Category: end of days. prophecy

Posted in end of days. prophecy, end time, famine, forgiveness, love, revelation

Looking at famine

Posted on by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

I wrote about famine as a judgment from God recently. It is truly saddening to see these things happening because although I glory in His promises coming true it also means suffering and death for many. And death for the unsaved means an eternity away from God, in hell. In that essay I quoted a news article that said, “The striking images of the landscape seem to represent a deceptively simple assessment of the drought: the dirty work of Mother Nature.”

It is the LORD who sends the rain in preparation for the crops. (Psalms 147:8). It is the LORD who sends it to the obedient. (Leviticus 26:4). He appoints seasons in His own authority. (Acts 1:7). “Nevertheless He did not leave Himself without witness, in that He did good, gave us rain from heaven and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness.” (Acts 14:17) He sends the crops, the seasons and the weather for our benefit, to His glory. He can, and will reverse the process when we fail to thank Him and refuse to acknowledge His authority. That is the spiritual fact.

On a practical level, famine is both biological and social. It occurs to a person individually while it is also happening to all others around the sufferer. And unlike pestilence, where sick people are quarantined, privately sequestered, or are too insentient to socially connect, famine leaves the individual able to share in it with others.

“When starvation becomes a mass experience, the phenomenon is no longer purely biological.” (Robert Dirks, Academia.edu).

Famine is sneaky because the population has no clue that this crop failure will lead to a continual shortage, or that this lack of monsoon rains will lead to a permanent drying-out. It is only after successive storms or failures or absence of expected weather that it become apparent that food will not be coming. By then malnourishment or early stages of starvation may have already set in.

The biological consequences of famine begin with scarcity, move to malnourishment, elevate to starvation, and finish with famine. Starvation happens when the energy demands of the biological unit exceed supply. Technically, starvation begins 4-6 hours after the last meal, when the body has broken down all that will be or is able to be used, and no new food is forthcoming. However since a person living in a healthy culture will then consume more within a reasonable time period after the last meal, the negative effects are not really felt.

After a day or so, though, dehydration, hypoglycemia, and ketosis begin. After 24 hours, there are impacts to the tissues as loss outpaces fat. As starvation continues, exhaustion sets in and there is decreased tolerance for work. People move more slowly and adopt an energy saving posture. “In mobilizing its reserves, the body progressively selects fat over muscle as fuel, allowing life to be sustained for one to three months in acute starvation.” (Dirks).

Things go rapidly downhill from there, with all sorts of nasty things happen to the individual’s biology. And that’s just starvation, not famine. But you can see, it happens quickly. Though drought and famine take a long time to set up, when it hits, the body, mind, and soul shrivel pretty quickly.

I wrote above that in the first few sentences mother nature was blamed, and in addition, war also precipitates famine. War does have a devastating connection with famine. In Revelation 6, first there is war, then there is scarcity, then there is death. Those are Seal Judgments two, three, and four. In history, famine has almost always followed war. As the Red Cross says in discussing humanitarian aid, “the fact must be faced that food aid alone will never eliminate famines nor the suffering they cause. It still falls short of meeting the victims’ needs and appears essentially inadequate to solve their problems.” That’s because there are complex reasons for it that also include war, conflict, and strife.

Famine is destructive to those societies where malnourishment is always present, and soon after initial starvation sets in, financial ruin and disease take over. For some societies, they may at first adapt to conditions that in many cases don’t affect them. There is such a thing as “class famine.” We see in Revelation 6:6 that millions starve, unable to afford more than a loaf of bread even though they worked all day, while in Revelation 18:13 we see that all the while, a hefty trade in food luxuries had been ongoing. (“and cinnamon and incense, fragrant oil and frankincense, wine and oil, fine flour and wheat, cattle and sheep…”) There are the very rich and the very poor, and you can bet the very rich will not be affected by famine. The Tribulation’s predicted scarcities will be characterized by class famine.

When famine conditions deepen, the ‘Law of Diversification and Polarization’ comes into play. As Dirks quoted Sorokin, “simply put, this means that catastrophe brings out the best and the worst in people. It exaggerates what is already there.”

Sociological studies show that at first, people share when disaster strikes. As the disaster continues, and/or as supplies run short, sharing ceases. Starvation’s biological effects are that people become exhausted and irritable. Volatile situations erupt. Populations tend to migrate, looking for better conditions. The 1901 Indian Famine Commission called it “unusual wandering.” When adding to that the prophecy that love grows cold (Matthew 24:12), people are unthankful, (2 Timothy 3:2-4) and their thoughts are only evil continuously, (Matthew 24:37, Genesis 6:5) then you can see that violence will soon become the norm just at the time when people are physiologically least able to handle it.

So let me sum up the ivory tower talk: famines have always occurred and will continue to occur, followed by the worst brought out in people who are marauding hither and yon, looking for anything they can steal so they can stay alive. Violence breaks out and a true Darwinian human ‘survival of the fittest’ is played out in front of atheists everywhere, with the starving exhausted falling where they lay in irritable convulsions, dying by degrees while no neighbor cares.

Oh, but Jesus cares. His famines may be one of His sore judgments, yes, but it is to alert rebellious people that He is still in control and He is still holy. His control includes an eternal and infinite love for all His children. He wants you to turn from your carnal thoughts and lifting up of Mother Nature and replace those with perfect thoughts and spiritual infinity in His love. As long as you have not rejected him and slammed the door shut, you can enter the door to heaven by repenting of sins. He is the door and he stands ready to allow all who would believe to enter. (John 10:9)

“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened to you (Matthew 7:7) What is beyond that door? Certainly not war or famine or exhaustion or violence. See what is there:

The Gospel is exclusive: Jesus is the only way. The Gospel is inclusive: any person can accept Jesus as their savior and forgiver of sins. I hope you enter in to His rest, escaping all the Tribulation things and choosing to partake of the Eternal things. What it takes is a prayer to Jesus that you know and understand you’re a sinner, unworthy to enter His realm, and ask Him to forgive those sins. Since He is sinless and died as the sacrifice for your sins, your debt is paid. But you have to ask. Do it soon, my beloved friend. Soon.

Posted in end of days. prophecy, end time, Obama

Obama reaches out to Muslim Brotherhood and lists Israel as terror sponsor

Posted on by elizabethprata

This week two events occurred that had sweeping and colossal prophetic implications, and both were at the direction of Obama.

Obama listed Israel as a terror-sponsoring nation.
“The Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency (ICE) maintains a list of ‘specially designated countries’ (SDCs) that “have shown a tendency to promote, produce or protect terrorist organizations or their members.” The folks from these nations get special scrutiny when they enter the U.S.”

Some nations on the list are Afghanistan, Oman, Iran, Somalia, etc. Now Israel is listed alongside these nations as “Specially Designated Countries” that according to the definition, “promote, produce, or protect” terrorists, at least, according to Obama. “They managed to list the world’s biggest victim alongside the globe’s leading perpetrators of terrorism. Israelis coming into America get the same high level of scrutiny that Iranians do!” wrote Dick Morris.

The other piece of news is that Obama is to resume formal Muslim Brotherhood contacts.
“The United States has decided to resume formal contacts with the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, a senior U.S. official said on Wednesday, in a step that reflects the Islamist group’s growing political weight but that is almost certain to upset Israel and its U.S. backers.”

It is going to upset Israel and its backers because the Muslim Brotherhood has sworn to obliterate America and Israel. Am I exaggerating? No. Frank Gaffney, Jr, a columnist at theWashington Times and founder of the American Center for Security Policy wrote this week that it is a tipping point.

The Tipping Point: Embracing the Muslim Brotherhood
“The Obama administration chose the eve of the holiday marking our Nation’s birth to acknowledge publicly behavior in which it has long been stealthily engaged to the United States’ extreme detriment: Its officials now admit that they are embracing the Muslim Brotherhood (MB or Ikhwan in Arabic). That would be the same international Islamist organization that has the destruction of the United States, Israel and all other parts of the Free World as its explicit objective.”

The article continues, “To understand why the Obama administration’s embrace of the Muslim Brotherhood is so ominous, consider three insights into the organization’s nature and ambitions:
First, here’s the MB’s creed: “Allah is our objective. The Prophet is our leader. The Qur’an is our law. Jihad is our way. Dying in the way of Allah is our highest hope.”

“Second, here’s the Ikwhan’s mission in America: “A kind of grand jihad in eliminating and destroying the Western civilization from within, sabotaging its miserable house with their [i.e., Americans’] hands and the hands of the believers so that it is eliminated and God’s religion is made victorious over all other religions. … In short, the Muslim Brotherhood is deadly serious about waging what it calls “civilization jihad” against the United States and other freedom-loving nations.” Read the whole article, it’s good. You can also read the sources for the Muslim Brotherhood’s aims and goals there.

So it would seem that the jihad from within has begun. Some might claim that it began on January 20, 2008, Obama’s inauguration day. Between the economic destruction he has wrought, tripling the debt from 500 billion to 1.5 trillion, and the political damage he brings in inviting the camel’s nose under the tent, we seem to be an a clear downward path of obliteration.

He is America’s enemy, but he is not the enemy. That would be satan. From a spiritual perspective, Obama emanated enough spiritual creepiness, that even in pre-crash and pre-prophecy aware 2007 USA, thousands were convinced he was the antichrist. He still gives off such a spiritual amorphousness that millions are convinced he’s a Muslim waiting to become Caliphate. He exudes enough sinister perverseness that just thinking about him leading the world though the UN makes us fall on our faces in prayer for it NOT to happen.

Now, we all know that we cannot comprehend Jesus’ glory, His holiness, nor the depths of His love. We know it exists, but we are told in the bible that we can’t comprehend it (Isaiah 55:8; Ephesians 3:19; 1 Corinthians 13:12). It’s a joy to try! It’s a joy to know He loves us so much the depth of it passes our understanding! So does His holiness. Every Prophet and every disciple who saw His glory in visions fell flat on their faces. Isaiah cried, I am undone!’ meaning he was completely destroyed just seeing how great the holy God is and how puny we are.

But similarly as we do not understand the depth of His love and the greatness of His holiness, we can’t understand satan’s evil. We know it exists. We know it is bad. But the depths of it remain unexplored in the recess of our mind because we truly can’t comprehend it. We see the news compound and intensify in evilness in anxiety-producing quantities each week and we say, “That’s the worst!” But then along comes a worse worst.

In Obama’s actions we sense a ‘drawing-in’ of the collective evil. We shudder. We say, “Thank the Lord we won’t be here!” But just think of the people who will face the deepest evil the world has ever known: the antichrist. It will be worse than the flood, when all the world was corrupt and the thoughts of man were continuous evil. (Genesis 6:5). It will be worse than the flood when every man, woman, child, and animal on the entire face of the earth was drowned and God was sorry He made us.

How do I know the upcoming time will be worse than that? Jesus told us: “For then there will be a great tribulation, such as has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever will.” (Matthew 24:21).

If you are glad you won’t be here to watch more dastardly shenanigans from Obama, imagine how relieved you will be to escape the antichrist! But what of those left behind to deal with an evil so deep and pervasive Jesus has to cut short the days just to ensure some remnant survives? Be strong, witness in love and humility, and be unafraid of rejection! You will be rejected. But be unafraid, because it is Jesus you answer to, not some lost angry person.

If you do witness and are heckled or persecuted for it, do not reply. Because really, there is nothing you can say or do that will be worse than what the poor, unsaved person will be facing for eternity. Nothing.Is. Worse. Than. Hell. There is no witty comeback, no red anger, no insult flung at a heckling mocker that’s worse than what they will see and endure shortly. So be quiet in the face of hatred and move on. Knowing this has helped me still my mouth and quiet my typing fingers when people say or do things against me in because I spoke up for Jesus.

Obama is bad. He gives me the creeps. He makes a lot of people’s spiritual hackles raise up. And worse is coming. By His grace we are saved from it. By His grace those you speak to in delivering a witnessing seed may be saved from it too! Share in confidence, trusting the Holy Spirit’s direction!
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Posted in bible, diane sawyer, end of days. prophecy, end time, joplin, men fainting in terror

Cowering under His power: prophesied astonishment and terror appearing on the scene

Posted on by elizabethprata

I look at language in the bible and look deeply into the meanings and I’m struck with how plainly it tells us what the Tribulation is going to be like. And then I look around at people who report current news and I see the same kind of stunned silence. It’s starting.

In Matthew 12:33 it says, “And when the multitude heard this they were astonished at his doctrine.” Look up the word astonished in the New Testament as it relates to what Jesus said and what He did, and you will see how much they were astonished. It doesn’t mean just that the people were dazzled or amazed, briefly tickled and then went their way. The Greek word means “strike out of one’s senses” , i.e. with the outcome of being utterly amazed (dumbfounded) or left “at a loss” from witnessing the incredible (causing the viewer to gape in astonishment).” Strong’s Numbers. In other words, just listening to Jesus preach or witnessing Him do miracles caused them to go outside their senses and be struck dumb, unable to cognitively cope with what they were hearing or seeing.

This is a link to a page showing how many times people were “astonished” (ekplesso) at Jesus and His preaching, and in Matthew 19:25, they were not just astonished, but greatly and exceedingly astonished. If you’re already out of your senses after hearing Jesus how much more can you get out of our senses? How much more at a loss can you be? It is superlative atop superlative.

We know from the reaction of every prophet or Apostle taken to heaven to view the proceedings, that their reaction was to fall on their face. Isaiah, John, Ezekiel, Paul, and the others fell dead in a faint. Isaiah shouted “O I am undone!” (Isaiah 6:5). The word undone means utterly destroyed, completely unraveled. Not many people have had the privilege of seeing heaven in a vision while in unglorified body, but we can see the reaction of those and of the people who witnessed Jesus even as a man, that the reaction is to cower under that power. All the people seeing Jesus immediately recognized His great power and authority. They had different reactions to it, with the Pharisees choosing not to accept it, and many believers turning away. But they were all “astonished,” gaping, after witnessing the incredible.

We read in the bible that in the Tribulation men will cower upon seeing incredible power. They will be astonished, equally unable to cope with the incredible, their puny brains unable to take it all in. God’s might is astonishing;

“And great earthquakes shall be in divers places and famines and pestilences and fearful sights and great signs shall there be from heaven.” (Luke 21:11). That ‘fearful sight’, in Greek is phóbētron – a fearful sight, emphasizing its terrifying impact on people trying to withdraw or flee from it. It is used only in Lk 21:11. So from the Age of Grace we move to the Tribulation. We go from the astonishing, amazing enough to knock you back on your senses, to the terrifying, so much so that they try to flee.

In Luke 21:26 we read, “Men’s hearts failing them for fear and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth for the powers of heaven shall be shaken…” (Luke 21:26). That word fear is a panic flight, terror. The word is most often used to indicate negatively withdrawing from the Lord (His will). Men will see what is happening and they will have massive heart attacks on the spot. Their bodies are unable to absorb the shock of seeing such power.

That fear, astonishment, and panic is beginning. You see it in Journalists. Reporters are at the forefront. The are at the front lines of witnessing terrors coming upon the earth, which will worsen in the Tribulation. They have to absorb and internalize what has happened, make sense of it, and then report comprehensibly to you and me. At some point the ability to absorb the scope of what is happening will outstrip cognition, as it did those disciples and prophets and followers who witnessed Jesus’ power. Here are two examples:

Weather Channel’s Mike Bettes was the first to arrive on scene in tornado devastated Joplin, MO. Surveying the scene around him, he was overcome with emotion. Though reporters are supposed to appear unengaged and unaffected, reporting the news unemotionally, I was touched by his obvious pain in witnessing the scene. It is the only humane response to what he was seeing. And just what was he witnessing? The power of God. I dare to say that the word ekplesso can be applied here. One is “struck out of one’s senses”, i.e. with the outcome of being utterly dumbfounded or left “at a loss” from witnessing the incredible.”

Also reporting a little while later from Joplin was Diane Sawyer. She is under a tent and rain is pounding on the canvas. Thunder booms above them, and briefly she and the crew debate whether it is even safe to be there. There is no power, the printer had stopped working, and ongoing the technical difficulties of reaching the NY office from a destruction zone are apparent. At one point Sawyer- seeing that she’s going live in moments, and despairing of ever getting paper copy- begs for a Blackberry at least. With time ticking away, Sawyer says repeatedly, “I have nothing.” The crew to me seems unorganized, dumbstruck, and fearful. Others have said that Sawyer looks “anxious, tentative, and confounded” but I think Sawyer looks composed. She refers to the area as a moonscape. Certainly the area outside the tent is a pile of unrecognizable rubble. Truly, how does one report on a massively emotional story in a few moments of air time? How do stories like this affect a person emotionally? One does absorb the tragedy no matter how one tries to filter it. A journalist IS the filter. The Joplin tornado news story is one that is on the edge of ability for humans to report it emotionally, technologically, humanely.

If you read Matthew 24 or Revelation, you know that the severity of natural disasters will ramp up considerably until absolutely nothing is left. Even the mountains crumble. We rely on people to report these disasters and we rely on technology to carry the pixels and the voices back to us. The impossibilities of continuing to be able to do that on an organized basis are rapidly coming to a close.
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Posted in bible jesus, end of days. prophecy, end times, lightning

18 Children killed in lightning strike

Posted on by elizabethprata

Lightning kills 18 kids at primary school
“A LIGHTNING strike at a primary school in western Uganda has killed 18 students and injured 50. Lightning hit Runyanya primary school in Kiryandongo district, about 225km northwest of Kampala, killing 15 girls and three boys yesterday, police spokeswoman Judith Nabakooba said. “The injured were taken to hospital nearby and 15 of those who were seriously injured were transferred to Mulago hospital,” in Kampala, Nabakooba said. Local media reported that a further 21 pupils were burned after lightning struck at a second school in Zombo district, about 380km north of Kampala. Police could not confirm the incident. Nabakooba could not provide an exact figure for the total number killed by lightning in recent weeks, but local newspaper The Daily Monitor reported a total of 28 killed and scores injured in the past week, including Tuesday’s incidents. Uganda is experiencing unseasonably heavy rainstorms and concern about the number of recent lightning strikes has prompted lawmakers to demand an official explanation from government.”

In this article, though it is stated that lightning strikes are common in that locality, the fact that so many had occurred at once shook the town leaders:

“The lightning hit the victims in a classroom at a school in Kiryandongo, 130 miles north of Kampala, police said. Another 38 children were admitted to hospital. The East African country has suffered a wave of fatal lightning strikes in recent weeks during unseasonably heavy rains. The deaths were debated in parliament on Monday, with MPs calling on the government to come up with strategy to deal with what several termed “a crisis”. “I don’t know which minister is in charge of the lightning but let the government come up with a statement to inform the country on what is going on and how we can manage it,” Speaker Rebecca Kadaga said. Local meteorologists have criticized the government for not providing enough lightning conductors for buildings in storm hotspots. “The 19 were killed in single lightning strike on Monday,” a police spokesman said. “They were ready to leave school but there was a heavy downpour and so they sheltered in the classroom and then, all of a sudden, it struck.”

In early June, a lightning strike at Camp Shelby in Mississippi sent 77 cadets to the hospital. Lightning has been busy lately. Similar lightning strikes have occurred in Northern Nigeria, also. “15 killed by Nigeria lightning“

I was heartbroken to read that it was children who were killed, and shocked to see that they had been inside a structure. However, I was not surprised to see the reaction of man, that a ‘natural’ event had to be managed or even could be managed.

In The Language of God series, I wrote about lightning. You can read that essay here, with scriptures and my interpretation of what lightning strikes may mean. Meanwhile, we can also pray for the families of the little ones taken from earth. I can’t imagine the horror and sorrow of the families who learned that eighteen of their children had been killed. In the US, 18 children comprise an entire classroom. Imagine what the headlines would be if a bus filled with children slid off a bridge, killing the kids on board! Or if there had been a fire, or a shooting, or similar tragedy where so many children had lost their loves! It is terrible.

But worse is the response of man. To make statements that lightning must be managed, to refer to man’s strength instead of Jesus’ mercy, is a worse state of mind and heart. We know that soon, after the rapture, the ‘natural’ events will not be able to be explained. Until then, brothers and sisters, remain strong and sure of His calling and election in your life, and witness through that strength. Peace and calm He gave to us and in addition, He gave us the Spirit, salvation, and an eternal blessing to dwell with Him. I look to and through and beyond the events like the Ugandan lightning strike, to His hands who holds the lightning bolts, and count my blessing He calls us friend.
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Posted in end of days. prophecy, gay, homosexuality, sodom

Why ‘gay pride’ is an oxymoron

Posted on by elizabethprata

I’ve written many times about how language alters perception. How we say words, and the frequency with which we say them, penetrates the brain and footholds are begun. From footholds, we get strongholds. Satan knows this and from the first to the last, he attempts to get us to change meaning. Hell isn’t eternal torment… Wrath isn’t really wrath… ‘Did God really say’?

In 1969 there was “a series of spontaneous, violent demonstrations against a police raid that took place in the early morning hours of June 28, 1969, at the Stonewall Inn, in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of New York City. They are frequently cited as the first instance in American history when people in the homosexual community fought back against a government-sponsored system that persecuted sexual minorities, and they have become the defining event that marked the start of the gay rights movement in the United States and around the world.” (Wikipedia). The homosexual community itself marks Stonewall as their watershed moment when homosexual issue burst upon the cultural scene with force and violence. In other words, the gay agenda was launched.

One of those bullet listed items was to remove the word homosexual and to use the word gay instead. Though the term ‘gay’ had been in intermittent use, by the mid twentieth century it had come to be synonymous with homosexual and was considered less pejorative than ‘queer.’ By the end of the twentieth century various academic disciplines, medicine, journalism, the law, government, business, and industry were regularly including it as standard in their style guides. Once the word fell into common written use for standard disciplines, its verbal ubiquitousness was only a matter of time. The 1960s was the threshold for this word shift, and the Stonewall riots accompanied the bursting-in. Gay was in and homosexual was out.

Gay is so friendly sounding, Homosexual is so…clinical. Queer evokes oddness, but gay is so average, typical, and thus, is non-threatening.

We’re all familiar with the rest of the gay agenda. Even the language around the definition of ‘gay agenda’ is under contention. Liberals say that the gays advocate for rights, while conservatives say that the homosexuals militantly force a minority point of view on the larger society. Add to this linguistic battle, the iteration from deviant homosexuality to gay pride.

Gay pride is an oxymoron. Homosexuality is a sin. To march in parades under the gay pride banner is an open display of rebellion against culture, against morality and most importantly, against God that is so deep that the people doing it have no clue of the eternal destiny that awaits. Trumpeting pride in your sin is egregious and horrifying. It would be the same as if people organized for a parade and marched under banners shouting “Adulterers Awake!” or “Greed is good!” There is no pride in sin, any sin. But to be so militant about one’s homosexuality that you go through the streets unashamed, trumpeting carnal desires to one and all, is exactly the scene immediately prior to Sodom’s judgment.

Let’s take a look at that scene in Genesis 19:1-11:

Now the two angels came to Sodom in the evening, and Lot was sitting in the gate of Sodom. When Lot saw them, he rose to meet them, and he bowed himself with his face toward the ground. And he said, “Here now, my lords, please turn in to your servant’s house and spend the night, and wash your feet; then you may rise early and go on your way.”

And they said, “No, but we will spend the night in the open square.” But he insisted strongly; so they turned in to him and entered his house. Then he made them a feast, and baked unleavened bread, and they ate.

Now before they lay down, the men of the city, the men of Sodom, both old and young, all the people from every quarter, surrounded the house.  And they called to Lot and said to him, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us that we may know them carnally.”

Source

So Lot went out to them through the doorway, shut the door behind him, and said, “Please, my brethren, do not do so wickedly!  See now, I have two daughters who have not known a man; please, let me bring them out to you, and you may do to them as you wish; only do nothing to these men, since this is the reason they have come under the shadow of my roof.”

And they said, “Stand back!” Then they said, “This one came in to stay here, and he keeps acting as a judge; now we will deal worse with you than with them.” So they pressed hard against the man Lot, and came near to break down the door.  But the men reached out their hands and pulled Lot into the house with them, and shut the door.  And they struck the men who were at the doorway of the house with blindness, both small and great, so that they became weary trying to find the door.

Illustration from Figures de la Bible (1728)

Did you get all that? The Sodomites were attacking Lot’s house to get what was inside, to them, delectable new meat. This is no different than the animalistic rage a rabid dog goes into. They were predators, hunting prey. Then Lot tried to reason with them, and they would not listen. Not only would they not listen, they were further infuriated at Lot and hated worse that Lot was acting “as a judge”. Their reprobate mind was so complete that the mere mention of reason enraged them further and violent promises were made.

Now this last part really overwhelms me. The angels struck the men with blindness. Being supernaturally struck with blindness did not stop them for one moment. They knew it had to have been an angel, for so many been were struck at one time and instantly. Despite the nearness of God in their presence, and despite being blind, they kept trying to get through the door. “They wearied of trying to find it.” This means the perverted mob continued trying to find the handle to break in the door and got tired because of the futility of the endeavor and not because of the sinfulness of it! They did not stop because they realized they were being impolite. They did not stop because they realized it was wrong to attack a man and his property. They did not stop even when they were struck blind. (which of course is a spiritual metaphor for them being so deep in their sin that they could not find Jesus, the door). They stopped because they got tired.

So Gay pride. The definition of pride is “a feeling of self-respect and personal worth; satisfaction with your achievements.” Thousands of homosexuals march openly shouting of their satisfaction and feeling of personal self-worth in their sin.

Isaiah 5:20 speaks of this: “Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; Who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness; Who substitute bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!” Isaiah is telling us that at some points in culture, sin is so deeply embedded in the psyche they call sin good and sin-haters evil! It’s all reversed. Like “gay pride.”

Homosexuality is a sin. There is no pride in that, only shame. There is shame in all sin, and the glory of His grace is that He forgives it. But to dwell in sin so deeply that you are openly proud and actively recruiting for the culture around you to accept it , revel in it, and uplift is, in my opinion means we have come to that exact moment in Genesis. You all remember what happened the next morning God judged the city.

But there is hope! Jesus paid the debt for all sins, for all time!! He loves each and every person. Look at the verses here:

“Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites,  nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.” (1 Corinthians 6:9-11)

It is true that no sinner inherits heaven. It is also true that any sinner can be washed! Any sinner can be sanctified! Any sinner can be justified! Paul says that some of the very people he is writing to were once sinning in the ways he describes, including homosexuality. But Jesus is bigger than all that. He forgives because He loves. It doesn’t mean a person never sins again after being forgiven, but a close walk with the Holy Spirit means that He helps and as you grow, it becomes less of a battle to resist the temptation.

There is no such thing as “gay pride.” There is only sinner’s shame, Jesus, grace, and forgiven sinner’s gratitude. Be part of the gratitude, showing pride in HIS achievements!
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Posted in end of days. prophecy, end time, jesus, twelve tribes

One ‘lost’ tribe coming home to Israel? The twelve tribes of Israel in prophecy

Posted on by elizabethprata

A very interesting story out of The Jerusalem Post:

“Thousands of kilometers to the east, in the furthest reaches of northeastern India, a long-lost community continues to nourish its age-old dream of returning to its ancient homeland, the land of Israel. The Bnei Menashe, or “sons of Manasseh,” are descendants of one of the 10 lost tribes of Israel, which were exiled by the Assyrian empire more than 27 centuries ago. The community, which numbers 7,232 people, resides primarily in the Indian states of Mizoram and Manipur, along the border with Burma and Bangladesh. Despite generations of wandering, the Bnei Menashe never forgot who they were, where they had come from, or where they aspired to return. Three times a day, every day, they turn in silent prayer toward Jerusalem, pleading with the Creator to put an end to their long exile and bring them home to Zion. That dream is now poised, at last, to become a reality.” [Below, I created a map to show where Manasseh resides now and how far that is from Israel]

“This past Monday, an extraordinary meeting of the Ministerial Committee on Immigration and Absorption took place in the Prime Minister’s Office. At the top of the agenda was the issue of the Bnei Menashe. … As Chairman of Shavei Israel, an organization that has been assisting the community for over a decade, I had lobbied intensively for much of the past year for the committee to address the issue. … And rest assured, I told the ministers, the Bnei Menashe are our lost brethren. In March 2005, Sephardic Chief Rabbi Shlomo Amar recognized them as Zera Yisrael, or the “seed of Israel,” and said they should be brought to the Jewish state.”

“So I turned to the members of the committee and made a simple yet forceful plea: It is time for Israel to let the remaining Bnei Menashe come home.”

“And then a miracle took place. After deliberating the matter, the ministerial committee, headed by Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, formally decided to draft a government resolution and bring it to the cabinet for approval no later than the end of July. The resolution will permit all the remaining Bnei Menashe in India to make aliya, and will finally bring an end to their years of waiting and uncertainty. Both the foreign minister and Absorption Minister Sofa Landver said they were behind the measure. This means we are just one month away from an historic turning point, one that will restore 7,232 precious souls to the Jewish people. … Soon enough, I am sure, the Bnei Menashe will cross the sea, reuniting with the Land and people of Israel after a remarkable journey. Just as the prophets foretold, Manasseh’s children are at last coming back. And all one can say is: Thank God.”

So when in 2005 Shlomo Amar, Sephardi Chief Rabbi of Israel, announced that he regarded the Bnei Menashe’s claim of tribal inclusion to be true, under the Law of Return this allows them to migrate to Israel, as long as they formally convert to Judaism in accordance with halachic standards. This is what the author of the Opinion piece above was explaining.

It is a miracle, hands down, that all the tribes and the People, including the Bnei Menashe, never assimilated, never acculturated, but maintained a distinct identity apart from their surroundings. That has never happened to any people or culture in history, ever. The study of the twelve tribes is an interesting one, however there are no clear answers as to which of the tribes will end up being considered a ‘real’ tribe in the Millennium Kingdom. We do have a list in Revelation 7:5-8 of which tribes receive the blessing of being chosen to participate in the sealing of the 144,000 in the Tribulation. (12,000 from each tribe). God certainly knows His remnant and under His sovereignty He chooses the tribes. Here is the Jewish Virtual Library’s list of the twelve tribes if you care to see a list and explanation of the characteristics of each tribe.

I do think that it is highly interesting that several years ago Ehud Olmert (Israel Prime Minister) stopped the Bnei Menashe’s aliya (return) and now the Powers That Be seem open to it. Just the fact that one of the Tribes of Israel is in the news is prophetically interesting. Praise the Lord for His works and wonders!

The above chart’s information was gotten from GotQuestions.org, here and I put it into chart form. Additionally, the piece explains: “Some Bible teachers understand Dan being left off the list in Revelation 7 because of what is said in Genesis 49:17, “Dan will be a serpent by the roadside, a viper along the path, that bites the horse’s heels so that its rider tumbles backward.”

The Levites are not mentioned in some lists perhaps because they never went to war and they never were given land, rather, they were assigned to service in the Temple. So maybe they are considered more of a priestly caste than a Tribe. (Joshua 14:3).
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Posted in bible, end of days. prophecy

Eve’s sin: lust. A very special kind of lust (part 1)

Posted on by elizabethprata

Eve is in a perfect garden having a perfect marriage. We know it was perfect because everything before the Fall (when sin was introduced into the world) was perfect (Gen 1:31). She had a perfect husband (Gen 2:18; 20b). Adam had dominion over all the animals. (Gen 2:19) There was no confusion of gender roles. (Eph 5:25). She had a perfect body image. (Gen 2:25). She was spiritually perfect and walked with God in the cool of the day. (Gen 3:8). All was well.

Now Lucifer the fallen angel came to Eve, that old serpent, who is the devil- so Revelation 20:2 reminds us of his names. Satan means adversary and devil means blasphemer. That old serpent who is the fallen angel Lucifer came to Eve and talked with her. His first recorded words are “Hath God really said…?” (Gen 3:1). They had a conversation. Then…

“And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food and that it was pleasant to the eyes and a tree to be desired to make one wise she took of the fruit thereof and did eat and gave also unto her husband with her and he did eat.” (Gen 3:6)

OH, NO!! And people usually stop there in the study of this eternal take-back moment. But let’s go a little deeper.

‘And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food…’ Saw means discern, behold or make to enjoy. (More on this in part 2.) Well, they weren’t starving, were they? Presumably they had had food before this, all that they wanted from all over the garden. Why was she seeing THIS tree as good for food all of a sudden?

“…and that it was pleasant to the eyes”. This is the second time we see the verse mention ‘eyes’. (She saw…pleasant to the eyes.” The word for pleasant is usually translated desire, but it really means “exceedingly, greedily, lusting.” Wait, all of a sudden Eve is reduced to an exceedingly lusty state of greediness, panting after…fruit? More on how in part 2.

The word for pleasant in verse 3 is ‘avah’, or ‘taavah’. There is a parallel event in the bible that talks about lust of this kind. The parallel is named Kibroth-Hattaavah, alternately spelled, Qibrowth hat-Ta’avah. It translates to “the graves of lust.” The graves of lust, one of the encampments of Israel in the wilderness, where they desired of God flesh for their sustenance, declaring they were tired of manna, Numbers 11:34,35; 33:16. Quails were sent in great quantities; but while the meat was in their mouths, God smote so great a number of them, that the place was called “the graves of those who lusted,” Psalm 78:30-31, a monument to warn mankind against the sin of discontent, 1 Corinthians 10:6. (Bible Dictionary).

In Mark 7:22 there is a list of the unclean things in a man: “Thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness.” But in most translations the evil eye is translated ‘envy’, with the Greek word for it being ophthalmos. You will recognize our word opthamology, the branch of medicine for anatomy, physiology and treatment of the eye. You get envious of things you see that other people have. The eye again.

What is all this about the eye? “Eve saw that it was pleasant to the eye,” the evil eye, lust and envy coming in through the eye? There are a lot of warnings in the bible about the eye.

  • Proverbs 3:7 – “Do not be wise in your own eyes; Fear the LORD and depart from evil. Eve wanted to be wise in her own eyes.” Eve did not depart from the devil
  • Proverbs 15:30a “The light of the eyes rejoices the heart,
  • Proverbs 22:9 “He that hath a bountiful eye shall be blessed for he giveth of his bread to the poor.”
  • Mathew 6:22 “The eye is the lamp of the body; so then if your eye is clear, your whole body will be full of light.”

It is talking about the mind’s eye. There is a connection between your eyes and your heart. What you look at betrays your heart condition. The moment when Eve ‘saw’ the fruit and she lusted for it, she betrayed her heart condition. She turned away from Godly things to lusting after the things of the world. THAT is when the first sin came. “She saw that it was pleasant to the eyes” and not just pleasant to the eye, but wanting that fruit heartily, greedily, exceedingly. All of a sudden, that is ALL she wanted, her world focused on that fruit- to the exclusion of God.

The verse immediately preceding the eye being the lamp of the body in Matthew 6:22 is “The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light. But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness.” (KJV) Because at that moment Eve saw the fruit and lusted after it, became double minded. Single here does not mean having one eye, lol. It means being singleminded. Wesley says, “If thine eye be single – Singly fixed on God and heaven, thy whole soul will be full of holiness and happiness. If thine eye be evil – Not single, aiming at any thing else.”

All this talk about the eye doesn’t mean just to look. Christians go window shopping every day, looking at all sorts of goods. If you have the right heart condition, you look at a boat or a new house or a dress or golf clubs and you say, those are nice, but you don’t suddenly turn into a puddle of exceedingly lustful slavering desirous people like Eve did wanting the fruit. You have the right heart condition. What makes the difference then? Satan, and I have an idea of how he did it. More in part 2.
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Posted in end of days. prophecy, gog magog, israel, jesus, mass burial

Israel readies land for mass burials

Posted on by elizabethprata

This is a very interesting piece of information (thanks kind reader who sent it to me!). It has prophecy written all over it. Here is the news:

State earmarks mass grave sites in case of national disaster
“Israel’s National Planning and Building Board ruled Tuesday to designate eight sites across Israel as mass burial sites in case of a nationwide disaster, such as a catastrophic earthquake. The Board’s dire premise is that such a quake will result in thousands of fatalities, regardless of its geographic epicenter. Another work premise is that in case of a nationwide mass casualty event authorities would be unable to accommodate timely burial, due to foreseen problems with identifying remains and the need to clear bodies in order to thwart the speared of disease. The eight designated sites, which span from Rosh Pinna in Israel’s north, to Beersheba in its south, can each entomb 3,000 individuals. The sites were chosen after being deemed topographically suitable.”

In the soon-coming Ezekiel battle of Gog and Magog, ““It will come to pass in that day that I will give Gog a burial place there in Israel, the valley of those who pass by east of the sea; and it will obstruct travelers, because there they will bury Gog and all his multitude. Therefore they will call it the Valley of Hamon Gog.  For seven months the house of Israel will be burying them, in order to cleanse the land. Indeed all the people of the land will be burying, and they will gain renown for it on the day that I am glorified,” says the Lord GOD. “They will set apart men regularly employed, with the help of a search party, to pass through the land and bury those bodies remaining on the ground, in order to cleanse it. At the end of seven months they will make a search. The search party will pass through the land; and when anyone sees a man’s bone, he shall set up a marker by it, till the buriers have buried it in the Valley of Hamon Gog. The name of the city will also be Hamonah. Thus they shall cleanse the land.”’ (Ezekiel 39:11-16.)

Hamon means multitudes. So literally Hamon Gog means multitudes of Gog who will be buried.

The news article does not say if one of those designates sites is near the soon to be named place of Hamon-Gog, but we know from the bible that at the end, it WILL be where Gog and 5/6ths of his army is buried!

How sad that beleaguered Israel feels the need to devise places for mass burials. how wonderful His prophecy is so precise that the names of the places are included and the methods like laying the flags are described. How unwittingly do the Israelites do all this, not knowing the burials will be for OTHERS!

Don’t get me wrong, many people of Israel will die in upcoming prophetic events. But the gateway event that brings them to the tribulation is the battle described in Ezekiel, when the Lord shows His fury at aggressors against His people, and shows His face to all nations. “Then they will know I am the LORD” He says, and that is a coming event though fraught with pain and death for many, ultimately it is the beginning of the end of bringing a rebellious humanity to justice and a repented humanity to His bosom. That is good.



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Posted in china, end of days, end of days. prophecy, kings of the east

America’s light on the hill is going out; China in prophecy – part 2

Posted on by elizabethprata

Earlier today I wrote part one of the decline of America’s hegemony, and noted potential impacts from this decline in influence in all areas; diplomatic, cultural, economic, etc. It was a prescient piece. Today we read in the Financial Times of London,

“The global order fractures as American power declines” and it is the first time a Main Stream Media outlet has likened the US definitively to ancient Rome.

“Harold Macmillan, the prime minister who watched US power rise as the British empire crumbled, used to say that Britain would play ancient Greece to America’s Rome. These days it looks as if Rome is declining too. The US finds it increasingly hard to drive forward its vision of international trade and economics over the objections of big emerging-market countries. The Visigoths and the Vandals who sacked Rome and undermined its empire, though far more cultured and sophisticated than their popular reputation, were unable to replicate the Pax Romana order it had established. European territories previously under Roman rule fractured into an unstable array of weak kingdoms and embattled city-states. Similarly, the vacuum created today by the erosion of US hegemony and the turmoil in the eurozone is resulting in stasis rather than a new direction.” …

“Emerging markets talk in general terms of increasing their power in the [international monetary] fund. Yet votes and executive board seats are already being shifted – admittedly painfully slowly – away from Europe towards middle-income countries. Many emerging markets would prefer to remove the US’s veto power over important decisions by cutting its share of the vote to below 15 per cent but no credible voting formula has been or will be devised to achieve that. China’s diplomatic efforts within the IMF in recent years have largely been negative, trying to get it to pipe down about the renminbi. Doha is dying but the emerging markets at the centre of the talks – India, China and Brazil – have not sketched a replacement.”

Remember, nature abhors a vacuum. Soon there will be a replacement. It looks to me that China would be that replacement, given the influence that the Asian nations will have in the prophetic: In other words, the barbarians are at the gate and we are now the huddles masses cowering behind fortresses which are crumbling.

Here is a short study on China (Asian/Oriental nations) in prophecy. There is more to show you about China in current news, which I do in the final part of the series. Let’s get a background in events of the Orient in the biblical past and the prophetic future. From bible.org:

China in Prophecy

“Scriptures rarely go outside the confines of the ancient Roman Empire in predicting future events. An exception to this is the statement found in Isaiah 49:12 relating to the ultimate regathering of the nation Israel, “Behold, these shall come from far: and, lo, these from the north and from the west; and these from the land of Sinim.” Although it is not possible to be dogmatic as to the precise reference of “the land of Sinim,” conservative scholarship has generally agreed that the most probable explanation is that this refers to the ancient land of China.”

The Magi From The East

“One of the most familiar Biblical references to the Far East is related to the visit of the Magi as they brought gifts to the Christ child. According to Matthew 2:1, 2, “Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem, Saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him.”

“It has been commonly held from the times of the early church fathers that these strange visitors came from the area east of the Euphrates and probably from ancient Persia. The Persian origin of the Magi was suggested by such men as Clement of Alexandria, Diodorus of Tarsus, Chrysostom, and Cyril of Alexandria. Somehow the Messianic hope had been transmitted in some form even to this distant land. The star appearing over Bethlehem prompted their journey and inquiry concerning the birth of the King of the Jews. The fact that they wanted to worship Him and recognized Him as the King of the Jews reveals that the basic facts concerning the Old Testament were more widely known than is commonly realized. As in the case of the reference to the land of Sinim, the story in the New Testament gives added support to the conclusion that the Bible includes the Orient in its world-wide view.”

Daniel’s Prophecy Of A Military Invasion From The Far East

“In Daniel’s prophecy of “the time of the end” beginning in Daniel 11:35, a king is pictured in the Mediterranean area who engages in a military conflict with the king of the south, the king of the north, and a military force from the east. … In the prophecy it is stated in Daniel 11:44, “But tidings out of the east and out of the north shall trouble him: therefore he shall go forth with great fury to destroy, and utterly to make away many.” Although the information given is meager, in the light of the context it appears that these tidings concern a military invasion from the Orient.”

The Great Army From The Orient

Two important passages in Revelation, namely, 9:13-21 and 16:12-16 contribute to the conclusion that one of the large armies employed in the final world conflict will be a military force of great power which comes from the Orient.

The Euphrates River

“Then the sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great river Euphrates and dried up its water to prepare the way for the kings from the east.” (Rev 16:12) “The fact that the rise of Asia has occurred in our twentieth century with so many rapid and unexpected developments is another evidence that the world is moving toward its final climax and the end of the times of the Gentiles. In Asia, as in other parts of the world, the stage is being set for the final drama in which the kings of the east will have their important part.”

I’ve given only excerpts here. The Bible.org study of the nations of the Orient in prophecy is much richer, if you go to Bible.org and read the study there you’ll get the full flavor. In the next part of my series, we will look at today’s news which supports the notion that America, the world’s only superpower for decades, is in decline as the prophetic nations of the Orient are rising up.
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Posted in a city upon a hill, china, end of days. prophecy, end time

America’s light on the hill is going out- part 1

Posted on by elizabethprata

In Matthew 5:14, Jesus tells his listeners, “You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden.” In John Winthrop’s 1630 sermon “A Model of Christian Charity”, Winthrop told the future Massachusetts Bay colonists (Puritans) that their new community would be a “city upon a hill”, watched by the world. Winthrop’s sermon and subsequent likening of America to that city upon a hill, gave rise to the firm and generational belief in Americans that the USA is God’s country because metaphorically it is a Shining City upon a Hill, an early example of American exceptionalism. Or rather, it was.

In last Saturday’s Prophecy Newsletter (email me to sign up) I spent a good deal of time in the opening segment setting a context for the decline of America’s hegemony (influence). I defined hegemony, and I spent noted the fact of it happening and the possible outcomes of such a decline. It was a prescient piece. Today in the Financial Times of London, a similar article appeared. Here is part of what I wrote in the Newsletter about hegemony, and in the next part of the blog entry (Part 2) I’ll offer excerpts of the Financial Times’ analysis of the global economy on a precipice with America’s decline, the Orient in prophecy, and I’ll also share some astounding news about the rise of China, in America.

————-America’s Hegemony and Decline————

Hedge-EM-onee

Wikipedia does a decent job of defining hegemony. “Hegemony is the political, economic, ideological or cultural power exerted by a dominant group over other groups. It requires the consent of the majority to keep the dominant group’s leader in power. The term is often mistakenly used to suggest brute power or dominance, when it is better defined as emphasizing how control is achieved through consensus, not force. … hegemony describes one state’s predominance over other states.”

It can be said that America has wielded —

–political hegemony, diplomatic influence to determine a course of action. America has been the singular hegemonic influence of the Middle East peace process since 1948 but that hegemony is almost gone now. The US wields almost no influence in diplomatic arenas any more.

–cultural hegemony, “the imposition of its way of life, i.e. its language and bureaucracies (social, economic, educational, governing). When the Coke logo shows up on pygmy men’s tee shirts in interior Papua New Guinea jungle, you know the hegemonic influence is complete.

–sociological hegemony: The US’s version of English is known and used worldwide, in many cases as a default language. An example would be aviation, in which the default language worldwide is English. All air traffic controllers speak English on the job. In English is the lingua franca in Europe’s business landscape, firmly entrenched nearly everywhere as the international language of business, finance, and technology.

For decades, for all of my generation and perhaps the one before, the world bowed to the American brand. America’s hegemony was understood to be the default condition in all spheres of life, including cultural, geographic, sociological, diplomatic, technological, economic and financial. America was it! Capitalism and liberal democracy swept the world, if not in fact at least in ideals. However, since the economic crash of 2008, we begin to see a post-American world in which the US is no longer the world’s only superpower. In this 2008 article asking the question of whether America’s hegemony in economics and finance will be crushed by the 2008 crash, “The critical point here, and the one which could bear significant consequences, is the existence, within the US economy, of structural weaknesses that enhance the current distress and limit the scope for future policy action.”

Yes, policy action over the last three years has been stymied by our decline in influence. So the answer to that question from 2008, is yes.

In this article from Global Geographic Times, 2009, by Zhang Wei, the statement is made in the headline: “For Humanity’s Sake, Put an End to Western Hegemony“. “Some Westerners believe that human history will eventually fall completely into a Western pattern and that in the future, the West will unquestionably lead the world. The truth is that any religion, theory, or ideology – including democracy and market capitalism – once it’s pushed to the extreme and regarded as fundamental to all else, triggers an irrational response by its followers. The outcome of this is never good, and is often crushing defeat. That is the position the West confronts today, with the plight of the Iraq War, the failure of the “color revolutions” and the financial tsunami. How can world history possibly end up following the Western model? Developing countries that choose to imitate the West have seen almost all their attempts fail. The world’s peoples continue to explore and test alternatives to development, and humanity’s exploration of the political future is far from exhausted.  “Western civilization has arrived at a crossroads. One road leads to a resentment of the world, aggression, indifference, neo-conservatism and violent liberalism. And the other road … to the building up of oneself through diligent striving, optimism, rationality, sympathy, equality, and a coherent, mutually-affirming society.” It so happens that this other road coincides with the idea of the “harmonious middle way” advocated by the Chinese.”

We ARE at a crossroads. It so happens that this crossroad is coming into view at the end of the Church Age, but it is still a crossroad nonetheless. America’s hegemony in all the arenas mentioned above is declining, as the Chinese model rises. As the world realizes that the Western model is failing, they will explore others that suit, including not only the Chinese ‘harmonious middle way’ but the Muslim jihadi way, and perhaps once again flirt with the Iron Curtain Communistic/Marxist way. As vultures and jackals circle a wounded tiger, so the nations who have either enjoyed America’s hegemony or have hated it, are now ready to pounce, stripping influence from our spheres and ripping it to pieces until only white bones are left, the meat picked clean. America is wounded, and it is my opinion that this trajectory will result in a bleached, bony carcass in the Tribulation. The results of our decline in influence will have devastating effects on the world.

The most obvious effect of our loss of influence is in the diplomatic arena and also perhaps by association, military, is that we can no longer protect Israel to the extent that we once did, even if our current occupant of the Oval Office would want to. (And it seems he does not want to, in my opinion). It is no sure thing that America’s influence of other UN Security Council permanent members against a Palestinian State, coming up in the  July-Aug time-frame, will yield any “NO” votes at all. It is obvious that our influence as a Quartet member in direct peace talks has vaporized, along with respected George Mitchell, who resigned.  Once the loss of strength is deemed to exist in the American will and execution of military force to protect our Israeli ally, then the jackals will pounce. They are circling already.

In February of this year, the voice of the Muslim Brotherhood Youssef al-Qaradawi, the Muslim televangelist whose program Sharia and Life has been the no.1 hit on Al Jazeera for the past fifteen years “Calls for Establishing a United Muslim Nations“. Qaradawi said “establishing a United Muslim Nations is the only alternative to the hegemony of the West.”

Solomon was the richest king, wisest priest, and much loved by God. His kingdom was influential and the envy of all around. It lasted 40 years, falling from its seeming permanent pinnacle to a divided land under his son. At the end of his life, Solomon wrote about the folly of earthly grasping, and wise once again but only because of the pain of wrong choices and advanced years of bitter experience, noted that-
“To everything there is a season, A time for every purpose under heaven” (Ecclesiastes 3:1)

America is wonderful and I love it. But America is not my church- I do not worship it. My residence is not this country. It is in New Jerusalem, where He has been preparing a place for me. It is time for us to get used to the sad fact that America’s season, long and glorious though it was, has fulfilled and is finally ending its purpose under heaven. It is time for others to rise now, to be used in all His purposes for bringing about the end of days. The Kings of the East are restless…He is raising them up even as America sinks. Rather than bemoan the fact that America’s hegemony is in severe decline, I praise Him that we were used at all for a Godly purpose, “He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also He has put eternity in their hearts, except that no one can find out the work that God does from beginning to end.’ (Ecc 3:11). Friends, glory in His work, do not grasp for a temporary nation under God on a dying earth. “Better a handful with quietness Than both hands full, together
with toil and grasping for the wind.” Ecc 4:6
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