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While seasonal monsoon rains made a slight dent in the severe drought in the western United States, they mainly just brought flooding, with extremely dry conditions persisting. Several sources note that the drought in the U.S. Southwest is the worst in 1,200 years. Many are labeling it a megadrought.
The northwest has also been suffering. At the end of July, more than 71 percent of Oregon was under extreme drought. Western Canada has also been affected by severe drought. Winnipeg recorded the driest July in almost 150 years.
In addition was this news headline of locust infestation: "'A scourge of the Earth' grasshopper swarms overwhelm US west" (Lee van der Voo, The Guardian, July 7, 2021). The deep drought has created ideal conditions for grasshopper eggs to hatch and survive.
Australia and New Zealand have also experienced recent droughts and floods. Australia has long contended with locusts. But this year it's been faced with what's been called unprecedented -- a plague of mice taking over the fields of New South Wales (Maggie Gile, "Australia Could Lose Over $775M in Crops as Millions of Mice Invade Fields," May 28, 2021). They've been invading homes and biting people in their sleep. As reported in July, dead poisoned mice were everywhere, with a terrible stench. One has the impression of the plague of frogs on Egypt in the biblical Exodus story!
What's going on? Many blame nebulous "climate change." But God foretold curses that would befall the ancient Israelites for disobeying His laws, declaring: "If you do not obey Me, then I will punish you . . . I will make your heavens like iron and your earth like bronze [referring to a sky without rain clouds and the ground being dry and hard]. And your strength shall be spent in vain; for your land shall not yield its produce, nor shall the trees of the land yield their fruit . . . I will also send wild beasts among you, which shall rob you of your children, destroy your livestock, and make you few in number" (Leviticus 26:18-22).
Moreover, He said: "The Lord will change the rain of your land to powder and dust; from the heaven it shall come down on you until you are destroyed . . . You shall carry much seed out to the field but gather little in, for the locust shall consume it . . . Locusts shall consume all your trees and the produce of your land" (Deuteronomy 28:24,38-42).
Later, when the Jewish people who returned from Babylonian captivity were focused on themselves and neglecting to support God's work in that day of restoring the national worship system, God used drought and other curses to get their attention. God's message to the Anglosphere nations today is essentially the same:
"Consider your ways! 'You have sown much, and bring in little; you eat, but do not have enough . . . and he who earns wages, earns wages to put into a bag with holes'" (Haggai 1:5-11).
Look at what's been happening. Does God have your attention? To better understand, be sure to download or request our free study guide The United States and Britain in Bible Prophecy.
Earlier this year, Britain's Daily Express carried the following headline: "EU army plan to transform bloc into foreign superpower leaked in Brussels document" (Joe Barnes, June 19, 2021). The document, it noted, revealed that the European Union centered in Brussels was finalizing plans for "large-scale" operations in Libya. This would "pit the EU against Chad, Egypt, Jordan, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates, which have all become involved in Libya's brutal civil war. The internal report . . . highlighted the need for an EU military mission in the region to curb human and arms trafficking.
"'In this context, an EU military Common Security and Defence Policy [CSDP] engagement should be considered in order not to leave the entire field of activity in the military domain to third states,' the document says." Long term, it recommends "a military CSDP engagement." It especially hopes "to compete with Turkish influence in the region, especially among Libya's naval authorities. Brussels hopes the offer of training and new equipment could help the bloc become a more dominant force" (ibid).
More recently "the European Union formally established a military mission for Mozambique . . . to help train its armed forces battling IS-linked jihadists . . . The EU has several other training missions in Africa, including in Mali, Central African Republic, and Somalia" (Tancrede Chambraud with AFP, "EU to train Mozambique army against IS-linked jihadists," Africanews, July 13, 2021).
U.S. President Joe Biden is being urged by political allies to support European aspirations. As Politico reported: "It's time for the EU to become a global military power -- and for the U.S. to stop thwarting Europe's ambitions on defense. That's according to a new report by the Center for American Progress, a Washington think tank with close ties to the Biden administration" (David Herszenhorn, "Biden Urged to Push EU to Be a Military Power," June 2, 2021).
Where all of this will ultimately lead is to the rise of what the Bible calls the Beast -- a European-centered superpower wielding tyrannical power in the final years leading up to the return of Jesus Christ (see Daniel 2,7; Revelation 13; 17-18). Led by a villainous leader who is also called the Beast, it will astound the world as it comes to dominate global affairs. It will wield such great military power that the world's people ask: "Who is like the beast? Who is able to make war with him?" (Revelation 13:4).
This power will actually be in conflict with a union of forces to the south and will end up occupying significant parts of North Africa and the Middle East. To learn more about all this, download or request our free study guides The Final Superpower and The Middle East in Bible Prophecy.
A disturbing article early this year noted that "for years now, Chinese businesses have been quietly positioned at the heart of British infrastructure. Were a conflict to erupt, their employees could, willingly or otherwise, be mobilized by Beijing . . . What could this mean in practice? To put it simply . . . , President Xi Jinping could, at the flick of a button, turn off the lights at 10 Downing Street -- not to mention freeze Britain's financial system and paralyse its hospitals" (Clive Hamilton, "How China Could Turn Off Britain's Lights," UnHerd, Jan. 25, 2021).
To some degree, America is similarly threatened, as the title of a piece by RedState commentator Nick Arama highlighted regarding a White House press secretary statement: "Jen Psaki's Answer on Why Biden Suspended Rule Protecting US Power Grid From China Is Incredibly Concerning," Jan. 26, 2021).
If the lights were indeed to go out for a significant amount of time in multiple regions, with electronics knocked out, these nations would be in great calamity and peril.
As if that's not cause enough for alarm, there is also the matter of foreign takeover of territory, food production and technology.
A Politico headline reads: "China is buying up American farms. Washington wants to crack down" (Ryan McCrimmon, July 19, 2021). As it states: "Chinese firms have expanded their presence in American agriculture over the last decade by snapping up farmland and purchasing major agribusinesses . . . By the start of 2020, Chinese owners controlled about 192,000 agricultural acres in the U.S., worth $1.9 billion, including land used for farming, ranching and forestry . . . Still, that's less than farmland owned by people from other nations like Canada and European countries, which account for millions of acres each . . . But it's the trend of increasing purchase and the buyer's potential connections to the Chinese government that have lawmakers spooked."
Another article at AgWeb, titled "While America Slept, China Stole the Farm," points out that "China has breached the inner walls of the U.S. agriculture industry in what has arguably been the most expansive heist in farming history, and is currently attempting to steal or hack every conceivable facet of U.S. agriculture technology . . . Over the past decade, China has appropriated trillions of dollars in sophisticated U.S. technology, with a keen interest in the latest advances in the agriculture industry" (Chris Bennett, June 8, 2021).
Long ago, God told the Israelites that disobedience to Him would result in severe consequences to help bring them to repentance. He warned: "I will set My face against you, and you shall be defeated by your enemies. Those who hate you shall reign over you" (Leviticus 26:17).
He said before this as a prelude, "You shall sow your seed in vain, for your enemies shall eat it" (verse 16). And this situation would ultimately become much worse: "A nation whom you have not known shall eat the fruit of your land and the produce of your labor, and you shall be only oppressed and crushed continually" (Deuteronomy 28:33). This would come most fully through invasion and conquest, as the Israelites suffered, yet before this the nation ended up paying massive tribute to foreign powers.
We will see the same terrible developments in the years ahead. A rival foreign power today taking over American farmland and technology should serve as a wake-up call. As should its positioning of itself in having some measure of control over American and British electric power. For more on what Scripture reveals is coming, download or request our free study guide The United States and Britain in Bible Prophecy.
At this 20th anniversary of 9/11, the terror group Al-Qaeda remains active. And its proponents are encouraging Islamic extremists in the West to take advantage of American civil unrest to conduct lone-wolf attacks.
As reported by the Jewish Anti-Defamation League (ADL), "on April 14, 2021, both Al Qaeda and the pro-Al Qaeda propaganda outlet Jaysh Al-Malahim Al-Electroni (Electronic Battle Army) released magazines that include articles about the cultural strife in America and the West more broadly. The articles touched on . . . the deepening of American political divisions . . . [and] portray the West as declining and divided . . . [One] gleefully predicts the imminent collapse of America into civil war" ("Al Qaeda, Supporters Advocate for Lone Actor Attacks in the West," May 10, 2021).
The other "says a lone wolf should choose a 'massive chaotic protest,' preferably at night," and recommends infiltrating the crowds, car ramming and stirring up fights with police (Art Moore, "Bloodbath: Al-Qaida Urges 'Lone Wolf' Terrorists to Exploit U.S. Civil Unrest," WND, April 18, 2021).
It further "offers a $60,000 Bitcoin bounty to any extremist who kills a Jewish, Christian or atheist police officer in a Western country" (ADL). As people within our society are turning on one another, enemies are watching for the opportunity to use that to their advantage and bring destruction on us all.
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