Over five hundred active volcanoes are known throughout the world.  When they erupt, hot magma from underneath the earth's crust spews into the atmosphere in a form of lava.  Noxious gases, dust and rocks often accompany it.  Occasionally, if a volcano overheats large quantities of water, landslides and huge mud flows can also occur.

Two thirds of the earth's volcanoes occur along the Pacific rim.  In August 1883, a small volcanic island in Indonesia exploded with a roar that could be heard three thousand miles away.  It hurled rocks so high into the air, that they fell over an area of three hundred thousand square miles.  The shock from the explosion travelled around the world several times.

Volcanoes can lie dormant for centuries, and then come roaring back to life.  Mount St. Helens in Washington State which had been dormant since 1854, suddenly erupted on May 18th 1980.

When thick clouds of red hot gases pour down on populated areas, deaths can be almost instantaneous.  In 1902 when Mount Pelee on the island of Martinique erupted, 38,000 people were asphyxiated in three minutes.  The only survivor was a criminal in an underground prison, who would have been hanged that very day!

So next time you're near the rim of an active volcano, remember, it may not always give advance warning of its plans to erupt.

MOVING BEYOND MATTER
by Ron Hughes

If you've ever seen a lava flow, you'll never forget it.  Some volcanoes sputter away for weeks before finally exploding into full-blown eruption.  While these can be devastating, there is usually little loss of life.  The really dangerous ones are those that hold all of their pent-up energy in deceptive stillness before bursting out with lethal force.

Volcanoes aren't the only dangers which can lurk unnoticed for years before killing the unsuspecting.  Many substances which are dangerously addictive give users the sense that they are in control and that any fear is alarmist.  Then, suddenly, it's too late.  

Sometimes, of course, there are danger signs and we just refuse to pay attention.  Yet each day, preventable deaths will occur simply because someone didn't take the warning signs seriously or thought they could beat the odds.

In the spiritual realm, it is even more common for people to risk their well-being than in the physical.  That is because the dangers are less obvious and the consequences are often slower in coming.  No doubt, we would all like to think that there are no long-term negative consequences of our behaviour, but many of us have observed that the effects of our attitudes and behaviours early in life dog us to the end.  Sometimes , it seems we can avoid the consequences entirely throughout our natural physical life.  But, does that mean that we are off scot-free?

The Bible offers us an answer: "No."  Principles of sowing and reaping are applied to the spiritual realm to help us understand the accountability system in which we all find ourselves.  Once we pass from this natural life we will reap the consequences of our lives.  If we have chosen to live our physical lives as if there were no God, we will experience eternity without God.  On the other hand, if in our time on Earth we have come to know God and willingly moved toward Him, well, we will experience God for eternity.