"Strange End Times Phenomena?"

There is a fine line between reporting on news that relates to Bible prophecy and what most would consider odd phenomena. Today we're going to walk that tightrope.

We're all familiar with the usual signs to watch out for from Matthew 24:

• wars
• earthquakes
• famines
• pestilence

But Luke 21:11 says, "there will be fearful sights..." (some translations say 'terrifying things') "...and great signs from heaven." That's rather broad, don't you think? Lots of things could fit into that category.

In fact, a wide variety of cosmic and natural events are slated to occur before the end times and, you guessed it gang, weird stuff is happening right now. Yes indeedy, friends and neighbors, freaky stuff is going on all over the planet. Consider:

• Since 2011, strange sounds have been heard across the globe. From Arizona to New Zealand reports of noises described as humming or rumbling coming from the skies. Some even hear what sounds like trumpets.
• Hundreds of others claim ground shaking booms seem to be coming from the earth.
• Remember the guy swallowed by a sinkhole, bed and all in Florida? Well, giant sinkholes have opened up all over the world. We're taking humongous holes, people--big enough to swallow several houses and at least one lake!
• And then there's the animal deaths. Hundreds of birds falling dead from the sky. Washed-up whales, dolphins, Manta rays and massive fish kills as far as the eye can see on beaches throughout the world.
• Egypt was hit by swarms of locust the size of small birds. Florida has monster mosquitoes 20 times larger than normal. Iran is plagued with rats as big as cats weighing in at a nightmarish 11 pounds!
• And what about last February's meteorite? It streaked across the Siberian sky and then hit ground in Russia like an atomic blast! We seem to recall another very close encounter with an asteroid that very same day, along with multiple fireballs all across Florida and San Francisco (no connection, says NASA).
• Speaking of Russia, February 6th saw four separate volcanoes, 100 miles apart, erupt at the same time. Unprecedented.
• Oh, and who can forget the lightening strike at St. Peter's Basilica only hours after Pope Benedict announced his resignation? Talk about freaky!

And then there's this:

• Scientists have warned that society as we know it, may be disrupted by an intense solar flare predicted to erupt from the sun's surface in 2013.

There have been tons of other stuff, some too weird to comment on, others conventional, yet still worth mentioning, such as wild weather events, floods, droughts, and:

• Solomon Island's 8.0 quake
• 7.8 Iran quake
• 7.5 Alaska quake
• and six other quakes in the first 4 months that all topped 7.0 in magnitude
• and, as always, the seemingly ever-present situations in Iran, Syria, and Israel

But take heart. Jesus said, "Now when these things begin to happen, look up and lift up your heads, because your redemption draws near" Luke 21:28.(emphasis added)

A wise man once said: "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to heaven, we were all going direct the other way..." Charles Dickens-The Tale of Two Cities

"And there will be strange events in the skies--signs in the sun, moon, and stars. And down here on earth the nations will be in turmoil, perplexed by the roaring seas and strange tides. The courage of many people will falter because of the fearful fate they see coming upon the earth, because the stability of the very heavens will be broken up..." (Luke 21:25,26).

News:

• Fox News Channel--May Day protest turns violent in Seattle.
• AccuWeather.com--Historic May snowstorm slams unlikely locations over Plains, Midwest, and South with up to 2 feet of snow, breaking records going back to the 1800s; while parts of California fights record high temps-induced wildfire
• World Net Daily--Mounting evidence that at least some of Saddam Hussein's missing WMD are hidden in Syria, smuggled there by the Iraqi dictator before the war
• Washington Post--Russia announces nuclear build-up even as U.S. scales down
• watch YouTube video of some of these phenomena: Signs in the Heavens