Is this not all getting very biblical?
Are we not all reliving Exodus and the 10 biblical plagues?
I have not quite figured out who is today’s equivalent of the pharaonic enemy, or of the people of Israel, but maybe that will soon become clear.
Rereading Exodus, I see eerie parallels with today.
The first plague was water turning into blood: we now see deep red algal blooms in the seas off Hong Kong too often for comfort.
Then, plagues No 2 to No 4 were frogs, lice and flies – with locusts eventually arriving as plague No 8.
Today we watch gruesome footage of billions of locusts sweeping across East Africa, into Pakistan and India, with fears they may invade 60 countries and 20 per cent of the world’s land surface.
China’s Forestry Ministry is on high alert, where they say locusts already destroy an estimated 10 million hectares of crops every year.
Plague 5 was pestilence of livestock: today we have hundreds of millions of pigs culled in China, victims of African swine flu, and billions of farmed shrimp succumbing to Decapod iridescent virus 1, or DIV1, across 11 Chinese provinces, on top of the almost annual cull of chickens downed by avian flu.
And let’s throw in the bacteria and fungi cutting a swathe through Europe’s olive orchards and the world’s Cavendish banana plantations, as well as the collapse of honey bee populations.
Plague 6 was boils, and here perhaps we should not be too literal, though given a choice between boils and the current pandemic, Ebola or other recent epidemics, I think the Egyptians got off lightly.
Plague 7 was thunderstorms of hail and fire, and again I think the Egyptians got off lightly, compared with the Americans and Australians who have survived recent wildfires, and the millions falling victim every year to typhoons, hurricanes and other wild weather. Did you see this terrifying hail in Del Rio?
After locusts, the ninth plague feels familiar: “…total darkness covered all the land of Egypt for three days. No one could see anyone else, and for three days no one left his place.” That sounds eerily like the lockdowns, which for many are now in their third and fourth weeks.
The final plague – and the one that finally got the Pharaoh to relent and give the Israelites their freedom – was the death of all firstborn sons.
Is there not a dreadful resonance with this week’s briefing from the UN’s World Food Programme, warning that we are “on the brink of a hunger pandemic” that could result in “multiple famines of biblical proportions” as the pandemic spreads, silent and deadly, to already impoverished parts of the developing world, in particular in Africa, pushing perhaps 130 million or more people “to the brink of starvation by the end of 2020.”
The 10 plagues of Egypt a metaphor?
Or are Egypt’s firstborn sons a metaphor for those now being culled by the thousand in the cities of the rich Western economies that have through their unsustainable addiction to hyperconsumption pushed our planet to the brink?
I don’t like metaphors, and this would not be a tidy one, but there must be a biblical thread here that suggests we are being punished for – and warned over – our profligate disregard for maintaining balance in our global ecosystem.
Looking back at Exodus, there are other untidy threads. Unlike the Israelites, we have nowhere to escape to. As so many say, there is no Planet B.
And while with the Egyptians, God relented after 10 plagues, we still seem set for several to come.
As our population continues to grow towards 10 billion, there seems every likelihood that more grim pestilences will be visited on us, sooner rather than later.
Fish
Think about the growing strain on the world’s fish stocks. Think about sea-level rises displacing millions worldwide and aggravating already grievous migration pressures.
Forest
More forests will be sacrificed to our need for more farmland, and pressure on food productivity will intensify as weird weather disrupts the scientific miracles that have been performed over the past century to keep at bay Malthus’ dire scenarios in his 1798 Essay on the Principle of Population.
True, Malthus has been proven wrong for 222 years, but… Even the current epidemic, and the economic recession triggered as we struggle to keep the pandemic under control, might provide more nasty surprises.
Food Supply
Immense strain has been put on the world’s food supply systems, and the potential for tragic food scarcity remains, even though several years of good harvests worldwide have lifted food stocks to healthy levels.
Restrictions on cross-border movement of people as far afield as the United States and Germany have slashed the supply of migrant farm labour worldwide, raising the danger of healthy crops not being harvested.
The lockdowns which have sabotaged restaurants and food manufacturing businesses, and forced families to eat at home, have also left food supply chains in chaos.
Supermarkets are struggling to get supplies of family-sized food packages for diners at home, while the large-scale demand that usually comes from food factories and restaurants has withered.
Such mismatches along the food chain are forcing farmers to destroy rotting crops.
Family incomes
Just as family incomes have crashed because of work shutdowns, so food prices have leapt for many staples needed by families in hardship.
Unexpected disasters
It is sobering to note that, while few countries worldwide hold more than two or three months of supplies of most food staples, a rerun of the colossal Tambora volcanic eruption in 1815 would destroy or badly disrupt crops worldwide for perhaps four years.
Our two-month stockpiles would mean little then. Back in 1816 and 1817, crops failed worldwide from Yunnan to Europe and even to the New England states in the US, without anyone understanding why. And we are unprepared for such a massive volcanic eruption.
If the God of the Israelites really wanted to drop the plague of all plagues on us, a Tambora-like natural catastrophe would be high on his list.
These are indeed biblical times, and it makes me nervous to see so many of our leaders worldwide with their eyes fixed on petty political point-scoring rather than keeping the plagues in check. More biblical news on Strange Sounds and Steve Quayle. [SCMP]
First of all, thanks for putting all of this together and showing it’s relevance to today. What’s good is that a lot of people are starting to see the connection (at least slightly) and are wondering if we are in the End Times. That is a good thing.
You’ve probably heard that more people today, even atheists are turning to the Bible for answers. Another good thing.
Now, we know that the Exodus from Egypt following the Ten Plagues was a HUGE miracle that YHVH used to display his power and make His Name known to the Egyptians, Israelites and the world. Remember, even 40 years later, when Joshua was preparing to attack Jericho: The people of the city were ‘scared to death’ because they had heard all that Yehovah had done to the Egyptians!!
There can be no doubt that God is doing/allowing all these things to get our attention. So far, it is beginning.
When I think of these things, my mind goes to Deuteronomy 30. For context, you might want to read chapters 28 & 29 about the blessings and curses for keeping YHVH’s commandments. Chapter 30 explains that – one day – in the future – when the children of Israel have been kicked out of the Land, what will happen.
Please note, some of the Jews are back in the Land, but no where near the entire people of Israel and Judah.
De 30:1 ¶ “Now it shall come to pass, when all these things come upon you, the blessing and the curse which I have set before you, and you call them to mind among all the nations where the LORD your God drives you,
2 “and you return to the LORD your God and obey His voice, according to all that I command you today, you and your children, with all your heart and with all your soul,
3 “that the LORD your God will bring you back from captivity, and have compassion on you, and gather you again from all the nations where the LORD your God has scattered you.
4 “If any of you are driven out to the farthest parts under heaven, from there the LORD your God will gather you, and from there He will bring you.
5 “Then the LORD your God will bring you to the land which your fathers possessed, and you shall possess it. He will prosper you and multiply you more than your fathers.
6 “And the LORD your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants, to love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live.
7 “Also the LORD your God will put all these curses on your enemies and on those who hate you, who persecuted you.
8 “And you will again obey the voice of the LORD and do all His commandments which I command you today.”
This passage is AFTER the blessings and the curses have come upon God’s people. These plagues are part of those curses. Curses for what? For NOT keeping God’s commandments! This is not directed at Jews only. Christians who worship the God of Israel are ‘grafted in to the family of Jacob’. You don’t get to be a separate group from the Israelites only when it suits you. Either you are grafted in, or you are outside of Israel – the offspring of Jacob.
Being spiritually Israel is not a new thing. All along people were able to ‘join’ the Israelites who had no blood relation to them. If someone wanted to follow the God of Israel and live among them, he was welcomed. (Ruth is a good example.)
By putting one’s trust and hope in Yeshua the Messiah, you were joined to Israel. But, God still expects His people to keep His commandments.
I’m not talking about sacrificing animals and all things temple related because there is NO Temple, NO priesthood and no way to keep those ‘instructions’.
Here we are today, with millions of Christians all over the world. Most don’t keep God’s commandments because they believed the lie that the Law (which is God’s Instructions for life) is done away.
The blessings mentioned above were for “keeping the commandments”. The curses were a guaranteed result of “rejecting or failing to keep the commandments”. If the whole world is filled with Christians who are part of Israel, and most are NOT keeping the commandments, does that not explain why the whole world would be seeing these plagues (curses)?
I don’t mean that this is God’s final judgment on us all!! No. Deuteronomy 30 tells us that some of us (hopefully millions) will wake up and realize what is going on.
That is the “call them to mind among all the nations”.
But then, we have to “RETURN to the LORD your God and obey His voice”. What does that mean? It means we have to get back to the LAW of God as written in the Torah (notice I said written, not oral!).
There are plenty of things listed as commandments, or statutes or judgments that are spelled out for God’s people. They tell us how God wants us to live. These are NOT man’s rules! He wants us to RETURN to those ways, and obey Him. If we do, he will do what is stated next!
This part would ultimately result in the REGATHERING of the people of Yehovah – the House of Israel and the House of Judah (no this isn’t some two house theology) back to the Land of Promise. God promised to do that someday, way back when Moses was still here. That has yet to be fulfilled.
If these curses begin to wake us up and we truly RETURN to God and His Ways (not some church doctrines) – the Torah found in the first Five Books of Moses, then He can begin to bring us back and fulfill prophecy from thousands of years ago.
How do we do that? I know. It seems daunting, but it’s not. Here is one place to look for some information:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-1O10jNTq24&t=5s
I am telling you, the God of Heaven is doing an amazing work in this world today. The plagues are just one little piece. He is moving the hearts of His people back to Himself.
For anyone who wondered, the idea of RETURNING to God is the same as the word we all know: REPENT! When the prophets, John the Baptist and Yeshua said, “Repent” they meant RETURN.
Remember, Ephraim and Manasseh’s (the last mentioned birthright holders of Israel) mother was Nordic Egyptian. (none of them were “Jews”)
Every star link Sat had 3 lasers..
we are in end times for sure make sure your heart is for Jesus
IS THERE ANYONE HERE WHO REALIZES “WAR ” will result from STARVATION,no one will look into the eyes of their five year old and say SORRY KIDS but daddies watching Football and he doesn’t care if your starving,NO KIDS thats NOT how it will go,the HUNT will be on for food,and you have a FAT neighbor who no one likes,HE’LL BE WHATS FOR DINNER,you can take your country back by force NOW,or wait till its to late,in which case you might want to start following these devils home and plan on eating government officals seeing you love them…
Fighting age males will not stand up and fight to take this country back. Too many sissy men and many are busy trying to figure out their genders.
Dear Arizona: Come and see what’s happening up here in Toronto, Canada in this regard! Kudos for saying what no one else I know of will! Kids are taken to be butchered at the Freshco Supermarket here and so are dogs. Fathers are taken for war right off the streets and thrown into trucks with no windows and you wouldn’t believe what else happens here.
Anyone else who wants to speak freely about what is really going down in North America, here’s your opportunity.
Thank you again.
Colleen Berry
It doesn’t seem right to take some of these literal and others not. While I believe they are God’s judgment, I shy away from comparing them to the plagues of Egypt.
Well, If you read Scriptures, including books outside the KJV 1611 one will realize whom the true Israelites are, and are not….(Rev 2:9). The curse of Deuteronomy is over, and the 2 sticks are coming together. The Most High has turned his face away from the Gentiles, and toward his people. See Big Judah U tube videos. Everything will be revealed very soon…
America is trashed now into a third world in just several months. No one seems to care overall, only a small percentage.
It is my understanding President Xi of China started rewriting the Holy Bible inserting his name or the communist party in place of God. Since a number of these plagues originated in China, my guess would be that the true God is not happy with him and the rest of the world that flaunts his Holy Word.
April 26 – I am seeing an inordinate number of flies in SE AZ at the same time butterflies, bees, hummingbirds and birds in general (none at my feeders) seem to have disappeared.
It’s very unusual indeed, to hear people use the term “God of the Israelites”
Man has had plague’s that have done more damage then all the above together, those plague’s are politicans. And if you think your nation espically you in the USA and Israhell are not in the goup then your brain dead.