The European Union has asked for and received its pound of flesh from Greece, in return for additional financial support of that country. Greece was forced to surrender its sovereign rights over control of certain national assets, as well as its ability to regulate its own banking system. It is a process which we have touched upon in the past — having nations surrender their sovereign rights is part of the political agenda for the Beast, as he will look to assert his control over many country at the time of his rising.
On a different note, the recent headlines about wild fires in Alaska, Canada, and Siberia have made me wonder about something that I had written about previously —
http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2015/07/07/3677532/canadian-wildfires-smoke-united-states/
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/picturegalleries/worldnews/7924392/Forest-fires-in-Russia.html
I had earlier speculated that it would be the forests of the equatorial zones, like Brazil or Indonesia, that would burn as prophesied in Revelation 8:7 —
The first angel sounded, and there followed hail and fire mingled with blood, and they were cast upon the earth: and the third part of trees was burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up.
However, given that the Arctic zone is warming up to a much greater degree than the global average, and looks to continue to do so given a number of self-reinforcing cycles, perhaps it will be the forests near the Arctic circle that will burn first. Man-made global warming has warmed the world to the extent that now natural processes are starting to occur, that will accelerate and further worsen the warming process — the release of methane from the melting Arctic permafrost and the melting of methane hydrates in the ocean are two important examples of this.
Speaking of the Arctic zone, in the past, I had wondered about the jet stream and whether it was possible to stop — literally, whether it was possible for it to just disappear. I had read that the jet stream was driven by the temperature differential between the cold Arctic temperatures and the warmer temperature of the temperate zone — and that differential is decreasing at a very rapid rate. It put that idea out of my mind when I read that the spinning of the earth was another factor behind the jet stream, but perhaps it is not so simple. According to data from the July 8th entry of the Arctic News blog — http://arctic-news.blogspot.jp/— the jet stream is starting to fracture. It would seem that this is indeed an unusual occurrence, and makes me wonder again whether the ongoing warming of the Arctic zone could indeed cause the jet stream to ‘fracture’ to such an extent, as to cause totally unpredictable changes to the weather patterns in the Northern Hemisphere. Perhaps it will be the North that burns before Brazil.
Though I still cannot find any sort of published ‘index’ on global volcanic eruptions, there seems to be a growing list of volcanoes that are spewing smoke, ash, and/or lava. Though the relationship between volcanism (the kind about erupting volcanoes, not Star Trek) and Revelation prophecy is not strong, I still feel that there is a strong link with Revelation 6:12-16:
12 And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood;
13 And the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind.
14 And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and i island were moved out of their places.
15 And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in t the rocks of the mountains;
16 And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb:
There is scientific research which links the melting of ice at the end of previous Ice Age events to a global surge of volcanism:
1. http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn26923-melting-i2.
2. http://dash.harvard.edu/bitstream/handle/1/3659701/Huybers_FeedbackDeglaciation.pdf?sequence=1
As the warmer oceans will continue to cause significant melting of the Antarctic land-based glaciers and as the warmer Arctic temperatures melting the land-based glaciers in Greenland, scientists predict that the world’s volcanoes will move to a new phase of activity. This is based on science, and I would argue that the increase in erupting volcanoes in the world supports their argument. Whether this triggers a major eruption of a supervolcano that would fulfill prophecy in Revelation is speculation — but it seems like one very possible scenario.
Lastly, I just wanted to mention that I hate to change entries once posted, but I recently delete my tongue in cheek post about animal attacks. Sometimes the topics discussed here can feel a bit heavy. I also deleted some personal things. I am not a trained theologian, nor am I a particularly ‘religious’ person. I am a Believer who reads Revelation and looks about the world — and see signs of the coming of prophecies of Revelation.