Nearly everyone has seen a rainbow. The beautiful, majestic, multicolored arc in the sky inspires awe and is a wonder to behold. But there is more to the rainbow than meets the eye. Beyond the elusive and transient image of this miracle of nature is a divinely inspired miracle that represents one of the first promises of God recorded in the Bible.

Regular readers of this News and Prophecy and students of the Scriptures are aware that as the end of the age approaches, we will see far more troubling events. There will be more false prophets, wars, catastrophic weather, major geopolitical shifts, and the Israelite-descended nations will experience unique problems and suffering due to their outright rejection of God.  Without Christ’s own revelation, these escalating events will cause some to become paralyzed with fear and worry.

Germany is calling for a new European treaty by the end of the year to clear the way for more European integration and a new legal foundation for the Union.  “Germany would like to see… a legal basis that would give the European Court of Justice the jurisdiction to monitor the budgets of member states and to punish deficit offenders” (Der Spiegel, August 27, 2012).

The summer Olympics of 2012 was a spectacular display of athletic achievement, performances, triumphs, world records and victories. Yet, there were also great disappointments, sorrow, drama, mistakes and disqualifications. As some athletes reveled in victory, others wept in heartbreaking defeat. The humanity of the Olympics was completely exposed, before our eyes, without anything being left out as the theme of “going for the gold” reverberated to the ends of the earth.

The U.S. has recently been hit hard by severe weather.  “Nearly 75 percent of the country’s corn and soya bean-growing regions have been hit by extreme drought”—although the total damage will not be known until the October harvest (Deutsche Welle, August 28, 2012).  Last year, severe storms in the U.S., “caused an economic loss of about $46 billion” (about $25 billion was insured).  Insured losses were more than double the 2010 record (ibid.).