"...THEREFORE this iniquity shall be to you as a breach ready to fall, swelling out in a high wall, whose breaking cometh suddenly at an instant." (Isaiah 30:13)
It is clear from the above scripture in Isaiah that the dramatic end-time events are prophesied to suddenly overtake the world. But why is this? The answer lies in the word "therefore" in verse 13 – for that word is preceded by a spiritual analysis of our twisted society's condition:
God is fully aware of modern-day Israel's failings and rest assured, there will come a point in time when He will step in and act – decisively! "I have long time holden my peace; I have been still, and refrained myself: now will I cry like a travailing woman; I will destroy and devour at once. (Isaiah 42:14) Yet for most in society – who refuse to recognise the spiritual signs of the times which preceed His direct involvement – it will be entirely unexpected.
We understand that God has blinded the majority of mankind to His Plan – but not to the basic morality that anyone should be able to comprehend. As the apostle Paul brought out in the first chapter of Romans: "Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them" (Romans 1:32)
This blatent rejection results in a lack of spiritual understanding, which inexorably befuddles the mind. This reprobate mind - "one void of judgment" – is taken totally by surprise by the apparent suddenness when calamity strikes. And this fact is further elaborated on by Paul – showing a distinct difference in the analytical ability of the unconverted as opposed to those with the spirit of God, who are able to determine the spiritual basis of what they see happening around them. Something to which the world in general is oblivious:
By way of emphasis, we would be wise to pay careful attention to what Mr Armstrong guided us to focus on and watch for. He highlighted the need to be very carefully watching not merely for key physical events, important though they are, but to be keenly aware of the corrupt spiritual condition within society that will precede the events themselves. This he clearly indicated when he relayed what Roger Babson said regarding the looming depression of the 1920s:
Mr. Babson said he had learned that when 51 percent or more of the people were righteous in their dealings with one another, prosperity was just ahead. But when 51 percent or more of the people were unrighteous in their dealings, economic depression was coming. (Coworker letter 20 Jan 1983)
Note that Mr Babson was NOT part of God's elect in passing on this critical spiritual observation. He did so as a normal carnal human being. His words therefore about righteousness cover goodness at a very fundamental human level. And although he applies what he says to an economic situation, the identical principle can rightly be applied to our society as a whole. When we need to determine where a society is going – and particularly a government leading that society – we need to look at the spiritual condition of those in charge. What is the focus, the "centre of interest or attention"? Is it an honest focus? Is it a righteous focus?
When we do such an evaluation today, we find a huge difference between the spiritual focus of those that lead us now, and that of the founding fathers of yesteryear. For all their faults the leaders of old had a firm belief in the Creator God – and a healthy respect and fear of that God who they clearly regarded as over them in authority. By and large, the leaders today do not. They may on occasion attempt to project "a form of godliness" – often to garner votes – but in their governance they very much "deny the power thereof" (II Timothy 3:5).
The other evening my wife and I watched a documentary on the earthquake in Nepal in 2015. Earthquakes are apparently caused by a sudden release of stress along faults in the earth's crust. The continuous motion of tectonic plates in particular, causes a steady build-up of pressure in the rock strata on both sides of a fault until the stress is sufficiently great that it is released in a sudden, jerky movement. The resulting waves of seismic energy propagate through the ground and over its surface, causing the shaking we perceive as earthquakes. (seismo.ethz.ch)
The devastation that this shaking can cause was all too evident in the case of the 2015 earthquake in the Himalayas. Many thousands died in the city of Kathmandu due to collapsing buildings, but visually the most moving example we witnessed was Langtang village, in a valley many miles from the epicentre. The earthquake triggered a huge landslide that buried the village under ice and rock, killing almost all the villagers and trekkers there at the time. If you scroll down the page on the BBC link below, you can see a photo taken of the village as it was, and another after the landslide. All was well and peaceful in the morning, but by the afternoon the entire village had disappeared. A totally unexpected and unforeseen disaster.
Link to Langtang Valley ... before and after: (bbc.co.uk)
Although it currently appears impossible scientifically to accurately predict where and when the next earthquake will happen, it seems that the natural world is more clued in than we are:
In 373 B.C., historians recorded that animals, including rats, snakes and weasels, deserted the Greek city of Helice in droves just days before a quake devastated the place. Accounts of similar animal anticipation of earthquakes have surfaced across the centuries since. Catfish moving violently, chickens that stop laying eggs and bees leaving their hive in a panic have been reported. Countless pet owners claimed to have witnessed their cats and dogs acting strangely before the ground shook—barking or whining for no apparent reason, or showing signs of nervousness and restlessness ... (nationalgeographic.com)
Being forced to live in cities, and generally being divorced from the land, we become out of sync with the natural world. But, unlike the world at large, we with the spirit of God should still be able to readily perceive the spiritual early warning signs. (I Corinthians 2:11-14), one of them being the foundational bedrock of the family unit being actively destroyed. Even a cursory reading of the rise and fall of ancient empires bring to light this fact, but in general, today there is a blindness to the inevitable coming catastrophes.
It's a well known fact that the Ring of Fire is where most volcanic and earthquake activity is likely to happen, and it's just a matter of time before any one of the 400 or so volcanos erupt, or the tectonic plates collide violently, causing earthquakes. (nationalgeographic.org)
What most people are not aware of though is that we are currently sitting on our own spiritual "Ring of Fire" – due to the amoral state of our societies today. Having embraced evolutionary thought and thrown a creator God out of the window, biblical understanding is at an all-time low, compared to even a couple of generations ago. The devil has become a figure of fun, and all that is generally known of Noah is his Ark full of livestock that went in "two by two" ... but not why God recognised He needed to destroy the world at that time. And what of Sodom and Gomorrah? The homosexual lobby have thumbed their noses at the fiery destruction of those cities, even using "gay PRIDE" to identify themselves. But for those who take the biblical accounts seriously, it appears that destruction came suddenly on the world at that time ... certainly for Sodom out of a "clear blue sky"!
As the apostle Peter explains:
Not only is this planet Earth under pressure physically, from multiple volcanic eruptions, earthquakes etc, but society is also, with family breakdowns, soaring inflation, disease epidemics, famines, wars and wild, destructive weather. And we in God's church are not immune to these troubles. Many times in the scriptures is our spiritual birth likened to our human birth – the body having to exert a great deal of physical pressure to expel the baby from the womb and move it down the birth canal. But encouragement comes from what God inspired the prophet Isaiah to write in chapter 66, indicating we won't be exhausted by a long and drawn-out "labour":
What we must remember as the pressure builds, is that as much as we may well witness sudden destruction, it is clear from God's word that our rescue will also be sudden ... "in the twinkling of an eye."
As well as the scriptures indicating sudden destruction in the immediate future, they also have catalogued sudden, miraculous intervention on behalf of God's people. Many times God stepped in and SUDDENLY changed situations – often dire – in the lives of those He was working with. Consider Joseph – one moment a prisoner, as he had been for well over a decade – and the next moment second in command to Pharaoh! (Genesis 41:40) And who, for one moment, could have guessed that Israel's way of escape from the greatest army on earth at that time would be through the Red Sea? There are also numerous accounts of God wiping out Israel's and Judah's enemies miraculously, a classic example being God's answer to Hezekiah:
Even though the name of God is not even mentioned in the book of Esther, it's abundantly obvious that He was "pulling strings" behind the scenes and so brilliantly turned the tables on Haman, even to the extent that Haman had to walk through the streets of the city, honouring and extolling the virtues of his perceived arch enemy, Mordecai. (Esther 6:1-12)
One thing is certain, we will never be able to second guess God and how He intends to work things out on our behalf ... whether it's financial difficulties, ill health, family worries ... whatever. As God exhorted Abraham and Sarah, well past child-bearing age: "Is any thing too hard for the LORD..." (Genesis 18:14) And to Mary: "...For with God nothing shall be impossible." (Luke 1:37)
An interesting point is highlighted in an article on attempting to predict earthquakes:
Professor James Jackson has spent his career studying earthquakes. He can tell you how the Earth’s continents are deforming, on scales from single fault lines to vast continental areas. Using space-based techniques combined with geological investigations he can identify where earthquakes will happen, how big they’ll be, and how long the shaking will last. But what he can’t do is predict when they’re going to occur – nobody can.
“We took the scientists from L’Aquilla to other countries at risk of earthquakes, including Kazakhstan, for them to tell the local politicians: "If you allow people to believe we can predict earthquakes, they won't do anything to make their lives safer". That had a real impact,” says Jackson, in the University’s Department of Earth Sciences. (cam.ac.uk)
Could that also apply to the church? If we knew the day and the hour on which Christ is prophesided to return, would we not be tempted to put off the hard work of growing and overcoming – doing what is necessary to develop the Mind of God – until the last minute? Christ encourages the very opposite approach:
Time is short, whichever way we count it. Our alloted threescore and ten flies by like the weaver's shuttle, and we are not even guaranteed finishing the 24 hours in which we are currently living and breathing. As James brings out:
If we use our time wisely, not only won't the prophesied sudden destruction be totally unexpected, but – with the help of Almighty God – we'll be perfecting our character in the process so He can use us to help the world in the near future. As Isaiah goes on to record in chapter 30 – when Israel has finally learnt vital spiritual lessons – there will be a wonderful future ahead, of which we can be part:
El Niño… La Niña… Weather Bombs… Atmospheric rivers… hurricanes… bomb cyclones… drought and floods:
Are We Witnessing…
Two thousand years ago, weather forecasting was basic – anyone could be an expert. As Jesus explained in Matthew 16:2-3:
“You know the saying, ‘Red sky at night means fair weather tomorrow; red sky in the morning means foul weather all day.’ You know how to interpret the weather signs in the sky…” (Matthew 16:2-3, NLT)
By the time we get to the 1600’s, knowledge had increased. Peruvian fisherman noticed that warm waters seemed to peak near the Americas in December, and nicknamed the event El Niño de Navidad, “Christ Child” in Spanish.
In some years, the water cooled – and the weather changed. This event they called La Niña, meaning “Little Girl” in Spanish. La Niña supports more marine life and attracts more cold-water species, like squid and salmon, to places like the California coast.
Scientists are warning that as we progress into 2023, La Niña is coming to an end. El Niño is coming!
“New data shows that 2022 was the fifth hottest year for Europe since records began. But scientists are warning that 2023 could be even warmer, as a climate phenomenon called La Niña - which has been suppressing global temperatures - comes to an end.
Winds blowing along the Equator above the Pacific Ocean - from South America in the east towards Asia in the west - were stronger than normal.
These ‘trade winds’ piled warm water off the coast of Asia, raising the sea surface level. In the east, near the Americas, cold water flowed upwards to the surface.
During El Niño the opposite happens - weaker trade winds mean the warm water spreads out back towards the Americas, and less cold water rises towards the surface. The phenomenon was first observed by Peruvian fisherman back in the 1600s. Between 2020 and 2022, the northern Hemisphere had three La Niña episodes in a row.
Changes To Rainfall
During El Niño events, the warmer water pushes the Pacific jet stream’s strong air currents further to the south and the east. This brings wetter weather to southern US states and the Gulf of Mexico, while the north of the US and Canada remain drier. Asia, Australia, and Central and Southern Africa typically experience drought.
In La Niña events the opposite is seen: drought in the southern US, and heavy rains in Canada and Asia. In October 2022, Australia experienced record rainfall and flooding driven by La Niña.
Tropical Storms
La Niña also generates more hurricanes in the Atlantic - affecting Florida and other southern states of the US - but fewer tropical storms in the Pacific.
How Do These Events Affect Us?
The extreme weather events caused by El Niño and La Niña affect infrastructure, food and energy systems around the world. The drought in Canada and Asia caused by the 2014-16 El Niño phase resulted in crop failure and damaged the food security of more than 60 million people, according to the UN Food and Agricultural Organisation.
During El Niño events, less cold water rises to the surface off the Americas which brings fewer nutrients from the bottom of the ocean. That means there is less food available for marine species like squid and salmon, in turn reducing fish stocks for South American fishing communities.
Is Climate Change Affecting El Niño/La Niña?
In 2021, the UN’s climate scientists, the IPCC, said the ENSO [El Niño Southern Oscillation] events which have occurred since 1950 are stronger than those observed between 1850 and 1950. However, it also said that historical evidence like tree rings, corals and sediment records shows that there have been variations in the frequency and strength of these episodes since the 1400s.
The IPCC concluded there is no clear evidence that climate change has affected El Niño or La Niña events.” (bbc.co.uk)
“World set for extreme weather event as La Niña to spark flooding and droughts across globe. Meteorologists say that La Niña will hit in the Pacific for the third consecutive year in a ‘triple dip’ weather phenomenon. A rare weather phenomenon will have impacts around the world as a ‘triple dip’ La Niña has formed in the Pacific. La Niña is an oceanic and atmospheric phenomenon that is the colder counterpart of El Niño, where the sea surface temperature across the eastern equatorial part of the central Pacific Ocean is lower than normal by 3C to 5C.
The Australian Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) announced the weather phenomenon has formed for the third consecutive year in the Pacific, marking only the third time since records began three La Niñas have formed consecutively. As for the rest of the world, Netweather.tv senior forecaster Nick Finnis wrote for the agency’s website that La Niña is ‘one of the main drivers of weather around the world, especially during late autumn, winter and early spring.’
For the UK, he said: ‘Every month has been above average temperature-wise over the UK so far this year, while all the months up to August have seen below average rainfall apart from February.’
Mr Finnis then noted that on a ‘more global scale, La Niña is thought to have contributed to flooding in eastern Australia this year and exacerbated droughts in the United States and East Africa.’
‘Perhaps because a triple-dip La Niña is so rare, we may be seeing more unusual and extreme weather patterns and events which are not typical of more normal La Niña patterns. Certainly weather patterns were unusually blocked over Europe, leading to extreme heatwaves, including the UK.’
‘Perhaps we can expect more unusual weather pattens over the coming months?’” (express.co.uk)
Some of their predictions are based on the theory of global warming. Some of their predictions are questionable – as the following article published back in 2014 points out!
“Meanwhile, the Met Office has continued to issue questionable long-term forecasts. In mid-November, two weeks before the first of the storms, it predicted persistent high pressure for the winter, which was ‘likely to lead to drier-than-normal conditions across the country’.
Infamously, in April 2009, the Met Office promised a ‘barbecue summer’ – which then turned out to be a washout. It forecast the winter of 2010 to 2011 would be mild: it was the coldest for 120 years.
At the beginning of 13 of the past 14 years, the Met Office has predicted the following 12 months would be significantly warmer than they have been. This, says the skeptic think-tank the Global Warming Policy Foundation, indicates ‘systemic’ bias.” (dailymail.co.uk)
The Carnage Storms Have Inflicted On California
“Multi-million dollar beach homes battered by winds, cars swallowed up by sinkholes, and over a dozen people killed - after weeks of extreme storms, California is at a breaking point. More than 22 million people are currently under flood watch, according to the National Weather Service - almost as many as the population of Australia.” (bbc.com)
‘Agriculture Wasteland’
“New satellite imagery shows a large swath of California’s rice fields has been left barren without harvest… about 300,000 out of the 550,000 acres committed to rice growing in California will go without harvest.” (zerohedge.com)
The Worst Natural Disaster In The History Of The United States
“The US was hit by one of the worst natural disasters in our history. Hurricane Ian will go down as one of the worst natural disasters in the history of the United States. The utter devastation that we are witnessing in southwest Florida is difficult to comprehend, and it will literally take years for the region to recover… And apparently the damage to the power grid is so widespread that some sections will have to be entirely rebuilt.” (endoftheamericandream.com)
“We have never seen anything like this before. There are some parts of the globe that are being absolutely devastated by endless drought, and there are other parts of the globe that are being absolutely devastated by relentless flooding. In all my years, I have never seen extreme conditions in so many areas of the world simultaneously. This is a major red flag, but unfortunately the vast majority of the general population is still not paying attention.
Today’s World
“Now go and write down these words. Write them in a book. They will stand until the end of time as a witness that these people are stubborn rebels who refuse to pay attention to the LORD’s instructions.
They tell the seers, ‘Stop seeing visions!’ They tell the prophets,
‘Don’t tell us what is right.
Tell us nice things.
Tell us lies.’
Forget all this gloom.
(Isaiah 30:8-11, NLT)
Right now, Europe is experiencing the worst drought that it has gone through in at least 500 years, and the rivers are getting so low that ‘hunger stones’ are now being revealed for the first time in centuries… Here in the United States, the western half of the nation is suffering through the worst multi-year megadrought that the region has experienced in 1,200 years, and this is causing all sorts of very serious problems… Nearly three-quarters of California is in either extreme or exceptional drought, considered worse than severe, according to the US Drought Monitor.
China is in the grips of its worst drought on record, which has dried up parts of the Yangtze River and impacted swaths of the country’s industrial sector. Much of the planet is either getting way too much rain or way too little rain.
All of this drought and all of this flooding are going to be really, really bad for global food production. The stage is being set for the sort of historic global famines that we have been warned about, and even now food prices are starting to surge dramatically all over the planet. But most people still don’t seem too alarmed. In fact, most people still seem entirely convinced that everything will work out just fine somehow.” (endoftheamericandream.com)
To those who seek truth, and open up the Bible to see what God has promised, the answer is a resounding YES!
God created weather, and He tells mankind that He will use it to bless them if they obey Him. If they choose to disobey Him, He will use the weather to curse them!
Mankind has chosen to reject God, His laws and both the weekly Sabbath and His annual Holy days. And as if that were not bad enough, their governments have now made laws that are totally contrary to the law of God.
The people openly call into question God’s power. The Bible, God’s instruction book for mankind, is now re-branded as a collection of ‘historical writing, poetry and fiction’!
The Church of England openly defies God’s law by allowing women into leadership positions in the Church while many condone homosexuality and same sex marriage. The church is increasingly being seen, no longer as a repository for ethical guidance, but as a force for immorality in society.
Here is what God has to say about the weather and His people’s food supply.
“Ye shall keep my Sabbaths, and reverence my sanctuary: I am the LORD. If ye walk in my statutes, and keep my commandments, and do them; Then I will give you rain in due season, and the land shall yield her increase, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit.” (Leviticus 26:2-4)
However, if His people disobey Him, then God uses the weather to correct His people!
"I have withholden the rain from you, when there were yet three months to the harvest: and I caused it to rain upon one city, and caused it not to rain upon another city: one piece was rained upon, and the piece whereupon it rained not withered..” (Amos 4:7)
“And I called for a drought upon the land…” (Haggai 1:11)
“I smote you with blasting and with mildew and with hail in all the labours of your hands; yet ye turned not to me, saith the Lord.” (Haggai 2:17)
The blasting refers to drought, while mildew refers to the result of floods. This is a prophecy and it is being fulfilled right now in America and Britain!
“The LORD shall smite thee with… blasting, and with mildew; and they shall pursue thee until thou perish. And thy heaven that is over thy head shall be brass, and the earth that is under thee shall be iron.” (Deuteronomy 28:22-23)
For those who believe that the Bible is the word of God, the answer to the problems with our weather can be easily understood. God created the weather – and He controls it. Those who disobey can expect droughts and floods, and an ever-decreasing food supply.
This is what we are witnessing in the USA and Britain today! God has weaponised the weather!
Just one more thing… watch as a ‘perfect storm’ develops! It is interesting to note that while California - the breadbasket of America - is suffering extreme drought and floods which must impact the food supply, at the same time the peoples of India and China are enjoying increasing wealth, and are demanding a more Western style diet. As they have a combined population of around 2.5 billion, this will also impact the world’s food supply.
“Leading up to the conference, the WEF issued a ‘global risks report’, and in that report they actually created a brand new term to describe the extreme chaos that is gripping our world right now…
The collective vocabularies stored in the world’s great dictionaries didn’t appear to hold a single world to sum up all this strife. So here’s a new one: POLYCRISIS.
The World Economic Forum’s Global Risks Report 2023 uses the term, to explain how, ‘present and future risks can also interact with each other to form a “polycrisis” – a cluster of related global risks with compounding effects, such that the overall impact exceeds the sum of each part’.” (discernreport.com)
A brief overview of the extreme chaos that is gripping our world right now… “a cluster of related global risks with compounding effects, such that the overall impact exceeds the sum of each part”
"If you refuse to listen to the Lord your God and to obey the commands and decrees he has given you, all these curses will pursue and overtake you until you are destroyed. These horrors will serve as a sign and warning among you and your descendants forever.
If you do not serve the Lord your God with joy and enthusiasm for the abundant benefits you have received, you will serve your enemies whom the Lord will send against you. You will be left hungry, thirsty, naked, and lacking in everything. The Lord will put an iron yoke on your neck, oppressing you harshly until he has destroyed you.” (Deuteronomy 28:45-48, NLT)
Tough times lie ahead in the very near future. But remember the message from Jesus Christ to His end time Church. Interesting He linked the weather forecasting with the “signs of the times”: We need to be able to interpret “the signs of the times”:
“One day the Pharisees and Sadducees came to test Jesus, demanding that he show them a miraculous sign from heaven to prove his authority. He replied,
‘You know the saying, “Red sky at night means fair weather tomorrow; red sky in the morning means foul weather all day.”
You know how to interpret the weather signs in the sky, but you don’t know how to interpret the signs of the times!’” (Matthew 16:1-3, NLT)
In his Pastor General’s Report of 7 November 1979, Mr Armstrong had this to say to the ministry:
“We may well expect the Lord Jesus Christ to now SPEED UP events, and bring His Work to a speedy end.
This is ALL THE MORE REASON why we need to WAKE UP to the signs of the times, and redouble our time on our knees, our searching our own souls, our spirit of repentance toward GOD, and increasing FAITH in Jesus Christ!
SOUND THIS ALARM
in deadly earnest in your sermons before your congregations!
We are the one and only true CHURCH OF GOD – the soon-to-be ‘BRIDE OF CHRIST.’ And when He comes WE MUST BE READY – but we are not YET ready! Yet we are now making good progress! KEEP IT UP!” (Pastor General’s Report – November 7, 1979)