Today’s Topic: Beginning of Sorrows: Famines, Pestilences Earthquakes, Roaring Seas
Scripture: Matthew 24:7; Luke 21:25
Greetings Kingdom Citizens
Now I group these four because we can look at them and see how these coincide with the time as being the beginning of sorrows. We will take each one and show you at least two examples of each and show how Jesus prophesied the growth and frequency of these things.
Famines
The word famine back then can be used today to describe what we call economic crises. Back then it was poverty in agriculture and decreased amount of food that was not enough to meet the needs of the people. One of the most popular famines that I can recall in my lifetime was the great famine in Ethiopia of 1984 and 1985 where over 1 million people died from hunger and famine. Another famine that I can recall was the Great Depression in 1932 in the United States. Now these famines are happening all over the world from Darfur to the Philippines and from The United States to the countries of Central America and the Caribbean. These famines are increasing in number around the world and even within the year 2009 the world markets were crashing and world governments began to panic and people were losing their jobs and health insurance at alarming rates. This is just the beginning, quote Jesus.
Pestilences
We are seeing new diseases at an alarming rate, from the Black Plague to Small Pox, Polio, Cancer, Diabetes, Sexually Transmitted Diseases, Swine Flu (H1N1), Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) and Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS). There is no doubt that this is evident and growing at alarming rates. We are seeing a growth in the number of reported AIDS and HIV cases and there are probably even more that are not reported. We have gone from general cancer to Breast, Bone, Pancreatic, Colon, Prostate and Throat cancer and a growth of them within the past 20 years. Another set of pestilences that are on the rise are those of the mental status. From psychotic diseases such as schizophrenia and dementia to Alzheimer’s disease we have seen a rise in these cases. In addition, one disease that has really been a question mark in my mind but has risen in the past 20 years is Attention Deficient Hyperactive Disorder (ADHD). Now the reason for my question on this is where was ADHD 35 or even 40 years ago. My parents never heard of this ADHD but yet we have it now and it is plaguing our children and some of our adults. As a health care professional I have seen the growth of these terminal and manageable diseases within the past 10 years and it will only get worse. Yes God has given man creativity to learn more about these diseases and gifted him create drugs that delay the progression of the disease and for that we are thankful. But Jesus has told us, this is just the beginning.
Earthquakes
Now I know we can point to the devastating earthquake in Haiti in 2010 where over 150,000 people were killed. Nearly 1 month later we have earthquakes in Chile, Japan and Turkey. Of course there was the earthquake in Pakistan (2005) where over 80,000 people lost their lives. We have had these earthquakes happen in many other places leading to tremendous loss of life. The frequency of these earthquakes should be noted and understood to be a clear sign that were are at the beginning of sorrows.
Roaring Seas
Now when we look at these roaring seas as a sign we can talk about Tsunamis and Hurricanes as major contributors and results of roaring seas. The Tsunami of 2004 in Thailand, Tsunami of 2009 in American Samoa and Hurricane Andrew of 1992, Hurricane Katrina of 2005 are a few examples of how the roaring of the seas have devastated lives and land. These economic crises from these situations have produced famines and pestilences. We know that these earthquakes in divers places (seas) produce these huge Tsunamis were water can move over 200 miles per hour and destroy anything in its path.
What we are seeing in these four situations is a common theme and it is nature in revolt. But these are to be a sign for us on the Earth that the return of the Lord is eminent. We need to open our eyes and realize the importance of working for the Kingdom daily because we never know when it will be our time. All of the people in these horrifying situations, for many, never saw it coming. Some died without accepting Christ and some died in the body of Christ. When these things happen we should never jump to the conclusion that it is because the place where it happened was unholy because if that is the case then this should happen everywhere. We just need to be ever prepared and treat each day like it is our last day. Please keep everyone who has been affected by the various acts of nature and physical diseases in your prayers.
At the Father’s Service,
Elder Calvin Calhoun Jr.
