dust storm

apocalypse, dust storm, iran, rapture, tehran

Apocalyptic dust storm suddenly engulfs Tehran

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

I am always intrigued when people term an event ‘apocalyptic’. We are all wired to acknowledge God, we’re made in His image after all, and we’re living on His creation. We all understand that there are events, and there are disasters, and then there are disastrous events that defy normal comprehension. (Joplin MO F-5 tornado, Japan 9.0 quake, Indonesian tsunami…). And yet, for all that, the Tribulation will be so far beyond that, we can’t even really manage a comprehensible envisioning of that event, really.

And yet, when an unprecedented or unexpected or especially disastrous event happens, they say it is an apocalypse.

Tehran, Iran engulfed by massive dust storm
A massive dust storm engulfed Tehran late Monday afternoon, killing up to five people and creating an apocalyptic scene in the Iranian capital. “The skies over Tehran suddenly turned black as a wall of sand hit the city from the west, my wife called me to come home ‘now’,” tweeted Thomas Erdbrink, Tehran bureau chief for the New York Times. Fars News Agency, an independent news organization in Iran, called the event “unexpected and rather unprecedented.”

The Washington Post reported the reason that the storm freaked everyone out so much:

Tehran, Iran swallowed by massive dust storm, walloped by 70 mph winds
Weather observations in Tehran show a stunning transformation in conditions as the storm struck. A 5 p.m. local time, it was 91 degrees with a moderate breeze. At 5:30 p.m., the temperature dropped to 73 degrees with a raging sustained wind at 55 mph gusting to 69 mph in a reported thunderstorm with heavy rain. By 6 p.m., the temperature was down to 66 degrees, with a sustained wind of 35 mph.

I am reminded of the bible’s warnings of the day when judgment shall come. Not that this particular storm is judgment, I don’t know that one way or another. But conditions were calm one moment, and half an hour later people thought the apocalypse was happening. When it actually happens, it will be just like that, rapid, sudden, unprecedented, and surprising.

“In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on that day all the fountains of the great deep burst forth, and the windows of the heavens were opened.” (Genesis 7:11)

Just like that, one day it had never rained, and the next, at a precise hour, all the fountains of the earth burst open.

“For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and they did not understand until the flood came and took them all away; so will the coming of the Son of Man be.” (Matthew 24:38-39)

The point is, are you ready? Jesus will render judgment one day. It will be sudden and surprising- to those who were eating and drinking and marrying and giving in marriage, that is. To those of us who pray, worship, and watch, it will not be surprising. We eagerly await the Groom, and we will be removed at a sudden second before the judgment comes again. Some who are left behind will see that sign and know that when the rapture occurs, the fountains of the deep are opening again metaphorically speaking, and they will repent. The penalty for not claiming Jesus as King during the Age of Grace is that they will live during a time of horrific judgment, and die during that period, or be martyred. Some will live to the end and populate the Millennial Kingdom, but oh, what sorrow they will endure.

Others will deny the rapture event as a sign and continue planting and building and buying and selling … but they will be destroyed.

“Likewise, just as it was in the days of Lot—they were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building, but on the day when Lot went out from Sodom, fire and sulfur rained from heaven and destroyed them all— so will it be on the day when the Son of Man is revealed.” (Luke 17:28-30).

Therefore friend, the question of this age, is Are You Ready?

——————————————-
From GotQuestions:

“How can I be ready to be caught up in the Rapture?”

It is much simpler than you may think. The short answer is that you must receive Jesus Christ as your Savior. Now for the long answer. When you ask this question, we assume that you have heard that not all Christians will be taken when the Rapture occurs. You probably have been told that only “super Christians” who are living a holy life will be raptured, and all the other Christians will have to suffer through the Tribulation. This is not true, and we will show you why this is not true from Scripture.

The first thing that you must understand is the purpose for the Tribulation. The Tribulation is a time of judgment on the earth and punishment for Israel. Please note that Israel and the Church are not the same group of people. The Church is a spiritual organism. People in the Church are related because of their spiritual birth (by being born again – John 3:3). The people of Israel (Jews) are related by blood. This is a race of people to whom God made special promises in the Old Testament. God declared a time of judgment upon Israel for their unfaithfulness. This time of judgment is clearly declared to be only for Israel (Daniel 9:24-27).

Gabriel brought a message from God to Daniel (9:20-21). Daniel 9:24 says, “Seventy weeks have been decreed for your people and your holy city, to finish the transgression, to make an end of sin, to make atonement for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most holy place.” In this message Gabriel specifies to Daniel that the time is “for your people.” Daniel’s people were Jews, the nation of Israel. God declared 70 weeks against the nation of Israel. This “70 weeks” is literally in the Hebrew “70 sevens.” In other words, 70 times 7 years, or 490 years. Of those years, 483 (69 times 7) of them were fulfilled from the end of the Israel’s captivity in Babylon to the cutting off of Messiah (the crucifixion of Christ). This leaves 7 years of judgment yet to be fulfilled. Those 7 years are the years of the Tribulation. The point is that this prophecy concerns Israel primarily, and the purpose of the judgment is “to finish the transgression, to make an end of sin, to make atonement for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most holy place.”

Now, we can also demonstrate from Scripture that Christians will not be in the Tribulation. A study of 1 Thessalonians 4:13 through 5:9 shows this. In this passage Paul writes about the Rapture and the Day of the Lord. First Thessalonians 5:9 gives Christians this promise: “God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.” Pay close attention to this verse. Paul says God has not destined us for wrath, specifically the wrath of the Day of the Lord (5:2).

Further evidence that Christians will not go through the Tribulation comes from 1 Corinthians. In that letter Paul sharply rebukes the believers for being carnal Christians. But in chapter 15, Paul writes of the Rapture, and he never indicates that any of the Corinthian believers, carnal though they were, would be left behind. True believers in Jesus Christ will not have to endure the Tribulation.

The only way you will be left behind in the Rapture is if you have not received Christ as your Savior.

————-end GotQuestions————

Jesus could call His bride home at any moment. I am looking forward to that. Words don’t do my anticipation justice. I hope to see you there.

dust storm

More on haboobs, YES they are unusually frequent this year

Posted on August 2, 2012 by elizabethprata

For the last week I’ve written about the Arizona dust storms also known as haboobs. I wrote first to search out if they were usual or unusual and second, to determine of the storms we have been getting and increasing in number or are exhibiting unusual characteristics. The answer was yes to usual but also yes to now exhibiting unusual characteristics and also they are increasing in number. Then I wrote an update, here.

I was not the only one who has noticed the dust storms getting more frequent and more severe. This article appeared today in Israel’s daily, Arutz Sheva.

Largest Dust Storms in a Century Roll Back into Dust Bowl
Massive dust storms – the largest in a century — are rolling back into America’s Dust Bowl, bringing destructive “haboobs.” According to meteorologists, the huge dust storms are becoming more frequent, forming during the monsoon season from June until the end of September. This summer’s dust storms are the worst to have hit since the massive “Dust Bowl” disaster that struck the Midwest in the 1930s. This past Monday, the state of Arizona was struck again – as it had been one year ago — with the city of Phoenix shrouded in a dust cloud 2,000 feet high and nearly 60 miles wide. Nine thousand homes were left in the dark as electricity poles and tree limbs were snapped, and Sky Harbor Airport was shut down temporarily. Since June, five such dust storms have rolled into the state’s valley area. [Ed. note- one occurred in May of this year, making the total 6]. Phoenix was hit by three dust storms in a row in the past seven days – a very rare phenomenon, meteorologists said, and one that could be fatal for area residents…” [Emphasis mine.]

So if you were wondering, it’s God is calling, will you pick up the phone?

dust storm

Another Haboob/Arizona dust storm: 6th this year

Posted on July 30, 2012May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

A few days ago there was a monster dust storm in Arizona. Every time this happens, people post photos and remark on the apocalyptic-looking nature of the storm. The are impressive to be sure.

So I got curious as to how normal or abnormal these storms are. I wrote about it here, and offered the reader quantifiable data with links. The result of my inquiry was that these dust storms are normal. The geographic layout of the area relative to the jet stream and temps on the ground produce them as a normal course of summer storm- to a limit.

What else I discovered was that the haboobs as they are known in Arabic are that they usually produce little damage, last a short time, don’t reach incredible heights of altitude, and are numbered in the average range of two to three per season. I repeat, the usual number of them in a summer season (June-Sept) is 2 to 3.

2012 has already produced six. May 9, June 26, June 27, and July 21, July 23, and July 30

In addition, the first storm fell outside the average season (May), several of them have produced lots of damage, and one reached altitudes that are not usual for these storms. That, my friends, is NOT normal.

So when you read about yet another dust storm in Arizona and you hear the meteorologists saying “Aw, nothing to see here, they’re normal,’ now you have the rest of the secular story.

What is the spiritual story? God uses drought when a people have turned their backs on Him. Plain and simple. Let’s look at the bible.

“When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command the locust to devour the land, or send pestilence among my people, if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.” (2 Chronicles 7:13-14).

God is telling us a few things here. First, He controls the heavens and allows or disallows rain. Second, When God shuts up heaven and prevents rain it is because they have turned their faces away from Him. Third, He makes a promise, if they repent and turn their faces toward Him, He will re-open heaven. What a blessing! God is holy- He hates sin. God is kind, He is warning us (the US, and other places with drought, like Australia).

People will say that we cannot make a correlation between a dust storm in Arizona and the fact that God is unhappy with an entire nation of people. If it was one storm, once, you would be right. However the body of evidence tells us something different when comparing with the bible. By this stage of the Church Age, looking at the numbers of storms, the other locations experiencing the droughts and storms, the Chick-fil-A flap, the demonic symbolism at the opening of the Olympics, the refusal to state that Jerusalem is the Capital of Israel, the rising anti-semitism, violence, and homosexuality, plus the totality of blasphemy against God in this world, we can most definitely say, it is GOD. How can a person say it is not God?

Will we heed the warnings? REPENT!

Source

bible jesus, dust storm, end time, prophecy

Massive Dust Storm hits Lubbock

Posted on October 17, 2011 by elizabethprata

Texas has been enduring a terrible drought. “With drought, Texas can expect more dust storms,” “Despite recent rains, the Texas drought lingers — and experts say the number of irritating and dangerous dust storms could increase across the state, especially in West Texas and the Panhandle.

The story was in the Westtexas.com media outlet, on Sunday. Unfortunately that prediction did not take too long to come true. Tonight a massive storm rolled through Lubbock, blotting out the sky and sparking lots of “WTF?!” comments on twitter.

Posted by Tom Fornelli – “That photo above is not doctored in any way, and was taken by Texas Tech’s associate director/athletics communications for football Scott Lacefield. It’s of a giant dust storm that has hit Lubbock, Texas and is literally blocking out the sky. This really doesn’t have an effect on the Texas Tech football team, as the Red Raiders play in Oklahoma this weekend, but I figured the picture is just so amazing I had to share it here with the rest of you.”

Above from From Twitter @JuliaCopeland

ABC News says ‘Cold front responsible for bad dust storm in Lubbock’. Pastor John Wagner writes on twitter, “Strongest dust storm in 70 years – 51mph sustained winds & 75mph gusts! Complete darkness at 5:45pm.”

Massive, blinding dust storms have plagued Lubbock’s past

“People could see the menacing clouds methodically moving toward town. It wouldn’t be long before darkness settled in, and it was still the middle of the day. Tornado? Not this time. It was another weather phenomenon all too familiar to West Texans: the dust storm. “They were awful,” said Alta Cates, who moved to Lubbock from rural Scurry County in 1938. “They would come rolling in, and in some rare cases, the dust in the air was so thick you couldn’t see your radiator cap.” While today’s South Plains residents weather occasional dusty days, severe droughts and less sophisticated agricultural techniques were the primary reasons for numerous howling dust storms that occurred throughout the 1930s and into the early 1950s.”

Apparently the storms are back, even with today’s advanced agricultural technology. As the end time storms progress, they will be getting larger and larger. When the Tribulation occurs, the storms will be incomprehensibly large, with people in shock at being unable to understand the proportions and the scope of the devastation.

Fortunately, remember that Jesus is always larger than any storm, either the one you’re having inside yourself or the one you’re enduring in life or in nature. He will save you instantly if you repent. You might still have to go through a dust storm, but you’ll be calm knowing that no matter what, Jesus is with you always, even to the end of the age. (Mt 28:20).

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