Two of the animal kills sites had "a strange cloud" present

This last week I've been awestruck at the amount of spiritually spooky events happening. The dead birds falling from the sky and the fish washing up on beaches all over the world are definitely freaky. I mused long and hard over the plight of mothers in Beebe Arkansas who saw the birds littering their bushes, their streets, and their roads and then were terrified when hazmat vans rolled up and fully suited men walked up and down the street picking up the birds. What must have gone through their minds? Did they wonder, 'Should I get my children and evacuate?' 'Are they a hazard to my health?' 'What is happening?'

Thailand bird-kill in orchard

I mused further on the description of the dead doves in Faenza Italy: "There are certainly many hundreds, probably thousands, the collared dove who are dying at this moment in Faenza. They are in heaps in the flower beds, crushed by machinery in the streets, horribly hung from trees like Christmas balls. Over all a mystery. Inside the beak, in some animals, the staining was of a strange blue," and thought to myself, gracious sakes alive! That is heart-breaking! I've written before about the mental state of people in attempting to grapple with events that are completely outside the realm of our experience and outside our ability to understand. As faith wavers, as love grows cold, the brakes on our sinful nature will be unleashed and people will increasingly snap.

Thailand bird kill in Orchard

I drove to church this morning with these matters on my mind. I mused on Ezekiel and Revelation on the LORD'S warning of how sins pile up. I pondered the Hosea and Zephaniah scriptures that show the LORD'S work in judging and sweeping the land of birds and fish. And as I parked and walked to the side door, this greeted me:

I had actually passed it and when I went into the Sunday School room, my friend said "Did you see the dead bird by the door?" I rushed out and saw the little thing, toes up, and went "awww". Then I went "Oh My Goodness!"

Now most likely this juvenile hawk simply flew into the glass breezeway and fell down dead. But in thinking of the events far away, they were brought home to me in vivid detail. If I was moved, then freaked, by one dead bird, how must have the people of Beebe Arkansas felt when upwards of 8000 fell on them?? How must the residents of Faenza have felt when thousands of dead doves fall stiffly to the ground? It IS freaky, moving, disconcerting, and upsetting to see dead animals, especially vulnerable ones like baby hawks or doves.

In researching these things today, there are two comments that pricked up my ears. One was my already-posted comment from the Russian Wildlife expert discussing the 12,000 antelope kill. He said that there had been an earlier saiga antelope kill in another district, and there, "a strange white cloud" had been seen.

In the Beebe Arkansas 5,000 bird kill, the one that burst this entire issue onto the national and global consciousness, it is now being reported that weather radar captured a "strange cloud" that was NOT precipitation nor was it hail. The "cloud" did not move, as normal clouds do. Weather radar experts simply do not know what the cloud was. Here is the news spot about it:

Radar spots strange cloud where birds died 

In the bible, God comes in a cloud, and a cloud symbolizes the Spirit. Yahweh's Presence and Glory: "The metaphoric and symbolic uses of clouds are many, and furnish some of the most powerful figures of Scripture. In the Old Testament, Yahweh's presence is made manifest and His glory shown forth in a cloud. The cloud is usually spoken of as bright and shining, and it could not be fathomed by man: "Thou hast covered thyself with a cloud, so that no prayer can pass through" (Lam 3:44). Yahweh Himself was present in the cloud (Ex 19:9; 24:16; 34:5) and His glory filled the places where the cloud was (Ex 16:10; 40:38; Nu 10:34); "The cloud filled the house of Yahweh" (1 Ki 8:10). In the New Testament we often have "the Son of man coming on" or "with clouds" (Mt 24:30; 26:64; Mk 13:26; 14:62; Lk 21:27) and received up by clouds (Acts 1:9). The glory of the second coming is indicated in Rev 1:7 for "he cometh with the clouds" and "we that are alive .... shall together with them be caught up in the clouds, to meet the Lord" and dwell with Him (1 Thess 4:17). 2. Pillar of Cloud: The pillar of cloud was a symbol of God's guidance and presence to the children of Israel in their journeys to the promised land. The Lord appeared in a pillar of cloud and forsook them not (Neh 9:19). They followed the guidance of this cloud (Ex 40:36; Ps 78:14)." There are more definitions of how clouds are used actually and symbolically at the link above.

Just sayin'.

Pray for our brothers and sisters in Christ, and pray for our neighbors who do not know Christ as these events continue to unfold.

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