Dear David:

The recent earthquake and Tsunamis were natural disasters. While God may use the events of natural disasters to get our attention, He does not cause them.

Death, illness, natural disasters are all what is called "material evils." God does not perpetrate material evil. Material evil is a result of the Fall (original sin), consequence of personal sin and free will, and natural events.

God, however, has the right to "zap" us if He wishes according to His justice, but when that happens He announces such events (i.e., the Flood, Sodom & Gomorrah) or uses mankind to administer His justice (i.e. Israel directed to smite the Caanites). These events do not "just happen" but are specifically announced by God as a particular consequence for particular sins of mankind.

The prophecies of the "end times" that speak of plagues and earthquakes and the like are not of the same character as the Flood or Sodom & Gomorrah. Rather God knows, of course, all things. He knows when certain events will happen in Salvation History. His telling us that certain events in Salvation History will have natural disasters precede those events is merely allowing us to see the road signs.

If we know the bridge is washed out down the road and there is a road sign 500 feet before the bridge that says "Marytown 50 miles", we will tell people to look for that road sign that when they see that road sign they need to take the right fork in the road to avoid the washed out bridge. The bridge being out did not cause the road sign to be there, the sign was already there and makes a good marker to guide people to avoid the bridge.

In like manner, the natural disasters are natural, but may be a sign that we need to take a different road in our lives.

This pertains to the natural disasters predicted in the Bible concerning the end days. The other and most likely possibility for the Tsunamis is that they "just happened" in the normal course of the earth's geology without any significance to eschatology. Nevertheless, the fact of a natural disaster happening can awaken in the human person the need for God. And for this we pray to be true.

But did God specifically "zap" the people in that region? I do not think so; God does not perpetrate material evil. It was a natural disaster and nothing more.

God Bless,
Bro. Ignatius Mary