What once might have been considered science fiction is now a legitimate concern being looked at by the nation's top space scientists and government leaders. Every 11 years the number of solar flares peaks, and every 22 years the magnetic energy cycle of the sun peaks. In 2013, those two events will coincide, resulting in huge levels of radiation. O.K. so this happens every 22 years - what's the big deal? What makes it different this time is that we've never been so technologically sensitive to solar storms, according to Richard Fisher, head of Nasa's Heliophysics Division. “We know it is coming but we don’t know how bad it is

going to be,” Dr Fisher told a Telegraph reporter. “It will disrupt communication devices such as satellites and car navigations, air travel, the banking system, our computers, everything that is electronic. It will cause major problems for the world." According to the National Academy of Sciences, the effects of a powerful solar storm could cause twenty times more economic damage than Hurricane Katrina which cost over 125 billion dollars.

While such an event could result in power grids being down for months, it turns out that solar storms aren't the only potential cause of a massive power blackout. Terrorists could do the same thing to a country - even America, with the detonation of a single device high above the earth's surface.

Such potential disaster scenarios shouldn't surprise us. Although things may not happen as the researchers envision, it behooves us as Christians to consider our own preparedness and how we can position ourselves to do the greatest amount of good in the case of such an event. Back to Enoch will be producing some exciting new preparedness resources to address these issues. If you would like to know about them as they become available, make sure you've signed up to receive our email updates. If you haven't yet done so, you can by entering your info in the form in the upper left sidebar of this page.