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 pains, growing in intensity, frequency, size and duration.
As sea levels rise, homes continue to sprout in US flood zones
Thomson Reuters Foundation Reuters•July 31, 2019 By Sebastien Malo
NEW YORK, July 31 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – New homes are going up fastest in high-flood risk areas in many U.S. coastal states, scientists said on Wednesday, despite increasing awareness that global warming has made living in such areas even more risky.
Science and communication non-profit Climate Central found that one-third of coastline states that will run a 10% risk of ocean inundation each year by 2050 saw new housing sprouting at rates higher than on safer ground.
“The attraction of living by the water is obvious,” said Ben Strauss, a climate scientist at Climate Central who led the research, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
In the northeastern state of Connecticut from 2010 to 2017, housing valued at $880 million went up more than three times faster in high-risk flood zones than on safer ground.
Another East Coast state, New Jersey, outpaced all other states at building homes in high-risk zones, with about 4,500 new homes worth $4.6 billion erected in such areas from 2010 to 2017, the researchers reported.
U.S. law does not bar building in areas predicted to flood every 100 years, as long as risk reduction regulations are adhered to, and owners purchase flood insurance.
Some 5% of the U.S. population lived in these areas in 2015, a 2017 report by New York University’s Furman Center found.
The researchers focused on areas at higher risk for flooding – defined as every 10 years by 2050 – to provide practical input for homeowners seeking mortgages, Strauss said.
“You can buy a property that has never or rarely flooded today, but by the end of the mortgage could be flooding every few years because of sea-level rise,” he noted.
Such intermittent floods can damage and devalue homes, degrade infrastructure, rust out cars and spawn mold, the report said.
Other states where new home construction in high-danger zones versus safer areas included Rhode Island, Delaware, Maine, Mississippi, New Hampshire and South Carolina.
The report obtained data on housing location and value from real estate database company Zillow.
The scientists drew their conclusions by combining flood and sea-level rise projections that followed a scenario where planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions are cut moderately, the report said.
Carlos Martin, a senior fellow at the Urban Institute, a Washington-based think tank, found much of the report “disheartening”.
Martin said the findings showed the need to boost incentives, such as existing government programs to buy out homeowners in flood-prone areas, to encourage people to live further from the coastline.