spirit Daily.)

Last night LA County experienced a tornado alert. The United States saw a new record for tornados this year. Mount Saint Helens is under a category 2 alert as the lava dome ominously continues to build. The geothermal undercurrents of Yellowstone, itself on a massive supervolcano, continue to get warmer and warmer, puzzling scientists. Strange as-yet-unexplained "booms" frazzle the nerves of residents in parts of West Virginia and Ohio. Sunspot activity -- which should've been on the decrease -- inexplicably shot up to record levels in October, favoring the planet with magnificent displays of the aurora borealis. New reports from scientists show that global warming may largely be due to increased solar thermal output, not from human activity.

All this is noted. Also noted is that cloning experiments advance world-wide. Barely a dent is made in the abortion rate. The euthanasia debate is being lost by the pro-life movement as the culture of death refuses to wait on courts and legislatures to rule. Gay marriage has gained a solid foothold in parts of the world and traditional marriage is under attack in the West. Pornography remains one of the top exports of American culture, and all of this earns the emnity of fundamentalist Muslims who already fear and resent "the great Satan" of the West.

Israel is isolated as never before in the world community with but a handful of nations, America foremost among them, still claiming her as a friend. Yet within the U.S. there are those who are pushing our government to reverse course, to turn away from Israel. Meanwhile we attempt to build a democracy in Iraq, an effort that serves as a lightning rod to attract the anti-American, anti-democratic cream of the Islamic terrorist crop. This could be a brilliant strategy to draw our enemies into the open where we can let our professionals deal with them, rather than our civilians at home (and this is our personal view). It may also be a campaign so dangerously frought with unanticipated consequences that the American people may lose the will to continue, especially with the liberal left and MSM allied against the policy. In truth it is both.

The prudent man or woman must weigh all these events and conditions carefully and prayerfully. The world seems to be at a time pregnant with possibilities, and from the point of view of traditional morality, the possibilities are not generally not welcome ones. If you believe that prayer is a greater weapon for good than the mightiest of armies and the most forceful of government policies, then by all means this is a time that calls for prayer.

Other than contributing to disaster relief, it is the only true solution available.