Understand that even the best of prophetic utterances can be hazy on the time element, but isn’t it chillingly remarkable that the past five years have witnessed of the largest, most devastating hurricanes ever to hit the United States, including last fall’s Katrina, with price tags now ranging in the billions of dollars. New Orleans, victim of Katrina and a levee system that failed, was described just this week as “a shadow of its former self,” half of its citizens living elsewhere in the U.S. like a modern Diaspora. Whether New Orleans ever fully recovers is questionable because of the vast cost involved.
Author Michael Brown of Spirit Daily has reported on the prophecies of Dr. Howard Storm, whom he describes as a former atheist who, after a near death experience in which he was dragged toward Hell, became a believer. One of these concerns the utterances of three angels, who told him that “our nation would be punished for its selfishness and materialism by watching its infrastructure collapse and riots and crime break out over "a cup of gasoline." This has not yet happened, but can you imagine the breakdown of the social order should oil prices rise much more than they did last fall during the hurricane onslaughts?
You do not have to be a prophet or a seer to rationally envision such a scenario. Already there are economists warning that any attempt to “take out” Iran’s nuclear facilities by Israel or the United States could trigger an oil embargo and a market-driven round of price hikes that would take the price per barrel of oil over $100. Translated at the pump, we could see $4 or $5 per gallon gasoline. Or shortages. Or both.
What else might a non-prophet still see?
There are the uprisings of Muslim minorities in several European countries, including France and Great Britain, protests that have turned violent, but cooled down as winter arrived. With the recent “cartoon controversies” over the publication of images of the Prophet Mohammed, those protests could reignite the riots of last fall.
The deadly bird flu H5N1 is spreading rapidly in Europe, Asia and Africa, though it is not yet in the Americas. Medical officials worry that the longer it poses a problem, the more likely it will mutate into a form easily passed from human-to-human, setting the stage for a pandemic as bad or worse as the so-called Spanish flu of 1918. It is no small worry: the bird flu has a mortality rate of over 50 percent among the humans it has infected so far. Even a small amount of pandemic would be enough to stall the world’s economy.
Part 2 - Even non-prophets can learn to read the Signs of the Times
Official weather observers now believe that the southwestern United States has entered a drought eerily reminiscent of the 1930s Dust Bowl era, thanks to a La Nina in
in the Pacific and a rapidly warming Atlantic Ocean. Already parts of Texas, Oklahoma, Colorado, Kansas and Arkansas are tinder dry and wildfires have become so commonplace that even the local media has lost much of its early interest. Can anyone envision a modern-day Okie migration?
There are two other flashpoints that do not get a lot of mainstream media attention, but are deserving. One is the situation with Iran: not so much the development of nuclear weapons material (as bad as that
of nuclear weapons material (as bad as that is!) but the promised opening late this month of an Iranian oil bourse (market) that will sell oil to the world for EUROS, not DOLLARS. There are a lot of excess dollars bulging from the pockets of Middle East oil countries and in China, thanks to historic imbalances of trade. Any move that makes the dollar less valuable, like the Iranian oil bourse, will contribute to a weakening of the dollar and a rapid decline in its purchasing power.
The second is the heightening of tensions between China and Taiwan, which only got worse during the last couple of days as Taiwan’s president disbanded the committee that’s been negotiating with China on a possible reunification “someday.” Now China is warning Taiwan that it is crossing a dangerous line, and there is a growing concern among international observers that if China wants Taiwan back, the United States may not be able to easily interfere, thanks to our commitments elsewhere. You don’t have to be a prophet or mystic to understand how something like that might shake up the economy for awhile.
There are more areas of concern, like the situation in Israel, but you get the idea. If you are trying to connect the dots or, as Christ might say, “read the signs of the times” you cannot help but believe that we live in interesting times. An intersection of events appears not only possible, but likely.
As we have said before, Jesus does not want us to go around in a state of fear. He does want us to be aware of our surroundings (“be as cunning as serpents”) as we help spread His message of repentance and love (“be simple as doves”). His constant watchword to us: Be not afraid.
The beginning of Lent is a good time to cast aside some of the clutter of our lives so that we might fear less the loss of our creature comforts, and love God and our neighbor all the more. For truly what good will it do any of us to gain the entire world if we lose our souls in the process? And if the signs of the times point to perils ahead, our first and best recourse is prayer. Through prayer, we are taught, all things are possible, and even calamitous times can be navigated by people who strive for holiness.
This striving for holiness through prayer and fasting requires the strength that we receive from God through the Holy Spirit, best gained through regular attention to God’s Word and sacraments. It is in this spiritual communion with Christ and each other that we can best deal with the signs of the times and prepare for whatever comes.
His will be done!
