Sydney Felt Like Armageddon?

This morning, residents of Sydney, Australia woke up to a dust storm that had some wondering if it was the end of the world:

Red mist blankets Sydney as dust storm blows in

City dwellers woke to red, apocalyptic skies with visibility down to a few feet…

The Times – Sept 23, 2009 excerpt…

A huge outback dust storm swept across eastern Australia today, leaving most of New South Wales, including Sydney shrouded in a thick red cloud of dust.

Flights were diverted and Sydney’s iconic ferries were suspended as city dwellers woke to red, apocalyptic skies with visibility down to a few feet, and thick dust coating cars, buildings and beaches.

The emergency services were inundated with calls from people fearing a major bushfire in the city while dust particles triggered scores of fire alarms and, in one Sydney train station, an emergency evacuation.

The extraordinary weather conditions also fanned several bushfires across NSW. “This is unprecedented. We are seeing earth, wind and fire together,” said Dick Whitaker from the Weather Channel.

“An event like this is extremely rare,” Mr Hanstrum said. “It’s one of the worst, if not the worst.”

Callers to ABC radio likened the scenes to the end of the world.

A housewife from Sydney’s inner west said she woke up to find the red dust had covered her floors and birds had been blown out of their nests.

“It did feel like Armageddon because when I was in the kitchen looking out the skylight there was this red, red glow coming through,” she told the ABC.

Two small earthquakes measuring 3.0 and 2.6 on the Richter scale rattled Melbourne, although there were no reports of damage.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/article6845490.ece

Dust storm chokes Sydney

Australian Broadcasting Corporation – Sept 23, 2009

Sydneysiders are being warned that a huge dust cloud will continue to affect the city through the day, after they woke to an eerie red dawn this morning.

The huge dust storm which has settled over the city and much of New South Wales was carried east overnight by gale-force winds of up to 100kph…

‘Like Armageddon’

Karen from Dulwich Hill, in Sydney’s inner west, says she woke up to find the red dust had covered her floors and birds had been blown out of their nests.

“It did feel like Armageddon because when I was in the kitchen looking out the skylight, there was this red, red glow coming through,” she said.

Mick told ABC Online: “In Sydney’s south-western suburbs I’ve just woken up to a glowing red window! Thought it was Armageddon! Either that or South Korea [sic] had nuked us!” http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/09/23/2693643.htm

Of course, as regular readers of this page are aware, “the end of the world as we know it” cannot happen until after 2012. And red skies do not mean Armageddon (which, while related to the end, is a staging place for a battle–it is not described as a place with a red sky in scripture).

But there are end time prophecies about the moon looking like blood (which is red):

20 The sun shall be turned into darkness,
And the moon into blood,
Before the coming of the great and awesome day of the LORD (Acts 2:20).

12 I looked when He opened the sixth seal, and behold, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became like blood (Revelation 6:12).

And while these have not had their final fulfillment yet, this morning’s display in Sydney shows that they can happen. And of course, Bible prophecy will be fulfilled.

Some articles of possibly related interest may include:

Anglo – America in Prophecy & the Lost Tribes of Israel Are the Americans, Canadians, British, Scottish, Welsh, Australians, Anglo-Southern Africans, and New Zealanders descendants of Joseph? Where are the lost ten-tribes of Israel? Who are the lost tribes of Israel? Will God punish the U.S.A., Canada, United Kingdom, and other Anglo nations? Why might God allow them to be punished first?
Can the Great Tribulation Begin in 2009, 2010, or 2011? Can the Great Tribulation begin today? What happens before in the “beginning of sorrows”? What happens in the Great Tribulation and the Day of the Lord? When is the earliest that the Great Tribulation can begin? What is the Day of the Lord?
End of Mayan Calendar 2012–Might 2012 Mean Something? Are there Mayan calendar predictions for change in 2012? Changes were centuries ago predicted by the Hopi Native Americans. Do Mayan/Hindu/Hopi/Buddhist/New Age/Nostradamus prophecies have any value here? Why might Satan have inspired this date? Does the Dresden codex show destruction of the earth by flood? Can the great tribulation start before 2012? How might Barack Obama be involved in 2012?