Revelation 8: 8-9

8The second angel sounded his trumpet, and something like a huge mountain, all ablaze, was thrown into the sea. A third of the sea turned into blood, 9a third of the living creatures in the sea died, and a third of the ships were destroyed.

Revelation 6:6

Then I heard what sounded like a voice among the four living creatures, saying, "A quart of wheat for a day's wages, and three quarts of barley for a day's wages, and do not damage the oil and the wine!"

Rev. 6:7

And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth beast say, Come and see.

Rev. Rev. 6:8

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.

Rev8:8-10

10And the third angel sounded, and there fell a great star from heaven, burning as it were a lamp, and it fell upon the third part of the rivers, and upon the fountains of waters;

Rev: 8:8-11

11And the name of the star is called Wormwood: and the third part of the waters became wormwood; and many men died of the waters, because they were made bitter.

REv 6:9

And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held:

Louisiana Red

The latest attempt at closing the hemorrhage of oil from a well, one mile deep on the ocean floor in the Gulf of Mexico has failed. (operation Top Kill) The next operation to be attempted will be at least another week in the implementing, and the best fix, (the drilling of relief wells) are at least two months away.

In the prophetic book of Revelation, the apostle John was reporting visions of the end times. In one part of the cryptic prophecy he saw what appeared to be a “mountain” on fire that was “cast into the sea”. It then looked like the water became thick and reddish, with the appearance of the blood of a dead man. By the time it was over, one third of the sea was polluted and one third of the wildlife was killed.

The following are segments of the prophecy:

“And the second angel sounded, and as it were a great mountain burning with fire was cast into the sea: and the third part of the sea became blood; And the third part of the creatures which were in the sea, and had life, died; and the third part of the ships were destroyed.” Revelation 8:8

“And the second angel poured out his vial upon the sea; and it became as the blood of a dead man: and every living soul died in the sea.” Revelation 16:3

Just imagine you are John on the Island of Patmos, almost 2000 years ago. If you had seen what we now recognize as the burning explosion of an oil rig in the middle of the sea, what would you describe it as? Or imagine you were witnessing an oil spill about 2000 years into the future. With your current knowledge at that time how would you describe what the oil looked like on the water? Coagulated blood?

But any one who has grasped the vastness of the sea, would have a hard time imagining one third of the waters polluted and dead.

But consider these alarming facts.The Gulf of Mexico covers approximately 600,000 square miles, measuring approximately 995 miles from east to west, 560 miles from north tosouth.

The Gulf basin resembles a large pit with a broad shallow rim. The basin contains an approximate volume of 642 trillion gallons with approximately 38% of Gulf waters being shallow intertidal areas, richest in wild life. This sounds like a very large area. However, the pollution ratio of oil to water is that every 1 gallon of oil will ruin 1,000,000 (one million) gallons of water. (per: North Carolina Clean Water Education Partnership)

That means by factoring even the most conservative estimates of the volume of oil that has gushed into the ocean within the first month of this still ambiguous calamity, over 61,000,000,000,000 [Sixty One trillion] gallons of water, or an approximate 10% of the Gulf Of Mexico have been polluted/contaminated so far ....and that is the CONSERVATIVE estimate.

Of course bible prophecy advocates will tell you that the chronology of the prophecies in the book of revelation seem to indicate a sequence of events along a different time line. But the fact I would ask the serious bible scholar to consider is that, if the book of Revelation were to be read as a chronological timeline, it would be the ONLY book of prophecy (with a major portion of Old Testament Scriptures being Bible prophecy) to follow a chronological order. HUM….

That is why some are beginning to view this calamity as of apocalyptic proportion, the significance of which has not even be fully calculated. Biblical Prophecy of the end times? You decide.

Frog Plague?

In Photos: Frog horde is latest Greek plague

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Wed May 26, 6:16 pm ET

An economy on the brink. Horrible pollution. And now a "carpet of frogs" to contend with? Greece sure has it tough these days.

On Wednesday, a horde of frogs caused a two-hour closure on one of Greece's major highways near the city of Thessaloniki. The city's traffic police chief, Giorgos Thanoglou, told the Associated Press that the "millions" of frogs were probably looking for food. Three accidents resulted, as drivers attempted to dodge the hungry hoppers. The AP writes that no human injuries were reported.

You can check out the swarm of frogs below. Ribbit.

Click the image to see more pictures of the amphibian deluge

The plague of frogs is only the latest in a never-ending series of bizarre animal stories. Other creatures that have caught the attention of the Web in recent days include hybrid animals like the "grolar bear" (part polar bear, part grizzly; don't miss the pictures!) and newly discovered species including the "Pinocchio" frog (also with pictures).

And, of course, we'd be practically derelict in our journalistic duties if we forgot the infamous sheep pig.

Obama Turns against Israel

In recent weeks, the Obama Administration has endorsed "healthy relations" between Iran and Syria, mildly rebuked Syrian President Bashar Assad for accusing the U.S. of "colonialism," and publicly apologized to Moammar Gadhafi for treating him with less than appropriate deference after the Libyan called for "a jihad" against Switzerland.

When it comes to Israel, however, the Administration has no trouble rising to a high pitch of public indignation. On a visit to Israel last week, Vice President Joe Biden condemned an announcement by a mid-level Israeli official that the government had approved a planning stage—the fourth out of seven required—for the construction of 1,600 housing units in north Jerusalem. Assuming final approval, no ground will be broken on the project for at least three years.

But neither that nor repeated apologies from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu prevented Secretary of State Hillary Clinton—at what White House sources ostentatiously said was the personal direction of President Obama—from calling the announcement "an insult to the United States." White House political chief David Axelrod got in his licks on NBC's Meet the Press yesterday, lambasting Israel for what he described as "an affront."

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Associated Press

Since nobody is defending the Israeli announcement, least of all an obviously embarrassed Israeli government, it's difficult to see why the Administration has chosen this occasion to spark a full-blown diplomatic crisis with its most reliable Middle Eastern ally. Mr. Biden's visit was intended to reassure Israelis that the Administration remained fully committed to Israeli security and legitimacy. In a speech at Tel Aviv University two days after the Israeli announcement, Mr. Biden publicly thanked Mr. Netanyahu for "putting in place a process to prevent the recurrence" of similar incidents.

The subsequent escalation by Mrs. Clinton was clearly intended as a highly public rebuke to the Israelis, but its political and strategic logic is puzzling. The U.S. needs Israel's acquiescence in the Obama Administration's increasingly drawn-out efforts to halt Iran's nuclear bid through diplomacy or sanctions. But Israel's restraint is measured in direct proportion to its sense that U.S. security guarantees are good. If Israel senses that the Administration is looking for any pretext to blow up relations, it will care much less how the U.S. might react to a military strike on Iran.

As for the West Bank settlements, it is increasingly difficult to argue that their existence is the key obstacle to a peace deal with the Palestinians. Israel withdrew all of its settlements from Gaza in 2005, only to see the Strip transform itself into a Hamas statelet and a base for continuous rocket fire against Israeli civilians.

Israeli anxieties about America's role as an honest broker in any diplomacy won't be assuaged by the Administration's neuralgia over this particular housing project, which falls within Jerusalem's municipal boundaries and can only be described as a "settlement" in the maximalist terms defined by the Palestinians. Any realistic peace deal will have to include a readjustment of the 1967 borders and an exchange of territory, a point formally recognized by the Bush Administration prior to Israel's withdrawal from Gaza. If the Obama Administration opts to transform itself, as the Europeans have, into another set of lawyers for the Palestinians, it will find Israeli concessions increasingly hard to come by.

That may be the preferred outcome for Israel's enemies, both in the Arab world and the West, since it allows them to paint Israel as the intransigent party standing in the way of "peace." Why an Administration that repeatedly avers its friendship with Israel would want that is another question.

Then again, this episode does fit Mr. Obama's foreign policy pattern to date: Our enemies get courted; our friends get the squeeze. It has happened to Poland, the Czech Republic, Honduras and Colombia. Now it's Israel's turn.

Plague of Locusts?

The plains of northwestern New South Wales (NSW), Australia, are normally quiet places. People are few and far between in these croplands of wheat and cotton.

But the silence is about to be broken by swarms of locusts that threaten to move across the state with a sound some Three species have laid their eggs: the Australian plague locust(Chortoicetes terminifera), the migratory locust (Locusta migratoria), and the spur-throated locust (Austracris guttulosa). But it is the Australian plague locust that has laid its eggs most widely.

Females can lay 30 to 60 eggs per cycle up to four times in their short lives. Eggs laid in the Southern Hemisphere autumn about the same time as spring in Earth's Northern Hemisphere could survive in the ground until January (mid-summer in Australia) if there is not enough rain for them to hatch, Macdonald explained.

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"Under ideal conditions, locusts can hatch, mature, mate, and lay eggs within six to eight weeks, meaning there could be as many as four generations born before next winter," he said.

Even at the nymph stage, when they are unable to fly, bands of locusts can crawl up to four-tenths of a mile (one kilometer) from their egg beds and consume all vegetation in their path.

Locusts can be sprayed with insecticides on the ground about two weeks after they hatch, when they are still flightless and starting to form dense bands.

Once the insects can fly, however, swarms can travel more than 300 miles (500 kilometers) a day in search of food and must be sprayed from the air.

Although 264,000 acres (107,000 hectares) of land have already been sprayed, the first swarms caused an estimated 24 million U.S. dollars in damage and laid billions of eggs.

Farmer Angst

The main farmers' representative group, the NSW Farmers' Association, expressed concern that not enough of the required insecticides have been ordered to cope with the outbreak.

"While the government has twice as much chemicals on hand as [it had during the egg-laying period in March and April], this may not be enough if all the egg beds hatch," association president Mal Peters said.

"We have been assured that there is enough chemicals. But some areas may need to be sprayed three times, and the government must be ready to top up its supply if necessary."

The main insecticide, Fenitrothion, can kill locusts within 24 hours.

Farmers are better prepared this time, Peters said, but this may be of no use if enough chemicals are not made available.

"Locusts are best sprayed during the very early stages of their development, so we can't afford to waste any time," Peters said.

But Macdonald believes the government has prepared well, having already authorized the distribution of enough chemicals to treat 1.3 million acres (540,000 hectares).

"Response teams will also carry out aerial control when the size and density of bands are too large for landholders to treat on their own," Macdonald said. to that of a hailstorm.

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At their most ferocious, the migrating grasshoppers can form swarms up to 9.6 square miles (25 square kilometers) that can travel more than 300 miles (500 kilometers) a day searching for food, according to the Australian Plague Locust Commission. A swarm of just 0.4 square mile (1 square kilometer) can contain up to 50 million locusts and consume 11 tons (10 metric tons) of vegetation every 24 hours.

The New South Wales minister for agriculture, Ian Macdonald, said work has been "feverish" ahead of the anticipated outbreak.

Tens of millions of dollars in damage could be done to crops, pastures, orchards, gardens, and sports fields.

"Fortunately the number of new hatchings continues to drop," Macdonald said. "On the other hand, forecasted warmer weather will speed up locust maturity, and control authorities expect to see more adult swarms developing."

But despite chemical stockpiles and mobile response teams being dispatched across the state, Macdonald said it will be impossible to prevent all damage.

"Locusts are highly destructive creatures, no matter the size of their population," Macdonald said.

"Every effort is being made to reduce damage to a minimum, limit future swarms, and curb migration and future egg-laying. But with 11,008 hatching reports in NSW so far and more swarms in the coming weeks, some damage to crops and pastures must be expected."

Damage Done

Last month government agencies in Sydney and other regions were expecting the hatchings to be so numerous that officials began assembling mobile response teams to deliver chemicals to properties as soon as the locusts started hatching.

AT WAR WITH CHINA?

US warships head for South China Sea after standoff

Tim Reid in Washington

A potential conflict was brewing last night in the South China Sea after President Obama dispatched heavily armed American destroyers to the scene of a naval standoff between the US and China at the weekend.

Mr Obama’s decision to send an armed escort for US surveillance ships in the area follows the aggressive and co-ordinated manoeuvres of five Chinese boats on Sunday. They harassed and nearly collided with an unarmed American vessel.

Washington accused the Chinese ships of moving directly in front of the US Navy surveillance ship Impeccable, forcing its crew to take emergency action, and to deploy a high-pressure water hose to deter the Chinese ships. Formal protests were lodged with Beijing after the incident.

On a day that Mr Obama and his senior officials met the Chinese Foreign Minister, Yang Jiechi, in Washington, Beijing showed no sign of backing down. Its military chiefs accused the unarmed US Navy ship of being on a spying mission.

The US keeps a close eye on China’s arsenal, including its expanding fleet of submarines in the area. Washington says that the confrontation occurred in international waters, but Beijing claims nearly all the South China Sea as its own, putting it in conflict with five other nations that have claims over different parts of the waters.

The episode complicated fragile military relations between the US and China, which appeared to have improved after the two held defence talks in Beijing last month.

Mr Obama yesterday urged more military dialogue with China to avoid similar incidents after talks with Mr Yang, the White House said. “The President also stressed the importance of raising the level and frequency of military-to-military dialogue,” it said.

A hotline was established between the Chinese Defence Ministry and the Pentagon in April last year, but it was not used during or after Sunday’s standoff, defence officials said. The US Government immediately protested to Chinese authorities after the incident, about 75 miles south of Hainan Island.

Beijing has rejected the US account and demanded that the United States cease what it calls illegal activities in the South China Sea. The Chinese maintain the area is part of the country’s exclusive economic zone.

Washington insists that the area is part of international waters and that US ships have a legal right to operate there.

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