Blog note. Jesus indicated that ‘fearful sights’ (various natural disasters) would occur leading up to the time known as the Tribulation and Great Tribulation (a combined seven year period of great destruction on earth). Although these types of things have occurred in the past for centuries and thousands of years, they could be identified as the ‘season of the times’ due to the ferociousness of these events. They would be occurring in greater intensity, severity, frequency, size, duration, scope … just like the pains that a woman experiences in labor the farther along she is in the labor process. We are in the ‘season of the times’ that comes just before the seven (7) year Tribulation/Great Tribulation period

… And great earthquakes shall be in diverse places, and famines, and pestilences; and fearful sights and great signs shall there be from heaven. (Luke 21:11).

… And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring; (Luke 21:25)

… Men’s hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken; (Luke 21:26)

… This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. (2 Timothy 3:1)

Jesus is giving a series of prophecies about what to look for as the age of grace comes to a close. These verses are several of many such prophecies from throughout the Bible. 2017 was the worst year in recorded history for the intensity, frequency, severity, duration and occurrence of a large number of severe natural disasters worldwide. Earthquakes, volcanoes, hurricanes, typhoons, cyclones, torrential flooding, unprecedented wildfires in unusual places, devastating droughts, excessive/scorching heat setting records everywhere, record snowfalls in Europe and Russia. Snow in the Arabia. This list can go on. Most studied Eschatologists believe these ‘fearful sights’ and massive natural disasters are all part of the ‘CONVERGENCE’ of signs that this Biblical and prophetic age is closing. Most people who study prophecy are familiar with the routine reference(s) made that these things will be like a woman having labor pains, growing in intensity, frequency, size and duration.

Thousands of tarantulas are emerging from the ground in the San Francisco Bay Area, looking for mates. 50 species. “Warm, dry weather in northern California has extended this year’s mating season.”

Aylin Woodward. Business Insider•October 10, 2019

Every year as the summer ends, male tarantulas engage in a season of courtship. The fuzzy arachnids skitter across roads and parks in the western US, traveling up to a mile in search of mates (even though male tarantulas often meet their demise at the fangs of their spidery lovers).

Typically, tarantula mating season starts in late August and terminates by the second week of fall. But warm, dry weather in northern California has extended this year’s mating season there, so residents of the San Francisco Bay Area have been spotting tarantulas this week. Hiking trails in Mount Diablo State Park are reportedly replete with determined males.

“Great time of year. You only get to see it once a year,” Sonoma County Reptile Rescue Director Al Wolf told CBS San Francisco.

Searching for that special spider

North American tarantulas (50 species that fall under the genus Aphonopelma) have been known to travel up to 1 mile — a long trek for a spider with legs the length of our fingers — to find a mate. Usually, though, males prefer to stay within a few inches of their burrows.

Once a tarantula finds a potential mate’s burrow and fights off any other males for courtship rights, he does something akin to knocking on the front door: Burrows are covered by a silk web, so the suitor taps the web and tries to entice the female outside.

If she acquiesces and comes out, the female tarantula then receives the male’s sperm, which the spider has conveniently already deposited on the web. But then she’ll eat him if the lovestruck arachnid lingers too long.

“If the female is hungry she may make her anxious suitor her next meal,” according to the National Park Service.

Even males who do survive their sexual encounter are typically dead by the start of November.

Spotting tarantulas in action

Typically, male tarantulas weigh less than an ounce and grow to lengths of 2.5 inches. They move about solo and prefer traveling at dusk, so spotting the spiders is challenging.

Californians looking to see a tarantula also have an additional challenge this week, since Pacific Gas & Electric has shut off power to 800,000 customers across the state. The move is meant to reduce the risk of sparking wires that could cause fires amid dry, windy conditions.

California isn’t the only state to experience an annual tarantula migration. In August, tens of thousands of Oklahoma brown tarantulas moved through the area around La Junta, Colorado in search of females.

Tarantulas, while creepy-looking to some, are not dangerous to people, according to the US Fish and Wildlife Service. The toxins released by their fangs aren’t harmful to a creature of human size, though the stinging hairs on their abdomens can cause mild skin and eye irritation.

“It’s often the nicest spider of the groups. It’s the littler spiders that we always have problems with. These big ones often don’t do anything to you,” Wolf told CBS.