elizabethprata

gaza, israel, pillar of cloud, pillar of defense, prophecy

Updated, Explosion in Tel Aviv. VIDEO: Commanders Prepare Troops for Ground Invasion

Posted on November 16, 2012 by elizabethprata

Breaking News (@‏BreakingNews) reports this morning: “Explosion heard in Tel Aviv area after sirens sound, witnesses say “- source Reuters.

Gaza/Hamas barrage Tel Aviv with rockets in successive fire this morning. Explosions heard, mobile phones down. No word on casualties or injuries. Follow BBC< Reuters or BreakingNews on Twitter FMI. ——————————– Posted by Israel's Arutz Sheva this morning, our time. It is midday there.

“IDF commanders began Friday morning to brief their troops in of a possible ground operation in Gaza. Thousands of reservists have been called up for duty, and a total of at least 16,000will be summoned for service. While troops gathered outside Gaza, terrorists in the area continued their attacks on civilian communities in southern Israel. More than 40 rockets have been fired since Friday morning. At least two rockets were fired at the city of Be’er Sheva. The Iron Dome system successfully shot them down. Four rockets were fired at Ashdod shortly before 11 a.m. They, too, were shot down by Iron Dome. Earlier in the morning terrorists fired a rocket that hit next to a residential building in the city, causing damage and sending four people into shock. A short time later, terrorists hit a broadcast truck with an anti-tank missile. The truck went up in flames, but nobody was injured.”

Israel’s Temple: Arabs burning ancient cedars of Lebanon for firewood

Posted on November 15, 2012May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

Video: Arabs Burning ‘First Temple Cedars of Lebanon’
Arabs are burning ancient beams of wood that had apparently been used during the period of the Holy Temple

“A group of Jews that ascended the Temple Mount Sunday were shocked to see that ancient beams of wood that had apparently been used during the period of the Holy Temple were being used as firewood by Arabs on the Mount, and off it. Archaeologists have dated the wood as far back as the First Temple period, and appear to be among the celebrated “Cedars of Lebanon” mentioned in the Tanach.”

The history of the Cedars of Lebanon are interesting. From the website “Building the World,” a website born of the two-volume work, Building the World: An Encyclopedia of the Great Engineering Projects in History, written by Frank P. Davidson and Kathleen Lusk Brooke.

“The Cedars of Lebanon, famous for fragrance, are also legendary for their strength for building. But in ancient times, however, these trees were the arbors of the Phoenicians. It was their King, Hiram of Tyre, (still the 4th largest city in what is now Lebanon) who entered into a cooperative agreement with the Hebrews. In what may be one of the first multi-national ventures in history, Hiram’s Phoenicians supplied cedar and fir building materials. In exchange, Solomon’s Hebrews supplied food, “twenty thousand measures of wheat.” In an ingenious delivery system, timber was floated down the river from Lebanon to a pick-up location in Israel where food supplies awaited.”

He plants and grows the cedars-
“The trees of the LORD are well watered, the cedars of Lebanon that he planted.” (Psalm 104:16)

And He breaks them down-
“The voice of the LORD breaks the cedars; the LORD breaks the cedars of Lebanon.” (Psalm 29:5)

Selah

gaza, israel, operation pillar of cloud, prophecy

Operation Pillar of Cloud: Egypt and Assyria have a dim near future but a bright Millennium future

Posted on November 15, 2012 by elizabethprata

The rockets that Hamas terrorists launched at Tel Aviv happened in the middle of the day, Eastern US time. It landed 15Km from the city in a densely populated area-

Times of India reports, “Militants defied a major Israeli bombing campaign across Gaza on Thursday, firing off volleys of rockets which killed three Israelis and sparked panic in Tel Aviv. It was the farthest distance ever attained by fire from Gaza. Defence Minister Ehud Barak gave the go-ahead for 30,000 reservists to be called up, with the army saying it was “in the process of expanding the campaign.”

There is much propaganda on the side of the Gazans and Hamas. This Israel National News report explains:

“Barely one day into the fighting in Hamas-run Gaza, the locals are hard at work playing the victim for the world’s press. Footage from the BBC captured by watchdog group Honest Reporting shows a heavy man lying on the ground and being carried away by residents, apparently after being injured by an Israeli attack. Moments later, that same man again fills the frame, except he is walking about and obviously unhurt. The widespread staging of such victim situations is a favored tactic of Arabs fighting Israel and has come to be known as “Pallywood.” Because Israel is stronger militarily, the Arabs cling to the underdog image of poor refugees under occupation and siege by evil Israelis, thus eliciting sympathy.”

The foray is named Pillar of Cloud, in Hebrew. The news magazine Israel Today wrote,

“Israel on Wednesday evening launched a major aerial campaign against terrorist targets across the Gaza Strip under the banner of “Operation Pillar of Cloud.” The action comes after days of incessant terrorist rocket fire against the residents of southern Israel.”

That Israel chose to use that name for this military engagement is so interesting. 38 percent of names given to Israeli military operations and weaponry between 1948 and 2007 alluded to the Bible. This present one, of course, evokes the verses in Deuteronomy 31:15:

“And the LORD appeared in the tent in a pillar of cloud. And the pillar of cloud stood over the entrance of the tent.’

and in Exodus 13:21-22,

“And the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead them along the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, that they might travel by day and by night. The pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night did not depart from before the people.”

It is so amazing that this foray which involves Egypt is named that, but even more so what struck me was the mention of the cloud in Isaiah 19:1

The near future of Egypt is extremely dim. If you read Isaiah 19 it foretells of some dire things for the Egyptian people. The prophetic chapter is easy to read and understand. Toward the end of the chapter, the future becomes gloriously brighter as we read verse 20 to verse 25:

“When they cry to the Lord because of oppressors, he will send them a savior and defender, and deliver them. And the Lord will make himself known to the Egyptians, and the Egyptians will know the Lord in that day and worship with sacrifice and offering, and they will make vows to the Lord and perform them. And the Lord will strike Egypt, striking and healing, and they will return to the Lord, and he will listen to their pleas for mercy and heal them. In that day there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria, and Assyria will come into Egypt, and Egypt into Assyria, and the Egyptians will worship with the Assyrians. 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.”

Those are the only three nations to be specifically mentioned as existing in the Millennium and even more incredible is that each receives a specific compliment from the Lord unique to them. He considers Egypt His people…and why not, Hosea 11:1 reminds us, “When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son.” He allowed Egypt to shelter His own son when Herod was chasing Him.

The fact that He calls Egypt back to Himself in the above verses is so wonderful to read. Tears come to my eyes when I read of how specific His plans are and how perfectly they all come together.

But back tot he here and now. An Israeli in the southern part of Israel such as the city of Sderot only has 15 seconds to get to a shelter when the air raid sirens go off.

This is a 40 second video put out by Israeli public information filmmakers. It is called “15 seconds to save your mama”. It is not gross nor graphic, being for general distribution in Israel for public information. However, it is powerful, and gives a street level, real feel view of exactly what the Israeli people are enduring.

Is this the end of the beginning? We’ll see if the tensions de-escalate. Please pray. I pray He strengthens the church, I pray He shakes the nations so they repent, I pray He delivers wisdom to the Israeli, Egyptian, and other Middle Eastern leaders. There are so many things to pray for, aren’t there?

germany, hitler, holocaust, nazi, tribulation

Holocaust- the cry "Never Again!" will turn to ‘not again!’

Posted on November 15, 2012 by elizabethprata

The motto of the Jewish Defense League is “Never Again!” referring to the Holocaust of WWII at the hands of Nazi war criminals.

The other night I happened upon an interesting-sounding documentary on PBS that I stuck with and then was sorry I did (kind of). It was called Elusive Justice. Part of the summary says,

“In the absence of a sustained international manhunt and centralized prosecution, the task of bringing Nazi war criminals to justice was undertaken by a handful of individuals — acting without official status or government support. These so-called Nazi hunters collectively identified and brought to justice thousands of Nazi war criminals.”

I enjoy justice and legal books and documentaries, so I watched the film.

And then my watching turned into horror. Oh, of course I knew that the holocaust was the worst genocide on earth in all of history. I knew that Hitler was the worst personification of evil ever to inhabit a body, and will remain so until the antichrist comes and supercedes his evil by a factor of a million. I knew that the piles of bodies discovered at the camps and in graves stunned the liberators so much that many of them were not able to function normally ever again. But I never watched the video or deliberately looked at visual images of the carnage.

Until the Elusive Justice movie.

Those terrible images of piles of bodies. Of walking skeletons liberated from death camps. The tortures, and the callousness of the deaths. Shallow graves. Terrible, terrible ways they invented to kill mass quantities of people. Of human beings.

Watching a Holocaust documentary with a biblical perspective means my brain processes the information differently than it did when I saw photos and videos of the Holocaust with a blinded mind as a lost person. In a sanctified mind, we wash through each image and each fact through a brain that is daily becoming more occupied with Christ. It is daily growing more light and less dark. Rather than the information we’ve obtained floating around in a loose morass of relativistic morality, our brain compares everything it absorbs with the bible’s facts and laws and uses His word as the benchmark to everything else.

In the heart-department, it means now I have a heart-burden for the lost world which does not know what is coming…or who is coming. My mind faints at the thought of what Revelation reveals for Israel…for the Jews…for the Christians…and for the lost.

For example, Revelation 6:8 says that when the Fourth Seal is opened, the pale horse of death is released.

“And I looked, and behold, a pale horse! And its rider’s name was Death, and Hades followed him. And they were given authority over a fourth of the earth, to kill with sword and with famine and with pestilence and by wild beasts of the earth.”

If we interpret that to mean that a fourth of the earth’s people will die, then it is mind-blowing. And remember, the entire Tribulation will take place within precisely 7 years, and the Great Tribulation will have the entirety of its events take place within 3.5 years.

In Revelation 9, the Sixth Trumpet judgment releases death angels. “So the four angels, who had been prepared for the hour, the day, the month, and the year, were released to kill a third of mankind.”

So let’s break down the Tribulation’s death numbers and compare them to the German Holocaust of WWII.

In the Elusive Justice documentary it was stated that the Nazis/SS killed 2/3 Europe’s Jews in 10 years. “The SS was a major paramilitary organization under Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP). It began at the end of 1920 as a small permanent guard unit. … Under Himmler’s leadership (1929-1945), it grew from a small paramilitary formation to one of the largest and most powerful organizations in the Third Reich. Built upon the Nazi ideology, the SS under Himmler’s command was responsible for many of the crimes against humanity during World War II (1939–1945).” (Wikipedia)

The standard number of overall Jews killed is 6 million in WWII’s 6 years. Breaking it down, that is a death rate of 1M Jews per year.

The German Nazis killed Jews in death camps not just in Germany, but they died in Croatia, Bulgaria, Poland. In all of Europe. I was astounded at how quickly the organization within the Nazi Party coalesced to become an efficient killing machine within just a few short years. Amazing rapidity.

Right now there are 6.93 Billion people on the earth. Round that up to 7 Billion.

Of the seven billion people on earth now, if 1/4 are killed by Revelation’s Sixth seal, that means 1.75 billion people die soon into the Tribulation. So people are already dying in great numbers before the Sixth Trumpet is blown, when another third dies. That is another 1.75 billion.

Did you catch that number? By the time the 7-year Tribulation is half over, half the world’s population is dead, 3.5 billion people. 3.5B in 3.5 years.

In the Nazi Holocaust, 1 million Jews were killed per year. In the first half of the Tribulation 1 Billion die per year.In half the time!

And then the Great Tribulation begins. In the second half of the Time of Jacob’s Trouble AKA The Great Tribulation, the devil is thrown down to earth. This makes him very angry. He begins his pursuit of the Jews and the Christians with total evil purpose and intent. ALL the universe’s evil is funneled through one man, the antichrist, who becomes indwelled by satan, who in turn single-mindedly pursues God’s chosen. (Revelation 12: 13-17; Revelation 13:7, Daniel 7:21)

I want us to imagine three things.

1. The carnage. This below

and this also (Bergen-Belsen, 1945),

Is NOTHING compared to the death rate of the Tribulation. The documentary said that in some cases the Nazis killed hundreds of thousands a day. If you remember the terrible feeling you had at seeing tens of thousands killed the Banda Aceh Christmas Day quake and tsunami in 2004, or the feelings of horror as you watched the Japan quake and tsunami wash away tens of thousands in March 2011, increase that order of magnitude to millions a day killed in successive events that occur one upon another, and are bigger and worse than both those events, and you have a glimmer of the Tribulation carnage.

As an aside, if you do not believe the Church will be removed in the rapture prior to all this wrath and death, and you think you can handle it, YOU ARE WRONG. I see too many people casually take the doctrine of the rapture as a kind of an ‘oh, well, it’ll all pan out in the end’ potentiality and in their false humility (really pride) they fold their hands across their stomach and complacently say, “Well I have a strong faith, I would hope that I could remain faithful during that time.” Jesus Himself said it will be the worst time the world has ever known, which means worse than the Flood when man was completely evil all the time! (Genesis 6:5) He said if he didn’t cut it short Himself, no one would survive. (Matthew 24:21-22). The mind will not be able to handle life then, either having gone crazy at seeing the things that are coming upon the earth and having a heart attack on the spot, (Luke 21:26) or simply by living with people whose minds are totally deluded and drenched with sin. (Romans 1:28-31). All that tells me is that they have not studied Revelation or that they have an inflated sense of self.

2. Next: think of the easy evil of man. The men in 1928 who later did these Nazi war crimes were normal men, but by 1929 had joined the Nazi party and later the SS. They became genocidal criminals very quickly. It is what Paul means when He says there is none good, no not one. (Romans 3:10).

There was this little Polish town called Jedwabne. John MacArthur mentioned it in a sermon recently. He said,
———————-
“I’ve been reading, in fact I’ve finished reading a little book called Neighbors. It’s a secular book written by a man named Jan Gross and it looks at a very strange anomaly for sociologists to deal with and anthropologists to deal with in the world in which we live. The explanation of the contemporary sociologists and anthropologists is that man is basically good and that when man does something really bad it’s because he gets brainwashed, and the only explanation for the Holocaust in German, the only explanation for good German people massacring six million Jews is that they were under a relentless onslaught of Nazi propaganda that literally overpowered their thinking so that eventually they were so severely brainwashed that they just went out and massacred the Jews. That has been the standard response by the evolutionary sociologists and anthropologists who believes that man is on the ascendancy getting better and getting better and has to explain the incredible Holocaust of Germany to say nothing of the 50 million, perhaps, that were killed by Stalin, and the explanation has always been, well, they were under this brainwashing for a long time and they were so brainwashed they couldn’t think the normal way. They were terribly victimized by this brainwashing. And then they found this town in Poland called Jedwabne.”

“Now in ’39 when Hitler started his movement to take over the world for the Third Reich he didn’t want to have to fight a war on the eastern border so he made a truce with Russia and in order to kind of keep a buffer zone, Germany is here, Russia is here, in the middle is Poland. And so he split Poland down the middle and annexed the eastern part of Poland to Russia and took the western part to Germany so there would be a buffer there. So Jedwabne was in eastern Poland and was never occupied by any Nazi’s, it was never occupied by any Germans, it was occupied by Russians. Russians weren’t trying to conquer the world as such, they weren’t interested in racial propaganda, and so there was not propagandizing at all of the 3,000 people that lived in Jedwabne, 3,000 people, 1,600 of them were Jews. The Jews had lived in the town for 300 years. They farmed together with the folks, the Gentile people who were there, they went to school with them, they worked with them, they occasionally married them, they bought their groceries in the same place, they worked the fields together, they carried on the same social events in the town, and they had for 300 years. There was essentially no racial attitudes there. Everybody got along fine.”

“Well in, it June 22, 1941 and Hitler didn’t want that truce anymore because he wanted to defeat Russia so he swept through Poland and the truce was broken and he took that town Jedwabne along with Poland all the way to the Russian border. That was on June 22, 1941. On July 10, that’s a little over two weeks later, the Gentile townspeople massacred all 1,600 Jews in one day, slaughtered them all. The ones they couldn’t stab with a pitchfork or behead with an axe because they were running out of time that day, they herded into a barn, poured gasoline all over the barn and incinerated them all.”

“This nagging event couldn’t be explained by the sociologists. Absolutely could not be explained by the sociologists because that town was never under any Nazi propaganda. They’d never been there.”

“This history records indicate not one of those people was killed by a German. Not one of them was killed by a Nazi soldier. Every single one of those Jews was killed by one of his neighbors, hence the title of the book. And the question the sociologist asks in the book, and he can’t really answer, is how in the world can people in a two week period massacre their neighbors in a blood bath? How can they do that?”
—————————
This is the spirit of antichrist, (1 John 2:18) which is the same spirit of evil we find in the emergent church, a la tolerance and interfaith. Those two positions – Nazi death camps and emergent church- seem like extremes but they are not. Since they are both godless, they are exactly the same flavor: evil, and totally opposed to God. It is how and why all the world’s false religious doctrines will blend into one muddy amorphous blob of evil in the last days when men kill for fun (Mark 13:12) and shake their fist at God (Rev 9:20-21; Rev 16:9, 11, 21)

They could do these genocidal war crimes because we are evil. And they will do it again in the Tribulation, except more efficiently. because an order of tenfold more of humankind will die at the hands of evil man, simply because evil man wants them to die.

3. Third, think of the holiness and glory of God who saves. In his book, The Existence and Attributes of God, Stephen Charnock noted God’s holiness “is the crown of all His attributes, the life of all His decrees, the brightness of all His actions. Nothing is decreed by Him, nothing is acted by Him, but what is worthy of the dignity, and becoming the honour, of this attribute”.

And yet He saves men who build concentration camp gas chambers- if they repent. He would have saved Hitler if he had repented. He saved you. Me.

In Charles Hodge’s Systematic Theology, Hodge said of God’s holiness,

“This is a general term for the moral excellence of God…. Holiness, on the one hand, implies entire freedom from moral evil and, on the other, absolute moral perfection. Freedom from impurity is the primary idea of the word.” (Systematic Theology, Vol. 1, 150-151).”

God is on His throne and He is holy. When He saved you, He declared you holy. This is the universe’s 2nd most amazing act, that after Jesus died and was resurrected, (the universe’s greatest act) through Him we have eternal holy life.

Oh, and by the way, Israel National news reports that German Neo-Nazi Party Appeals to Court for Legitimization.

Never again? Sadly, yes again. And soon, by the looks of things.

gaza, israel

Gaza-Israel situation: updates, leaflets announcing imminent ground invasion

Posted on November 14, 2012 by elizabethprata

I posted earlier tonight about the very tenuous situation between Gaza/Hamas and Israel. It is a very bad situation that could well lead down the final path toward the rapture, through the Tribulation and end up at Armageddon. Many wars are prophesied for the end of the end, including in Syria in Isaiah 17; Israel as seen in Revelation 12; Egypt as in Isaiah 19; Gaza, Hamas, and others as seen in Psalm 83; Russia, Iran, Turkey, Armenia and others as in Gog Magog Ezekiel 38-39.

Here is what is going on, and events are happening fast.

Iron Dome has so far successfully intercepted 25 rockets from #Gaza aimed at major Israeli cities #PillarsofDefense via @IDFSpokesperson

As prophesied, people are not coming to Israel’s side.

“Vahram Atanesyan ‏@UNDP__PRESIDENT

“As a President of United Nations Department of Political Affairs I condemn the attacks by Israel in Gaza!”

Egypt recalls ambassador following Gaza strikes

Israel okays mobilising reserve troops for Gaza if needed

Israel PM ‘prepared to expand’ Gaza operation

VIDEO – IDF drops leaflets warning Palestinian civilians to “avoid being present in the vicinity of #Hamas operatives” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iPGHfTrgkgY&feature=youtu.be

Joel Rosenberg offers context for the situation:

“CONTEXT: Israel doesn’t occupy Gaza. Israel withdrew all its forces from Gaza in 2005. Yet Israeli towns along its southern borders have been hit with hundreds of rockets and mortars in recent months, while the world has remained silent. More than 1 million Israeli civilians have been under constant threat of attack. Schools are closed. Businesses are closed. People are living in fear. Children can’t sleep. It has become an unsustainable situation. So on Wednesday, the IDF killed of the top Hamas military commander — Ahmed Jabari – who had masterminded myriad attacks on Israel, had been in charge of the kidnapping of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, and oversaw the firing of thousands of rockets and mortars at Israel. See video of the airstrike that killed Jabari. The Israeli Air Force on Wednesday also bombed at least 20 terror facilities in Gaza. Hamas terrorists vowed revenge, saying Israel has “opened the gates of Hell” and that it plans a massive retaliation.’

gaza, hamas, isaiah 19, israel, prophecy

UPDATED–Israel’s retaliation for Gaza rockets is to assassinate Hamas leader. Brink of war, and Isaiah 19 prophecy

Posted on November 14, 2012 by elizabethprata

Joel Rosenberg is in Israel. He just wrote:

“Urgent prayer request: Hamas violence escalating rapidly….raining rockets on Israel…IDF calling up reserves, preparing to invade Gaza….latest details.

“The situation here is rapidly going from bad to worse. It is nearly midnight here, and the battle between Hamas and Israel has been intensifying hour by hour throughout the day. Hamas, Islamic Jihad and other Palestinian terror organizations — all backed by Iran — are firing rockets, missiles and mortars at innocent civilians in Israel, along the southern border. Each act is a war crime. The Iranian-backed terrorists are also firing from behind innocent civilians in Gaza, often from hospitals, mosques and schools. Thus, each act is actually two war crimes. In just the past several hours, the terrorists have fired more 50 times at Israel. That’s more than 100 war crimes. Since Saturday, they have fired at Israeli civilians more than 200 times. That’s more than 400 war crimes. Yet the world is paying very little attention and doing little to stop the terrorist attacks. Israel, therefore, is moving swiftly to defend herself.”
—————————–
A poignant Tweet: Avital Chizhik ‏@avitalrachel wrote–

“In a bomb shelter in Netivot, after 55 rockets fired in the past few hours alone. Not that anyone cares #Hamas #rockets”

Her photo:
Embedded image permalink

—————
What a difference 8 hours makes. this morning I was looking at the earthquakes and the US mess. As I got home from work I see that in the meantime, the Middle East went to hell. Literally.

I’d written on Sunday that Israel was getting hit from the north and south, and being squeezed in the middle from east to west. This refers to the shelling by Syria into northern Israel, the shelling into southern Israel by Hamas from the Gaza Strip, and the Palestinian Authority’s push to upgrade the Palestinian Authority in the UN to Observer State. The exchange with Syria at the Golan Heights was the first in 40 years, and the shelling in the south is becoming interminably horrific for the residents there, who can hardly live normal lives. The push by PA Abbas at the UN would also be a stick in the eye for Israel. So, how much can they take?

It appears that the line has been crossed. Today, Israel hit Hamas where it hurts, making a rocket strike in Gaza that was targeted to and killed their leader Ahmed Jabari, the head of its military wing. Israel’s Shin Bet domestic intelligence service confirmed it had carried out the attack, saying it had killed Jabari because of his ‘decade-long terrorist activity’

Hamas said that this event would “open the gates of hell.”

Here is the Israel Defense Force video of the assassination:

There might be a ground war as a result of this, with Israel saying they are prepared to go into Gaza with forces, if need be. “Israeli media are reporting that the IDF is sending emergency call-up notices to reservists. IDF General Yoav Mordechai told Channel 2 news ground troops may be sent into Gaza: “There are preparations, and if we are required to, the option of a entry by ground is available.”

Predictably, even though Hamas has been shelling Israeli civilians and children for weeks, “Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas asked Arab League Secretary General Nabil al-Arabi to call an emergency meeting of the League’s Council to denounce “dangerous Israeli escalation and brutal aggression on our people in the Gaza Strip”.”

This latest escalation of the parties, which brings them to the brink of war, is called on the Israeli side, “Operation Pillar of Cloud.” You will remember from the Old Testament that a pillar of cloud led the Israelites in the desert by day. At night it was a pillar of fire.

“And in the morning watch the Lord in the pillar of fire and of cloud looked down on the Egyptian forces and threw the Egyptian forces into a panic, clogging their chariot wheels so that they drove heavily. And the Egyptians said, “Let us flee from before Israel, for the Lord fights for them against the Egyptians.”(Exodus 14:24-25).

Maybe not as predictably, but certainly prophetically, the Egyptians sided with Hamas.

There is a prophecy in Isaiah that is yet unfulfilled. I am not talking about the unfulfilled prediction that Damascus will be destroyed (Isaiah 17:1). I am talking Isaiah 19 and Egypt.

The opening of Isaiah 19 begins like this, with another reference to a cloud!

“An oracle concerning Egypt. Behold, the Lord is riding on a swift cloud and comes to Egypt; and the idols of Egypt will tremble at his presence, and the heart of the Egyptians will melt within them. And I will stir up Egyptians against Egyptians, and they will fight, each against another and each against his neighbor, city against city, kingdom against kingdom; and the spirit of the Egyptians within them will be emptied out, and I will confound their counsel; and they will inquire of the idols and the sorcerers, and the mediums and the necromancers; and I will give over the Egyptians into the hand of a hard master, and a fierce king will rule over them, declares the Lord God of hosts.” (Isaiah 19:204)

The harsh master is probably the antichrist. But we cannot say for sure.

Joel Rosenberg wrote a piece called “What does the bible say about the future of Egypt?” He produced this video at the tail end of the revolution which ousted Hosni Mubarek at the end of the Arab Spring.

Is this the time for Isaiah 19 to come true, with the beginning of fulfillment in seeing a ground war between Gaza, Egypt and Israel? Possibly. Probably, actually.

Please keep praying and keep aware of events. Keep reading your bible. It has so much to say about these times. For example, of all the names the Israelis could have used, the Pillar of Cloud is one that not only figures into their history past but is part of Isaiah 19 and history future. We will watch to see if that future history has arrived.

jesus, obama messiah, obama nativity

Obama nativity scenes, and Obama messianic language, cropping up again

Posted on November 13, 2012May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

Editor’s Note:

I am having laptop troubles, which is why I did not post yesterday. I am waiting for a new hard drive and a fan, hoping the laptop doesn’t die in the meantime. If it does and I am not posting, that’s why. 🙂 I am also writing quickly and using the computer sparingly, so if you see more typos than usual, that is why 🙂

—————————————-

In the days immediately prior to Obama’s first election, the language and photography describing or depicting him was Messianic in the extreme. I wrote about it 2010, saying-

“Obama has even been called a Pharaoh three times in his short tenure as President. “Expectations raised by Obama’s brief visit to Cairo are almost messianic. Souvenir shops are selling pendants with the caption “Obama – new Tutankhamen of the world.”

(Above, An Egyptian vendor displays a handmade copper plaque reading “Obama, New Tutankhamun of the World” at his shop in the Khan el-Khalili market area in Cairo on Monday. AFP/Getty Images) The image was named “Obamatut”.

The messianic name was attributed to him many times, as here- “A messiah won’t be landing at the Heliopolis airport Thursday. Nonetheless, the expectations raised by Obama’s brief visit to Cairo are almost messianic.”

He even discovered a likeness of himself on an Egyptian tomb.

And again in 2012, I noted the overuse of messianic language in relation to Obama.

“Obama didn’t call himself Messiah, but he certainly didn’t make any attempt to dispel the notion.” Or here, “Obama, a junior senator, the son of a white mother and a Kenyan father, has been happy to run as a black man and, more important, as America’s new messiah.”

He was depicted as such in paintings, here, for example.

And he was called the National Groom. I do take exception to that. Only Jesus is our Groom.

Now after the second election a spate of unusual and frankly, weird, statements have emerged that surpass the language, visual depictions and opinions of Obama as Messiah from the first time around. Once again we are dealing once with messianic language. For example, there is a new book comparing Obama to Jesus and Martin Luther King. The Daily Caller has the story.

“Looking for something to read as Thanksgiving approaches? Or a unique take on what has made President Barack Obama such a successful politician? Or perhaps an explanation of Obama as an apostle and his “politics as religion?” You could check out “The Gospel According to Apostle Barack” by Barbara Thompson (AuthorHouse 2012). The mouthful of the book’s subtitle is: “In Search of a More Perfect Political Union as Heaven Here on Earth.” The book’s thesis is that Obama is not just the 43rd president of the United States. Much more than that, he’s an apostle akin to Martin Luther King, Jr. or even Jesus Christ.”

And some stores selling nativity sets are including figures of Obama to insert into the holy scene. “”Every time a major event occurs we create a new figurine, and today after Obama’s victory, we have made a new figurine of Obama and will put him in our ideal Nativity scene,” Ferrigno said.”

One is coming who will surpass the world’s marveling at this Messiah, this Apostle, this Pharaoh. He will be the antichrist and will engender even more love, adoration, and wonder than Obama.

“One of its heads seemed to have a mortal wound, but its mortal wound was healed, and the whole earth marveled as they followed the beast. And they worshiped the dragon, for he had given his authority to the beast, and they worshiped the beast, saying, “Who is like the beast, and who can fight against it?” ” (Revelation 13:3-4)

This present run-up to the world’s looking for a man to solve all the problems, and the idolatry of their love for that man will be unlike any other time before. The antichrist will make Hitler seem like a boy playing Tonka trucks compared to the real antichrist. The antichrist will make Obama seem like a toddler waddling around with his diaper hanging to the floor.

But one thing you can see now: the gullibility of people. As one lifted-up leader shows his true colors after another, the world does not learn its lesson and turn to the real Light, the one carrying a rod of iron with which to rule the nations: JESUS. No, they keep seeking him who will fail, him who is only man, and him who is evil. They fall for flowery talk every time.

“In his place shall arise a contemptible person to whom royal majesty has not been given. He shall come in without warning and obtain the kingdom by flatteries.” (Daniel 11:21).

They will fall for a silver tongued devil, the antichrist, just as Adam and Eve fell for the silver tongued devil in the beginning. (Genesis 3:1-5)

The Good News is that this will be just about the last time satan will be allowed to deceive the nations (once more, for a moment, in the Millennium Kingdom, Rev. 20:7, but than that’s it). Jesus will rule and we will rule with Him (Rev 1:5-6, Matthew 19:28). We are grateful to know the REAL ruler with everlasting words and love, not evil, in his heart!

earthquakes, judgment, prophecy

Major earthquakes since the election: God is shaking the nations

Posted on November 12, 2012May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

UPDATE: I posted an update to this essay here, updating the total of major earthquakes since the election.

Not that the US election is a global prophetic barometer, in fact, Israel is the only nation where we can confidently say that, but the US is one indicator of the depths of perversity and depravity that a nation of 300 million souls has sunk to. In addition, the major prophetic focal point, Israel, is being hit with rockets in the south, and attacked from the north… So, let’s look at how the Lord is shaking the nations. Just sayin’–

Nov 7- 7.4 OFFSHORE GUATEMALA
Nov 8- 6.3 VANCOUVER ISLAND, CANADA REGION
Nov 11-6.8 MYANMAR
Nov 11-6.5 OFFSHORE GUATEMALA

There have been 18 aftershock quakes at Guatemala in the last 6 days above 4.3 in addition to the two major quakes.

There have been 6 large quakes at Myanmar today, formerly Burma, including the major 6.8.
5.6 / 5.8. / 5.0 / 5.6/ 5.0 / 6.8

There was the strong (for the region) 4.3 quake at Kentucky followed by a 2.5 (New Madrid?).

The USGS has annual averages for each sized magnitude of quake.

As far as previous years go, we note that as of year end 2011, it was the third consecutive year that quakes in each of the categories from magnitude 5.0 to 9.0 have exceeded annual averages. Statistically there is no doubt there are more earthquakes.

Let’s get a thumbnail of how 21012 is stacking up– I usually do a year-end statistical analysis of how many quakes there have been in each year and compare that to the previous nine years against the USGS annual benchmark. It isn’t the end of the year yet, so it wouldn’t be statistically reliable to do an apples to apples comparison until Dec 31, but here is a roundup of how many large quakes there have been so far with 6 weeks to go in the year 2012.

8.0-9.9 : 2
7.0-7.9 : 12
6.0-6.9 : 102
5.0-5.9 : 1336

The USGS search didn’t have in its database the three 6.0-plus quakes that have happened in the last few days, so I added those in. 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 few days are any indication.

The writer of Hebrews said,

“At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, “Yet once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.”” (Hebrews 12:26).

This verse is referring back to Haggai 2:6, and Barnes Notes explains, “The words here quoted are taken from Haggai 2:6, where they refer to the changes which would take place under the Messiah. The meaning is, that there would be great revolutions in his coming, as if the universe were shaken to its center. The apostle evidently applies this passage as it is done in Haggai, to the first advent of the Redeemer.”

Both the first advent of Jesus and the second advent of Jesus will shake the nations. However, the second advent will shake the heavens too.

The shaking of the earth here evidently refers to the commotions among the nations that would prepare the way for the coming of the Messiah.
Listen, people. God is going to come in terrifying judgment. Revelation 6:13 says when the sixth seal is opened, a great shaking will occur in the universe- “and the stars of the sky fell to the earth as the fig tree sheds its winter fruit when shaken by a gale.”

Matthew 24:29 is a parallel, “Immediately after the distress of those days “‘the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from the sky, and the heavenly bodies will be shaken.”

The earthquakes are the beginning of the fulfillment of the prophecy where Jesus said “For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are but the beginning of the birth pains.” (Matthew 24:7.)

The earthquakes are the warning sign. of the shaking judgment to come. This judgment has been given to JESUS.

“The Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son,” (John 5:22)

If you believe on Jesus’ name, you will be His friend and not His enemy to be judged. Here is how to be saved from that judgment!

God’s Simple Plan of Salvation

damascus, gaza, isaiah 17, israel, prophecy, rockets, syria

Israel getting hit from the north & south, and squeezed from east to west

Posted on November 11, 2012May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

Israel, O Israel… we cry for you!

“They do not cry out to me from their hearts but wail upon their beds. They gather together for grain and new wine but turn away from me.” (Hosea 7:14)

“But Israel has rejected what is good; an enemy will pursue him.” (Hosea 8:3)

The situation in the Middle East is deteriorating quickly. The tensions have permeated all the nations around. This weekend in the south,

In the south, Gaza terror factions pound Israel with around 70 rockets
“Over 100 rockets, mortar shells hit South in past 24 hours, Israeli officials weigh “dramatic response”; PMO refuses to comment on reports of Egyptian mediated ceasefire.”
“Israel won’t hesitate to launch a large-scale IDF operation against Gaza-based terror factions if necessary, Defense Minister Ehud Barak warned Sunday, after southern Israel was pounded by some 100 rockets over the past 24 hours.”

Joel Rosenberg landed in Israel this weekend and reports from the ground,

Rockets fired from Gaza
“It’s been a challenging 24 hours here since arriving in Israel. Palestinian terrorists in Gaza have fired more than 80 rockets and mortars at civilians living in southern Israel. The IDF has fired back. There are injuries on both sides of the border. Terrorists also fired an anti-tank missile at an IDF jeep, wounding four Israeli soldiers. The Iron Dome has been fired to shoot down rockets. Israeli forces are on high alert in the south. Schools are closed. Businesses are closed. Tensions are running high as Israelis wonder if Hamas and Iran are trying to draw Israel into a war in Gaza. “The IDF is striking and will continue to strike Gaza,” Prime Minister Netanyahu said. “Terrorist organizations are suffering grave setbacks at the hands of the IDF. The world must understand that Israel will not sit idly.”

Keep in mind Isaiah 19, another prophecy that has not been fulfilled yet. Egypt will become a bitter enemy of Israel. Below, map of Gaza.

Gaza is home to Hamas. Since 2007, Hamas has been in de facto control of the Gaza Strip after seizing power from Fatah gunmen in a series of bloody clashes. Psalm 83 says that Hamas (Philistia) will be one of the groups which attack Israel in a prophesied war that hasn’t occurred yet. With tensions riding so high, we must understand the times.

“He answered them, “When it is evening, you say, ‘It will be fair weather, for the sky is red.’ And in the morning, ‘It will be stormy today, for the sky is red and threatening.’ You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs of the times.” (Matthew 16:2-3)

Israel drawn into Syria fighting for first time
Israel was drawn into the fighting in neighboring Syria for the first time Sunday, firing warning shots across the border after an errant mortar shell landed near an Israeli military installation in the Golan Heights. While Israel appeared eager to calm the situation, its response was a potent reminder of how easily the Syrian civil war — already spilling across borders with Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan — could explode into a wider regional conflagration. Tensions are also higher than normal in the north. Several days ago, three Syrian tanks entered the demilitarized zone near the Golan Heights. Today, Syrian forces have fired three mortar shells at Israelis on the Golan Heights. One actually crossed into Israel, a 120mm shell. Within the past hour, the IDF has fired back at Syria for the first time since the Yom Kippur War in 1973.”

Isaiah 17 is another prophecy for the times, that Damascus will be destroyed. When the shelling from Syria into Israel began today , an Israeli Defense Force rabbi tweeted Isaiah 17.

Damascus destroyed is on everyone’s mind. Jerusalem Post reports on the situation,

IDF fires warning shot into Syria after shelling
IDF targets Syria for first time since Yom Kippur War.
“The IDF fired a warning shot, in the form of a guided missile, at the Syrian military on Sunday after a Syrian shell exploded in the Golan Heights for the second time in recent days. Israel has not fired at Syria since the 1973 Yom Kippur War. “In the midst of Syrian infighting, a mortar shell fired by the Syrian army struck near an [IDF] outpost at Tel Hazeka,” IDF spokesman Brig.-Gen. Yoav Mordechai said. The shell failed to cause injuries or damages, but was one of a series of shells that landed in Israeli territory.”

Below, a photo of and a map of the Golan Heights, border with Syria. Geographically, the Heights are incredibly important to Israel. I wrote about that on November 5th at length here

Wikipedia source

Always watch the superlatives. ‘Highest’…’biggest’…most’… “First time” comes into play here. Any event that is happening for the first time, or the first time in a long time (in this case, 40 years) is worthy of examining closely. It is a big deal that Israel fired back.

Now for the squeeze from east to west…

Palestinian president rejects US pressure to drop UN initiative despite call from Obama
“A spokesman for the Palestinian president says the Palestinians will proceed with asking the U.N. General Assembly to recognize a Palestinian state, despite a personal call from President Barack Obama to abandon the bid.”

Joel Rosenberg said in his warning piece I’d linked to above,

“Please pray for peace and security to be restored on both borders. Pray for Israeli leaders to have wisdom to know how best to respond. Pray for the innocent civilians — Jews and Arabs — on both sides of the border that are caught in the crossfire. I’ll keep you posted as best I can.'”

Joel the Prophet of the Old Testament said,

“I will gather all the nations and bring them down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat. And I will enter into judgment with them there, on behalf of my people and my heritage Israel, because they have scattered them among the nations and have divided up my land,” (Joel 3:2).

God will judge all nations because they messed with the Land. Israel has been divided and divided and divided and will be divided again. Judgment for that will be severe.

The scriptures which are closely related to the very active things going on in and around Israel today are Isaiah 17, Isaiah 19, Joel 3, and of course Zechariah 12:3-

And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people

honor, Kay Arthur, Precepts International, service

Happy Birthday Kay Arthur!

Posted on November 11, 2012March 5, 2026 by elizabethprata

The bible tells us to honor our teachers and pastors. (1 Thessalonians 5:12-13, 1 Timothy 5:17-20). And we do, but often we focus on the men. I think that is because if there is a woman teacher, she would naturally not be in the forefront.

In this day and age of the celebrity pastor, we see borne out over and over again that with growing recognition comes the temptation to narcissism. Paul was the greatest pastor and missionary who ever lived, who did more to lay the foundation of the church than any other, but whom Jesus gave a thorn in his side so he wouldn’t let all of it go to his head.

“So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited.” (2 Corinthians 12:7)

Would that many of today’s famous pastors not only have, but seek a thorn, to rein in their mounting conceit borne from celebrity and the prideful trappings of fame. Why? Because…

…as Erin Benziger of the Christian blog Do Not Be Surprised posted, too many celebrity pastors are starting to believe their own press. Here, Pastor Driscoll posts that people should come to church to hear him speak.

I have already written this month about the secret Christian feminist female teachers who boldly declare they are taking on the “classic leadership role.” Celebrity goes to women’s heads, too. Beth Moore proudly calls herself obnoxious.

But there are many, many quiet pastors and teachers who plug along in their lives, ministering, or being on mission, or teaching for years, decades, even, and they do not attain celebrity status and amazingly, it doesn’t bother them.

In the midst of all the hubbub, rock and roll events that celebrity teachers and pastors call “church” there are some who humbly plod along, teaching and preaching Jesus for His glory. One of these is Kay Arthur.

Kim at The Mystery of the Ages posted on Facebook yesterday that Ms. Kay turns 79 years old today! Happy birthday Ms. Kay!

I’ll paste some of her bio from Wikipedia, I think you will be surprised and impressed with the body of work she has done, quietly and consistently, for the Lord for many years.

“Kay Arthur is an international Bible teacher, four-time ECPA Christian Book Award winning author, and co-CEO of Precept Ministries International. Kay has systematized studying the Bible, developing a set of steps to follow so as to “mine” the details of the given book under study. Being systematized, it is accessible to lay persons, rather than scholars only.”

“Kay and her second husband, Jack, were serving as missionaries in Mexico in the late 1960s when medical problems forced them to leave the mission field. They returned to their home base in Chattanooga, Tennessee, confident that the Lord had further plans for them. Jack became the station manager of a local Christian radio station, and Kay taught the Bible to teens in their living room.

“The number of teens attending Kay’s bible study group steadily grew, and God subsequently provided a 32-acre farm to accommodate the expanding ministry, which was named Reach Out Ranch. The radio station was sold in 1972, and Jack became full-time administrator for Reach Out Ranch. The ministry’s name was eventually changed to Precept Ministries International (PMI), in order to more clearly communicate the organization’s focus of establishing people in God’s Word.”

“Since co-founding Precept Ministries International, Kay has written more than 100 books and Bible studies, with over 11 million in print. Her inductive Bible studies are available in nearly 150 countries in approximately 70 languages. Precept Inductive Bible Study groups meet in all 50 states of the USA.”

Her television show, “‘Precepts for Life” has an audience reach of over 75 million households and broadcasts to over 30 countries. Precepts for Life was voted Best Television Teaching Program for 2004 and 2009 by the National Religious Broadcasters. Kay was awarded the NRB Hall of Fame Award at the National Religious Broadcasters (NRB) Convention and Exposition in 2011. Kay Arthur, Lois Crawford, and Aimee Semple McPherson are the only female recipients of this prestigious award, … all Christian communicators who have exhibited the highest standard of faithfulness in Christian service.”

Personally, I believe her service to the Lord in systematizing bible study and offering it to women has been a great benefit to the Body of Christ. A deep, theological, systematized study is something every Christian needs, but especially women, who tend to shy away from deeper doctrinal and expository study. And certainly today with the mess that women “teachers” like Beth Moore, Priscilla Shirer, and Christine Caine are offering with their subjective, mystical, Gnostic approach, much harm is being done to women who seek to learn more about Jesus from His word. The body of Ms. Kay’s work stands for itself, and I praise Jesus for it.

I would say that when they left the mission field, God DID have other plans for Ms. Kay and her husband! Wow. What God does with a willing heart and a humble attitude is amazing. For over 50 years, God has used Kay Arthur and her husband for His glory. Please pray to thank the Lord for a gifted teacher like Kay and thank the Holy Spirit for His ministry through her. I thank You, Lord, for raising up a dedicated and humble woman for us to learn from, and I wish Ms. Kay many years of joy in the Lord.