Scorched Earth

Dr. Michael L. Ford

24 April 2008

 

¶ And the fourth angel poured out his vial upon the sun; and power was given unto him to scorch men with fire. And men were scorched with great heat, and blasphemed the Name of God, which hath power over these plagues: and they repented not to give him glory.          Revelation 16:8-9

            Among those who study Eschatology, Last Things or what some incorrectly describe as End Time Prophecy, I am not alone in the suspicion the plagues poured out upon the earth directly have to do with the sins of men. There is a legitimate biblical basis for this idea to likely be correct. That is revealed in the Ten Plagues with which God afflicted and judged Egypt. These plagues had to do with the gods of Egypt, and the false beliefs of the Egyptians. For Tribulation to come upon the earth, and the events men suffer to have any meaning, something of the same sort must happen when judgment comes.

            Just as the Ten Plagues was a judgment of Egypt, the time called Tribulation is described in Scripture as a judgment. It is a seven-year period known as Tribulation, with the last three and a half years being Great Tribulation, also known as “the time of Jacob’s trouble.” In the first half the focus is on the affliction of the whole world, and in the second half the Jewish people are persecuted by the Man of Sin also known as Antichrist. The judgments that are poured out upon the earth afflict mankind.

            If I am correct in my idea, we would need to look for a cause to fit the judgment. One of the causes that might fit men being scorched with fire, (kaumatizō - being a torturing with intense heat) could be the men attempting to manipulate or control their environment. Men have been doing this for years. Reports coming out of China right now indicate the Chinese are working toward controlling their weather for the coming Olympic games. And a couple of decades back, some of the scientists who were claiming we were going through Global Cooling wanted to attempt to warm the earth up. Now some of those same scientists claim we are in Global Warming and again wanting to attempt to manipulate the weather. What if they were allowed to do so and it backfired?

            Jonsquill Ministries

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