Expect Climate Extremes: Reconciling Great Tribulation With Another Solar Minimum?

According to how I’ve read Revelation in the past, I’ve assumed that solar activity would reach a maximum during the apocalyptic final seven years. However, recent reports by objective scientists state that we should be entering another minimum instead. High solar activity means increased earthquakes and electrical storms; whereas, low solar activity translates into climate extremes and low oceanic food production, which cause famine and death. Do we see both high cosmic activity and low cosmic activity in Revelation? It’s got to be one or the other. How do I reconcile our solar reality with the Bible?

What is factual about our solar predicament? Our magnetosphere has weakened by 10% 1880 to 2003, and 5% more from 2003 to 2013 (especially read the addendum at the bottom). http://joelblackford.blogspot.com/2013/12/climate-change-2013-i-saw-earths.html

This report confirms that our shield is continuing to weaken quickly. Swarm reveals Earth’s changing magnetism– See more at: http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Observing_the_Earth/Swarm/Swarm_reveals_Earth_s_changing_magnetism

Measurements made over the past six months confirm the general trend of the field’s weakening, with the most dramatic declines over the Western Hemisphere.

First, I need to analyze the Bible. What I’ve been interpreting as biblically-induced solar activity may not be from the sun.

I will show wonders in the sky and on earth — blood, fire and columns of smoke. The sun will be turned into darkness and the moon into blood before the coming of the great and terrible Day of Adonai.” Joel 3:3-4 (CJB)

But immediately following the trouble of those times, the sun will grow dark, the moon will stop shining, the stars will fall from the sky, and the powers in heaven will be shaken. Matthew 24:29 (CJB)

there will be great earthquakes, there will be epidemics and famines in various places, and there will be fearful sights and great signs from Heaven. There will appear signs in the sun, moon and stars; and on earth, nations will be in anxiety and bewilderment at the sound and surge of the sea,  Luke 21:11, 25 (CJB)

Then I watched as he broke the sixth seal, and there was a great earthquake, the sun turned black as sackcloth worn in mourning, and the full moon became blood-red. The stars fell from heaven to earth just as a fig tree drops its figs when shaken by a strong wind. The sky receded like a scroll being rolled up, and every mountain and island was moved from its place.  Revelation 6:12-14 (CJB)

The first one sounded his shofar; and there came hail and fire mingled with blood, and it was thrown down upon the earth. A third of the earth was burned up, a third of the trees were burned up, and all green grass was burned up. The second angel sounded his shofar, and what looked like an enormous blazing mountain was hurled into the sea. A third of the sea turned to blood, a third of the living creatures in the sea died, and a third of the ships were destroyed. The third angel sounded his shofar; and a great star, blazing like a torch, fell from the sky onto a third of the rivers and onto the springs of water. The name of the star was “Bitterness,” and a third of the water became bitter, and many people died from the water that had been turned bitter. The fourth angel sounded his shofar; and a third of the sun was struck, also a third of the moon and a third of the stars; so that a third of them were darkened, the day had a third less light, and the night likewise. Revelation 8:7-12 (CJB)

Here is how the European Space Agency (ESA) describes the expected low solar activity.

Necklaces of solar activity – See more at: http://www.esa.int/spaceinimages/Images/2014/06/Necklaces_of_solar_activity

Back in 1998, the Sun was behaving as expected. The approximately 11-year cycle of activity was proceeding smoothly, heading towards a peak in 2001…

…In recent years, the Sun has deviated from this textbook behaviour. The current cycle was about two years late in starting, the hemispheres are behaving differently and the peak of activity is relatively modest. The next cycle is expected to continue in this new vein. It may even be weaker than the current cycle.

Redefining the limit dates for the Maunder Minimum – See more at: http://arxiv.org/ftp/arxiv/papers/1406/1406.1630.pdf

Abstract. The Maunder Minimum corresponds to a prolonged minimum of solar activity a phenomenon that is of particular interest to many branches of natural and social sciences commonly considered to extend from 1645 until 1715.

Who should you believe; NASA or privately-funded scientists? Solar Mini-Max – See more at: http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2014/10jun_solarminimax/

June 10, 2014:  Years ago, in 2008 and 2009 an eerie quiet descended on the sun.  Sunspot counts dropped to historically-low levels and solar flares ceased altogether.  As the longest and deepest solar minimum in a century unfolded, bored solar physicists wondered when "Solar Max" would ever return.

They can stop wondering. "It's back," says Dean Pesnell of the Goddard Space Flight Center.  "Solar Max has arrived."Pesnell is a leading member of the NOAA/NASA Solar Cycle Prediction Panel, a blue-ribbon group of solar physicists who meet from time to time to forecast future solar cycles.  It's not as easy as it sounds. Although textbooks call it the "11-year solar cycle," the actual cycle can take anywhere from 9 to 14 years to complete.  Some Solar Maxes are strong, others weak, and, sometimes, as happened for nearly 70 years in the 17th century, the solar cycle can vanish altogether. 

Pesnell points to a number of factors that signal Solar Max conditions in 2014: "The sun's magnetic field has flipped; we are starting to see the development of long coronal holes; and, oh yes, sunspot counts are cresting."

Amplified mid-latitude planetary waves favour particular regional weather extremes – See more at: http://www.nature.com/nclimate/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nclimate2271.html

The findings suggest that amplification of quasi-stationary waves preferentially increases the probabilities of heat waves in western North America and central Asia, cold outbreaks in eastern North America, droughts in central North America, Europe and central Asia, and wet spells in western Asia.

The scandal of fiddled global warming data – See more at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/environment/10916086/The-scandal-of-fiddled-global-warming-data.html

The US has actually been cooling since the Thirties, the hottest decade on record

My opinion: I'm suspicious of NASA, and in general, of our government. What I'm presenting is an alternative viewpoint to NASA. I believe that this view harmonizes with the Good News because it reflects that God is in control of the cosmos, and that His actions—through solar activity—alters our lives much more than me spitting in the ocean.


Revelation points to increased cosmic activity, that seems to be non-solar related. I can reconcile that the biblical signs point to a solar minimum, and not a solar maximum in the end times. The evidence seems to support that the difference during the end times is that the decreased magnetosphere will allow more space debris through, while coupled with very low solar activity, producing climate extremes, which in turn produce famines and desolation. Please note that any increased solar activity could be a potential crisis.

The best cosmological research indicates that we will soon enter a fifteen to one hundred twenty year solar dormancy period. This should be enough time for our fateful two by forty-two month tribulation times to begin. Due to less energy from the sun, your food costs should be skyrocketing, and they will increase much more. If it continues to remain legal, gardening is a wise alternative to expensive GMO-based grocery foods. Stay tuned.

“‘But if you will not listen to me and obey all these mitzvot, if you loathe my regulations and reject my rulings, in order not to obey all my mitzvot but cancel my covenant; then I, for my part, will do this to you: I will bring terror upon you — wasting disease and chronic fever to dim your sight and sap your strength. You will sow your seed for nothing, because your enemies will eat the crops. I will set my face against you — your enemies will defeat you, those who hate you will hound you, and you will flee when no one is pursuing you. If these things don’t make you listen to me, then I will discipline you seven [years?] times over for your sins. I will break the pride you have in your own power. I will make your sky like iron, your soil like bronze — you will spend your strength in vain, because the land will not yield its produce or the trees in the field their fruit. Leviticus 26:14-20 (CJB)

Shalom!