Page 9 - Good News September 2008 paper

EXTRACTS FROM...

1. ARE NATURAL DISASTERS "BIRTH PANGS"?

he Last Days' "birth pangs" found in 38:19, the prophet said of these times,
Matthew 24 are already beginning, "Surely in that day there shall be a great
Tsay many Bible Scholars, and natural shaking in the land of Israel."
disasters are a part of that scenario. In a recent report, Israeli seismologists
Throughout recorded history, the frequen- speculate that a 7.0 earthquake could
cy of natural disasters has increased and happen at any time in Israel since the
decreased through the years, but there country is located in the earthquake region
does seem to be a growing pessimism that near the Syrian-African rift. Scientists warn
we are entering a new age of cataclysm and that the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the
atmospheric decay. Al Aqsa Mosque, and the Wailing Wall
About 70 000 people died in the Sichuan could be damaged or destroyed.
Province of China in a 7.8-magnitude Earthquakes are not the only concern in
earthquake in May, and 10 million were left these times. The US is nearing a record
homeless. tornado year, and meteorologists can't
In California, scientists recently rehashed figure out why. The midwest portion of the
scary details about the coming "Big One" United States suffered under extreme imately 500 natural disasters per year, compared to
along the mighty San Andreas Fault, flooding in June. Unusual floods also only 120 disasters recorded in the early 1980s. It
capable of shaking Los Angeles suburbs occurred in Africa, Mexico, and parts of seems that something is happening to the Earth,
with terrible consequences. Central America. whether or not we call these natural disasters the
In Mark 13:8, Jesus mentioned earth- An international organization analyzed prophetic "birth pangs" for the coming end of the
quakes in His list of "End Times signs" as data from various sources and found that age.
"the beginning of sorrows," and in Ezekiel the Earth is currently experiencing approx- www.thekingiscoming.com

2. NATURAL DISASTERS HAVE QUADRUPLED IN TWO DECADES

ore than four times the number of "This is no freak year. It follows a pattern of
natural disasters are occurring more frequent, more erratic, more
Mnow than did two decades ago, unpredictable and more extreme weather
according to a study which blames global events that are affecting more people."
warming. The number of people affected by extreme
"Rising greenhouse gas emissions are the natural disasters, meanwhile, has surged
major cause of weather-related disasters by almost 70%, from 174 million a year
and must be tackled," said British Charity between 1985 to 1994, to 254 million people
Oxfam, which released the study recently, a year between 1995 to 2004, Oxfam said.
adding that the world's poorest people Floods and wind-storms have increased
were being hit the hardest. from 60 events in 1980 to 240 last year, with
The world suffered about 120 natural flooding itself up six-fold.
disasters per year in the early 1980s in The Oxfam study was compiled using data
comparison with the current figure of from the Red Cross, the United Nations and
about 500 per year, according to the report. specialist researchers at Louvain Univer-
"This year [2007], we have seen floods in sity in Belgium.
South Asia, across the breadth of Africa Source:
and Mexico that have affected more than http://www.cosmosmagazine.com/news/1
250 million people," noted Oxfam Director 722/natural-disasters-have-quadrupled-
Barbara Stocking. two-decades iStockphoto
iStockphoto
3. BLOOD MOON ECLIPSES: IMPLICATIONS FOR CHRIST'S RETURN?

ill Jesus Christ return to Earth in the great and the terrible day of the LORD
the year 2015? And can studying comes" (Joel 2:31).
WNASA's website provide evidence In the New Testament, Jesus is quoted as
for such a scenario? saying, "Immediately after the tribulation of
A minister who promotes the Old Testa- those days shall the sun be darkened, and
ment roots of Christianity suggests a rare the moon shall not give her light... And then
string of lunar and solar eclipses said to fall shall appear the sign of the Son of man in
on God's annual holy days seven years heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the
from now could herald what's come to be earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of
known as the "Second Coming" of Jesus. man coming in the clouds of heaven with http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/eclipse.html
http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/eclipse.html
"God wants us to look at the Biblical power and great glory" (Matthew 24:29-30). Phases of lunar and solar eclipses on NASA's
calendar," says Mark Biltz, pastor of El Gary Stearman of Prophecy in the News eclipse website
Shaddai Ministries in Bonney Lake, noted, "When we think of the sun being
Washington. "The reason we need to be darkened and the moon not giving her days of Passover in the Spring and the Autumn's
watching is [because] He will signal His light, we usually think of some astrono- Feast of Tabernacles (also called Succoth) occurs
appearance. But we have to know what to mical catastrophe - perhaps the sun sput- between 2014 and 2015 on the Gregorian calendar.
be watching for as well. So we need to be tering and the moon being affected by all "The fact that it doesn't happen again in this century
watching the Biblical holidays." this. But maybe it's time to rethink this a I think is very significant," Biltz explains. "So then I
In a video interview on the Prophecy in the little bit and think of it as a natural cycle, the looked at last century, and, believe it or not, the last
News website, Biltz said he's been study- cycle of the eclipses." time that four blood red moons occurred together
ing prophecies that focus on the sun and Thus, Biltz began focusing on the precise [on these feasts] was in 1967 and 1968 tied to
moon, even going back to the book of times of both solar and lunar eclipses, Jerusalem recaptured by Israel."
Genesis where it states the lights in the sky sometimes called "blood moons" since the He then started to notice a pattern of the tetrads.
would "be for signs, and for seasons." Biltz moon often takes on a bloody colour. He "What's significant to me is that even before 1967...
adds the word "seasons" implies appoin- logged onto NASA's Eclipse Website you had four blood red moons again right after Israel
ted times for God's feasts and festivals. which provides precision tracking of the became a nation in 1948: in 1949 and 1950... on
"When we hear the word feast, we think celestial events. He noted a rare pheno- Passover and Succoth. You didn't have any
food. But the Hebrew word has nothing to menon of four consecutive total lunar astronomical tetrads in the 1800s, the 1700s, the
do with food. It has to do with a divine eclipses, known as a tetrad. 1600s. In the 1500s, there were six, but none of those
appointment..." He says during this century, tetrads occur fell on Passover and Succoth."
In the Old Testament, the prophet Joel at least six times, but what's interesting is When checking the schedule for solar eclipses, Biltz
states, "The sun shall be turned into that the only string of four consecutive found two - one on the first day of the Hebrew year
Continued on p. 10
darkness, and the moon into blood, before blood moons that coincide with God's holy Continued on p. 10