So What Was That Noise Anyway?

“And as I was prophesying, there was a noise, a rattling sound…” [Ezekiel 37:7] So what was that noise anyway?
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Jesus had also mentioned a great turmoil when he said, “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 24:6-8]
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Mankind has been warring against itself since the beginning of recorded history. But that was nothing compared to what happened after June 28, 1914. It was on that day Serbian zealot shot the Archduke of Austria, Prince Francis Ferdinand in the streets of Sarajevo. On August 1, it came to blows when various nations and kingdoms of Europe became engaged in the Great War (later known as World War I). By the time the armistice was signed on November 11, 1918, all but seven nations had become embroiled in this epic conflict (and even the seven neutral nations sent mercenaries).1 Some 65 million soldiers took part in the war, more than all the wars prior. Nearly an estimated 15 million soldiers and civilians were killed.2
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What followed the war was even more costly. A deadly strain of influenza originating in the United States and carried to Europe by American troops hit both continents very hard. Many Europeans were made even more susceptible to the disease because of malnutrition and famine directly resulting from the war. It is estimated some 20 million lost their lives to flu pandemic2, more than the number lost during the war.
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Pestilence is still a problem these days. HIV and AIDS have arrived on the scene in the last couple of decades. West Nile Virus has been spreading across the United States since 1999 with deadly results. Last year we saw a deadly strain of the flu. With more and more diseases becoming drug-resistant and frequent travel around the world, a pandemic is only waiting to happen.
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Famine is also still a problem. According to The Hunger Site, about 1 billion people suffer from hunger and malnutrition. About 24,000 people die each day of starvation or hunger-related causes. By the way, you can go to The Hunger Site and click to donate free food every day.
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Then there’s the earthquakes. There is considerable controversy with this topic. Some claim the occurrence of earthquakes has increased since World War I while others don’t. Certainly with more and more seismic recording equipment being put to use, we are recording more earthquakes that may otherwise be undetected. But certainly the quakes are getting more and more deadly. And as if to confirm Jesus’ assertion of earthquakes in various places, the only known multiple earthquakes in history have been recorded since World War I. One such example is of a prolonged quake in Helena, Montana in 1935 with similar reports coming in from New York and Honduras.3
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Since the “War to End All Wars” there has been plenty of war, pestilence, hunger, and earthquake activity going on all at once. Perhaps that is what Jesus was trying to tell us.
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Notes:

1. LaHaye, Tim and Jenkins, Jerry B. Are We Living In the End Times? Wheaton, Illinois: Tyndale House Publishers, 1999, pp. 38-40.
2. World War I
http://www.brainyencyclopedia.com/encyclopedia/w/wo/world_war_i.html
3. LaHaye, Tim and Jenkins, Jerry B. Are We Living In the End Times? Wheaton, Illinois: Tyndale House Publishers, 1999, pp. 40-41.