Posted in end time, jesus, locusts, prophecy, revelation, sounds of the apocalypse

Booms in the foothills a mystery

There is a report from Drudge about more sky booms, but this time people hear them coming from the ground. Previously, people in other locations have reported them coming from the sky. There have been so many booms, from so many places around the globe, for so long, that the name “Sounds of the Apocalypse” is widely recognized as the name for this phenomenon. I have reported on these booms myself many times. Do a Google search for sky noises, or booms, and you’ll see how many times they have been heard around the world.

In one post, I explored that the noises could be leak-through spiritual warfare in the heavenlies ramping up and used the verses in 2 Kings for support text (here). I also wrote about the possibility that it was leak-through from the throne room, and used support text from Ezekiel 1:24a, here. Thirdly I mused that it could be a fulfillment of a Jeremiah verse, here, this being the verse from Jeremiah-

“A noise shall come even to the ends of the earth; for the LORD hath a controversy with the nations, he will plead with all flesh; he will give them that are wicked to the sword, saith the LORD.” (Jeremiah 25:31).

I’ll propose a fourth theory. Just as we do not know what is happening in the heavenly realms now, apart from what is written in the bible, we do not know what is happening in hell, or in Tartarus (the lowest gloomy dungeon where the fallen angels are being kept (Jude 1:6, 2 Peter 2:4). I wonder do the noises from hell leak-through to us here on earth? Are the fallen angels sensing the nearness of the day when they as the Revelation 9 locusts will be released and they make a great rushing sound?

“And the fifth angel blew his trumpet, and I saw a star fallen from heaven to earth, and he was given the key to the shaft of the bottomless pit. He opened the shaft of the bottomless pit, and from the shaft rose smoke like the smoke of a great furnace, and the sun and the air were darkened with the smoke from the shaft. Then from the smoke came locusts on the earth, and they were given power like the power of scorpions of the earth.” (Rev 9:1-3).

When that happens, and it has not happened yet, don’t you think it would make a great noise? Yes, it does, and the bible tells us how great a noise they make:

“In appearance the locusts were like horses prepared for battle: on their heads were what looked like crowns of gold; their faces were like human faces, their hair like women’s hair, and their teeth like lions’ teeth; they had breastplates like breastplates of iron, and the noise of their wings was like the noise of many chariots with horses rushing into battle.” (Revelation 9:7-9).

When an orchestra warms up before the concert, they make a cacophonous sound as each individual musician tunes his instrument. Then the conductor raises his baton and at once, they perform in harmony and in like movements. It is the same with an army. As each soldier jockeys his armor into position, there is a rumble and a noise as the preparations go on, which gets louder and more cacophonous as the moment nears when the Commander raises his hand to begin.

Before a football game, don’t the fans, in their excitement, stomp their feet and pound the bleachers, making a great racket?

The “wondrous strange” thing about the coming of the prophesied locusts is that they have a king.

“They have as king over them the angel of the bottomless pit. His name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in Greek he is called Apollyon.” (Revelation 9:11). Yet Proverbs 30:27 tells us locusts have no king. So the Revelation locusts are no ordinary locusts. Are they demons? Yes. They have a form and they have faces and they have armor and they have a sting of a scorpion even though they are called locusts.

John Phillips wrote, “Picture what the world would be like if we were to open the doors of all the penitentiaries of earth and set free the world’s most vicious and violent criminals, giving them full reign to practice their infamies upon mankind. Something worse than that lies in store for the world. Satan cast out of heaven is now permitted to summon to his aid the most diabolical fiends in the abyss to act as his agents in bringing mankind to the footstool of the beast.”

Are the locust-demons in the pit pounding their bleachers and rattling their chains and yelling as they sense the Day approaching where they will be let out to destroy the earth and its peoples? I don’t know. Only God knows. The possibility of it reminds me of the famous quote from Hamlet. Upon seeing a ghost (demon) Horatio said to Hamlet, “O day and night, but this is wondrous strange!”

Hamlet replied, “… There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.”

The thing to remember about these booms is that what we see is not real. The life we are living is not the full story. There is more, much more, in God’s realms than we see and experience. Paul said,

“as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.” (2 Corinthians 4:18).

Here is the report from Drudge. This time, the booms are coming from the ground, but they are not earthquakes. Or sonic booms. Or mining. They simply don’t know what they are.

Source Of Loud Boom In Foothills A Mystery
EL DORADO COUNTY (CBS13) – People from all over El Dorado County say they’re hearing loud booms several times a week, but there are many theories on what is causing them. “I thought it was thunder,” said one person. “It’s definitely not thunder; too consistent. I thought it was just mining,” said another person. “I always considered them to be sonic booms from flying aircrafts for years,” said Loring Brunius, owner of Sierra Rock Diamond Quarry. People who live near Pleasant Valley say their days have been interrupted by loud booms, shaking the floor beneath them. “You can feel it in the ground, no question about it. But no one’s been able to figure out why,” said Pleasant Valley resident Peter O’Grady. “I tend to hear somewhere between four to six of these things during the weekdays usually between 11 p.m. and 2 p.m. “Boom, boom, boom, boom just like that,” said Lorren Gonzales, who lives near Pleasant Valley.”

More at link.

Posted in grasshoppers invade town, jesus, locusts, prophecy

Huge swarm of grasshoppers invades rural California town

I shouldn’t look at my stats. I get depressed doing that. I mean, I’m blessed to have a few thousand per day visit the site. Since it began three and a half years ago, 1.4 million people have stopped in for one reason or another. I’m thrilled for that.

They come for all different reasons. Some come from Googling key words and landing here, some come from a bookmark, and some have wandered over from my other blog. But mostly, looking at the stats for each post, I see a trend that makes me sad.

I put prayer and thought into each post, but the doctrinal posts, the ones about the bible directly either through interpretation of a passage or using a passage to share encouragement, get some good amount of hits.

But is has always been the weird posts that get the most hits. Weird, and weather. And when we have weird weather together it busts the hit counter. I’d like to continue to delude myself that people come here for the Jesus stuff, but it is not so, the stats tell me. Well, I lure you in with the freak weather posts and then talk about Jesus in every post anyway, bwahaha.

Today the post with the most is “Tornado Sweeps Across Venice Italy.” It is really sending out the siren call to people from near and far. This week’s top view-getter is “Transgendered Chastity Bono and Dancing with the Stars, for some reason. The piece was news 9 months ago. Oh, well, praise the Lord that they come for any reason.

The Ghost horse of Cairo Egypt’s Tahrir Square is still reeling in the hits as all time heavy hitter.

Weather especially will claim the internet surfer’s attention. The freak hail in CO I wrote about earlier in the week is clipping along in the hits department. The post “Indian villagers attacked by swarms of suddenly appearing spiders” is holding its own, too.

Here is another one that will be sure to attract a lot of views:

Huge swarm of grasshoppers invades rural California town
“A massive swarm of grasshoppers has invaded a rural town in Sacramento County, eating foliage, hopping around and creating a nuisance. … Entomologist Steve Heydon said these types of swarms are rare. The working theory: This winter was dry and warm, so there’s less vegetation around for the bugs to eat. But the winter before saw a lot more precipitation than usual, so with plenty of food there were a lot of extra little bugs born.”

This story describes the grasshopper infestation in a way that made me think of the plague of frogs in Exodus:

“The Nile shall swarm with frogs that shall come up into your house and into your bedroom and on your bed and into the houses of your servants and your people, and into your ovens and your kneading bowls. The frogs shall come up on you and on your people and on all your servants.” (Ex 8:3-4) 

“They’re everywhere,” said Debbie. It’s an insect infestation. “We’re being invaded,” said Brian Campbell. Grasshoppers are taking over the Campbell family farm. They saw some a few days ago. “But, then it went to the extreme,” said Debbie. They’re covering the house, the ground and everywhere you look.”

I think it’s funny that the news story which features a video of the grasshoppers shows a portion where the camera guy is filming the field of grasshoppers and they are crawling over his lens. Look, see it on the screen as the newscasters are introducing the spot?

We have been having a spike in snake bites here in the rural South this summer. Officials say that we’ve seen more snakes for the same reason as those entomologists in CA say they are seeing more grasshoppers, the overly dry and warm winter was the culprit.

In Libya right now, locusts are out of control and that is blamed on Muammar Gaddafi. Even though he is dead, the uprising that toppled him from his throne, and from life, caused locust-watchers to be unable to scour the countryside to apply the necessary pesticide to control them. As a result, locusts, like the population that rose up and killed their so-called King of Kings, are out of control in Libya. And now those swarms are threatening Mali and Niger.

I’m only half-kidding about the depressing stats. I personally wish I received a thousand hits on the “We take refuge in a Mighty God” post and less on the “Freak hail on CO” posts, instead of the opposite. But I know the Spirit sends just the right people here and for His own reasons. Those who come to read about extra-large hail may stay to read the plan of salvation. Those who want to know about the Ghost Horse of Tarhir Square may read the left behind letters. And after the rapture, all this information will still be available to anyone wanting to know how to be saved. I’m grateful for the million and a half souls who for whatever reason drew them here, saw the name of Jesus on the page. His name is the most precious seed which the Holy Spirit waters with truth. God is growing a wonderful garden of redeemed souls who will shine with His glory on the Day. Praise His name and all His works – doctrinal, freaky, and everything in between.

Posted in australia spiral, end time, locusts, prophecy

Supersized bands of locusts eating tons of crops in Oz

Luke 21:11– “and there will be great earthquakes, and in various places plagues and famines; and there will be terrors and great signs from heaven.”

Northern New South Wales suffering from locust plague
“Surveillance aircraft have captured images of “supersized” bands of locusts in northwestern NSW that are more than three kilometres in length. NSW Primary Industries Minister Steve Whan has released the footage of the locusts near Walgett, taken during the first aerial surveillance mission of the plague season. Mr Whan said there were now 102 confirmed locust reports across NSW, with aircraft on Wednesday detecting the insects in 16 locations near Walgett. “What we’ve seen from the footage is supersized bands of locusts, more than three kilometres long, eating fodder and crops in northern NSW,” Mr Whan told reporters at NSW Parliament on Thursday. “This has confirmed our prediction that the northwest will be the first front in the battle against the locust plague. “It’s critical that we actually get on top of those locusts and spray them while they’re banding, before they actually take off.” Mr Whan said the government would target spraying on the locust bands, saying once the pests took to the wing spraying was much less effective. The government has devoted $18.5 million to tackling what experts have warned could be the worst plague in 30 years. Enough insecticide has been stocked to treat half a million hectares, while more than 50 aircraft will be on standby over the spring and summer. Spraying in the state’s northwest would begin in a couple of days, Mr Whan said. “Locusts emerge from the ground (and) it takes two-and-a-half to three weeks before they start banding together,” he said. “Once they’ve banded, and they get a bit bigger, they then take to the wing, and that’s when you get the swarms in the air. “(When they’re banded) we actually have the opportunity of a couple of weeks to spray them on the ground.” Known egg hatchings exist at Brewarrina, Bourke, Enngonia in the northwest, Nyngan in central NSW, and Wentworth in the southwest of the state, he said. “It is vitally important that we keep getting the reports in from farmers when we see them hatching,” Mr Whan said. “That’s when we know a couple of weeks later to start the surveillance.” [emphasis mine]

The above scripture from Luke (“and there will be great earthquakes, and in various places plagues and famines…”) is not an end time warning but a Tribulation promise. ‘Plagues and famines’ are in the same sentence phrase, and indeed those usually go together. Famine usually follows plague. Ezekiel 7:15 has the same pairing: “Outside is the sword, inside are plague and famine; those in the country will die by the sword, and those in the city will be devoured by famine and plague.” Jeremiah 24:10 has the same: “I will send the sword, famine and plague against them until they are destroyed from the land I gave to them and their fathers.'” The pairing of famine and plague is seen frequently throughout the bible and accompanying those are often the word “sword,” meaning ‘war.’ War, famine, and plague always means death on a grand scale. They are three of four of God’s most severe judgments, so saith the LORD-

“For thus says the Lord GOD, “How much more when I send My four severe judgments against Jerusalem: sword, famine, wild beasts and plague to cut off man and beast from it!” (Deuteronomy 32:24)

Not only the Luke verse describes what’s coming, but also Rev 6:8, and this time the fourth of the most severe judgments is included, beasts:

“I looked, and there before me was a pale horse! Its rider was named Death, and Hades was following close behind him. They were given power over a fourth of the earth to kill by sword, famine and plague, and by the wild beasts of the earth.”  (Revelation 6:8)

I do not know if the locusts in Australia are part of a normal agricultural cycle or not, but I suspect not. The Minister of Interior used the word ‘supersized’ and said they were in a war against a plague. We see that kind of language more and more lately, the problems are getting worse, bigger, and more frequent. Like birth pangs do.