Cuba

[Map from the Perry Castenada Library,
Courtesy The General Libraries, The University of Texas at Austin]

Cuba is an island in the Caribbean Sea, and the 6th largest island in North America. It's a communist (left wing) country controlled by a dictator. It is therefore a place where they try to drive God out of the country instead of allowing Him in.

To find out what Cuba is shaped like we need to turn the nation upside down:

Cuba is a scorpion!

The stinger is called Isla de la Juventud, the Island of Youth.

[Image STS062-113-197 courtesy Earth Sciences and Image Analysis,
NASA-Johnson Space Center Astronaut Photography of Earth]

Here's what the Cuban scorpion looks like after the stinger is reattached (and rotated 23 degrees to the left):

[Map from the Perry Castenada Library, Courtesy The General Libraries, The University of Texas at Austin]

Another item unique to scorpions is the pecten. Each scorpion has a pair of them, and they are used apparently to sense vibrations in the ground. Here is a diagram illustrating what they look like on the belly of a scorpion:

After you do the study on North America, notice that the Cuban scorpion is right in between the claws of North America. As we saw in the study on Central America, I believe this is another illustration of Luke 10:

17 And the seventy returned again with joy, saying, "Lord, even the devils are subject unto us through Thy name." 18 And He said unto them, "I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven. 19 Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you. 20 Notwithstanding in this rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto you; but rather rejoice, because your names are written in heaven."

The Cuban scorpion is even upside down relative to North America, as if to say it can't even put up a fight, and it's already defeated.

[Image courtesy NASA's Earthobservatory]

I also don't think it's an accident that the United States has a naval base at Guantanamo Bay which is right on the scorpion's head; even where the eye would be located:

[Map from the Perry Castenada Library, Courtesy The General Libraries, The University of Texas at Austin]

However, there's a more important sting that we should be concerned with than from a scorpion or from Cuba. The scorpion's sting occurs in Revelation 9:10, and it comes from the same Greek word (kentron) as that used of the sting of death in 1st Corinthians 15:

54 So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, "Death is swallowed up in victory. 55 O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?" 56 The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God, Which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

We studied this word kentron briefly in Italy where we saw that from it comes the word 'centre', as in the centre or point of a circle drawn by a compass. How interesting then, if we take a look at the sea floor around Cuba, that it forms part of a semi-circle!

[Image from Flash Earth]

Here are a couple different satellite images that help to emphasize the shape of the area:

[Image courtesy NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio, and Virginia Butcher (SSAI)]



[Image courtesy NOAA]

The point of Cuba's circle is notably left of centre.