The Great Derecho Disaster of 2020

On the 10th of this month, a line of thunderstorms called a “derecho” swept across several Midwest states. The storm caused extensive damage to homes, crops and utilities, which left more than a million people without power. The state of Iowa suffered the most damage with estimated losses to corn and soybean crops topping the $3 billion mark.

Meteorologists with the National Weather Service have surveyed the damage path from the derecho, finding peak estimated wind speeds of 130 mph at one point in Linn County, Iowa. The agency said that a swath of winds through parts of Benton and Linn Counties was consistent with winds that were, at times, in the 110 to 130 mph range. Specifically, meteorologists pointed to a radio transmission tower north of Marion that collapsed, caused by likely wind speeds of around 130 mph.

Derecho is a Spanish word, meaning “direct” or “straight ahead,” referring to widespread, long-lived storms with straight-line winds that cause damage similar to a tornado and hurricane. Derecho was first coined by Gustavus D. Hinrichs, a gifted and highly educated German immigrant who settled in Davenport in 1861, which is, oddly enough, in the core of the damage zone.

The criteria that must be met for derecho classification:

1. Consistent, widespread wind damage swath greater than 250 miles.
2. Wind gusts 58 mph or greater along the entire path of the line.
3. Pockets of 75 mph or greater gusts
4. A long-lived event with lack of weakening along the entire path.

Since 1850, 25 derechos have occurred in the U.S., which averages one every six years. The state of Illinois is the bull’s eye for this type of storm because cooler air that comes off Lake Michigan aids in the development of a derecho.

President Donald Trump told officials in Iowa that the state has the “full support of the federal government” as it continues to recover from the treacherous derecho. Trump declared a federal emergency for the state. Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds filed an expedited presidential major disaster declaration seeking $3.99 billion.

The US is the largest corn producer in the world, with 96,000,000 acres of land reserved for corn production. The total production of corn in the U.S. for the year 2019 is reported to be 13.016 billion bushels, which was a bad year due to flooding and cold weather. Corn production has actually declined for the past three years. In 2016 corn production was 15.1 billion bushels.

United States Department of Agriculture had hoped that 2020 would be a good year with heavy planting that was to result in a record 15.3 billion bushels. Drought conditions in western Iowa and central Ohio have already reduced crop yields. The derecho has now put a billion bushels of corn into question.

Many fields have been blown flat by the winds, and they’ve now turned yellow from their stalks being broken. If Iowa receives heavy rain, the corn near to the ground will mold, making it unfit for human consumption.

I lived in the Midwest most of my life, and I never saw anything like what I’ve seen on the news. The timing of the storm was at the worst stage of the growing season. The corn stalks were still green, and the weight of the corn cobs was near to its max. If the storm had taken place in May or June, the seedlings could have survived the storm. If the derecho had hit in Sept on, the corn would be drier and rigid enough to stand up to the winds.

The Midwest is not the only region of the country facing weather-related calamity. California Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency as wildfires continue torching parts of Northern California amid blackouts and a severe heatwave. California’s energy system operator — California Independent System Operator (CAISO) — issued a Stage 3 emergency for the first time in 20 years.

China has had a series of disasters with its rice, corn, and wheat belts. Floods in the center of the nation have damaged rice crops. Drought in the north has taken a toll on wheat fields.

Beijing has sent out a small army of grain buyers to purchase huge amounts of grain to fulfill China’s grain needs. Since bad luck has become a permanent fixture in food production, I can only conclude that these events are the lead-up to great famine that will play out during the tribulation.

“And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third beast say, Come and see. And I beheld, and lo a black horse; and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand. And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine” (Rev 6:5-6, KJV).

“And great earthquakes shall be in divers places, and famines, and pestilences; and fearful sights and great signs shall there be from heaven” (Luke 21:11, KJV).

—Todd

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Authors note: This article was first posted a number of years ago. The Bible Truth here was never more relevant than right this moment. Thus it is timely as a reminder of just how near must be the great event called the Rapture.

Thief in the Night

No scriptural proof-text in God’s Word more clearly points to the first of the two phases of Jesus Christ’s second coming than does the following: “For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night” (1 Thess. 5:2).

We who hold to the pre-trib rapture viewpoint are often accused of being deceivers. We are condemned by our detractors as leading astray Christians alive now –if they live to see it–  who will be required to endure the tribulation, thus to wash their robes clean in preparation for inheriting God’s Kingdom.

We are castigated for foisting upon innocent, gullible believers a “secret rapture” that will somehow lead these Christians to take the mark of the beast(Rev. 13:16-18).

I’m not precisely sure of their “reasoning,” but I think they claim this because they are convinced that the ones who fall for the rapture viewpoint won’t be able to recognize Antichrist when he comes to power. We who teach the pre-trib rapture, so the accusation goes, would have falsely led these people to think the Church would not be here when Antichrist is on the world scene.

Almost all who are antagonistic to the pre-trib rapture doctrine teach that the “elect” will have to endure part or all of the seven-year tribulation era.

Those who hold to a post-tribulation rapture, or a no-rapture position, believe that Christ will come back at the end of the tribulation, at Armageddon.

They hold to the notion that that is His only return in the second coming. There are other views of the second coming that have Christ returning when the earth is perfected and made ready, but we won’t go there in this essay.

Let us look at only the pre-trib rapture and the post-trib rapture positions for the purpose of exploring what is meant by the “thief in the night” references in 1 Thessalonians 5:2 and 2 Peter 3:10.

These two viewpoints–the pre-trib, and the post-trib–offer the greatest contrast to examine in consideration of the second advent of Jesus Christ, within the overall belief that rapture will, according to Bible prophecy, happen before Christ’s foot actually touches down on Planet Earth.

The pre-trib view of rapture says that Christ’s second coming is in two phases, separated by at least seven years. The post-trib rapture view says that the rapture and Christ’s coming back to the Mount of Olives will occur almost simultaneously–certainly with no more than a matter of days separating the two events. The post-trib position says there is no “secret” rapture. Christ’s coming again will be fully seen in the heavens by all, including Christians who will be watching for Him to break through the darkness of that hour.

We agree that the rapture of the Church (all born-again believers in Jesus Christ for salvation since the Church Age began at Pentecost) will be anything but a “secret”. The world will instantly go into cataclysmic chaos at the moment that stunning event takes place. The imagination is hard-pressed to fathom the ramifications of what will happen when millions suddenly vanish. Every child below the age of accountability will be gone in that mind-boggling instant of time. I am convinced that all babies (including those in the wombs of their mothers) will be instantly in the presence of Christ in the clouds of glory. Every corpse of every dead Christian will be raised to join with his or her soul to meet Christ in the air in that atomos of time.

The rapture will be mystifying, and to some an inexplicable phenomenon, but it will not be a secret. It will happen before the eyes of a stupefied planet of left-behind earth-dwellers. This declaration that Jesus will call His Church to be with Him seems audacious to many. But, it didn’t seem so to the Apostle Paul. He was quite confident–even adamant—in his prophecy concerning the “mystery” he had been given by the Holy Spirit to instruct all believers down through the Age of Grace (Church Age).

“Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed” (1 Cor. 15:51-52).

He explains what will take place next, in that stupendous fraction of a second: “For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord” (1 Thess. 4:15-17).

Jesus himself told of this “mystery” Paul refers to in 1 Corinthians 15:51. The Lord explains what happens after believers –both the bodies of the dead and those who are living– are caught up in the air to be with Him: “Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also” (Jn. 14:1-3).

So, the rapture will take place. Believers and the bodies of those who died during the Church Age will be “caught up” in one single moment of time. “ALL,” not “some,” will go instantly to be with Jesus, who will then take them into heaven, where He has been preparing their dwelling places since He ascended from the Mount of Olives.

Again, the pre-trib position on this joyous event is that it is imminent (could happen at any moment), and will happen before the tribulation period begins.

The post-trib position says that it happens at the end of the most terrible time in human history, just as Jesus Christ is returning from heaven at Armageddon.

The pre-trib view holds that it will occur at an unknown time. It will be a stunning, sudden, and unannounced-to-the-world-at-large break-in upon business as usual on Planet Earth. The post-trib proclaims that it will occur following all of the horrors of the judgments outlined in Revelation.

The pre-trib view says that the world at large (left-behind earth-dwellers) won’t see it coming. The rapture will cause all left on earth to wonder what has happened. The post-trib view says that all eyes will behold Christ’s coming again to a hellish planet, and the living and dead saints will then be gathered to Christ.

The defining thing to consider in thinking on the two diametrically different views of the rapture and second coming is wrapped up in the term “thief in the night”. The Apostle Peter again uses this mysterious term, first used by Paul in 1 Thessalonians 5:2: “But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up” (2 Pet. 3:10).

Peter is saying here that the day of the Lord–that time when God and His Christ, His Son, takes over this fallen planet—will begin like a thief in the night.

It will be a sudden, catastrophic break-in upon a world doing business as usual. (Read Luke 17:26-29 to understand how things will be going along as usual when Christ comes back.)

This description hardly fits the post-trib view, or any other view that says Christ will rapture His Church during a time of unprecedented trouble (Jer. 30:7; Matt. 24:21). This indicates that it will be a total surprise, because a thief in the night doesn’t announce his coming with great, cataclysmic fanfare.

The break-in is swift, stealthy–a totally unexpected event.

Peter foretells in these passages that the “day of the Lord” will then run its course, until the remaking of the heavens and the earth. The rapture will begin this “day of the Lord,” which will then run at least 1,007 years.

This is the first phase of Christ’s second coming. The rapture occurs like a “thief in the night”. The second advent, when Jesus’ foot touches down on the Mount of Olives, is the second phase of His second coming.

There are those who say with vehemence that it is blasphemous to equate Christ’s coming again as being like the break-in of a thief in the night. How dare we liken their Lord to a “thief”!

Really? Here’s what Jesus, the Creator of all things, said about this matter: “But know this, that if the goodman of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up. Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh” (Matt. 24:43-44).

Looks like a pretty good case for the Lord’s sudden intervention into the nefarious affairs of this increasingly wicked world, does it not? That thief-in-the-night moment could happen, literally, at any moment. Certainly, signals of the tribulation are beginning to come to pass.

“And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh” (Lk. 21:28).

–Terry

How the Annual Hiroshima and Nagasaki Apology Campaign Will Lead to the Tribulation

The 6th and 9th of August marked the 75th anniversaries of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Days before reaching the diamond milestone in the annual blame America for using the bomb, I knew the liberal media were going to run headlines like “Were Hiroshima and Nagasaki War Crimes?” or “Should we Apologize?”

At the time, the news of the nuclear weapons that demolished Hiroshima, and three days later Nagasaki, was greeted with enthusiasm by an American public that felt vindicated in its war against an implacable foe that did, after all, start the war. Americans at home were relieved that, with Tokyo’s imminent capitulation likely, their sons would not have to face the grim prospect of invading Japan after the heavy toll already taken in the Pacific fighting.

Someone of the baby boom generation might think that the left is wasting its time in trying to shift views on the bomb’s use. America is always wrong in their view, so we should expect each year to read negative headlines about Hiroshima and Nagasaki every August. The truth is that the liberal media have had steady progress in rewriting history regarding this matter.

The conviction that the U.S. was justified in dropping the bombs has been relentlessly chipped away over the years. A Gallup poll taken in 1945 showed that 85 percent of Americans supported the atom-bombings. But over the past 75 years, public opinion has shifted significantly. By 1995, only 57 percent supported the nuclear strikes, a decrease of almost 30 percent. When President Obama visited Hiroshima in 2016, a CBS News poll found a virtual split on the issue: 43 percent approved, 44 percent did not.

Polls are increasingly siding with Japan because the past sins of that nation are not reported in history books. We now have multi-generations that don’t know that the United States was fighting an implacable military dictatorship whose forces had inflicted a wave of atrocities in their wake, from the rape of Nanking (200,000 victims) to the Bataan Death March to the sacking of Manila (100,000 dead).

In contemplating an invasion, American planners had to consider the bloody price paid by U.S. forces as they seized Japanese-held islands across the Pacific. On Okinawa alone, Americans suffered upwards of 50,000 casualties, more than 12,000 fatalities. The Japanese defenders were virtually wiped out, losing 110,000. Worse still, they sacrificed their civilians; at least 60,000 died on Okinawa. On Saipan, almost half the civilian population of 20,000 committed suicide, indoctrinated to be fearful of falling into American hands. Wherever the Japanese could no longer evacuate their troops, the garrisons fought to the death.

A key problem with the fading memory over why we bombed Japan with atomic bombs is the eventual repeating of the same mistakes. Since we are now in the nuclear age, the errors would be far greater.

If Japan decided to become a nuclear power, it has enough plutonium to make 6,000 atomic bombs. The dozens of nuclear reactors around the nation consume uranium in a way that produces plutonium as a waste product. By reprocessing spent nuclear fuel, Japan has a surplus of 47 metric tons of plutonium that it claims will someday be used for a new type of reactor.

The option to produce nuclear weapons is an obvious reason why Japan keeps unintentionally accumulating large amounts of plutonium. Japan even plans to start commercial operation in 2021 of a domestic reprocessing plant that would produce up to an additional eight metric tons of plutonium annually.

The Bible warns that a 200-million-man army will one day rise and unleash their deadly weapons to kill 1/3 of the world’s population. The description of this vast army as the “kings of the East” strongly implies that China and Japan will be working together. Since China’s nuclear arsenal is currently at 300 warheads, access to Japan’s stock load of plutonium would be the most logical explanation for how it gains the ability to kill such a large portion of the global population. An alliance between China and Japan would be hard to imagine without years of propaganda to smooth over the bad blood from World War II.

“And the sixth angel sounded, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God, Saying to the sixth angel which had the trumpet, Loose the four angels which are bound in the great river Euphrates. And the four angels were loosed, which were prepared for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year, for to slay the third part of men. And the number of the army of the horsemen were two hundred thousand thousand: and I heard the number of them” (Revelation 9:13-16).

“And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates; and the water thereof was dried up, that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared” (Revelation 16:12).

—Todd

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Savior’s Signals!

Every word in the Bible is true—and from God the Holy Spirit. Even when the great apostle Paul says that it is he, not the Lord, saying something, if it’s in the Bible, it is absolute truth and put there by God Himself.

Every one of God’s prophets are to be given 100 percent attention. Their words were given by the Creator to all of humanity to heed, without exception. How much more important, then, are the words of Jesus Christ, the second Person of the Godhead, when He foretells the future?

Signals of prophetic import flashing with every so-called breaking news item today inundate our senses. Video and spoken reports fill our eyes and ears with the message that the end of the age is drawing to a close. Jesus’ own words of prophecy for this late hour of human history are in our headlines—thus this article’s title, “Savior’s Signals!”.

Lately it seems to me that prophetic signals directly from Jesus fill the news. I would like for us to look at a few of these.

To begin, we’ll consider the scriptural passages that most prominently feature Christ’s words about the end of the age. It’s a familiar portion recorded as part of the Olivet Discourse.

From the book of Luke, we first look at Jesus’ answers to His disciples’ questions about signs for His Second Coming.

Then said he unto them, Nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: And great earthquakes shall be in diverse places, and famines, and pestilences; and fearful sights and great signs shall there be from heaven. (Luke 21:10–11)

Pestilences

Jesus framed all of His Olivet Discourse teaching about things to come by saying the signals will be like birth pangs the closer to the end of the age mankind’s history gets. These signals will increase in frequency and intensity just before He comes back to the earth to put an end to this wicked system that is hopelessly corrupt and rebellious.

The most significant signal in this regard at this moment is wrapped in the term “pestilence.”

I don’t have to remind you of this fact. The COVID-19 pandemic is all we’ve heard about since early this year.

The disease has completely disrupted life not just in America, but around the world. There have been many pestilences throughout the centuries, but none has been as disruptive to all peoples of earth at the same time as the coronavirus.

Compared to recent flu epidemics, it is not as deadly in terms of the number of deaths as counted against the total number of cases. Yet COVID-19 has brought changes and immense fear to the nation and the world at levels never seen in history. This, I believe, makes the current pandemic a signal of pestilence in the end of the age like that prophesied by the Lord.

I believe this to be particularly the case because of all the other such signals converging simultaneously, indicating this to be the time of birth pangs for the wind-up of the age.

Seas and Waves Roaring

We look at the next signal Jesus gave for the end of the age that is prominent in current news. It is found a bit farther along in the Luke account of the Olivet Discourse. Here, the Lord repeats for emphasis part of His earlier words:

And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring. (Luke 21:25)

Here, Jesus puts together—side by side—two things that leap from our headlines hourly. Specifically, nations with perplexity and the sea and the waves roaring.

Never in my memory, nor I think in history, has there been the simultaneous convergence of these things on a global basis. Most every part of the world is now in some sort of crisis.

In our America, we are suffering through the pandemic, financial meltdown, riots and anarchy, and political differences, with irrationality at its core that pits race against race and ideology against ideology. The seas of humanity are roaring across the globe. We are all too familiar with the burning of major cities, murders, and lawlessness that wants to do away with all rule of law.

We see the same rioting and roaring of humanity in places like Beirut, Lebanon, where the people have witnessed hundreds dead, with anger over government not being able to protect against violence and being nonresponsive to the carnage suffered by the multitudes. The pattern is the same in many places in Europe and beyond. Jesus’ words should be resounding in the spiritual senses of every Christian. His return to put an end to the satanically inspired evil is on the brink.

Hatred for Christ

The veracity of the third signal Jesus gave that shows exactly how near the end of this age we must be is made manifest in our news. The Lord said:

If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you. If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you. Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also. (John 15: 18–20)

One stunning item that brought home the hatred for Jesus Christ is a stark reminder of just where this generation is in its absolute rebellion against Heaven. This excerpt about a professor at a public university needs no further comment to make the point.

Timothy Snediker, a PhD student in the Department of Religious Studies at the University of Santa Barbara California, made a deeply disturbing Twitter post last week. Andrew Trask queried, “If you were dropped 2000 years back in time with nothing but the knowledge you have now—what would you do?” Snediker replied, “Easy. I would find and assassinate Jesus of Nazareth.”

He added, “Theologically speaking, it would be really important to get him before his calling and ministry begins, so that gives me roughly a decade to make it to Palestine, locate the man and make my move.”…

It is interesting to note that the Religious Studies Department is a strong supporter of Black Lives Matter and the move to defund the police.

“The Department of Religious Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara stands in support of the protests for racial justice and police reform. Black lives matter.”

“We commonly hear that ‘The death of one man is a tragedy. The death of millions is a statistic’,” the department statement reads. “This sentiment echoes in the national response to the current health crisis, where thousands and thousands have died and continue to die daily…

Apparently the department’s concern for life does not extend to Jews living in Judea, no matter what the era. (“Religious Studies Professor Tweets Plan to Go Back In Time to Kill Jesus,” by Adam Eliyahu Berkowitz , Breaking Israel News, Latest News)

There can be no doubt that our Savior has given those who will observe the times through the prism of Bible prophecy signals of just how near the Tribulation is. That means He must be at the doors of Heaven getting ready to call His saints of this Age of Grace to Himself. Here is what He tells us of this generation of believers:

But of that day and that hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father. Take ye heed, watch and pray: for ye know not when the time is…Watch ye therefore: for ye know not when the master of the house cometh, at even, or at midnight, or at the cockcrowing, or in the morning: Lest coming suddenly he find you sleeping. And what I say unto you I say unto all, Watch. (Mark 13:32–33; 35–37)

–Terry