Signs: are you diligently learning and looking?

Originally in Norwegian, this is a Google-translated article:

"Crop Circles" on the ice in Arna
Friday night as Ole Johan Hansen (77) a mysterious light in the harbor Arna in Bergen. The next morning was a beautiful and inexplicable pattern appeared right there.

"Want was about two feet long, and was not like Noer I've seen before. Since the clock was 11 at night and I was not sure if the ice is safe, I tried to look in my binoculars if there was someone there. I could not see anyone, "says Ole Johan Hansen (77). Hansen lives just off the waterfront in Arna harbor. When he got up Saturday morning, he could hardly believe what he saw. During the night has a symmetrical pattern formed on the ice. The pattern arises from about eight holes in the ice. According to Hansen range rings around 50 meters to the northeast, and 300 feet the other direction. Neither Hansen or sambygding John Halvor Sæle (58) have seen the holes that the pattern arises from before Saturday morning.

- The pattern is amazing good. I have never seen the like, said Sæle. Meteorologist Geir Ottar Fagerlid admitted to parish news that he was thinking in the natural path when he saw the pictures, and that pattern is reminiscent of the mysterious phenomenon of "corn circles". That there should be something inexplicable, sits deep inside. My theory was first and foremost that the rings can be created by hot water, for example, from sewage, which is the ice to melt. But it is hard to say. Beautiful it is in any case, says Fagerlid.

- Created by meteorite? John Halvor Sæle believe the rings can be created by a meteorite. "It was the first thing I thought. I think at least not that the holes are created by people. For that, they are too big and too far from shore. It is totally inexplicable," says Sæle. Astrophysicist Knut Jørgen Røed Ødegaard confirms that the pattern of the theory may have been caused by a small meteorite. But this is unlikely, as a meteorite would probably have been observed by many, and been seen as a bright streak in the sky before it ended in Arna.

Can come from high and low tide? "It's all very fascinating, I've never seen before," says Ødegaard. "But something supernatural I do not think it is. It is likely that the symmetrical pattern become that there were holes in the ice after isfiskere, and it has formed a concentric pattern around when the water rises and falls at the high and low tide. It is not unusual, although they are never as symmetric as this," says Ødegaard.

Unexplained light? "The light may have come from someone who was out on the ice and fished. But I can not see that there are some tracks in the snow. The second theory is that what I saw was a reflection of street lights across the bay. But now it has become dark again, and I can not see any light reflection," says Ole Johan Hansen. Astrophysicist Knut Jørgen Røed Ødegaard has no theory about what it was. "The light can not certainly not have come from a meteorite. A meteorite that still lights up when it hits the ground, has a force of at least 1000 atomic bombs." says Ødegaard.
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I have been considering the extraordinariness of this interview/article since I read it last night. What it boils down to is this:

Fishermen with water expertise can't explain what they saw. Residents with historical memory can't explain it. Astrophysicists with knowledge of the skies can't explain it. Something happened that cannot be explained.

The consequences of man's over-reliance on science as the answer to everything are coming to the fore now. Man has thought wrongly for too long, that since he can explain things through science and logic, it means he is in control. But in the dim recesses of our global history, who could explain the Red Sea parting? A flood that covers the whole world? A bush that burns yet is not consumed? Frogs coming up out of nowhere and everywhere? Rivers turning to blood? A star that leads three wise men to the exact house where Jesus lay? A man who was dead for three days in the tomb, rising and walking? Who can explain how the pyramids were built? These events are recorded in history, seen by eyewitnesses, and some even are evident to this day, yet they defy scientific explanation.

Among other methods, like the prophets for example, God has also spoken to us through signs. God said He would speak to us in the end days through symptoms and events and signs. He speaks, He punishes, He confirms, He demonstrates through signs. He confirmed the Apostles' work through signs. In Mark 16:20 it is written, "Then the disciples went out and preached everywhere, and the Lord worked with them and confirmed his word by the signs that accompanied it." In Hebrews 2:4 it is written, "God also testifying with them, both by signs and wonders and by various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit according to His own will." The Geneva Study bible explains, "This is the true purpose of miracles. Now they are called signs, because they appear as one thing, and represent another: and they are called wonders, because they represent some strange and unaccustomed thing: and powers because they give us a glimpse of God's mighty power."

We understand and accept these signs, rely on them even:


Why is that we do not accept these signs:

(AFP/Getty image) Chilean earthquake, building split in half

Wave hitting cruise ship, killing two and injuring many others.

 Fireball frenzy this week in Duluth, MN

Huge solar filament growing, could produce a coronal mass ejection. Those with solar telescopes are advised to monitor, says spaceweather.com.

Why does secular man, and even believers, not understand those signs, especially since He already told us He would send earthquakes and roaring and tossing seas and signs in the sky?

Jesus told us to watch, and it is my opinion one of the reasons to watch is to accumulate context and understanding over the long haul. Many things use another language, sports for example. If you watch a basketball game for the first time, you listen to the announcers who are speaking in English, but there is a second language as a subtext going on that at first you do not understand. You do not understand the signals the players send each other, nor the signs that the ref uses. Learning the language of the game takes time, and understanding grows with each hour you put into it. You also benefit by building up a history and a context. You remember that a certain play had never been used before, or that a certain team usually plays a certain way against another team. You learn the intricacies. If you tune in for the first time late in the game, you don't know what in the world is going on.

Reading the bible is the same. It speaks to us in plain English, (or whatever your language is), but it also speaks to us in metaphors, parables, poetry, and signs. The more you read, the more you learn. When you see a sign in the world you are more able to relate it to what God has said. You remember the great earthquake that swallowed Korah's army- the ground splitting open and swallowing all those assembled, their animals and households too. And then the earth closed back up again! You remember how diligently the Wise Men of Persia learned the signs of the sun and moon and stars and listened to what those signs were saying.

Was the ice circle in Arna a sign? Or just methane? Was it part of the cadre of signs and wonders that God said He would send? Or was it simply a one-time natural phenomena? You may not ever be sure, but this is for certain, you will never know if you do not learn the language of the bible and the signifying language that God said He would speak to us in these times. Are you one of these Christians who say that the times of signs is over,  dying out with the Apostles? That there is always a "natural explanation" of the things coming upon the world? You are missing half the language in which our Savior reaches out to us. Take the time (again) to read the 4 gospels, and Timothy, James, Daniel, Revelation...and  the other books in which God performed signs and in which He said more would come. Learn the signs, and then look up! For our Redemption draweth nigh!

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