The shock and horror of killer tornadoes devastating western Kentucky and seven other U.S. states continues to stun the watching world. As of this writing, the twisters are being blamed for at least 90 deaths [1], and the total is climbing. According to Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear, 109 of his state’s residents remain unaccounted for [2]. One two-month-old infant from Dawson, Kentucky, has died from injuries sustained during the storm [3].
Hearts everywhere have been warmed by reports of neighbors helping neighbors in the wake of the disaster, and folks taking total strangers into their homes for shelter and comfort. The pastor of the First United Methodist Church in Mayfield, Kentucky, hid with his wife inside their church while the storm passed and they prayed for protection [4]. While the church sanctuary was reduced to a jumble of bricks, pews, and organ pipes, the main structure is still standing [5].
CNN has reported: “This is the deadliest tornado day in December on record” [6]. Within the past several days two tornadoes have also been reported in Minnesota, the first such storms ever confirmed in that state during the month of December [7].
Tornadoes in Prophecy
Our prayers, tears, and sympathy go out to the thousands of sufferers in each of the affected states. The Kentucky-Tennessee Conference of Seventh-day Adventists has called for prayers, volunteers, and donations in the wake of the tragedy [8], and is already sending supplies to the impacted areas [9].
At the same time, events of this nature cannot but remind us of where we are in the stream of prophetic and sacred history. The following Ellen White statements speak of how tornadoes in particular will increase in frequency and intensity as we near the close of time:
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 The Spirit of God is being withdrawn.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 [10].
Even now he (Satan) is at work. In accidents and calamities by sea and by land, in great conflagrations, in fierce tornadoes and terrific hailstorms, in tempests, floods, cyclones, tidal waves, and earthquakes, in every place and in a thousand forms, Satan is exercising his power. He sweeps away the ripening harvest, and famine and distress follow. He imparts to the air a deadly taint, and thousands perish by the pestilence. These visitations are to become more and more frequent and disastrous [11].
Notice that while Satan is depicted in the above statement as the cause of these calamities, God still employs them as a means of awakening human minds and hearts to a sense of their spiritual peril. While our hearts break with sympathy for those impacted by the recent tornadoes, the silver lining to which we point seekers for truth is that such disasters represent signs of our Lord’s soon coming, the footsteps of an approaching God.
Whatever sadness such events instill within us. we must keep in mind that Jesus encouraged His disciples to rejoice—even in the midst of sorrow—when such developments occur, because of the glorious finale of history they betoken. In the Gospel of Luke He declared, speaking of the prophesied portents of His coming:
And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads, for your redemption draweth nigh (Luke 21:28).
In this time of terrible need for our friends in the states impacted by the tornadoes, let us do all we can to relieve their pain, offer them comfort, and supply their material as well as their spiritual needs. Let us pray for their solace in these moments of terrible loss. But let us also pray for opportune moments in which we can share with these grieving souls the glorious news that such calamities bespeak the end of sin and horror, that our precious Savior will soon appear in the clouds to take home all who prepare, by His grace, to meet Him in peace (II Peter 3:10-14).
REFERENCES
1. “Tornado, storm death toll at 90 after Ky teen’s body found,” AP News, Dec. 16, 2021 https://apnews.com/article/tornadoes-kentucky-storms-bowling-green-044a981df3bc62eb487c764d2146f20e
2. Alanne Orjoux, Carroll Alvarado, and Amanda Jackson, “Family confirms the death of their two-year-old as death toll from the tornado in Kentucky climbs,” CNN, Dec. 14, 2021 https://www.cnn.com/2021/12/12/us/victims-deadly-tornadoes-kentucky-illinois/index.html
3. Ibid.
4. “Pastor, wife were inside 100-year-old Mayfield church as it was destroyed by tornado,” WLKY, Dec. 13, 2021 https://www.wlky.com/article/pastor-wife-100-year-old-mayfield-destroyed-tornado/38506654#
5. Ibid.
6. Orjoux, Alvarado, and Jackson, “Family confirms the death of their two-year-old as death toll from the tornado in Kentucky climbs,” CNN, Dec. 14, 2021 https://www.cnn.com/2021/12/12/us/victims-deadly-tornadoes-kentucky-illinois/index.html
7. Tim Nelson and Hannah Yang, “Historic’ southern Minnesota storm: Two tornadoes confirmed, damage surveys continue,” MPR News, Dec. 16, 2021 https://www.mprnews.org/story/2021/12/16/storm-damage-surveys-begin-in-southern-minnesota
8. https://www.facebook.com/kytnsda/
9. Ibid.
10. Ellen G. White, Prophets and Kings, p. 277.
11. ----The Great Controversy, pp. 589-590.
Pastor Kevin Paulson holds a Bachelor’s degree in theology from Pacific Union College, a Master of Arts in systematic theology from Loma Linda University, and a Master of Divinity from the SDA Theological Seminary at Andrews University. He served the Greater New York Conference of Seventh-day Adventists for ten years as a Bible instructor, evangelist, and local pastor. He writes regularly for Liberty magazine and does script writing for various evangelistic ministries within the denomination. He continues to hold evangelistic and revival meetings throughout the North American Division and beyond, and is a sought-after seminar speaker relative to current issues in the Seventh-day Adventist Church. He presently resides in Berrien Springs, Michigan