Another Interesting Week: From a Queen's Celebration to Locust Swarms

Well it has been another interesting week around the globe.  In Great Britain the Diamond Jubilee Celebration of Queen Elizabeth II's reign came to an end.  And what a celebration it was.  The Queen is now the longest reigning monarch in the world today, and she is just a couple of years away from being the longest reigning monarch in British history - next to Queen Victoria.  If the party the British people gave the Queen is any indication, the party they will be throwing later in July for the Olympics there in London should be fabulous.  The British certainly know how to celebrate in style.

The violence in Syria continues almost unabated.  The fifteen months have seemed longer than that.  Estimates are that nearly 15,000 Syrians have been killed during this war, many of them brutally executed by Assad's military leadership.  Just this past week reports surfaced of another massacre that included many women and children.  Another report indicated that the Syrian military was deliberately using children as human shields during these firefights, thus accounting for the high percentage of deaths of children.  What little value is placed upon life!  I am reminded of how highly Jesus valued children while on earth.  He even rebuked those adults who tried to keep Him from children.  Jesus even went so far as to say that we must become like children if we are to enter into heaven.  There must be great sadness in heaven over the deaths of these innocent boys and girls there in Syria.  (And I won't even get started on those children here in this country who are aborted even before they get to experience life).  Will NATO and/or the United States finally get involved?  But I am now believing that it will take something catastrophic - perhaps even the destruction of the city of Damascus - to remove Assad from power.  Then comes the wonderment of who will fill that vacuum. 

I read an interesting article in the "Financial Times" titled, "Locusts swarm in wake of Libya uprising."  The writer, Xan Rice in Lagos, Nigeria, writes: "The death of Muammar Gaddafi continues to reverberate across Africa - this time in the form of desert locusts.  The Food and Agricultural Organisation of the United Nations warned on Tuesday that croplands in Niger and Mali were at imminent risk from locust swarms moving south from Libya and Algeria.  The revolution in Libya played a major role in allowing the pests to breed, it said.  'The fall of Gaddafi was an enormous factor, to be honest,' said Keith Cressman, FAO senior locus forecasting officer.  'It depleted the Libyans' capacity to monitor and respond as they normally would.'"  Who would have thought that the overthrow of a dictator would cause a crisis with locusts? 

This week Israeli President Shimon Peres is in Washington for talks with the Obama Administration.  The situation in Syria and the latest reports that the Russians have been supplying attack helicopters to the Assad regime will top the list of items for discussion.  But also Peres will relate the status or, I should say, the non-status of negotiations with the Palestinians.  It will be interesting to see how the mainstream media will cover this visit.

Two elections to watch over the upcoming weekend.  First, final round in the election of a new President in Egypt will occur.  Two candidates remain - one, a member of the Muslim Brotherhood, howbeit a moderate member, the second a former official in the Mubarak regime.  Polls indicate that it will be a close race, probably giving way to all types of charges of voter fraud.  We may not know the outcome for several weeks.  The second election is in Greece where people will go to the polls for the second time in 6 weeks to elect a new parliament.  Much rides on the results of this election, including the future of the Eurozone.  I have read several reports from analysts who have widely divergent viewpoints on the consequences if Greece were to leave the Eurozone.  Some believe it would be the beginning of the end of the European Union, while others believe it would have little, if any impact.  American markets have been skitish about the Greek affair.

By the way, you know that over the weekend the European Central Bank indicated that it would loan the Spanish government $125 billion to pay its debts - at least temporarily.  Spain now becomes the fourth European nation to be bailed out.  The main source of the funding of the Central Bank comes from the German people, whose economy is among the most robust in all of Europe.  But one wonders how soon the German people will become tired of using their tax dollars to help another.  The problem in Europe today is that nations do not have any regulatory control over their finances.  They cannot print their own money.  They are not accountable to their own banking systems, but to an outside system, namely the Central Bank.  A group of men sitting on the Central Bank board of directors is imposing financial decisions upon the Greeks, for instance.  We must remember that Europeans have generally been very distrustful of each other.  Many are the wars that they have fought among themselves over the course of history.  So, for the Eurozone to have lasted for this long is a miracle in and of itself.  And we know that prophetically Europe will play an important role during the time of the Tribulation.  Therefore one wants to keep a strong eye upon what is happening there.

Well I am on my way to pick up my copy of Joel Rosenberg's newest book.  "Implosion" debuted yesterday.  I am excited to read his perspective on what is happening in our country from a biblical viewpoint.  Later this summer I will write a review of the book and place it on this blogsite.  If this book is anything like "Epicenter" and "Inside the Revolution" I know it will be a book that I can highly recomment. 

We are another week closer to the coming of the Lord Jesus!  This is not a time for rest or retreat, but a time to re-equip ourselves and then to re-charge into the battle for souls.  May we do this well for His honor and glory.