Sermons
Under Siege · March 01, 2011
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Dear Friends,
Thank you for joining us today for another timely message from your friends at Keep the Faith Ministry. I’m Pastor Hal Mayer, and I have an incredible message for you today. As I think back over the last year at the rapid-fire disasters that have accumulated in the world, I am astonished. The world has gone wild. A staggering number of people were killed by sudden disasters ranging from earthquakes, floods, volcanoes, fires and other major catastrophes. The earth reeled to and fro from it all. One authority suggested that the earth struck back in 2010.
But there are subtle changes taking place on the planet too that expose human populations to the violence or caprice of nature. For instance, we are dramatically loosing core essentials that are responsible for making sure that food will grow. It seems that every area of nature is being affected. The world is under siege. Nature is being turned out of its course.
I don’t think most people realize how vulnerable we really are, and how dependent we are on the God of nature to protect His children. There is something happening to the ecosystems of the planet that will eventually threaten human survival. I don’t know about you, but as I researched for this message, I am dumbfounded by the magnitude of the eco-collapse, as well as the frightening display of the power of nature that we have seen in recent times.
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I would like to begin with a verse from Proverbs chapter 1:20-33.
“Wisdom crieth without; she uttereth her voice in the streets: She crieth in the chief place of concourse, in the openings of the gates: in the city she uttereth her words, saying, How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity? and the scorners delight in their scorning, and fools hate knowledge? Turn you at my reproof: behold, I will pour out my spirit unto you, I will make known my words unto you. Because I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded; But ye have set at nought all my counsel, and would none of my reproof: I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh; When your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish cometh upon you. Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me: For that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the LORD: They would none of my counsel: they despised all my reproof. Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices. For the turning away of the simple shall slay them, and the prosperity of fools shall destroy them. But whoso hearkeneth unto me shall dwell safely, and shall be quiet from fear of evil.”
Don’t you just love that last part? Do you think these verses represent the people of the world today? I do. Notice that wicked men will be filled with their own devices. It is amazing to me how the digital age has men filled with their own devices; everything from iPhones, iPods and pads, flat screen, high-definition TVs, GPS’s and every other device under the sun. There are devices for the kitchen, the bathroom, the bedroom, the living room, and every other room of the house. There are wireless routers, surveillance cameras, bar codes, infrared and lasers. We are fascinated by devices.
But I’m also amazed how that the prosperity of the wicked actually destroys them spiritually. The Bible calls them fools. Anyone who turns away from God’s truth will suffer affliction and ultimately they will lose eternal life.
I’m also very interested in the effect of pesticides and genetically modified foods. Monsanto and other mega-corporations are going to have a lot to answer for. Their greed and selfishness are only making their destiny certain. They may well be playing a part in the gradual destruction of the planet.
God is wisdom. So it is God speaking in these verses we just read from Proverbs. Wisdom therefore comes from God. So it is God’s voice that is reproving the people of this world and calling upon them to repent. But the voice of God, the voice of wisdom, is unheeded. It is scorned. It is ignored. And it is despised. Even among God’s people it is not respected. What a tragedy. And this can only yield disaster, eternal disaster. But it also brings disaster here on planet earth.
The world is under siege. Key destructive elements are consolidating to put the planet under great pressure. Notice that I said they are consolidating. What I mean by this is that destructive elements don’t seem to be so isolated and disconnected anymore. They are working together. They are coordinated. They potentiate each other by compounding the effect when they are combined. It is as if there is no more room to maneuver. The world is fraying at the seams. And it is deadly.
Are you aware that in the last year, the largest numbers of people ever have died by sudden disaster? Accounts that I have read put the number at nearly 300,000 people world-wide. But I suspect that it should be far more people who have died in swift and potent catastrophes in 2010 alone. That is far more than the average of 77,000 deaths each year.
The earthquake in Haiti alone killed more than 222,000 people, while heatwaves and fires in Russia killed more than 56,000. The earthquake in Chile killed almost 1,000, and the floods in Pakistan and China killed more than 3,200. There were 950 major disasters recorded last year, more than any other year since 1980. There were almost three major disasters every day somewhere in the world.
Something is happening, my friends. And the people of the world have no idea what is the cause. Craig Fugate, the director of FEMA, which is the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency said, “It just seemed like it was back-to-back and it came in waves… The term ’100-year event’ really lost its meaning this year.” FEMA handled 79 disasters in 2010, which was a record. The average is 34.
It seems that in some ways the whole earth is coming apart at the seams. It reminds me of the statement in the book Selected Messages, Vol. 2, page 391.
“Troublous times are before us. The judgments of God are abroad in the land. Calamities follow one another in rapid succession. Soon God is to rise out of His place to shake terribly the earth, and to punish the inhabitants for their iniquity. Then He will stand up in behalf of His people, and will give them His protecting care. He will throw His everlasting arms around them to shield them from all harm.”
What does it mean that “the judgments of God are abroad in the land?” It means that God is permitting the development of disasters in many different ways and in many different forms. You see my friends, God’s prophets accurately point out that at the end of time everything will be in chaos. So as the earth shakes, rattles and rolls, we are told that the worst is yet to come.
Here is another statement that shows us that God permits Satan to wreak havoc on planet earth. This one is from Great Controversy, page 589-590.
“While appearing to the children of men as a great physician who can heal all their maladies, he will bring disease and disaster, until populous cities are reduced to ruin and desolation. Even now he is at work. In accidents and calamities by sea and by land, in great conflagrations, in fierce tornadoes and terrific hailstorms, in tempests, floods, cyclones, tidal waves, and earthquakes, in every place and in a thousand forms, Satan is exercising his power. He sweeps away the ripening harvest, and famine and distress follow. He imparts to the air a deadly taint, and thousands perish by the pestilence. These visitations are to become more and more frequent and disastrous. Destruction will be upon both man and beast. “The earth mourneth and fadeth away,” “the haughty people . . . do languish. The earth also is defiled under the inhabitants thereof; because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant.” Isaiah 24:4, 5
Why do all these things happen? It is because sinful man has turned away from God’s commandments. Also I want you to notice that violent storms or tempests, which bring hailstones, floods, tornados, hurricanes and cyclones, are mentioned in this passage. You can expect that Satan will soon let loose, and more of these things will take place in rapid succession.
But other types of weather systems can create havoc and be just as deadly. One huge weather system “caused oppressive heat in Russia, while farther south it caused flooding in Pakistan that inundated 62,000 square miles, which is about the size of Wisconsin in the United States. That single heat-and-storm system killed almost 17,000 people.”
Instead of being a once-in-a-century event, commentators are suggesting that this is a once-in-100,000 year’s event. Scientists, naturalists and other researchers also think that these disasters are essentially man-made. Man has certainly contributed to some of these deadly weather patterns and other catastrophes, but that deflects our attention from the real issues. The fact is, these self-appointed spokesmen for nature don’t understand God, nor do they believe God’s holy word. They just think in terms of the natural world. They don’t think about the supernatural.
Roger Bilham, a professor of geological sciences at the University of Colorado, said, “It’s our fault for not anticipating these things. You know, this is the Earth doing its thing.”
But that is not accurate. It is the angels of heaven that prevent the destruction of the whole planet. Not only would man destroy himself if left to his own devices, but Satan would be all too glad to oblige if God would permit it. And one day He will. But it is the throne-room of the universe that determines what is permitted and what is not. The earth is doing its thing all right – though still regulated by heavenly powers. I’m amazed that the earth has survived as long as it has. But the fullness of destruction has not yet been unleashed. But we are under siege.
You see, my friends, most people just don’t want to believe that catastrophes and disasters are permitted by heaven, and that they are the voice of God speaking to them. They ignore the Bible, but they cannot ignore nature. Though they might try to ignore nature’s God, they are aware that major earth events will increase and become more powerful. They don’t want to think that God might be trying to tell them something. They don’t want to think that God is in control of it all, and is gradually withdrawing his Holy Spirit, and that this is the reason we have so many problems. They just say that the earth is “doing its thing.”
But friends, I don’t believe that, do you? We are living in perilous times. Men shall be lovers of their own selves, the Bible says in 2 Timothy 3:1-5. They shall have a form of godliness, but deny the power of God. But it is more than that. Most scientists want to reckon with nature without nature’s God. They want to think about these natural things as merely natural, when God tells us that these things involve the supernatural.
One Russian woman during Moscow’s recent heat wave, smog and wildfires, said, “I think it is the end of the world… Our planet warns us against what would happen if we don’t care about nature.”
While there is an environmental impact because of man’s selfishness, most people don’t realize that it is because of sin the God allows disasters to plague the planet. Russia was one of 18 nations that charted record-breaking heatwaves.
But for many reasons, when nature strikes, the impact is disproportionate in these last days. Because of globalization, the effect is much more drastic and compounded, especially because of the huge concentrations of populations in supercities that are so interdependent.
“Colorado’s Bilham said the world’s population is moving into riskier megacities on fault zones and flood-prone areas. He figures that 400 million to 500 million people in the world live in large cities prone to major earthquakes.” And that is not counting the floods and other types of disasters that can strike these cities or their supply chains.
Nations, cities and societies have placed themselves where nature can attack them with lethal force. Huge cities along seacoasts and near fault lines, for instance, make millions upon untold millions of people vulnerable to great seismic upheavals, tsunamis and other assaults from the sea. But inland cities are often not much less vulnerable to droughts, heatwaves, and fires either. Just ask the people in Moscow.
Let us think about earthquakes for a few minutes. On the afternoon of January 12, 2010 the residents on the island nation of Haiti were going about their business as usual when a violent earthquake lashed out and threw the island into upheaval, killing approximately 225,000 people and leaving 1,000,000 homeless. 250,000 residences and 30,000 commercial buildings were all destroyed. One year later, more than a million people are still homeless, living in tents and other makeshift structures. Then in October 2010 the misery worsened as a cholera outbreak began sickening over 100,000 people and killing more than 3,300 earthquake survivors. As I was preparing this message, the cholera outbreak had spread to all the provinces of Haiti, to the Dominican Republic and even to the United States.
Seattle Times: One year later; Homeless
Wikipedia: Cholera Outbreak in Haiti
Los Angeles Times: Cholera Outbreak
Within a few weeks another major earthquake did substantial damage to Central Chile and killed approximately 800 or more people. Several tsunamis attacked coastal towns and a remote island killing more.
Wikipedia: Earthquake in Chile
In 2010, earthquake activity was more than all the years prior to it, except 2007, particularly for magnitude 5.0 and higher quakes. But get this; there were more earthquakes above 7.0 magnitude in 2010 than in any previous year at least as far back as 1970 but probably in all of recorded history.
It is also important to note that up until 1999, earthquakes above magnitude 5.0 were well under 500 per year. Then in 2000 the number of large quakes started to climb rapidly. For the first time, there were more than 500 earthquakes with a magnitude of 5.0 or higher. Then in 2002 it was over 1,000. Then by 2007 it was around 2,200 earthquakes with magnitude of 5.0 or higher. While the total number of earthquakes each year will vary, it is important for students of prophecy to know that in the last 9 years especially, there has been a substantial run-up of major earthquakes by a staggering factor of at least 600%. No honest scientist, when faced with the statistics can rightly say that there has not been an increase in seismic activity and strength. But they do say it. They try to downplay the idea that earthquakes have increased.
Also, the “normal” number of earthquakes greater than magnitude 7.0 is supposedly 16. But in 2010 there were 22, a whopping increase of 72%. If you would like to see a visual chart that tracks the major earthquakes since 1984, go to our website, click on this sermon, and scroll down and you will see the chart posted there. A friend of mine did the research and put this chart together from various geological sources.
At least one scientist is willing to acknowledge the increase in earthquake activity. Stephen S. Gao, a geophysicist at Missouri University of Science and Technology said, “relative to the 20-year period from the mid-1970s to the mid 1990s, the Earth has been more active over the past 15 or so years…” In other words, earthquake activity since 1995 has been more than between 1975 and 1995.
Though it has actually been less than a decade when the change in activity started, it is admirable that he admitted the increase. He did not however, suggest that any supernatural factors were involved.
Note: the Associated Press author quoted above says: “through mid-December (2010) there have been 20 earthquakes of magnitude 7.0 or higher, compared to the normal 16. This year is tied for the most big quakes since 1970, but it is not a record. Nor is it a significantly above average year for the number of strong earthquakes, U.S. earthquake officials say.” Actually by the end of December there were 22 quakes of magnitude 7.0 and above, making 2010 a record year for seismic activity.
Many scientists like to argue that earthquakes are not increasing or getting stronger on average. And the statistics are sometimes difficult to discern, perhaps because there is a vested interest among the scientific community to keep the precise details obscure. Yet to anyone that is paying attention, it is obvious that there has been a great increase in seismic activity. The Pacific “ring of fire,” as it is called, stretches all the way from New Zealand to Japan, to Alaska and down to San Francisco and Los Angeles and on south to Chile. It is very active at the moment with both earthquakes and volcanoes.
Christchurch, New Zealand took a big hit when a 7.0 magnitude earthquake struck there in September. But big quakes of 7.0 magnitude or higher struck Indonesia four times, Vanuatu and Japan twice each, the Philippines, the Solomon Islands, India, Mexico and Ecuador as well as New Zealand. But there are countless thousands of smaller earthquakes that don’t make much obvious impact. But something is happening. It seems as though the acceleration of the number and magnitude of earthquakes lays a foundation for further instability in the near future.
Do you remember the statement we read in which God’s messenger to the Remnant commenting on the Bible prophecies concerning disasters said “these visitations are to become more and more frequent and disastrous?” (GC page 590). I would rather take what God says as the fact, than what a so-called scientist says. It is happening, just as Jesus said it would.
Scientists may try to explain the physical phenomena. They may try to tell you the natural reasons why these things happen. But they don’t understand prophecy, and they will naturally try to rule out the influence of an Almighty Power that rules the depths of the earth, and the fountains of the deep.
Turn in your Bibles to Genesis 7:11. I want to show you something about the natural world. The Bible says; “In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened.”
Please notice that the “fountains of the great deep” were “broken up,” and the “windows of heaven were opened.” What are the fountains of the great deep and how did they get there?
A fountain is water under pressure. The fountains of the great deep are waters below the earth and in the seas. And they are under pressure. Do you think a tsunami is water under pressure? It sure is. So when there is a tsunami you can say that the fountains of the deep have opened up.
Listen to this verse from Proverbs 8:27-30. Speaking of the time when God created the earth, the Bible says; “When he prepared the heavens, I was there: when he set a compass upon the face of the depth: When he established the clouds above: when he strengthened the fountains of the deep: When he gave to the sea his decree, that the waters should not pass his commandment: when he appointed the foundations of the earth: Then I was by him, as one brought up with him: and I was daily his delight, rejoicing always before him…”
Who is it that controls the fountains of the great deep and the windows of heaven?” Only God controls them. Satan can only manipulate them if God gives him permission. But the awesome powers of nature are all under God’s control.
Now let us look at Genesis 8:2 “The fountains also of the deep and the windows of heaven were stopped, and the rain from heaven was restrained…” That was at the end of the flood.
Do you think that the elements of nature restrain themselves? Do you think man can control these things? And do you think man can actually understand the depths of these natural phenomena. Man may be able to develop tools under Satan’s power to manipulate them. He may be able to defend himself against some of nature’s power. But ultimately we are all very vulnerable to these forces.
Science can research and understand to some extent the reasons for the natural disasters we face in this world, but they will never acknowledge what God tells us in His word. He is the one who controls and restrains the forces of nature, or releases them. So whom do you want to believe, the scientist or the Bible?
Did you see the powerful Icelandic volcano last April? Did you notice how the spewing magma and ash grounded the whole airline system over Europe, which spread its effects to almost every corner of the globe? 100,000 flights were cancelled over 6 days. And if the Volcano would have erupted for a longer period of time, there would have been substantial difficulties in getting food and other basic necessities into the shops and warehouses of Europe. If it would have gone on long enough, it would have been more than stranded travelers who would have panicked. European society could have been greatly stressed, or even unraveled. Imagine a whole sophisticated society like Europe in a state of panic because they cannot get their basic needs met.
And Europe got another big hit to its entire transportation system as powerful blizzards created chaos on its air, rail and highway traffic throughout the last two weeks of December. Imagine if the snowstorms where much worse or extended over a longer period of time. Again this kind of scenario could eventually stress society very greatly.
Associated Press: Snow Storms in Europe
Sydney Morning Herald: Snow Storms in Europe
Huffington Post: Snow in Europe
Something is happening, and it is worldwide. Have you noticed that natural events of all sorts are coming at a rapid-fire pace? The world is under siege. Why? What is the reason?
And then there were the floods. Major floods were recorded in Poland, Portugal and Pakistan; Brazil, France, Romania, several places in Canada and the USA, China, Hungary, Peru, Mexico, Spain, Colombia, Indonesia, Serbia, Argentina, Kenya, Nigeria, Guatemala, Singapore, and several places in Australia. In fact, the relentless floods in Queensland, Australia covered an area larger than Texas, America’s second largest state, which is 268,000 square miles or 740,000 square kilometers. That is a lot of land! Several people were killed and more than 200,000 were stranded without access to supplies during this unprecedented catastrophe, with over a billion dollars in damage. Also, down in Victoria, the opposite end of Australia from Queensland, one region had more than three meters of rain, or nearly 10 feet in 2010. That’s a lot of water, even for a whole year.
MSNBC: Flooding: Larger than Texas
In addition some parts of Australia were plagued with a huge swarm of locusts, hailstorms, record heat waves, and other severe weather.
Other weather records were set in 2010. Extreme heat was recorded in Los Angeles, California in September of 113 degrees Fahrenheit (or 45 degrees Celsius) while Pakistan took a hit of 129 degrees Fahrenheit (54 degrees Celsius) and may be the hottest temperature on record in an inhabited area of the globe. Drought struck too. China, Russia and Ukraine had severe droughts. So did the Amazon. Parts of the Amazon River basin were at their lowest water levels in recorded history.
Something is happening? Why the wild weather? What is the reason for these extreme changes?
Have you ever heard of a 2-pound hailstone? That’s almost 1 kilogram. One fell in North Dakota during a storm that did enough damage to class those areas as one of the seven disaster areas for that state in 2010.
Have you ever heard of a tornado strike in New York City? It happened on September 16, killing one person and walloping Brooklyn and Queens with a brutal storm.
In one day, Indonesia got hit with a trio of deadly catastrophes; an earthquake of 7.7 magnitude, a deadly tsunami, and volcano – 500 dead, 390,000 homeless. But that was “after flooding, landslides and more quakes which had killed hundreds earlier in the year.
Many scientists, news writers and other media outlets are quick to claim that all this severe weather and other disasters are because of global warming, and they blame humans for causing much of it. While there could well be some connection there, I’m not at all convinced that climate change is the sole answer. But keep in mind that Satan can also manipulate the climate. And God can give him permission to do it. When it gets serious enough, man will certainly see God’s hand. And huge numbers will acknowledge divine punishment. But they will advocate the wrong solution to get the world back into favor with God. They will push for Sunday laws that are in direct opposition to the law of God. And this will make matters even worse as the rebellion to the truth is solidified and consolidated and then focused on the few that honor the Lord of the Sabbath.
In more recent times there is another, more mysterious problem. About 5000 birds, mostly redwing blackbirds and starlings died within a one-mile radius of Beebe, AR, near Hot Springs. They simply dropped out of the sky in mid-flight. “There was no sign of any chronic or infectious disease,” the official report of the game and fish commission said. The birds “showed evidence of trauma in the breast tissue, with blood clots in the body cavity and a lot of internal bleeding. All major organs were normal.”
Some ornithologists said that mass die offs are normal. Wait a minute! Is dropping dead in mid-flight normal? How does a mass of 5000 birds hit something in flight that causes all of them to drop out of the sky? That’s virtually impossible. Are they really serious? Do these researchers think we are that gullible?
And while there are occasions when extreme weather or hitting something in flight or other types of trauma can kill birds, the sheer numbers of these dead birds makes “normal” sound very unconvincing, to say the least.
But mass bird die-offs have been happening around the world. Thousands of turtledoves (some say up to 8000) dropped out of the sky in Faenza, Italy shortly after the blackbirds in Arkansas. They died showing signs of hypoxia, or lack of oxygen. That causes birds to be confused (as it does humans). Other suggestions are that the birds were swept up in a high altitude windstorm before falling to the earth. Again, I’m skeptical. Why would thousands of turtledoves get caught up in a “normal” windstorm, and “normally” die of hypoxia? That doesn’t sound normal at all. It sounds supernormal. It is as if they were herded together, placed in position, and then a strong wind came along and swept them up and killed them all.
Perhaps it would not be significant if there were 4 or 5 turtledoves that died in this manner, or even 10 or 20, but thousands dying in mid-flight. No way. This is really strange. If the scientists and the media were successful in getting us to accept that this is just normal and natural, we would all sit back and think, “ok, that was normal, relax, nothing will happen any more serious.”
If this kind of thing was normal, do you think we would then look to see if God is trying to tell us something? The more people get into the habit of taking the media and the scientists at face value, the less likely they are to perceive what is really happening. Don’t forget that most of the media and the scientists want to keep you and everyone else from hearing God’s voice in these disasters. They want to downplay them so that you will not perceive that the end of the world is near and that Jesus is coming soon.
But my friends, don’t you think it is a little strange that all these bird deaths are happening at around the same time? That is another mystery that the scientists are having a hard time figuring out.
Think about it. In addition to the birds in Arkansas and Italy, “500 red-winged blackbirds, starlings and grackles were found dead in southern Louisiana.” And several hundred birds were found dead in western Kentucky. And “scores of dead coots were found in Texas on a bridge. The birds showed no signs of disease or poison.
Between 50 and 100 Jackdaws (a type of crow) have died in central Sweden, perhaps from winter stress, they say, but they were reported only days after the birds in Arkansas and Louisiana died.
And there are penguins dying in the Antarctic. They can’t get enough fish to feed themselves and their chicks, so they are starving. The reason for the lack of fish is supposedly the warm La Nina weather patterns that have decreased the fish population dramatically. Petrels, sooty shearwaters and gannets are also dying in large numbers.
So why would there be a massive die-off of fish, particularly the fish that feed these birds in the South Pacific and Antarctic area? Is it possible that God is permitting strange weather patterns in order to allow nature to stress the planet as a warning to the wicked people of this world? Do you think God is allowing this so that God’s people will wake up to the nearness of the coming destruction of civilization and the second coming of Jesus?
Penguins and other Seabirds Dying off
What is going on? The world is under siege, particularly from the weather, which has affected nature in profound ways.
And as the birds died in central Arkansas, at least 100,000 fish turned up dead in Northwest Arkansas along a 30 mile stretch of the Arkansas River. While mass fish die-offs do occur, the magnitude of this one is very unusual.
100,000 Fish Die in Northwest Arkansas
And in Maryland USA, two million dead fish were washed ashore along the Chesapeake River. They usually swim to warmer water to survive the winter, but for some reason they didn’t do that in 2010. Again, officials say it is normal, or at least natural. But I don’t think so.
Unusually cold weather in Florida is blamed for killing off thousands of river fish along a river known as Spruce Creek, and also in Cocoa in numbers too large to count. The cold weather also killed manatees, starfish and jellyfish. Do you really think it was the cold weather? What is behind the cold weather? Is the Holy Spirit being withdrawn from the earth so that extreme weather conditions have developed?
But fish are also dying en masse in New Zealand and Brazil, and who knows where else.
Starfish and Jellyfish Killed by Cold
Fish Dying in Brazil and New Zealand
Summary Map of Widespread Die-offs
Do you think all this is just happenstance? Do you think this is just a normal function of nature? Why were birds and fish unprepared for it? Could it have something to do with the power of Satan to manipulate nature and destroy God’s creation?
And there is an even more threatening development that has been going on for a number of years now. In 2010, researchers who have been studying Bumble Bees have learned that there has been a shocking decline of more than 95% of at least four major species of bumblebees. And up to an 87 percent decrease in their overall geographic coverage. These findings were published in a U.S. publication called Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
You know what bumblebees do, don’t you? They are a vitally important pollinator. The study’s author said that these bumblebee species are “one of the most important pollinators of native plants.”
A three-year study determined that bumblebees are needed to pollinate various fruits and vegetables. Without bumblebees, entire segments of agriculture are threatened with extinction.
Researchers and naturalists will probably say that this is “normal,” and they will downplay the significance of the decline of the bumblebee. But God’s word tells us differently. They may try to say that it is because of pesticides and other pollutants that are weakening them and making them susceptible to environmental trauma. And this may be true to a certain extent. The uncomfortable fact is then, that man is actually cooperating with supernatural agencies to destroy the food sources of the planet. Again, though it may sound simplistic, the Bible and Spirit of Prophecy tell us that the Holy Spirit is being withdrawn from the earth because of man’s wickedness.
You may have heard about the problem with honeybees dying off. It’s called Colony Collapse Disorder, and it started in 2006 in North America and Europe when whole colonies of bees just disappeared.
Honeybees are absolutely essential to pollination of many fruits and vegetables, without which human populations would die off.
Think about the implications of the loss of honeybees and bumblebees, the great pollinators and guardians of the planet’s food sources. Jesus said there would be famines in the land at the end of time in Matthew 24. Do you think that perhaps in developed western countries there is a process going on that could very well be life-threatening to whole societies?
Honeybees are responsible for most of the pollination on the planet; and nearly a third of all food supply is directly dependent on the prolific pollination of the honeybee.
Crops dependant on honey bees include: Almonds, apples, apricots, avocados, beets, blueberries, broccoli, cabbage, carrots, cashews, celery, cherries, coconuts, cotton, cucumber, grapes, lemons, limes, mangos, onions, papaya, pears, soybeans, strawberries, and watermelon. And that is just the beginning.
And honeybees are important to your health. They produce the most nutritionally comprehensive superfoods in the world, and they are the only insects that produce foods for human consumption. They include “bee pollen, honey, propoli, and royal jelly. These superfoods are directly linked to longevity, healing the body and overcoming disease, improving athletic performance, increasing cognitive abilities, and an overall enhancement in the quality of life in those who consume them.” And that’s not to mention the many useful products made from beeswax.
Honeybees have a vital place in human survival. Without them life on planet earth would cease to exist.
If we loose the pollinator bees, we will see very pricey food, and it would even become difficult to get in a rather short period of time, if not impossible.
The earth is under siege. Everywhere it seems nature is under stress in a thousand ways and a thousand forms. The Bible says “Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look upon the earth beneath: for the heavens shall vanish away like smoke, and the earth shall wax old like a garment, and they that dwell therein shall die in like manner: but my salvation shall be for ever, and my righteousness shall not be abolished.” Isaiah 51:6.
How does a garment wax old? Well, it gets frayed around the edges. It gets holes torn in it. It gets faded and no longer has a nice look. It might even shrink.
You see, my friend, that’s the way the world is going to go. It is already faded. It doesn’t look as nice because the weight of accumulated sin has come upon it.
But what is upsetting nature so much? Could there be changes taking place to the earth that would cause disorientation or confusion of birds and fish?
Actually there is. Tampa International Airport in Florida is re-numbering the directional designators of its airport runways. The Federal Aviation Administration required the runway designation change to account for what a National Geographic News report described as a gradual shift of the Earth’s magnetic pole at nearly 40 miles a year (nearly 60 kilometers a year) toward Russia because of magnetic changes in the earth’s core.
Have you ever heard that there is a magnetic North pole shift going on? Well, it is. The geographic pole is not shifting, but the north magnetic pole is shifting by almost 40 miles per year, or 60 kilometers a year toward Russia. It is moving fast! And it is accelerating according to reports. I just wonder if this is creating or contributing to some of the havoc we have seen in weather and seismic activity, not to mention confusion and death in wildlife. If airplanes can become confused by a magnetic pole shift, don’t you think birds and fish can also become confused? Is this the effect of the Holy Spirit being withdrawn from the earth?
While scientists describe this phenomenon as normal oscillations of the magnetic pole, and suggest that this has happened many times in the eons of evolutionary history, this is mere speculation. Scientists don’t want you to think about God. But it seems that a magnetic shift could create problems for planet earth, its wildlife and its human inhabitants that could be severe. Of course, there is no way to know the effect of this until it happens.
And while scientists are determined to explain it away as a natural event, they ignore that it is God who controls the core of the planet, and the magnetic fields, and all the other factors that are involved in life on earth. Our world is in trouble. And it may be starting to unravel more rapidly than it has in recorded history.
Here is a very interesting statement from Manuscript Releases, Vol. 3, and page 358. “The men most learned in science can not interpret or explain the ways and works of God.”
So scientists cannot tell us with accuracy what is really happening. They can only speculate. They can give us some facts, but they cannot tell us what is going on behind the scenes. Their whole bias is to understand the physical and natural world all by itself. They cannot comprehend that supernatural forces protect the world from destruction.
Here is a very pointed statement from the book Great Controversy, page 589. Listen carefully.
“Satan works through the elements also to garner his harvest of unprepared souls. He has studied the secrets of the laboratories of nature, and he uses all his power to control the elements as far as God allows. When he was suffered to afflict Job, how quickly flocks and herds, servants, houses, children, were swept away, one trouble succeeding another as in a moment. It is God that shields His creatures and hedges them in from the power of the destroyer. But the Christian world has shown contempt for the law of Jehovah; and the Lord will do just what He has declared that He would—He will withdraw His blessings from the earth and remove His protecting care from those who are rebelling against His law and teaching and forcing others to do the same.”
Did you hear what this said? Satan uses his power to control the elements of nature to the extent that he is allowed. He can sweep away wildlife just as he did to Job’s flocks and herds.
Here is another important statement to consider. It is from Desire of Ages, page 306. “Were those who serve God removed from the earth, and His Spirit withdrawn from among men, this world would be left to desolation and destruction, the fruit of Satan’s dominion.”
That is quite a statement isn’t it? Satan is to be given increasingly more lethal power as the restraining power of the Holy Spirit departs from wicked men.
“Sin has brought decay, deformity, death. Today, the whole world is tainted, corrupted, stricken with a mortal disease. The earth groans under the continual transgression of the inhabitants thereof… There is no place upon earth where the track of the serpent is not seen and his venomous sting felt. The whole earth is defiled. The curse is increasing as transgression increases. The earth is preparing for purification by fire.” That’s from Signs of the Times, June 27, 1900.
Oh my friends, what a description! When men have greed they organize themselves to consolidate their profits. They invent chemicals to get more yields from their farms. Or they modify the genes of plants, which changes the genetic and chemical composition of the food. But these chemicals and these modifications are dangerous and eventually undermine the whole interconnected ecosystem that gives life to the earth. First the bees start dying off. Then the birds begin to dying en-mass. Then it’s the fish, millions of them belly up.
These events all have their natural explanations, but the researchers, naturalists and scientists don’t believe the Bible. They think that God does not exist. They think that the world exists on its own physical forces and that it was developed over millions and millions of years of gradual evolution. They believe that there is no God, no creator, and no supernatural sustainer that holds it all together. They forget that there are moral reasons why these convulsions of nature are happening. Sin and transgression has gone so far that the Holy Spirit is gradually being withdrawn from the earth. These events are the natural result of the weight of sin.
Here is another statement to understand carefully. It is from Great Controversy page 614 – 615. Let us use a little sanctified reasoning to understand what this is suggesting.
“Those who honor the law of God have been accused of bringing judgments upon the world, and they will be regarded as the cause of the fearful convulsions of nature and the strife and bloodshed among men that are filling the earth with woe…”
Now let us meditate about this for a minute. During the final crisis there will be staggering convulsions of nature. But the wicked will accuse the righteous of being the cause of it all. But for them to come to that conclusion, they will have to have experienced quite a bit of these fearful convulsions, wouldn’t they? After all, they are conditioned to think that it is merely nature doing its thing. But eventually they realize that it is supernatural and then blame God’s commandment-keeping, Sabbath keeping people. These convulsions of nature have to start somewhere don’t they? Perhaps they are already beginning as the Holy Spirit is gradually being withdrawn from the earth.
Do you think that perhaps we have come to the time when the elements of earth are starting to unravel? When you think about the incredible events that took place in the last year, do you see the hand of God, warning the world that the end is near? When you see fires, floods, earthquakes and other natural disasters, don’t you sense that God is warning this sinful generation that our time is almost up? When you see the birds, bees and fish dying off, don’t you wonder how much longer we have until this world reaches its final crisis?
Friends, I don’t think it will be very long. Like in the days of Noah, God sends messengers to warn his people. Sometimes it is an earthquake. Other times it is a mega-storm. Sometimes it is another natural event. And ultimately it will be chosen human vessels. But it is all with the purpose to awaken man to the danger of continuing in sin and living by his carnal heart.
Jesus offers forgiveness to all who will turn from their sins and live for Him. Your survival depends on it. The counsel of the Lord is clear to us about how to live in the last days. From Proverbs 3: 19-26 we read the following;
“The LORD by wisdom hath founded the earth; by understanding hath he established the heavens. By his knowledge the depths are broken up, and the clouds drop down the dew. My son, let not them depart from thine eyes: keep sound wisdom and discretion: So shall they be life unto thy soul, and grace to thy neck. Then shalt thou walk in thy way safely, and thy foot shall not stumble. When thou liest down, thou shalt not be afraid: yea, thou shalt lie down, and thy sleep shall be sweet. Be not afraid of sudden fear, neither of the desolation of the wicked, when it cometh. For the LORD shall be thy confidence, and shall keep thy foot from being taken.
Do you want the Lord to be your confidence? I do. Then keep your eye on God’s wisdom. Understand God’s ways. Let them not depart from you eyes. In other words, study God’s word every day. Open its sacred pages and you will find the answers to the perplexing questions of the world today. Follow His counsel, and live by Heaven’s principles, and you will not be afraid of the “sudden fear.” Neither will you be afraid of the desolation of the wicked.
Think about it. There are some terrible things that are going to happen to this world. The wicked will be greatly stressed and distressed by the increasing difficulty of survival. They will moan. They will wail. And their hearts will fail them for fear of the things that are coming upon the earth. But the righteous man or woman doesn’t have to be afraid. The Lord tells them that his bread and water shall be sure. His security is in Christ. It is not in the arm of human flesh. God will provide a way of escape from the “arrow that flieth by day,” and the “destruction that wasteth at noonday.”
Friends, the world is under siege. We are in the very last days. You can expect more surprises in the very near future. But friends, there is hope. “Lift up your heads, for your redemption draweth nigh.”
And may the Lord help you and bless you as you bring your life into harmony with His principles. May He give you victory over your sins. And by your faithfulness, in the midst of wickedness, may He open for you the “windows of heaven and pour you out a blessing so that you will not have room enough to receive it.” Malachi 3:10
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