Blog note. Jesus indicated that ‘fearful sights’ (various natural disasters) would occur leading up to the time known as the Tribulation and Great Tribulation (a combined seven year period of great destruction on earth). Although these types of things have occurred in the past for centuries and thousands of years, they could be identified as the ‘season of the times’ due to the ferociousness of these events. They would be occurring in greater intensity, severity, frequency, size, duration, scope … just like the pains that a women experiences in labor the farther along she is in the labor process. We are in the ‘season of the times’ that comes just before the seven (7) year Tribulation/Great Tribulation period

… 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).

… 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)

… Men’s hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken; (Luke 21:26)

… This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. (2 Timothy 3:1)

Jesus is giving a series of prophecies about what to look for as the age of grace comes to a close. These verses are several 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.

Record-shattering heat wave scorches Australia as temperatures reach 120 degrees

Doyle Rice. USA TODAY•December 27, 2018

A record-shattering heat wave continued to scorch Australia on Thursday as temperatures soared above 120 degrees in some spots.  The extreme heat has spurred on health warnings, air quality alerts and fire bans across the nation. High temperatures are forecast to be in the 105- to 120-degree range into the weekend in many locations. Nighttime won’t offer much relief, either, as temperatures will remain well above normal.

Though heat isn’t unusual in Australia this time of year, the level and duration of the heat wave are extreme. High temperature records have already been set in four states, news.com.au, an Australian news site said.

A blistering high temperature of 120 degrees reported Thursday in Marble Bar, Western Australia, was only 3 degrees below the continent’s all-time record high temperature of 123 degrees, set in 1960 in Oodnadatta.

The Northern Territory has already had a brutally hot month: “Forget frying an egg on the footpath, in Tennant Creek, Northern Territory, you could roast a whole chook in the main square, as the town heads toward its 28th day above 104 degrees this December,” the Australian Broadcasting Corporation reported.

(A chook, for those of us who don’t live Down Under, is Australian slang for a chicken.)

Forecaster Bradley Wood of the Australian Bureau of Meteorology said Tennant Creek’s month in the cauldron “completely smashes their previous record.”

Unfortunately, the bureau said “there is little relief in sight with heatwave conditions likely for at least the next week across parts of Australia.”

“The cause of the heat is a dome of high pressure settling in over much of the continent over the past few days,” CNN meteorologist Gene Norman said.

In addition to the blistering heat, the bureau has also issued fire warnings for parts of South Australia, Victoria and Western Australia.

Summer is just getting started in Australia along with the rest of the Southern Hemisphere. “This is the first month of summer, so there is a long way to go for much of the country,” meteorologist Jonathan How told the Guardian.

“At the moment the bureau is forecasting a warmer and drier summer than normal, so this could really just be a taste of things to come,” How said.