“‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: You are the one I spoke of in former days by my servants the prophets of Israel. At that time they prophesied for years that I would bring you against them. This is what will happen in that day: When Gog attacks the land of Israel, my hot anger will be aroused, declares the Sovereign Lord. In my zeal and fiery wrath I declare that at that time there shall be a great earthquake in the land of Israel. The fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, the beasts of the field, every creature that moves along the ground, and all the people on the face of the earth will tremble at my presence. The mountains will be overturned, the cliffs will crumble and every wall will fall to the ground. I will summon a sword against Gog on all my mountains, declares the Sovereign Lord. Every man’s sword will be against his brother. I will execute judgment on him with plague and bloodshed; I will pour down torrents of rain, hailstones and burning sulfur on him and on his troops and on the many nations with him. And so I will show my greatness and my holiness, and I will make myself known in the sight of many nations. Then they will know that I am the Lord.’

• Ezekiel 38:17-23

Jesus answered: “Watch out that no one deceives you. For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Messiah,’ and will deceive many. You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of birth pains.

• Matthew 24:4-8

He replied: “Watch out that you are not deceived. For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am he,’ and, ‘The time is near.’ Do not follow them. When you hear of wars and uprisings, do not be frightened. These things must happen first, but the end will not come right away.”
Then he said to them: “Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be great earthquakes, famines and pestilences in various places, and fearful events and great signs from heaven.
“But before all this, they will seize you and persecute you. They will hand you over to synagogues and put you in prison, and you will be brought before kings and governors, and all on account of my name. And so you will bear testimony to me. But make up your mind not to worry beforehand how you will defend yourselves. For I will give you words and wisdom that none of your adversaries will be able to resist or contradict. You will be betrayed even by parents, brothers and sisters, relatives and friends, and they will put some of you to death. Everyone will hate you because of me. But not a hair of your head will perish. Stand firm, and you will win life.

• Luke 21:8-19

Here is the fourth quiz in a series of quizzes on the birth pains of the End Times – and they have been every other week.  What Jesus says in Matthew 24 (basically the same words in Mark 13) gives some words that can be the focus of a quiz.  Luke 21 uses a slightly different expression of the same basic things.  I have added Ezekiel 38 above which has even more descriptive words.

But it is sad that so many people have their heart tugged by a war and suddenly think we are in the End Times.  Jesus also mentioned earthquakes, famines, and pestilence.  We have had those too.  But our short attention spans lose heart as we read through, before Jesus says the words “birth pains.”  And the admonishment to take heart.  Pestilence is mentioned as part of these birth pains, but in Luke and not Matthew or Mark.

So, this quiz focuses on the word “pestilence” and the types of pestilence in the book of Revelation.  Pestilence is mentioned 5 times in the NIV.  I will add a couple of pests: scorpions and locusts.  All the questions are in biblical order.  The last three questions come from the New Testament.

The Questions:

	Question	Bible References	Answers
1	What plague of Egypt preceded the plague of locusts, so that it was said that the locusts consumed all that was left over from this previous plague?
2	Of the three words focused upon in this quiz, which is the name of a mountain pass, mentioned three times in the Old Testament?
3	After the rebellion of Israel is prophesied, they sing the song of Moses where it is said that if they worship other gods, God will send pestilence and four other things.  Name at least one other calamity that God will send against Israel when they worship other gods.
4	Gideon was called by God because what people had invaded and seemed to be like a swarm of locusts?  This people descended from Abraham, Keturah as the mother, and Moses married the daughter of one of their priests.
5	What king prayed over the temple during its dedication, speaking of when various calamities occur that God would hear the prayers of the people?  These calamities ranged from blight, mildew, locusts, etc. to being besieged by enemies.
6	The psalmist assures us that Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.  So, surely God will protect us from what type of snare and from deadly pestilence?
7	What priest, son of Buzi, by the Kebar River in the land of the Babylonians was called to be a prophet, and he was instructed to not be afraid of the people or their words, not even the briars, thorns, or scorpions?
8	What prophet ate locusts and wild honey?
9	When the 72 disciples returned, Jesus gave praises, and among those praises was that He had given them the authority to trample scorpions and what other troublesome animal that travels along the ground?
10	When the fifth angel sounded the trumpet, an angel unlocked something, and out of it came smoke, and out of the smoke came what pest that had the power of another pest?  Bonus for what was unlocked.

Being in the military in the seventies, after the Vietnam War, I did a lot of training in helicopters.  In Europe, I flew in helicopters to inspect construction sites and act as pay officer.  I even crash landed in a helicopter once and lived to tell the tale.  We autorotated into a rutabaga field, landing in rows they had already picked, making it an abrupt but not damaging landing.  The problem was quickly fixed and we were on our way.

But when you hear a helicopter, you hear the distinct “Whop-whop.”  It is sometimes called chuffing, but the technical term is blade slap.  Yet, this blade slap is powered by powerful engines.  And when many of these helicopters are in formation, the “whop-whop” sound gets blended with all the other blade slaps.  What you get is a buzzing sound, like insects.

In reading the last question, I have often thought about what the Apostle John saw.  If he saw a helicopter from a distance, he might think that to be an insect.  If there were enough of them, it would seem to be a swarm of insects.  And if some of the helicopters were attack helicopters, there could be quite the sting from such beasts.

Really, I think God could create such a beast, but in the description of this swarm, it sounds like nothing that we see in nature today.

Bible References:

	Question	Bible References	Answers
1	What plague of Egypt preceded the plague of locusts, so that it was said that the locusts consumed all that was left over from this previous plague?	Exodus 10:12
2	Of the three words focused upon in this quiz, which is the name of a mountain pass, mentioned three times in the Old Testament?	Numbers 34:4; Joshua 15:3; Judges 1:36
3	After the rebellion of Israel is prophesied, they sing the song of Moses where it is said that if they worship other gods, God will send pestilence and four other things.  Name at least one other calamity that God will send against Israel when they worship other gods.	Deuteronomy 32:24
4	Gideon was called by God because what people had invaded and seemed to be like a swarm of locusts?  This people descended from Abraham, Keturah as the mother, and Moses married the daughter of one of their priests.	Judges 6:5; Judges 7:12
5	What king prayed over the temple during its dedication, speaking of when various calamities occur that God would hear the prayers of the people?  These calamities ranged from blight, mildew, locusts, etc. to being besieged by enemies.	1 Kings 8:37
6	The psalmist assures us that Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.  So, surely God will protect us from what type of snare and from deadly pestilence?	Psalm 91:3
7	What priest, son of Buzi, by the Kebar River in the land of the Babylonians was called to be a prophet, and he was instructed to not be afraid of the people or their words, not even the briars, thorns, or scorpions?	N/A, but scorpions mentioned in chapter two, verse 6.
8	What prophet ate locusts and wild honey?	Matthew 3:4
9	When the 72 disciples returned, Jesus gave praises, and among those praises was that He had given them the authority to trample scorpions and what other troublesome animal that travels along the ground?	Luke 10:19
10	When the fifth angel sounded the trumpet, an angel unlocked something, and out of it came smoke, and out of the smoke came what pest that had the power of another pest?  Bonus for what was unlocked.	Revelation 9:3

This concludes the key words about the birth pains found in Matthew, Mark, and Luke, but Ezekiel has a few others when Gog of Magog attacks Israel.

Will these things in Ezekiel be during the End Times or will they also be birth pains of the End Times?

But I think I will continue with plagues, hailstones, and maybe if there is enough, burning sulfur.

But in all these disasters, remember that this is good news.  God is going to rid this world of death, pain, and sin, once and for all.

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The Answers:

	Question	Bible References	Answers
1	What plague of Egypt preceded the plague of locusts, so that it was said that the locusts consumed all that was left over from this previous plague?	Exodus 10:12	Hail.  Not all the crops had emerged from the ground when the hail destroyed the crops and killed some of the livestock.
2	Of the three words focused upon in this quiz, which is the name of a mountain pass, mentioned three times in the Old Testament?	Numbers 34:4; Joshua 15:3; Judges 1:36	Scorpion Pass.  It was used as a southern boundary point of the Promised Land, between the Dead Sea and the Zin Wilderness
3	After the rebellion of Israel is prophesied, they sing the song of Moses where it is said that if they worship other gods, God will send pestilence and four other things.  Name at least one other calamity that God will send against Israel when they worship other gods.	Deuteronomy 32:24	Wasting famine and deadly plague.  Then the fangs of wild beasts and the venom of vipers.  In the following verses another punishment – the sword.
4	Gideon was called by God because what people had invaded and seemed to be like a swarm of locusts?  This people descended from Abraham, Keturah as the mother, and Moses married the daughter of one of their priests.	Judges 6:5; Judges 7:12	Midianites.  Genesis 25:1-2 speaks of Midian being a son of Abraham through Keturah.  Exodus 3:1 speaks of Moses’ father-in-law being a priest of Midian.
5	What king prayed over the temple during its dedication, speaking of when various calamities occur that God would hear the prayers of the people?  These calamities ranged from blight, mildew, locusts, etc. to being besieged by enemies.	1 Kings 8:37	Solomon
6	The psalmist assures us that Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.  So, surely God will protect us from what type of snare and from deadly pestilence?	Psalm 91:3	A fowler’s snare
7	What priest, son of Buzi, by the Kebar River in the land of the Babylonians was called to be a prophet, and he was instructed to not be afraid of the people or their words, not even the briars, thorns, or scorpions?	N/A, but scorpions mentioned in chapter two, verse 6.	Ezekiel
8	What prophet ate locusts and wild honey?	Matthew 3:4	John the Baptist (Baptizer)
9	When the 72 disciples returned, Jesus gave praises, and among those praises was that He had given them the authority to trample scorpions and what other troublesome animal that travels along the ground?	Luke 10:19	Snakes
10	When the fifth angel sounded the trumpet, an angel unlocked something, and out of it came smoke, and out of the smoke came what pest that had the power of another pest?  Bonus for what was unlocked.	Revelation 9:3	Locusts came from the smoke with the power of scorpions (the ability to sting).  The smoke had come from the Abyss.

Whether you did well on this quiz or, ummm, not so well, for the first video, here is Sing and Learn the Bible singing The 10 Plagues Bible Song.  I loved this short little song and the children’s enactment.  I listened to a couple of songs about “pestilence” and I was having Screwtape flashbacks, wondering whose side were the musicians on?

Here is Frederick Hank Sammons singing Joel Song – God’s Locust Army.

Here is Michaela Vancura of WorshipUnityMusic singing The Locust’s Requiem.  In the notes on this recording, the song was inspired by Joel 2:25; 2 Chronicles 7:14; and Isaiah 61:3.

Here is Randall Goodgame (I think) singing God Made Me.  Randall Goodgame usually takes Scripture to weave it into a song, but he is the lead singer for Slugs and Bugs.  This is a television show for children, but I watch it on occasion.  I thought this little song was catchy and it tells us about God’s love.

What is the pest that you deal with the most?  We all have them, and I am not talking about that irritating brother of yours.  There was a swarm of locusts that made the news a few years ago in Africa that destroyed the crop in an area that was already in a famine mode.  The two go together.  A swarm of locusts can easily lead to famine.

But as for the pests in our lives, they may be a nuisance, but they usually do not get to plague status.  And some of those pests aren’t necessarily bad things.  Spiders catch other bugs.  Crickets also eat bugs, but I will admit that having them in the house can be highly irritating with them chirping constantly.  But insects are not the only pests that we deal with.  When we get some in our house, they are either trying to find a comfortable place to live or we have left them enough hints to know that a food source is nearby.

If you like these Saturday morning Bible quizzes, but you think you missed a few, you can use this LINK. I have set up a page off the home page for links to these Saturday morning posts. I will continue to modify the page as I add more.

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.