8 The fourth poured out his bowl on the sun. It was allowed to scorch people with fire, 9 and people were scorched by the intense heat. So they blasphemed the name of God, who has the power over these plagues, and they did not repent and give him glory.
Revelation 16
Left or Right?
Before we get into literal vs symbolic, it is important to point out how differing groups see this. I have yet to meet or hear anyone who believes this to be a hyper-literal event – no one believes the Sun will literally scorch people with fire.
Left-leaning people will probably point out that this punishment is because we did not care for the planet – climate change, and global warming; because we did not ban coal and oil. Scorching heat will torment people. Right-leaning people will point out that the Bible describes a supernatural event. They will point out that we are near the peak of a sun cycle, and the Sun has more sunspots than have been seen in decades1 which normally brings heatwaves. They might point to events such as Jan 15, 2022, underwater volcanic eruption near Tonga, that put 10% more water vapour (a greenhouse gas) into the air, an unprecedented amount2. According to NASA the water vapour could remain in the atmosphere for years, noticeably warming the earth, and depleting the ozone layer.
Based on their reasoning, both groups then are not surprised when heatwaves come all over the earth3 4 5 6.
Both sides will say we need to repent; to the Left, that means tackling climate change. To the Right, that means repenting of sin.
Literal or Symbolic?
While it may be semi-literal (no one thinks the Sun will literally scorch people with fire on Earth), there is the possibility that it is non-literal, in the sense that they are illnesses, and that the illnesses are blamed on heat or climate change, or other remote causes. Which illnesses are attributed to these vs the Mark of the Beast remains to be seen.
CoreysDigs has compiled more than 30 articles (at the time) showing a variety of things alleged to have caused heart attacks ranging from solar storms, daylight savings, gardening, and spreading a duvet. Click on the images to enlarge.
Why does the Image Beast Media invest so heavily into dispelling the idea that the COVID-19 vaccine is causing these heart issues? Far-fetched, remote causes are not the driver of the increase in Myocarditis and pericarditis after the COVID-19 vaccine. Myocarditis has a survival rate of just 50% at 5 years after onset7. Pericarditis’ survival rate is 57% at 10 years 8.
There is a massive push to blame “climate change” for rises in disease and mortality rates. One only has to search “climate change” “causes” “health” or “disease”. For example:
I will add more over time; these articles are abundant.
- https://www.space.com/sun-highest-sunspot-number-since-2002
- https://www.nasa.gov/feature/jpl/tonga-eruption-blasted-unprecedented-amount-of-water-into-stratosphere
- South America – https://www.msn.com/en-us/weather/topstories/it-s-midwinter-but-it-s-over-100-degrees-in-south-america/ar-AA1eHtL7
- Buenos Aires – https://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/winter-argentina-hottest-august-117-years-records-rcna97711
- South Korea and Japan – https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/as-extreme-heat-hits-south-korea-and-japan-death-toll-rises-sharply/ar-AA1eFVXh
- Iran – https://www.cnbc.com/2023/08/02/iran-begins-two-day-nationwide-shutdown-due-to-soaring-temperatures.html
- https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/22129-myocarditis#outlook–prognosis
- https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/treatments/17352-pericardiectomy#recovery-and-outlook