And 75-Foot Waves!
Still another news release, same date:
LONDON, Jan. 24, 1963 (UPI) — "A hurricane swept through the Strait of Gibraltar today at 111 miles an hour, dealing fresh damage and misery to the European continent suffering from the worst winter of the century. No fatalities were reported from the hurricane, but 75-foot waves prevented rescuers from reaching the 120 passengers and crewmen aboard the Spanish ship Ciudad de Tarifa which went aground near Gibraltar."
And from Eastern Europe:
LONDON, Jan. 23, 1963 (UPI) — "A state of emergency has been declared in Bulgaria because of devastating snowfalls which have blocked all main roads and thoroughfares, Radio Sofia said today. The radio said committees are being formed all over Bulgaria to clear roads and highways to prevent ground transportation from coming to a complete halt."
Rivers, Canals Freeze in Europe
The European cold spell has been so severe that the German section of the Danube River froze over for 150 miles, a phenomenon never before observed in this century. Another 150-mile stretch of the Danube from Budapest, Hungary down to the Yugoslav frontier also froze.
Nine hundred ships and barges were stuck in Europe's largest inland harbor at Duisburg, West Germany.
Throughout the battered continent, food and fuel supplies have diminished. The frozen rivers and canals have prevented the transport of coal and fuel oil needed to heat homes and power industry. By January 30, public housing coal reserves in France had shrunk to a seven-day supply. Special coal trains were rushed to towns in southwestern France, but several became snowbound. On one particular day, only half the normal supply of fruits and vegetables arrived in Paris, with much of it being damaged by the freezing cold.
In The Netherlands, planes of the Royal Dutch Air Force dropped food, fuel and medical supplies to villages isolated by snow in the northern provinces.
Throughout Communist East Europe, non-essential factories were shut down to conserve limited fuel supplies. Even in London's famed Piccadilly Circus, the bright neon signs were blacked out one night to help stave off an impending coal shortage.
Frenzied Wild Animals
Wild animals, too, are feeling the effects of the unprecedented cold spell. Reported the United Press International on January 30: "Starved and half-frozen wolves hung about the town of Miano, Italy and have become a common sight in populated areas southeast of Rome. The animals killed more than 100 sheep in Hungary on the plains near the Theiss River. Budapest Radio said the wolves were driven by the extreme cold and snow from their native Carpathian Mountains in Poland."
Another UPI dispatch, this one dated February 3, said: "Half-starved wolves roamed down from the hills to lurk around built-up areas in Italy, France, Hungary and Yugoslavia, and yesterday attacked wild bears in a spectacular battle over food near Accettura, Italy."
The winter has been so severe in the Austrian highlands that officials claim that 15 per cent of the wildlife in the Austrian Alps has perished so far. The province of Carinthia alone has counted 15,000 deer frozen to death.
Just as this is being written a new cold wave is sweeping across Britain and the Continent. Even the normally snowless Spanish capital of Madrid has been virtually paralyzed by heavy snows which have severely disrupted telephone communications. So far Europe's worst cold wave of the century has been responsible for the deaths of more than 1,500 persons.
In the Orient, Too
The cold is by no means limited to the Western Hemisphere and Europe. Blizzards, avalanches and tidal waves have wrought winter havoc in Japan. Temperatures as low as 31 below zero have been reported in that shivering country. Residents of the fishing port of Yaizu, southeast of Tokyo, were astonished to see their harbor freeze over — the first time in living memory that had happened.
The severe Siberian cold, complicated by high winds, has created dangerous fire hazards in the many "paper cities" of Japan. In Tokyo alone, reported the UPI, a record 1,000 fires have occurred. Eighty-seven persons have died so far from weather-caused factors in the Asian nation.
But, In the Southern Hemisphere
In Australia, by contrast, ranchers in Northern Queensland have been having their hands full battling a continuous drought. "The fierce heat, on top of years of drought in the worst hit areas, is forcing graziers into a desperate battle to keep stock alive.". . . At Quilpie, local United Grazier's Association branch president Mr. Murray Pegler said: "Such hot conditions for November, together with an absence of feed, have never occurred previously to my knowledge" (The Brisbane Sunday Mail, November 18, 1962).
In southernmost South America the story is the same. "Reports from Argentina were of the worst drought of the century" (UPI, January 27, 1963).
There is no need to go further listing tragedy after tragedy. By the time you read this, more will have happened. What we need to realize is that all these worsening, chaotic conditions — as bad as they are now — are still only the beginning of yet future imagination-defying catastrophic upheavals in nature. After Christ gave His warning signs in Matthew 24 He added "All these are the beginning of sorrows."
The worst is yet to come!
U.S., Britain Especially Affected
Bible prophecy speaks not only of this time of worsening world-wide weather chaos affecting all nations, but it specifically singles out the peoples of the United States, Great Britain and other areas of the English-speaking world, plus the lands of Northwestern Europe. We are to bear the fullest brunt of these natural calamities. (To see the clear, unmistakable proof of our national identity — where our people are mentioned in Bible prophecy — write for our free booklet, "The United States and The British Commonwealth in Prophecy")
God, through the pen of the prophet Ezekiel, forewarned that fully one-third of our people were to perish by catastrophic weather calamities and disease. Notice the startling words of Ezekiel: "A third part of thee shall die with the pestilence, and with FAMINE shall they be consumed in the midst of thee; and a third part shall die of the sword round about thee [warfare] and I will scatter a third part into the winds, and I will draw out a sword after them (captivity and slavery) " (Ezek. 5:12).
Ezekiel never reached the peoples of ancient Israel with this prophecy. They had gone into captivity well over 100 years before this time. This prophecy is for our peoples, the descendants of the House of Israel, today!
Why is this complete national destruction, starting with the hammering blows of violent weather, to come upon our lands? "Because you have not lived by my laws nor followed my orders, but have followed the practices of the nations around you, therefore — it is the sentence of the Lord the Eternal — I am against you, I am; I will inflict punishment upon you before the eyes of the nations (complete ignominy that all of our enemies and hired "allies" will view in abhorrence) and do to you what I have never done before, a thing that I will never do again, owing to all your detestable misdeeds" (Ezek. 5:7-9, Moffat Translation).
God, who controls the weather, and would intervene on our behalf if we as a nation turned in utter repentance to Him, is going to allow weather disasters to hit us so hard that we learn once and for all that it just doesn't pay to transgress the commandments and laws He gives us for our good.
Fulfilled Once Before
With the weather God blesses or curses a nation (see Job 37:1-13, and Nahum 1:3-4). He told our forefathers after He had rescued them from the slavery of Egypt that if we were obedient to His laws, He would be with us in our national development — and the weather would be one of our greatest blessings. Disobedience on the other hand would bring nothing but drought, misery, hunger and every frightful curse under the sky. Read this for yourself in Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28.
Most Bible prophecy is dual. The horrible penalties of disobedience listed in these two chapters, and also the first chapter of Joel, not only are prophetic for the near future (compare Lev. 26:23 and Deut. 28:64 with the latter part of Ezek. 5:12 — practically the same wording), but they were inflicted upon ancient Israel exactly as predicted when they rebelled against God.
One amazing account of ancient Israel's destruction has been preserved for us by the Greek historian Dionysius, a native of Halicarnassus. Born around 54 B.C., Dionysius went to Rome about 30 B.C. He specialized in the study of the early peoples who dwelt on the shores of, and controlled the sea routes of, the Mediterranean. Among his many writings, Dionysius commented on events surrounding the time of the fall of the House of Israel.
Our ancestors anciently controlled the sea — just as they do today. For that reason Dionysius called the ancient Israelites who settled on the shores of the Mediterranean "Sea Peoples" Pelasgians in Greek.
Note what Dionysius says about these people:
"The Pelasgians" — the ancient Greek name for the House of Israel — "after conquering a large and fertile region, taking over many towns and building others, made great and rapid progress, becoming populous, rich and in every way prosperous. Nevertheless, they did not long enjoy their prosperity, but at the moment when they seemed to all the world to be in the most flourishing condition [exactly the position of post-war United States] they were visited by divine wrath, and some of them were destroyed by calamities inflicted by the hand of Heaven, others by their barbarian neighbors. . .
"The first cause of the desolation of their cities seemed to be a drought which laid waste the land [Lev. 26:19, 26; Deut. 28:24; Joel 1:12], when neither any fruit remained on the trees till it was ripe, but dropped while still green [Deus. 28:40 — exactly as has happened in OUR winter fruit areas in America and Europe], nor did such of the seed corn as sent up shoots and flowered stand for the usual period till the ear was ripe, nor did sufficient grass grow for the cattle [Joel 1:18]; and of the waters some were no longer fit to drink, others shrank during the summer, and others were totally dried up (Joel 1:20). And like misfortunes attended the offspring both of cattle and of women [Deut. 28:18]. For they were either abortive or died at birth, some by their death destroying also those that bore them; and if any got safely past the danger of their delivery, they were either maimed or defective or, being injured by some other accident, were not fit to be reared.
"The rest of the people also, particularly those in the prime of life, were afflicted with many unusual diseases and uncommon deaths [Deut. 28:35, 60, 61; how descriptive of our society today]. But when they asked the oracle what god or divinity they had offended to be thus afflicted and by what means they might hope for relief, the god answered that, although they had obtained what they desired, they had neglected to pay what they had promised, and that the things of greatest value were still due from them."
Dionysius then elaborated on how the Israelites — Pelasgians in Greek — had not been faithful in rendering their full financial responsibilities to their God. Our almost total neglect of this same responsibility to God is one of the major reasons for our impending doom. Notice what God says in Malachi 3:8-9: "Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings. Ye are cursed with a curse: for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation."
Paying God's tithe, giving to Him the one-tenth of your income that is rightfully His, not yours, is .one sure way to receive His blessing even in the terrible times ahead. (Write for the free booklet, "Ending Your Financial Worries")
To continue Dionysius' account:
"And there began to be disorderly emigrations, such as might well be expected from a people driven forth by a frenzy and madness inflicted by the Hand of heaven [Deut. 28:28]. . . .
Many, also, under specious pretences, were being driven away by their enemies through hatred; so that there were many emigrations and the Pelasgian nation was scattered over most of earth" (Deut. 28:64, Lev. 26:33). From Book I, sections XXIII and XXIV.
There you have the amazing, detailed account of what happened to Israel of old. The very same identical punishments are falling on our peoples around the world today.
If the nations as a whole will not repent, you as an individual can be spared. Repent of your disobedience to God's laws! Obey Him in every way as Truth is revealed to you. Remember the financial obligations you have to your Creator! Only in this way can you expect God's protection as the mighty forces of nature are unleashed in full fury in the months and years immediately ahead of us.