Revelation says that global warming will cause catastrophic climate change wreaking havoc and chaos that will destabilize the nations.
Extreme events exacerbated by global warming, rising population, resource stress, and international insecurity will lead to global collapse of civilization.
Rev 16:9 Men were scorched with fierce heat. (The context is global.)
Rev 6:14 The sky was split apart like a scroll when it is rolled up, and every mountain and island were moved out of their places.
Rev 16:18-21 There were flashes of lightning and sounds and peals of thunder; and there was a great earthquake, such as there had not been since man came to be upon the earth, so great an earthquake was it, and so mighty. The great city was split into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell. (Rome) was remembered before God, to give her the cup of the wine of His fierce wrath. And every island fled away, and the mountains were not found. And huge hailstones, about one hundred pounds each, came down from heaven upon men, and men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail, because its plague was extremely severe.
Today’s science and biblical prophecy are shouting extremes; extreme heat, extreme weather, extreme fires, extreme water problems, extreme atmospheric changes, extreme geophysical changes, . . . extreme will soon be the new norm.
Supercell Split
The scroll in Revelation 6:14 is metaphorical for a supercell split–one mammoth tornado that splits into two–and follows the same dynamics as–looks just like–unrolling a scroll; this is extreme weather! Global warming pours more heat energy into our skies and causes more monstrous, ever-growing storms.
Disappearing islands are a near-future reality with sea rise. For example, the islands of Kiribati, Tuvalu, Maldives, and Marshall Islands are in harm’s way. The Marshallese are left with two choices: evacuate or elevate the land, a very expensive idea that–with 600 billion tons of melting ice pouring into oceans around the world every year, is a temporary solution.
Earthquakes from Glacial Rebound
Stronger earthquakes moving mountains will happen more frequently as “glacial rebound” increases. Glacial rebound results from the shifting weight of continents and continental shelves upon their tectonic plates due to melting billions of tons of glaciers from global warming. (CBS News reported that the towns in the Arctic Circle recorded temperatures above 100°F on June 21st, 2020. The Arctic has been warming twice as fast as the rest of the world. Eight days later, CNN reported that Antarctica has been warming for 30 years three times faster than the rest of the world. Ice is melting.)
How does God drop every major city on earth–including splitting Rome into three parts and dumping her into the sea (Rev 16:19; 18:21)? Study the tectonics under Rome–Scripture has it right! It splits despite colliding African and Eurasian tectonic plates. There is a back-arc causing the split. It’s all tied together in our planet’s system: global warming causes the loss of glaciers and ice sheets; which causes the shifting of weight upon tectonic plates that lie on the fluid, moving, molten rock of earth’s mantle, (and by the way, such shifts of plates will wake up volcanoes around the world–Rev 9:18–killing a third of humankind); causing unimaginable global earthquakes so that “the cities of the nations fell” and mountains moved. (Rev 16:18-21.)
Why does God allow us to know how He is going to do something? First, so we know that something this big is real. It is hard to believe. The Bible says when that earthquake hits, it will be like nothing humankind has ever seen before (Rev 16:18). There is no reason not to take this literally, especially when backed up by science. Second, when we believe it’s real, we have time to repent (change our minds and follow Jesus) and/or to prepare (build our arks). The Bible tells us what. Science tells us how. Both agree. This is God’s mercy–a twofold witness according to the laws of truth. “You must be ready,” (Matt 24:44). It will happen.
However, in Oral Collins’ book, The Final Prophecy of Jesus, Collins ignores the facts from a literal reading of the text, the context, and other hermeneutical rules to suggest that Revelation’s biggest earthquake in history splitting the city into three parts is not an earthquake and not a city, but means instead a “three-fold political division . . . [a] change in the European commonwealth” (Collins, p. 382-3). Within his paragraph, I counted 21 assumptions unsubstantiated by Scripture and not one biblical fact for support.
To the contrary, the three-part geological split of the great city (Rome) is one verse after the biggest earthquake in human history–all of which occur in the seventh bowl (Rev 16:17-21) with lightning, hailstones, islands disappearing, mountains moving, and the fall of all the cities of the nations. This global earthquake(s) is not only possible but highly probable due to glacial rebound caused by the redistribution of weight from the extensive melt of glaciers from global warming; a redistribution of weight across continents shifting their underlying tectonic plates triggering extreme earthquakes. These will be real events.
This is God’s geophysical response to our world wherein everyone creates their own rules, realities, and relationships in defiance of biblical law. This is God’s response after our world has mobilizing Armageddon (Har-Magedon) against His returning Son (Rev 16:12-21). The three-part split is not the political axis of the Antichrist rising in power. It is an act of God!
The maximum of facts with the minimum of assumptions gives the highest probability of accuracy. Multiplying assumptions and ignoring, twisting, or denying facts decreases the probability of accuracy and darkens understanding. Stick with the facts in the Bible and science.
Earthquakes razing cities is realistic. Glacial rebound is scientific. Glacial rebound is caused by melting glaciers from global warming. There is no reason to step outside of the literal facts. The Bible and science say it is real.
Reviewing Extremes
Rev 8:7-12 A third of the earth was burned up, and a third of the trees were burned up, and all the green grass was burned up. . . . a third of the sea became blood, and a third of all the creatures which were in the sea and had life died. . . . a third of the waters became wormwood, and many men died from the waters, because they were made bitter . . . a third of (the sun, moon, and stars) would be darkened and the day would not shine for a third of it, and the night in the same way. [Everyone of these is a byproduct of the complex system of global warming and climate change. All of these affect extreme weather.]
Rev 16:2-9, 12, 18, 21 On the earth; and it became a loathsome and malignant sore on the people who had the mark of the beast and who worshiped his image. . . . and every living thing in the sea died. . . . and the rivers and the springs of waters; they became blood. . . . The sun . . . scorch(ed) men with fire. Men were scorched with fierce heat [global warming!]; and they blasphemed the name of God who has the power over these plagues, and they did not repent so as to give Him glory. . . . The great river, the Euphrates; and its water was dried up. . . . There were flashes of lightning and sounds and peals of thunder. [These are all byproducts of global warming and tied into a system producing extreme weather.] . . . Huge hailstones, about one hundred pounds each, came down from heaven upon men; and men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail, because its plague was extremely severe. [The mega-storm system needed to create hailstones the size of bicycle wheels is going to be Himalayan! This is extreme weather!]
Isa 19:7-8 All the sown fields by the Nile will become dry, be driven away, and be no more. And the fishermen will lament, and all those who cast a line into the Nile will mourn, and those who spread nets on the waters will pine away. [From extreme storms to extreme drought bad enough to dry up great rivers like the Euphrates and the Nile; these are signs of worse-case global warming.]
Isa 29:6-8 From the Lord of hosts you will be punished with thunder and earthquake and loud noise, with whirlwind [tornadoes] and tempest and the flame of a consuming fire. And the multitude of all the nations who wage war against (Jerusalem), even all who wage war against her and her stronghold, and who distress her, will be like a dream, a vision of the night. It will be as when a hungry man dreams–and hold, he is eating; but when he awakens, his hunger is not satisfied. Or as when a thirst man dreams–and behold, he is drinking, but when he awakens, behold he is faint and his thirst is not quenched. Thus the multitude of all the nations will be who wage war against Mount Zion.
Rev 6:2-8 As the nations are destabilized by the first four trumpets and bowls, the four “horsemen” will ride. Nations will rise up conquering, exploding in wars, leaving behind famines, accompanied with plagues of pestilence, causing peoples over a fourth of the earth to die.
Covid-19 Pandemic
Personally, I do not think at this time that the covid-19 pandemic is part of the Revelation 6:8 prophecy (the fourth seal/horseman spreading war, famine, and pestilence brining death to a quarter of humankind), although it does qualify for the Luke 21:11 prophecy, “There will be . . . in various places plagues and famines.” And it is part of the end-time extremes spreading death among masses. As of October 2020, worldwide, 37.7 million have caught the coronavirus and over one million have died. In June, China almost licked it, but 18 cases more broke out and the government locked down 400,000 people to stop it in its tracks. By July, their country’s graph was one of the lowest in the world. In contrast to China, the U.S. had 30,000 new cases a day in April; 20,000 in May; 40,000 by the end of June; and 70,000 by the end of July hitting over a thousand deaths a day. By October, 7.7 million Americans have caught it and 214,000 have died–above 1/5 of the world’s death statistic.
President Trump mocked masks and caught it. After receiving the best medical care available, he returned to work mocking it. Eleven of his secret service men caught covid-19 and dozens were quarantined. In July, after shutting down plans for re-election campaigns in two states exploding in covid cases with poles showing him lagging behind Biden, Trump softened on wearing masks. By the end of July, forty states were rising in cases. Cities that had opened bars are closing them again. One church went ahead with choir practice. Fifty-eight caught covid-19. Two died. After a “covid party” of younger adults, as one thirty-something-year-old lay on her death bed, she said, “I thought it was a hoax.” It was a pandemic.
By October 2020, Covid-19 is still globally on the rise including countries with the highest rates (over 14,000 new cases each week) being the U.S.A., Colombia, Argentina, France, Spain, and the UAE.
This microscopic virus shows us how easy it is to shut down societies, to bring jobs to a halt, to send the economy into a tailspin, and to close churches and scatter their people (if they care about the lives of physically weaker people like Jesus did–what we do to the least, we do to Him, Matt 25:40-45). This pandemic has brought a mild disintegration (falling apart) of society. It is a wake-up call. It helps us to visualize, to understand, to taste a sip from a spoon of adversity. Revelation forewarns drowning gulps of adversity from bowls of wrath.
Pastors, churches, families, friends, and individuals–what would you have to do to survive for years in a massive vortex of disintegrating interactive systems shutting down our global civilization? A pandemic gives you a tiny taste of Revelation.
Isa 13:11-13 I will punish the world for its evil and the wicked for their iniquity; . . . I will make mortal man scarcer than pure gold and mankind than the gold of Ophir [Solomon’s gold]. . . And the earth will be shaken from its place at the fury of the Lord of hosts in the day of His burning anger.
Isa 24 Behold, the Lord lays the earth waste, devastates it, distorts its surface and scatters it inhabitants. (Society disintegrates.) The earth will be completely laid waste. . . . The earth mourns and withers, the world fades and withers. . . . The earth is also polluted by its inhabitants, for they transgressed laws. . . . Therefore, a curse devours the earth, and those who live in it are held guilty. Therefore, the inhabitants of the earth are burned, and few men are left. . . . The earth is broken asunder. The earth is split through. The earth is shaken violently. . . . In that day, the Lord will punish . . . the kings of the earth. They will be gathered together like prisoners in the dungeon . . . for the Lord of hosts will reign on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem.
Rev 6:12-17 From all the kings of the earth to the least of the slaves, all are hiding in caves. Riches have blown away like chaff. Armies have withered into dust. Big cities lie in rubble. Governments have dissolved. Civilization has collapsed. The earth is ready for a new King; Jesus has returned.
Now consider how science mirrors Scripture portraying extremes.
Tornadoes, Hail, and Lightning
Revelation’s global warming puts more heat energy into the atmosphere spawning bigger and bigger storms. Revelation and other books speaking to the end of the end times such as Isaiah, give examples of extreme weather phenomena such as a supercell storm split (the sky unrolling like a scroll), great whirlwinds (tornadoes), lightning storms, and hundred pound hailstones.[1]
A supercell over Belgium on May 25, 2009 produced 30,000 lightning flashes in two hours. The World Meteorological Organization confirmed that on October 31, 2018, the largest lightning strike in history–called a megaflash–hit southern Brazil. It was a spider-like discharge that raced across a horizontal distance of 440 miles.[2]
A single supercell (tower of clouds) with one updraft can evolve into two separate storm systems (two towers of clouds) with two updrafts that separate like an unrolling scroll–Revelation’s description of a superstorm.[3] This is called a “splitting supercell.”According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) one humungous storm can separate into “two mirror-image splitting storms” (split like a scroll), such as the one that hit Indiana on May 28, 1996. [4] Revelation says, “The sky was split apart like a scroll when it is rolled up.”[5] This is an extreme storm.
“Huge hailstones, about one hundred pounds each came down from heaven upon men.”[6] Revelation is portraying extreme weather due to climate change. A megastorm spawning 100 pound hailstones (having the diameter of about 29 inches, the diameter of a bicycle wheel, and could reach a terminal velocity in its fall of 284 m.p.h.[7]) is going to also produce massive tornadoes, lightning, and rain–a plague of destruction. Revelation says extreme weather is going to be indicative of the end of the end times. Let’s consider the rise of one form of extreme weather, tornadoes.
“From the Lord of hosts you will be punished with thunder and earthquake and loud noise, with whirlwind and tempest and the flame of a consuming fire . . . the multitude of all the nations who wage war against (Jerusalem [where Jesus will reign]).”[8]
The National Weather Service (NWS) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) did in depth studies for 2003’s hot year finding extreme weather events in the U.S. Here is just one: An unprecedented [record breaking] series of tornado outbreaks occurred in portions of the Great Plains, Midwest, and Mid-South of the U.S. during the week of May 4 through 10, 2003. During this seven-day period, there were a total of 393 tornadoes resulting in 39 deaths. . . . Six of these tornadoes were classified as violent (F4 or F5) on the Fujita Tornado Intensity Scale.[9]
A few years later in 2011, a tornado outbreak would exceed all records for the highest number of tornadoes in a twenty-four-hour period and rival the worst in violence and destruction. Usually, only one F5 occurs annually. Usually, tornadoes last a few minutes and travel a few miles before dissipating. Usually, tornadoes have wind speeds less than 110 miles per hour. Usually, the average damage per year from tornadoes is about $1 billion.[10] Not that day.
During a 4-day period from April 25-28, 2011, more than 200 tornadoes occurred in five southeastern states. The deadliest part of the outbreak was the afternoon and evening of April 27, when 122 tornadoes resulted in 313 deaths. . . . There were 15 violent (Enhanced Fujita Scale 4 or 5) tornadoes reported. Eight of the tornadoes had path lengths in excess of 50 miles. . . . The event was one of deadliest tornado events since formal record keeping began in 1950. Nationwide, 199 tornadoes developed across 14 states on April 27. . . . In all, 31 of these tornadoes were rated as EF3 or stronger. Eleven tornadoes were EF4 and four were EF5. The average EF4 and EF5 tornado path length was 66 miles. . . . A round of severe thunderstorms preceded the April 27 outbreak.[11]
When the Midwest and Northeast were added to the account of all the days in April 2011, the National Weather Service confirmed 355 tornadoes in 21 states from Texas to New York to southern Canada. In this outbreak, the Joplin tornado totally leveled the city with a wind speed in excess of 200 mph cutting a mile-wide swath.
In the 2011 record-breaking outbreak, 348 died from tornadoes and 24 died from lightning in thunderstorms, hail, and flash floods. This was the largest, costliest ($11 billion), most expansive, and one of the most intense and deadly outbreaks ever recorded. It also broke the record for the most tornado touchdowns in a 24-hour period totaling 211 (the previous record was 147 in the Super Outbreak of April 3-4, 1974).[12]
In 2019, the Washington Post reported another record-breaking year for tornadoes in May following with the National Weather Service confirming with eyewitness reports over 500 observed tornadoes in just 30 days.[13]
Flooding
The scientific models consistently show that such extreme weather will occur more frequently; storms of the century will happen every decade, then every few years as global warming increases. One of the countries that has taken major action on these highly probable predictions is the Netherlands. “The Dutch are spending billions of euros on ‘floating communities’ that can rise with surging flood waters, on cavernous garages that double as urban floodplains and on re-engineering parts of a coastline as long as North Carolina’s. The government is engaging in ‘selective relocation’ of farmers from flood-prone areas and expanding rivers and canals to contain anticipated swells.”[14] As of 2014, a national effort is underway to upgrade the thousands of miles of dams and dykes that protect the Netherlands.[15] The 1996 Flood Protection Act sets a safety standard of 1/10,000 per year meaning that the coastal flood defense must be high and strong enough to withstand storm surges that have a likelihood of occurrence of 1/10,000 per year. [16] The Dutch are preparing for the unlikely, because global warming is pushing the unlikely into the likely. The 1 in 10,000 will drop to 1 in 100 then 1 in 10. “You also must be ready.”[17]
Droughts and Crop Failures
The North American drought of 2012-2014 in the northern U.S. was an expansion of the 2010-2012 drought which hit the southern U.S. and was on track to become the costliest natural disaster in U.S. history.[18] The drought cost more than $35 billion in the Midwest; corn and soybeans failed. In the south, the Mississippi water levels plummeted. Across 36 states, 1,692 counties were legally declared primary natural disaster areas by August 2012.[19]
The 2010 drought in Russia was the worst in fifty years with high temperatures doubling the price of wheat around the world.[20] The drought forced Russia to ban export of wheat.[21] That summer was the hottest recorded in Russian history and ignited the worst wildfires recorded in their history, only to be surpassed by the fires of 2012. “A combination of the smoke from the fires, producing heavy smog blanketing large urban regions and the record breaking heat wave put stress on the Russian healthcare system. Munich Re [an international insurance company that insures insurance companies] estimated that in all, 56,000 people died from the effects of the smog and the heat wave.”[22] The drought in 2012, from another record-breaking heat wave, cut the wheat production not only in Russia, but in Australia, Argentina, and the U.S. sending wheat prices soaring.[23]
“A warming climate and increasing precipitation [in Russia] will likely expand the amount of land that could be cultivated in the coming years. But economic models predict that largely due to floods, droughts, and heat and cold waves, wheat production could decrease by up to 15 percent within five years.”[24]
Rising Polar Heat, Heat Waves and Death
Hot Saharan summers are encroaching on southern Europe, such as the heat wave that killed 71,449 people within a few weeks in 2003.[25] By 2050, such heat waves are expected once every two years.
CNN, NY Times, and Nature broke the news on June 29, 2020, that the South Pole has been warming at more than three times the global average over the past 30 years, which will have enormous ramifications for rising global sea levels, marine life, and Antarctic ice sheets. Between 1989 and 2018, the South Pole warmed 1.8°C. Scientists said the warming was due to increasing sea surface temperatures thousands of miles away in the tropics, especially the western tropical Pacific Ocean carrying warm air down the South Pole. The World Meteorological Organization stated that Antarctic’s ice sheet contains enough water to raise the global sea levels by nearly 200 feet. Last February, Antarctic reached its hottest temperature every recorded–65°F (18.3°C).[25A]
In June 2020, CBS News broke headlines with the “Arctic records its hottest temperature ever,” which was 100.4°F, 32 degrees above the normal high temperature in the town of Verkhoyansk, Siberia above the Arctic Circle. The area was blazing in fires due to unusually high temperatures since last December. Other areas north of the Arctic Circle such as in Markusvinsa, Sweden hit 94.6°F last summer 2019 leading to “the worst fire season on record.”[25B]
Air Pollution
On a windless day, Beijing’s noon sky looks like the twilight zone leaving visibility about a half a block due to a heavy fog of smog.[26] Residents wear masks outdoors. According to the World Bank, coal smoke in the atmosphere kills 1.9 million people a year throughout China establishing chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (emphysema and chronic bronchitis) as the leading cause of death.[27]
For 2018, the worst cities in the world for air pollution were in Asia and the Middle East, especially India, which took 22 of the top 30 slots. However, making the top 100 list included cities in China, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Mongolia, Kuwait, and Nepal.[28] Some cities suffer from pollution from ozone (smog), while others from ammonia from livestock excrement and fertilizer. The poor air quality spawns a host of health problems including respiratory and cardiovascular diseases.[29] The American Lung Association reported that over 133.9 million Americans–that is two out of every five people, an increase of 125 million in the 2017 report–now live in counties with unhealthy air pollution. That includes ozone (smog) and/or particle pollution (soot, dust, chemicals that damage lungs, etc.) leading to lung cancer, asthma, and other lung-associated diseases.[30] The worst U.S. cities in 2018 for air pollution were spread from the west to east coast.[31] These are only a few of the cities that the American Lung Association lists with heavy air pollution that are beyond safe levels and endanger health.
“The sun and the moon grow dark and the stars lose their brightness.”[32] The skies grow dark when massive fires consume millions of acres; towering storm cells spawn extraordinary hurricanes and tornadoes; factories pour more than 40 billion tons of CO2 and pollutants into the atmosphere producing smog so thick that noonday becomes twilight. Just imagine how bad this is going to be when–as Revelation says–one-third of the time during the day and night across the world the skies are darkened.
Summary
Ice never lies. The rising global temperatures have been melting “perma”frost across the northern tundra, scorching towns above the Arctic Circle with 100°F temperatures, and warming the Arctic two times (2xs) faster and Antarctica three times (3xs) faster than the rest of the world. Only 26 of the original 150 glaciers observed in 1850 in Glacier National Park, Montana remain. Between 1993 and 2016, NASA calculated that Greenland has lost 286 billion tons of ice per year and Antarctica 127 billion tons per year. The Arctic has lost 95% of its oldest ice. These are extremes. They are increasing. They are only the tip of the iceberg.
Worldwide–catastrophic disasters such as forest fires, floods, tornadoes, lightning storms, hurricanes, droughts, deadly heat waves, . . . are all rising in intensity, expanding in territory, inflating in cost, and destabilizing the communities, states, or even countries they ravage. Yet, they are only the beginning. If scientists have gotten anything wrong, it has been to underestimate the growing speed and intensity of what NASA’s James Hansen calls “The Coming Climate Catastrophe” and its ramifications in this complex global system.
Science is uncovering ever-growing, record-breaking, devastating events around the world across many fields. Scripture is describing what scientists call the worst case scenario of global warming, extremes in weather, and geophysical upheavals; their ramifications, consequences, and future direction. They are racing toward the global collapse of civilization. It is hard to believe. But it is true, and we must push past the built-in inertia of society, of church, of family, of our own habitual ways of thinking (“not me, not now, no how,” or like Trump, “stop testing,”) and instead, train our thinking in the laws of truth to test reality, to discern reality, and to face reality. Mountains of evidence are pouring in from across the earth. The Bible and science are decades out in front of us in knowledge and understanding of the near-future state of this planet. The Bible and science are the two watchmen on the wall shouting down to us to wake up, to catch up, and to get ready–like Noah did–for those we love, because a devastating “flood” of catastrophes is going to inundate this planet.
[1] Rev 6:14; 16:21; 16:18; Isa 29:6-7.
[2] https://www.frankdeboosere.be/nieuws/news2009/extreme%20hagel%2025-26%20mei . . . ) c.f. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supercell. See also https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2020/06/5/lightning-megaflash-world-record.
[3] Rev 6:14.
[4] https://www.crh.noaa.gov/lmk/soo/doc/supercell.php. c.f. http://www.crh.noaa.gov/lmk/soo/88dimg/52896_evt.php.
[5] Rev 6:14.
[6] Rev 16:21.
[7] Wayne, “Revelation 16:21; The Largest Hailstones Every,” Prophecy Proof Insights, March 9, 2012. https://www.prophecyproof.org/2012/03/revelation-1621-the-largest-hailstones-ever.
[8] Isa 29:6-7.
[9] Department of Commerce, USA; National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA); National Weather Service; Service Assessment, “Record Tornado Outbreaks of May 4-10, 2003.” https://www.nws.noaa.gov/om/data/pdfs/03MOspringfield.pdf. 10, 4.
[10] “Tornado Statistics,” April 28, 2014. https://www.statisticbrain.com/tornado-statistics.
[11] Ibid., “The Historic Tornadoes of April 2011,” iv, 5.
[12] National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. https://www.publicaffairs.noaa.gov/storms/description.html. The April 3-4, 1974 tornado outbreak was considered the worst up to that time in terms of total number (148 tornadoes), path length (average was 18.7 miles), six F5s, and total damage (335 deaths, $60 million). By comparison, the Tri-State out-break of March 18, 1925 had 7 tornadoes. The Palm Sunday outbreak had 31 tornadoes. “April 25-28, 2011 tornado outbreak,” Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/April_25%E2%80%9328_2011_tornado_outbreak. Moving forward, the El Reno (OK) tornado on May 31, 2013, was the widest ever recorded (2.6 miles) with winds of 296 mph. https.//www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/capital-earther-gang/wp/2013/06/04/deadly-el-reno-okla-tornado-was-widest-ever-measured-on-earth.”; “Historical Records and Trends [through 2012],” https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/climate-information/extreme-events/us-tornado-climatology.
[13] Ian Livingston, Capital Weather Gang, “At least 225 twisters in 12 days: A historic tornado outbreak ravages the U.S.” Retrieved from https.//www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2019/05/29/least-twisters-days-historic-tornadoes.
[14] Anthony Faiola, Juliet Eilperin,”Dutch defense against climate disaster: Adapt to the change,” the Washington Post Foreign Service, December 6, 2009. https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/12/05/AR2009120502186.htp.
[15] Sophie Yeo, “Netherlands to upgrade flood defenses to cope with climate change,” RTCC (Responding to Climate Change), March 7, 2014. https://www.rtcc.org/2014/03/04/netherlands-to-upgrade.
[16] “Coastal flood risk The Netherlands,” https://www.climateadaptation.eu/netherlands/coastal-floods/.
[17] Matt 24:44.
[18] Anthony Kimery, “FEMA – Dealing with Drought,” Homeland Security Today, January 6, 2012.
[19] CBS News, “U.S. drought: Half of all counties disaster areas,” August 1, 2012. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2012%E2%80%9314_North_American_drought.
[20] https://www.bloomberg.com/new/2010-08-03/worst-russian-drought-in-50-years-threatens-more-crops-grain-sowing-plans. Maria Kolesnikova, “Worst Russian Drought in 50 Years Threatens Next Crop.
[21] https://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/06/world/europe/06russia. Prime Minister Vladimir V. Putin banned all exports of grain after millions of acres of Russian wheat withered in a severe drought, driving the prices higher around the world. He pointed out that Russia was suffering from the worst heat wave since record-keeping began more than 130 years ago.
[22] “Russia Wildfires Rage Amid Record Heat,” voannews.com. August 3, 2010. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 109 (37):E2415. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_Russian_wildfires.
[23] Javier Blas in London, “Wheat Soars After Russian Crop Failure,” November 8, 2012. https://www/ft/cms/s/07cbc024c-2998-11e2.
[24] Russia-wheat, National Geographic, May 2015, p. 11.
[25] Hertsgaard, 51. The early report said 30,000 people died in 2003, but in 2008 the European Union reexamined the data and realized there were over 70,000 deaths.
[25A] Helen Regan, CNN Weather, “The South Pole has been warming at three times the global average over the past 30 years, study says.” Retrieved from https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/29/weather/south-pole-record-warming-antarctica-intl-hnk/
[25B] Jeff Berardelli, CBS News, “Arctic records its hottest temperature ever,” June 21, 2020. Retrieved from https://www.msn.com/en-us-weather-topstories/arctic-records-its-hottest-temperature-ever/
[26] Bill McKibben, editor, The Global Warming Reader: A Century of Writing about Climate Change (New York: Penguin Group, 2011) 142-146.
[27] Ibid.
[28] Bianca Britton, “The world’s top 100 most polluted cities in 2018,” March 5, 2019. Retrieved from https://www.cnn.com/2019/03/05/health/100-most-polluted-cities-in-2018.
[29] Katherine Kornei, “Here are some of the world’s worst cities for air quality,” March 21, 2017. https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2017/03.
[30] CBS News, “U.S. cities with the worst air pollution.” Retrieved from https://www.cbsnews.com/pictures/air-pollution-worst-us-cities-2018.
[31] Ibid. Compare to American Lung Association, State of the Air, April 19, 2017. Rafi Letzter, “The 25 most dangerously polluted cities in the US,” https://www. businessinsider.com/most-polluted-cities-in-us–2017.
[32] Rev 6:12; Joel 2:10; 3:15; Matt 24:29; Luke 21:25; Ezek 32:7; Isa 13:10-11, “For the stars of heaven and their constellations will not flash forth their light; the sun will be dark when it rises and the moon will not shed its light. Thus I will punish the world for its evil.” Such passages can sometimes be taken both literally and metaphorically.
[33] NASA photo of Earth with Hurricanes. Google: NASA free images. Black Tornado south of Dimmitt, Texas on June 2, 1995 by Kim Newton for NASA. “The Aftermath of a Tornado” in Joplin, Missouri after a supercell thunderstorm produced the Joplin F5 tornado on May 22, 2011 with windspeeds over 200 mph. Captured by a member of the Ozarks Red Cross for Earth Data USGS; NASA. C.f. “A View from Above: The Aftermath of a Tornado,” the study by USGS and NASA: 158 people died, 7,000 homes leveled, $2.8 billion in damages. “2011 Joplin Tornado F5” by NASA, U.S. Government. “NASA Image of Hurricane Katrina” in 2005. A Category 5, Katrina was the 3rd largest in recorded history. “New Orleans in Aftermath of Hurricane Katrina” by Lt. Commander Mark Moran, NOAA Corps, NMAO, AOC on NASA.gov free images site. “Forest Fire Wildfire Blaze” an image by Skeeze from Pixabay. “Storm Surge/Tsunami over City” by Stefan Keller from Pixabay: apocalypse. Tsunami Wave over Bridge. Image by Yuri_B from Pixabay