214 Climate Records Smashed or Tied in 2005
2 Jan 2006
In His final public discourse, the Olivet Discourse, our Lord predicted that our world would suffer “birth pains” prior to His return (Matthew 24:7-8). As any mother can tell you, birth pains increase in severity and frequency as delivery nears. Therefore, we should expect natural disasters to increase in number and intensity as the Second Coming of Christ approaches.
In light of Christ’s prophecy, do we dare to dismiss as mere coincidence the 214 climate records that were smashed or tied in 2005? According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, 19 records were broken last year by hurricanes and tropical storms alone. The 26 named storms, which shattered the old record of 21, resulted in meteorologists running out of conventional names and naming the last five storms of the season after letters in the Greek alphabet.
Many will scoff at these statistics, insisting that natural disasters are nothing new, but only the continuance of the commonplace. Yet, such scoffing, according to the Apostle Peter, is another sign of the imminence of Christ’s promised return (2 Peter 3:3-4). While scoffing at the scoffers’ failure to see the extraordinary escalation of natural disasters in our day, many in the scientific community, like Kevin Trenberth, climate-analysis chief at the national Center for Atmospheric Research, attempt to explain it away as a mere consequence of global warming. I, on the other hand, see the unprecedented rise of natural disasters as a global warning; it is not only a fulfillment of Christ’s prediction, but a sure sign of His soon return.
Don Walton
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