Something is Going on in 2017

I have previously written articles like Something is Going on in 2012 and Something is Going on in 2013, which cover major signs of the times that were happening around the world during those two years. If you haven't seen the videos in those two articles, I highly recommend you do so. But what you are about to see is a current video montage from the Signs of the Times (SOTT) channel that will probably amaze you. It primarily shows events that have been happening throughout the world during September 2017, and it proves there has clearly been an acceleration of the signs. Both the magnitude and the frequency seem to have increased, so that what has happened just during the last month seems comparable to what previously would have happened over the course of an entire year!

In my recent articles called The Contractions Are Coming Closer Together and The Vegas Massacre Marks a New Chapter for America, I wrote only about the devastating tragedies that had happened here in the US during the period from August 30th to October 1st, and how they were a sign indicating that we are now closer than ever to Christ's return. Yet those events, such as Hurricane Harvey, Hurricane Irma, Hurricane Maria, and the Vegas Massacre were events on US soil only. However, in the following video, SOTT shows footage from around the world of events like these:

• At least 74 wildfires raged in 8 Western US states, over a million acres were burnt. These were the deadliest wildfires in history. There were 31 dead and hundreds missing. In the Napa and Sonoma areas around 3,500 homes and businesses were destroyed. 
• Wild fire on Gran Canaria burnt over 2,000 hectares.
• Structures destroyed as nearly 100 bushfires burn across New South Wales Australia.
• Australia shivers through record coldest start to September.
• Strange sounds heard in Illinois sky.
• Mysterious "trumpet" sound heard in Iranian sky. This phenomenon has been occurring since 2012 as I have written in Trumpet Sounds Heard Around the World.
• Hurricane Irma becomes most powerful hurricane ever in the Atlantic, wreaks havoc in Florida and the Caribbean. 
• Hurricane Maria reaches category 5, hits Dominica and Puerto Rico, causes island-wide power outages, as well as massive damage in Barbuda..
• Hurricane Max hits Mexico.
• Magnitude 8.1 earthquake in Mexico, strongest in a century kills 61.
• Magnitude 7.1 earthquake in Mexico kills 369, destroys 380 buildings, damages thousands of others.
• Damage caused by baseball-sized hail in North Carolina.
• Golf ball-sized hail hits Split, Croatia.
• Intense hail storm leave 50 centimeters of accumulation in Teruel, Spain.
• Severe hail storm hits Hoedspruit, South Africa.
• Two moons seen on giant asteroid as it passed between earth and our moon.
• Huge landslide in India.
• Severe downburst hits Santa Barbara, California.
• Microburst hits Mendota, California.
• 800 lightning bolts strike San Francisco, California in one day.
• Rare "ball lightning" in New York.
• Sinkholes opening up under homes and on highways around the world.
• Fireballs lighting up skies over USA, Canada, Russia, Spain, Mauritius, Reunion Island, Netherlands, etc.
• African floods kill 25 times more people than Hurricane Harvey.
• Sun releases strongest solar flare in a decade.
• Water spouts pop up all over Lake Erie, Michigan.
• Water spouts appear on Oregon's coast.
• Earth flowing like lava through a Tibetan valley.
• Huge swarm of locusts devastate a large swath of farmland in southern Russia.
• Hundreds evacuated as Trift Glacier collapses in Switzerland.
• Flash flooding in Karachi, Pakistan.
• 15 inches of rain in 4 hours triggers killer floods in Livorno, Italy.
• Severe flood hits Zadar, Croatia after 11 inches of rain in 24 hours.
• Tropical storm Maring floods metro area of Manila, Philippines. 
• Huge floods hit Malaysia.
• Severe flash flooding in Laos as dam under construction bursts.
• Floods and sinkholes in Queretaro, Mexico after heavy rain.
• Severe rain and flooding inundates Rize, Turkey
• Landslide destroys freeway in Pueblo, Mexico.
• Storm kills 3 people in Germany with hurricane-force winds.
• Typhoon kills 4 in Vietnam, over 100,000 homes damaged.
• Typhoon Talim causes flooding and landslides in Japan.
• Intense wind suddenly hits Romania, 5 killed, dozens injured.
• Enormous turtle found on Spanish beach.
• Dead whale found on beach in Nakhodka, Russia, and the next day a dead whale found on Oslo Beach in South Africa.
• Indonesia's Mount Sinabung spews massive plumes of ash 2.5 km into air.
• Mexico's Popocatépetl volcano erupts, sending a cloud of vapor and ash 1.2 miles into the air.

While I have not listed these in chronological order, the video does show them in the order they actually happened, and provides dates for each one, which further adds to the significance of them when you see how closely to each other they all happened. Amazingly, all of these things happened during essentially the same period when the US was experiencing three major hurricanes, the tragic Vegas shooting, and the California wildfires. While these tragedies were probably enough to shake and overwhelm most Americans, they were only the tip of the iceberg in relation to all the other terrifying events happening across the world during the same time frame.

"I will show wonders in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and billows of smoke. The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord." (Joel 2:30-31, NIV)

Putting it All Together
The signs you have seen in this video during the month of September are wonders in the heavens and on the earth. They are blood and fire and billows of smoke. If you can't understand from these signs that we stand on the brink of the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord, then I don't know what it will take for you to understand. It's obvious that the Lord Jesus Christ is coming back very, very soon.

Meanwhile, the Church is astray doing things that God has commanded us not to do, and neglecting the things God has commanded us to do. The world has been allowed into the Church. The people of God have become comfortable in sin. God is not happy. Jesus is not happy. The Lord is angry, and He is letting the world know.

The message is still the same. Repent for the kingdom of heaven is near. Jesus is coming back for His Bride, but He is coming only for the holy ones -- those who are without spot or wrinkle. He is not coming for those who are lukewarm or for those who have cast His Word behind their back. He is coming for those who keep God’s commands, hold fast their testimony about Jesus, and remain faithful to Him. Are you ready? Will you be found faithful? When the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?

Attribution notice: Scriptures from NIV where noted. Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Author's note: You must take responsibility for your own actions. Nobody knows the day or the hour, and in no way am I date setting. This is only to provide you with information, so that you can make your own decisions, for which you will be accountable to God.

I also encourage you to read The Contractions Are Coming Closer Together, The Vegas Massacre Marks a New Chapter, Cosmic Rays Are Intensifying, Urgent End Time Warning from the Lord, The Coming Wrath of God, Prophetic End Time Warnings from Little Children, America's Doom Punctuated by a Boom, The 311 Moment, Trumpet Sounds Heard Around the World, Something is Going on in 2012, Something is Going on in 2013, Repent and Flee the Coming Wrath, Grieve and Lament for the Church, Repentance That Leads to Life, God Gives Little Girl Revelation of Christ's Return, Rapture Revelation Given to Sister Claire Andoun, Rapture Revelation to Angelica Zambrano, Rapture Revelation to James Agboola, Rapture Revelation to Angelica Zambrano, Sequence of Signs Preceding the Coming of Christ, Peace, Safety, and the Thief in the Night, and The Timing of the Rapture, as well as The Messiah Is Coming.  You may also visit our Signs of the Times Directory, and access my complete blog directory at Writing for the Master.

Do You Want to Know Him?
If you want to know Jesus personally, you can. It all begins when you repent and believe in Jesus.  Do you know what God's Word, the Bible says?

“Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God, and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.’” (Mar 1:14b-15).  He preached that we must repent and believe.

Please see my explanation of this in my post called "Do You Want to Know Jesus?"

_________________________________________________

Len Lacroix is the founder of Doulos Missions International.  He was based in Eastern Europe for four years, making disciples, as well as helping leaders to be more effective at making disciples who multiply, developing leaders who multiply, with the ultimate goal of planting churches that multiply. His ministry is now based in the United States with the same goal of helping fulfill the Great Commission. www.dmiworld.org.

The Amazing Sign of Jonah

"I can't believe in God unless I see some kind of sign that He exists." I've heard people say things similar to this before. Maybe you have heard this from someone you love or even said it yourself. This is what the religious people wanted to see from Jesus -- some sort of sign to prove his divinity.

Jesus said, "An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign; and a sign will not be given it, except the sign of Jonah." And He left them and went away. (Mat 16:4) Also see Luke 11:29, 30.

In fact, Jesus compared himself to Jonah, and said that the sign of the prophet Jonah would be given to this adulterous generation. This study examines that sign, comparing and contrasting the experiences of Jonah and Jesus on the sea. I'll put these comparisons side by side, so you can see them one by one, first about Jesus, and then about Jonah. (All references to the book of Jonah will be abbreviated Jon)

Jesus	Jonah
Son of God gave the order to go across the lake to the other side (Mat 8:18)	God told Jonah to go to Nineveh (Jon 1:2)
Jesus got into the boat to cross over and the disciples followed him (Mat 8:23)	Jonah got into a boat and fled from the Lord’s presence. He disobeyed God, heading away from Nineveh (Jon 1:3)
Without warning, a furious storm came up on the sea. (Mat 8:24)	There was a great storm on the sea (Jon 1:5)
The waves swept over the boat (Mat 8:23)	The ship was about to break up (Jon 1:4)
Jesus was sleeping in the boat (Mat 8:24)	Jonah was sleeping in the boat (Jon 1:5)
The disciples in the boat cried out in fear for their lives to the Son of God (Mat 8:25)	The sailors in the boat became afraid and every man cried to his god (Jon 1:5, 10)
The disciples went and woke Jesus (Mat 8:25)	The captain approached Jonah and woke him (Jon 1:6)
The disciples expected the Son of God to save them from the storm (Mat 8:25)	The captain expected the God of Jonah to save him and his crew from the storm. The sailors called on the Lord to save them. (Jon 1:6, 14)
Jesus is the Lord God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land (John 1:1-3)	Jonah feared the Lord God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land (Jon 1:9)
Jesus rebuked the wind and the waves of the sea (Mat 8:26)	Jonah was thrown into the sea (Jon 1:15)
The sea became perfectly calm	The sea stopped its raging (Jon 1:15)
The key to the sea becoming calm again was Jesus being in the boat	The key to the sea becoming calm again was getting Jonah out of the boat (Jon 1:11, 12)
The disciples were amazed at the power and authority of the Son of God. They took note that the winds and waves obeyed Him. (Mat 8:27)	The sailors feared the Lord greatly after the sea became calm, and they offered sacrifices to Him and made vows (Jon 1:16)
A fish has represented Jesus for centuries, because of the Greek Ikhthus (ΙΧΘΥΣ) acronym (Jesus Christ, Son of God, Savior) that means fish. The Lord ordained that Jesus would be crucified and die on a cross. (Mat 20:18,19 and Luk 9:22)	The LORD appointed a great fish to swallow Jonah (Jon 1:17 and Is 53:10)
Jesus died to save us from God's wrath. Yet, unlike Jonah, He never sinned, and the wrath was on account of our own sins. (Rom 5:91 and Thes 1:10)	When Jonah asked them to throw him into the sea, he was willing to die to save them from the wrath of God. (Jon 1:12) Jonah seems to have died of drowning before the sea creature swallowed him (Jon 2:5-7).
Jesus was in the heart of the earth for three days and three nights. (Mat 12:39, 40)	Jonah's body was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights. (Jon 1:17)
Jesus went down to the dead. In 180 AD, Irenaeus of Lyons wrote, “…the Lord went away into the midst of the shadow of death where the souls of the dead were…” In 350 AD, Cyril of Jerusalem wrote, "(Christ) descended into the subterranean regions so that He might ransom from there the just...” (1 Pet 3:19 and Ac 10:40)	When Jonah died, he cried to the Lord from Sheol (the subterranean world of the dead). (Jon 2:2)
Many people repented at the preaching of Jesus (Mat 12:41)	The men of Nineveh repented at the preaching of Jonah (Jon 3:1-10)
After three days in the heart of the earth, Jesus rose from the dead. (Luke 24 and John 20, and 1 Cor 15:3-5)	After three days in the belly of the sea monster, the LORD commanded the fish, and it vomited Jonah up onto the dry land. He was raised back to life again by the Lord. (Jon 2:6, 10)

My friend, you've got your sign.  Jesus, One Who is greater than Jonah, has come and walked among us (Mat 12:41, Luke 11:32).  He Himself is a sign, as Simeon said of Him to Mary, His mother, "This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against..." (Lk 2:34).

After Jesus rose from the dead, he manifested himself (appeared) to the disciples by the sea where they were fishing. There he was by the seaside, cooking a piece of fish on the charcoal fire. He gave them some of the fish and they ate breakfast together. John 21:9

"The men of Nineveh will stand up with this generation at the judgment and condemn it, because they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and behold, something greater than Jonah is here. (Luk 11:32)

The IKTHUS Fish
The Greek word for fish, ikhthus (ichthys in borrowed words), spelled, in Greek characters, Iota-Chi-Theta-Upsilon-Sigma (ΙΧΘΥΣ looks like IXOYE in Roman alphabet characters) is regarded as an acronym for Ιησως Χριστος Θεου `Υιος Σωτερ (or, in Roman alphabet characters, Iesou (Jesus) Christos (anointed) Theou (of God) Uios (son) Soter (saviour)), which means Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Saviour.

According to "Knowledge Rush" encyclopedia, "One of the signs for Christianity is the fish. The reason for this dates from some early societies of Christians who protected themselves and their congregations by keeping their meetings secret. In order to point the way to ever-changing meeting places, they developed a symbol which adherents would readily recognize, and which they could scratch on rocks, walls and the like, in advance of a meeting. The fish was chosen as eminently apropos." 

What's Your Response to the Sign
When you are driving your car and see a road sign warning that there's danger ahead, you heed the road signs, because you know you could die if we don’t respond properly to the sign.

Jesus has given us in Himself the sign of Jonah. What should our response be at this sign?

First, we should repent with the same wholehearted fervor as the men of Nineveh.  If we do turn from our wicked way, then God will relent concerning the calamity that He had declared He would send on us and we will not perish. If we don’t repent, the men of Nineveh will stand up at the judgment and condemn us.

Second, we should believe that God raised Jesus from the dead and receive forgiveness for our sins. Remember that Jesus said the sign he would show was that he would be in the belly of the earth for only three days and three nights, as Jonah was temporarily in the belly of the great fish. Just as it was a miracle that Jonah made it out of the fish alive, it was a miracle that Jesus came back out of the grave. This is the most remarkable aspect of the sign Jesus gave to the world.

The apostle Paul wrote: “If you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; (Rom 10:9). This means that there are two very important things you must do to be saved. The first is to confess with your mouth that Jesus Christ is Lord. That means you say out loud that He is Lord over your life personally and Lord of the Universe. And the second thing you need to do is to believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead.

This takes us back to the sign Jesus gave us. He is no longer in the grave. After three days, He rose again. What will be your response to this sign? Let me encourage you today to repent of your own sin and believe on Jesus Christ. Confess that He is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead. And as the Scriptures say, “You will be saved.”

Will you repent of your sins, and put your trust in Jesus today to save you?

Attribution notice: Most Scripture quotations taken from the NASB.

Author's note: I recommend my other posts called, "Jesus Christ Descended Into Hell," "Trumpet Sounds Heard Around the World," "Something's Going on in 2012" You may also visit our Signs of the Times Directory, and access my complete blog directory at Writing for the Master.

Do You Want to Know Him?
If you want to know Jesus personally, you can. It all begins when you repent and believe in Jesus.  Do you know what God's Word, the Bible says?

“Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God, and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.’” (Mar 1:14b-15).  He preached that we must repent and believe.

Please see my explanation of this in my post called "Do You Want to Know Jesus?"

_________________________________________________

Len Lacroix is the founder of Doulos Missions International.  He was based in Eastern Europe for four years, making disciples, as well as helping leaders to be more effective at making disciples who multiply, developing leaders who multiply, with the ultimate goal of planting churches that multiply. His ministry is now based in the United States with the same goal of helping fulfill the Great Commission. www.dmiworld.org.