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.

Measles kills 90,000 a year worldwide.

By Dr. Marc Siegel | Fox News

The measles vaccine – as part of the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine series – is a life saver. Recent data from the Centers for Disease Control reveal that the measles vaccine has saved the lives of more than 20 million people around the world since 2000.

If all the people whose lives were saved by the vaccine were gathered in one spot they’d exceed the population of China’s capital of Beijing, the second-largest city in the world.

But there is still work to be done, with close to 90,000 people still dying from measles every year worldwide, almost all of them unvaccinated.

Current Centers for Disease Control recommendations call for two doses of the measles vaccine, “the first after the first birthday (12 to 15 months) and the second at school entry (4 to 6 years).”

Actually MMR’s second dose can be given earlier.

Currently, all 50 states and the District of Columbia have mandatory requirements for the MMR vaccine for children before they are allowed to attend public school kindergarten. This is as it should be.

But unfortunately, these requirements are not always strictly enforced, are too easy to avoid for religious, medical, or personal reasons, and may not extend to all private or parochial schools.

This leads to too much opportunity for vaccine noncompliance and the resurgence of measles, which is brought to the U.S. from countries where measles is still more common.

As a young child in the 1960s, I remember waiting for measles to come, knowing that I would get it and be put to bed with a fever, red eyes and an angry red rash – and knowing that I would only get it once and be done with it. The only question was when, not if.

What I didn’t know then, but know now, is that measles can also cause brain swelling with potential long term development consequences in one out of a thousand patients, and serious pneumonia in one out of 20.

We didn’t think of this as young children, eager for any excuse to stay home from school. But I promise you that as a practicing physician, I think of it now.

The measles vaccine was first developed in 1963, and was combined into the measles mumps rubella vaccine in 1971.

Measles is highly contagious, meaning that 90 percent of those in close contact with a measles sufferer will get it themselves if unvaccinated. This explains the current measles outbreak in New York, with at least 112 patients in Rockland and Orange Counties and at least 55 cases in New York City.

Measles is highly contagious, meaning that 90 percent of those in close contact with a measles sufferer will get it themselves if unvaccinated.

And measles can be both rampant and deadly. The numbers of measles cases before the advent of the vaccine was staggering. In 1941, there were more than 890,000 cases reported in the United States.

From 1958 to 1962 just before the vaccine, the U.S. averaged about 503,000 cases and 432 death associated with measles each year. The CDC acknowledges a vast underreporting of measles cases before the vaccine and estimates that the number of cases was at least 3.5 million per year.

Vaccines are life savers that come under emotional attack far too easily and far too often. This has never been truer than for the measles vaccine, which counters a highly contagious and potentially debilitating or even deadly disease that has taken many millions of young lives around the world.

Don’t believe the scare tactics of vaccine opponents. The measles vaccine saves lives. We are finally winning the war against measles and we need to keep winning it.