Foreshadow Now, ‘Season of the End Times’:

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.

The world is fast approaching a “climate apartheid” where only the wealthy can afford basic food resources in the face of fatal droughts, famine and heatwaves, while the rest of the world suffers. Revelation 6:5-6 And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third beast say, Come and see. And I beheld, and lo a black horse; and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand. And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine.

Left with nothing’: Australia’s migrant workforce face destitution without coronavirus safety net

The 1.1 million people on temporary work visas have been conspicuously absent from the government’s assistance packages

The Guardian. Tuesday, March 31, 2020.

In a week, Popi’s household of full employment went to a bare six hours a week. Four foreign nationals on temporary work visas, they watched in disbelief as, in turn, they endured layoff after layoff after layoff.

As the Australian government has swung into action to counter the economic chaos of the coronavirus pandemic, outlaying public money to support businesses and a new jobkeeper wage subsidy to keep money in the pockets of employees laid off, Australia’s million-strong migrant workforce has been conspicuously absent.

There are more than 1.1 million temporary workers in Australia – international students, working holidaymakers, bridging visa holders, those on temporary protection or safe haven visas – most are ineligible for all of the government’s assistance packages.

Migrant workers have been acutely affected by the widespread layoffs as a result of Covid-19. Many work in hospitality, retail and services, some of the industries hit hardest by shutdowns, and few have family and community networks they can turn to.

Popi, a 24-year-old Argentinian on the second year of a working holiday visa, has had her hours working in a Wollongong cafe cut back to a bare six hours a week, not even enough to cover her rent, and even that is more an act of generosity than economic rationality.

“My boss says he would probably be better off closed, but he keeps the cafe open for short hours, just so I, and other workers, have some work, have an income.”

She says her employer, and her community, has rallied to support those hardest hit by the cuts.

“We have food in the freezer, food in the fridge, and that’s because people have been helping us. But for a lot of people it’s going to be very, very hard. They have no income at all, and we are watching our savings disappear.

“I am constantly talking with my friends and we are trying to support each other, sending messages ‘don’t get to the point of being hungry, we are all here to help’.”

Popi says she is hopeful she might be able to have her rent relaxed, but says other migrant workers face the very real prospect of destitution or being left homeless. Others have spent thousands from dwindling savings accounts trying to book flights home that have ultimately been cancelled.

Popi can’t get home. The borders of Argentina are closed, even to citizens, and there are no flights.

“Everywhere is closed. There is nowhere I can go.”

More than a million people in Australia on temporary visas are excluded from the government’s jobkeeper and other support payments such as Newstart: about 500,000 international students, 140,000 working holidaymarkers, 120,000 skilled temporary entrants, 200,000 bridging visa holders (largely partner visa applicants or asylum seekers), and more than 16,000 temporary protection visa holders (refugees Australia is legally obliged to protect).

Peter Mares from the Cranlana Centre for Ethical Leadership and the author of Not Quite Australian: How Temporary Migration is Changing the Nation, said governments faced a hugely complex and evolving set of problems trying to counter the economic devastation of the Covid-19 shutdown.

But he said Australia had an obligation to support the temporary migrants it had invited into the country and on whose labour the Australian economy depends.

“I would argue temporary visa holders need to get some sort of support if they are stuck in Australia and they can’t go home and can’t find work. People cannot be left with nothing, with no income to survive. People also need to be supported as a public health issue.

“We’re seeing both the implications of high levels of casualisation in the workforce and high levels of temporary migrant labour in the workforce, and what happens when their jobs suddenly disappear.”

Mares said Covid-19 had wreaked havoc on Australia’s migrant labour market, in some cases in contradictory fashion: some local mayors were telling people “don’t come to our shire”, while farmers in the same shire were urging potential workers “we still need labour”.

“In some cases too, we still need that labour, it’s important that produce gets picked, it’s important that temporary visa holders working in aged care or as cleaners in hospitals, stay in that work, that is essential.”

The Council of Small Business Organisations Australia chief executive, Peter Strong, said the ineligibility of most temporary visa workers to access the jobkeeper payment was “definitely a concern”.

“Industries have brought these people in to do work, … we’ve got to look at that, beyond a doubt,” he said.

Asked directly on Monday whether temporary visa holders were eligible for the jobkeeper wage subsidy, prime minister Scott Morrison said “such matters are under consideration”.

“But for now, the short answer to that is ‘no’.”

British national Niall Harden, a full-time food and beverage supervisor at Hobart’s Museum of Old and New Art, was stood down on 27 March after the museum closed its doors. Harden said he felt well-supported by his employer, which has committed to two weeks’ pay beyond his leave entitlement, but after that, he fears there are few prospects.

“I’m looking around for other work but my experience is all in hospitality and tourism which is absolutely dead in the water. The idea of job-hunting in the Tasmanian winter is pretty disheartening. We certainly can’t survive six months with no household income. I haven’t received a reply from our landlord yet about whether we can pay reduced rent.”

Harden says moving back to the UK was not a realistic option – after five years in Australia there is not a physical home to go back to – but may be his only choice.

“To pack up five years worth of life and abandon the pathway to permanent residency that has taken so long would seriously impact my mental health, and for what: to go and claim benefits in a different country? And I don’t reckon we’d be eligible for anything there either.”

Harden said he was devastated by Morrison’s response to a question on the situation of visa holders, when the prime minister said New Zealand migrants “have built a life here” in Australia.

Jesus Christ’s Offer of Salvation:

The ABCs of Salvation through Jesus Christ (the Lamb)

A. Admit/Acknowledge/Accept that you are sinner. Ask God’s forgiveness and repent of your sins.

. . . “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:23).

. . . “As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one.” (Romans 3:10).

. . . “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.” (1 John 1:8).

B. Believe Jesus is Lord. Believe that Jesus Christ is who He claimed to be; that He was both fully God and fully man and that we are saved through His death, burial, and resurrection. Put your trust in Him as your only hope of salvation. Become a son or daughter of God by receiving Christ.

. . . “That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. (John 3:15-17). For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” (Romans 10:13).

C. Call upon His name, Confess with your heart and with your lips that Jesus is your Lord and Savior.

. . . “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.” (Romans 10:9-10).

. . . “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.” (John 1:8-10).

. . . “And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. (John 2:2).

. . . “In this was manifested the love of god toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world. Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God.” (1 John 4:9, 14-15).

. . . “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.” (Romans 5:8-10).

. . . “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” (Romans 6:23).

. . . “Jesus saith unto them, I am the way, the truth, and the life, no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” (John 14:6).

. . . “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth.” (Romans 1:16).

. . . “Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.” (Acts: 4:12).

. . . “Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth for there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.” (1 Timothy 2:4-6).

. . . “For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.” (1 Thessalonians 5:9).

. . . “But as many as received him, to them gave the power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name.” (John 1:12).

True Church / Bride of Christ Spared from God’s Wrath:

 Romans 5:8-10. “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.”

Romans 12:19. Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.

1 Thessalonians 1:10. And to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come.

1 Thessalonians 5:9. For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ,

Romans 8:35. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?

Jeremiah 30:7. Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it: it is even the time of Jacob’s trouble, but he shall be saved out of it.

Revelation 3:10 Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth.