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Subscribe to RSSExperts say a swarm of locusts in Egypt could cause severe crop damage. The correlation to the plague of locusts in the Bible has the Internet buzzing.
Three weeks before Passover, a plague of locusts is swarming from Egypt to Israel, sparking fears among farmers in the region.
The timing of the insect invasion is eerie, because the Bible's Book of Exodus tells of 10 plagues that hit Egypt before Moses and the Jews were allowed to leave for the Promised Land. A plague of locusts was the eighth on the list — but Pharaoh didn't relent until the 10th plague, which killed off all of Egypt's firstborn sons. Every year at Passover, Jews commemorate how they were spared.
This time, even the Israelis are worried that the locusts are out to get them. "They may not have ruined Pharaoh, but they could ruin us," one farmer, Tzachi Rimon, told Israel's Channel 10 TV.
Locust swarms have the potential to wipe out agricultural crops, and it's been eight years since such a serious assault has hit Egypt's Cairo region and Israel, said Keith Cressman, the senior locust forecasting officer at the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization's headquarters in Rome.
"They came from the Sudan-Egypt border after breeding in December and January, flew north along the coast to nearly Suez, then got caught in some winds associated with a low-pressure system over the central Mediterranean to Cairo," Cressman told NBC News in an email. The weather system moved eastward, and on Monday, changing winds carried the swarm to the northern Sinai Peninsula and Israel's Negev Desert, he said.
A spokeswoman for Israel's Agriculture Ministry, Dafna Yurista, told The Associated Press that planes have gone out to spray pesticides on agricultural fields, to head off damage by a relatively small swarm of 2,000 locusts. Authorities called upon residents to be vigilant in reporting locust sightings.
Egypt's Ahram Online reported Sunday that locust swarms were attacking agricultural land in Suez, but other reports quoted Egyptian authorities as saying that the bugs were being "eradicated" and that no significant damage was being done to crops.
Cressman said the locusts of the Middle East don't follow the predictable kind of cycle that dictates the rise and fall of cicada swarms. "Outbreaks depend on rains in the desert, which are infrequent and irregular," he explained.
Photos of the locusts involved in the current outbreak suggest that these particular insects are "old and tired rather than young and hungry," Cressman said. If that's the case, this week's plague "will probably come to nothing," he said.
"However, there are other swarms that have moved from northeast Sudan and southeast Egypt to the Nile Valley in north Sudan, where they quickly matured and started laying eggs last week in winter crops," Cressman said. The eggs are expected to hatch in about a week, producing wingless nymphs that would become adult locusts in about six weeks. Those swarms could move into central Sudan and get a breeding boost from the summer rains that traditionally fall between June and September.
"Hence, there is good potential for locust infestations to increase," Cressman said. "If so, at the end of summer and late autumn, summer-bred swarms could move to the Red Sea coast of Sudan, Egypt, Eritrea and Saudi Arabia. I may be off very shortly to Khartoum [in Sudan] to discuss these implications with the government."
To learn more about the locusts of the Middle East, as well as infestations past, present and future, browse through the online resources at the FAO's Locust Watch website.
More about plagues of locusts:
- Gaddafi's fall leads to desert locusts' rise
- Locusts illustrate the science of swarming
- From 2004: Locust plague sweeps across Africa
This report includes information from The Associated Press.
Alan Boyle is NBCNews.com's science editor. Connect with the Cosmic Log community by "liking" the log's Facebook page, following @b0yle on Twitter and adding the Cosmic Log page to your Google+ presence. To keep up with Cosmic Log as well as NBCNews.com's other stories about science and space, sign up for the Tech & Science newsletter, delivered to your email in-box every weekday. You can also check out "The Case for Pluto," my book about the controversial dwarf planet and the search for new worlds.
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Sorry, but the phrase "biblical science" is an oxymoron, as surely as "creation science".
Studying the frequency of locust swarming/migration is one thing, but to use this or any other predictable event or phenomena as an attempt to lend credence to the "bible" or any other "holy" text is highly objectionable.
Right on. Just because plagues happen(ed) doesn't mean the events of the bible are any more or less (as if it could be any less) likely to have happened...
Feel free to write an article that everyone would be interested in when you get an interview with any flying, burning swords/shubbery and/or magical talking snakes.
I too laughed out loud when I read that. What's next Koranic Science? Genesis Evolution? LOL
The fact is, science is corrosive to the bible.
Chicken or egg dilemma solved (Genesis
1:20-22). Which came first, the chicken or the egg? This question has
plagued philosophers for centuries. The Bible states that God created birds with
the ability to reproduce after their kind. Therefore the chicken was created
first with the ability to make eggs! Yet, evolution has no solution for this
dilemma.
Which came first, proteins or DNA (Revelation
4:11)? For evolutionists, the chicken or egg dilemma goes even deeper.
Chickens consist of proteins. The code for each protein is contained in the
DNA/RNA system. However, proteins are required in order to manufacture DNA. So
which came first: proteins or DNA? The ONLY explanation is that they were
created together.
Roger: Post hoc ergo propter hoc
a common error in logic. It even has a legal phrase.
ROTseriously and smile..it makes the World a better place.....Jeebus says so.
99octane, where does it say "biblical sScience" IN ARTICLE OR TITLE?
The link through to the article from the nbcnews.com website uses the title, "Biblical science: How common are locust 'plagues'?"
On the FRONT PAGE. The link from the front page says:
Pest control (Leviticus
25:1-24). Farmers are plagued today with insects. Yet God gave a sure-fire
remedy to control pests centuries ago. Moses commanded Israel to set aside one
year in seven when no crops were raised. Insects winter in the stalks of last
year’s harvest, hatch in the spring, and are perpetuated by laying eggs in the
new crop. If the crop is denied one year in seven, the pests have nothing to
subsist upon, and are thereby controlled.
Roger, if that were true then today's farmers would have more problems with locusts then ever before, and that isn't true at all. Some farmers plant two crops a year in the that region because of the year round warm weather. There haven't been more locust swarms as a result.
Locust swarms happen when the right mix of conditions occur that allow for a high number of the locusts to survive the next yeat (low predation, certain temp and moisture conditions, and so on). This leads to food shortages which cause the grasshoppers to change their outer form and go from solitary insects to a group/mob.
Not raising crops for a year would do nothing, other than cause a food shortage for humans. Of course Moses didn't know this when he made up such a ridiculous suggestion (assuming there ever was a Moses).
99, you beat me to the oxymoron punch. Oh and look, we can both spell "oxymoron".
Frank, it doesn't matter where it says "biblical sScience" - it's an oxymoron anywhere.
Thanks moron
Sounds like it happens every year.
Good one Frank... we'll be waiting till eternity for Octane to dig out of this one. You make it clear often where you stand. I don't object to your stupidity Octane but my only comment to you is ....glad I'm not going in the same tunnel you are. Where you go there is no light at the other end. Enjoy your short stay on this tiny little rotating globe in an endless sea of space trying to convince the multitudes of your opinion, which in the end is truly only self centered and insecure.. Your quick to jump on creationism and biblical science when its not even mentioned in the article clues to your sense of threat at the mere mention of anything of current event that may have any mention in the bible. And yes the little bugers are flying over there every year. Just that some years are worse than others. Been there and seen it.
By the way Frank. they just proved there was something going on in the universe before the big bang. So big bang theorists are dead now.
It doesnt get any more insecure than this drivel of stupidity
Thanks for more of that sky fairy- "believe in me or bad things will happen to you, because I love you" cocksucking @!$%#. Ttime for you to get back on your knees, put your lord back in your mouth and swallow. At least then you think you're doing something worthwhile.
Octane choose science for a likely explanation of the origins of life... while you went with an ancient book of middle eastern mythology... and Octane is the stupid one?
I don't think you understand how science works chief. We have the luxury of expanding our theoretical models to include new information... creationists don't.
Science doesn't say, this is the answer and this will always be the answer for all eternity. It says, this is a likely answer, but let's keep exploring things and updating the information as we go.
So whatever you think you know about any research regarding before or after the big bang, doesn't matter at all in regard the giant ridiculous fairy tale presented by the BIBLE.
Self centered and insecure? Only self centered arrogance of man would assume that because man is intelligent, and man can create, therefore since the universe exists, it must have been created, and since only man and intelligence can create; we therefore must assume that only intelligence can create the universe. LOL. Only those who actually believe without proof and cling to that ideology for support that we are immortal in some way after death; are people who are insecure. I personally am perfectly fine with the idea that death is finite and I will simply cease to exist, feel, know, and have conscious thought. After dealing with all the crap that life has to offer, I will welcome the vacation that oblivion provides.
In response to me, "the-Chief" wrote:
Oh look, it's about an hour or two later. You didn't have to wait for eternity afterall.
Thanks for reading my posts, I'm glad you're keeping up with me... at least on that level. Objecting to my stupidity...coming from you...is a tremendous compliment. Thank you.
About that "light at the end of the tunnel"... nice metaphor, but no sale. Threats of hellfire and eternal damnation don't impress me. They didn't work from my own father when I was 16, why would they work coming from someone like you, who means infinitely less to me, decades later?
And for you to criticize me, or any other pragmatic person, for (and I quote) "trying to convince the multitudes of your opinion", is the height of irony. I know you're incapable of seeing that, and I forgive you. But for those who caught it, I hope you got as good a belly laugh out of it as I did.
Chief, thank you, sincerely, for posting. I truly love it when someone like you comes along and digs deep their own hole, followed by a swan dive straight into it!
I don't follow a religion dreamt up by a bunch of middle eastern idiots half way around the world in an area the size of Texas.
Our bodies are made from the dust of the ground (Genesis
2:7; 3:19).
Scientists have discovered that the human body is comprised of some 28 base and
trace elements – all of which are found in the earth.
The universe had a beginning (Genesis 1:1; Hebrews
1:10-12). Starting with the studies of Albert Einstein in the early 1900s
and continuing today, science has confirmed the biblical view that the universe
had a beginning. When the Bible was written most people believed the universe
was eternal. Science has proven them wrong, but the Bible correct.
When the bible was written, most people didn't even understand "eternal"
Most people had other religions explaining the beginnings of the universe in equally nonsensical ways as the bible, when the bible was written.
A more accuarate claim would be to say we are made from the stars in the universe, as all matter on earth is derived from the life cycle of stars.
The Big bang. Science does not say "god did it."
It's ok Octane, god really doesn't hate homosexuals
Let us hope that the really is a god (even though there isn't). And let us also hope
that if this is a warning sign of things to come, that Egypt and Israel will be looking
at end times for good and all.
If there is a God, and this is his doing, My hat is off to you, Good Sir.
A sign of things to come...yes that must be it.
I guess its genesis all over again. How bout that.
Let's see, there will be lots of fun things going on.
The first born son of every family in all of Egypt will die, all of them in the same night. Moreover, no form of Egyptian history will even mention that it occurred, which is how it happened last time.
Then the nomadic jews will wander for 40 years covering a distance of 200 miles. Yes, 40 years to cover 200 miles. But wait, there's more. While these people are bordering on starvation, god will send them manna from heaven to eat. But as close to starvation and as destitute as they were, they will create a calf out of gold to worship, while their leader is climbing mountains and talking to a burning bush.
Yea, its the end of times, alright.
Yawn.
just wait until the water turns to blood. what will you say then? and it won't necessary be that the water at the wedding feast will turn into wine. could be though. but the nasayers will come up with their own explanation as they always have. one day, however, you will acknowledge truth.
"...have power to turn water into blood ..."
God lives, always has, always will. The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom. Don't judge too harshly what you don't even begin to understand.
Jogrinder,
You're quite mad, aren't you?
...said the people who deny biological evolution, think age of the planet is no more than 20,000 years old, think there is an invisible man in the sky, etc etc.
"Irony" doesn't seem to be a concept well understood by the faithful, is it?
Judging by their inability to spell, grasp the basic rules of grammar and, well....think..... I'd expect they believe "irony" is what you do with an iron.
Reproduction explained (Genesis
1:27-28; 2:24;
Mark
10:6-8). While evolution has no mechanism to explain how male and female
reproductive organs evolved at the same time, the Bible says that from the
beginning God made them male and female in order to propagate the human race and
animal kinds.
That's nice. Prove it!
More like the beginning of delusion and subserviance.
And you believe this to be true...why?
Biblical science? That's not a thing.
Rejecting the Creator results in moral depravity (Romans
1:20-32). The Bible warns that when mankind rejects the overwhelming
evidence for a Creator, lawlessness will result. Since the theory of evolution
has swept the globe, abortion, pornography, genocide, etc., have all risen
sharply.
Morality is independent form any deity or religion.
What "evidence" would that be?
And 150 years of technical, social, political, and populace progress has nothing to do with that, right? coorelation does not imply causation.
"The Bible warns that when mankind rejects the overwhelming
evidence for a Creator"
What?! Overwhelming evidence. Do you know the difference between subjective and objective?
"Since the theory of evolution
has swept the globe, abortion, pornography, genocide, etc., have all risen
sharply."
WOW....no it's just covered more frequently due to communication technology. Genocide has risen? Have you even looked at a history book? And most of historical genocide is at the hands of those who think God is on their side.
Oh great!! Just what they need. A perfectly natural disaster caused by nature. When that happens in a religiously superstitious society we all know the result. God did it/the devil did it/or we did something the sky fairies didn't like. Then you know what happens next...............LOL.
How about karma? May the plague of 1000 locusts fly up your nose.
Why don't we see silly articles like this after every big hailstorm? After all, that was one of the 10 plagues of Egypt, too. Call me when we find talking donkeys and talking snakes, since those are also part of "biblical science."
I'd settle for a river turning to blood, too, I guess.
Actually, the Flying Spaghetti monster was flown off course due to the recent asteroids and upset the normal patterns of the locusts. Sorry for the inconvenience!
"The Bible" should be on The Mythology Channel where it belongs.
The Zionists should be praying for the Palestinians to be saved from Israel's brutal occupation pigs.
But why? Prayer is useless.
God has created all mankind from one blood (Acts
17:26; Genesis
5). Today researchers have discovered that we have all descended from one
gene pool. For example, a 1995 study of a section of Y chromosomes from 38 men
from different ethnic groups around the world was consistent with the biblical
teaching that we all come from one man (Adam)
Roger, do you have anything of actual value to offer besides your bible babble and circular reasoning?
I think he just did. He gave you a scientific argument that support the bible. All you have to do is to search and verify the 1995 study of the section of Y chromosomes from the 38 men. Then whatever else you want to believe and put the two things together is up to you. You have the choice. Science is not against the Bible. The most recent discoveries they actually support it. If you are curios to find out, that is your homework to do not ours. Rogers put already enough posts where can give you some clues that one support the other. They are clues, is up to you to search and know more. Whatever he will keep putting you won't just pay attention to it anyway, if doesn't come for your desire to know more. By by and arrivederci
Uh, no! All he did was provide circular reasoning.
Scientific facts is not based on belief.
Not unless you take the bible literally.
More like archealogical finds support certain aspects of the bible as it pertains to locations and the sociopolitical climate of the time. But science does not support other more outrageous claims.
So far, all I've seen Roger post is dogmatic rhetoric.
Not to worry, these locusts are old and tired with gray beards.
while I might not be a fanatic religious nut, I do have faith and pray to a higher power, but even I don't believe that plagues, or other atrocities that happened or didn't happen in the past will occur in our times. I think that alot of the occurances that have been documented (or fabricated) as momentus happenings in the past can be explained by cycles in weather, seasons, and other environmental influences of the time.
Pestulance can be atttributed to the inability to dispose properly of waste. Infestations comes with pestulance. In the biblical days, I think that they attributed any suffering or tribulations to punishment from god or gods. I would love to think that there IS ONE specific writing or accounted documentation of what actually transpired in those days, but I seriously think that alot of it was from myth, false prophecies, coincidental infestations, calamities, and other unexplainable orccurances. If they could not rationalize what was happening, then it was a curse from the gods.
To this day, there are folks who still think that some of their life occurances are because of what some higher power is dealing them or they have reaped. Not taking responsibility for what they get in life is a result of what they have put into their life or the lack thereof.
Point being. No biblical plagues or other Nostradamus predictions coming to a community near you.
If and when the world ends... none of us will be around, or will be able to predict it. It will just happen. IF it does.
Exodus
So Moses stretched out his staff over Egypt, and the Lord made an east wind blow across the land all that day and all that night. By morning the wind had brought the locusts;
Revelation
12 I turned around to see the voice that was speaking to me. And when I turned I saw seven golden lampstands, 13 and among the lampstands was someone like a son of man,[d] dressed in a robe reaching down to his feet and with a golden sash around his chest. 14 The hair on his head was white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes were like blazing fire. 15 His feet were like bronze glowing in a furnace, and his voice was like the sound of rushing waters. 16 In his right hand he held seven stars, and coming out of his mouth was a sharp, double-edged sword. His face was like the sun shining in all its brilliance.
12 I watched as he opened the sixth seal. There was a great earthquake.
10 The third angel sounded his trumpet, and a great star, blazing like a torch, fell from the sky on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water— 11 the name of the star is Wormwood.[a]
Now Joshua, pass the bong....
Here's an interesting side note: The North American Locust is probably extinct. Current scientific thinking suggests that agricultural practices in a relatively small area--where the "seed populations" retreated to reproduce after swarms--doomed the insects.
The entomology isn't entirely certain on this one; it is known that Old World locusts are the same species as the migratory form that causes such devastation.
http://bugguide.net/node/view/98442
I saw the movie.
The Plague, The Plague as little Tattoo screams as the Locust come into view. Mr Roarke (Riccardo Montalban) now appears to happily welcome us all to Fantasy Island. A World where people can Walk On Water, part waters ways with their wooden staff and follow Moses on a 40 year journey. Fantasy, Folklore, Old Wives' Tales, Fables and Imaginary Dreams are exactly what these are. Made up by Man to tell a story everyone would like to believe. Things happen just because they do. Not because someone prayed or wished it to be. If that was the case there would be no Wars, disasters , babies dieing at birth, plane crashes, disease, criminals, gang members or murder. Everyone would find that rainbow with a pot of gold at the end of it. Tinkerbell drops her magic dust on everyone and little Cupids fly around shooting everyone with Love. Hello.....welcome everyone to the Real World WE ALL live in. If you want something good to happen in life you best do it yourself because nothing or no one is going to do it for you. Action always speaks louder then words. Biblical prophecies are only what you make them out to be and nothing more. The World or Universe does not know what day it is, people make the days up. Just because something happens on a certain made up day people put meaning into it. It happened on that particular day just because it did and for no other reason. Do you think the Locust had a brain large enough to understand they must fly to Khartoum, Sudan or Egypt just because someone ordered them to? Next time the Locust are coming or a cloud formation looks like the Virgin Mary think twice about what it really means. Nothing more then it did, period.
Scoffers,
Behold, ye despisers, and wonder, and perish: for I work a work in your days, a work which ye shall in no wise believe, though a man declare it unto you. Acts 13:41
Let’s do a little
math, shall we? The Population
Reference Bureau estimates that, since the beginning of time, 108 billion
people have lived, or are living on the earth.
Now, the Apostle John writes in the Book of Revelations that only
144,000 saved persons will enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Since the Book of Timothy says that “All
Scripture is God Breathed”, all true believing Christians MUST accept that all
words written in the Bible come from God because the words have been ‘breathed’
into the minds of the apostles or scribes who wrote them. Therefore; dividing
108,000,000,000 persons by only 144,000 saved gets you 1.3 saved souls for
every 1 million people living or who have lived. So I ask you, do you actually think that out
of 1 million people living around you in your city or state, YOU WILL BE THE
ONLY PERSON SAVED and the remaining 999,999 will be damned to hell?
So Judas threw the money into the temple and left. Then he went away and hanged himself. Matthew 27:5.
Then said Jesus unto him, Go, and do you likewise. Luke 10:37.
Now VoiceAmerica, you should know by now, Christians only believe the parts of the Bible that they want to believe! They don't pay any attention at all to the other parts. All those parts where their god completely endorses slavery, or the great verse about the talking donkey... they just pretend those parts don't exist. :)
True christians believe in the literal interpretation of the bible. Some of them will resort to fistucuffs over whose literal interpretation is correct.
Catz, not just fistucuffs, that book has caused more death and bloodshed than all the plagues in history.
It is an old argument that religions are responsible for more deaths than any other cause. Actually the lack of spirtuality has caused the butchery in various so called religious wars. People have fought over whose truth is correct and that is true whether a particular religion is the driving force of the conflict or competing ideologies like Capitalism vs Communism. It all comes down to each others truths and behind that is the accumulation of wealth and then the survival instinct.
The facts are that more innocent civilians have died in wars under atheistic govts than religious theocratic ones. I do think though that separation of Church and State a very good idea given the emotional nature of religious expression. That does not mean that govts who separate from religious law are immune to the same corrupting forces that plague religions.
So are the Israelites supposed to leave for the promised land now???
How Great Thou Art......I guess I am heading for that "Lake Of Fire" in Hades. Actually I did not know anyone still talked like that. You do a fine job indeed. I am still waiting to perish because "A Man declared it unto me" but I still seem to be ticking after you gave me a good licking. If I had a nickle for everyone who quoted a Bible I could retire in style. Thanks for the warning though. I will think about it for the next 30 seconds. Next!
Alan,
I put this up because people love to mock God, and that is what I see happening at a faster pace in these days. This is what mankind did in the days while Noah was building the arc. I know it doesn't make any difference to you, and I'm not giving you a "good licking". I've been ridiculed plenty for following God's word and sharing it, my nickels are starting to add up too. Jesus loves you, the bible tells me so.
VoiceAmerica,
Jehova's Witness believe that way, I don't!!!!
There is probably no part of Revelation that has been more abused than the first half of chapter 7 which tells about 144,000 Jews being "sealed" as "bond-servants" of God. The Jehovah's Witnesses claim that a group of their founders and pioneers constitute this group. Other cults claim they are the 144,000. Most mainline Christian commentators argue that this group is symbolic of the Church.
How 144,000 Jews could be symbolic of the Church is beyond my comprehension. This interpretation is a good example of the fanciful ideas that people seem to delight in pulling out of Revelation. What would God have to do to convince us that He is speaking about 144,000 Jews? He says they are Jews. Specifically, He calls them, "the sons of Israel" (Revelation 7:4). He even enumerates them by their tribes, stating that 12,000 will come from each tribe. Does He need to put a flashing neon sign in the sky that says, "I'm talking about Jews!"?
HGTH,
It is hard to mock something that is really not there. I believe in fact rather then fiction. You on the other hand are being mocked because you preach to others "faith". Lets look at the meaning of Faith. belief that is not based on proof. firm belief in something for which there is no proof. Strong or unshakeable belief in something, esp without proof or evidence. A specific system of religious beliefs. There are hundreds of beliefs and religions and just because there are does not make anyone of them so. For every quote you give someone else gives another one with a different meaning. You only need a brain to think what is real or not. I was brought up knowing the differences between right and wrong. Live your life and Not trod on others is the best example I know of. It's your life to live. Everyone lives it the way they want.
Hey Great, just keep drinking that koolaid. Keep shining your nickels.
Faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen. You can scoff now that is your perogative. Someday your eyes will be opened, either in this life or after....don't wait. Whether anyone believes it or not I care about people's souls, and hope the best for you.
Hey Great, your book has produced more death than all the wars in history. It supports slavery, oppression, and genocide. It mentions death 1822 times from cover to cover (NIV). Don't worry about my soul. Just keep your book of death to yourself.
Animals do not have a conscience (Psalm
32:9). A parrot can be taught to swear and blaspheme, yet never feel
conviction. Many animals steal, but they do not experience guilt.
If man evolved from animals, where did our conscience come from?
The Bible explains that man alone was created as a moral being in God’s image.
Interesting concept but how do you explain primates that show empathy and even altruistic behaviors? These behaviors have been documented. Chimps also hold hands kiss hug each other use tools go to war with competing groups and have cultural practices passed down within groups. Most humans have RH positive blood types. RH stands for Rhesus Monkey. We are genetically closest to the Bonobo and Chimpanzee primates.
I do believe in a spiritual creator but I do acknowlege our primate relatives and an animals capacity for love courage and loyalty.
Obviously Roger never owned a dog. I will not question your faith, but from what you state and how you act, I must question your sanity.
How Great Thou Art and Roger - have thoroughly enjoyed your posts. Thank you and keep up the good work. ☺
A plague of 10 foot rats in Iran that some are calling mutations and now Egypt is being swarmed by the locust. Whats next a virus? Lets see the scientists are suppose to be on top of this new super TB there is also the new super smallpox. These new viruses are antibiotic resistant. For many who follow the biblical prophecies signs are happening.
Locust swarms are a minor problem in Egypt. They were swarmed by moslems a thousand years ago and haven't recovered,
Typical racist statement by a racist.
GM Ralph.
Ralph Muslim is not a race it is a religion. Islam is a separatist religion just as many religions consider their truths to be supreme and correct and should be the only true religion.
The problem with the bible is, you know there is some lunatic out there who believes in Revelations so deeply, they will cause it to happen just as written, it is called subliminal messaging. So it does make the bible true to some extent doesn't it?
isn't biblical science called scientology?
Biblical prophecy is not just what people will do but natural and unnatural occurrences. Those natual and unatural events that can not be attributed to mans manipulation causing Revelations prophecies to come true. Your concern is warranted about people using scripture as a guide to bring about the apocalypse. However, before discounting the book of Revelations you may wish to read it and research its history. Saint Malachy's prophecies are interesting as well.
In the final analysis people have always needed stories to teach comfort and even provide guidelines for punishing those who act in ways that are criminal. Religions have been used as the mouthpiece by many evil people but so have other ideologies such as Communism and Socialism as a front for Fascism. Myth structures that encourage hope joy love helping behaviors comfort and peace are not evil. Good luck with any society trying to operate on scientific knowledge alone. Without a teaching platform (stories) an acceptable standard of moral behavior is not achievable and science without a moral watchdog has shown just how devastating its power is when misused.
No, it's called an oxymoron! Emphasis on the 'moron!'
In the same way that Santa Clause is true if I believe he delivers presents on X-Mas eve.
This is why God invented Napalm.
or bug spray.
I am still amazed that every depressed country in the world that ever has a 'plague' of locusts and is starving because of it has not learned to eat the locusts!!! Many Asian countries sell grasshoppers (small locusts), crickets, rice beetles and other insects as food in their marketplaces, and nobody turns up their noses at them. I would assume that if you are hungry enough, you'll eat pretty much anything, and locusts have plenty of protein. I am not a locust eater, but faced with starvation, I might be persuaded to try them. They're also excellent bait for fish! Fish I can handle.
Back in the day, locusts were called manna.
Yeah, they're edible but we need lots of chocolate.