This is the first of weekly insights and links to news from around the world, captured through a prophetic lens, chronicled through a hope-filled voice.
Discovery of world’s deepest underwater sinkhole
A “blue hole” has been discovered in the South Sea of China. Blue sinkholes are beautiful, dark blue spots of water that contrast the aqua water around them. They are like underwater caves that drop far below sea level. This particular hole is thought to be largest ever discovered, descending 987 feet below the surface.
It is interesting to note that even while international conflict abounds in the South China Sea, there is a picture here of undiscovered beauty and depth in the midst of it all. God is unlocking new depths of wisdom and knowledge to those who will look beyond the “surface.”
Turning your pee into drinkable water
Belgian scientists say they have created a machine that turns urine into drinkable water and fertilizer using solar energy. This technology can be used off the energy grid and thus has the potential of absolutely transforming rural and developing regions.
Since the dawn of the atomic age, people’s focus is often on the emergence of destructive technologies. But it is so vital to understand the amount of breakthrough technologies that are also emerging (even more than destructive ones). These have explosive power to do incredible good, more than any other time in history.
The shaking of media and politics
Last week’s Wikileaks release of emails from the Democratic National Committee (the formal governing body of the Democratic Party) exposed a number of inappropriate and problematic communications from within. This included the DNC’s direct manipulation and influence with MSNBC news. Because of this and other messages, the head of the DNC has resigned. Such an event is a sign that the winds of change are blowing and an unhealthy relationship between the media and politics is being exposed more and more.
Amidst this resignation, the first day of the Democratic Convention saw a strong storm come through, which specifically blew away the DNC “Media” tent. There is some divine irony to this, but it is surely more than irony. It is a sign of change.
Such winds, of course, are not contained to the Democratic Party. On the Republican front, during the same time period as the email leak, the head of Fox News, Roger Ailes, stepped down after sexual harassment allegations. The resignation of these two leaders is a sign of great change in the intermingling of politics and media. We can anticipate more unhealthy branches coming off these two tree in the days ahead. But with pruning, there is always new life. Expect more health and truth to grow in these fields, even if it’s at the grassroots level for a while.
Facebook’s explosive second-quarter growth
Facebook’s Q2 earnings report has blown away all expectations as the social networking service revealed it has reached 1.71 billion users from around the world (a large portion of which is from outside the US and Europe).
The amount of people connecting from across the world is unprecedented (even if you want to go with more realistic numbers of daily FB users, the number is still well over one billion people). This kind of growth shows no sign of stopping and has incredible implications, one of which is the global reach of the Gospel. The message of Christ reaching the farthest corners of the planet is not as far-fetched an idea as it used to be.