Will You Heed the Warning?

ON May 19, 1997, a cyclone swept through the district of Chittagong, Bangladesh. Winds approaching 150 miles per hour [250 km/hr] were recorded in the town of Cox Bazaar. In rural areas, thatched huts simply disappeared, leaving small mud squares where they once stood. Trees and telegraph poles were uprooted; others were snapped in half like matchsticks. A headline in the Bhorar Kagoj newspaper reported that 105 people were killed by the cyclone.

The weather service broadcast the storm’s approximate path some 36 hours in advance. Doubtless, many lives were saved as hundreds of thousands of people took refuge in concrete cyclone shelters.

For over a hundred years now, Jehovah’s Witnesses have been broadcasting news of an impending cataclysm that will be far more destructive than any cyclone. The Bible calls it “the great and fear-inspiring day of Jehovah.” (Joel 2:31) By heeding the prophetic messages of warning found in the Bible, we may escape its fury.—Zephaniah 2:2, 3.

No, Jehovah’s Witnesses are not prophets of doom. Theirs is a message of hope. They desire to help people learn about God’s Kingdom, which will soon rid the earth of all unrighteousness. God’s Word, the Bible, tells us: “Just a little while longer, and the wicked one will be no more; and you will certainly give attention to his place, and he will not be. But the meek ones themselves will possess the earth, and they will indeed find their exquisite delight in the abundance of peace.”—Psalm 37:10, 11.

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WHO/League of Red Cross