end of days

When the Scales Fell: Meeting the Jesus Who Always Was

Posted on February 5, 2026 by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

Before I was saved, the whole Jesus thing was pretty mystifying to me. It seemed so complicated, and weird, too. I mean, the blood and everything. [shudder]. And I definitely did not agree with the doctrine of sin, that notion that I was a bad person from birth and that I did or said or thought wrong things? Come ONNNN, man. I’m a nice person, not one sin in me. Not like that person over there. Or there. Or there…

The thing I thought was most weird was Jesus. I used to wonder, God must be pretty lame to keep trying things that don’t work. Humanity was created and then right away, fell into depravity. They got so bad that He sent the flood. Then He tried the temple and the Law and that didn’t work. So finally He sent Jesus, hoping that would stick. I’m not kidding. Before I was saved, and the scales fell from my eyes, that is what I thought.

I never knew that Jesus was not first born 2000 years ago.

Therefore it is of particular joy to me that I revel in verses that illustrate that Jesus was from the beginning. He wasn’t non-existent then born on that cold night in Bethlehem when the angels proclaimed His arrival to the shepherds. He was with God from the beginning.

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning.” (John 1:1) How lovely to reflect the same language God used in Genesis 1: “In the beginning…”

“I was appointed from eternity, from the beginning, before the world began.” (Proverbs 8:23).

As Matthew Henry says, “The Son of God declares himself to have been engaged in the creation of the world. How able, how fit is the Son of God to be the Saviour of the world, who was the Creator of it! The Son of God was ordained, before the world, to that great work. Does he delight in saving wretched sinners, and shall not we delight in his salvation?” How wonderful that Jesus was anointed from the beginning to do the great and monumental work of saving humanity.

“And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.” (Colossians 1:17).

Other versions say “in Him all things hold together.” He is not only before all things in honor and grandeur, but He is before all things in existence. Before the sun, before the earth, before the stars were made…He was, and is and is to come!

He is our timeless Jesus, who was before Abraham, before John (His forerunner), who was part of God’s plan since the beginning to redeem humanity to His bosom. Far from being a series of stumbling lurches toward the end of time, God and Jesus and the Holy Spirit are progressing in an orderly plan that is unfolding with humanity as its central work. His justice prepared this plan. His love has sustained this plan. His grace permeates this plan. His longsuffering has kept this plan. And in the end, His wrath will execute this plan.

THIS is the God I fully hurl myself toward, lovingly and fully, submitting to His attributes and His incomprehensible foreknowing. He knew I would. He knew that on the appointed moment I would become His. It was His plan all along.

He was since the beginning. You may be coming late to the party, but you still have time until you draw your last breath to become a knowing participant in His plan and to be saved from your sins by repenting of them. His love never fails.

“For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully just as I also have been fully known. But now faith, hope, love, abide these three; but the greatest of these is love.” (1 Corinthians 13:12-13).

end of days, prophecy

Praise the Lord, we live in interesting times!

Posted on September 1, 2024 by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

There is a proverb/curse of alleged Chinese origin, “May you live in interesting times.” The implication is that a life lived in interesting times is less desirable than one lived in peace and tranquility. To be sure, the danger and uncertainty and lack and want of these years are difficult to manage sometimes, but surely it is better to live in interesting times than uninteresting. Why? Jesus.

We could change that phrase to “May you live in prophetic times” and it would be a better application for the believer. For those who are IN the Lord, believers in Jesus and saved by His grace, we know that though difficult, the times that are more “interesting” offer more growth in sanctification than times when everything is going along peacefully.

The tremendous opportunity we have to actually watch God at work in the world in such an interesting and visible way fuels my love for Him and my amazement at His sovereignty. Yes, a life in a previous time might well have been more peaceful, but less astonishing. And the difficult times offer us the opportunity to grow in Jesus. He is the Potter. He sanctifies us and shapes us through trials and challenges. And my, what challenges these times offer. Therefore the growth in Christlikeness should be even greater than when living in uninteresting times.

In interesting times comes difficulty. These difficulties are large and small. Sin rises, people around us become more futile in their thinking (Romans 1), more immoral (2 Timothy 3:3), more impatient with us ‘Jesus freaks’.

So I agree, the times are hard. No one likes living in the era when our beloved nation America is failing, collapsing, and imploding. Instead, let’s focus on what God is doing. He is so high above us, yet He told us ages ago what He would do. And He is doing it. This is cause for praise and celebration.

What is God doing on earth? He said He would judge nations, set up kings and take them down.

“but it is God who executes judgment, putting down one and lifting up another.” (Psalm 75:11. Also see Daniel 2:21)

Imagine being in heaven where we can recount His mighty deeds from our own generation!

Keep that Psalms & Daniel verse in mind as election season approaches. A Pastor wrote: “Our vote does not determine who will be elected to serve in any political office. God ordains and appoints who will serve and for how long. … Our vote reveals our convictions and value system; what we believe.”

We can be mindful and diligent in our voting but if the outcome seems drastic or is not your preferred outcome, then just remember He is doing a work! We get to see it! And then we get to praise Him!

“A Psalm of Asaph. God takes His stand in His own congregation; He judges in the midst of the rulers.” (Psalm 82:1).

Matthew Henry explains, “Good princes and good judges, who mean well, are under Divine direction; and bad ones, who mean ill, are under Divine restraint.“

The world really does feel like it is out of control. But it isn’t. See, this verse comforts:

“We give thanks to you, O God; we give thanks, for your name is near. We recount your wondrous deeds. “At the set time that I appoint I will judge with equity. When the earth totters, and all its inhabitants, it is I who keep steady its pillars.” (Psalm 75:1-3).

The LORD will steady its pillars. May you live in interesting times! (and enjoy them!)

earthquake, end of days, prophecy, signs

Very Large Earthquake at Chile

Posted on April 2, 2014May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

The United States Geological Survey recorded a large 8.2 quake off the coast of Chile this evening. Chilean seismologists put it at 8.3. There have been several large aftershocks, including a quake at 6.2 magnitude. Tsunami watches and warnings have been issued for many nearby nations, and across the Pacific to Hawaii and Southern California. Though they expect the wave height to be mere inches by the time it reaches SoCal.

Tsunami waves of 6.5 feet have already been recorded at coastal Pisagua, Chile.

Here are some interesting graphics to help visualize the impacts

Brad Panovich, Chief Meteorologist in Charlotte, NC, wrote: The whole earth is shaking from this M 8.2 quake check out the local SC seismograph.

This graphic is from Mark Baden, writing on twitter, “Chile earthquake now upgraded to magnitude 8.2. Check out how rare this is. Thanks Wunderground for the graphic“:

The Chile 1960 quake was a 9.9 magnitude and the strongest event recorded on earth. The Alaska 1964 quake was a 9.2.
San Francisco 1906 was 7.2.
New Madrid Missouri quake swarm was estimated at around 7.4 to 8.1. This series of earthquakes were felt strongly over roughly 50,000 sq mi, and moderately across nearly 1 million square miles. The historic 1906 San Francisco earthquake, by comparison, was felt moderately over roughly 6,200 sq mi.

Here is a tsunami propagation map.

I read that so far there has been minimal damage in Chile, some injuries but no deaths- though electricity is off and phone lines are jammed. I have not read of any deaths so far, which is a blessing.

I always think of this verse when a large quake happens, especially as mentioned above, the NC weatherman mentioned the earth shaking as far away as South Carolina, and showed the seismograph to prove it.

The earth is utterly broken, the earth is split apart, the earth is violently shaken. The earth staggers like a drunken man; it sways like a hut; its transgression lies heavy upon it, and it falls, and will not rise again.
~Isaiah 24:19-20

The LORD is patient with us, though our transgressions do lay heavy upon the earth. He is merciful. But He will not be patient forever. Please heed His warning, whether it’s a mega-quake or the stirring in your heart, and repent.

earthquakes, end of days, end time, oklahoma, prophecy

USGS says "Significant rise in Oklahoma quakes" since 2009; other seismologist says fracking isn’t the cause

Posted on March 22, 2014May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

There have been a lot of earthquakes in Oklahoma this week. There has been some ‘spillover’ in that there have been quakes in bordering Kansas (four of which are on this map). Here is a map showing quakes in Oklahoma in the past 7 days.

Here is a news spot about the OK quake swarm.

Magnitude 4.0 earthquake hits central Oklahoma, follows six other quakes Friday
A magnitude 4.0 earthquake shook central Oklahoma shortly after 10 p.m. Friday, the U.S. Geological Survey reported. The quake followed two other earthquakes — a 2.8 and a 2.6 magnitude — that were centered near Langston just minutes earlier and four other earthquakes ranging from 2.7 to 2.9 magnitude near Guthrie, Yale and Crescent on Friday afternoon and evening, the Geological Survey reported. That makes seven earthquakes of magnitude 2.6 or greater recorded in the state on Friday.

Since January 2009, more than 200 magnitude 3.0 or greater earthquakes have hit central Oklahoma, marking a significant rise in the frequency of the seismic events, the Geological Survey reported. A study released last year shows that one to three magnitude 3.0 or greater earthquakes occurred yearly in Oklahoma from 1975 to 2008 but that the average grew to around 40 earthquakes per year from 2009-2013.

In this map of earthquakes recorded by the US Geological Survey in the past thirty days (each quake is marked by a dot on the map), Oklahoma is a clear hot spot. (USGS)– (source)

source

This article states, “[T]here have been more than 500 earthquakes in Oklahoma this year and 150 last week. (As of 2/19/14) … No one is disputing that such a dramatic spike is unusual. The question is why it’s happening now, and science suggests that the fracking boom may be, at least in part, to blame. Researchers say the toxic wastewater, stored thousands of feet underground, reducing friction along fault lines, which can trigger earthquakes.”

Or does it? This scientist said six months ago of the connection between hydraulic fracturing (fracking) and earthquakes in OK:

Seismologist: Fracking doesn’t cause earthquakes
“Frohlich cited six earthquakes since 2008 in Texas, Arkansas, Colorado, Ohio and Oklahoma, ranging from magnitude 3.3 to magnitude 5.7. Their locations show that human-caused earthquakes are geographically widespread and geologically diverse, but “very rare,” given the amount of petroleum produced and the amount of waste being disposed of. Why some injection wells cause earthquakes and others don’t remains unclear, he said. Frohlich hypothesizes that quakes occur when a “suitably oriented” fault lies near an injection site.”

“Texas has 10,000 injection wells, Frohlich said, and some have been in use since the 1930s. That effectively makes the state a giant research lab for the shale-gas drilling issues now facing Appalachian states including West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Ohio and New York. If injection wells were “hugely dangerous,” he said, “we would know.” “Texas would be famous as a state that just rocks with major earthquakes,” Frohlich said. “That is not true.“”

Scientists will debate this and that. Whether all the quakes in Oklahoma are from fracking or not isn’t the issue. The issue is where can we find truth? The bible has it. We are told that in the last days there will be earthquakes in diverse places, and we are in the last days. We have been in the end times since Jesus ascended. (Hebrews 1:2).

“For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be earthquakes in various places; there will be famines. These are but the beginning of the birth pains.” (Mark 13:8)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

More than 150 earthquakes in the past week in Oklahoma "not normal" says OGS, issues position paper (Updated)

Posted on February 22, 2014 by elizabethprata

Yesterday I wrote a blog essay covering the news that a “first of its kind earthquake” had hit Oman. I also reported about the large-ish quake that had struck the UK, where quakes occur, but not all that frequently.

Today KOCO of Oklahoma City published a news article about the earthquake swarm that has been going on in Oklahoma. The KOCO article had the following headline:

OGS: 150+ quakes in one week in Oklahoma
“There have been more than 150 earthquakes in the past week in Oklahoma, according to the Oklahoma Geological Survey (OGS). That’s not normal. Before 2009, the United States Geological Survey (USGS) reported Oklahoma would typically get three or fewer 3.0+ magnitude quakes a year. In the last few years, the average jumped up to about 40 significant quakes a year. Less than 2 months into 2014, Oklahoma has had more than 25 quakes registering 3.0+ magnitude in Oklahoma. Michael Lewchuk, an earthquake expert with Casady School, told KOCO, “For Oklahoma that is an unusually large amount. We typically have somewhere between 50-100 in one full year.”

The quake swarm is so perplexing and problematic (for geologists AND for homeowners/residents) that the Oklahoma Geological Survey has released a position paper specifically addressing it.

There has been a significant increase in seismic activity (earthquakes) in Oklahoma since 2009. And although the majority of these earthquakes are not strong enough to be felt, the Oklahoma Geological Survey (OGS) recognizes that the increase in “felt” seismic activity is of interest to the citizens of the state. …

–Since 2009, the earthquake activity in Oklahoma has been approximately 40 times higher than in the previous 30 years.
–Based on reported “felt” earthquakes prior to the establishment of the OGS network, this recent level of seismicity is significantly greater than the past 100 years.
–The energy released by earthquakes is thousands of times greater than the energy that may have been added by water disposal, which demonstrates that the earthquakes themselves are, ultimately, the result of the release of natural stresses. [Ed Note: as opposed to fracking]
—The “Jones Earthquake Swarm” appears, in part, to have shown some activity that statistically deviates from the regional stresses and other general observations of seismicity in Oklahoma.

“The earthquakes keep coming in Oklahoma. Many of Oklahoma’s temblors are too small to be felt by humans, but their frequency and intensity seems to be growing.” (source)

So the upshot is, since 2009 Oklahoma has had a monster increase in earthquakes. The Geologic Society recognizes that residents are spooked. They are looking into it. They haven’t come to a reasonable conclusion as to why OK is jumping and cracking.

“According to the Oklahoma Geological Survey (OGS), there were more than 2,800 earthquakes in Oklahoma in 2013. That’s twice the previous high, established in 2011.” (source)

If these unusual quakes aren’t part of the birth pangs, then I don’t know what! (Matthew 24:8).

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Further Reading

The Beginning of the Birth Pains

The End of the Age

Opinion Editorial: The State of Oklahoma needs an earthquake task force

end of days, prophecy, sinabung, volcano

Volcanic Twisters: Sinabung volcano’s eruption spawns dust devils. Plus other volcano news

Posted on February 6, 2014May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

There was a terrible volcanic eruption in Indonesia. Fifteen people died as the pyroclastic flow overcame them. A heartbreaking photo of an ash strewn roadway with an empty and overturned motor scooter told the story of vainly trying to outrun the fiery flow that swept away fifteen lives.

Sinabung, the volcano that erupted, is one of many on the volcanically active nation. As of this week, the authorities placed 19 other volcanoes on alert.

Above, location on google maps of the Indonesian volcano Sinabung

Below is James Reynold’s video of Sinabung erupting and also spawning two ash tornadoes. He said on twitter that it was “Two amazing forces of nature at work, twisters AND eruptions! Sinabung volcano’s incredible dust devils” but we know it wasn’t Mother Nature but God.

UPI reports, 19 more Indonesian volcanoes placed on alert category
“Indonesia Tuesday added 19 more volcanoes to its second-highest alert level status following the eruption of Mount Sinabung that killed at least 15 people. Besides the 19 volcanoes, three others — the Lokon and Karangetang in North Sulawesi and the Rokatenda in East Nusa Tenggara — already have been on the high alert status since last year, the Jakarta Post reported.”

Meanwhile, in South America, Ecuador’s Tungahura erupted. This volcano is in the Valley of the Volcanoes and it specifically about 80 km from the bustling capital of Quito.

Ecuador’s Tungurahua volcano spews lava and rocks
“Ecuador’s Tungurahua volcano erupted three times over the weekend, sending huge clouds of ash and smoke into the sky, authorities said. Two moderate explosions on Saturday were followed by a third of greater size. Local reports say the blast created a column of ash of about 8kms (5 miles) above the volcano, which is located in Penipe province.”

Here is geology professor Erik Klemetti with a weekly roundup of all the ashy activity

Eruption Update for February 5, 2014: Indonesia, Ubinas, Tungurahua, Kavachi
Perú: In South America, Perú’s Ubinas is again showing signs of new activity. Since the end of January, seismicity has increased at the volcano, with 100+ earthquakes under the volcano per day. Small steam and ash plumes have been noted at Ubinas as well, but all the activity over the last few months has been attributed to water seeping into the heated interior of the volcano (i.e., no new magma involved so far).

Ecuador: Tungurahua remains on high alert after the weekend’s large explosive eruption. The volcano remains restless, with earthquakes are continuing at the volcano along with small explosions. The eruption over the weekend did dust the capital of Quito and a large swath of Ecuador with ash. Work has been started to reopen the roads around the volcano that were blocked after the eruption as they are some of the few escape routes for people who live near Tungurahua. If you’ve ever wondered what it might look like to be directly under a large volcano plume (see above), check out this video taken from Baños during the February 2 eruption. Be sure to check out this time-lapse of the eruption as well.

Did you know that there are volcanoes in the contiguous US? And I’m not talking the Cascades. Yellowstone is a supervolcano and the Old Faithful geyser is actually part of that underground network of magma movement and steam release and uplift and all that jazz.

Over at Yellowstone, Yellowstone Geyser Erupts For First Time in Years
“Yellowstone National Park’s Giantess Geyser is erupting for the first time in two-and-a-half years, park rangers said today. The usually quiet geyser is shooting off bursts of water that reach 50 feet (15 meters) into the air, said Annie Carlson, the supervisory park ranger at the Old Faithful Visitor Education Center. Giantess Geyser is nearby the more famous Old Faithful, but it is far less regular.”

This awakening of this Giantess geyser isn’t the only volcanic-related activity in the Park. There has seemed to be an increase in activity and magma movement, but the USGS is dampening those reports by saying the stories circulating reporting abnormally strong earthquake activity in Yellowstone National Park are wrong. The USGS says “earthquake activity in Yellowstone has been at normal levels for the past several months. The story appears to be based on a misinterpretation of public “webicorders”, which are graphics depicting seismic data, on the University of Utah Seismographic Station (UUSS) web site (UU operates the Yellowstone Seismic Network). Therefore, the USGS is hosting a live streamed talk, headed by Jake Lowenstern, scientist-in-charge of the Yellowstone Volcano Observatory. He will talk at 6 p.m. on Thursday about what is happening.

Though the bible doesn’t say anything specific to my knowledge about volcanoes, we do see some verses which could indicate volcanic eruptions. As in this from Nahum 1:5-

The mountains quake before him; the hills melt; the earth heaves before him, the world and all who dwell in it

Or this from Psalm 97:5-
The mountains melt like wax before the LORD, before the Lord of all the earth.

We see in scripture perhaps the results of an eruption, also.

Revelation 6:12 says, “And I beheld when He had opened the Sixth Seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood.”

After particularly violent eruptions, the sun or moon look like they are surrounded by a hairy short, this is known as dry fog. The Icelandic volcano Laki erupted in 1783. It was such a violent eruption that the world climate changed for over a year. Gilbert White recorded his perceptions of the event at Selborne, Hampshire, England:

The summer of the year 1783 was an amazing and portentous one, and full of horrible phaenomena; for besides the alarming meteors and tremendous thunder-storms that affrighted and distressed the different counties of this kingdom, the peculiar haze, or smokey fog, that prevailed for many weeks in this island, and in every part of Europe, and even beyond its limits, was a most extraordinary appearance, unlike anything known within the memory of man. By my journal I find that I had noticed this strange occurrence from June 23 to July 20 inclusive, during which period the wind varied to every quarter without making any alteration in the air. The sun, at noon, looked as blank as a clouded moon, and shed a rust-coloured ferruginous light on the ground, and floors of rooms; but was particularly lurid and blood-coloured at rising and setting. All the time the heat was so intense that butchers’ meat could hardly be eaten on the day after it was killed; and the flies swarmed so in the lanes and hedges that they rendered the horses half frantic, and riding irksome. The country people began to look, with a superstitious awe, at the red, louring aspect of the sun. (source)

The Lord holds the earth in His hand. All things will come to pass. As the earth decays and eventually melts in the great destruction, volcanoes will surely play a part in hastening the earth’s demise. (Revelation 21:1, 2 peter 3:10, (Isaiah 24:20). Praise Him that He has prepared a place for us, and we will dwell with Him forever. (John 14:3).

If you would like to enter your name for consideration on the rolls of the heavenly citizenship, then repent of your sins, and ask Jesus to forgive them. If you are sorrowful, knowing that the sins are blasphemes of an enemy against God, then He will justify you, declaring you righteous. And that is all it takes to become a child of God and dwell in heaven with Him forever.

end of days, jesus, one world economy, one world government, one world religion, repent, technology

Antichrist will easily co-opt today’s technology for the prophesied purposes

Posted on January 20, 2014May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

It is very easy for me to see how the antichrist will control the world. He is prophesied to be a man who will come in peace uttering flatteries, (Daniel 8:25, Daniel 11:32) but instead will reveal his evil at the Abomination of Desolation. He is called the man of sin (2 Thessalonians 2:3) because he will be the embodiment of all that is most thoroughly evil.

EPrata photo

We are born depraved. Every person is born with evil in them as our sin nature controls us. But not all of us do the worst evil that can be done. There are some nice people who try to do good in philanthropy or by religious works. Rocker Bono is known as the former and ‘Mother’ Theresa was known as the latter. This is not to say that they don’t or didn’t have a heart of evil, only that unconverted people with a sin nature CAN do good, it’s just not the kind of good that Jesus accepts as good. (Romans 3:10-12; Psalm 14:1-3; Psalm 53:1-3). Hitler was an example of how far along the ‘evil spectrum’ a man can go, but even Hitler didn’t come near to plumbing to the bottom of the evil that a man can do. The antichrist will be that man. This surprises many to think there can be a worse man than Hitler, but it is no surprise to Jesus, for He knows what is in a man. (John 2:25)

The coming antichrist will rule every aspect of the left behind people’s lives. In the geo-political realm, he will

rule the whole world, all peoples, nations, tongues, tribes.(Daniel 2:40, Revelation 13:7-8). The only nation that is prophesied to escape the antichrist’s hand will be Jordan. (Daniel 11:41). It is no coincidence that this is where Jesus urged the people to run when the Abomination of Desolation occurs and where the remnant will be personally protected during the Tribulation. It will be the location of the conversion of Israel. (Matthew 24:16, Isaiah 63:1, Revelation 12:6, Zechariah 12:10).

The antichrist will perform evil upon evil. His second in command in this unholy trinity will be the false prophet, who will cause all to have a mark on their hand or forehead which will be a mark of worship to the antichrist, identifying the person as allied with him (allied with evil). Without this mark no one may buy or sell. In other words, worship the antichrist or you may not participate in any way in the economy. It will be worship or die.

In the economic realm, by his henchman the False Prophet, antichrist will rule all people’s buying and selling, as mentioned previously. (Revelation 13:16-17). They will control the economy.

Glen Benton, metal musician

In the religious realm, he will rule also. He wants to be worshiped and his goal is to exalt himself. After the six-day creation was completed, Satan influenced the holy angels to come to his side. A third of them did. (Hebrews 12:22). Then after God made man, satan came right down and turned their eyes away from God and Adam and Eve disobeyed. They were cursed and ejected from the garden. This has been satan’s desire for a long time- to oppose God and to corrupt man. (Isaiah 14:13-14).

For millennia, people have wondered HOW the antichrist could possibly control the entire world. It seemed well-nigh impossible for one man to be able to keep track of the entire population’s economic purchases, religious worship, and political movements. It was the cause for marveling and many discussions, I am sure.

Even in my lifetime it seemed impossible to us with finite minds and no understanding of God’s plan. I was born in 1960 and by 1983 I was married. That was back before video machines replayed movies in your home. Before widespread Cable TV. Even at that, cable tv wasn’t 24 hours. Before GPS. It was prior to cell phones, webcams, the internet. Even the simple bar code was fairly new. I wasn’t saved then but if I had been I’d be one of those wondering heartily just how all that is prophesied will come together.

God is always working. Even long ago, He was causing inventions to be made that would inexorably bring the unbelieving human race under subjection of one man at the end of time, and who would employ the technology of the era to continue that subjection until his appointed days came about.

In 1991 my husband and I bought a sailboat and we moved onto it and determined to sail the east coast of the US, and cross the Gulf Stream to the Bahamas. There, we planned to laze about, see the sights, and live intimately connected with the earth. My anticipation was the latter but my husband’s overarching goal was to escape government intrusion.

Intracoastal , Hollywood, FL, by kimb0lene flickr CC

Even in the early ’90s, the rules and regulations for daily living via zoning, vehicular laws, taxes etc tortured his libertarian heart. So we decided to get away from it all and cut loose from regular living and craft a lifestyle that would be apart from government rules and prying as much as possible.

Ha ha.

Little did we know in our innocent and naive hearts that government tentacles had been busy extending invisibly into areas we knew not. For example, we didn’t know that the Atlantic coastal waters and the inside Intracoastal Waterway were heavily trafficked and monitored. We expected the Coast Guard. We did not expect that the Coast Guard could approach and board without probable cause and with impunity. Unlike motorists where law enforcement needs a valid reason and/or permission to search your vehicle, it is not the case with Coast Guard. (At least, at that time.) They come aboard, inspect for safety gear, and can and did search for drugs (Ah, that old War on Drugs was going full force in the post Miami Vice ’90s).

Also, we did not expect that every bridge tender to record the name and home port of each vessel traveling under its spans.

For example, here is the Bridge of Lions at the port of St. Augustine. When a sailboat wants to go under the bridge and if the span is lower than the boat’s mast, you call the bridge tender and request he lifts the span to allow passage. This, of course, halts car traffic on the bridge. When you pass under the tender’s booth, much like a highway tollbooth, he writes down the name of your boat and the port identified on the stern.

Kristee Booth, Wiki CC photo

If we had thought about it at all, we would have understood from the get-go that the coastal waters and Intracoastal Waterway has to have separation of traffic much like roadways. There are cargo ships, Navy ships, pleasure craft, fishing fleets, Coast Guard, marina harbormasters, yacht races, locks, bridges, canals, rules of the road, and much more. Because it is so busy, of course it would all be managed.

Another trip we took was in a VW camper van across the country. This was in 1994. We were interested in exploring the desert. Neither of us had been west of the Mississippi and we were specifically looking forward to exploring the desert. We had a vague notion of finding a warm place to buy a small plot of land and build a desert shack. The expanses of West Texas entranced us. It was so empty! Maybe this would be the place we could set up a home apart from so much spying, from government and neighbors, my husband said. He was truly born in the wrong time. I believe in former days he would have made a great schooner captain or an inventive Mountain Man.

Anyway, we kept seeing this weird dirigible hovering over the desert byways. We learned that its name was Fat Albert and it was a government spy craft.

EPrata photo

This is the official write up on it:
“The Tethered Aerostat Radar System is a balloon-borne radar. The primary aerostat mission is to provide radar data in support of other federal agencies involved in the nation’s drug interdiction program. One aerostat, located at Cudjoe Key, Fla., transmits TV Marti, which sends American television signals into Cuba for the U.S. Information Agency. The air drug interdiction program consists of land-based aerostat radar detection balloons along the U.S. southern border and in the Carribbean…“

What happened was the balloons went up in FL first to monitor drug traffic by air and sea, but the smugglers simply shifted their air routes west and flew over Mexico and then landed in the United States Southwest. So the program shifted west to follow them. The write-up states plainly that the Marti transmissions were a failure and the balloons were a semi-failure, due to expense, necessity to remain tethered, and bad weather. But the government kept trying and spying, bless their hearts.

Of course we are into the second decade of the new millennium now and we know that the government spying that used to look outward for enemies and drug traffickers now looks inward to track friendly, unsuspecting citizens and their activities, not just enemies.

The National Security Agency collects over 2 million private citizens’ messages a day in ‘untargeted sweeps’. Highway webcameras are ubiquitous. There is a street cam on every ATM and bank, and on traffic lights and most businesses. The government can track a person with a cell phone and the phone need not be on an active call, or even turned on for that matter. As this story below illustrates, continuing societal immorality extends to citizens using technology to spy on citizens more frequently than not.

Marcus Thomas, former assistant director of the FBI’s Operational Technology Division in Quantico, said in a recent story in The Washington Post that the FBI has been able to covertly activate a computer’s camera — without triggering the light that lets users know it is recording — for several years. (source). Thsi same story reported how a teen aged classmate had been spying on Miss Teen USA by using her webcam. The activation of the unsuspecting girl’s webcam hadn’t triggered the light that alerted her that the camera was in use.

We can see how Jesus’s prophecy in Matthew 10:21 will easily come true, if laptop spying can occur between citizen-to-citizen. Even family members will spy and tell. “Brother will deliver brother over to death, and the father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death.“

All this to say that in my lifetime, visible technology has leaped forward to such a degree that envisioning the antichrist’s stranglehold on all peoples at end of the end is now easy to do. That the people using technology have been revealed to have regularly used it for nefarious purposes shows us how easily a depraved man’s heart can and does turn what was meant for citizen good will be used instead to oppress them.

As for the antichrist’s and false prophet’s stranglehold on religion, in looking at this one picture it is easy to see how the world’s religions will cave easily and be absorbed into one. Most is it is false now anyway.

As Pastor JD Hall said of this photo as he tweeted it, “Photo of a female Methodist pastor anointing a Catholic Cardinal. So much #fail in one photo.”

HuffPo

The Huffington Post reports, “Boston’s Cardinal Sean O’Malley surprised many people when he asked Rev. Robertson, a pastor in the United Methodist Church, to anoint his forehead with consecrated water in an ecumenical baptism reaffirmation ritual at Sudbury United Methodist Church, reports The Patriot Ledger. “

To see where we are headed, read the bible. It contains already-ordained future history. To see how close we are to that future, look back. In my case, I didn’t have to look back too distantly to see how far we have come in being subject to technological and governmental strangleholds and how the tares have flooded the faith. Only 30 years. What does the next 30 years portend? The next 5years? The next one year? I shudder to think.

However, the grace and promise of Jesus is that His Bride is not appointed to wrath. We who are already in the Bride will not be here to be forcibly subjugated to the antichrist, nor forced to starve when we are forbidden to participate in the economy. We will be in heaven dining with our Groom at the Marriage Supper of the Lamb! That is a sure thing.

If you do not know Jesus and are worried about the way the world is going, you are right to be afraid. It will end in a horror that Jesus Himself shuddered to relate to the disciples. (Matthew 24:21-22). It will be Hitler’s Holocaust on steroids, a never-ending shop of horrors and literally hell on earth. (Revelation 9:2-3). Billions will die. And then after the Great White Throne Judgment they will die again, forever, in hell, where the worm does not die and the fire is not quenched. (Mark 9:38).

Flickr CC by stonehouse_ “jayme and i wrote this in the wet pavement.
apparently it had been cleaned when jayme when back later though.
the heathens will never be…”

You can avoid all that by repenting of your sins and appealing to Jesus for forgiveness. Because He absorbed God’s wrath on the cross for our sins, died, and rose again, He is able to forgive, and your wrath will be transferred from your account to His. He paid your sin-debt! He is magnificent and holy, loving and gracious. He is waiting for you to recognize you are a sinner and fall to His feet. He will forgive you, lift you, conform you to His likeness (holy and good) and welcome you to blessed heaven when it is your turn to be called home. All this awaits the repentant sinner!

“…Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God, 15and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.” (Mark 14b-15).

end of days, end time, gog and magog, middle east, prophecy, south sudan

South Sudan erupts in ethnic violence and inches toward civil war; US involved

Posted on December 26, 2013May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

Over the last week a hot war has broken out in South Sudan. I’ve stayed away from political and war stories the last few days due to the holiday but it is important to bring this news to you now.

Sudan is one of the regions mentioned as being a future participant in the Gog-Magog war. (Cush, Ezekiel 38:5). And, anything happening in the so-called ‘epicenter’ is worthy of note. As Joel C. Rosenberg’s Facebook page states, he “tracks geopolitical and spiritual events and trends in Israel and throughout the Middle East”. We call this region the epicenter because all historical-to-prophetic events important to God arise from this region, especially Israel.

The Washington Post reported on December 23, “The world’s newest country is already on the brink of civil war. Here’s how it happened.”
“It was considered one of the world’s great successes when, on July 9, 2011, South Sudan became an independent nation. After many unhappy years as a region of Sudan, the new country declared its independence with crucial support from the outside world, particularly the United States.”

“Now, less than two and a half years later, South Sudan appears to be on the verge of a potential civil war. Since an alleged coup attempt Dec. 15 (it probably wasn’t really a coup), fighting between rebels and government forces has killed at least 500, injured four U.S. troops and left entire cities disputed. As of this writing, the South Sudan army says it’s preparing to attack rebel groups who’ve taken control of oil-producing regions. How did this happen?“

The report goes on to enumerate four reasons, and explains them in easy to understand terms.

The BBC reports this morning, “South Sudan crisis: Kenya and Ethiopia leaders in Juba for talks“
“The leaders of two of South Sudan’s neighbours, Kenya and Ethiopia, have arrived in the capital, Juba, in an attempt to halt fighting there. Thousands of people are feared dead in violence that began 11 days ago and has raised fears of a civil war. President Salva Kiir was seen going into talks with Ethiopian PM Hailemariam Desalegn and Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta on Thursday.”

There is oil in S. Sudan…

“Fears are intensifying that South Sudan is on the verge of full civil war, and that the country’s estimated 250,000 b/d of oil production could be put at risk as a result. Hundreds of oil workers are flying out of South Sudan as former vice president Riak Machar claims his rebel forces have seized control of the oil-rich Unity state, which can produce some 45,000 b/d of oil.” (source)

The United States was hit while trying to evacuate personnel:

“Gunfire hit three US military aircraft trying to evacuate American citizens in a remote region of South Sudan that on Saturday became a battle ground between the country’s military and renegade troops, officials said. Four US service members were wounded in the attack in the same region where gunfire downed a UN helicopter the day before.” (source)

CBS reports that U.N. Investigators Find Mass Graves In South Sudan but then later the UN denied there was a mass grave of 75 bodies and revised the death toll downward to 34 with 75 missing. The fog of war… And how many people have to die and be buried together before they call it a ‘mass grave’?

The US is sending troops to South Sudan in anticipation they may be needed to respond to the violence, as well as the UN “increase in peacekeepers in a bid to rein in South Sudan’s ethnic violence.”

Here is a chart of the modern names of the ancient nations named in Ezekiel’s prophecy of a future regional war: (Ezekiel 37-38).

So that is the unfortunate news. More strife in the Middle East, more deaths and eternal destinies cemented forever. More inching toward the moment when it will all break out as Ezekiel and the other prophets have said. Prophecy is sure, so it will happen, perhaps on our watch or perhaps on another generation’s. I feel it will be us who sees the final eruptions begin even as we are whisked homeward by the call of our Savior.

end of days, end time, last days, rapture, repent

A Simple Plea: please repent, the end is near

Posted on September 23, 2013 by elizabethprata

It’s the end of the end times.

“You’re stupid. You people have been saying it’s the end times, like, forever.”

True. That is because it HAS been the end times like forever. At least two thousand years. They began when Jesus ascended, and will end when Jesus returns. (Acts 2:17, Hebrews 1:2)

The last days is like a woman who is pregnant. Her baby grows inside her, and as the weeks progress, she shows more and more evidence of her imminent state. (in today’s terms, ‘baby bump’.) As she nears the end of her pregnancy, she develops other signs that her term is nearing the end. Her body aches. Her stomach grows. Her doctor visits become more frequent.

Then there is a final sign, the final sign that the baby’s birth is nearing. The pregnant mom’s water breaks. This is the moment when it becomes evident in the long gestation that the final phase has been entered. There is pain, blood, mess, and screaming.

Then the baby is born. New life has arrived. (Revelation 21:1)

The gestation is the end time, or last days. This is the time that Jesus is building His church. (Matthew 16:18, Romans 11:25, Luke 21:24). The water breaking is the rapture. The blood, mess and screaming (labor pangs) is the Tribulation. (Matthew 24:8). The new baby is the new earth and the Kingdom, fresh and new.

Jesus likened the last days as to the woman’s pregnancy, and specifically to labor pangs. In Matthew 24, Jesus answered the disciples specifically as to three three things they were wondering:

“As he sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?” And Jesus answered them, “See that no one leads you astray. For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and they will lead many astray.” (Matthew 24:3-5).

They asked —

1. When will it happen?
2. What will be the sign of your coming?
3. What will be the sign of the end of the age?

Jesus said no on knows when, so we can get that question out of the way fast. The disciples were waiting for Messiah and of the Kingdom that had been promised them. They had learned as Jews that when Messiah came, He would institute the covenant promises, so naturally the disciples were eager for it all to start. What they did not know (but should have) is that His coming would be in two phases, Lamb and Lion. Suffering Servant and Sovereign King. So they asked excitedly in Matthew 24 and several other times too, “Is it now? When? When? When?”

What we know from our vantage point is that Jesus has been building the church, growing His bride for these last two thousand years. The disciples thought it was all going to take place right then, and they didn’t have the church on their radar.

As for question #2, Jesus went on in Matthew 24 with all the signs. These are signs of His immediate coming, His return after the 7 year Tribulation. Matthew 24 is a Tribulation chapter relating to the Jews. These are signs the Tribulation saints will be looking at and waiting for His return on the Day of the LORD.

I think we are moments away from the water breaking. I really do. I think we are in the last moments of the last days.

I could be wrong. But the rapture is always imminent. Always has been, always will be, until it happens.

“And the God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen.” (Romans 16:20)

“Looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus” (Titus 2:13).

“Let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works: Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the Day approaching” (Heb 10:24-25).

“For yet a little while, and He that shall come will come, and will not tarry” (Heb 10:37).

Here is the plea:

Do you know where you would go if you were to die in the next few moment of time?

Do you know what would be happening if all the true Christians suddenly disappeared and the world went to hell (literally. That’s not a swear. The Tribulation is a time hell comes to earth). Well, do you?

No?

You can. You can know where you will go when you die. If you repent of your sins (be sorry for them, truly sorry that you’ve done things that disobey Holy God), you can ask Jesus to forgive them. He is the resurrected Lamb, whom God exhausted all His wrath for sins. Pleased with Jesus’s sacrificial death, He raised Jesus from the dead and set Him at His right hand in heaven. Now people who are sorry for their sins can come into heaven under Jesus, since He already took your wrath for your sins for you.

Once you do that you become born again, born from above, you will go to heaven when you die.

Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” (John 3:3)

If you do not repent, and do not ask Jesus to forgive your sins, and are not born again, when you die you will go to hell. That’s because you still have a debt to pay- that wrath. You didn’t want to come in under Jesus, who already blocked God’s wrath from you. So now you have to take it, and that will happen forever in hell.

It’s much better to get your sin-debt to Jesus taken care of now, before you die. Christians have been saying this for two thousand years, and how much closer is the kingdom today than yesterday? Closer.

“and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.” (Mark 1:15)

“You also, be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand. (James 5:8)

Don’t wait until tomorrow. You may not have a tomorrow.

“Yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.” (James 4:14)

Eternity is long.

“It is everlasting wrath. It would be dreadful to suffer this fierceness and wrath of Almighty God one moment; but you must suffer it to all eternity. There will be no end to this exquisite horrible misery. When you look forward, you shall see a long for ever, a boundless duration before you, which will swallow up your thoughts, and amaze your soul; and you will absolutely despair of ever having any deliverance, any end, any mitigation, any rest at all. You will know certainly that you must wear out long ages, millions of millions of ages, in wrestling and conflicting with this almighty merciless vengeance; and then when you have so done, when so many ages have actually been spent by you in this manner, you will know that all is but a point to what remains. So that your punishment will indeed be infinite. Oh, who can express what the state of a soul in such circumstances is! All that we can possibly say about it, gives but a very feeble, faint representation of it; it is inexpressible and inconceivable: For “who knows the power of God’s anger?” Jonathan Edwards, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God, excerpt)

Repent. The end is near.

bible, end of days, prophecy, quantum leap, rapture

Make a quantum leap with me

Posted on May 18, 2013May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

I published this almost two years ago to the day. I have been thinking about quantum leaps again, a lot, so I thought I’d re-post this.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I love learning how the bible is a book of science. If true and honest science were to be considered, scientists would accept that the earth is a young earth. Science shows it, but they “believed the lie” – the lie being (in my opinion) that God didn’t create the universe. And if He is not Creator, therefore maybe He is not Redeemer either. Hey, that lie works for satan.

In any case, I learned about quantum leaps this week.

The heavens and the earth (Hebrew phraseology for the universe) will disappear. That is a fact. But how? And where will we be? My question regarding the first was answered to my satisfaction this week. It involves quantum physics. LOL, stay with me!

If you make a fist and bump your fist from below with your other hand, your fist moves up from the bump. Keep that in mind as I explain. A quantum leap happens when a photon strikes an atom, it boosts an electron into a higher orbit. And when that occurs the electron moves from the lower to the upper orbit simultaneously without having traversed the intervening space. That’s a quantum leap. (Definition from John MacArthur). Or this, “A quantum leap is a leap from A to B, without passing through any of the points between A and B. Imagine that you enter a train in A-ville. You sit in your seat, and the train is instantly transported to your destination of B-ville. You just made a quantum leap.”

Amazing! The electron blinks out and then blinks back into a higher state of being – instantaneously! This makes sense to me when thinking of two biblical events prophesied to come: the Rapture and the New Heavens/New Earth.

Rapture: “in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. (1 Corinthians 15:52). When Jesus calls us with the last trump and the voice of an archangel, we will be translated instantaneously from fleshly human with sin nature to glorified eternal person with no sin nature. This will happen in the blink of an eye, which is said to be 150 milliseconds. The how of it seems to me to be a good definition of a quantum leap. We are translated from a lower state of being to a higher state of being, instantly.

At the end of time when Jesus makes a new heavens and a new earth, it appears to me also that it could happen as in the definition of a quantum leap. The earth is translated from a lower state of being to a higher state of being, instantly.

“But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up. (2 Peter 3:10) … “looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be destroyed by burning, and the elements will melt with intense heat! But according to His promise we are looking for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells.” (Verse 12-13)

“Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and there is no longer any sea.” (Revelation 21:1)

When I read things like this and I ponder the enormity of the unified system that is the universe, (yes I believe string theory is correct) it makes me feel a great sense of awe for Him and I love the Creator all the more. That we polluted his perfect creation with sin and He redeems us anyway makes me feel humbled and I love Him all the more. It’s all good!
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