IN SUCH AN HOUR AS THIS

SHADOWS of THINGS To COME

Volcanoes ~ Wildfires ~ Floods

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Today´s World

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You are the Lord, You alone; You have made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them; and You preserve them all, and the hosts of heaven worship You.
(Nehemiah 9:6)

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God has promised us that He would never again destroy the earth by a flood of water. However, given the intensity of the flooding that we have experienced in the past few years, and certainly recently, flooding could be a major problem during these end-times and the Tribulation Period.

In Psalm 93, there is a picture of sorts that portrays this vividly. "The floods have lifted up, O LORD, the floods have lifted up their voice; the floods lift up their waves. The Lord on high is mightier and more glorious then the noise of many waters, yes, than the mighty breakers and waves of the sea."

Since 1993, flooding has dramatically changed and increased all over the world. The flooding that the World has experienced in the past few decades, and certainly in recent months, could signal a fulfillment of prophecies. Jehovah is self-existent and omnipotent. His purpose will be fulfilled; it cannot be thwarted.

In August 1992, Hurricane Andrew slammed Florida. March 12-15, 1993- upwards of 50 inches of snow covered eastern seaboard of North America from Cuba to Canada. June 1993 - the upper Mississippi and Missouri rivers overflowed, creating another great lake. August 1-10 1993 - two typhoons and a tidal wave swept over Japan. August 1993- Tropical Storm Bret flooded Caracas, Venezuela. October 1993 Europe suffered spectacular flooding through the entire month. August 1993 - flooding in Napal, Malaysia, Bangladesh, and China. Floods covered over half of the landmass of the Himalayan Kingdom of Nepal. Over 1,100 were drowned. China coined a new phrase to describe flooding - "black rain". December 25, 1993, the second time around Europe- over 50,000 homeless. December 26, 1993, Algiers, Algeria suffered rain-soaked mudslides- 12 killed, 46 injured. January through March 1994 - Several snow and ice storms destroyed millions of trees across the U.S. from Arkansas to the east coast. March 27, 1994, devastating tornadoes hit Alabama and adjoining states. July 1994, Tropical storm Alberto dumped 21 inches of rain in Georgia. It was the worst flooding in 100 years. October 15, 1994, North Houston, Texas under as much as 15 feet of water. October 15, 1994 Greece flooded. November 1-15, 1994, Egypt flooded for the first time since Noah's flood! November 8-11, France and Italy suffer intense flooding again. November 8-21, 1994, Hurricane Gordon killed 829 people in Haiti, Jamaica, Cuba, and Florida.

In the late 90's and since 2000, the severity of the hurricanes, tornadoes, severe thunderstorms and snowstorms have increased so much that records have been broken. And thus, Psalm 93, seems to be prophetic for many of us who observe the signs of the times. -- Tara Hart

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The voice of the Lord is upon the waters; the God of glory thunders; the Lord is upon many great waters. The voice of the Lord is powerful; the voice of the Lord is full of majesty.
(Psalm 29: 3-4)

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Oh, that You would rend the heavens and that You would come down, that the mountains might quake and flow down at Your presence ~ As when fire kindles the brush-wood and the fire causes the waters to boil ~ to make Your name known to Your adversaries, that the nations may tremble at Your presence.
(Isaiah 64: 1-2)

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VOLCANOES

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MOUNT ST. HELENS, Wash.

While earthquakes, steam and magma are getting all the attention on Mount St. Helens these days, the volcano's most unusual feature could be the icy epitome of slow motion that has sprouted on its flanks in the last two decades: its glacier. Now, even as the volcano stirs to life, the nation's newest glacier is growing between the lava dome and the crater's south wall. At a time when most of the nation's glaciers are receding, this one has advanced as much as 135 feet annually, flowing downhill toward the blasted north edge of the crater like a muffler draped around the neck of the lava dome. It's the only growing glacier in the contiguous United States." There are two reasons the 8,364-foot volcano is a good incubator for the fledging glacier: the crater's walls have protected the snow, preventing it from melting year to year, and rock fall from the crater walls and dome provides insulation, sometimes several feet thick. Even volcanic ash can serve as insulation for a glacier. (2005)

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SAN MARCOS, Mexico

The Volcano of Fire has rumbled back to life with its strongest eruptions in 20 years, spewing lava and ash clouds. The volcano, which straddles the line between Colima and Jalisco states 430 miles west of Mexico City, has recently had six spectacular eruptions. The largest, shot glowing lava three miles above the crater of the 12,533-foot volcano. The ground shook, and there was a tremendous roar. The increasing frequency of the eruptions and their intensity signaled the volcano was returning to an explosive stage like one that started in 1903, and climaxed with a massive explosion 10 years later that left a 1,650-foot-deep crater at the volcano's peak and scattered ash on cities 240 miles away. In 1913, there were more than 200 explosions in one year."
The volcano has had more than 30 periods of eruptions since 1585, including several significant eruptions in the late 1990s. It came to life again on May 23, 2005, sending a stream of burning gas and rock fragments more than 2 1/2 miles down the slopes and shooting clouds of ash two miles high. The Volcano of Fire is considered to be among the most active and potentially the most destructive of Mexico's volcanoes.

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NAIROBI, Kenya

A volcano spewed ash and a dark cloud of smoke on the main island of the Comoros archipelago sending hundreds of people fleeing from their homes at the urging of the government. Lava started flowing out of the 7,746-foot Mount Karthala at 1:30 a.m., just hours after the volcano spewed ash and dark smoke on Grand Comore, the largest island of the Indian Ocean archipelago. One of two active volcanoes on Grand Comoros, last erupted in July 1991. "We know that there is risk of eruption," said the head of the U.N. team in the Indian Ocean archipelago. (2005)

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MOUNT ST. HELENS, Wash.

Mount St. Helens released a towering plume of ash on Tuesday. The volcano has vented ash and steam since last fall, when thousands of small earthquakes marked a seismic reawakening of the 8,364-foot mountain. (2004)

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ANCHORAGE

Scientists continue to monitor two volcanoes that the Alaska Volcano Observatory says could send dangerous ash into the air at any time. Mount Spur, 80 miles west of Anchorage across Cook Inlet, shook itself from a 12-year sleep in early July and has been in Code Yellow status ever since, with daily small earthquakes. Code Yellow indicates an eruption is possible and could occur with no warning, according to the Alaska Volcano Observatory.

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MOUNT TALANG, Indonesia

Indonesian scientists were closely monitoring three volcanoes that have rumbled into life - activity they link to last December's monster earthquake off the coast of Sumatra Island and the countless other powerful tremors that followed. Thousands of people have been evacuated from the slopes of Mount Talang in west Sumatra, which erupted Tuesday, showering dust over nearby villages and spreading panic among villagers. (2005)

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So also it was the same as it was in the days of Lot. People ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built; but on the very day that Lot went out of Sodom, it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all. That is the way it will be on the day that the Son of Man is revealed.
(Luke 17:28-30)

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JAKARTA, Indonesia

Up to 25,000 villagers have been evacuated from the slopes of a rumbling volcano on Indonesia's Sumatra Island. The 9,186-foot mountain was spewing ash some 1,600 feet into the air, though on Monday, the ash reached twice as high. The mountain is among at least 129 active volcanoes in Indonesia, the world's largest archipelago nation. The country is part of the Pacific "Ring of Fire" -- a series of volcanoes and fault lines stretching from the Western Hemisphere through Japan and Southeast Asia. (2005)

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MOUNT ST. HELENS, Wash.

Mount St. Helens made its most significant emission in months, sending a gritty ash cloud drifting slowly to the northeast. The National Weather Service issued an ash-fall advisory after pilots reported spotting ash higher than 30,000 feet. (2005)

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Mount Veniaminof

About 500 miles southwest of Anchorage on the Alaska Peninsula, the code was changed from Code Green, or "dormant," to Code Yellow. On Jan. 10, the observatory upgraded its activity to Code Orange, indicating the volcano is "in eruption."
Ash plumes from Veniaminof can be seen on sunny days and have been photographed from planes. Even when clouds obscure the summit, seismic records indicate the eruption is continuing, said a geophysicist. "We have some magma at Veniaminof," he said. (2005)

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Therefore we will not fear though the earth should change and though the mountains be shaken into the midst of the seas, though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble at isn't swelling and tumult.
(Psalms 46:1)

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Mount Vesuvius

Mt. Vesuvius is one of the most famous volcanoes to exist on earth. In 79 AD, Vesuvius made its first deadly spew and reduced the bustling Pompeii and Ercolano into ashes. In geological terms, Vesuvio is particularly "versatile", its activity ranging from Hawaiian-style emission of very liquid lava, fountaining and lava lakes, over Strombolian and Vulcanian activity to violently explosive, Plinian events that produce pyroclastic flows and surges. The last eruption was in 1944.

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BEND Ore.

A recent survey of a bulge that covers about 100 square miles near the South Sister indicates the area is still growing, suggesting it could be another volcano in the making or a major shift of molten rock under the center of the Cascade Range.
Recent eruptions at nearby Mount St. Helens in Washington State have rekindled interest in the annual Sisters survey and its findings.

Oregon has four of the 18 most active volcanoes in the nation -- Mount Hood, Crater Lake, Newberry and South Sister.

Additional information from seismographs and chemical monitoring of area springs reveal movement of magma underground. A swarm of 350 small earthquakes in March 2004, indicated magma was on the move. Cones are the most common volcanic features on Earth, and Central Oregon has about 600. Basalt flows have occurred in the area of the bulge every 1,000 to 1,500 years for the past 4,000 years. (2005)

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It shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the Lord's house shall be firmly established as the highest of the mountains and shall be exalted above all of the hills, and all nations shall flow to it. (Isaiah 2:2)

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WILD FIRES

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SELMA, Ore.

A fast-moving wildfire burned five rural homes and forced the evacuation of at least 30 more near an area that had been struck by another wildfire just three years earlier. About 800 firefighters were called in Friday to beef up a crew of about 200 tackling the fire. The flames had already spread to 1,800 acres of dense forest in southwestern Oregon one day after the fire started.

A man watched his two-room house and an attached travel trailer go up in flames. "I lost everything. It just wiped me right out totally. If you don't see it on me, I lost it," the man said.

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POMEROY, Wash.

Fire crews are contending with summer heat and rough terrain as they fight to encircle a 49,000-acre wildfire, the largest in the lower 48 states.

The fire in southeastern Washington has destroyed more than 100 homes and more than 100 outbuildings about 15 miles south of Pomeroy. It was second in size only to an 82,000-acre blaze in Alaska.

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DUDLEYVILLE, Ariz.

Arizona firefighters battled a blaze that destroyed three homes and chased residents out of a mobile home park, while crews in Colorado worked to halt a wildfire that threatened homes. However, it had destroyed three homes and 10 other buildings since starting earlier Sunday.

A blaze in southwestern Colorado had blackened an estimated 2,800 acres near Mesa Verde National Park, and was threatening nine homes, a commercial building and six outbuildings or other structures.

They were among 25 large wildfires active Monday in Alaska, Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, South Dakota, Utah and Wyoming, according to the National Interagency Coordination Center in Boise, Idaho.

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Is not My word like fire that consumes all that cannot endure the test? Says the Lord, and like a hammer that breaks in pieces the rock of most stubborn resistance?
(Jeremiah 23:29)

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LOS ANGELES, Calif.

A wind-whipped brush fire quickly doubled in size to at least 7,000 acres, destroying at least one home and prompting evacuations as flames rose along a ridge for miles.
Helicopters began dropping water on the flames at daybreak as the fire threatened canyon homes in the San Fernando Valley, at Los Angeles' westernmost edge, and crept west toward dwellings near Thousand Oaks in Ventura County. They expected a tough day, with low humidity, triple-digit temperatures and brisk winds, combined with the area's dry brush.

A blaze consumed a home and a detached garage and was threatening countless others. Another blaze in Riverside County spread over 1,160 acres between the cities of Redlands and Moreno Valley. That fire destroyed three chicken coops at a ranch believed to house 70,000 to 90,000 chickens.

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BEULAH, Colo.

A fast-moving wildfire forced the voluntary evacuation of a ranching community Sunday as flames roared through tinder-dry fuel in southern Colorado. The 8,000-acre blaze - which quadrupled in size in 24 hours - was threatening 750 houses, outbuildings and other structures in the Beulah Valley, about 150 miles south of Denver. The fire had already forced the evacuation of 150 homes in surrounding areas. It generated so much smoke at one point that aircraft weren't able to get close enough to drop retardant on its center.

Elsewhere, fire crews in South Dakota got help Sunday from a tanker airplane as they battled a 3,500-acre blaze that had destroyed two homes in the Piedmont area of the Black Hills, northwest of Rapid City.

Thirteen large wildfires were active Sunday in nine states and had burned more than 688,000 acres, according to the National Interagency Fire Center. Since January, wildfires have burned slightly more than 3 million acres.

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For our God is indeed a consuming fire.
(Hebrews 12:29)

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CAREFREE, Ariz.

Firefighters used roads, ridges and other natural barriers to make a stand Thursday against a wildfire that threatened multimillion-dollar houses near Phoenix. In California, firefighters gained ground against a blaze that burned several homes in the Mojave Desert.

The mayor of nearby Cave Creek said 12 homes had been lost - two homes in the Tonto Hills area and 10 cabins in Camp Creek. Around Camp Creek, all that was left of some residences were chimneys or stoves sitting in fields of ash.

The fire destroyed six homes and threatened as many as 700 for a time Wednesday afternoon. The flames were moving into wilderness Thursday morning, but about 200 homes were still considered to be in danger.

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Then Moses brought the people from the camp to meet God, and they stood at the foot of the mountain. Mount Sinai was wrapped in smoke, for the Lord descended upon it in fire. Its smoke ascended like that of a furnace, and the whole mountain quaked greatly.

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Rains and Flooding

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ANCHORAGE, Alaska

Water overflowing the banks of the Yukon River has flooded the only road between the Yup'ik Eskimo village of Emmonak and its airport, crippling the community. The ice breakup in Alaska this year has been severe. "Every village from Aniak on down had some degree of flooding due to ice dams and high water in the system." In the Lower 48 states, the Sevier River ran over its banks in central Utah and flooded farmers' fields, as mountain snow packs gave way to warming temperatures. Other rivers throughout Utah are expected to be swollen. The weather service put southern Utah under a flood watch for a possible deluge on the Virgin River, when temperatures are expected to climb to 100 degrees. "We've been warning about this for months," said the weather service hydrologist.

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Bombay, India

Rescuers working beneath leaden skies pulled bodies from rivers of mud and piles of water-soaked debris as they searched for survivors of record-breaking monsoon rains. Rescuers were searching vast areas in the western Maharashtra state battered rain. The crisis began when the cosmopolitan city that is home to India's financial and movie industries was hit by an unprecedented deluge of up to 37 inches of rain in some areas. It was the highest recorded one-day total in India's history. Much of it came over a few evening hours, transforming roads into fierce rivers. The rains stretched into Wednesday, paralyzing Bombay and devastating wide swaths of surrounding Maharashtra state.

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In the northern Bombay suburb of Saki Naka, relief workers and survivors searched the ruins of a shantytown crushed when a water-soaked hill collapsed on top of it. "It was terrible to pull out little babies from under boulders and mud," said a firefighter, wiping his brow with mud-caked hands. "The very young and the old just didn't make it." Most victims drowned, were crushed by falling walls, or were electrocuted. "I lost count of the number of people who were electrocuted. There were clusters of people who stepped on exposed wires."

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For behold, I, even I, will bring a flood of waters upon the earth to destroy and make putrid all flesh under the heavens in which are the breath and spirit of life; everything that is on the land shall die.
Genesis 6:17

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BOMBAY, India

Authorities warned residents to remain home after new heavy rains pounded Bombay and the surrounding state, as the official death toll from last week's record-breaking monsoon rains hit 910.

More than 300 people have been moved from Bern's flooded Matte district, a low-lying area next to the river Aare said authorities, which described the situation as precarious. About a dozen people could still be trapped in their homes. The death toll from this week's storms has risen steadily as floodwaters washed up the missing. Hardest hit in the disaster was Romania, with 31 dead since the rains began nine days ago. Austria, Bulgaria, Germany and Switzerland reported a total of 11 dead.

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Elsewhere in Switzerland, much of the historic old city of Lucerne remained underwater. The town of Engelberg was still cut off from the rest of Switzerland after its only road out was washed away by a landslide. Authorities there were trying to build an emergency road but said it would take two weeks to complete.

Victims struggled to clear debris and shovel away the mud from their homes in the Austrian provinces of Tyrol and Vorarlberg, where many areas remained cut off by flooded roads.

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So as the result of the Messiah's intervention they shall reverently fear the name of the Lord from the west, and His glory from the rising of the sun. When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord will lift up a standard against him and put him to flight, for He will come like a rushing stream which the breath of the Lord drives.

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However, the river flooded part of the southeastern town of Kelheim, including its Weltenburg Monastery, founded in the 7th century and described as the oldest in Bavaria. The ground floor of the Benedictine monastery, which draws 500,000 visitors a year, was submerged.

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INTERESTING FACTS

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Arctic Sea Ice Melting

Scientists say satellite observations show that sea ice in the Arctic is melting faster as air temperatures in the region are rising sharply.

Observations by NASA and university scientists show that melting in 2005 began a record 17 days earlier than usual. And the two-point-six (m) million square miles of Arctic sea ice is the lowest measurement ever recorded. It's 20 percent less than the average of end-of-summer ice pack cover measurements recorded since 1978.

Average air temperatures across most of the Arctic from January to August were as much as five-point-four degrees warmer than the average over the last 50 years. The scientists say that they have few other explanations.

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World's Largest Iceberg Collides With Glacier

WELLINGTON, New Zealand

The world's biggest iceberg has hit the end of an Antarctic glacier, snapping off a block about 3 Miles Square, a New Zealand scientist said. The giant iceberg, known as B15A had run into the tip of the Drygalski Ice Tongue. The clash between the 100-mile-long iceberg and the 40-mile-long glacier near McMurdo Station on the North Antarctic coast was first predicted by scientists in late December; the collision was discovered by scientists reviewing satellite photos.

The world's biggest iceberg has begun moving, nearly three months after it stopped its slow float toward colliding with a huge Antarctic ice tongue, New Zealand officials said. Known as B15A, the giant iceberg, and a remnant of a Ross Ice Shelf fractured in 2000, is now moving slowly northward out of McMurdo Sound, where it had been blocking sea access. He said the iceberg is moving just over a half-mile a day. Earlier, B15A, which is 1,200 square miles and contains enough water to feed the River Nile for 80 years, was expected to smash into the ice tongue, possibly cracking it apart.

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COLORADO SPRING, Colo.

Officials in Colorado Springs have had to break out the snowplows to clear up to a foot of hail from a major thoroughfare.

A slow-moving thunderstorm is responsible for the frozen precipitation along the city's southeastern edge. The storm also brought about an inch of rain that left up to four feet of water in the middle of streets. Dozens of motorists were trapped and a sleepy creek became a torrent that peeled the pavement off a bridge. There were no serious injuries. Firefighters responded to more than 50 calls for help, not only from stranded motorists, but also from homeowners reporting lightning strikes, water streaming through damaged roofs and mud oozing through windows. Flooding was also reported at a mall. (June 2005)

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But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will vanish (pass away) with a thunderous crash, and the material elements of the universe will be dissolved with fire, and the earth and the works that are upon on it will be burned up. Since all these things are thus in the process of being dissolved, what kind of person ought each of you to be in the meanwhile in consecrated and holy behavior and devout and godly qualities.
(2 Peter 3: 10-11)

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Oppressive Heat

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Ohio: Temperatures soared past 100 in several cities, and the National Weather Service posted excessive heat warnings and advisories from Illinois to Louisiana and from Nebraska to the District of Columbia.

Nevada: 200 cities in the West hit daily record highs, including Las Vegas at 117, and Death Valley soared to 129.

Arizona: The blistering heat has caused numerous deaths this summer. In the Phoenix area alone, 24 people, most of them homeless, have died.

Missouri: Four deaths have been blamed on the heat in Missouri, including a woman found dead in a home without air conditioning.

Oklahoma: Four people have died of the heat in Oklahoma; two of them were young children that were left in cars.

New Jersey: There were at least three heat deaths in New Jersey.

North Carolina: In Raleigh, the high was 103 degrees, which would break a record set in 1949.

Tenn: Demand for electricity to run air conditioners hit record peaks throughout Ohio and the Tennessee Valley. The load on generators caused a power outage in St. Louis County, Mo.

Arizona: Residents are used to heat, but not like this. It's been over a week since the mercury dropped below 89 in the city, even at night, and the high has been at least 110 degrees for nine straight days. Phoenix set a record at 116 degrees.

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Flooding in Noah's Day

In the beginning, the Earth was watered by a mist which somewhat resembles a greenhouse effect, which caused the entire planet to be tropical in nature. This also explains why there is oil under the ice caps on top of the North Pole, and under the deserts of Iraq and Saudi Arabia. Once vegetation grew there. The Bible tells us that The entire world changed because of the horrendous deluge that came upon the Earth.

Noah was 600-years-old when he and his family entered the ark, and then the rains began. The Bible says that "the fountains of the great deep" were broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened. This was no ordinary rain. Subterranean seas erupt. The cloud cover around the Earth collapsed. The result of this was that it rained for 40 days and 40 nights nonstop. Unfortunately, that was not the only time it rained. It actually rained for 150 days altogether. The waters prevailed for 150 days, and Noah and his family would ultimately end up being in that ark for 371 days, just over a year.

This by no means meant a local flood, or a local catastrophe. It was not an ordinary flood, but a deluge; not a small flood, but a gigantic downpour like no one had ever seen or experienced. Unlike the floods the world has recently experienced, every single animal and everyone in whom there was breath in their body died. That included every living thing that had breath was destroyed by the horrendous flood.

There are have been devastating rainstorms and floods since Noah's time. But, this flood was a global flood. God not only let that massive wall of water collapse on the Earth, but the end result was that the subterranean seas on the planet erupted as well. Many believe that in that moment, as an act of God's judgment. The greenhouse effect that is described in the early chapters of Genesis, where the Earth is watered by a mist within the canopy, suddenly came to an end. That wall of water literally fell out of the sky, disrupting the surface of the planet, and the subterranean seas exploded from under the planet as well. Such a massive amount of water, moving across the entire planet, would have reshaped the Earth. What we call the Grand Canyon, Natural Bridge, the Great Lakes, or great valleys and or mountain ranges, would have all been created during this period of time. God reshaped the initial creation of the world at the time of the flood.

After the flood, vegetation was reduced. The weather that was then mild in the early chapters of the Bible now became violent. The lifespans that were exceeding long became short. All of these factors, along with seasonal changes, the formation of icecaps on the planet, and the development of deserts, all tell us that the antediluvian (pre-flood) world was no more. Something changed all of that, and the Bible clearly indicates that occurrence was the great flood in the days of Noah.

Even in God's acts of judgment, we see His mercy. God sees a world that is running away from Him, turning its back on Him, saying, 'NO' to Him.

For many, it is time to REPENT!

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