Soaring air pollution returns to Beijing: Beijing’s ‘air-pocalypse’
Beijing After Rain Beijing on a Normal Sunny Day
Beijing, China once again is affected by even worse air pollution than its normally bad levels:
Pollution in Beijing soared for a second weekend as smog started to cover most of the city from late yesterday, prompting the government to warn residents to reduce outdoor activities and urge companies to curb emissions.
The city’s meteorological bureau issued yellow alerts for fog and haze while children and the elderly were advised stay indoors as the air became “heavily polluted,” according to Beijing Municipal Environmental Monitoring Center classifications. Readings of PM2.5, fine airborne particulates that pose the largest health risks, rose as high as 400 micrograms per cubic meter in some parts of the city, compared with World Health Organization guidelines of no more than 25.
Bad air quality and pollution is prompting more Chinese to travel abroad for the weeklong Chinese Lunar New Year holiday which starts Feb. 9, state-run China National Radio said today. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-01-19/pollution-in-beijing-soars-for-second-weekend-as-smog-returns.html
The ghost-like appearance of Beijing and many other Chinese cities as they became shrouded in a toxic smog with particulate levels 25 times higher than safe limits last week was a scary reminder of the fate awaiting countries that fail to take their air quality seriously. A fate that was graphically illustrated by a recent Beijing university study which estimated that the number of people dying prematurely as a result of air pollution in four of China’s major cities was close to three times the number killed in traffic accidents.While weather patterns may have played a part, much of the blame for the chronic air pollution must lie with unregulated industrial development and rapid urbanisation which has spawned an excess of motor vehicles, the proliferation of coal-fired power plants and a consequent increase in the number of people seeking medical treatment for bronchitis, asthma and other respiratory ailments. http://www.bangkokpost.com/opinion/opinion/331558/when-the-air-turns-toxic
CNN is calling the problem Beijing’s “air-pocalypse”:
Living with Beijing’s ‘air-pocalypse’…
Air pollution is a major problem in China because of the country’s rapid pace of industrialization, reliance on coal power, explosive growth in car ownership and the sometimes disregard for environmental laws…
In 2007, China overtook the United States as the world’s biggest emitter of greenhouse gases, according to China’s Ministry of Commerce. It is also the No. 1 source of carbon emission worldwide, state-run China Daily reported recently.
Added to this, the World Bank says 20 of the 30 most polluted cities in the world are in China.
Health is the big casualty.
Almost 400,000 premature deaths are recorded in China each year, with the majority related to pollution, according to the World Bank’s “Cost of Pollution in China,” a report based on official Chinese figures. http://www.cnn.com/2013/01/19/world/asia/china-florcruz-pollution/
Perhaps it should be added that pollution seems to be a factor in causing autism (see Air Pollution More Than Doubles Autism Risk), and so the horrific levels of air pollution in Beijing may have a lot of other negative consequences that will show up later. China also has massive problems with water and other forms of pollution (see Record air pollution in Beijing: Jesus ultimately will fix these types of problems).
Because of pollution, economic policies, other problems, its serious potential for significant social unrest, and how it is discussed in biblical prophecy, these factors demonstrate that despite its economic gains, the 21st century will not belong to China. China will not become number 1, but later in this century, neither will the USA.
The following passage which involves the second coming of Jesus, and comes from the book also known as the Apocalypse, ends with an interesting statement:
8 The nations were angry, and Your wrath has come,
And the time of the dead, that they should be judged,
And that You should reward Your servants the prophets and the saints,
And those who fear Your name, small and great,
And should destroy those who destroy the earth. (Revelation 11:18)
Are not massive air, water, and other pollution problems part of how humankind is destroying the earth? In a sense, pollution will be a factor in the Apocalypse as the above passage shows.
Jesus will need to return to save humanity from destroying itself (Matthew 24:22).
But when?
We in the Continuing Church of God believe that God gave humans 6,000 years to live their own way (please see the article Did The Early Church Teach Millenarianism and a 6000 Year Plan?). And that humans will mess things up so bad, “unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved” (Matthew 24:22). And that 6.000 years is close to being up–and probably will be in the next decade or so.
But because God has a plan for the forgiveness of sins (Acts 13:38) and a God of love (1 John 4:8,16; John 3:16), that He will intervene and send Jesus to establish a millennial kingdom on earth (Revelation 11:15; 20:4). During this 1000 year reign the world will become beautiful again (Isaiah 35:1-10; 58:12) (see also Did The Early Church Teach Millenarianism?).
After this thousand year reign, all who ever lived will be resurrected (Revelation 20:5). The judgment will begin (Revelation 20:12) and God will plead His case (Isaiah 3:13; Jeremiah 25:31). When humans see how they started out with a very good and beautiful earth and messed up and nearly completely destroyed it in their 6,000 years, it appears that they will realize that humankind that distanced itself from the true God cannot properly govern itself. However, when they see how when starting with a messed up and nearly completely destroyed earth at the end of the 6,000 years (please see the article Does God Have a 6,000 Year Plan? What Year Does the 6,000 Years End?), that it was restored to being very good again, like Eden (Isaiah 51:3), because people obeyed the King of Kings during the millennium (please see Did The Early Church Teach Millenarianism?), then apparently nearly all who ever lived will repent of their ways, accept Jesus as the Christ, and will live God’s way of life.
Since God is love (1 John 4:16), we in the Continuing Church of God believe that He has a plan that takes into account how human beings would have rebelled against Him (cf. 1 Peter 1:20-21). We also believe that God is smart enough to have developed a plan that does not result in the vast majority of humanity having to suffer endless torment. Thus we believe it is logical that His plan will result in nearly everyone who ever lived, no matter what their religion or background was, to be saved. And that there are hundreds of verses in the Bible that show this—and this is God’s will (2 Peter 3:9; John 3:16-17). This plan is also consistent with writings about Christianity throughout history—though most in modern times seem to wish to overlook that fact. And a little known fact is that there are hundreds of verses in the Bible that show this (documentation is in the article Universal Offer of Salvation: There Are Hundreds of Verses in the Bible Supporting the Doctrine of True Apocatastasis).
And this will be good news, not only for the Chinese, but for all of humanity.
Some articles of interest may include the following:
China, Its Biblical Past and Future, Part 1: Genesis and Chinese Characters Where did the Chinese people come from? This article provides information showing that the Chinese peoples must have known about various accounts in the Book of Genesis up until their dispersion after the Tower of Babel.
China, Its Biblical Past and Future, Part 2: The Sabbath and Some of God’s Witness in China When did Christianity first come to China? And is there early evidence that they observed the seventh day sabbath?
Asia in Prophecy What is Ahead for Asia? Who are the “Kings of the East”? What will happen to nearly all the Chinese, Russians, Indians, and others of Asia? China in prophecy, where? Who has the 200,000,000 man army related to Armageddon?
Did The Early Church Teach Millenarianism? Was the millennium (sometimes called chiliasm) taught by early Christians? Who condemned it? Will Jesus literally reign for 1000 years on the earth? Is this time near?
Does God Have a 6,000 Year Plan? What Year Does the 6,000 Years End? Was a 6000 year time allowed for humans to rule followed by a literal thousand year reign of Christ on Earth taught by the early Christians? Does God have 7,000 year plan? What year may the six thousand years of human rule end? When will Jesus return? 2019 or 202x?
What is the Gospel? True religion should be based upon the true gospel. What are some of the different gospels and where did they come from? Do you believe the true or a false gospel?
The Gospel of the Kingdom of God was the Emphasis of Jesus and the Early Church Did you know that? Do you even know what the gospel of the kingdom is all about?
Just What Do You Mean the Kingdom of God? A booklet that was written by Herbert Armstrong answers questions about the Kingdom.
Universal Offer of Salvation: There Are Hundreds of Verses in the Bible Supporting the Doctrine of True Apocatastasis Do you believe what the Bible actually teaches on this? Will all good things be restored? Will God call everyone? Will everyone have an opportunity for salvation? Does God’s plan of salvation take rebellion and spiritual blindness into account?
Continuing Church of God The group striving to be most faithful amongst all real Christian groups to the word of God.
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