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 woman 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.

North Korea swine flu outbreak puts South Korea on edge

AFP•June 1, 2019

South Korean troops stationed along the world’s last Cold War frontier have been put on high alert in the face of a new infiltration threat from the nuclear-armed North — fever-stricken wild boar.

An outbreak of African swine fever that has cut swathes through China, Vietnam and Mongolia has spread to the isolated country, sparking worries that sick animals crossing the heavily militarized border could devastate the South’s US$5.9 billion pork industry.

“We need to focus on preventing wild boars in the North from entering our territory,” the South’s Prime Minister Lee Nak-yeon said Saturday after visiting a pig farm near the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) that divides the two countries.

African swine fever is known to be harmless to humans but is fatal to pigs and wild boar and has devastated supply chains in China — the world’s largest consumer of pork — where authorities have ordered the culling of hundreds of thousands of pigs.

Pyongyang told the World Organisation for Animal Health that 77 out of 99 pigs had died from the disease at a farm near the China border, according to Seoul’s agricultural ministry.

The ministry said Friday that the disease is “highly likely” to hit the South, and the government has ordered fences to be erected at farms along the border to prevent possible contact between pigs and wild boars.

Seoul believes Pyongyang raises some 2.6 million pigs across 14 state-run farms. The outbreak could worsen food shortages in the impoverished North, where, according to the World Food Programme, its output last year hit the lowest level since 2008.

In the South, there are about 6,700 pig farms across the country, and pig farming accounts for 40 percent of the total livestock industry.

In 2011, a devastating outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease hit the entire Korean peninsula and resulted in the culling of nearly 3.5 million cattle, pigs and other animals in South Korea alone.

While its bristling fortifications, rolls of barbed wire and trigger happy North Korean troops mean crossing the DMZ can be deadly for humans, the zone has been untouched by development and is a haven for wildlife.

Last October a rare Asiatic black bear was photographed in the zone, Seoul’s environmental ministry said.