Scientists warned that continued burning of fossil fuels will lead to more hurricanes like Helene, with “unimaginable” floods well inland, not just on coasts. Many of those who died in Helene fell victim to massive inland flooding, rather than high winds

The oceans are warming at an alarming rate. 2023 shattered records across the world's oceans, and was the first time that ocean temperatures exceeded 1°C over pre-industrial levels. This led to the emergence of a series of marine heat wave events across both hemispheres, from the waters around Japan, around South America, and across the wider North Atlantic.

Marine heat waves are periods of extremely warm sea temperatures that can form in quite localized hot spots but also span large parts of ocean basins. Some major events have lasted months—even years, in an extreme case.

In 2002, Nobel laureate Paul Crutzen suggested that the Holocene had ended and that a new era in planetary history had begun—the Anthropocene. The new era, he suggested, was one dominated by changes to the planet itself that occurred because of human behaviors.

Now a paper published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences describes how scientists compared the three top dates for the beginning of the Anthropocene era , and why they chose the 1950s, as the most likely marker. The researchers suggest that there are three good candidates; the first being the late 1800s.

It was during this period that the Industrial Revolution began. They also point out that it was a time during which levels of lead began to be spread across major land surfaces, along with stable isotope ratios and changes in the balance of nutrients.

The second candidate they suggest was the early 1900s, which saw changes in pollen across the globe, major increases in black carbon and widespread changes in stable isotopes.

The third candidate, the middle of last century, saw the most measurable global and permanent changes. This was when organic pollutants began showing up all over the world, along with plastics and microplastics. It was also the start of the nuclear age, with evidence of test blasts found everywhere on Earth—and finally, it was the beginning of major dangers and impacts resulting from global warming.

Danger; 45% of the world's land surface is now classified as drylands, and these areas are accelerating their own proliferation, according to new research published August 29, 2024 in the journal Science. Global land surface comprises deserts, shrub-lands, grasslands, and savanna woodlands. A chief characteristic of these regions is water scarcity. Securing the world's water supply is one of the greatest challenges of our time for humanity.

The greatest danger of the 21st century is climate change. Ex-president Donald Trump pledged to dismantle the Biden administration’s “green new scam” in his acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention. He vowed to boost production of fossil fuels; oil, natural gas and coal, and repeal key parts of President Joe Biden’s 2022 climate law.

In the words of an Islamic Hadith tradition, a time will come when “they will eat everything and they will drink all the water of the world.” (Ibn Majah, Kitab al-Fitan). That is to say that those people whose only desire is wealth and power will come to possess and recklessly exploit the world’s entire resources.

That this will happen after the breaking down of the physical barrier erected by Dhul-Qarnayn is recorded in the Qur’an: “On that Day, We shall let them surge against each other like waves; and then the Trumpet will be blown and We shall gather them all together.”(Qur’an 18:99) 

That is, the greedy and selfish forces of Gog and Magog, after surmounting the wall of ancient geographic boundaries, will interact with the world in general, eating away all things and drinking all the water (i.e. consuming all of nature’s resources). This relates to the events of the last phase of Yajuj and Majuj (the Arabic names for Gog and Magog) when after conquering nature, they ushered in the modern industrial iron age of global exploitation.

Gog and Magog represent in the Hebrew Bible; the prophesied Northern invaders of Israel and their homeland; or in the New Testament and the Qur’an, global evils of moral and nature pollution, and their destructive forces opposed to the monotheistic peoples of God.

Like Judaism and Christianity, Islam has a powerful eschatological strand. Islam anticipates the end to the world as we know it, (End Times AKHIR AL-ZAMAN); a final historical confrontation between the forces of good and evil; after which human life will be transformed.

Many Islamic traditions (Ahadith) say that Prophet Jesus, will return and will join forces with the Islamic messiah, the Mahdi, in a battle against a false messiah, the cruel one eyed Dajjal, called Armilos in Jewish tradition. Now would be a good time for one or more Messianic figures to get to work.

As a Reform Rabbi who also believes that the world wide upheavals we see, are part of the birth pains of the Messianic Age, I offer Christians and Muslims some positive insights from the Jewish Prophets and the Rabbinic Sages because I, like the  French writer Jean-Paul Sartre, ‘have a nostalgia for the future’.

Now many Jews, Christians and Muslims believe the wars of Gog and Magog (Gog u-Magog in Hebrew and “Yajuj and Majuj” in Arabic) which started in the 18th to 20 centuries will come to an end in the 21st century.

It is true that human society changed more rapidly, violently and fundamentally in the last 250 years than ever before in history. Doctors saved the lives of millions. Dictators sacrificed the lives of millions. Populations are exploding in Africa and populations are declining in Europe. Technology produces both worldwide prosperity and worldwide pollution at the same time.

Should we look upon the future with optimistic hope or with fatalistic trepidation? Is the world and our society heading towards a wonder-filled new age, or toward a doomsday? Or are both occurring almost concurrently because breakdown is always a prelude to breakthrough?

Jews, whose Biblical prophets were the ones who first wrote about a future Messianic Age, recognize that the birth of a Messianic Age must be preceded by its birth-pangs. But the prophets of Israel also emphasize the glories of a future world living in peace and prosperity with justice for all.

Ancient Jewish prophecies did proclaim that there would be an end to the world as we know it. But they did not prophesy that the world will come to an end, nor did the Prophets of Israel offer an exact date for the transition.

The exact advent of the Messianic Age is not knowable because humans have free will and thus the exact time and manner of redemption cannot be determined in advance. Much depends on what we humans do.

The beginning of the Messianic Age is a time of transition from one World Age into another. How we move through this transition, either with resistance or acceptance, will determine whether the transformation will happen through cataclysmic changes or by a gradual reform of human society; which will lead to a world filled with peace, prosperity and spiritual tranquility.

The Prophets of Israel conceived redemption as a transformation of human society that would occur through the catalyst of the Jewish community. This transformation, which will take place in this world at some future time, is called the Messianic Age.

The transition to the Messianic Age is called the birth pangs of the Messiah. The birth of a redeemed Messianic world may be the result of an easy or difficult labor. If everyone would simply live according to the moral teachings of his or her religious tradition, we would ourselves have helped bring about the Messianic Age.

But, if we will not do it voluntarily, it will come about through social and political upheavals, worldwide conflicts and generation gaps. The Messiah (Mahdi) refers to one or more human agents of God who help bring about this positive transformation.

The Jewish tradition teaches that this agent of God (together with several forerunners and many disciples) will be a human being, a descendant of Prophets Abraham and David, with great qualities of national leadership similar to Prophets Moses and  Mohammed.

The arrival of the Messianic Age is what’s really important, not the personality of the agents who bring it about, since they are simply the instruments of God, who ultimately is the real Redeemer.

The Islamic 1400s we are now living in, is the age of the coming of Hazrat Mahdi. Prophet Jesus  will also return to Earth in this century, Hazrat Mahdi will appear, and the moral values of Islam will rule the world. As Prophet Micah proclaims: “In the last days the mountain of the LORD's temple will be established as the highest of the mountains; it will be exalted above the hills, and peoples will stream to it. Many nations will come and say, "Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the temple of the God of Jacob. He will teach us his ways, so that we may walk in his paths.

“The Torah will go out from Zion, the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. He will judge between many peoples and will settle disputes for strong nations far and wide. They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor train for war anymore. Everyone will sit under their own vine and under their own fig tree, and no one will make them afraid, for the LORD GOD has spoken. All the nations may walk in the name of their gods, but we (Jews, Christians and Muslims) will walk in the name of the LORD our God for ever and ever.” (Prophet Micah 4:1-5)

One of the signs of the End of Days is the arrival and defeat of Gog and Magog (Ya'juj and Ma'juj or Ajuj and Majuj). Gog and Magog appear in the Hebrew Bible, the Christian Bible, and the Islamic Quran as individuals, tribes, countries or lands.

The Quran mentions Gog and Magog twice: “He said: “This (barrier) is a mercy from my Lord: but when the warning of my Lord comes to pass, He will reduce it to dust (and Gog and Magog—the Colonialist Empires, the Nazis, and the Communists would be released into the world); and the promise of my Lord is true.” (18:98)  So Gog and Magog are destructive groups like the Colonialist Empires, the Nazis, and the Communists, who near the time of the end of days will penetrate into every part of the world.

The other mention of Gog and Magog in the Quran is: “But there is a ban on a town which We have destroyed: that they (the people of the town) shall not return (to reclaim that town as their own); until Gog and Magog are let through (the barrier), and swiftly spread out in every direction.” (21:95-96)

This verse refers to Jerusalem, destroyed by the Romans in 70 CE, and only reclaimed 18 centuries later as Israel’s capital, following the era of the defeat of the Nazis, the Communists, and the Colonialist Empires, who had been Gog and Magog for generations.

Thus, humanity has so far passed through the most devastating era of human history. However,  we have not yet reached the goal of the Messianic Age when “They (all nations) will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore. Everyone will sit under their own vine and under their own fig tree, and no one will make them afraid, for the LORD GOD has spoken.” (Prophet Micah 4:2-4)

This era will come about when Israelis and Palestinians make a long lasting two state partnership of peace; thus fulfilling the 2700 year old vision of Prophet Isaiah: “In that day there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria. The Assyrians will go to Egypt, and the Egyptians to Assyria. The Egyptians and Assyrians will worship together. In that day Israel  will join a three-party  alliance with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing upon the heart. The LORD of Hosts will bless them saying, “Blessed be Egypt My people, Assyria My handiwork, and Israel My inheritance.”… (Isaiah 19:23-5)