Apocalyptic fires in Australia
Apocalyptic: describing or prophesying the total destruction of the world. The Book of Revelation is the Apocalyptic prophecy.
Apocalyptic and heartbreaking!!! Most Doves would have heard of the fires ravaging many and large parts of Australia. They have been referred to as apocalyptic, even by secular media. I live in Canberra and I thought I would provide a short letter about the fires. We do not have fires here in Canberra, but the smoke from surrounding fires has been so bad that Canberra's smoke pollution has recently been like a fog at times and the highest of all the major cities in the world!!
Unprecedented Fires
The bushfires in Australia started in winter and have been widespread - affecting all six States of Australia. Around 1500 to 1600 homes have been destroyed in recent months, life and holidays have been interrupted, some small communities have been devastated, people are being evacuated by navy ships and the impact on wildlife has been devastating. One of the worst days (if not the worst) was the very last day of 2019, especially in the South Coast of Australia near where we live in Canberra. Information on the Australian bushfires is available on the ABC website: www.abc.net.au
Weather records
The long and ongoing drought is the underlying cause of the fires. In 2019, Australia (across the nation) recorded its lowest ever rainfall and its hottest ever average maximum temperature. As I write (Saturday afternoon) Canberra has experienced it hottest ever day - 43.6 degrees (C), wither the previous high being 42.2.
Is this the prelude to Refreshing and the Day of the Lord
The unprecedented fires are clearly a strong, strong sign to the nation. While we look for the Rapture (on high alert!!!!), these fires may signal imminent revival and refreshing, and Australia is known (by Christians) as the Great Southland of the Holy Spirit. The doorway to this refreshing is Repentance!!! Australia has just passed its 119 th year as a nation. Sadly, our foundations as a Christian nation have fallen sharply in this time. Acts 3:19 to 21 (Amplified Classic) speaks of Refreshing!!
So repent (change your mind and purpose); turn around and return [to God], that your sins may be erased (blotted out, wiped clean), that times of refreshing (of recovering from the effects of heat, of reviving with fresh air) may come from the presence of the Lord;
20 And that He may send [to you] the Christ (the Messiah), Who before was designated and appointed for you—even Jesus, 21 Whom heaven must receive [and retain] until the time for the complete restoration of all that God spoke by the mouth of all His holy prophets for ages past [from the most ancient time in the memory of man].
We would appreciate your prayers for Australia and our (Christian) Prime Minister Scott Morrison, and other leaders as well as all those fighting the fires and those recovering from great loss.. At times it is easy to feel quite helpless but prayer and practical help from the community, including the Church, is of paramount importance. At first the death toll from the fires was small, but this is now rising. Australia also experienced loss of life through the White Island volcanic eruption in New Zealand.
I would like to finish this letter with two things. First, there was a recent tropical cyclone in Fiji. The name was Sarai - the old spelling of Sarah and heralding the coming of Isaac. The second are the lyrics of some verses from a famous Dorothy Mackellar poem, My Country, that highlights the devastation and hope that is Australia's nature. Maranatha! Behold I come quickly! Even so, Come Lord Jesus!!!!
Denis in hot Canberra!!
My Country
I love a sunburnt country,
A land of sweeping plains,
Of ragged mountain ranges,
Of droughts and flooding rains.
I love her far horizons,
I love her jewel-sea,
Her beauty and her terror -
The wide brown land for me!
Core of my heart, my country!
Her pitiless blue sky,
When sick at heart, around us,
We see the cattle die -
But then the grey clouds gather,
And we can bless again
The drumming of an army,
The steady, soaking rain.
Core of my heart, my country!
Land of the Rainbow Gold,
For flood and fire and famine,
She pays us back threefold -
Over the thirsty paddocks,
Watch, after many days,
The filmy veil of greenness
That thickens as we gaze.
An opal-hearted country,
A wilful, lavish land -
All you who have not loved her,
You will not understand -
Though earth holds many splendours,
Wherever I may die,
I know to what brown country
My homing thoughts will fly.