I had an interesting, yet saddening realization this morning.

I was reading the death toll on the earthquake, which is now up to 356 as per recent news articles. And as I was reading it, this verse popped up in my head:

Exodus 22: If a man steals an ox or a sheep, and kills it or sells it, he shall repay five oxen for an ox, and four sheep for a sheep. If a thief is found breaking in and is struck so that he dies, there shall be no bloodguilt for him, but if the sun has risen on him, there shall be bloodguilt for him. He shall surely pay. If he has nothing, then he shall be sold for his theft. If the stolen beast is found alive in his possession, whether it is an ox or a donkey or a sheep, he shall pay double.

And then, of course, my thought immediately went to the focus of the Church bombing victims and I just HAD to look up the recent death toll to see what that was. So far it is 85. It is still way to early to know the exact death toll as some may still be fighting for life at this moment.

I know that a bombing is not a theft per se, but since these are Christians, they aren't "dead." They have been "stolen" from the earth, and it is interesting that Jesus calls us His "sheep." I am not saying that God indeed punished Pakistan for the Church bombings, as I do not know God's mind, but it is very interesting that only a couple days after the bombing, roughly 4x's the amount of "stolen Christians" perish in an "act of God" (i.e. the earthquake). Also, I may be wrong, and correct me if I am, but in biblical days, when they would say "beware of the 3rd day", etc, that the same day was counted as day one. If that is true, the day of the bombing would be day 1 (Sunday Sept 22), Monday would be day 2, and Tues (Sept 24) would be the third day.

I would take this as a sign that God is getting pretty fed up with the world and that He is ready to avenge His people. May God have mercy on us all!