Swarms of the destructive grasshopper locust were spotted this week crossing the border between Saudi Arabia and Jordan. Swarms of locusts were seen descending on the town of Tafilah in South Jordan, which is a hub for olive and fruit agriculture. According to The National, the situation was dire enough on Monday, May 6, for Jordanian authorities to deploy the airforce to spray pesticides. And on May 3, Locust Watch, the official locust swarm tracker of the United Nations (UN), has warned springtime locust breeding has intensified over the past few weeks in Saudi Arabia and Iran.
Pastor Paul Begley, a Christian evangelist from West Lafayette in Indiana, US, believes the swarms of “biblical proportions” are tied to doomsday prophecies.
The firebrand preacher firmly believes humanity is already living in the end times, as described in the Bible.
He has now claimed online scenes from the Old Testament’s Book of Exodus are unfolding before his very eyes.
Pastor Begley said: “Are you serious? Locusts? Biblical plagues have returned.
“What? Well, just like something out of the Bible folks, swarms, and I mean swans of millions of locusts have darkened the skies in Saudi Arabia, creating a scene out of the Bible.
“It’s a plague of biblical proportions. It’s cataclysmic even.”
Locusts? Biblical plagues have returned
Pastor Paul Begley
In the Bible’s Book of Exodus, a plague of devastating locust was called down on Egypt as punishment for enslaving the Jewish people.
The locust plague was one of 10 brought down upon the ancient nation by God and his chosen servant Moses.
The other plagues included pestilence of all livestock, turning the waters of the Nile into blood and swarms of frogs invading Egypt.
Ultimately, God’s final plague saw the death of Egypt’s firstborn sons as the ultimate punishment for the Pharaoh’s transgression against the Israelites.
The Book of Exodus reads: “And the LORD said to Moses, ‘Stretch out your hand over Egypt so that locusts swarm over the land and devour everything growing in the fields, everything left by the hail.’
“So Moses stretched out his staff over Egypt, and the LORD made an east wind blow across the land all that day and all that night. By morning the wind had brought the locusts; they invaded all Egypt and settled down in every area of the country in great numbers.
“Never before had there been such a plague of locusts, nor will there ever be again.”
According to the United Nations, locusts are the oldest migratory pest in the world and can cover vast distances in swarms.
The Desert Locust, Schistocerca gregaria, is the most dangerous of all locust species and can affect up to 65 percent of the world’s poorest countries.
The pest can cover distances of up to 93 miles (150km) a day, and given the right conditions, can multiply 20-fold in as little as three months.
Adult locusts can easily eat their own weight in crops and vegetation every single day.
The UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization warned: “If infestations are not detected and controlled, devastating plagues can develop that often take several years and hundreds of millions of dollars to bring under control with severe consequences on food security and livelihoods.”
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