There have been numerous new stories that confirm that many trends are still intact. On an often touched upon subject, the growing underclass in America, a couple of interesting articles we published (http://finance.yahoo.com/news/sprawling-struggling-poverty-hits-suburbs-190146893.html,
and http://www.cnbc.com/id/100581861). I was watching CNBC recently, and they were talking about the original Cyprus bailout plan, which proposed a ‘levy’ of about 6% on deposits under EUR 100,000. One commentator made the interesting comment that, while people are making quite a fuss about the levy as unfair, the Federal Reserve’s printing of money and subsequent inflation does the same thing — it takes away the real value of people’s money every year (and nobody protests). Also, something that I had not heard until recently is the claim that in America, at present, about 47% of the population in America is dependent on the government for some sort of support (e.g. food stamps, welfare, unemployment benefits, etc). At the same time, due to the Bernanke’s massive money printing, the stock market is making new historical highs (making the top 1% every more wealthy, while the lower 50% is struggling due to the negative effects of inflation). The economic policies of the End Days continue unabated.
I did not make a note of the link, but saw an article about a new device that can implanted under the skin, that can be used to monitor different body stats, like body temperature, etc. Many people feel that this could be one possible way to implement the mark of the Beast — anyway, the technology continues to move forward.
A certain Nobel prize winning economist, who is often quoted in the New York Times, continues to shout that America should continue to borrow limitless amount of money, and continue to generate inflation to make that debt worth less. This policy has been a prime cause for the great wealth divide that has come to being in America and other parts of the world. His self serving arguments are one example of the voices of the Beast that permeate the media. This issue not only touches on social justice, but it goes further with implications on the future of democracy and the eventual rise of the Beast in the West.
Strange weather continues in America and other parts of the world. There have been recent stories about droughts in New Zealand and India. We will need to monitor weather in the Mid-Western states this summer. I have done some reading on El Nino and La Nina, and also found an interesting article on the shifting jet stream (http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/t/story?id=4688199&page=1). What is interesting is that this story is dated April 2008. The shifting of the jet stream has tremendous implications for weather patterns — and this phenomena could be one factor contributing to the current drought in much of the states (and maybe even a factor in the recently reported New Zealand drought). If the shifting of the jet stream is indeed a major factor in the drought in the US Mid-West, then the lack of rain combined with higher summer temperatures could mean long term disruptions in US agriculture and a shifting of grain production northward. I am not a weather scientist, but the should the jet stream be actually shifting, then this could explain the changes in weather patterns all across the globe. This is all relevant when we look at the prophecies in Revelation that pertain to food shortages.