The Storm Demons

Pacific Press Publishing Association · Mountain View, California · Apr 8, 1913

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 40, No. 14.

THE past few weeks has given us a regular epidemic of storms of almost every variety. On March 13, tornadoes raged through five or more of the Southern States. Thirty-three persons are reported to have been killed, and thousands upon thousands of dollars worth of property was destroyed. The wreckage of this disaster was not cleared away when the storm of March 21 swept from the Gulf of Mexico to the northern lakes, destroying life and property all along its path. Then this was followed by the awful tornadoes of Sunday evening, March 23, that had their destructive center in Omaha, but which swept other portions of Nebraska, as well as visiting ruin in Iowa, Illinois, and Indiana. On March 25, Ohio and Indiana are the storm center of a flood that is, in its toll of death and destruction, one of the most appalling on record. And while the flood and the wind were doing their damage on this last date, a tornado in Terre Haute, Indiana, was doing its terrible work amidst the people who had not recovered from the one that had visited them on the 23d, in which 20 had lost their lives and 250 had been injured. And on the same date (March 25), another tornado was doing its whirling work of destruction in the neighborhood of Leslie, Arkansas.

This covers a period of only twelve days; but during that time, the thousands that have been killed, and the millions of dollars worth of property that has been destroyed, place these storms among the most disastrous on record. There can be no question but disasters by storm and flood are alarmingly on the increase. There are some who will try to deny this; but those of us who have reached the age of fifty or more, know better. Forty years ago, tornadoes were of very rare occurrence, and then they were mostly in Kansas, Nebraska, and states in that section of the country. It was said when these tornadoes began to attract attention in Kansas and Nebraska, that they had always raged in that section, but we had not known of it, for the country had not been settled, and hence there was no one there to report them. Furthermore it was affirmed that these storms could not occur except in the heated season of the summer, as that was the time of year to which they at first seemed to be confined. But as the years have gone on, the tornado has greatly enlarged its field of operation, until a large part of the world has seen its visits. It has gone to sections of the world which were at first affirmed to be immune from its ravages. And not only has it extended its operations in this way, but it is no longer confining itself to the heated season of the summer. The early spring and even the winter-time are now witnessing the deadly tornado. These frightful storms do not seem to have much respect for the scientific theories that have been put forth concerning them.

Scientific men seek to find the reason for these things, and most of them have their theories. But none of the opinions offered furnish any protection from the destruction of the demon-whirl of the tornado. No theories can save us from the earthquake or the flood, and yet we know that all these things are marvelously on the increase, and they are growing more and more destructive.

The readers of this paper know that for more than a third of a century we have been saying that these things were coming and that they would grow worse and worse. We are even now only in the beginnings of them. We do not say this as the result of any scientific investigations, but on the definite statements of the prophetic word of God. In early issues we will have more to say upon this subject, and will give again some of the scriptures that we have quoted from time to time during these years, upon the question of storms and destructions that answer to the predictions of the Word. And in the meantime, let the reader be assured that while man has no protection to offer from these overshadowing calamities, yet our divine Father does have a harbor in which we may find rest from the dread and fear occasioned by what is coming — a dread and fear that with many is almost as bad as death itself.

An exchange, not long ago, speaking of a certain territory in the West where cattle and stock of various kinds were dying, tells us that the remedy in such cases is to kill them as fast as possible and hurry them to the Chicago markets. It might be well if some of our diseased-meat dealers were treated as they were in England in the sixteenth century. It is said that a butcher who had sold diseased meat was forced to ride about London with 'his face toward the horse's tail with a half a lamb before and another behind, and a veal and a calf borne before him upon a pole raw.' Men who sold decaying fish were put into the pillory — with the decaying fish tied around their necks. The punishment was horrible, but even then it would seem as tho it were better to have the decaying fish on the outside than on the inside.