“Apocalyptic” describes the extraordinary scale of destruction by the fires in California, the immediate threat to life, the displacement of large populations, and the dramatic alteration of the landscape and sky due to smoke and fire.
It’s a very significant and dangerous natural disaster intensified by climate and environmental factors.
Multiple major fires are burning simultaneously, including the Palisades, Eaton, and Hurst fires, with some like the Palisades and Eaton fires being 0% contained. These fires have led to reports of thousands of homes destroyed, hundreds of thousands under evacuation orders, and a growing number of fatalities. The fires have also resulted in the loss of electricity for over half a million persons, highlighting the severity and the impact on infrastructure and daily life.
The fires are exacerbated by extreme weather conditions, including Santa Ana winds reaching speeds of 80 mph or more, which can spread fires at an alarming rate, up to 2-3 football fields per minute. The lack of water in some fire hydrants has further complicated firefighting efforts. These conditions, combined with the ongoing drought and climate change, have created an environment where fires can spread rapidly with high intensity.
Iconic areas like the Hollywood Hills and parts of Malibu have been directly affected, threatening not only human life and property but also California’s cultural heritage and economy.
While wildfires are not uncommon in California, the convergence of multiple large, uncontrolled fires, coupled with the weather conditions, has led to a situation that some residents and observers describe as biblical proportions due to the smoke, darkness and overwhelming response required from emergency services.
Conservative historian and scholar Victor Davis Hanson, a California resident, has been a frequent critic of the way the Left has been taking the state backwards, forcing residents to live with 19th century standards. He has also called for the resignations of Governor Gavin Newsom and LA Mayor Karen Bass because, in his words, “It was a total systems collapse from the idea of not spending money on irrigation, storage, water, fire prevention and forest management, a viable insurance industry, a DEI hierarchy …all together it’s something like a DEI Green New Deal hydrogen bomb.”
Hanson referred to the governor as “Nero Newsom,” fiddling while the state burns.
“They are de-civilizing the state and de-industrializing the state and de-farming the state. But they’re not telling [California’s] 40 million people that their lifestyles will have to revert back to the 19th century, when you had no protection from fire,” Hanson commented.
Many prophets and rabbis are equating the news to judgment from the Almighty.
One Israeli wrote on X,
“In my 15 years of social media, I don’t think I’ve ever seen any event that’s so encapsulated the world like the fires currently destroying much of ‘Sodom-Angeles.’ . . . For decades radical liberals have gaslighted us with the cause for almost every single problem under the sun. . . . they have ALWAYS been wrong 100% of the time. Now look at how interesting the calamity befalling them is.
“Never in the history of America has a catastrophe been more man made than this. Every single thing that could go wrong in this fire went wrong because of gross human negligence. From emptying fire hydrants to cutting the funding to firing firefighters to sending equipment to Ukraine this entire saga has been so egregiously catastrophic that for once there is nowhere for liberals to hide…
“Every single thing that liberals idolize blew up in their face during this devastating fire. The police chief cared more about DEI [Diversity, Equity, Inclusion] than having water available to put out a fire, the mayor cared more about transferring money to diverse causes than having money to fight fire and the lunatic governor cared more about a random fish than he did about the tens of thousands of humans whose lives are now ruined…I’ve never seen liberalism play out so breathtaking perfect than right now.
“I’m not at all heartless, but it’s hard not to ignore the Hand of G-d in openly shattering the mentally ill liberal bubble that 99% of LA has lived under for decades. All of the useless and nonsensical pillars of ideology literally went up in smoke in a matter of hours. . . .
“Sodom was destroyed because evil became the law of the land; it’s not such a stretch to say the same thing happened in LA. I feel terrible for all of my Jewish brethren who are affected by this, but in all honesty you shouldn’t be there in the first place. The only reason you’re there is the same reason Lot was attracted to Sodom…material gains.
“Jews belong in Israel, some will make this decision of their own free will yet sadly others will come because they have nowhere else to go because of tragedies like this. My hope is everyone will realize that HaShem is shaking up the world like a snow globe and He’s doing it for one reason only…we were given a Torah to follow and a Land to follow it in.”
My California intercessory friend Debbie Shick posted at Prayer for Our Nation on Facebook:
In this atmosphere which no movie set could conjure better, my prayer is many will choose the comfort of salvation and all in dependence upon the Lord. He is the One Who created the wind and the rain and the fire. The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof. There is nothing our God Who is sovereign cannot do. His ways are above our ways of knowing. Today…we must choose to trust the Lord just like the three Hebrew boys in the midst of their fire. There was a fourth man and that was Jesus.
Father, . . . we ask for mercy for all Your creation and most especially for the Household of Faith. Reward Your very own children with the peace of God that defies and passes…goes way beyond…all understanding. Guard their hearts and minds and extend Your Hand of mercy to them that will carry them through this present trial and make them stronger on the other side. We ask for much, Lord. But You, oh Lord, are the Lifter of our heads and Your desire is for us to be strong in the Lord and the power of His might. Let that be our prayer, Father. Let there be a mighty army of Believers that walk through this fire unscathed, stronger in their faith than ever before and victorious in battle.
In Jesus’ name we pray…amen!!
If indeed the scenes unfolding in California are a judgment from the Almighty on the foolishness of men, let us pray Habakkuk 2:3, “in wrath remember mercy.”
Christine Darg can be contacted at www.JerusalemChannel.tv
amen to the prayer.