elizabethprata

How can I go deeper into the bible?

Posted on October 8, 2012May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

This is a lesson oriented lesson blog entry about how I go deeper from the bible. This morning I posted an essay about the parable of the wheat and the tares. Another word for tares in some translations is weed, and they both refer to darnel.

How did I know it was referring to darnel? I didn’t. But I did notice that in my bible there is a little footnote for verse 25. It led me to the bottom of the page, where the note said “c- 25 Probably darnel, a wheat-like weed.”

Darnel (left) is a weed that’s wheat-like? Hmmm. In going deeper in study, don’t stop there. Find out about darnel. I find it useful to ask questions. “Why darnel? Why not dandelion weed? What is it about darnel that the Spirit decided to use that representation for the weed in the parable, and not another? What does darnel look like?” And so on.

You notice later on in Matthew 13, the disciples went to Jesus and asked questions. They wanted to know the deeper meaning of the parable they’d heard. “Then he left the crowd and went into the house. His disciples came to him and said, “Explain to us the parable of the weeds in the field.” They took the initiative. The Holy Spirit delivers wisdom without reproach to all who ask, according to James 1:5.

I’ve found that having a book on the natural history of Israel is very helpful. Occasionally I check it out from the library. Someday I’d like to buy one for myself to have on hand all the time. I’ve looked up references to the animals, trees, birds, topography, and so on, many times. It always helps deepen my understanding of the Word, and also grounds me in the location.

So in pursuing the information about the qualities about darnel, I go to the Jewish Virtual Encyclopedia, or just Google ‘darnel’, and click on the sites that result in the search list that look credible.

I read a lot about darnel. I learned its agricultural properties and also the history of its use in either sowing an enemy’s field and the legal ramifications and also the medicinal properties of it that cause a poison-like reaction in people who consume it warm.

There are a multitude of parables, metaphors, and examples in the bible that are agriculturally related. America is an industrial society. Without looking deeper into the natural history references and understanding the agriculture, we miss so much. Here are some quick examples:

In Psalm 29:5 where it says “The voice of the LORD breaks the cedars; the LORD breaks in pieces the cedars of Lebanon.” If you know that the cedars of Lebanon are exceptionally tall, straight and strong, (up to 130 ft high and 8 ft in diameter) it deepens the passage to understand that the LORD’S voice is quite powerful indeed to break such a sturdy tree.

The parable of the mustard seed means more when you learn that the seed is the smallest seed but grows the largest bush.

Knowing the topography of the Sermon on the Mount, that it is a natural grassy ampitheatre where the acoustics would have carried Jesus’s voice very far without amplification, is an interesting fact. Modern sound engineers have tested the place and concluded that a crowd of 7,000 would have had no trouble hearing Jesus’s words. According to the website See The Holy Land,

Salvadora Persica, Mustard tree

“About 1km northeast of Tabgha is a small bay with exceptional acoustic qualities. Here it is believed Jesus taught the Parable of the Sower (Mark 4:1-9) from a boat moored in the bay. The semicircular bay, at the foot of the Mount of Beatitudes, is one of the most attractive places along the shoreline. It is called Sower’s Cove or the Bay of the Parables. The slope of the hill forms a natural amphitheatre, rather like a Roman theatre. Acoustical research has demonstrated that as many as 7000 people could hear a person speaking from a boat in the bay. Pilgrims who test the acoustics, usually by reading the Gospel account, are amazed at how far the voice carries. This location was also an appropriate setting for the story of the sower and his seeds. There is fertile black earth, rocky ground and plenty of thorns and thistles.”

So to sum up about going deeper:

–ask questions to yourself about the passage, verse, or word. Not to doubt, but to enhance. Ask yourself why this word, what are the qualities of the tree/animal/plant that is being used as an example, etc. Get in the habit of asking questions. If you don’t have time to follow up then, keep a notebook next to your bible and just jot the questions down to look up later. For example, Acts 16:14 describes Lydia as “And a certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple, of the city of Thyatira…was a worshiper of God” so of course you would ask, “what is a seller of purple?” “What does it mean to be a worshiper of God (it meant something different in those days than it does now).

–Read the cross-references, and the footnotes. If a cross-reference sparks a memory or another verse but you do not have time to follow it up right then, jot it in the notebook- and then really look it up later.

–Use maps to see where the events took place, and note the place names around it. For example it helps to know that the ancient name for Damascus is Rabbah, and Salem is another name for Jerusalem.

–Take time to study the natural history, topography, and agriculture of ancient Israel. Knowing how they winnow, thresh, make olive oil, ferment wine, etc enhances the picture for you. In the Proverbs, there are four inconspicuous animals/insects that are lauded; the ant, the rock badger, the locust (grasshopper), and the spider. It would be fun to compare the real-world behaviors of each to see why the Lord applauds what these animals do.

Just yesterday in studying winnowing, I learned that the threshing-floor David bought from Ornan is atop Mr Moriah where the Temple was…and that it is also the place where Abraham (almost) sacrificed Isaac. Doesn’t it resonate, knowing that the the son of Abraham was almost sacrificed on the spot where the Son of Man actually was sacrificed? And that the threshing floor became the temple which will also be the spot that Jesus lands at the Second Coming?

This short lesson only discusses the agriculture, natural history or topography. Going deeper also involves looking at the original language, the historical context, and always accompanying prayer, among many other methods of going deeper. And at the most basic, just reading the text for what it is, a gift and a pleasure!

What do you do to go deeper into the bible?

jesus, judgment, winnowing fork

The wheat and tares. Is the winnowing is about to begin?

Posted on October 8, 2012May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

Matthew 3:12:

“His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into the barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”

The way the ancients used to process their wheat is to gather it from the field, place it on the hardened threshing floor, and thresh and winnow it. The threshing-floor is a hollowed out spot with a packed earthen floor on the top of a hill where the late afternoon wind kicks up. The first part of the process is threshing. They thresh the wheat stalks by passing a sledge over them on the threshing-floor. Dragging the sledge over the stalk rolls the chaff kernel off the wheat stalk. You can see one woman standing on a sledge in the photo. The sledge is the tied-together planks with turned up front. Sledging separates the wheat from the chaff. You want the wheat. The chaff is the hard kernel husk, and you don’t want that. It is inedible. As the threshing process goes on they mound the stalks in the middle of the floor.

Next they take a winnowing fork, poke it into the mound, and toss all the material – wheat, chaff, straw, weevils, etc, – into the air. The wind carries the chaff away. The heavier wheat falls to the ground.

A threshing floor in the hills of Galilee – the women threshing

A threshing floor in the hills of Galilee - the women winnowing Palestine

Library of Congress

Primitive winnowing [picture] : [Palestine, World War II]

National Library of Australia

When they finish the threshing and winnowing, they gather the broken straws and bundle them for fuel to be burned. The wheat is gathered and tied together in bundles also and put into the barn.

The Matthew verse speaks to the judgment of Jesus. The chaff are unbelievers which will be burned with an unquenchable fire. That speaks to the fire of hell which will torment the unbeliever forever.

The wheat that has been gathered into the barn is the raptured and resurrected saints gathered to Jesus to the place He has prepared for us.

Now here is the Parable of the Weeds (Tares)

“He put another parable before them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field, but while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat and went away. So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared also. And the servants of the master of the house came and said to him, ‘Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have weeds?’ He said to them, ‘An enemy has done this.’ So the servants said to him, ‘Then do you want us to go and gather them?’ But he said, ‘No, lest in gathering the weeds you root up the wheat along with them. Let both grow together until the harvest, and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, Gather the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.’” (Matthew 13:24-30).

In regards to that parable, I see some things happening in Christendom that are really pretty startling. I’m watching people I know, people who claim to be Christians, falling into activities or sins or speech that are not Christian. This is very prophetic.

Here is Jesus’ explanation of the parable.

Then he left the crowds and went into the house. And his disciples came to him, saying, “Explain to us the parable of the weeds of the field.” He answered, “The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man. The field is the world, and the good seed is the sons of the kingdom. The weeds are the sons of the evil one, and the enemy who sowed them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are angels. Just as the weeds are gathered and burned with fire, so will it be at the end of the age. (Matthew 13:36-40)

You see, the world is filled with tares as well as wheat. Satan came in and secretly brought in destructive heresies and false workers to spew them in order to bring reproach onto the name of Jesus and hinder His kingdom on earth. To illustrate this, Jesus told the parable of the weeds, posted above. The weed is darnel, which enemies used to sow into an enemy’s field. This was a problem in the ancient days, so much so that Rome passed a law prohibiting it and levied severe penalties to anyone caught doing it. It is a catastrophic way to destroy the economy of your enemy, because the darnel looks exactly like wheat, until the very last moment when the ear appears. Darnel is called “false wheat” in many parts of the world. In the bible it is also known as tares.

In Montana they are combating Persian darnel infestation. Montana State University Extension reports, “At high densities, Persian darnel could cause crop yield loss of up to 83 percent, 70 percent and 57 percent for spring wheat, canola and sunflower, respectively.” An 83% loss of your grain certainly is catastrophic.

We know that false Christians populate the world. The Parable of the Tares tells us this. Also, the following verses are a few that tell us that there will be false ones among us. (2 Corinthians 11:13-15; 2 Timothy 3:5; Titus 1:16)

Additionally, the bible’s record of the false ones’ future pleas to Jesus tell us there will be “many” who were false. They will say, “Lord, Lord, did we not…” and He will say “Depart from me you workers of iniquity, I never knew you.” (Matthew 7:21-23). These are people who looked the Christian part, acted the part, even attended church and prophesied in His name. We couldn’t tell they were saved or not because that is not our job.

We can, however, often get a sense of whether a person is genuinely saved or not. We can compare their life that is allegedly sanctified to the Word and if they bear no fruit we suspect the worst. We can pray for them in that case. But we can’t uproot the wheat because we don’t truly know for sure if they are wheat or darnel. That is not our job.

Forerunner Commentary explains, “The bad seeds grow to become poisonous weeds that allow only the healthiest of the wheat to survive. … Only when the wheat has matured can the tares be detected. Then the tares are gathered together in bundles in the field and destroyed by fire. … Many who are not in the process of conversion resemble those who are. Just like true Christians, they go to church, pray, and read the Bible, but they are only religious hobbyists. Jesus calls them “sons of the wicked one” (Matthew 13:38), and being tares, they will be destroyed. [Mathew G. Collins, Forerunner Commentary.]

The harvest time has not begun yet, because that is the Rapture and then the Day of the Lord, AKA the Tribulation. The darnel weed is identified from the real wheat at the end when the growth is nearly complete. Though they are not uprooted yet, we are beginning to see who is a wheat and who is a tare. At the very end, when the ear begins to appear, right before the harvest, we see what’s what. I think the very fact that so many Christians are apostasizing, veering away from the faith, reveals how very late we are in the age. The world is full of darnel.

If you grind darnel along with wheat into flour it will cause a kind of drunkenness. It makes a person stagger, vomit, and generally act stupid. The tares of today are acting like that.

January 31, 2012, Atlanta pastor “Bishop” Eddie Long
is wrapped in a torah, draped in a prayer shawl,
crowned a king, then paraded around in his throne

A Christian church advocating getting a tattoo for Lent?!
And what’s with the caption about ‘Jesus falling the first time??

Darnel-driven drunken silliness abounds. I could post photo after photo that illustrates it.

I believe that when we see such overt tare-like behavior that we are seeing the end of the maturing process. If the tares are so easily detected now, it must be close to the end. This is my opinion. We are at such a close time to the harvest that the darnel’s head has appeared and we can begin to see their real state. Verse 26 in Matthew 13 says “But when the wheat sprouted and bore grain, then the tares became evident also.”

The false Christians are becoming evident. This process has amazed me with its rapidity. In my opinion, since the false Christians are so evident, which indicates that the tares are mature, it means the winnowing is very likely about to begin.

election, end time

John MacArthur: "I don’t know how long America has left, I really don’t."

Posted on October 7, 2012 by elizabethprata

We are nearing the end of the days of the Church Age. We are very close to the end.

Some of you know this because you see your pastors grapple with issues and problems that they have never dealt with before in like frequency or content.

Some of you know this because you have eyes to see, and notice that wherever you are living has gotten so sinful, immoral, and crime ridden you wonder and marvel at the patience of our Holy God to tolerate it.

Some of you know that we are nearing the end because you listen to or read watchmen pastors like Hal Lindsey or JD Farag, or others who illuminate us as to the signs Jesus said to watch for.

Still others, like John MacArthur, use Romans 1 as the cultural and spiritual barometer.

Romans 1 is the chapter where Paul tells the church about the wrath of God revealed to immoral nations. It outlines the process of what, how, and when God judges a nation via His wrath of abandonment.

God has many different kinds of wrath, and none of them are the human wrath of uncontrolled anger or petulance. MacArthur lists the elements of God’s wrath.

“There is eschatological wrath. That is the wrath that will fall on the earth at the end of human history in a time called the time of Tribulation. There is sowing and reaping wrath. That is the wrath of God that comes consequent on sin–whatever a man sows, he reaps. There is cataclysmic wrath. That is the wrath of God that He sets on man from miraculous use of the natural order, such as the Flood, or any other massive disaster that catapults souls into eternity. So there is that wrath of God which is eschatological and which is consequential and which is cataclysmic. And then there is that wrath of God which is eternal wrath, and that would be the wrath of God unleashed on the ungodly forever in the punishments of eternal hell.”

“But the wrath that is being referred to in Romans 1 isn’t any of those. It is the wrath of abandonment.”

And that is the wrath of Romans 1.

I have been listening to Dr MacArthur for a long time. I’ve listened to his sermons going back to 1969. I’ve listened to many in each decade of his ministry. I’ve listened to all of them regarding the end times. In all of them I notice two things. One is that he uses Romans 1 as his barometer of where the culture is in regards to the nearness of judgment. And the second is that he outright never says how close we are. He just preaches Romans 1 in his sermons and as a response to any Q&A sessions, plenary panels, or interviews and leaves it to the Christian to make that determination for themselves. It’s always just teaching Romans 1 but never has he said how close we are.

Until now.

One can intuit by comparing the society to the Romans chapter how close we are. Romans goes from verse 1 to 32. During this month Dr MacArthur attended both sessions of the political conventions, Democratic and Republican. He returned home to southern California at the beginning of September and through the month of September he has been preaching three messages related to the culture. This is a departure for him anyway, he rarely preaches a message that is unrelated to a book of the bible and is culturally oriented.

But these messages are at root biblically oriented. He returned home shook up and amazed at how close we are to judgment. He is also heartbroken, you can hear it in his voice. For a pastor, I can’t imagine the agonies of watching a society and all the people in it fall away from the offer of salvation and reject it at such a massive and global scale. If you are a good pastor, this breaks your heart, and Dr MacArthur is a good pastor.

We are at verse 32. The last verse in the outline of God’s progressive wrath is now at the last word, the last period of that chapter. And in one of these three tremendously convicting and horrifying sermons, he said,

“I don’t know how much time America has left, I really don’t. But we’re on a course described here as God casting us out. The land has become defiled. “I’ve brought its punishment upon it,” verse 25, “so the land has spewed out its inhabitants.””

I plead with you to listen to all three of the messages. You will receive a biblical overview of not only the coming election, which is helpful, but the times overall. You’ll understand the depth of passion with which we must live for Jesus in these last days. You will see clearly and breathtakingly how far we have traveled down the road of wrath and how close we are to the end. I am sure of it. Dr MacArthur lays out the chapter so clearly and biblically, if you have one molecule of regenerated sanctification in you, you will see it too.

Here are the three messages, in order. They are each about 45 minutes long.

Thank you and God bless.

Abortion and the Campaign for Immorality

Homosexuality and the Campaign for Immorality

A Warning to Every Proud Ruler

flexahexagon, math, vi hart

The flexahexagon will blow your mind

Posted on October 7, 2012 by elizabethprata

If you enjoy Flatland, Dali’s Hypercube Crucifix, and MC Escher’s Mobius, you will love the Youtube video by mathematician Vi Hart playing with a flexahexagon.

Robert T Gonzalez wrote about it at io9,

“Remember the first time you saw a Möbius strip (the ring-shaped surface with only one side) and it felt like your world had been turned upside down? The hexaflexagon tends to have a similar effect. Only more so. In this, her latest video, fast-thinking, faster-talking YouTube-maths-wizard Vi Hart presents us with the topologically fascinating hexaflexagon. First discovered in the 1930s by a daydreaming student named Arthur H. Stone, flexagons have attracted the curiosity of great scientists for decades, including Stone’s friend and colleague Richard Feynman. Here, the ever-capable Hart introduces the folding, pinching, rotating, multifaceted geometric oddity with her signature brand of rapid-fire wit and exposition. She even shows you how to make your own. Seeing as Hart has dubbed October “The Month of the Flexagon,” it sounds like we can look forward to a few more similarly themed videos in the weeks ahead. We’ll keep you posted.”

[Vi Hart] website

I really did LOL–

bayou corne, cascades slip quakes, end time, jesus, Louisiana sinkhole

Restless earth: Louisiana sinkhole and Cascades slip quakes

Posted on October 6, 2012 by elizabethprata

Time for an update on the Louisiana sinkhole.

In August ABC News reported that a large sinkhole had opened up in Bayou Corne, in Assumption Parish, Louisiana. Originally the hole was 526 feet from northeast to southwest and 640 feet from northwest to southeast. Two workers had to be rescued when the boat they had tied their tree to fell into the sinkhole as it suddenly expanded.

Prior to the sinkhole’s appearance in August, throughout the month of July residents had been puzzled by earth tremors. Assumption Parish is in an area where seismic activity is just about nil. The tremors were accompanied by bubbles in the water and a gas smell. The USGS got involved and brought testing equipment, but found nothing seismically related.

Then in August the sinkhole appeared. The gas smell intensified, and after a short period, an emergency evacuation was issued for residents living and working near the affected area.

On August 10 and then again on August 13 I blogged about it. Officials became concerned that the sinkhole and resultant bubbles and gas smell may be linked to work by Texas Brine in an underwater salt cavern. The sinkhole may be happening because a salt cavern that had been used to store butane and then plugged might have structural integrity problems. A sudden collapse could be catastrophic, releasing thousands of cubic feet of highly flammable material.

“The situation is made all the worrisome because the sinkhole is believed to be close to a well containing 1.5 million barrels of liquid butane, a highly volatile liquid that turns into a highly flammable vapor upon release. A breach of that well, Assumption Parish Sheriff Mike Waguespack has said, could be catastrophic,” Fox News reported.

Like the failure of the Macondo Well in the Gulf of Mexico, officials deemed it necessary to test it, and either extract the gas or re-cap it. Officials from Texas Brine began working on a relief well.

Meanwhile, the sinkhole continued to expand. As answers were not forthcoming, residents began to get angry. Meetings were held. Then at one meeting, no officials from Texas Brine showed up, angering residents even more. Meeting venues were changed, and there were denials and allegations of coverup.

The Insurance Journal noted the serious impact to property and businesses.

Then today there is serious news. “Officials: High levels of gas in water wells by sinkhole — Potential health risk, fire/explosion — Immediate remediation needed — “Heed evacuation orders” “

And the tremors came back, and are being felt as far away as 45 miles, over in the next parish.
“A little before 2 p.m. Wednesday, reports began flooding officials’ offices about tremors with loud thunder noises some 45 miles from Louisiana’s giant sinkhole and about 140 miles northwest of the BP-wrecked Macondo Prospect oil well in the Gulf of Mexico. Even residents in brick houses were rattled by the quakes.”

New flyover footage shows the road dissolving into the sinkhole
“Residents report that the entire salt dome area is sinking, that seismic activity is being felt and that chemicals are smelled miles from the sinkhole. Gas bubbling sites now total 17, the latest ones reported to be miles from the sinkhole as gas bubbles as far away as Lake Peigneur, 80 miles west of the sinkhole, are also increasing and alarming locals there.”

This situation is so bad, and is repeated throughout the world. Earth changes that baffle officials and outpace man’s remedies for stopping them are increasing like birth pangs upon a woman. God is demonstrating to us that the earth is the LORD’s, and everything in it. (Psalm 24:1). We must trust Him, not man’s solutions, not man’s reports, not man’s science. Science won’t be able to explain why every island flees away. It won’t be able to tell those that dwell on the earth why 100 lb hailstones fall from the sky. Or why the 1/3 of the sun blinks out. All those are future prophesied events that will occur in the Tribulation, described in Revelation 16:20, Revelation 16:9, Revelation 8:12.

Scientists can’t explain to us right now the newly discovered phenomenon of silent earthquakes. Silent earthquakes are rippling under the Cascades Mountains in America’s Northwest.
“Parts of Washington and Oregon are in the midst of silent earthquakes this week. You can’t feel this so-called “slow slip” quake and it doesn’t cause damage. Still, scientists want to learn more about the recently discovered phenomenon. Little is certain so far, but there’s a possibility these deep tremors could trigger a damaging earthquake or serve as a warning bell for the Big One.’

Yes, we are receiving warnings for bigger quakes, all at the sovereign authority of God. In His grace, He is warning us that He is sovereign over us all. He welcomes people who repent of their sins, but the warning is if you do not repent, He is coming soon in judgment.

“Jesus said, “For judgment I came into this world, that those who do not see may see, and those who see may become blind.” (John 9:39)

“Now is the time for judgment on this world; now the prince of this world will be driven out.” (John 12:31)

Jesus came to present His Light to the world so that those who repent would be saved. He also came for individual judgment, for those who refuse to repent will not be saved. Felix heard of the judgment to come, and he trembled. (Acts 24:25)

The Tribulation will be a time not so much of individual judgment as it is now, but more of corporate judgment. The eschatalogical (end times) judgments to come will soon be here,(Matthew 24:27-25:46) and none will escape. (Hebrews 12:23)

Are you ready to face Jesus, to Whom has been given all authority to judge men? (John 5:27).

gas, prophecy, secede, secession, tribulation

What the current secession movements have to do with gas in CA

Posted on October 6, 2012May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

I read the news and when I spot a pattern, I think about why a pattern of something has emerged. One news items is just a news item. Two on the same subject is a coincidence. Three, now that makes a pattern. When the pattern relates to prophecy, then I write about it.

The pattern is secession. There are three secession movements in the works, one of the three is not a threat but completed. Would you have thought that secession of Venice from Italy, the Lakota Nation from America and Catalonia from Spain are related to the California refinery problems and also to prophecy?

Here is the secession news.

The Lakota Sioux have been seeking independence from the Union since 2007 when they declared independence. This week (again) they announced secession.

“We are no longer citizens of the United States of America and all those who live in the five-state area that encompasses our country are free to join us,” long-time Native American radical leader Russell Means said. The move potentially impacts the states of Nebraska, South Dakota, North Dakota, Montana and Wyoming. … This time, [Activist Russell] Means detailed reasons for the secession including a long list of problems facing the Lakota, such as unemployment, healthcare and life expectancy as well use of natural resources. In a rambling video, he also added a massive number of reasons for why his new nation would be both strong and lawful – talking about everything from credit card companies to global warming as problems they aim to escape.”

The UK Telegraph is reporting today that Venice Italy is holding a mass rally to push for secession from Italy. Italy actually only became a nation in 1861. “Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north, it borders France, Switzerland, Austria, and Slovenia along the Alps. To the south, it consists of the entirety of the Italian Peninsula, Sicily, Sardinia–the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea–and many other smaller islands. The independent nation-states of San Marino and the Vatican City are fully sovereign enclaved microstates within Italy, while Campione d’Italia is an Italian exclave in Switzerland.” [source]

Mass rally in Venice to call for independence from Italy
“Inspired by the nationalist aspirations of Scotland and Catalonia, pro-independence campaigners will hold a mass rally in the heart of the lagoon city on Saturday, calling for an urgent referendum to be held on the issue. Indipendenza Veneta, a newly-founded pro-independence movement, says it expects several thousand people to turn up for the rally. They will be ferried across the Grand Canal in gondolas to deliver a “declaration of independence” to the headquarters of the Veneto regional government. It may sound fanciful, and it will be fiercely resisted by Rome, but activists want to carve out a new country in north-eastern Italy which would comprise Venice, the surrounding region of Veneto and parts of Lombardy, Trentino and Friuli-Venezia Giulia. The “Repubblica Veneta”, as it would be known, would encompass about five million people.”

The Venetians were inspired by Catalonia, so here is the story of Catalonia, Spain’s secession issue. “Catalonia is an autonomous community of Spain, with the official status of a “nationality”.” (source). The map below shows the territory of Catalonia in red. The manila colored section to the west is Portugal. Spain is bordered to the north by France.

Spain: Catalonia increases push to secede
“Spain’s economic powerhouse Catalonia took its first step toward independence – and threatened to proceed unilaterally if necessary – in a serious challenge to Madrid’s already besieged central government, which is struggling with social turmoil and economic uncertainty. Catalonia’s conservative regional leader Artur Mas moved up local elections to Nov. 25 in an effort to secure the political mandate he needs to press the central government to authorize a referendum on independence. But he said that Catalonia could proceed with a referendum even if Madrid didn’t authorize one.”

The key reminder here regarding prophecy is that man’s boundaries fail. They look solid on a map, but they are fluid. If you know history you know that Europe changed dramatically after WWI. It changed dramatically again after WWII. In the 1990s it seemed that there was a new country every day, with the breakup of the Soviet Republic, the Czech states, Yugoslavia, and Bosnia.

The main idea is fragility. Man’s infrastructure of boundaries, nations, and governments are just that, man’s. When man sets boundaries, they eventually change or fail. Do not get too attached to the idea of “America” or the world continuing on as it always has been, or the idea of a unified Europe. It is shocking when things change fast, but if you are attached to Jesus you know He is permanent. Everything else dissolves away. Have compassion on those who are clinging to that which dissolves. They are disoriented and upset.

The secession movements we read about here may or may not come to something, but I’ll tell you one fact: eventually, and soon, all the nations will be carved up and re-knit together into a new world order of ten kingdoms, and then one final kingdom. Things are going to shift dramatically. (Revelation 13:1; Daniel 7:16-24; Daniel 2:41-42). That change has begun and is even well underway.

Now what does all this have to do with the price of gas in California? It is still about man’s infrastructure and its resultant fragility.

Refinery problems keep gas prices surging in California
“California gas prices continued surging Friday, adding another 17 cents per gallon on average, and the increases are expected to continue for at least several more days, ensuring long lines and short tempers at pumps around the state. A week of soaring costs has led some stations to close and others to charge record prices … Among the recent disruptions, an Aug. 6 fire at a Chevron Corp. refinery in Richmond left one of the region’s largest refineries producing at a reduced capacity, and a Chevron pipeline that moves crude oil to Northern California also was shut down.”

So two refineries were shot down and the nation’s largest economy and the world’s 8th largest economy overall is in total disarray. Hmmm. Man’s infrastructure is soooo fragile.

What is going on in CA is a micro-picture of what is going to happen when war breaks out in the Middle East. We know that war does break out eventually, because the bible clearly shows us that in the last days Syria, Egypt, Israel, Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, Russia, Iran, etc go to war. Oil prices will skyrocket, if it is available at all. Just as the CA troubles show us, gas prices skyrocketed within days, where it is even available. And that is with just two refineries impacting the oil delivery system. When the oil is choked off at the source, the world will go bananas, and daily life as we know it will change instantly.

One example is in the article I linked to above. “Rebecca Olson, 43, of Irvine, drove to a Costco in Tustin hoping to find lower prices than the $4.65 in her neighborhood, but the pumps were closed. The part-time preschool teacher said her husband already spends $500 a month on gas, in part because he commutes nearly 100 miles a day to a new sales job after being unemployed for a year. They’ve already parked their GMC Yukon SUV indefinitely. If gas prices keep rising, Olson said they’ll sell her husband’s Infiniti G35 that requires premium fuel and buy a more efficient car, while making their children ride their bikes to their activities.”

You’ll see mules, donkeys, bikes, golf carts, mopeds and horses on the road again. Cars will be jettisoned to the side like dying dinosaurs.

Man has put an overlay of civilization down on the earth through artificial national boundaries, and criss-crossed it with electrical wires, roads, and pipelines, and then dotted the skies with satellites. All this will be wiped out. The coming earthquakes & tsunamis will take care of the pipelines and wires. Electro-magnetic pulses and sun-storms will zap the satellites and computer chips (which are in cars, too). Civil unrest will re-arrange the colorful swathes on the maps with names like America and Italy, and Canada like so many jigsaw puzzle pieces.

The new word for the era is “fragile”. And there is nothing we can do about the coming changes.

Except to repent and have faith in Christ! Trust Christ and you will have security of your soul forever, and you will become a citizen of the New Jerusalem in the New Earth. (Revelation 21:1-4). HIS boundary lines will never fail! HIS Light will never go out! (Rev 21:23). Become a Christian and get a new perspective about the coming changes, and you will not fear but rejoice.

bible, god's word

"Oh, but the bible is so outdated…"

Posted on October 5, 2012 by elizabethprata

I am sure you hear people saying that we can’t follow ALL that is in the bible because it is culturally irrelevant, outdated, dry and dusty. It isn’t fresh and relevant to this new millennium, or our advanced culture, you know.

Really?

Well think on this: when Paul preached and quoted the Old Testament at least 183 times, and referred to people or places or events dozens more, much of the Old Testament was as old to the first century Christians as the New Testament is to us now.

The New Testament writers overall included approximately 250 express Old Testament quotations, and if including indirect or partial quotations, the number jumps to more than 1,000.

Did Paul say, “The Prophets were good men, but we don’t need to follow their example now, because our society can’t relate to theirs. That was 1400 years ago. It’s a different time now.” Or did he say,

“all these things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages have come.” (1 Corinthians 10:11)

The bible is just as relevant today as it was when Job was written, the book scholars believe is the earliest in chronology. When I read stuff like this:

“An appalling and horrible thing has happened in the land: the prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests rule at their direction; my people love to have it so, but what will you do when the end comes?” (Jeremiah 5:31-32)

Which by the way is happening now in our faith with so many false prophets and teachers, I see the bible as prescient and relevant.

Or this:

“For from the least to the greatest of them, everyone is greedy for unjust gain; and from prophet to priest, everyone deals falsely” (Jeremiah 6:13)

Also happening. It is a fresh word because though penned by men, it was inspired by the Holy Spirit. The Spirit lives outside of time.

Or this-

“They lay crafty plans against your people; they consult together against your treasured ones. They say, “Come, let us wipe them out as a nation; let the name of Israel be remembered no more!”

Which is a current headline, “We could wipe out Israel, says Iranian military chief”, I stand amazed.

The Bible is not obsolete nor irrelevant. The author of the book The Shack wrote insultingly of God’s word, saying at one point, “God’s voice had been reduced to paper, and even that paper had to be moderated and deciphered by the proper authorities and intellect” (pp 65-66). He also write disparagingly of devotionals with a bible, “Images of family devotions from his childhood came spilling into his mind, not exactly good memories…He half expected Jesus to pull out a huge old King James Bible.” (p. 107). There are lots of ways to denigrate His Word, either outright rejection or a sly chipping away like William P Young did of The Shack. Don’t fall for it.

It is vibrant and as fresh as the day the Spirit inspired it and the 40 men wrote it. It is the most relevant book on earth, ever. The non-Christian cannot understand it, but for the Christian, it reveals all truth. Please take the time to read it daily.

middle east, syria, turkey

Did Turkey Just Declare War On Syria?

Posted on October 5, 2012 by elizabethprata

Michael T Snyder blogged over at The End of the American Dream,

Did Turkey Just Declare War On Syria?
“The Turkish Parliament has “authorized military operations” against Syria. So exactly what does that mean? Did Turkey just declare war on Syria? For now, the government of Turkey is making a clear distinction between “military operations” and “declaring war”. If Turkey were to “declare war”, that would likely involve Turkish troops actually entering Syria, and the war would not be considered “won” until certain objectives are achieved. So by just authorizing “military operations” against Syria, Turkey can sit back and fire off artillery rounds (and potentially call in air strikes if necessary) without being committed to entering Syria or attacking Damascus.”

“Turkey is not too keen on invading Syria by itself anyway. Turkey would want the help of NATO in such an event, and right now Barack Obama has made it abundantly clear to the Turkish government that he is not going to participate in an attack on Syria before the election. Obama has been leading in the polls and he has way too much to lose by starting another war. But what all of this does show us is a couple of things. First of all, once again we see that the Middle East is a tinderbox that can erupt at any moment. Second of all, just the rumors of a war between Turkey and Syria sent the price of oil absolutely skyrocketing on Thursday. It is frightening to imagine what a real war in the Middle East might do to the price of oil.”

“So what precipitated this move by Turkey?”

More at link. Very important developments. Snyder said, “That is one reason why it is so important to keep a close eye on this conflict. What is starting out as a conflict between Turkey and Syria could end up drawing in the United States, the rest of NATO, Iran, Hezbollah and potentially even several other countries in the Middle East.”

Isaiah 17
An Oracle Concerning Damascus

Behold, Damascus will cease to be a city
and will become a heap of ruins.

The nations roar like the roaring of many waters,
but he will rebuke them, and they will flee far away,
chased like chaff on the mountains before the wind
and whirling dust before the storm.
14 At evening time, behold, terror!
Before morning, they are no more! (Isaiah 17:1, 13-14)

false prophets, false teachers, peace and security, tribulation

While they are saying peace and security

Posted on October 4, 2012 by elizabethprata

Here is some Middle East news. Things are deteriorating so rapidly over there it is breathtaking.

1. Jordan’s King Abdullah dissolves Parliament, calls early elections
“The royal decree follows Abdullah II’s pledge to bring in political reforms aimed at avoiding anti-government unrest in the wake of the Arab Spring. Jordanians have been pressing for a greater say in how their country is run and demanding corruption be tackled. Jordan’s Muslim Brotherhood said in July its political party, the Islamic Action Front, would boycott the polls. The group has called for the monarch’s powers to be curtailed, and for an overhaul of the parliamentary system in which the prime minister is appointed by the king rather than elected. It has said it would boycott polls until such measures were introduced.”

The King may look stable but no situation in the ME is stable right now. This editorial in the UK Guardian asks, “Is Jordan heading for chaos?” The answer is yes. Yes it is. No nation will survive the chaos that is coming, and the chaos will begin in and around Israel.

Iran is not stable, either. Iran’s rial currency plunges in value, causing riots.

2. Iran’s currency plunges, protests in streets, clashes with police
“DUBAI (Reuters) – Riot police clashed with demonstrators and arrested money changers in Tehran on Wednesday in disturbances over the collapse of the Iranian currency, which has lost 40 percent of its value against the dollar in a week, witnesses said.”

Lost 40%!!!??? Imagine if the dollar had lost 40% of its value in one week!

This next one merits an uh-oh.

3. Another mortar has fallen into Turkish territory, and Turkey is even more incensed now. Turkey is a member of NATO. NATO nations are allied by treaty and must come to each other’s defense if attacked. The Lebanon Daily Star reports this afternoon, “Israel says Syrian mortar strike was attack on NATO. Says attack on one NATO member attack on all“

“PARIS: Israel’s Deputy Prime Minister Dan Meridor said on Thursday a deadly Syrian mortar strike on a Turkish town had to be considered an attack on a member of the NATO alliance. Israel is technically at war with Damascus and occupies the Golan Heights that it seized in the 1967 war and later annexed, but it has generally taken a cautious line on the uprising in its Arab neighbour. “One has to say that according to the NATO treaty, it was an attack on a member of NATO, and that means France,” Meridor told reporters during a visit to Paris, referring to France’s membership of NATO. Syria and Israel have not exchanged fire in three decades, and a parliamentary briefing in July by the Israeli armed forces chief about the risk of “uncontrollable deterioration” in Syria were interpreted by local media as a caution against opening a new fighting front with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.”

3a. The UN scrambles to defuse Syria-Turkey tensions
“UNITED NATIONS – UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon was “alarmed by escalating tensions” between Syria and Turkey and warned that the risk of the 18-month-long Syrian conflict embroiling the entire region was growing, his spokesman said on Thursday. “The Secretary-General is alarmed by escalating tensions along the Syrian-Turkish border,” Ban’s spokesman Martin Nesirky told reporters. “As the situation inside Syria deteriorates yet further … the risks of regional conflict and the threat to international peace and security are also increasing.”

Speaking of peace and security, there is this headline from today too:

Turkey seeks ‘peace and security,’ not war with Syria

And the UN speeches last week were full of references to peace and security.

“The world is in need of a new order of trustworthy leaders offering peace and lasting security.” Iran’s President Ahmadinejad, UN Speech, 9/2012

“Jordan’s King Abdullah said in his region of the Middle East, new opportunities are needed, especially for youth, to “fill the universal desire and basic human right to live in freedom, dignity and peace. … Abdullah also spoke of the Palestinians’ need for dignity and safety. UN Speech, 9/2012

Prophecy says, “While people are saying, “There is peace and security,” then sudden destruction will come upon them as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.” (1 Thessalonians 5:3).

While they are saying…

Now it should be noted that the context of the verse is of the Day of the LORD, which means the Tribulation leading up to the actual moment of Jesus’s reappearance, coming in glory. But the problem of false prophets who tout peace around the next corner is as old as the hills. God told Jeremiah to say,

“They have healed the wound of my people lightly, saying, ‘Peace, peace,’ when there is no peace.” (Jeremiah 6:14)

The wicked false prophets were telling the people that peace was coming, and that no trouble was on the horizon. They dressed the bleeding wound lightly. That wound was the Israelites’ separation from God. They were faithless, and the false prophets were capitalizing on their penchant for listening to the easy cure rather than the hard one. There are always people eager to hear an easy message being preached, and in that day, ‘peace, peace’ was the most favored one.

It is like that today, with so many false prophets and false teachers. The message most favored in the American church these days is “prosperity, prosperity.” The false ones preach an easy message to tickle the ears, and they find many willing listeners to heap up to themselves as eager followers to their false message. (2 Tim 4:3).

In the Tribulation, though there will be catastrophic wars, destructive natural disasters, and an economy and government gone wild, the false prophesiers will be saying “peace and safety is just around the corner!” As always, there will be eager people willing to listen to the false message and who refuse the hard cure: humble repentance.

In this day, just prior to the coming Tribulation, they are saying “peace and security!” with increasing fervor. (Imagine how many people will be saying it then, and how often, if it is so frequent now!)

The verse right before the one in Jeremiah 6 where they were saying “peace, peace”, is this. I believe it to be apt today. It closes out chapter 5:

jesus, middle east, prophecy, syria, turkey

UPDATED. The Obama debate failure, and Turkey-Syria tensions climb to unbearable levels

Posted on October 4, 2012 by elizabethprata

Another mortar has fallen into Turkish territory, and Turkey is even more incensed now. Turkey is a member of NATO. NATO nations are allied by treaty and must come to each other’s defense if attacked. The Lebanon Daily Star reports this afternoon, “Israel says Syrian mortar strike was attack on NATO. Says attack on one NATO member attack on all“

—————
As reaction to the Presidential candidate debate last night, The Washington Times reports,

HURT: Obama the debater: Making Jimmy Carter look awesome
“Bewildered and lost without his teleprompter, President Obama flailed all around the debate stage last night. He was stuttering, nervous and petulant. It was like he had been called in front of the principal after goofing around for four years and blowing off all his homework.”

It is so interesting to see what the Lord has in store for us here in America through these next weeks and months (Until January’s inauguration). Which king will he set up for us? Which King will he take down? How will we give an account to Him, individually, for our decisions?

It is also interesting to see the Lord’s work in the Middle East. This past June, Syria downed a Turkish jet. Turkey was angry and with their hair-trigger, almost retaliated militarily. NATO and the UN calmed Turkey down. The Reuters article about the June incident opened this way:

“Syria shot down a Turkish warplane over the Mediterranean on Friday and Ankara warned it would respond decisively to the incident that threatened to open a new international dimension in the 16-month revolt against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Syria said the Turkish aircraft was flying low, well inside Syrian territorial waters when it was shot down. With the second biggest army in NATO, a force hardened by nearly 30 years of fighting Kurdish rebels, Turkey would be a formidable foe for the Syrian army which is already struggling to put down a 16-month-old revolt.”

Always remember that. Turkey has the 2nd largest military in NATO, after America. They are hardened from fighting Kurds in the desert and they are less and less secular as each year goes on. The country is Muslim.

Then yesterday Syria shot mortars into Turkey. The spill-over of the revolution in Syria has affected Turkish citizens along the border. Turkey had been wary these last two years of the Syrian unrest, and then became inflamed ever since the June jet incident. The Turkish Parliament and the President became incensed after the shelling crossed into Turkey this weekend, and have been consistently retaliating.

map

The BBC reports, “Turkey’s territory has been hit by fire from Syria on several occasions since the uprising against Mr Assad began, but Wednesday’s incident was the most serious…. The Turkish parliament is discussing authorising troops to cross into Syria. But government sources say Turkey is not planning to declare war on Syria. … Nato has held an urgent meeting to support Turkey, demanding “the immediate cessation of such aggressive acts against an ally”. The US, the UK and the European Union have already condemned Syria’s actions.”

In Isaiah 17 it is prophesied that Damascus is destroyed in one night, Poof, it’s done, razed to the ground and uninhabitable. The rest of Syria becomes desolate. It is interesting that the prophecy doesn’t say how Syria becomes desolate, nor who does it. It could be Israel, making sure that chemical weapons don’t get released into the hands of Hezbollah. It could be the rebels themselves, on purpose or accidentally. It could be Turkey, now that we see this new tension. We just don’t know how it happens. Some have speculated that Damascus’s demise happens via nuclear bomb, because what other weapon can raze a thriving, ancient city of 3 million so quickly and so permanently? On the other hand, maybe it will be a ‘natural’ incident, like an earthquake. With the current tension in the area ongoing, we just don’t know the details or the timing. Only the results. And that is what makes it so unbearable.

In the Gog Magog war prophesied by Ezekiel in chapters 37-38, Turkey is one of the participants which take part in a surprise attack on Israel. Other nations in the military alliance are Russia, Iran, and parts of northern Africa, including Libya, Ethiopia, and Sudan. Syria is not mentioned in that battle, nor are they mentioned in the Psalm 83 war. It is therefore thought that the prophecy about Syria’s destruction prophesied in Isaiah 17 had already come about. It is thought that something has to happen to ally these disparate nations, which are enemies now (Russia is on Syria’s side and has asked that Turkey remain neutral in this latest cross-border military incident.)

But something has to change to make these nations that are culturally and religiously opposed, come together and attack their common enemy, Israel.

In the Middle East, Turkey and Iran are the two powerhouses, each with a different flavor of Islam and each vying for top dog status in the region. Just because they are Muslim, or are neighbors, does not make them friends. They have their cultural differences, internal and external skirmishes, and ego-driven needs, too.

The region was already stressed to the max from the Arab Spring, a shift from the US to China for world’s dominating superpower, and internal unrest they have had to deal with. The tectonic plates of geo-political power have been shifting under their feet (as well as ours) and they are trying to deal with a new world order that is being formed before our eyes. That is why I say it is so interesting to see what the Lord is doing.

In the region, the trigger fingers of each President or Leader already itching. The Turkey-Syria shelling deepens the tension to a degree I feel is worth noting. If things were teetering before, this incident pushed it to crazy teetering.

The Jerusalem Post reports this morning, “Turkey strikes back at Syria, vows to protect its borders.”
“Ankara seeks parliamentary approval for foreign military operations after a mortar shell kills five in Turkish border town; NATO ambassadors meet to discuss the threat to a member state.”

Please continue to pray for our Christian friends in the affected regions. Also pray for the lost over there, who are close their eternal destiny of death and separation from Jesus forever every day. The area is going to erupt any moment, and we will see (or not see, if the rapture comes first) Isaiah 17 lived out, and Damascus destroyed. Psalm 83 lived out, and Israel victorious. Perhaps we will even see the beginning of the Gog Magog battle, should the Lord tarry.

Though times are stressful and tense, we do rejoice that the Lord is in control. It is all happening exactly as He said it would, lo those thousands of years ago!