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Events Foretold for Our DayThe Watchtower—2008 | October 1
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Massive Earthquakes. Jesus said: “There will be great earthquakes.” (Luke 21:11) If it seems to you that now more people than ever before are affected by earthquakes, you are correct. “Suddenly we are seeing a spurt in seismic activity globally,” observed Indian seismologist R. K. Chadha in 2007. “Nobody knows why.” Moreover, rapid population growth in areas prone to earthquakes has increased the toll of these disasters. The earthquake that struck the Indian Ocean in 2004 and the tsunami that followed made that year the “deadliest in nearly 500 years for earthquakes” and “the second most fatal in recorded history,” according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
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Events Foretold for Our DayThe Watchtower—2008 | October 1
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Intractable Disease. “There will be . . . pestilences,” Jesus foretold. (Luke 21:11) Around the globe, illnesses old and new sicken ever greater numbers, and hoped-for remedies are proving elusive. For instance, international goals to eradicate malaria have had to be scaled back repeatedly as the disease continues to defy human control. In addition, millions are killed by old diseases, including tuberculosis (TB), now operating in tandem with AIDS and other new diseases. “One-third of the world’s population is currently infected with the TB bacillus,” reports the World Health Organization. The organization also notes that HIV is contributing to the TB epidemics in many countries. Every second, another person is infected with TB, and TB is developing greater resistance to drug treatment. In 2007 a patient in Europe was diagnosed with TB that was “invulnerable to every single drug we have,” reported New Scientist magazine.
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