Help us with the coming challenges by donating to the Hurricane Relief Fund!

Search for survivors in Texas as storm Harvey heads north

By Kami Klein

John 14:27 (MEV) 27 Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.

The challenges upon all of us right now are very real. Unprecedented events are bringing hunger, thirst, survival, right to center stage. As hurricanes batter our shores, earthquakes rumble across Mexico, and fires burn out of control in our western states, we must remember Christ’s call for us to love one another. As a part of the family of God, we must take action. That is why we have created the Hurricane Relief Fund, and that is why Pastor Jim and Lori Bakker, along with a team from Morningside, went to Texas to serve the people. What they saw were people in great need. And now with Hurricane Irma, there will be many, many more whose lives will be in complete upheaval.

James 2:15-17 (MEV) If a brother or sister is naked and lacking daily food, 16 and one of you says to them, “Depart in peace, be warmed and filled,” and yet you give them nothing that the body needs, what does it profit? 17 So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead.

Many are now fleeing Irma, the second catastrophic hurricane to hit the U.S. in less than a month. Thousands more will be suffering in the coming days. Despair and fear are bound to follow. The time is now to be prepared to help them! We need your help!!! Please donate so that we can help our churches in devastated areas provide food, safe drinking water, and shelter and to help these people rebuild their lives!

For those that are now going through these tragic and terrifying times let our actions bring a reminder that in the midst of all of the these things, God is with them!

Joshua 1:9 (MEV) Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”

YOU are the hands and feet of Christ! Please donate today!

Hurricane Irma threatens power losses for millions in Florida

Hurricane Irma threatens power losses for millions in Florida

By Scott DiSavino

(Reuters) – Hurricane Irma poses a bigger menace to power supplies in Florida than Hurricane Harvey did in Texas because Irma is packing near 200 mile-per-hour winds (320 km/h) that could down power lines, close nuclear plants and threats to leave millions of homes and businesses in the dark for weeks.

Irma’s winds rival the strongest for any hurricane in history in the Atlantic, whereas Harvey’s damage came from record rainfall. Even as Houston flooded, the power stayed on for most, allowing citizens to use TV and radio to stay apprised of danger, or social media to call for help.

“When Harvey made landfall in Texas it made it fully inland and weakened pretty quickly. Irma, however, could retain much of its strength,” said Jason Setree, a meteorologist at Commodity Weather Group.

Irma has killed several people and devastated islands in the Caribbean.

Current forecasts put almost the entirety of the Florida peninsula in the path of the storm, which made landfall in the Caribbean with wind speeds of 185 mph (295 km/h).

The threat of the Category 5 storm, at the top of the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale, is grave enough that electricity generator Florida Power & Light (FPL) plans to shut its two nuclear power plants in the state, and officials warned that it may have to rebuild parts of its power system, which could take weeks.

Most Florida residents have not experienced a major storm since 2005, when total outages peaked around 3.6 million during Hurricane Wilma. Some of those outages lasted for weeks.

Setree compared the projected path of Irma to Hurricane Matthew in 2016, which knocked out power to about 1.2 million FPL customers in October.

FPL, a unit of Florida energy company NextEra Energy Inc, restored service to most customers affected by Matthew in just two days. But FPL spokesman Chris McGrath said: “With a storm as powerful as Irma, we want customers to prepare for damage to our infrastructure and potentially prolonged power outages.”

He said it was too soon to speculate on the number and location of customers Irma could affect.

In a statement this week, FPL estimated about half of its near five million customers – particularly in the trio of populous southeast counties Miami-Dade, Palm Beach and Broward – had not experienced a major hurricane since 2005.

“Should Irma’s worst fears be realized, our crews will likely have to completely rebuild parts of our electric system. Restoring power through repairs is measured in days; rebuilding our electric system could be measured in weeks,” FPL Chief Executive Eric Silagy said.

FPL, Florida’s biggest power provider, said it had invested nearly $3 billion since 2006 to strengthen its grid, including placing 60 main power lines underground and installing nearly five million smart meters and other devices.

Other publicly traded utilities in the Sunshine State, including units of Duke Energy Corp, Southern Co and Emera Inc, said in statements that they had also invested in intelligent, self-healing devices.

Smart meters allow utilities to see outages as they occur, rather than waiting on customer calls, and utilities also use automated devices that can reenergize lines without damage that were taken offline because of contact with trees or other objects, said Jay Apt, director of the Carnegie Mellon Electricity Industry Center in Pittsburgh.

Olivia Ross, a spokeswoman for CenterPoint Energy, which serves the greater Houston area, said these devices helped the utility keep the lights on for more people in the aftermath of Harvey as some issues were resolved remotely.

But such devices can only do so much. Harvey’s outages were limited to 312,000 customers, of which CenterPoint was responsible for about 109,000, as it quickly lost force after landfall and turned into a tropical storm. By contrast, Ross noted, Hurricane Ike in 2008 caused 2.1 million of CenterPoint’s customers to lose power when it hit the Texas coast near Houston.

(Reporting by Scott DiSavino; Editing by Richard Chang)

U.S. gasoline prices rise, refineries shut as Texas braces for hurricane

Tropical Storm Harvey is seen approaching the Texas Gulf Coast,. NOAA/via Reuters

By Jim Forsyth

SAN ANTONIO (Reuters) – U.S. gasoline prices surged to a three-week high on Thursday as Hurricane Harvey moved across the Gulf of Mexico and threatened to slam oil refineries in Texas when it comes ashore this weekend.

The U.S. National Hurricane Center (NHC) upgraded Harvey to a hurricane from a tropical storm on Thursday afternoon, and said it would strengthen into a Category 3 hurricane before hitting the Texas coast late on Friday or early on Saturday.

The storm is now expected hit the central Texas coast with a combination of winds of 115 miles (185 km) per hour and heavy rains, said John Tharp, a forecaster with Weather Decision Technologies in Norman, Oklahoma.

“With this system’s intensity and slow motion, it is the worst of both worlds,” he said referring to the expected winds and rains. “There will be major impacts along the coast and inland with periods of prolonged rain.”

Harvey will cause a storm surge that will flood parts of the Texas coast as it makes landfall and linger for days over the state, dumping up to 30 inches (76.2 cm) of rain on some areas, the NHC said in an advisory on Thursday.

The mayor of Texas coastal city Corpus Christi warned on Wednesday that flooding was his biggest concern.

“I hope people will listen to forecasters when they say ‘beware of flash floods,'” Joe McComb said. “Flash floods can come quickly, and they can be deadly.”

The city, a major oil refining center, has not issued any evacuation orders, he told reporters at a news conference, but its emergency operations center has been activated.

Harvey has already disrupted U.S. oil supplies.

Energy companies including Royal Dutch Shell <RDSa.L>, Anadarko Petroleum <APC.N> and Exxon Mobil <XOM.N> have evacuated staff from offshore oil and gas platforms in the storm’s path.

Two oil refineries Corpus Christi were shutting down ahead of the storm, and concern that Harvey could cause shortages in fuel supply drove benchmark gasoline prices <RBc1> to a three-week high.

Prices for gasoline in spot physical markets on the Gulf Coast rose even more, hitting a one-year high.

Profit margins for refineries producing gasoline rose by over 12 percent on Thursday, putting margins on course for their biggest daily percentage gain in six months, according to Reuters data.

The two refineries that have shut have combined capacity to refine more than 450,000 barrels per day of crude.

The NHC expects the storm to come ashore along the central Texas coast, an area that includes Corpus Christi and Houston, home to some of the biggest refineries in the country.

More than 45 percent of the country’s refining capacity is along the U.S. Gulf Coast, and nearly a fifth of the nation’s crude oil is produced offshore in the region.

The storm could also bring flooding to inland shale oil fields in Texas that pump millions of barrels per day of crude.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott declared a state of disaster on Wednesday for 30 counties, authorizing the use of state resources to prepare for the storm.

Coastal cities and counties distributed sandbags to residents as some businesses boarded up windows, and residents flocked to grocery stores to stock up on supplies, local media reported.

Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi issued a mandatory evacuation to all students who live on campus and canceled events.

 

(Additional reporting by Jarrett Renshaw and Devika Krishna Kumar in NEW YORK, Erwin Seba and Ernest Scheyder in HOUSTON, Brendan O’Brien in Milwaukee; Writing by Simon Webb; Editing by Meredith Mazzilli)

 

Batten Down the Hatches!

Luke 21:36 NCV “ So be ready all the time. Pray that you will be strong enough to escape all these things that will happen and that you will be able to stand before the Son of Man.”

It’s only the start of the New Year and world events seem to be spinning more out of control.

A slumping stock market. More earthquakes in Oklahoma. Terrorist attacks across the globe. Continue reading

Pastor John Shorey Preaches His Heart

On Monday evening, as millions in the Jewish faith celebrate Rosh Hashanah, and the end of the 7th Shemitah year, Pastor John Shorey was delivering his own message of what he felt was coming in our near future according to scripture. Shorey, our prophet from the desert, spoke to the audience at Morningside’s 2015 Prophetic Conference stressing the importance of seeking the truth of the Bible and of the events that are converging at this time in history.

“As you listen to my words tonight, please hear my heart!” he began.

“I am ‘all in’ that something big is gonna happen. I don’t know anything for sure but I believe in the next four months we are going to see some really amazing things happening all over! I have been accused of being a doom and gloom preacher. But really I am not. I am preaching the blessed hope! The blessed hope is that Jesus is coming! But we are going to have to go through some messy stuff before he arrives!”

Pastor Shorey reminded us that Christians have a big hesitancy to let go of what we have in this life. We will behave like Lot’s wife and look back instead of looking forward and up towards God. He stressed how important it is for our churches to begin studying and looking for the truth that is found in His Word.

He admitted that because of the preaching of the pre-tribulation message, when things get really bad, those that believed they would be taken away by rapture will be disappointed by the timing. This disappointment will cause a great falling away in the church. Pastor Shorey wants to see leaders in the church truly teaching their sheep and preparing them; ready and willing to protect them as God has called them to do.

“The Bible says we are pilgrims passing through and our home is in heaven. We have a job to do around here. We’ve got to get focused on what we are here for. In order to get to heaven we have got to have Jesus on our side!”

John Shorey has inspired thousands with his book, “The Window of the Lord’s Return.” His now updated version also includes a detailed and helpful list on what you need to be prepared spiritually as well as physically.

Ex-Head of Communications for British Treasury Says “Stock Up On Bottled Water”

A former head of communications for the British treasury is telling the public they need to prepare to spend “a month indoors” because of public unrest that will come from a looming economic collapse.

Damian McBride, who served under Prime Minister Gordon Brown, wrote on Twitter after today’s giant Chinese stock market crash:

“Advice on the looming crash, No.1: get hard cash in a safe place now; don’t assume banks & cashpoints will be open, or bank cards will work”

“Crash advice No.2: do you have enough bottled water, tinned goods & other essentials at home to live a month indoors? If not, get shopping.”

“Crash advice No.3: agree a rally point with your loved ones in case transport and communication gets cut off; somewhere you can all head to.”

McBride added that today was the stock market catching up with the terror over defaults that’s been impacting the bond market for the last few months.

McBride’s comments come as the world reels from the Chinese stock market crash and the UK’s FTSE 100 losing 60 billion British pounds in only a few hours, causing the largest one day fall of the market since 2008.  Over the last two weeks the market has lost over 160 billion British pounds.

WND: Harbinger Man: ‘The time is now to prepare’

Author and Bible teacher Jonathan Cahn says he has been so swamped with questions and concerns about the looming end of the Shemitah year on Sept. 13 that he can’t answer them all.

“We have been deluged with people calling, emailing, asking questions from all over the country, wanting to know what’s happening. So we decided to put out a video,” Cahn told WND via email.

In the message, posted to YouTube, Cahn calls for a period of national prayer and repentance leading up to the pivotal month of September.

He also issued a new warning about a “desecration” that often precedes judgment and is already present in American society. He calls for Christians to prepare for persecution and get ready to stand for God in a coming period of strife that will increasingly be devoid of “gray areas” or middle ground.

Continue reading at WND – Harbinger Man: ‘The time is now to prepare’

Be Prepared Wherever You Go – What to Keep In Your Car

Proverbs 22:3 (NCV) The wise see danger ahead and avoid it, but fools keep going and get into trouble.

For the next couple of weeks, both Jim and I have decided to focus; really focus on being prepared for emergency situations. As you probably already know, I am someone that likes to be prepared for anything.  My family has teased me about it for years but guess who they come to when we are traveling and they need something that only I anticipated to pack?  For me, the security in knowing that my family is prepared for the unexpected is worth a little extra thought and just a little time.    Continue reading