Storm Warning: Extreme Weather and Spiritual Signs

Nathan Jones: Well, you know, in the beginning, everything was perfect. The Creation was perfect. But then what happened? Sin entered and it corrupted everything. And then God put a curse on the world. And we wait, as Romans 8:21 says, “the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.” We are waiting for that day when Jesus Christ returns and fixes all this. But in the meantime, nature is in total flux. And because of this great upheaval, extreme weather is occurring all over the place due to our out of kilter weather system.

But it’s interesting that God uses weather to make points. For instance, when He created the Ten Commandments and gave them to the people, it says in Exodus 19 that there was smoke and rumblings and great fire on the mountain. The star of Bethlehem, when Jesus was born, was put up in the sky to tell people where Jesus was born. And when Christ was crucified, for 3 hours, there was darkness and a great earthquake, right? God used weather to point to significant events in history.

But He also uses them for remedial judgments. There are times where God will call wicked nations to repentance by using freak weather. Deuteronomy 28 Moses foretold this, he said, verse 18, “Cursed shall be the fruit of your body and the produce of your land, the increase of your cattle and the offspring of your flocks.” Verse 23, “And your heavens, which are over your head, shall be bronze, and the earth under you shall be iron. 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.” And if the Israelites continue to live in wickedness, verse 30, “You shall build a house, but you shall not dwell in it. You shall plant a vineyard, but you shall not gather its grapes.” And verse 45, “Moreover all these curses shall come upon you and pursue you and overtake you until you are destroyed because you did not obey the voice of the Lord, your God, to keep His commandments and the statutes which He commanded you. And they shall be upon you for a sign in a wonder, and on your descendants forever.”

And we know what happened as the Israelites continued to rebel. God used signs of nature as remedial judgments to call the Israelites back to them. Remember King Ahab three and a half year drought. Joel a great locust invasion. Haggai when he was having the temple rebuilt, the people decided they didn’t want to rebuild it, so God inflicted the crops with mildew and destroyed them with storms and hail. And the people repented and turned back to God.

Now, how do we know the difference then between a natural disaster caused by a fallen world and when God uses nature as a remedial judgment? Three things: one, the timing of the event as it relates to the sign, the timing of the event. Two the magnitude of the event. A remedial judgments are designed to have this great shock value in order to capture people’s attention and force them to think with an internal perspective. And three, the prophet’s declaration, God would say, I am doing this to get you to repent. So, the timing, the magnitude and the prophet’s declaration.

But you probably look at me and saying, Nathan, that’s the Old Testament. God doesn’t do that anymore. We live in the age of grace, right? Well, not according to Jesus Christ in the Olivet Discourse, Matthew 24, Luke 21, Mark 13, Jesus provided ten signs that would point to His soon return. He said they’d increase in frequency and intensity like birth pains, like a woman has as she goes up to the birth of the child. Frequency and intensity.

Matthew 24:8, “But all these things are merely the beginnings of birth pains. He said in Matthew 24:7, “For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines, pestilence and earthquakes in various places.” I will use earthquakes to shake you up. Luke 21:11, “And there will be fearful sights and great signs from heaven.” Also, Luke 21 “There will be signs in the sun and the moon in the stars and on the earth. Distress of the nations with perplexity and seas and the waves roaring. Men’s hearts failing them from fear and the expectations of those things which are coming on the earth for the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then they will see the Son of Man coming in, the cloud with power and great glory.” Aren’t you waiting for that? Now, when these things begin to happen, look up and lift your heads, because, what? Your redemption is drawing near.

The apostle Paul confirmed that Christians are meant to be able to discern the signs that point to Jesus’ soon return and not be taken unaware. It says in 1 Thessalonians 5:1, “But concerning the times and the seasons, brethren, you have no need that I should write to you, for you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night. So when they say peace and safety, then suddenly destruction comes upon them as labor pains upon a pregnant woman, and they shall not escape. But you brethren are not in the darkness so that this day should overtake you as a thief. You are all sons of light and sons of the day.” Folks, if you know Jesus Christ as your Savior, you are a son of the light and son of the day. And so, you can what? Recognize the signs of the times that Jesus has for us.

Well, I think we could all admit that we recognize nature is getting out of hand, and it’s getting worse, doesn’t it? Natural disasters up more than 400% in two decades. An article by Natural News, natural disasters are increasing in frequency ravaging the world, our countries, even our homes. The number of natural disasters around the world has increased by more than four times in the last 20 years, according to the British Charity Oxfam. The Earth is currently experiencing approximately 500 natural disasters per year compared to 120 back in the 80s. An article from the Weather Channel, $9 billion weather disasters so Far in 2022.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reports that in the past two years saw record loss of billion dollar disasters. From 1980 to 2017 there was an average of $7.7 billion weather disasters, but in the last five years, $17.8.

Now, in all this research about all these different events, what has been the response of every single article out there? It’s due to manmade global warming. Matter of fact, the Driscoll Report said, “Scientist have long warned that climate change would contribute to an increase in both the frequency and the intensity of the severity of freak weather.” Increase in frequency and intensity. Hmm. That sounds very familiar. Right? Sounds kind of biblical.

Well, the world is interpreting these natural disasters as a pollution problem, but, folks, we know better, right? We know that God is in control of the weather. He controls the weather. We can look at Matthew 8:26-27, “What kind of man is this? That even the winds and the waves obey him?”

Psalm 148:8, “Fire and hail, snow and clouds, storms, wind fulfilling His word.”

Acts 14: 17, “He did not leave Himself without witness that he did good and gave you rains from heaven and fruitful seasons.”

In Revelation 7:1 “I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth that the wind should not blow on the earth or the sea or in any tree.”

So again and again, there are 47 references I found in the Bible that says that God controls the weather. So, all this might be contributed by man, but it is God. Now, there, of course, are certain natural disasters because the weather is off kilter. But God is trying to wake us up.

And He’s going to try to wake the world up during the Tribulation. Do you know if you read the Book of Revelation, how many of those signs point to God using weather to wake the people up? Third Seal Judgment, food and scarcity and famine. Fourth Seal Judgment, death by devastation and wild beasts. Sixth Seal Judgment, a great earthquake. Seventh Seal Judgment, noises, thunders, lightning and another earthquake. First Trumpet Judgment, hail and fire. Second Trumpet Judgment, a great mountain burning with fire thrown into the sea. The Third Trumpet Judgment, a great star fell from heaven. The Fourth Trumpet Judgment, a third of the sun was struck. The two witnesses will have natural disasters that they can call down upon people, and when they are killed, a great earthquake will happen in Jerusalem and 7,000 people will be killed. The Seventh Trumpet Judgment, lightning, noises, thunder, earthquake and hail. The Second Bowl Judgment, the sea will become like blood. The Third Bowl Judgment rivers and springs of water will become like blood. The Fourth, the sun will scorch men. The Seventh Bowl Judgment thunders and lightnings, and a great earthquake. When the fall of Babylon happens, the same thing. And at the end of the Millennial Kingdom, the satanic rebellion, will be crushed by fire.

So, God’s Word makes it very clear that when He sends discipline, what is His fundamental purpose? There’s an element of punishment, certainly. But its primary reason is to call people to repentance.

Here’s how the prophet Isaiah expressed it, “For when your judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness.” Now, folks, God He’s merciful. He’s patient. He’s sending us one natural disaster wakeup call after another for the purpose of eventually pouring out His wrath on the world. But He wants as many people to get saved and become part of the church before the Rapture happens. But that great wrath is coming one day, and all of nature is going to break loose.

So, folks, how should we respond today to all these natural signs? Well, first, we need to repent individually of our own rebellion, don’t we? God is calling us to repent. He wants us to repent. We need to repent of our rebellion and selfishness. Call on the Holy Spirit to read the Bible so that we can be discerning.

Two nationally folks, when it happens to a nation. God isn’t abandoning the United States. He’s calling us back to repentance. To give up our sexual promiscuity, our abortions, our obsession with the cults and materialism. And we need to accept Jesus as our Savior. For folks, for those of us who are Christians, we could live by this Romans 13:12-14. “So have hope. The night is far spent, the day is at hand. Therefore, let us cast off the works of darkness and let us put on the full armor of light.” Thank you.

Part 2

Tim Moore: Wow, Nathan, I wish we had the time to show your entire message, especially the list you present on all of the extreme natural disasters that have occurred in just the past two years.

Nathan Jones: Well, fortunately, Tim, people can still watch the conference in its entirety on our Christ in Prophecy YouTube channel. And, for those who prefer DVDs, we’re offering the entire album for a donation of $25 or more, and that includes shipping. Check out ordering details throughout this program and on our website at lamblion.com.

We’re now going to cover the spiritual signs of the end times. Dr. Vic Batista, who serves as an Assistant Evangelist with our ministry, flew in all the way from Florida to share about this vital sign that points to the urgency of the Rapture.

Part 3- Presentation on End Time Spiritual Signs by Vic Batista

Vic Batista: So, as we begin, people often ask the question: Is there is such evidence of spiritual end times signs pointing to the soon return of the Lord? And my response is absolutely. Spiritual end time signs are evident everywhere in today’s society, both positive and negative for those who have spiritual eyes to see them. As a matter of fact, in the prophets and the Apostles actually foretold of signs that will be manifested in the last days. And I would like to share with you just a few positive signs of the work of the Holy Spirit in the last days, as well as a few negative signs pertaining to the demonic spiritual manifestations in the last days. And if you have your Bible handy, you can turn with me to the book of Joel and also make your way to Acts chapter two, as we look at some of the wonderful things that were foretold in the Bible about these signs, both positive and negative.

If we look at the prophet Joel, for instance, we notice Joel 2:28, the Bible says, “And it will come to pass afterwards that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy. Notice this old man shall dream dreams, your young men shall see vision and also upon the servants and upon the handmaidens, in those days” what? “I will pour out my Spirit.” Joel here prophesied that there will be a tremendous outpouring of God’s spirit on all flesh. This same scripture was actually echoed by the apostle Peter when the early church was birthed at Pentecost by the Holy Spirit. Peter adds that it would happen in the last days.

And if you notice with me in the Book of Acts 2:16, Peter is echoing what the prophet Joel spoke of, Peter writes, “But this is what was spoken by the Prophet Joel, and it shall come to pass.” And notice, he adds, “In the last days, says God, that I will pour out my spirit on all flesh, and your sons and your daughter shall.” What? “Prophesy. Your young men shall see visions and your old men shall dream dreams. And on my men servants and on my maid servants, I will pour out my Spirit on those days.” And notice he adds, “And they shall prophesy.” They shall prophesy. Both the Prophet Joel and the Apostle Peter, both prophesy all the positive signs of the work of the Holy Spirit in the last days when it comes to number one, the Spirit being poured out, number two, the understanding of prophecy, number three, spiritual dreams, and number four, spiritual visions.

Now, on the positive signs, it’s not all gloom and doom. Peter, describe to us the amazing positive signs of the end times. As I mentioned earlier, in Acts 2. In Acts 2. And I love it because Peter said when the Holy Spirit is poured out, men and women, and ministries in the last days, we see that they will have spiritual dreams, there will be visions, and an understanding of prophecy will be the results of this outpouring of the Holy Spirit. These are positive, wonderful signs.

And this is very exciting as we see the speed at which the Gospel has been moving throughout the world through this century. God using individuals like the late Billy Graham, Greg Laurie, the late Luis Palau, the late DL Moody, the late Chuck Smith and so many others, God has poured out the Spirit upon them and we’ve seen the Gospel of Jesus Christ moving forward like wildfire through our century.

One example of this is a report by the Billy Graham’s Association regarding Billy Graham. And I just think this is fantastic when we look at the move of the Spirit being poured out of individuals. But this article reports 1.6 million souls won for Christ, according to the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association. This was a review in 2014, it says this effort by the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association revealed that he has shared the Gospel with close to 9.5 million people around the world through his outreaches, and more than 1.6 million of these people have made a decision for Christ. Isn’t that amazing? And not only that, but if you see the article there, this was back in 1973, Billy Graham preached one of his largest ever crusades during a five day event with an estimate of 3.2 million people in Seoul, South Korea. This is an amazing manifestation of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.

And not only Billy Graham, but maybe you guys are familiar with Greg Laurie. Greg Laurie basically went virtual because of the pandemic and like many others, started to use media to bring out the Gospel. And according to this article, it says 16,000 accept Christ, 1.8 million watched Greg Laurie’s virtual cinematic crusade. We see this amazing outpouring of God’s Spirit with these wonderful individuals as we’re looking here at these great, great manifestations of the Holy Spirit.

Not only that, but we also see this outpouring of the Spirit, not only when it comes to the spreading of the Gospel, but also listen, on individuals and ministries when it comes to the understanding of Bible prophecy. As we look at this scripture, once again, the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, that result would be that on my men servant and on my maidservant, I will pour out my Spirit in those days. And they shall prophesy. They shall prophesy. So, we see again His Spirit being poured out on amazing individuals. And Peter again here tells us what is going to be the result.

We have seen this take place in our century. Maybe you’re familiar with some of these individuals, with individuals like John Walvoord, Dwight Pentecost, the late excuse me, Hal Lindsey and his book, “The Late Great Planet Earth.” We also have seen this through the minister of the late Tim LaHaye, David Jeremiah, the late Ed Hindson, he just passed away. And so many others that God has used to bring about the clear understanding of Bible prophecy. And this is an amazing, amazing sign, according to the Word of God.

And listen and how about as we talk about individuals who the Holy Spirit has been poured out to be able to give us understanding of Bible prophecy. How about our very own Dr. David Reagan, the founder of Lamb and Lion Ministries? Check this out. This is so cool. Yeah. I love it. But look at this. Look at this article. This was Dr. Reagan teaching on 50 Reasons We are in the End Times. And look how many people tuned in to watch this. Over a half a million people. When I recorded this, it was 647,351 views on Bible prophecy. Excuse me. And we were wondering, is the Spirit at work in these last days? The answer is absolutely. Absolutely. We saw here again the Spirit being poured out.

Prophecy being understood and through the media and through television, and radio and satellites, we see again a beautiful move. And this is an amazing, positive end times spiritual sign foretold by the prophets.

We’re living in exciting times. And I tell you this. Look around this room and look at what God is doing in this room. It’s amazing. All of you are gathered here to study what? Bible prophecy. Are you serious? And this is exactly, you are part of this outpouring of the Holy Spirit. I should just take a picture of all of you right now, but it’s really awesome. We’re living in exciting times.

Nathan earlier gave you this scripture, and this is what we should be doing, “Now when you see these things begin to happen, look up and lift up your heads because your redemption draws near.” Listen, we can do this in two forms as we look up. Number one, we need to be in constant prayer. And number two, we need to continue to do what we talked about last night, for those of you who were here, that five letter word, study. That’s right. In these last days, we need to continue to study.

And I close with this article by the late Tim LaHaye regarding Bible prophecy for everyone. He says, “The most evangelistic period of Church history is when,” notice, “history has been when the church studies Bible prophecy.” Isn’t that awesome? So, we are so, so excited for that. So, guys, thank you so much for giving me this opportunity to be here. I say Maranatha and praise the Lord. Amen. The Lord is coming soon.

Part 4

Nathan Jones: While we didn’t have time on this program to show Vic covering the negative signs of society, we hope that the positive signs greatly encourage you.

Vic’s a very gifted encourager and I’ve been blessed over the past 12 years to co-host with him our ministry’s podcast called “The Truth Will Set You Free.” Each and every Wednesday you can tune in to us studying God’s Word from a prophetic point of view. Download our podcasts from Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, RSS feed, and our website at lamblion.com, and soon the Pray.com App.

Tim Moore: We held three question and answer sessions during our Storm Warning Conference. Let’s see how our watchmen answered my question, “What is the next major prophetic event?”

Part 5- Storm Warning Conference Q&A

Tim Moore: So, what do you guys think the next major prophetic event will be? And before I’ll ask that, where do you see, well, we’ll ask a negative and then a positive. What’s the next bad thing? I mean, if things continue as they are, how much worse off will it get? What’s the next trend line in our society?

Nathan Jones: Well, I’d say the positive was the Rapture of the church. That’s just that’s your Sunday school answer. Jesus. It’s the Rapture of the Church. That’s the positive one we’re looking for. I think the world is, I mean you just look at across all the debt that’s around the world, the real estate market about to collapse in China. The stock market about to, I mean, everywhere you look, the financial indicators saying we’re heading to another Great Depression of unbelievable scale. I think that’s probably the next. Now, do I think it’s going to happen with the Church here? I don’t. Terry James would say, well, no, because the Rapture might trigger that the worldwide panic and all, and that, of course, the Antichrist comes in, and he sets up the Beast system of finances. But either way, we’re in for a real rough times. I think financial sector is probably the next great sign we’ll see or the world will see.

Patrick Oliver: I would echo that, that there’s a coming economic earthquake. And following that or maybe even before that, we’re probably going to see programable digital currency where the federal government will track every dime you spend and where you spend it, and then maybe approve what you can buy and what you can’t buy.

Dr. Reagan: I have been teaching that for years, that the major collapse is going to be of the economy. And the reason is that our God is a jealous God, and the God of the United States of America is the almighty dollar and God is going to destroy the dollar.

Todd Hampson: I think we’re going to see more of a collision between globalism and believers, globalism and middle class. You know, not all and not global like they want to do it, but little pockets here and there, progressively worse and worse, any chance they get because it’s spread its tentacles all over the world.

David Bowen: And I think what’s taking, what is holy and sanctified and perverting it even more.

Tim Moore: I will tell you one my heart fears is just looking at the social trends. Who would have guessed if we had been at a conference ten years ago that there would be a rash of young people wanting to mutilate their bodies, to declare themselves to be another gender or no gender? And yet here we are today, where that is not only being tolerated, it’s being celebrated by many in our national leadership. Already, when I was serving in the legislature, there were some who were advocating for child autonomy. And what they really wanted was no parental oversight to where the government could impose. But just total liberty for children to have any decision they want. No, I can tell you, my kids didn’t want to eat their vegetables until a certain age. And so, we know how that goes. But I see a very demonic trend toward a rush toward childhood autonomy, which will make perversion rampant, even down to the younger generations.

David Bowen: Yes, it’s a perversion of creation.

Tim Moore: It certainly is. And here’s one of the sad things, and I’ll share this with you all. Just the other day, my wife was riding next to a man on an airplane, and he was talking about how his church is creating deacons and elders. And they came to find out that one of the men serving there isn’t really a man. And they didn’t know that. I have a feeling our churches, if the Lord tarries are going to be places where people are seeking answers for the deception that they’ve bought into during this current era.

Closing

Nathan Jones: We hope that this first episode in our series about the urgency of the Rapture has been a blessing to you and has helped you understand how vital it is that Christians get the hope-filled message of Jesus Christ’s soon return out to the world. Tune in next episode when our watchmen cover the end times signs related to technology and society.

Tim Moore: But, before we go, we want to invite you to our next Bible prophecy conference titled “The Convergence: What Is God Doing in World Politics?” We hope you’ll join us this fall. Godspeed!

Fall 2022 Conference Ad

Todd Hutchinson: Get the answers to today’s hard political questions from what the Bible prophesied so long ago. Join Lamb & Lion Ministries at the Convergence Bible Prophecy Conference this October 8th and 9th at Immanuel Bible Church in Three Springs, Pennsylvania. Lamb & Lion Ministries’ Evangelist Tim Moore and Nathan Jones are joined by Mondo Gonzales of Prophecy Watches, Al Gist and Pastor Steve Heaster. Seating is limited so register right now on our website at lamblion.com.

For those who cannot attend in person, watch via livestream over our Christ in Prophecy YouTube Channel.

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