Last month, a very bizarre red dust-storm struck a sizeable part of Australia, including the city of Sydney. The first link details that the bizarre storm was “like Armageddon” to some who experienced it, and that it killed birds, choked people, reduced visibility, grounded airplanes and was accompanied by gale-force winds. The second link below has a short, but very impressive video-clip of this storm. Unless you watch this video-clip, you won’t appreciate just how weird and apocalyptic this dust-storm really seemed to those who lived through it!
This event is consistent with biblical prophecies that bizarre and dangerous weather patterns and atmospheric events will characterize the latter days of this age. Matthew 24:7 warns the latter days (the end of this age just prior to the return of Jesus Christ) will include “earthquakes in various places,” and Luke 21:25 warns that the latter days will witness “the sea and the waves roaring.” The word “earthquakes” would reference such tectonic activity as volcanoes and tsunamis in addition to earthquakes. The Indian Ocean tsunami of a few years ago and the recent tsunami which devastated Samoa are fulfillments of this prophecy as are the well-publicized earthquakes and volcanoes of recent years. The “sea and the waves roaring” are also fulfilled by tsunamis as well as hurricanes like Hurricane Katrina which devastated New Orleans not long ago. Luke 21:25 also prophesies that “signs in the sun and in the moon and in the stars and upon earth [will cause] distress of nations and perplexity.” Isaiah 24 warns that planetary-scale traumas will occur during the latter days.
Various media reports have discussed the recent prolonged lack of sunspots on our sun and noted that the last time this phenomenon occurred for a long time it led to a “Maunder Minimum” which caused very cold weather in the northern latitudes and starvation for many people due to shortened growing seasons and failed crops. The moon also affects earth’s weather patterns, and the moon’s power over the earth’s climate is regularly seen in the waxing and waning of tides. Various portions of the USA have experienced severe droughts, severe floods, wild fires, etc. as the weather seems to be growing more unpredictable. Where I live in South Dakota, no one I know is worried about “global warming.” We are currently having December weather in October as recent days have had high temperatures barely above freezing. Isaiah 25’s prophecies could be fulfilled by electromagnetic polar reversals and the earth itself developing a wobble on its axis (such a wobble could trigger massive seismic activity as stresses build up on global fault lines). If the earth wobbled badly on its axis (this could be caused by the earth being hit by a heavenly object as Revelation 8:8-12 infers), it would not only affect global weather patterns but would also cause the stars to “wobble” all over the sky in the perception of people on the night-side of the planet. More can be read on this subject in my article, Are We Living in the Biblical Latter Days?, available at this website. We also need to consider the possibility that some nations may secretly test weather-modification weapons which could have damaging and/or unforeseen consequences when they are tested.
I believe the biblical prophecies about the latter days tell us that we should expect an increasing crescendo of weird and damaging weather and/or atmospheric events in the years ahead of us. The bizarre red dust-storm in Australia is indicative of this trend. It is my view that even more dramatic events will occur in the years ahead of us.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/09/23/2693643.htm
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/article6845490.ece
