Friday blurbs: news and commentary

It's Friday, I'm eating pizza. It's time to kick back. Here is a short roundup of the AMAZING news we are seeing across the wires this busy week.

All the high-falutin politicos in Europe met in emergency session overnight yesterday, finally breaking at 5AM. They are trying to save the Euro currency. There are downgrades, threats of downgrade, banks teetering, and more debt than they can shake a Greek-Irish-Portuguese-Italian-Spanish stick at. So they met...and failed to unanimously resolve the financial and economic issue looming as a bomb. Revelation 13 shows us that at some point the world will accept a one world economy and a one currency. For that to happen, many have speculated that individual national sovereignty will have to have gone by the wayside, or that the economic problems will have become so impossible that this solution seems buy comparison a good one. Speaking of impossible problems, in the last days they will be so hard to solve they will cause men to be in distress and perplexity (Luke 21:25)

UK blocks changes to Lisbon Treaty to resolve Euro sovereign debt crisis
"The UK has blocked changes to the Lisbon Treaty, which was seen as a potent weapon aimed at saving the Euro currency. The Lisbon Treaty was signed by representatives of 27 European Union member sates on 13th December 2007, which aimed at reforming EU functioning and replacing the Constitutional Treaty that was rejected by the French and the Dutch in 2005."

Italy at Breaking Point, Merkel Calls for 'New Europe'
To an extent the taboo on a country leaving the 17-member currency bloc was already broken at the G20 summit in Cannes last week, when German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Sarkozy both effectively said that Greece might have to drop out if the euro zone's long-term stability was to be maintained. Italy has replaced Greece at the center of the euro zone debt crisis and is on the cusp of requiring a bailout that Europe cannot afford to give. But the latest discussions among European officials point to a more fundamental re-evaluation of the 12-year-old currency project — including which countries and what policies are needed to keep it strong and stable for the next decade and beyond — before Europe's debt crisis manages to break it apart. ... "This is not about a two-speed Europe, we already have that. This will redraw the map geopolitically and give rise to new tensions. It could truly be the end of Europe as we know it."

Plan B: Printing presses on standby to beat euro’s demise
"Central banks in eurozone countries are making contingency plans for the possible collapse of the euro.Demand for money-printing services is expected to soar as old national currencies prepare for a come-back."

Signs in the sun, moon, stars...Luke 21:25
Impossible eclipse
Second full lunar eclipse for this year. [T]here will be a chance to observe an unusual effect, one that celestial geometry seems to dictate can't happen. The little-used name for this effect is a "selenelion" (or "selenehelion") and occurs when both the sun and the eclipsed moon can be seen at the same time. But wait! How is this possible? When we have a lunar eclipse, the sun, Earth and moon are in a geometrically straight line in space, with the Earth in the middle. So if the sun is above the horizon, the moon must be below the horizon and completely out of sight (or vice versa). And indeed, during a lunar eclipse, the sun and moon are exactly 180 degrees apart in the sky; so in a perfect alignment like this (a "syzygy") such an observation would seem impossible. But it is atmospheric refraction that makes a selenelion possible.

Israel the burdensome stone...Zechariah 12:3

Risk of Israel, US strike on Iran has tripled'
"The chance of a military strike on Iran has roughly tripled in the past year, the senior geopolitical risk analyst at Barclays Capital said on Thursday."

Israeli Planes Attack Gaza Targets
"Israel carried out more airstrikes in Gaza early Friday, killing one Palestinian, as militants fired more rockets into southern Israel. Tensions flared after an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City on Thursday killed two Palestinians whom the military described as terrorists involved in a plot to attack Israelis and Palestinians fired salvos of rockets from Gaza into southern Israel."

Europe bears watching because the antichrist is supposed to emerge from that empire (Dan 9:26). It is also an example of how the world may end up divided into ten kingdoms (Rev 12:3), the EU being one of those prophesied blocs from which one of the kings is supposed to emerge from. A collapse of Europe's currency and/or banks would certainly figure prominently into the coming one world economy. Magog is also a prominent member of Ezekiel 38-39 and if you notice, Russia's leader Vladimir Putin is suddenly in the news a lot. There is a second lunar eclipse this year happening on Saturday, one that contains a once thought impossible and now known to be an extremely rare sight. The Muslim Brotherhood is taking control of Egypt, one of the only two nations holding a peace treaty with Israel and a nation that is specifically mentioned in Tribulation and Millennium prophecy as a nation under desolation then is welcomed into the arms of Jesus.

The Lisbon Treaty of Europe is at center of the EU disintegration, whereupon the leaders are struggling mightily to figure out a way to amend it to reflect the new necessities of financial management. I don't think the Lisbon Treaty of Europe is THE covenant that Daniel said the antichrist will confirm, namely because the Lisbon Treaty isn't set for 7 year period nor makes any provision for sacrifices in the temple, as the verse from Daniel seems to allude to. ("And he will make a firm covenant with the many for one week, but in the middle of the week he will put a stop to sacrifice and grain offering; " (Dan 9:24a)

Yet, look at what is happening to our world in light of prophecy! Jesus said when these things begin to take place, straighten up and lift your heads, for your Redemption draws near. (Luke 21:28)