Author: elizabethprata

Christian writer and Georgia reading teacher who loves Jesus, a quiet life, art, beauty, and children.
Posted in comfort, God who sees

You are not alone- Jesus sees you

Posted on by elizabethprata

We have a God who sees! You do not have to feel alone. You do not have to feel like He is distant from you. You do not have to feel like an insignificant speck, alone in your troubles.

We have a God who sees. Read Genesis 16:1-13:

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

Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had borne him no children. She had a female Egyptian servant whose name was Hagar. And Sarai said to Abram, “Behold now, the Lord has prevented me from bearing children. Go in to my servant; it may be that I shall obtain children by her.” And Abram listened to the voice of Sarai. So, after Abram had lived ten years in the land of Canaan, Sarai, Abram’s wife, took Hagar the Egyptian, her servant, and gave her to Abram her husband as a wife. And he went in to Hagar, and she conceived. And when she saw that she had conceived, she looked with contempt on her mistress. And Sarai said to Abram, “May the wrong done to me be on you! I gave my servant to your embrace, and when she saw that she had conceived, she looked on me with contempt. May the Lord judge between you and me!” But Abram said to Sarai, “Behold, your servant is in your power; do to her as you please.” Then Sarai dealt harshly with her, and she fled from her.

The angel of the Lord found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, the spring on the way to Shur. And he said, “Hagar, servant of Sarai, where have you come from and where are you going?” She said, “I am fleeing from my mistress Sarai.” The angel of the Lord said to her, “Return to your mistress and submit to her.” The angel of the Lord also said to her, “I will surely multiply your offspring so that they cannot be numbered for multitude.” And the angel of the Lord said to her,

“Behold, you are pregnant and shall bear a son. You shall call his name Ishmael, because the Lord has  listened to your affliction. He shall be a wild donkey of a man, his hand against everyone and everyone’s hand against him, and he shall dwell over against all his kinsmen.”

“So she called the name of the Lord who spoke to her, “You are a God who sees,” for she said, “Truly here I have seen him who looks after me.”

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

He found her alone in the desert by a spring of water. Note how many times Jesus comes to those who are troubled when they are by a well, fountain, or water. He IS the fountain of life. Zechariah records this wonderful fact,

“On that day there shall be a fountain opened for the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, to cleanse them from sin and uncleanness.” (Zechariah 13:1)

Ezekiel records this fact:

“Then he brought me back to the door of the temple, and behold, water was issuing from below the threshold of the temple toward the east (for the temple faced east). The water was flowing down from below the south end of the threshold of the temple, south of the altar. Then he brought me out by way of the north gate and led me around on the outside to the outer gate that faces toward the east; and behold, the water was trickling out on the south side.” (Ezekiel 47:1-2)

Joel records this fact:

“And in that day the mountains shall drip sweet wine, and the hills shall flow with milk, and all the streambeds of Judah shall flow with water; and a fountain shall come forth from the house of the Lord and water the Valley of Shittim.” (Joel 3:18)

The LORD sees your affliction, and He cares. Let His refreshing river of love and grace flow over you, cleansing you of all worry and fear. He sees.

As a kid, I enjoyed the long-running 1960s children’s television program, Romper Room. It ran for 40 years, you know! I loved the end when the ‘teacher’ in the room put up a magic mirror and could ‘see’ all of us in our living rooms. She would say goodbye one by one to a few children she said she saw through the mirror. I’d tune in day after day, waiting for the day when she said she could “see” me and said “Goodbye, Beth!” One day, she did.

Today in the kindergarten class in which I work, if I need to quiet the children for a moment before the teacher comes in, all I have to do is go in front of the room, look at the children, and say “Let me see you.” Immediately they all turn to me, and sit quietly, waiting for me to look at them and say their name and something about them. They will sit for quite a while waiting for their turn. All a child wants is to be seen.

That does not change when we grow up. We hide the desire, but we still want to be seen. Just knowing someone ‘sees’ us seems to speak to our spirit and settles us down.

Imagine Hagar sitting there in the middle of the desert, alone.

Yet though she felt like an insignificant speck, unwanted and alone, God saw her. More than that, He cared for her, personally! God does not change so He still cares for each of us, personally. He sends provision. He sends a ministering angel. He sent His Son. He sent the Word. He sends a solution to a problem. He responds to prayers.

If you turn to the Word, you will see Him. If you pray you will see Him. We are not all as fortunate as Hagar to have a heavenly visitation, but through His word and prayer, you can be with Him as He has revealed Himself, and claim the promises He has made there. He sees.

“For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to give strong support to those whose heart is blameless toward him.” (2 Chronicles 16:9a)

Posted in gaza, hamas, israel, prophecy

Israel gives Hamas ultimatum: ‘You have 36 hours’

Posted on by elizabethprata

Israel gives Hamas ultimatum
Unless the rocket fire at Israel ceases within 36 hours, the IDF will expand Operation Pillar of Cloud.
“On the sixth day of Operation Pillar of Cloud, the question exercising Israel’s political and military leadership is whether to launch a ground attack and substantially expand the operation, or to strive for a cease-fire. While the intense rocket fire on Israel’s southern settlements continues and the Israel Air Force continues to operate in the Gaza Strip, there are talks on a cease-fire arrangement between Israel and Hamas with Egyptian mediation. Galei Tzahal (Army Radio) reports this morning that the gaps between the demands of Hamas and the terms Israel wants are very wide. Jerusalem has therefore given Hamas an ultimatum that unless a cease-fire is reached within 36 hours, Operation Pillar of Cloud will be expanded.”

Russia Today reports, “Israel’s Finance Minister told IDF radio the time left before Israel escalates its attacks can be measured in “hours, not days.”

Posted in eschatology, harold camping, prophecy

UPDATED– How to approach prophecy, plus, snow tornado

Posted on by elizabethprata

Editor’s Note–I don’t usually update essays after a few hours at most, preferring to leave them alone. But today I was reading John MacArthur’s “Christ’s Prophetic Plans” and some things in there just dovetailed erfectly with what I was saying here. I am adding the prophecy chart and a paragraph that explains why prophecy is important.

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

In a chaotic world it is sometimes hard to sort out what’s true and what’s not. In a chaotic and sometimes obscure prophetic world it is sometimes really hard to sort out what is happening.

As a theological study subject, Eschatology, or the study of end time things, has gotten a reputation of a kind of sneering unpopularity. There is no doubt that it is a popular subject, especially in the last few years. But very few admit to liking it, studying it, reading it, or teaching it. And this is too bad, because Peter said in 2 Peter 1:19,

“And we have something more sure, the prophetic word, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts,”

Peter was urging them to delight in the prophecy of the Lord’s coming. He was telling them that the Old Testament prophets foretold of the Lord’s coming and He came. The word is sure. He will come again. That is sure too. Referring constantly to the Word will break the hold that the false teachers had on them, and they were besieged by the crackpots, false teachers, preachers, and prophets in that first century church. Satan was doing everything he could to make the Christians unsure. He still is.

Below is a chart of an overview of prophecy from MacArthur’s book “Christ’s Prophetic Plans”

One reason this area of study seems to have gotten a bad reputation is because of the crackpots, casual predictors, and personal diviners. It seems that everyone has a dream that they need to tell about the times. “I talked with Jesus last night…” Harold Camping and his ilk did much to damage the reputation of that sure word when they set dates and handle the Word incorrectly.

When the inevitable disappointment comes, people are all too willing to throw out the entire bible rather than the false prediction. “I knew it!” they say. “The whole thing is bunk!” Sad.

In Christ’s Prophetic Plans, John MacArthur wrote,

“Imagine this hypothetical dialogue about the millennium between two well-meaning Christians. One proudly announces “I am promillennial- whatever it involves, although we cannot really know for certain, I am all for it!” The other responds, Well, I am Panmillenial-while prophecy is important for Christians to know, I am sure it will ‘pan out’ in the end.” The first Christian concludes that one cannot know for certain what Scriptures says about prophetic issues and the second declares that it is not important to know. Both are sincere, but both are woefully ignorant that Scripture abounds with information on future things. Biblically minded Christians do not have to settle for such a muddled approach to eschatology.”

Richard Mayhue wrote in that same book, Christ’s Prophetic Plans, “Scripture teems with prophetic material. Not even one slight indication exists that prophetic materials are to be ignored, be set aside or marginalized.” He wrote, ‘Consider the following facts’–

  • 94% of the bible presents predictive information (62 out of 66 books)
  • ALL nine authors of the New Testament mention Christ’s Second Coming
  • Next to the subject of faith/salvation, the next most prominent theme is Christ’s Second Coming
  • Of the 333 specific biblical prophecies dealing with Christ’s two Advents, one-third deal with the first coming and two-thirds deal with the second coming.

John MacArthur talked about this new bent toward mysticism rather that rely on the solidity of prophecy and His sure word in his sermon “The Sufficiency of Christ“, where people walk and talk with Jesus at all times of the day, personally, either in heaven or …in their bathroom? Dr. MacArthur said,

“It’s a big ego trip, Paul says. All these people who are into mysticism, it’s coming at us like a flood, folks, like a flood. All the mysticism that’s encroaching upon the church, this New Wave interest in missions where they’re saying we’ll never reach the world without signs and wonders. And they’re having courses in seminary on miracles and signs and wonders. And they’re teaching people how to get into the other dimension, how to get into the other paradigm, they use that term of the third world, and think mystically. And it’s nothing, it’s nothing but sheer imagination at best and at worst you are courting demons…courting demons. It’s just not true.”

“A man said to me, “Sometimes when I’m shaving, Jesus comes in the bathroom and puts His arm around me in the morning and talks to me.” I said, “You mean the real Jesus?” He said yes. I said, “And He puts His arm around you and you see Him?” He said yes. And I just had one question, “Do you keep shaving or do you fall on your face in the ground in terror because you’re in the presence of a holy God?” If you keep shaving, it wasn’t Jesus.”

It’s also unfortunate that when one event happens, many people rush to say that it was the Hand of God for sure. We know that God is sovereign so that means He either cause or allows every little thing on earth and in heaven to happen. Not even a sparrow falls without His permission. (Matthew 10:29.)

But the earth is sinful and just because there was a Katrina or a Banda Aceh Tsunami or a quake in Kentucky it does not mean the end is near. Like the mountain peaks range of prophecy I’d mentioned earlier today, we have to look at the whole picture before we can say with any kind of certainty that this is the season of the end.

One way I look at it is through superlatives. If you are a regular reader of this blog you have read this before. It is when continual, persistent, events happen that top each other. When people begin to experience things that consistently outpace each other, it is something to look at. When those events start happening more frequently in time relative to each other, we look at that too.

This is because Jesus said the time of the end would be like birth pangs. The birth pain symbolism is used constantly throughout the bible describe individually prophesied events and also to refer to the long-term period of the end. (John 16:21, Revelation 12:2, Isaiah 13:8, Isaiah 26:18).

So what do I mean? Well, a few years ago if a weather forecasters said something like “This is a hundred year storm” people perked up. ‘WOW!’ they would say, ‘A once in a lifetime event is happening!’

But how many times have we heard even that topped? Hundred year events happen every year now. Snow records of “most ever” fall every winter. “Biggest-ever”, “worst ever outbreak”, “loudest ever”… are constant descriptors in the news now.

And when they run out of superlatives to describe a Superstorm Sandy they simply say things like “Historic”, “epic”, or even “biblical.”

And then we have the category of “rare” “unusual”, and “unprecedented.” Like this —

“As reported by TV company “Arig Us” from Republic of Buryatia, Russia- in the cold Republic of Buryatia, which is located in the east of Russia, for first time observed the snow tornado- huge tornado, which suddenly appeared out of the snow on the uninhabited forests of Buryatia. Vladimir Daganeev, a resident of Buryatia, was able to shoot the video of snow tornado in the mountains of the Oka region of Buryatia, at an altitude of about 3000 meters above sea level. Tornado lifted in the air a lot of snow, moving over the mountain tundra along Oka Ridge, the most surprising was, that the tornado was observed in complete silence and with full calm. Never before in the last 80 years in the Republic of Buryatia, was not seen a tornado…” (source)

The Accuweather meteorologists, in a separate newscast and not referring in particular to the Russian snow tornado, said that snow tornadoes are rare and elusive. They were reporting on a US snow tornado in Kentucky in March 2012. One forecaster said:

“It’s not terribly unusual for spring storms to bring snow after tornadoes, but this much snow (up to 6.5 inches reported in Kentucky) on top of this much damage (EF-4 in southern Indiana and EF-3s in Kentucky) is extremely rare – I personally have never seen it. “

You read this a lot in the news. Rare things happening frequently, lol. At what point do they become common and not rare anymore?

Here are some more recent superlative comments related to unprecedented things happening, this was Nov. 11. BBC reports. (I’ll put the superlatives in bold)

Venice ‘high water’ floods 70% of city
“Venetians direct anger at forecasters after ‘exceptional and unpredictable‘ rise in sea waters floods homes and businesses. Venice’s high water, or “acqua alta”, said to be the sixth highest since 1872, flooded 70% of the city and was high enough to make raised wooden platforms for pedestrians float away. The record high water in Venice – 1.94 metres in 1966 – prompted many residents to abandon the city for new lives on the mainland. Venetians bombarded Facebook with moans about the city’s weather forecasters, who had predicted just 1.2 metres of water on Saturday, before correcting their forecast at dawn on Sunday.”

So keep looking at the record-breakers. Note the language the weathermen and reporters use. Compare to an embedded prophetic situation, not just a one-time event. Think long-term. Keep to the sure word of God, but be measured and careful about it. I listed just one wrong date-setter, Harold Camping, but there have been many. However, you see the damage one wrong person was and the damage done to the reputation of God’s prophecies.

Above all, please do not follow dreamers. Here is what the bible has to say about people who have a “prophetic dream”:

“Yet in like manner these people also, relying on their dreams, defile the flesh, reject authority, and blaspheme the glorious ones. (Jude 1:8)

“For thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Do not let your prophets and your diviners who are among you deceive you, and do not listen to the dreams that they dream,” (Jeremiah 29:8)

The dreamers are not to be encouraged, as Barnes explains the Jeremiah verse: “As long as there was a market for dreams, so long there would be plenty of impostors to supply them.”

There certainly does seem to be a cottage industry for merchandising of dreams, heavenly trips, and angel talk, doesn’t there?

Do not follow people who say they chat up Jesus in heaven. So many people today say they talked with Jesus and have come back with a prophecy to tell. In this 15-minute video here, Justin Peters explains why stories of trips to heaven do not line up with scripture. I opened with the scripture that tells us we have a sure word, God’s word as stated by Him to us in the bible. Why would you follow after anyone else’s word?

Posted in body, worry

A quick quote about worry and the body

Posted on by elizabethprata

“Jesus is saying not to worry about such things is especially powerful in the context of His day. Certainly that is an indictment of our own worry about life’s basics. Jesus then asks rhetorically, “Is not life more than food, and the body than clothing?” (v. 25). Of course it is, but you wouldn’t know it judging by what’s advertised today and what people seem to feel they need to be pursuing.”

“So many people in our society are totally consumed with the body—they decorate it, build it up, extravagantly clothe it, put it in a nice car, send it off to a nice house, stuff it full of food, sit it in a comfortable chair, hang a bunch of jewelry all over it, take it out on a boat, let it swim, teach it to ski, take it on a cruise, and so on. But life is not contained in those things; it transcends all the externals. Life comes from God—and the fullness of life from Jesus Christ.”  ~ John MacArthur

It is all about Jesus Christ. And not just on Sunday, but every day. Have a blessed worship, wherever you are.

Posted in egypt, interpreting prophecy, isaiah 19, that day, the day of the lord

"That Day"- what does it mean?

Posted on by elizabethprata

When I refer, for example, to a prophecy in Isaiah 19 regarding Egypt, they ask how can I know if that was already fulfilled or if it is meant for the future.

It is a good question. Many prophecies have a double fulfillment. This means it was partially fulfilled in the past, and the rest will be fulfilled in the future. This is called the Mountain Peaks view of prophecy. Clarence Larkin (1850-1924) created this picture to explain the unrolling of prophecy throughout the ages.

When you’re climbing a mountain range and you think you’ve gotten to the top, you realize there is a valley and the peak you thought was nearby is actually several mountains away with several valleys between.

You can read more about Larkin and his Prophecy Peaks here. Whether you agree with all that Larkin said is not under discussion here but his view of prophecy being a mountain range rather than each prophecy being one peak is a good way to think about how prophecy unrolls through time.

Some prophecies, of course, are fulfilled only once. Jesus was only born once. He was called out of Egypt once. Some prophecies will be fulfilled once but haven’t been fulfilled yet, such as Isaiah 17:1, Damascus will be destroyed, it will be a heap of ruins.” The longest continuously inhabited city in the world has never been reduced to a heap of ruins, and when it is, it will happen only one time because the prophecy says it will never re-emerge as a city.

That is why it takes care to study the entire bible, and take care especially in studying prophecy to see if it is something that has been fulfilled, was never yet fulfilled, or is a double fulfillment type of prophecy.

Prophecy is also precise. One great example of how precise is Jesus when He read from Isaiah. Luke has the story–

“And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up. And as was his custom, he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and he stood up to read. And the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written,”

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives
and recovering of sight to the blind,
to set at liberty those who are oppressed,
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

“And he rolled up the scroll and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. And he began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” (Luke 4:16-21).

Where Jesus stopped is of import. The next line of that verse in Isaiah reads “and the day of vengeance of our God;”. If Jesus had read that it would be untrue. His first advent was to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor and His second advent will be to bring wrath and justice. He was not there to bring vengeance yet, so He stopped in the middle of the sentence.

In timing, whenever you see “That day” or “The Day of the LORD” in the bible it refers to the 7-year period at the end of the age when God sends Jesus to render wrath on the world and exact His justice. It is not ‘The Lord’s Day’ which is sabbath. It is specific to the end of the age and His wrath on the world.  Lambert Dolphin wrote,

“The Day of the LORD is a special term in the Bible used to refer to a period of time when God directly intervenes in human affairs—in judgment or in blessing. The Day of the Lord we are presently waiting for in our time frame will begin with the rapture (or “translation”) of the church and will continue through the tribulation period (seven years), and on through the thousand-year reign of Christ on earth until the time of the “new heavens and new earth.” (Rev. 21)”

So is Isaiah 19 prophecy about Egypt for now or was it fulfilled already? Walt Kaiser gave a good answer when someone had asked him that. He explains the timing. The question was asked in 2011 when Mubarak fell and chaos reigned in Tarhir Square during the Arab Spring.

Thoughts on Egypt and prophecies in Isaiah 19 by Walt Kaiser
“Recently I was asked by a friend who leads a BSF (Bible Study Fellowship) class to offer my thoughts on the recent activities in Egypt, and to comment specifically on Isaiah 19, which the class was studying. Here’s what I told the class. What do you think?”

“Yes, I believe the Isaiah 19 passage is most relevant. Verses 16 to 25 place the coming events “in that day” six times (vss 16, 18, 19, 21, 23, and 24). Since the prophecies to the foreign nations are bounded by chapter on the first advent of Christ (Isa 7-12) and the second advent of Christ (24-27), chapters 13-23 fall between those two end pieces in position and apparently in time as well. That is why I also stress the eschatological phrase “In that day.”

You can read the rest at the link.

So that is a quick little study on That Day, timing, how to read prophecy and how to view it in terms of peaks of mountain ranges instead of one Mt. Everest.

Be careful, be mindful, and keep praying to ask the Spirit to deliver a spirit of courage, wisdom and love in these days.

Posted in confirm a covenant, gaza, Golan Heights, israel, prophecy, truce

Confirming a covenant

Posted on by elizabethprata

Israel and Hamas in Gaza are talking truce.

Israel, Gaza fighting rages on as Egypt seeks truce
“Israel bombed Palestinian militant targets in the Gaza Strip from air and sea for a fifth straight day on Sunday, preparing for a possible ground invasion while also spelling out its conditions for a truce. … “We are exacting a heavy price from Hamas and the terrorist organizations and the Israel Defence Forces are prepared for a significant expansion of the operation,” he said at a cabinet meeting, giving no further details. Israel’s declared goal is to deplete Gaza arsenals and press Hamas into stopping cross-border rocket fire that has bedeviled Israeli border towns for years and is now displaying greater range, putting Tel Aviv and Jerusalem in the crosshairs. … Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi said in Cairo, as his security deputies sought to broker a truce with Hamas leaders, that “there are some indications that there is a possibility of a ceasefire soon, but we do not yet have firm guarantees”.”

It should be noted that Egypt and Israel have a peace treaty in force, negotiated by Egyptian President Anwar El Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin in 1979. Sadat was the most hated man in the Middle East for having signed the treaty. He was assassinated in 1981. Vice-President Hosni Mubarak assumed the presidency and kept the treaty going when Sadat was assassinated. In 2011, when the Muslim Brotherhood came to power, they said they wanted to break the treaty.

Joel Rosenberg said with characteristic caution today, “The current war here between Hamas and Israel is terrible, and traumatic, and is drawing the attention of the whole world. Many people are Tweeting me to ask if this is a prophetic war and whether it will lead to the battle of Armageddon. Operation Pillar of Defense is not the beginning of the battle of Armageddon. It is not the end of the world as we know it. There is no evidence — at the moment, at least — that it is one of the specific wars against Israel that are mentioned in Bible prophecy. Still, this war could begin to establish the conditions that will lead to some of the most dramatic End Times prophecies in the Bible coming to pass in the not-too-distant future. Please keep praying for the Lord to comfort and protect the millions of Israelis and Palestinians on both sides who are being so deeply affected by the current conflict.”

I’m looking at the brokering a truce in the mirror of the Daniel 9:27 prophecy. It is widely interpreted that the Daniel prophecy is the gateway to the Tribulation. Here is what the verse says-

“And he shall make a strong covenant with many for one week, and for half of the week he shall put an end to sacrifice and offering. And on the wing of abominations shall come one who makes desolate, until the decreed end is poured out on the desolator.”

The “he” mentioned in the verse is the antichrist. He will be of the Roman sphere (Chapters 2 & 7). The verse literally says he will ’cause to prevail’ or confirm a pact with Israel that he will break in the middle of the time. (MacArthur’s Study Notes).

You note that the verse doesn’t say that he will create a covenant, but will confirm one, indicating a covenant, pact, or treaty already exists and that is brought back to the table.

We don’t want to be alarmist, while at the same time we want to be watching events closely out of respect for Gods’s word and in order to pray for those affected and to encourage each other. If Egypt brokers a covenant to cease fire, will this be the one spoken of by Daniel? It may be, or it may not be. Personally I don’t think so. I think the time is not quite yet.

Of all the wars that are prophesied to come in the end of days, as Rosenberg mentioned, this current hot war could be the one or it could lead to the one. If they do broker a truce and it is for a period of seven years, we will know that it is the one.

We keep watching and praying.

Meanwhile, Syria and Israel exchanged fire last night at the Golan Heights.
“There was small arms fire (at Israeli forces), there was a response and from what I hear over Arab media it appears Syrian soldiers were killed,” Brigadier-General Yoav Mordechai, Israel’s chief military spokesman, told Army Radio.He said Israel was trying not to be dragged into battles between Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s forces and rebels. The chaos of the 20-month-old insurgency often makes independent assessment of casualties within Syria difficult.”

Israel is certainly surrounded.

Posted in azores, china, fajr-5, gaza, israel, kuril, prophecy

China eyes US base, sun’s humongous eruption, Israel prepares for 7 weeks of war

Posted on by elizabethprata

Some random news:

Humongous Eruption: 

A truly gigantic explosion happened on the sun yesterday. On Nov. 16th, magnetic fields snaking halfway across the sun’s southern hemisphere erupted in tandem, producing a prominence so big, it doesn’t fit inside this image from NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO). Spaceweather.com has the photo and video

Israel told to prepare for 7 weeks of war: 

Joel Rosenberg wrote today that “Israeli PM Netanyahu and his Security Cabinet have just concluded their classified meeting, which has lasted for hours. Only a few details have been released concerning their conclusions. But the main two are ominous:
* Israel’s Home Front Command has been ordered to tell the nation to prepare for 7 weeks of war.
* 75,000 IDF reserve soldiers are definitely being called up for action — up from 30,000 on Thursday, and 16,000 on Wednesday.”

Facts straight from IDF:

Israel Defense Force has a twitter stream. It is called @IDFSpokeperson. It is good to get the news directly from the IDF. He wrote today,
“This morning, the IDF targeted Mohammed Kaleb, a senior member of Hamas’ air defense unit in Gaza.
“A short while ago, the IDF targeted a senior #Hamas operative in Gaza who was in charge of the group’s weapons smuggling operations.”
“Some numbers from the last 3 days: 492 rockets fired from Gaza hit Israel + 245 Iron Dome interceptions = 737 rockets fired at us”

Fajr-5 Rockets:

The rocket that almost reached Jerusalem was a Fajr-R. Fajr 5 rockets can be fired from the back of a 6×6 truck to hit targets up to 75 kilometres (46 miles) away. These rockets are new to the Hamas arsenal. The Fajr 5 rocket has a far greater range than the home-produced Qassam rockets normally used by Palestinian militants in Gaza to target Israel, but neither are very accurate, defence analysts say. ” It is suspected that because Iran is the proxy behind Hamas that it was Iran who supplied the Fajr-5 to Hamas. Of course, they deny it.

“The flow of arms to Gaza has not ceased despite Israel’s massive airstrikes in the Hamas-ruled territory, the Lebanese newspaper Al-Akhbar reported Saturday. According to the Hezbollah-affiliated newspaper, a “considerable” amount of long-range missiles have been transferred to Gaza over the past 24 hours. Al-Akhbar also said Hezbollah and the Iranian Revolutionary Guards have declared a state of alert.”

“Located almost halfway between the Kamchatka Peninsula’s southern end and the northern tip of Hokkaido, Chirpoi is an isolated volcanic complex on its own island. Chirpoi actually refers to a cluster of volcanic features, including an 9-km-wide caldera and a series of smaller cones, including the active Snow Cone (I chuckled a bit at that). Two eruptions (that we know of) occurred at Snow over the 20th century, the most recent being a VEI 2 in 1962. However, the volcano did produce an eruption that was at least a VEI 4 back in 1712/3.”

“Now, as many of you know, trying to find a clear picture of the Kuril Islands via satellite can be tricky. Fabrice provided me with a small image of what looks like a plume seen on November 16. I looked back through some of the Terra and Aqua images and found a clear picture of the plume on November 11 in the Terra imagery (see above), drifting off to the southeast (towards bottom right). I’ve labeled the plume and some nearby islands and volcanoes to help get your bearings. The plume looks mainly white, which might suggest it is many a steam plume right now, but it is hard to tell from this image alone. KVERT doesn’t tend provide information about the Kuril Islands other than the northernmost, and Chirpoi’s remote location just might mean no one has been out there to notice the activity. However, this image and a MODIS thermal anomaly (as reported by Volcano Discovery and Fabrice) suggest that something is going on at Chirpoi, but so far, there isn’t any evidence of a full eruption, but rather a vigorous steam plume.”

“A leaked report by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said there were 2,784 centrifuges at Fordo, and that Iran could soon double the number operating from 700 to 1,400. The development is likely to fuel Western suspicions that Iran is seeking to develop nuclear weapons.”

The National Review reports this week that while we’re all looking at the economy or the Middle East, there is a Red Flag Over the Atlantic. They write:

“On June 27, a plane carrying Wen Jiabao made a “technical” stop on the island of Terceira, in the Azores. Following an official greeting by Alamo Meneses, the regional secretary of environment of the sea, the Chinese premier spent four hours touring the remote Portuguese outpost in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean.”

“Wen’s Terceira walkabout, which followed a four-nation visit to South America, largely escaped notice at the time, but alarm bells should have immediately gone off in Washington and in European capitals. For one thing, Wen’s last official stop on the trip was Santiago, the capital of Chile. Flights from Chile to China normally cross the Pacific, not the Atlantic, so there was no reason for his plane to be near the Azores. Moreover, those who visit the Azores generally favor other islands in the out-of-the-way chain.”

“Terceira, however, has one big attraction for Beijing: Air Base No. 4. Better known as Lajes Field, the facility where Premier Wen’s 747 landed in June is jointly operated by the U.S. Air Force and its Portuguese counterpart. If China controlled the base, the Atlantic would no longer be secure. From the 10,865-foot runway on the northeast edge of the island, Chinese planes could patrol the northern and central portions of the Atlantic and thereby cut air and sea traffic between the U.S. and Europe. Beijing would also be able to deny access to the nearby Mediterranean Sea.”

It is a good article. You should read it. Remember, the Russians crept in to close territorial waters not once, but twice undetected recently. Once in the Gulf of Mexico, and they hung out there a while, and the other was off the eastern seaboard near Kings Bay GA where we maintain a huge submarine base.

The Kings of the East rise up, according to prophecy. (Revelation 16:12).

From the heights of the sun, to the depths under the volcano, to the humans on the earth from east to west, things are active.

Posted in earthquakes, prophecy

Update to earthquake post: major quakes keep coming

Posted on by elizabethprata

On November 11, I posted an essay remarking on the frequency of major earthquakes since the election in the United States. I am not saying that the US drives prophecy. We are a puny nation in the scheme of things. I personally believe that the election went the way the LORD wanted it to go. He raises up kings and deposes kings. (Daniel 2:21). That Obama re-elected  means we as a nation were allowed to pursue unrighteousness, and are in fact under judgment (Romans 1).

But sin has consequences. Our national sin is great, as is most nations’ at this apostate and sinful time of the end. God shakes nations to get their attention.

According to the United States Geological Survey, a major quake is listed at anything above 6.0. They list these quakes in red on their earthquake page.

I’d noted that each year since 2009, the annual average expected for earthquakes in each category of magnitude from 5.0 to 9.0 had been exceeded. I can’t compare 2012 because the year isn’t ended yet- but I did look at the running total to see where we stood.

8.0-9.9 : 2
7.0-7.9 : 12
6.0-6.9 : 102
5.0-5.9 : 1336
The red means that category has exceeded USGS standard annual number for that magnitude quake in a year. The annual average number of quakes in the 6.0 range per year is 134. For the 7.0 range it is 15.

Of the 6.0-6.9 magnitudes, I’d said,

“Anyone have an idea that the two categories that haven’t met or exceeded the USGS annual average will be making up for lost time in the next few weeks? I do, if the last couple of days are any indication.”

And that has proved to be true.

I left off in the essay of Nov. 11 with the 6.5 in Offshore Guatemala. Since then, there have been six more:

Nov. 12: 6.4 GULF OF ALASKA
Nov. 13: 6.0 OFF THE COAST OF AISEN, CHILE
Nov. 14: 6.1 COQUIMBO, CHILE
Nov. 15: 6.0 GUERRERO, MEXICO
Nov. 16: 6.4 KURIL ISLANDS
Nov. 17: 6.1 TONGA REGION

Bringing the total to 108 major quakes in the 6.0-6.0 range. Each day in the last 12 days (except for the 9th) there has been a major quake of 6.0 magnitude or higher.

I just wanted to  update the quake list, as something to do that involves facts and numbers to get my mind off the suffering of Israel right now. And also because I think it is pretty interesting. I do not think we will end the year without meeting or exceeding the earthquake averages once again. That would make 4 years in a row that there have been more earthquakes in every category, and eleven years of exceeding the USGS average number of earthquakes per year in at least one category.

Posted in end of days, hamas, israel, jerusalem, prophecy, rocket

O, Jerusalem!

Posted on by elizabethprata

When Hamas shot a rocket toward Jerusalem, landing in it suburb, it shocked a great many people, not the least were the Israelis themselves.

It was a shocking event for two reasons. First, because this was a new kind of rocket and also because Israel didn’t think Hamas had the range to reach that far into Israel. In the past, all the rockets launched from Gaza were aimed at the southern portion of the nation and were of short range. No rocket had ever been launched at Jerusalem since 1970. Earlier in the day, Hamas launched several rockets toward the city of Tel Aviv, Israel’s largest, and most industrial city. No rocket had ever been launched at Tel Aviv since 1990. While the Tel Aviv population was recovering from their shock at the rocket barrage, then the attack toward Jerusalem happened.

The rocket launched at Jerusalem shocked Israelis and Christians alike secondly because of the symbolism. Jerusalem is God’s city, his very bosom. Whether the Muslims care to acknowledge that verbally or not is irrelevant. Their cries to “Destroy Jerusalem!” are evidence that it is that city and that city alone which provokes their ire. Unconsciously they know that it is holy, and because they are not holy, they want to destroy it in any way they can.

When the Muslim Brotherhood came to power in different nations throughout the Arab Spring of 2011, soon afterwards they began to verbalize their intent to destroy Israel, and especially Jerusalem. Why Jerusalem? Jerusalem is not a financial center. It is not a manufacturing center. It is not a military base. It is not even the largest city in Israel. Compared to other cities in the Middle East, it is almost a backwater. If it is not a plum military target, manufacturing target, or financial target, why do they want to destroy Jerusalem, then?

It is God’s eternal city. It is a city where God Himself has put His name. (2 Kings 21:4). This is significant. There is nothing holier in the universe than the name of God. He says of Himself, “I am the LORD, that is my Name” (Isaiah 42:8). He has concern for His holy name. (Ezekiel 36:21). His name is a strong tower, (Proverbs 18:10). In His name and no other is salvation (Acts 4:12). So when God sets His name, it means something!

For those reasons, the ungodly hate Jerusalem, because it de facto means they hate God. They seek to destroy Him, and since He is not present on earth now (they sought to destroy Jesus when He was here!) they try to do the next best thing- attack the Jews, the Christians, and the holy city where God chose to place His Name.

God’s enemies have always sought to destroy His name, ever since Genesis when satan slyly and craftily deceived Adam and Eve. In the Tribulation they continue attack God, but more pointedly, openly, and vastly. And they go after Jerusalem viciously. (Luke 21:20). What sparks this attack is that Satan is thrown out of heaven, barred from re-entry in Revelation 12:9, and as a result his fury is such that as the bible tells us in Revelation 12:13, 17, he goes after the Jews and the Christians. Satan’s open hatred of God culminates at the end of days in his finally leaving off attacking the Jews (who had fled to Petra and are being supernaturally protected by God) and having killed most of the Christians, prevailed against them, (Revelation 13:7, Dan 7:25), he assembles the armies of Armageddon to make war against the Lamb Himself. (Rev. 17:14)

Satan has always gone after God’s people. Genesis 3 opens with satan’s hatred of God, taken out on His children, and the story of sin ends with it.

Back to today, it should not be surprising to us in the spiritual realms that Jerusalem is attacked with missiles, it is prophesied. God’s word never fails, and we know that we know this will happen.

But it is surprising. Even though we know it will happen, when it does, we still have to absorb all the impacts emotionally, personally, and mentally. We are only human, after all. Knowing it will happen is different from seeing it happen. The illusory protective seal we thought had surrounded Jerusalem, simply because it hadn’t been attacked in 40 years (a generation) was pierced in a moment when the first rocket fell. Now our minds have to deal with a new reality.

It takes a moment to adjust.

What will aid our adjustment more smoothly and more rapidly to this new, dire world we live in, of which doom is deepening by the day, is prayer and praise.

Pray to the Lord for all your needs. Pray for your fleshly provision such as food and clothes and a home, of course. Also, pray for spiritual strength, wisdom, love, patience, insight into His word. Being bathed in prayer and washed in God’s Word will help as our hearts and minds re-align to what is coming upon the world. We need HIM to establish peace within us, and to equip us as soldiers in withstanding the worldly pressures. He is squeezing the world after all, and we are in the world. We’re squeezed too. The difference is when we are squeezed, we have an opportunity to grow and shine brighter as trophies of His glory.

Even those Christians who are unaware of end times events feel the spiritual burden. They know at an intuitive, spiritual level that when Jerusalem was attacked it brought in a new era of worsening geo-political situations. They may not know the details of why it is bad, but they know it is bad. Unfortunately, these Christians are least equipped to withstand the spiritual pressure. Perhaps having been for a lifetime unfamiliar with the Word or having never developed a habit of turning to the Lord in troubling times, they flail about like a fish with no air. Remind them that the air they need is His word and His ways. The world is dying. It has been dying since Genesis 3:7 when Adam and Eve listened to the devil and ate the fruit. Jesus is the cure, but Jesus only resuscitates those who repent. For those who refuse His name and who reject holiness, they will die.

This end of the end times, and soon to be Tribulation, are the death throes of the world. All unrighteousness that dwells within it is speeding up. The long, 6000-year decline of the world and all that is within it is beginning its death rattle, the cancer finally having spread to the essential organs.

If you work in the medical profession, you know how hard it is to watch death come to those whom you have worked hard to save. It is especially hard to watch a child die of a dread disease like cancer or leukemia. When the person’s time is up, it happens fast. We know that death will come, but it is still hard to watch. Compassion is deep in the face of the unavoidable.

In this present age, Christians are all nurses, pleading with people to go to the hospital of the cross to have fixed what ails them. Jesus can heal their spiritual death throes, but many refuse. They have a blinded mind and cannot think straight.

In the adventure non-fiction book by Jon Krakauer Into Thin Air, several groups of mountain climbers were attempting to make the Everest summit in the fateful season of 1996. One climber made the top…but he stayed up too long. On his way down, it began to grow dark and he was trying to make the base camp. He ran out of canned air. Radioing his mates at Camp, they pleaded with him to take an oxygen tank stashed nearby for that very purpose. He found the canister and even held it in his hands, but he was convinced that it was empty. That all of them were empty. They weren’t, but prolonged exposure to thin air made his brain unable to think straight. He died soon after, holding his wasted salvation in his hands.

The lost are like that. Salvation is within their reach, but they do not take the breath of life Jesus is willing to extend. They die on the mountain, not one inch closer to God than when they were in the valley.

Things in the Middle East could die down, of course. I hope they do. But it is equally likely that they won’t. Even if war does not break out today, it will probably break out tomorrow, or next week. The attack on Jerusalem, even though the rocked failed to reach the city center, pierced a bubble and now there is no going back. It is like the dogs of war have been unleashed in the rabid minds of the furiously debased and the thought to wipe Jerusalem from the map will only grow. They will circle now, eager to take what is God’s. But God will stop them.

And the LORD will inherit Judah as His portion in the Holy Land, and will again choose Jerusalem.” (Zechariah 2:12; also Zechariah 1:17)

“In that day Israel will be the third with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing in the midst of the earth, whom the LORD of hosts has blessed saying ‘Blessed be Egypt my people, and Assyria the work of my hands, and Israel my inheritance.” (Isaiah 19:24-25)