I’ve Never Seen so Many Natural Disasters at One Time
It is generally true about major natural disasters; that there is only one occurring at any given time. When have events that normally take place over a time span of several decades been so closely aligned? It is unlikely to have them transpire within days of each other.
The vast devastation of the Houston area qualifies us for a natural disaster break. The governor of Texas, Greg Abbott, said the total cost of Hurricane Harvey could total $180 billion, making it more costly than the epic hurricanes, Katrina or Sandy, which devastated New Orleans in 2005 and New York City in 2012. It will still be many weeks before we get a real measure of Hurricane Harvey’s cost.”
I was a bit shocked to learn that the city of Los Angeles just had its biggest fire in the history of the city in terms of sheer acreage. “We’re confident, back to 1961, the Bel-Air fire, that this is the largest fire by acreage in the city of Los Angeles,” LAFD Chief Ralph Terrazas said. Considering the intense fire, it is amazing that only a few homes were lost.
While fires in L.A. may grab instant headlines, blazes in Montana, Oregon, and Washington are just now starting to draw attention. Montana has had major fires burning for months. Governor Steve Bullock declared a statewide fire disaster for the third time last week, and called this year’s fire season “Very challenging and unprecedented.” Wildfires have burned more than half a million acres in the state since July.
Satellite images of North America show huge clouds of smoke stretching from Washington to Maine. The smoke is very thick in the Northwestern states. Montana’s capital city Helena, is covered in smog that has people asking for prayers on Twitter and Facebook.
In Seattle, the air is filled with smoke and ash from wildfires around Mt. Crystal. One gentleman posted an image of the hood of his car covered with ash that was raining down on the city.
I’ve been monitoring the weather reports on Hurricane Irma. I can’t believe that I’ve just finished watching a hurricane that brought historic destruction to Texas and here comes Hurricane Irma spinning across the Atlantic Ocean establishing its own set of historic milestones:
With peak winds of 185 mph, Irma has set a record for the strongest hurricane in the Atlantic Ocean. Four other storms have had winds that were stronger, but they have been in the Caribbean Sea or the Gulf of Mexico, where the usually warmer waters fuel tropical systems.
Irma’s ability to sustain winds of 185 mph winds for more than 36 hours is another record for length of time. All other storms maintained their 180 mph plus winds for only a few hours.
By making landfall in the U.S. Virgin Islands, makes it the first time in history that U.S. territory has been hit by a category 4 and 5 hurricane in the same season. In 2005 we had Katrina stroke as a category 4 and Hurricane Rita stroke as a category 3.
It should be obvious to any student of Bible prophecy that this rash series of disasters are part of Christ’s birth-pang warning signs. Climate Change cannot explain why we suddenly have back to back hurricanes with the most ever amount of rainfall and the highest winds in recorded history.
There is the possibility that God is simply sick of hearing about all the Trump bashing, and He has decided to force the press to cover something else for a change. The Lord is very patient and longsuffering, but I think there is a limit to how much He is willing to have His intelligence insulted.
Even while the liberal media is forced to cover a non-political subject, they still manage to make it about President Trump. When Hurricane Irma barreled across the Caribbean island of St. Martin, the storm damaged President Trump’s lavish waterfront estate on Plum Bay. The eleven bedroom compound was on the market for $17 million; which value is now in doubt.
Of course we should ignore the fact that the people of St. Martin have had 90 percent of their property heavily damaged by Irma, because the press is so happy that our billionaire president is going to lose a few million dollars on one of his investments!
The big hope for liberals is that Hurricane Irma will devastate the Miami area. Washington Post reporter, Matea Gold, noted that Trump National Doral, which recently completed a three-year $250 million renovation, is in central Miami. She also pointed out that Trump’s signature Mar-A-Lago club on the barrier Island of West Palm Beach would be heavily damaged by a direct hit from Irma. The fulfillment of this demented fantasy would result in at least $200 billion dollars of damage in southeast Florida.
I expect the left to be clueless about the end-times. I’m surprised that these events have not caused Christians to become more interested in prophecy. Church organizations are so neglectful in teaching the last days message that most believers are unable to recognize the warning signs.
“For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths” (2 Timothy 4:3-4 NIV).
–Todd
Putin Predicts Coming Prince
One would almost think that Russian President Vladimir Putin has been pouring over prophetic Scripture in the Bible. He has predicted that the entity that becomes the ultimate leader in Artificial Intelligence (AI) will rule planet earth. His is a most interesting prognostication. Here’s an excerpt from the news item laying out ol’ Vlad’s foretelling.
MOSCOW (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin says that whoever reaches a breakthrough in developing artificial intelligence will come to dominate the world.
Putin, speaking Friday at a meeting with students, said the development of AI raises “colossal opportunities and threats that are difficult to predict now.” (Source: Putin: Leader in Artificial Intelligence Will Rule World, Houston Chronicle, 9/2/2017)
*****************************
The former KGB operative turned dictator/oligarch of the nucleus of what was the Soviet Union before perestroika, glasnost, the fall of the Berlin Wall, and finally the dissolution of the U.S.S.R., said further that “the one who becomes the leader in this sphere will be the ruler of the world.”
The Russian warned that “it would be strongly undesirable if someone wins a monopolist position.” He pledged that Russia would share its know-how in artificial intelligence with other nations.
Putin predicted that drones will fight future wars. He said, “When one party’s drones are destroyed by drones of another, it will have no other choice but to surrender.”
The Putin prediction would be amusing, if not so much on the eerie side—kind of like Gog of Ezekiel 38–39 “prophesying” the emergence of the prince that shall come of Daniel 9:26–27.
We have mentioned numerous times that Vladimir Putin displays characteristics that the future leader of the Gog-Magog attack will possess, according to the prophet Ezekiel. Putin, here, is delving into perhaps not the characteristics of Antichrist, but certainly into the technological realm Revelation seems to indicate that future fuhrer will have at his disposal.
The Russian says that the leader in such advanced technology will eventually rule the world. To be sure, Antichrist is prophesied to rule over most of the world at a point during the seven-year Tribulation era. His rule will be brief and chaotic, but it will be brutal and, according to Jesus Himself, will bring a time upon the people of the planet worse than any before or after.
Artificial Intelligence will mark his despotic control. He will, through the most advanced computer (AI) technology, do the following:
And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name. (Revelation 13:16–17)
But AI is, perhaps, prophesied to go much deeper than Antichrist’s 666 computer controls. Some would say there will come a destructive military force that appears to be completely robotic, commanded through AI to assault Jerusalem during that time known as the Day of the Lord. It is a terrifying description of a superhuman—or perhaps hybrid or robotic—force destined to riffle the city and ravish its women, according to prophecy.
Read about what some call Joel’s Army (Joel 2: 1-11).
(I wrote a short story of a fictional nature about Joel’s Army years ago for a filmmaker. That story can be linked below.)
AI is a hot topic, causing an uproar even among some of the well-known leaders in its development.
SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk got into a spat recently on Twitter with Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg over the dangers of artificial intelligence.
Musk urged a group of governors to proactively regulate AI, which he views as a “fundamental risk to the existence of human civilization.”
“Until people see robots going down the street killing people, they don’t know how to react because it seems so ethereal,” Musk said.
Zuckerberg shot back, saying fearmongering about AI is “irresponsible.” (Source: “Humanlike Robots Provoke Questions about our Humanity,” Rosalie Chan, Religion News Service)
Many scientists and futurists are declaring that from some point in the near future, major wars will be waged by beings of intelligence superior to that of mere mortals. However, Bible prophecy tells that, ultimately, it is human blood that will flow to the bridle reins following the fighting at Armageddon. It is the corpses of millions of human beings that will have to be buried following the battle of Gog and Magog.
–Terry