lightning

Lightning hits SUV as it is driving

Posted on September 24, 2012May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

This is one lucky driver. A driver of the SUV is apparently OK after a lightning bolt hit his vehicle directly. It happened so suddenly!

Our very lives on earth could be over that quickly! Or, the rapture could happen that fast! Look at these verses at supernatural things that happened suddenly:

“But evil shall come upon you, which you will not know how to charm away; disaster shall fall upon you, for which you will not be able to atone; and ruin shall come upon you suddenly, of which you know nothing.” (Isaiah 47:11)

“While people are saying, “Peace and safety,” destruction will come on them suddenly, as labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.” (1 Thessalonians 5:3)

At the Mount of Transfiguration-
“And suddenly Moses and Elijah appeared to them conversing with Him.” (Matthew 17:3)

“Suddenly, there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly army praising God, and saying,” (Luke 2:13)

“When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught Philip away, and the eunuch didn’t see him any more, for he went on his way rejoicing.” (Acts 8:39)

“And passing through the first ward and the second, they came to the iron gate leading into the city. This opened to them of itself; and, going out, they passed on through one of the streets, and then suddenly the angel left him.” (Acts 12:10)

“And Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, saying, “I will; be clean.” And immediately his leprosy was cleansed.” (Matthew 8:3)

When God purposes to do something it happens suddenly.

Babylon fell in one night. (Daniel 5:30-31)

In modern times, “less than five years after Gorbachev took power, the Soviet imperium in central and Eastern Europe had fallen apart, followed by the Soviet Union itself in 1991. If ever an empire fell off a cliff — rather than gently declining — it was the one founded by Lenin.” (“Complexity and Collapse: Empires on the Edge of Chaos” by Niall Ferguson.)

And what of the United States? Could a lightning bolt hit us and we collapse just as suddenly as the former empires? Some say that the US has been in collapse for four years and that all it would take is one tiny push to get us over the edge. Ferguson goes on in his 2010 piece to say:

“OVER THE EDGE”
“If empires are complex systems that sooner or later succumb to sudden and catastrophic malfunctions, rather than cycling sedately from Arcadia to Apogee to Armageddon, what are the implications for the United States today? First, debating the stages of decline may be a waste of time — it is a precipitous and unexpected fall that should most concern policymakers and citizens. Second, most imperial falls are associated with fiscal crises. All the above cases were marked by sharp imbalances between revenues and expenditures, as well as difficulties with financing public debt. Alarm bells should therefore be ringing very loudly…”

And Mr Ferguson wrote that two years ago, in 2010.

He continues with a reminder

“that empires do not in fact appear, rise, reign, decline, and fall according to some recurrent and predictable life cycle. It is historians who retrospectively portray the process of imperial dissolution as slow-acting, with multiple overdetermining causes. Rather, empires behave like all complex adaptive systems. They function in apparent equilibrium for some unknowable period. And then, quite abruptly, they collapse. To return to the terminology of Thomas Cole, the painter of The Course of Empire, the shift from consummation to destruction and then to desolation is not cyclical. It is sudden.”

That series of paintings by Thomas Cole is called The Course of Empire. The five-part series of paintings were completed by Cole during the years 1833-36. Wiki explains, “It is notable in part for reflecting popular American sentiments of the times, when many saw pastoralism as the ideal phase of human civilization, fearing that empire would lead to gluttony and inevitable decay.” I gotta say, they were right. The paintings are truly remarkable in the way they illustrate the lightning bolt suddenness and chaos of collapse. The are titled: “The Savage State”, “The Pastoral State”, “The Consummation of Empire”, “Destruction”, “Desolation.”

Jesus said people would be going about a normal life and caught unaware of the sudden changes. “But watch yourselves lest your hearts be weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and cares of this life, and that day come upon you suddenly like a trap. 35For it will come upon all who dwell on the face of the whole earth.” (Luke 21:34-35).

Suddenly as that lightning bolt! Are you ready?

end time, judgment, lightning

48 years apart: Lightning strikes kill dad, son

Posted on July 15, 2011 by elizabethprata

It might be time to review what God has to say about lightning…

A story out of NJ today:

“HAMMONTON, N.J. – July 14, 2011 (WPVI) — The story seems almost unbelievable, but the bark blown off an old sycamore tree is a reminder this tragedy is all too real. It was in a Hammonton backyard that 54-year-old Stephen Rooney was struck by lightning at a family barbeque July 3rd as he stepped away from the crowd to light a cigar. The party host, Rooney’s cousin and next door neighbor, Funzi Digerolamo, says a giant bolt shook the yard. “Hit the tree, went up the tree. It electrified all through the root system of the tree at that time so he was standing right in the electric field,” Digerolamo said. Digerolamo’s son Scott was blown right off a bench, but survived. Steve Rooney died five days later.”

“Just before he was hit, Rooney downplayed concerns about the lightning. “He had just said that lightning doesn’t strike two people in one family right before it happened, not long before it happened, he said that,” neighbor Paula Weisbecker said. Lightning is not supposed to strike twice, but in this case it did.”

“Steve Rooney’s father George was also killed by lightning 48 years ago when Steve was just a 5-year-old boy. The odds of this happening to a father and son are astronomical. Everyone is stunned that a bolt of lightning could claim them both, almost 5 decades apart.”

18 Children killed in lightning strike

Posted on June 29, 2011 by elizabethprata

Lightning kills 18 kids at primary school
“A LIGHTNING strike at a primary school in western Uganda has killed 18 students and injured 50. Lightning hit Runyanya primary school in Kiryandongo district, about 225km northwest of Kampala, killing 15 girls and three boys yesterday, police spokeswoman Judith Nabakooba said. “The injured were taken to hospital nearby and 15 of those who were seriously injured were transferred to Mulago hospital,” in Kampala, Nabakooba said. Local media reported that a further 21 pupils were burned after lightning struck at a second school in Zombo district, about 380km north of Kampala. Police could not confirm the incident. Nabakooba could not provide an exact figure for the total number killed by lightning in recent weeks, but local newspaper The Daily Monitor reported a total of 28 killed and scores injured in the past week, including Tuesday’s incidents. Uganda is experiencing unseasonably heavy rainstorms and concern about the number of recent lightning strikes has prompted lawmakers to demand an official explanation from government.”

In this article, though it is stated that lightning strikes are common in that locality, the fact that so many had occurred at once shook the town leaders:

“The lightning hit the victims in a classroom at a school in Kiryandongo, 130 miles north of Kampala, police said. Another 38 children were admitted to hospital. The East African country has suffered a wave of fatal lightning strikes in recent weeks during unseasonably heavy rains. The deaths were debated in parliament on Monday, with MPs calling on the government to come up with strategy to deal with what several termed “a crisis”. “I don’t know which minister is in charge of the lightning but let the government come up with a statement to inform the country on what is going on and how we can manage it,” Speaker Rebecca Kadaga said. Local meteorologists have criticized the government for not providing enough lightning conductors for buildings in storm hotspots. “The 19 were killed in single lightning strike on Monday,” a police spokesman said. “They were ready to leave school but there was a heavy downpour and so they sheltered in the classroom and then, all of a sudden, it struck.”

In early June, a lightning strike at Camp Shelby in Mississippi sent 77 cadets to the hospital. Lightning has been busy lately. Similar lightning strikes have occurred in Northern Nigeria, also. “15 killed by Nigeria lightning“

I was heartbroken to read that it was children who were killed, and shocked to see that they had been inside a structure. However, I was not surprised to see the reaction of man, that a ‘natural’ event had to be managed or even could be managed.

In The Language of God series, I wrote about lightning. You can read that essay here, with scriptures and my interpretation of what lightning strikes may mean. Meanwhile, we can also pray for the families of the little ones taken from earth. I can’t imagine the horror and sorrow of the families who learned that eighteen of their children had been killed. In the US, 18 children comprise an entire classroom. Imagine what the headlines would be if a bus filled with children slid off a bridge, killing the kids on board! Or if there had been a fire, or a shooting, or similar tragedy where so many children had lost their loves! It is terrible.

But worse is the response of man. To make statements that lightning must be managed, to refer to man’s strength instead of Jesus’ mercy, is a worse state of mind and heart. We know that soon, after the rapture, the ‘natural’ events will not be able to be explained. Until then, brothers and sisters, remain strong and sure of His calling and election in your life, and witness through that strength. Peace and calm He gave to us and in addition, He gave us the Spirit, salvation, and an eternal blessing to dwell with Him. I look to and through and beyond the events like the Ugandan lightning strike, to His hands who holds the lightning bolts, and count my blessing He calls us friend.
Tweet http://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js http://www.facebook.com/widgets/like.php?href=http://the-end-time.blogspot.com/2011/06/18-children-killed-in-lightning-strike.html

http://s7.addthis.com/js/250/addthis_widget.js#pubid=xa-4df8df7d18b59150

end time, lightning, parthenon, prophecy

A little more about lightning

Posted on June 29, 2010May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

I’d written about how lightning is part of God’s vocabulary to a fallen world, here and here. Lightning is a fascinating natural event, and a highly dangerous one. This is the season for lightning strikes, as we have seen dramatically with the bolt hitting the Touchdown Jesus in Ohio

and the triple bolts that hit three skyscrapers simultaneously in Chicago the other day:

and last night’s hit on the Parthenon in Greece:

Of course, the caption doesn’t help matters any: “Hammer of Zeus: A flash of lightning illuminates the sky over the 2,500-year-old Ancient Parthenon temple, at the Acropolis hill during a heavy rainfall in Athens early this morning.”

“Hammer of Zeus” indeed. The article below talks about lightning’s power, and it is a powerful phenomenon on earth, more powerful than hurricanes and tornadoes, because of the contained energy inside a bolt. And to think, “He covers His hands with the lightning, And commands it to strike the mark.” (Job 36:32)

“A Striking Presence”
“It’s five times hotter than the surface of the sun, and it travels about 93,000 miles per second. Perhaps surprising to some, lightning is the second leading cause of storm-related deaths in the U.S. – exceeded only by floods. Right now is the most dangerous time, as June and July often have the highest frequency of lightning-related deaths, according to data from the National Weather Service.”

Here is a chart of fatalities thus far in 2010 from the National Weather Service. It may seem counter-intuitive, but seeking safety from lighting outdoors you are better off in the open, rather than under a tree. One of the ten deaths so far this year was a gentleman in Indiana sheltering under a tree. And it goes without saying that if you are on a golf course, dispense with metal clubs or gardening tools. Squatting on the balls of your feet is best, because it minimizes your contact with the ground and reduces your height. This link brings you to other outdoor risk reduction tips.

The Tribulation ends with lightning. At the last bowl the angel pours out the bowl containing lightning, thunder, rumblings, and a tremendous earthquake.

The seventh angel poured out his bowl into the air, and out of the temple came a loud voice from the throne, saying, “It is done!” Then there came flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder and a severe earthquake. No earthquake like it has ever occurred since man has been on earth, so tremendous was the quake. (Rev 16:17-18)

Lightning accompanied the giving of the Ten Commandments…

When the people saw the thunder and lightning and heard the trumpet and saw the mountain in smoke, they trembled with fear. They stayed at a distance and said to Moses, “Speak to us yourself and we will listen. But do not have God speak to us or we will die.” (Exodus 20: 18-19)

This speaks to something that is missing today: listening. God is and was and always will be the same. Lightning is used as a description of His appearance. He also sends lightning as a sign, as in the Exodus passage, and the people understand it. They acknowledge it as a sign of His awesome and fear-inducing presence and beg to have Moses speak for God to them instead of enduring the holy and incredible voice themselves. We don’t listen to Him in that way any more in this day and age. One reason, of course, is that we have the Holy Spirit in us, and we have the bible to listen to. But He still speaks to the lost in these ancient ways, and declared it so:

The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse. (Romans 1:18-20)

A “bolt from the blue” means no one expects lighting when there is blue sky. It is a complete surprise. At least it was to this man, who was outside, there was no thunder and no rain, yet a bolt from the blue hit his arm as he worked on a fence. The earliest citation of this phrase is Thomas Carlyle, in The French Revolution, 1837:

“Arrestment, sudden reality as a bolt out of the Blue, has hit strange victims.”

Cinematic depictions of lighting bolts notwithstanding, when you see lightning, see God’s power. I hope that when you see lightning, the suddenness of the knowledge of God’s presence on earth and His power to love hits you and hits you hard. But also see within that power, an infinite love. He loves you, He knows you, and He wants you.