Blog note: And great earthquakes shall be in diverse places, and famines, and pestilences; and fearful sights and great signs shall there be from heaven. (Luke 21:11). Jesus is giving a series of prophecies about what to look for as the age of grace comes to a close. This verse from Luke is one of many such prophecies from throughout the Bible. 2017 was the worst year in recorded history for the intensity, frequency, severity, duration and occurrence of a large number of severe natural disasters worldwide. Earthquakes, volcanoes, hurricanes, typhoons, cyclones, torrential flooding, unprecedented wildfires in unusual places, devastating droughts, excessive/scorching heat setting records everywhere, record snowfalls in Europe and Russia. Snow in the Arabia. This list can go on. Most studied eschatologists believe these ‘fearful sights’ and massive natural disasters are all part of the ‘CONVERGENCE’ of signs that this Biblical and prophetic age is closing. Most people who study prophecy are familiar with the routine reference(s) made that these things will be like a woman having labor pains that occur in greater severity, frequency, size and duration prior to giving birth. End of note.

Spike in Ebola cases pushes Congo outbreak to ‘tipping point’: aid workers

Nellie Peyton. OCTOBER 11, 2018 / 1:27 PM / UPDATED 9 HOURS AGO

DAKAR (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – Aid agencies said on Thursday that the Ebola outbreak in Democratic Republic of Congo could be tipping into a wider crisis as the number of new cases spiked and violence grounded health workers for a second time. The disease is believed to have infected 194 people and killed 122 since the outbreak started in eastern Congo in July, according to the health ministry.

The number of new cases per day has more than doubled since September, partly because worsening security is hampering the response, said the International Rescue Committee (IR The outbreak is centered in the city of Beni, where rebels killed at least 18 people in an attack last month, forcing health workers to suspend operations for several days.

Four civilians were killed in another attack near Beni on Tuesday, according to the United Nations. The IRC again suspended programs on Wednesday, resuming on Thursday afternoon but only within Beni city limits, a spokeswoman said.

“The current spike in Ebola cases and deaths is extremely worrying,” said Michelle Gayer, IRC’s senior director of emergency health. “It’s likely that the forced suspension in programming due to insecurity and community resistance in and around Beni are m The region has been a tinder box of armed rebellion and ethnic killing since two civil wars in the late 1990s.

Community resistance has also caused violence, with angry villagers attacking Red Cross volunteers on several occasions and preventing a burial last week. “We are concerned that [violence] is contributing to the rise in Ebola cases in Beni and that this could be the tipping point for an accelerated spread of the disease,” Red Cross spokesman Euloge Ishimwe told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.