It seems like we are having a lot of plagues and disasters in the last few weeks. Devastating swarms of locusts are absolutely stripping entire regions of Africa of leaves, plants, and crops. I was reading that swarms of locusts have been devouring entire farms in Africa in as little as thirty seconds! Millions of acres of African farmland have been denuded of vegetation. These swarms have also been spreading throughout the Middle East, and now we have learned that they have even reached as far as China.
The weather has been rather bizarre, too. An all-time record wind gust hit California. It was a record of 209 miles per hour. Sydney, Australia, had a devastating storm that saw two months of rainfall in just two days—forcing mass evacuations, leaving 150,000 homes without power, and prompted warnings not to drive to work. On one Monday morning, roads were blocked, ferries canceled, and trains suffered major delays across the network. Yet in other parts of Australia severe drought and raging fires took their toll on farms, croplands, and homes.
What’s bad about all of this is that we are all highly dependent on the infrastructure. We have all seen houses that have been devastated by high winds. I used to live in south Florida, on the northern end of the Keys, near Islamorada. It was called “Hurricane Alley.” We had 160-mile-per-hour, straight-line winds. It was so bad, the palm trees had many of their branches removed by the wind. Telephone poles and electric lines were down. Our towns and cities would be paralyzed without electricity!
We are so dependent on electricity, and also on clean water. We are dependent on stores having their shelves stocked with food. If the trucks can’t get through, then there is no food for us to eat.
In addition, there have been unusual volcanic eruptions. One of the most notable eruptions in recent days was a powerful eruption of Mount Merapi in Indonesia—the biggest eruption in 90 years. Closer to home, 14,000-foot Mount Rainier, which towers over the background of Seattle, Washington has been shaking and spewing smoke. Subdivisions at the foot of the mountain have a disaster-preparedness plan in case they have to leave their homes.
In addition to all of these, the coronavirus outbreak in China has been getting more headlines than anything else—and with good reason. It is spreading to more and more nations of the world, from Europe to the United States, from Africa to Turkey. In addition, African swine fever, known as “Pig Ebola,” has already wiped out millions upon millions of pigs in China, and has now spread to more than 40 other countries. Tyson Foods says it is just starting to see the benefits of the African swine fever outbreak in China. It means a 600 percent-a-year increase in pork orders sent to China.
China is also being hit hard by the H1N1 swine flu. Unlike the African swine fever, the H1N1 swine flu can actually kill humans. In fact, it has already killed more people outside of China than the coronavirus outbreak has. Thirteen people died in Taiwan in one week. Then there is the H5N1 bird flu. China has had to kill thousands of chickens so far, and experts are warning that this outbreak could be just getting started.
There is another strain of the bird flu – it is the H5N8 bird flu. It is different from the H5N1 bird flu. Many believe it is even more life-threatening. It has started to pop up in numerous places around the globe, and experts were really surprised when it recently made an appearance in Germany. I can’t remember a time when we have been hit by crisis after crisis like this all at once. 2020 has certainly started off with a bang.
And we haven’t even mentioned all of the UFO sightings and strange phenomena in the sky. The possibility of sunspots effecting the electric grid, stellar explosions and phenomena—it’s all, seemingly, coming together.
And we must never forget the fact that even in hostile areas, like China, and Muslim nations, Jesus Christ is touching lives in an amazing way. He is showing up in dreams and visions. It reminds me of Acts 2:19–21: “And I will show wonders in heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath; blood, and fire, and vapor of smoke: The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before that great and notable day of the Lord come.” This is all amazing, and we need to note that it says “BEFORE that great and notable day of the Lord come.” And then in verse 21 we read: “And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.” I believe we are in that time just before “That great and notable day of the Lord comes.”
