…and there will be terrors and great signs from heaven.

Luke 21:11

The Gospel of Luke often adds additional information for parallel passages also found in Matthew and Mark. Regarding birth pang signs, terrors and great signs from heaven is unique to Luke. When we read the passage, perhaps the first instinct is to assume “great signs from heaven” means they will be from God. From the NET Bible embedded commentary:

“This term, φόβητρον (phobētron), occurs only here in the NT. It could refer to an object, event, or condition that causes fear, but in the context it is linked with great signs from heaven.”

I’ve added a few pictures of things that could qualify as “signs from heaven”. I’ll discuss two categories of what I believe may qualify as terrors and signs from heaven.

Marian Apparitions

Apparitions of the “blessed virgin” seem to have begun in the 16th century but most have occurred since 1830. Interestingly, since the primary doctrines regarding Mary were declared Catholic dogma in 1854 (Mary’s immaculate conception) and in 1950 (Mary’s bodily assumption into heaven) the apparitions have increased dramatically.

Signs from heaven were displayed to a large crowd at Fatima (the so-called miracle of the sun) and directly linked to the most popular Marian apparition, Our Lady of Fatima. These apparitions have won the trust of millions of people in Roman Catholicism as well as other faiths to include Islam who holds Mary in the highest regard since she is mentioned in the Qur’an 70 times. Muslim people are frequently visitors to Marian apparition sites. And yet when the message of the apparition is compared to the gospel message of the bible, we find a radically different message with a counterfeit redeemer sold to the masses by Our Lady of Fatima.

Clearly the Marian apparitions are highly effective at deception when men in positions of authority and claims of infallibility are supporting the messaging from these apparitions hovering in the air. Clearly this teamwork between the popes and the Marian apparitions have won the devotion of Mary by millions of people who have no understanding of the gospel preached by Paul or Peter, true Apostles of Christ.

For anyone interested, I highly recommend the book:

The Cult of the Virgin: Catholic Mariology and the Apparitions of Mary by Kenneth R. Samples and Elliot Miller.

UFO’s Otherwise Known as UAPs

Consider a story from Türkiye:

Flights were suspended for 12 hours due to the UFO (Unidentified Flying Object) allegedly detected by the radar of a passenger plane in the south-eastern Türkiye, UFO Story

UFOs, once relegated to the fringe, are now reported routinely in the news. Eye witness testimony by credible witnesses are front and center in main stream media and even in congressional testimony. The government, after a long history of suppressing UFO reports and evidence, now acknowledges their existence. Always perplexing and often terrifying.

Interestingly, UFO hot spots are often areas of pagan strongholds such as Stonehenge, Skinwalker Ranch, or Sedona Arizona. Not exactly godly places. Other manifestations visible from the sky could be included such as crop circles often associated with UFO sightings.

Reported encounters of so called aliens from another planet (what we are told or what we assume) bring messages of peace and promise of mankind ascending to our destiny of godhood and immortality as we travel the stars. This is what some actually believe. And would our “alien brethren” accept our wickedness and destructive proclivities to spread our oppression and injustice to the stars? This of course assumes they are from the stars. I believe a more likely possibility is that these entities are from the unseen realm manifesting as beings of light giving deceptive words we want to hear.

Sometimes the UFO phenomena includes abduction encounters that are always terrifying. Victims seem to have no way out and experience awful things. Interestingly, a few have cried out in the Name of Jesus and the encounters immediately end.

The promise from the entities of our next evolutionary leap towards immortality are highly exaggerated. Mankind is not ascending to anything but instead descending into the filth of a reprobate and deceived mind.

Paul’s Warning

Remember that the birth pangs signs are all happening together. Could it be that the first sign – deception about false messiahs – are tied to the signs in the heavens? Marian apparitions are incredibly deceptive conveying the skin of truth stuffed with lies. The Holy Spirit warned us in advance through the Apostle Paul, possibly anticipating this very manifestation:

For such people are false apostles, deceitful workers, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. Therefore, it is not surprising his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness, whose end will correspond to their actions.

2 Corinthians 11:13-15

In this passage we see that there are both satanic entities working as “angels of light” along with humans in positions of power claiming authority they do not have. In Paul’s time, there were many claiming to be Apostles of Christ, a special designation given only to 12 men in all of history. It is apparently very effective. Paul had to deal with the church in Corinth and also the Church in Galatia on the very same issue of the gospel being distorted by people and spiritual entities deceiving the masses.

…not that there really is another gospel, but there are some who are disturbing you and wanting to distort the gospel of Christ. But even if we (or an angel from heaven) should preach a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be condemned to hell!

Galatians 1:7-8 (NET Second Edition)

The messages always come from the air, something we see in the atmosphere. Either a UFO followed by strange and terrible aliens communicating empty promises through people who don’t know Christ, or ethereal apparitions hovering in the air claiming to be from heaven but bringing a different message that undermines the gospel. Whether aliens or apparitions, the goal of these “angels from heaven” as the apostle calls them is to distort the gospel and cause us to believe the same old Lie to Eve in the beginning: “you will be like God”.

The air. Who is the prince in that region of the heavens?

And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience.

Ephesians 2:1-2

This is an interesting description given by Paul of an evil entity not specifically identified but described as having dominion over the “power of the air” – fascinating. Perhaps this is a hint that may connect with the verse from Luke above about terrors and signs from heaven. Lets see how Paul contrasts this with where the Lord resides:

He who descended is Himself also He who ascended far above all the heavens, so that He might fill all things.

Ephesians 4:10

“Far above the heavens” – this is Heaven where God resides, also referred to “on high”. In chapter one of Ephesians, a book which speaks a lot about the various levels of the heavens, speaks about where the Lord resides:

…which He brought about in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come.

Ephesians 1:20-21

In fact, Ephesians speaks more about the heavens than perhaps any other place in the New Testament – or at least among the Epistles. With this information about the various “heavens” and who resides where in the various levels of the heavens, I think the sign in Luke should be taken as signs in the air or the atmosphere – the lower heaven in which the “prince of the power of the air” has some dominion. The region where UFOs and apparitions manifest to terrorize and deceive people.

We live in a supernatural world filled with entities that mean to destroy us through deception that leads away from the gospel that saves us. Without salvation, without the Word of God, we have no defense.

We need to trust in the Lord with the only message that can save through the power of the gospel already given through the apostles and prophets in the Word of God.

We also need to be discerning regarding the birth pangs signs in the gospel of Luke because we are warned. These terrors and great signs in the heavens will intensify and become ever more deceptive.

Seek God’s Word. Seek understanding. Don’t be deceived.