SIGNS FROM THE HEAVENS
Signs From the Heavens - Hal Lindsey - www.hallindsey.com
Katrina is also an object lesson on how dangerously close to the edge of the cliff our economy actually functions. This week's Category 4 storm damaged or disrupted about a quarter of America's oil refining capacity. As a result, it may require the release of part of America's Strategic Oil Reserve to help stabilize prices and prevent another crippling oil shortage. And science is now beginning to make some disturbing discoveries.
These discoveries at least partially explain why the weather is going berserk. But these scientific findings also reveal the possibility of even greater catastrophic threats than those posed by a precarious oil supply and a fragile global economy. 2005 is shaping up as the hottest summer on record, beating the two previous records set in 2003 and 2002.
In 2002, the United Nations predicted that winters were warming so quickly that winter sports would die out in Europe's lower-level ski resorts. Many Swiss glaciers are showing dramatic retreats.
Italian scientists estimate that their own country's glaciers are now 20-percent smaller than they were in1987. The ten hottest years on record have all now occurred since 1990. But since the century turned – just four years ago, it seems the whole solar system has been undergoing an upheaval.
For example, scientists have been monitoring the solar cycles since 1755. A pattern of 11-year cycles of sunspot activity emerges from the detailed records of the 21 sunspot cycles observed since 1755. They are comprised of 11 years of maximum solar activity followed by 11 years of minimal solar activity.
In 2003, in the midst of a solar minimum, an unusually powerful series of solar storms erupted that took scientists by surprise. Also in 2003, a global warming study conducted by NASA determined that the sun is getting both hotter and brighter.
In the NASA report, Doctor Richard Wilson concluded, "Historical records of solar activity indicate that solar radiation has been increasing since the late 19th century. If a trend, comparable to the one found in this study, persisted throughout the 20th century it would have provided a significant component of the global warming the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change reports to have occurred over the past 100 years." Now we know that those sun trends did continue.
The global sea level has already risen by four to eight inches in the past century. Scientists' best estimate is that sea level will rise by an additional 19 inches by the year 2100, and perhaps by as much as 37 inches. Also, a report this year in The New York Times concluded that the Earth is perhaps 150 years into the collapse of its magnetic field. The report concludes, "The field's strength has waned 10 to 15 percent, and the deterioration has accelerated of late, increasing debate over whether it portends a reversal of the lines of magnetic force that normally envelop the Earth."
The Earth's magnetic field helps shield the globe from solar winds and storms of deadly particles. A weak field could let solar storms pummel the atmosphere with enough radiation to destroy significant amounts of the ozone that protects the Earth from harmful ultraviolet light.
Ultraviolet radiation – the short, invisible rays from the sun – can harm some life forms, depress crop yields, and raise cancer rates, causing skin cancer and cataracts in humans.
When climatologists are not warning of impending ecological disaster, astronomers take the podium to warn of the threat of a catastrophic asteroid strike upon the earth. They contend that a major asteroid strike somewhere in the earth's oceans would cause a tsunami that would make last's year's Asian tsunami look like a minor ocean ripple in comparison.
So what does all of this mean? I believe that Jesus Christ predicted these very things as a sign of His soon coming.
I have written for decades about the "Birth pains" the Lord Jesus predicted would increase in frequency and intensity in Matthew chapter 24 and Luke chapter 21:
• Religious deception and turn to the occult • Wars and rumors of wars • Nation against nation (international upheaval) • Ethnic group against ethnic group • Great earthquakes • Famines • Plagues
But one of the 'birth pains' has not been really clear. Jesus predicted, "And there will be signs in the sun, in the moon, and in the stars; and on the earth distress of nations, with perplexity, the sea and the waves roaring; "men's hearts failing them from fear and the expectation of those things which are coming on the earth, for the powers of heaven will be shaken." (Luke 21:25-26 NKJ)
There is a cause and effect relation between the first and second clause. I am going to translate this literally from the Greek text. "And there will be signs in the sun, in the moon, and in the stars" – then the second clause, "and on the earth, distress of nations in perplexity because of the roaring of the sea and the waves."
The distress and perplexity of the nations caused by the violent roaring of the sea and the waves are the result of the signs in the sun, moon and stars. This indicates that violent storms upon the sea would be caused by "the signs in the sun, moon and stars."
The scientific statistics quoted above show that global warming is primarily caused by what is happening in the sun and moon. Man's use of fossil fuels contributed in a minor way, but the primary cause is from the unusual increase in solar storms.
The signs from the stars have to do with the scientific discovery of meteors that threaten to catastrophically collide with the earth.
What I quoted above clearly shows that the global climate is changing because of the increase in the mean temperature of the earth. This temperature change increases at a greater rate along the equatorial areas of the oceans, dramatically raising the heat of the water. And it is the oceans' temperature that is the generator of greater and greater storms.
There is no question that Hurricanes and typhoons are increasing in frequency and power. Here we are at only the first of September and we are already at the letter "K" in named storms. That is a rare phenomenon.
Hurricane Katrina has just destroyed one of our largest and most important seaport cities. It also virtually destroyed Gulfport, Biloxi and many other smaller cities. It killed untold thousands of people. It has caused misery, suffering and distress on a level never before experienced in the Unites States. And the worst of the calamity is not yet known.
Jesus warned that these storms roaring in from the sea would cause "men's hearts to fail them because of what is coming upon the earth." He also warned that "the very powers of the heavens will be shaken."
If this is the time on God's prophetic clock that I believe it is, 'Katrina' is just the beginning of even worse super storms in the future. Not to mention the coming of more catastrophic earthquakes, tsunamis and diseases that result from the conditions these bring.
I believe that the Lord Jesus is very near is His coming for all true believers to snatch us out of this world in the 'twinkling of an eye'. As He promised, He will instantaneously transform us from mortal to immortal and take us to be with Him.
If you are a believer, it is time to make your life count for Christ as never before. There is no time to waste in frivolities that do not count for eternity.
If you are not sure that you are a believer, tell God that you are a sinner. Ask Christ to come into your life and give you the pardon for all your sins that He purchased for you by dying under the penalty of your sins.
The hour is late. Do not put off a decision that could cost you eternity under God's judgment.
Pray now and change your eternal destiny.
__________________________________________________________________
Katrina is also an object lesson on how dangerously close to the edge of the cliff our economy actually functions. This week's Category 4 storm damaged or disrupted about a quarter of America's oil refining capacity. As a result, it may require the release of part of America's Strategic Oil Reserve to help stabilize prices and prevent another crippling oil shortage. And science is now beginning to make some disturbing discoveries.
These discoveries at least partially explain why the weather is going berserk. But these scientific findings also reveal the possibility of even greater catastrophic threats than those posed by a precarious oil supply and a fragile global economy. 2005 is shaping up as the hottest summer on record, beating the two previous records set in 2003 and 2002.
In 2002, the United Nations predicted that winters were warming so quickly that winter sports would die out in Europe's lower-level ski resorts. Many Swiss glaciers are showing dramatic retreats.
Italian scientists estimate that their own country's glaciers are now 20-percent smaller than they were in1987. The ten hottest years on record have all now occurred since 1990. But since the century turned – just four years ago, it seems the whole solar system has been undergoing an upheaval.
For example, scientists have been monitoring the solar cycles since 1755. A pattern of 11-year cycles of sunspot activity emerges from the detailed records of the 21 sunspot cycles observed since 1755. They are comprised of 11 years of maximum solar activity followed by 11 years of minimal solar activity.
In 2003, in the midst of a solar minimum, an unusually powerful series of solar storms erupted that took scientists by surprise. Also in 2003, a global warming study conducted by NASA determined that the sun is getting both hotter and brighter.
In the NASA report, Doctor Richard Wilson concluded, "Historical records of solar activity indicate that solar radiation has been increasing since the late 19th century. If a trend, comparable to the one found in this study, persisted throughout the 20th century it would have provided a significant component of the global warming the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change reports to have occurred over the past 100 years." Now we know that those sun trends did continue.
The global sea level has already risen by four to eight inches in the past century. Scientists' best estimate is that sea level will rise by an additional 19 inches by the year 2100, and perhaps by as much as 37 inches. Also, a report this year in The New York Times concluded that the Earth is perhaps 150 years into the collapse of its magnetic field. The report concludes, "The field's strength has waned 10 to 15 percent, and the deterioration has accelerated of late, increasing debate over whether it portends a reversal of the lines of magnetic force that normally envelop the Earth."
The Earth's magnetic field helps shield the globe from solar winds and storms of deadly particles. A weak field could let solar storms pummel the atmosphere with enough radiation to destroy significant amounts of the ozone that protects the Earth from harmful ultraviolet light.
Ultraviolet radiation – the short, invisible rays from the sun – can harm some life forms, depress crop yields, and raise cancer rates, causing skin cancer and cataracts in humans.
When climatologists are not warning of impending ecological disaster, astronomers take the podium to warn of the threat of a catastrophic asteroid strike upon the earth. They contend that a major asteroid strike somewhere in the earth's oceans would cause a tsunami that would make last's year's Asian tsunami look like a minor ocean ripple in comparison.
So what does all of this mean? I believe that Jesus Christ predicted these very things as a sign of His soon coming.
I have written for decades about the "Birth pains" the Lord Jesus predicted would increase in frequency and intensity in Matthew chapter 24 and Luke chapter 21:
• Religious deception and turn to the occult • Wars and rumors of wars • Nation against nation (international upheaval) • Ethnic group against ethnic group • Great earthquakes • Famines • Plagues
But one of the 'birth pains' has not been really clear. Jesus predicted, "And there will be signs in the sun, in the moon, and in the stars; and on the earth distress of nations, with perplexity, the sea and the waves roaring; "men's hearts failing them from fear and the expectation of those things which are coming on the earth, for the powers of heaven will be shaken." (Luke 21:25-26 NKJ)
There is a cause and effect relation between the first and second clause. I am going to translate this literally from the Greek text. "And there will be signs in the sun, in the moon, and in the stars" – then the second clause, "and on the earth, distress of nations in perplexity because of the roaring of the sea and the waves."
The distress and perplexity of the nations caused by the violent roaring of the sea and the waves are the result of the signs in the sun, moon and stars. This indicates that violent storms upon the sea would be caused by "the signs in the sun, moon and stars."
The scientific statistics quoted above show that global warming is primarily caused by what is happening in the sun and moon. Man's use of fossil fuels contributed in a minor way, but the primary cause is from the unusual increase in solar storms.
The signs from the stars have to do with the scientific discovery of meteors that threaten to catastrophically collide with the earth.
What I quoted above clearly shows that the global climate is changing because of the increase in the mean temperature of the earth. This temperature change increases at a greater rate along the equatorial areas of the oceans, dramatically raising the heat of the water. And it is the oceans' temperature that is the generator of greater and greater storms.
There is no question that Hurricanes and typhoons are increasing in frequency and power. Here we are at only the first of September and we are already at the letter "K" in named storms. That is a rare phenomenon.
Hurricane Katrina has just destroyed one of our largest and most important seaport cities. It also virtually destroyed Gulfport, Biloxi and many other smaller cities. It killed untold thousands of people. It has caused misery, suffering and distress on a level never before experienced in the Unites States. And the worst of the calamity is not yet known.
Jesus warned that these storms roaring in from the sea would cause "men's hearts to fail them because of what is coming upon the earth." He also warned that "the very powers of the heavens will be shaken."
If this is the time on God's prophetic clock that I believe it is, 'Katrina' is just the beginning of even worse super storms in the future. Not to mention the coming of more catastrophic earthquakes, tsunamis and diseases that result from the conditions these bring.
I believe that the Lord Jesus is very near is His coming for all true believers to snatch us out of this world in the 'twinkling of an eye'. As He promised, He will instantaneously transform us from mortal to immortal and take us to be with Him.
If you are a believer, it is time to make your life count for Christ as never before. There is no time to waste in frivolities that do not count for eternity.
If you are not sure that you are a believer, tell God that you are a sinner. Ask Christ to come into your life and give you the pardon for all your sins that He purchased for you by dying under the penalty of your sins.
The hour is late. Do not put off a decision that could cost you eternity under God's judgment.
Pray now and change your eternal destiny.
__________________________________________________________________
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