Video: Waters turn 'blood-red, biblical color'

In Nootdorp, South Holland, in the Netherlands, the water has turned a deep red, and locals are at a mystery as to why, though the phenomenon has prompted some to remember biblical prophecies of water turning to blood.

"It looks like red wine," remarked Nootdorp resident Mark Ruder to the Netherlands' Telstar Online.

"It is probably an algae," Ruder speculated, "but in our region that just does not happen."

David Dilling, an American living in the Netherlands who captured the odd phenomenon on video, however, described the canal waters as turning a "blood-red, biblical color."

In 2011 WND reported a similar incident of blood-red waters in Texas that also prompted comparisons to biblical tales.

Live Science reported on the incident too, with an article titled "End Times? Texas Lake Turns Blood-Red."

The Bible contains several references to water and blood, including the passage in Exodus where the Nile River flows with blood as a plague, an incident mentioned again twice in the Book of Psalms.

But in the prophetic book of Revelation, the Scriptures foretell a time when oceans and rivers will flow with blood again.

Revelation 8:8 states, "And the second angel sounded, and as it were a great mountain burning with fire was cast into the sea; and the third part of the sea became blood."

And in Rev. 16:3-4, the Bible states, "And the second angel poured out his vial upon the sea; and it became as the blood of a dead man: and every living soul died in the sea. And the third angel poured out his vial upon the rivers and fountains of waters; and they became blood."

Discover the signs of blood in the heavens as well, some that may be coming to pass right now, with Pastor John Hagee's new book, "Four Blood Moon: Something Is About to Change."

When the lake turned red in Texas, Pastor Paul Begley of the Community Gospel Baptist Church in Knox, Ind., said people should be taking note, whether the phenomenon was attributable to "algae" or not.

"I'm not saying that this Texas lake is these Scriptures in Revelation," he said, "but what I am saying is the Bible prophecies are slowly fulfilling themselves in the midst of an end time revelation – that we need to be right, we need to be saved, we need to be born again and ready to meet the coming King."

In the Netherlands, local officials have downplayed speculation that the supernatural is turning the canal red, declaring the phenomenon is "almost certainly" a natural bacterium.

Delfland Water Board spokeswoman Inka Vogelaar told Telstar, "We've been through this once before. That was this summer in a ditch somewhere in Westland."

In Texas, government agencies similarly explained the phenomenon naturally, claiming the red color in the reservoir was the result of severe droughts in the area, which produced a lack of oxygen in the water, causing certain bacteria to thrive.

Nonetheless, in the Nootdorp, as in Texas, people have been urged to avoid direct contact with the water.