end time

Are you a cotter pin?

Posted on March 31, 2023March 31, 2023 by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

In the body of Christ, all are important- even the seemingly small. Are you doubting your importance to Christ and His work? Don’t.

Isaiah 33:23a – “Your rigging hangs loose: The mast is not held secure, the sail is not spread“

I was reading this verse today and it reminded me of something that happened to me some years ago. We were liveaboard yachtsmen then and had sailed from Maine to the Bahamas. We were anchored a while in the Bahamas, enjoying the numerous islands, hopping from one to the other. We had made some friends and sailed with them, anchoring at night and socializing by day over scrabble and rum. On the day of the photo below, I and my husband were sailing with our chums on Sea of Abaco. It was a yacht race, and we were aboard their boat.

So me and the boat owner’s wife were sitting amidships enjoying the race, looking at the other boats, and chatting. After a few minutes, she said, “Let’s go below and get some water.” We moved to the galley and a second later we heard an enormous crash! The boat shook and rolled! We instantly thought we had run aground, even though the Sea was deep at that location. We scrambled up to the deck only to see that the mast had fallen down! It had crashed down on the spot where we had just been sitting!!

The other owner had fallen into the water and the sails and heavy ropes and rigging were ensnaring his legs, potentially dragging him under. The boat came to a dead stop in the water and we were simply in shock.

A dismasting is one of the most terrible things that can happen to a yachtsman on the water. Fortunately we were half a mile from nearly the only and the best boatbuilding and repair facility in the entire 700 mile chain of islands. The owner guy was a schmoozer and finagled parts from the States in no time and within a week they were on their way. As with any tragedy, we wanted to know why. What did the mast autopsy say?

The cotter pin was gone.

This is a cotter pin:

This is how a cotter pin is used:

A cotter pin is “a metal fastener with two tines that are bent during installation used to fasten metal together, like with a staple or rivet.” (Wikipedia)

A mast and its rigging system is complex, and it relies on the sum of its parts, plus tension, to work. “On a sailing vessel, a forestay, sometimes just called a stay, is a piece of standing rigging which keeps a mast from falling backwards. It is attached either at the very top of the mast, or in fractional rigs between about 1/8 and 1/4 from the top of the mast. The other end of the forestay is attached to the bow of the boat.”

And the cotter pin holds the forestay to the bow. With the cotter pin gone, the tension of the system was disrupted, and at just the right moment, the mast fell backwards.

The first thing you see on a sailing vessel is its mast and sail. It is a beautiful thing, billowing in the wind, doing important work to propel the boat. The next thing perhaps you see is the boat itself, its lines and its beauty. As Alan Jackson sang in “Boats to Build,” it has a “fair curve from a noble plan.”

The next thing you may notice is the stays and shrouds hearing them hum and sing in the wind. You hear the engine, you see the keel when heeling in a stiff breeze. You never notice the cotter pins.

Isaiah 33:23a – “Your rigging hangs loose: The mast is not held secure, the sail is not spread“

We Christians make up a body. Every body part has a function. If we’re serious about our walk with Jesus, we want to make a difference. We see great evangelists opening hearts to the Spirit and subsequent salvation. We see missionaries making great sacrifices. We listen to pastors preach as if they were on fire, and altars filled with weeping responders. We see teachers publishing book after book, with eager readers excitedly discussing new points of view.

We never notice the cotter pins. Some folks serve in quiet ways, unnoticed. In the background. But if the pin is gone, the mast falls down. It has its part in the system, and every body part is important to Jesus, the Head of the Body. If you have been feeling sad, like you’re insignificant, like you don’t make a difference, YOU DO.

1 Corinthians 12:18-31-

But now God has appointed the members, each one of them, in the body, just as He desired. 19And if they were all one member, where would the body be? 20But now there are many members, but one body. 21And the eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you”; or again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.” 22On the contrary, how much more is it that the members of the body which seem to be weaker are necessary, 23and those members of the body which we think as less honorable, on these we bestow more abundant honor, and our less presentable members become much more presentable, 24whereas our more presentable members have no such need. But God has so composed the body, giving more abundant honor to that member which lacked, 25so that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. 26And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it.

27Now you are Christ’s body, and individually members of it. 28And God has appointed in the church, first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, administrations, various kinds of tongues. 29Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Are all workers of miracles? 30Do all have gifts of healings? Do all speak with tongues? Do all translate? 31But you earnestly desire the greater gifts.

And I will yet show you a more excellent way.

bilderbergs, end time, prophecy

Conspiracy theories: Hall of mirrors, or lifted veil; your choice

Posted on March 3, 2023March 3, 2023 by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

But if the ministry of death, in letters having been engraved on stones, came with glory, so that the sons of Israel could not look intently at the face of Moses because of the glory of his face, which was being brought to an end, 8how will the ministry of the Spirit not be even more in glory? 9For if the ministry of condemnation has glory, much more does the ministry of righteousness abound in glory. 10For indeed what had been glorious, in this case has no glory because of the glory that surpasses it. 11For if that which was being brought to an end was with glory, much more that which remains is in glory.

12Therefore having such a hope, we use great boldness, 13and are not like Moses, who used to put a veil over his face so that the sons of Israel would not look intently at the consequence of what was being brought to an end. 14But their minds were hardened; for until this very day at the reading of the old covenant the same veil remains unlifted, because it is brought to an end in Christ. 15But to this day whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their heart, 16but WHENEVER a person TURNS TO THE LORD, THE VEIL IS TAKEN AWAY. 17Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. 18But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit. (2 Corinthians 3:7-18)

In reading these passages from 2 Corinthians 3:7-18 I was struck by two images the verses evoked. The first is the veil. The second is the phrase ‘where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.”

There is much spiritual meat here. Praise His name! But the focus today is the veil and mirror. We are in the end times. We know that at the time of the very end there will be a one world dictator in control of the currency, economy, religion, and politics of the entire globe. This is the antichrist. The time prior to the antichrist is characterized by shrinking; shrinking economy, shrinking currency, shrinking spheres of influence for formerly powerful nations, shrinking amount of people who wield power; all aimed toward the moment when the shrinking will have been reduced to only one power-wielder.

There IS power behind the throne and those are the fallen angels who are given permission by God to influence these powerful men, leaders, and elected officials. People have become interested in these powers, groups such as the Freemasons, Bilderbergs, Illuminati, World Economic Forum (WEF) and so on. And there is always a germ of truth at the core of the rotten conspiracy.

But think about this fact: Chasing the Illuminati and Freemasons et al is in effect chasing satan. In chasing the Illuminati and the Freemasons and the other shadowy organizations (Bohemian Grove, and so on…) , we get trapped in a hall of mirrors with reflections of the evil fallen angels dancing from mirror to mirror. Pursuing the Illuminati, even in thought, is pointless. We already know that satan influences some of earth’s leaders. Does it matter that we know who these Bilderbergs are and what they plan? We know who the power is behind the throne. We know that there will be a New World Order. We know that prayer is the most effective weapon. We know God wins. Isn’t that enough?

We have a choice on what to watch on television and where to put our energy and resources. We can pursue the shadows in a never-ending race or we can remember we have had the veil lifted from our face and the glory is in Jesus. “But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.” How wonderful! How great!

‘Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.’ We can spend time and energy with veiled eyes pursuing the endless mirror of the Illuminati/Masons/Bilderbergs, or we can remember the veil is taken away in Christ and gaze upon HIM!

end time, prophecy, the end

Doomsday clock moves 10 seconds closer to midnight

Posted on January 25, 2023January 25, 2023 by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

Headline this week! “A time of unprecedented danger: It is 90 seconds to midnight“. The lede says- “The Clock now stands at 90 seconds to midnight—the closest to global catastrophe it has ever been.”

Oh noes! Is we doomed?

The Doomsday Clock is a symbolic clock depicting how close our planet is to complete annihilation, based on factors the scientists calculate that will result in planetary doom. It is only symbolic.

The Doomsday Clock and its annual warnings about the imminency of annihilation have generated some skepticism over the years and prompted debate over its purpose. Source

It was moved in 2017, 2019, 2020. In 2020, the scientists moved it ahead to 100 seconds before “midnight,”— the closest the clock had been to Doomsday since 1953. In 1953 they’d moved it ahead due to the United States’ test of its first thermonuclear device, followed months later by the Soviet Union’s hydrogen bomb test. People were legitimately scared in 1953, thermonuclear landscapes were a new and frightening horizon to deal with.

This graphic from the BBC shows the times the ‘clock’ was moved.

Scientific American devoted their entire magazine some years ago to our fascination with ‘the end.’ According to the scientists, we focus on the end because of our pattern seeking brains, and also to feel special. In the September 2010 issue, the editors and writers take a hard look at all kinds of finales, including doomsday scenarios. The magazine presents 18 stories all devoted to the end, finality, sustainability, catastrophe, and doomsday. They opened with an editor’s note, below:

Eternal Fascinations with the End: Why We’re Suckers for Stories of Our Own Demise
“Welcome to “The End,” at least as we know it. The features here, from the September 2010 issue, cover a range of topics, such as the decomposition of human flesh, the disappearance of cultures, the Earth’s remaining natural resources, and apocalypse scenarios. Once again, the world is about to end. The latest source of doomsday dread comes courtesy of the ancient Mayans, whose calendar runs out in 2012, as interpreted by a cadre of opportunistic authors and blockbuster movie directors. Not long before, three separate lawsuits charged that the Large Hadron Collider would seed a metastasizing black hole under Lake Geneva. Before that, captains of industry shelled out billions preparing for the appearance of two zeros in the date field of computer programs too numerous to count; left alone, this tick of the clock would surely have shaken modern civilization to its foundations.”

Remember the 2012 doomsday scenario? I do. It was hectic!

The secular world has always been fascinated with life endings, planet endings, universe endings… They claim that Christians, with our book of Revelation, are the ones fascinated by it, but in reality the constant barrage of “climate change doom”, “sinking continents doom”, “melting ice caps doom”, “asteroid doom”, “famine doom” – and never mind “alien doom!” and the like, illustrate they are the ones really fascinated by it. Shows like “End Day” and “Life after People” bring in the high ratings.

I used to wonder this question often myself, before I was saved, about the end of life on the planet. In my 20s I used to be scared of the warnings of a solar ray doom crisping the planet. It’s normal to muse on the eternal question, ‘is this all there is? Or is there something else?’ Those who are not saved always wonder what comes after death, even death of the planet.

In 1970 we ‘celebrated’ our first Earth Day. Earth Day is a day that is intended to inspire awareness and appreciation for the Earth’s natural environment. Not the God who made the earth, but the environment, the result of His works. Romans 1:22-23 come to life: “Professing to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the likeness of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures.”

There is the sense of the eternal placed in all humans’ hearts, they know instinctively that the planet will end. But not the way they surmise.

That early focus on environmental appreciation turned to hysteria, and doomsday movies centered around population explosion and earth sustainability came along, notably Soylent Green. This award-winning and popular movie depicted the investigation into the brutal murder of a wealthy businessman in a dystopian future suffering from pollution, overpopulation, depleted resources, poverty, dying oceans and a hot climate due to the greenhouse effect. (That was what they called “climate change” before they called it climate change.)

In the movie, much of the population survives on processed food rations, including “soylent green.” Tune out now if you do not want to know the ending of this movie. OK, here comes the spoiler. The processed food named ‘soylent green’ is people, it is made from human flesh. The film ends with the main character Charlton Heston screaming, “Soylent Green is people!” It became a catchphrase throughout the 70’s.

In this article from the Scientific American issue devoted to “The End”, “Laying Odds on the Apocalypse: Experts Assess Doomsday” the writers ask “Could modern civilization really come to an end? Experts take stock of eight doomsday scenarios.”

See? The secular world is just fascinated with the end.

Yes, civilization really will come to an end. The unsaved with their fascination with the end, yet at the same time denying they have a fascination with it. The Bible says “Know this first of all, that in the last days mockers will come with their mocking, following after their own lusts, and saying, “Where is the promise of His coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all continues just as it was from the beginning of creation.” (2 Peter 3:3).

I think it is an interesting dichotomy. On the one hand our culture constantly depicts ‘the end’ in movies, TV shows, and films, and the public gobbles them up. On the other hand, mockers and scoffers mock and scoff at the notion when Christians proclaim that the world really will end, sneering that the world always has gone on and it always will.

As for eschatological Christians, that is, Christians who study the branch of theology that is concerned with the end of the world or of humankind, are fascinated with the end for a reason: it IS the end. And we will see Jesus, the author of the beginning and the end because He is the Alpha and the Omega.

Atomic scientists of the Doomsday Clock, Scientific American, and others, can look no further than the Bible to discover what has happened, what is happening, and what will happen, even at the end. Here is a summation of all the prophetic verses in the Bible:

The ungodly will rebel, they will refuse Jesus’ nail scarred hand of salvation, and they will meet their end. The end will come, not by overpopulation or asteroid or global warming. The end will come, and it won’t be as stimulating as comfortable intellectual discussions from ivory tower editors and scientists publishing theories in magazines. The end will come, and it won’t be as sexy as when they watched it in the movie theatres with fancy graphics and computer generated people. All one needs to do is look at the bible, and believe what it says. The end is there:

“looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be destroyed by burning, and the elements will melt with intense heat!” (2 Peter 3:12)

“The earth is broken up, the earth is split asunder, the earth is thoroughly shaken.” (Isaiah 24:19)

“The mountains melt beneath him and the valleys split apart, like wax before the fire, like water rushing down a slope (Micah 1:4)

“By the same word the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men.” (2 Peter 3:7)

It is the end for the ungodly, but that is not the end! It is not the end for the Godly! Believers in Jesus will see the earth renewed! We will live!

Rev 21:1-6 – “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.” He said to me: “It is done.”

So. It is the end and it is the beginning. It is an Alpha and an Omega. Repentance of your sins and believing in Jesus will secure for any person an eternally bright future in bliss and joy and in glory. The earth will be remade new, and His people will dwell on it forever. No doom ever again, just joy. Who wouldn’t be fascinated by THAT!

abraham, end time, prophecy, remember lot's wife

Abraham’s altars and the lesson for us

Posted on January 21, 2023January 21, 2023 by elizabethprata

Genesis is such an amazing book of the Bible. In re-reading Genesis 12, I was again astounded by the depth and complexity of human history and our relationship with God. Gen. 12 is the famous chapter in which God called Abram (later name changed to Abraham) and made a significant promise:

I will make you a great nation; … I will bless those who bless you. And I will curse him who curses you; And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” (Gen 12:2a & 3a)

You can be sure that the promise of God is solid, and that we are seeing the curse of nations who curse Israel beginning before our eyes. In verse 7 of Genesis 12, “Then the LORD appeared to Abram,” God appeared to Abraham. In my interpretation he appeared as the Son (Jesus said in John 8:58,”Before Abraham was, I AM.” He was quoting God speaking to Moses at the burning bush in Exodus 3:14). God appeared to Abram! Think on that for a moment. The El-Shaddai, the I AM, the ALMIGHTY, appeared to a man, walked with him, spoke to him, comforted him, and commanded him. It is a shuddering thought to ponder the gravity of those moments. That gravity was not lost on Abraham, who built altars to Him all over the Land wherever he went. Abraham did not build houses for himself, he built altars to God.

Then the LORD appeared to Abram and said, “To your descendants I will give this land.” And there he built an altar to the LORD, who had appeared to him. And he moved from there to the mountain east of Bethel, and he pitched his tent with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east; there he built an altar to the LORD and called on the name of the LORD. So Abram journeyed, going on still toward the South.

Abraham built altars right away, to mark his obedience to the LORD, and to sacrifice and worship. When Abraham came back from Egypt, “to the place of the altar which he had made there at first. And there Abram called on the name of the LORD.” (Gen. 13:3-4) which is another way of saying worship and sacrifice. When Abraham and Lot had separated and Abram moved to the region of Hebron, he “built an altar there to the Lord” (Gen. 13:18).

Abraham corresponded with the LORD by building altars for worship. Building an altar is an intentional, physical act. Worshiping on front of an altar is an intentional, physical act. When Abraham returned from Egypt, Abraham saw the altar he had originally made and ‘called on the name of the LORD’ in worship and thanks. In this case, the altar was a reminder of his relationship with the great I AM.

We do not need to build altars, but we do need to be as dedicated and as intentional as Abraham in our relationship with God and Jesus and the Holy Spirit. You note that when Abraham and Lot separated, there was no mention of Lot building an altar to the LORD. Lot was with Abraham when Abraham got the calling from God (Gen. 12:5) and was with Abraham throughout the blessing of his peoples’ increase. Lot saw God working in his family’s life. He reaped the blessings of Abraham’s obedience. But Lot did not build an altar. And from the biblical record we see how the distance between man and God can slowly grow when we fail to consistently correspond with the LORD. Lot crept toward Sodom, closer and closer he pitched his tent, until he was finally living inside the city with all its sin and perversity. Though the sins of the city grieved Lot greatly (2 Pet. 2:6-8) Lot did not build an altar. And in the end, Lot lost his city, his possessions, his family, his wife, (“Remember Lot’s wife” Luke 17:32) and sin fell upon his daughters, who lay with their father.

We do not build altars … but we pray. Our part of the correspondence between ourselves and God/Jesus/Holy Spirit is maintained through prayer, corporate worship, and fellowship in the body of the believers. Is your heart an altar to I AM? Do you pray constantly? Do you worship in faith and obedience, as Abraham did? No? Remember Lot’s wife. Jesus said:

Likewise as it was also in the days of Lot: They ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built; but on the day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all. Even so will it be in the day when the Son of Man is revealed. “In that day, he who is on the housetop, and his goods are in the house, let him not come down to take them away. And likewise the one who is in the field, let him not turn back. Remember Lot’s wife.

Build an altar of prayer in your life and you will be blessed by the presence of the I AM Himself!!!

end time, euclid, hypercube, prophecy

Non-Euclidean geometry in the Bible. Really

Posted on September 15, 2022September 15, 2022 by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

Humans live in a three-dimensional world. The three dimensions are commonly called length, width, and height. A cube is a typical three dimensional object:

If you unfold a cube you get this:

In Euclid’s famous “Elements” treatise two thousand years ago, Euclid, the father of Geometry, said that “a point has no dimension at all. A line has only one dimension: length. A plane has two dimensions: length and breadth. A solid has three dimensions: length, breadth, and height. And there it stops. Nothing has four dimensions.”

Euclid’s axioms spawned Euclidean Geometry, and for two thousand years that was it, there was only Euclidean Geometry (and three dimensions). Then “In 1854, George Bernhard Riemann broke the cult position that the Euclidean geometry had for two thousand years with the introduction of the theory of higher dimensions. In the paper “On the hypotheses which lie at the foundation of geometry“, Riemann exposed the novel properties of higher dimensional space and demonstrated that Euclid’s geometry is based only in the perception.”

In other words, it seems there ARE more than three dimensions!

If it was only in 1854 that mathematicians began experimenting with geometric representations in space and in math of objects in the fourth dimension… If Euclid said that there’s ‘length, breadth, and height and there it stops’, how then could the Bible speak of four dimensions two thousand years ago as here in Ephesians?

“so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge …” (Ephesians 3:17-19a)

Do you want depth of vision? A four dimensional world has length, breadth, height, and depth!

Stay with me here: “Three-dimensional objects are bounded by two-dimensional surfaces: a cube is bounded by 6 squares. A four-dimensional cube, known as a tesseract, is bounded by 8 cubes.” A tesseract is a hypercube, a square figure with four dimensions to it, like a cube has three, and a square has two. Since we are three-dimensional humans, we can’t really accurately depict a four-dimensional object, but the closest we can come is this: a sort of cube within a cube with other cubes adjacent along each plane-

The 4D cube (tesseract) can be unfolded into eight cubes, just as the cube can be unfolded into six squares. There are three cubes meeting at every vertex … You see it gets complicated fast. If you unfold a 4D (tesseract, also known as a hypercube) it will look like this:

And once more for effect, an unfolded 3D cube and an unfolded 4D hypercube next to each other:

Albert Gleizes said, “Beyond the three dimensions of Euclid we have added another, the fourth dimension, which is to say, the figuration of space, the measure of the infinite,” The fourth dimension is the measure of the infinite. As soon as we go from the 3D solid to the 4D we go from known and understandable solid to the infinite. In the Ephesians passage, the breadth and length and height and depth of His love, is so far from our limited understanding,”it surpasses knowledge”.

Salvador Dali captured the infinite love of God in his work, “Crucifixion.” In that famous work, Dali showed Christ on an unfolded hypercube, ascending. If unfolded again, the shadow of the 3D hypercube hovering over the tiles below becomes a 2D representation of the tiles on the ground. Dali knew the mathematical principles behind his work and was purposeful in showing Christ as Master over four dimensions, and three, and two. Just as Ephesians says. The ‘son of God’ Himself is, by the way, a 3D representation of the 4D God.

The point in all this is not only that the Bible once again wrote about maths and science that humans didn’t “know” until centuries later (a spherical earth, gravity, four dimensions) but of the infinite depths of His love, love that exists in dimensions “which surpasses knowledge.”

And he loves you. He knows you: your name, the number of hairs on your head. He knew you before you were born. He wants to be with you, He delights in you. Aren’t you grateful He sent you grace through faith to repent? You can praise His gift of love and can be with Him in His word, commune with Him in prayer. His love may surpass our knowledge but it certainly doesn’t surpass our ability to receive it.

cull, east greenwich ri, end time, prophecy, wayside cross

The Wayside Cross of East Greenwich RI

Posted on August 26, 2022August 26, 2022 by elizabethprata

East Greenwich, Rhode Island is an old New England town, founded in 1677. Many of the original colonial homes are still standing and inhabited, and the town is quaint beyond belief. It is also my home town.

I grew up near the corner of four streets intersecting, where a charming cemetery is located on one corner. A brook runs through the cemetery, and a beautiful stone bridge serves as the entry to it. I used to play there frequently, as the property abutted our home and the hills are perfect for bike-riding, the brook contained tadpoles, and the leafy quietude was a huge draw for this shy child.

In the middle of the crossroads of this intersection was a Wayside Cross. It stood on a triangular island and the redwood crucifix with little roof had nailed to it a little plaque. The cross was put up in 1922, and its construction was noted in the St. Andrews Cross newsletter of October 1922; They wrote:

“THE first wayside cross to be erected in Rhode Island, if not in New England, was recently set up on a triangular piece of ground in East Greenwich. This cross is in memory of Dr. James H. Eldredge, a life-long resident of East Greenwich and at one time president of the Town Council. It is the gift of his granddaughters, one of whom is Mrs. Henry M. Saville, wife of the Rev. H. M. Saville, rector of St. Mary’s Church, East Providence. The cross was formally presented to the town by the Rev. Mr. Saville, and Bishop Perry conducted a simple ceremony of dedication in the presence of about one hundred people, including twenty-five school children of the nearby district school, who are pledged to watch the cross and see that no harm comes to it. Members of St. Luke’s choir led in the singing of several hymns, the Rev. J. M. Hunter leading in the Lord’s Prayer. The cross was accepted by the president of the Town Council. The inscription on the cross reads: ‘In Memory of James Henry Eldredge, Physician, Lover of God and Man, Who for fifty years traveled these roads to visit the sick and suffering. Died February 20, 1891.’ Since its erection, hundreds passing have stopped to observe the cross and to read the inscription, and those who placed this beautiful memorial to an exemplary life feel that it will indeed be a light by the way and a guide post to Heaven.” (photo from 1922 newsletter)”

St. Mary’s in our town is the Catholic Church. Though these stations by the road are called ‘Wayside Cross’ they are actually a crucifix. A hanging Jesus is attached to the crossbars.

One of the local elementary schools is named after Dr. Eldredge, I attended as a child. You can see by the fact that the cross was erected and the lengthy newsletter article, in those days (1922- a hundred years ago!), a Wayside Cross was something to be proud of (even if it was a crucifix). Ceremonies were held when they were erected, and volunteers lovingly and diligently maintained them.

That was then.

Growing up, before I left the town in 1978 for college, my atheist father used to complain about that cross. It had been erected in the middle of the intersection. I suppose it could be seen as a road hazard to drivers. But that was not why my father hated it.

He hated driving past it. He railed and groused and gritted his teeth. More than once I heard him mention it, and not in glowing terms either. He used to say it had no place on town property. Well, someone else felt that way too, because during the week of November 28, 1986, Steven Brown, executive director of the Rhode Island affiliate of the ACLU, wrote to Town Manager Robert T. Tempest that the ACLU had received a complaint about the Wayside Cross, which sits on public land on the island at the intersection. Brown asked the town to move the crucifix to private land on behalf of Peter A. Marks of Middle Rd., who had lived in the town for just about a year. Thus began a fight that lasted two years, made national headlines, and caused a good young man to be arrested.

New resident Marks wanted the cross to come down. “I find it offensive” Marks said. He avoided driving past it because of his conviction that it made non-Christians feel unwelcome. This is 1986 now. He didn’t know, as many still do not, that the crucifix isn’t a Christian symbol. It’s an idol which means nothing. But anyway,

Very public legal wrangling ensued. This wrangling so upset teenager Laurence Moulton, that he sawed the cross off at the base and hid it, hoping to defuse the controversy. The climate between the religious and the ACLU in RI was already heightened by an enormous then-recent lawsuit (1984) when in a very famous case, the ACLU sued the city of Pawtucket for having a Christmas creche. The case challenging the legality of holiday decorations on town property made it to the Supreme Court of the United States. (Lawsuit here)

The ACLU lost the Christmas Creche suit but undaunted, again picked up the banner of separation of church and state a year later with the East Greenwich Wayside Cross issue. The controversy immediately re-ignited, having not yet died down from the Supreme Court creche suit. This bickering bothered young Mr. Moulton tremendously, and in his teenager-addled brain, he thought if he sawed off the cross that would settle the issue. He was eventually sentenced to one year probation.

Why am I writing all this? I’m old and nostalgic. I was googling around google street view to look at photos of my old town. I spent a long time doing this. It is a beautiful town and not much has changed. I started thinking of that cross, nearly across from my driveway, and how it was a historic landmark for me and an emotional one too. As a kid, when I saw it I knew I was almost to my house.

My childhood was atheist dominated with overtones of apathy and occasional spurts of Unitarianism. I really had no religious upbringing and that state of affairs continued into college and young adulthood. I lived in RI for 17 years, and then Maine for 30 years, both states in the bottom ten for citizens NOT going to church. In Maine, only 27% of adults attend church weekly or nearly weekly, a dismal statistic surpassed only by two other states, both neighbors of Maine: NH and VT. For 44 years I lived in an environmental desert of atheism and agnosticism and indifference. How, may I just please ask HOW, does an adult in middle age suddenly claim Jesus as savior?

His grace, that’s how. He sent the Holy Spirit to convict me, and my unhardened heart allowed the conviction. Increasingly for the Christian, there is no remedy for our offense. The true cross is deemed frivolous and no-account, dead wrong, “offensive” and we are marginalized for wanting to retain the right to display our faith in public.

These arguments about separation of church and state hurt us: just ask young Mr Moulton who was tormented by adult wrangling over-the-top over-reaching on the part of those who want to wipe the entire nation and earth of any Christian display. In 1922 the Wayside Crucifix was a place where it was hoped that many would be comforted, its construction a moment of celebration. In 1988 it was a point of state-wide controversy and bitter anger. In 2022 is the wayside station at the junction of 4 roads even remembered? It has by now been moved to the nearby cemetery, a fitting place for it. Such is our prophesied trajectory away from Our Lord.

“For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” (1 Corinthians 1:18).

The cross was eventually moved from the middle of the intersection to just inside the cemetery. it’s a more appropriate place safety-wise and location wise.

end time, florence chadwick, prophecy

Keep persevering – with keeping the prophetic finish line in sight

Posted on August 20, 2022August 21, 2022 by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

This example is used a lot in sermons and devotionals. It is an oldie but a goodie.

Florence Chadwick was a young woman in 1952 but had already swum the English Channel, both ways, and broke records doing it. One morning in 1952 she stood on the shores of California with intent to swim the 26 miles to Catalina Island. It was foggy. She was used to fog, rough water, and cold, having swum in these conditions since when was 11 years old so she was prepared for any conditions that may beset her on the long swim. It was so foggy that Florence could not see the support boats motoring around her to scare away the sharks. However after 15 hours of rough water stroke after stroke, she felt like she wasn’t getting anywhere. Despite encouragement from her mother and others in the support boat next to her, Florence wearied and asked to be taken out of the water. She soon discovered that she was half a mile from her goal.

The Lubec Maine shoreline. There’s a lighthouse in the photo. Can you see it? EPrata photo

At a news conference the next day Florence said, “All I could see was the fog.…I think if I could have seen the shore, I would have made it.”

Florence tried again two months later. This time, she made it! What made the difference? She said that she kept a mental image of the shoreline in her mind while she swam.

This is the same scene as above after the fog rolled away. [Photo by EPrata]

Prophecy is not meant to BE the fog. It is knowable, profitable, and given to us for all education. It is a light to keep in our heart as to the immutable existence of God, His eternal promises, and the goal for every believer, to reach the eternal Lighthouse.

There are end of time prophetic utterances in much of the Old Testament and in every book of the New except for four. And three of those four are single-chapter letters to one individual. Jesus meant prophecy to be the mental image for us to hold dear as to the goal. Do not give up half a mile from the finish line!

He is near, He is coming. Do not wander, drift, be swept away by currents taking you far from the goal. May every stroke of your swim toward eternity be as vigorous as the one before. Pray for that vigor. The Holy Spirit is there to help us: “And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever;” (John 14:16)

If you knew that Jesus was returning tomorrow would it change your decision not to study the Bible today? Not to pray? Not to help someone? If you knew it was next week, or next year, how differently would you act as a Christian? You’re tired. We are all tired. The wages of sin splash up on us, and sometimes splash into us. It is wearying holding firm against the current. But keep the goal in mind! Envision scenes the Bible gives us of that happy Day.

behold, a throne was standing in heaven, and someone was sitting on the throne. And He who was sitting was like a jasper stone and a sardius in appearance; and there was a rainbow around the throne, like an emerald in appearance. Around the throne were twenty-four thrones; and upon the thrones I saw twenty-four elders sitting, clothed in white garments, and golden crowns on their heads…Revelation 4:2-4.

Worthy are You, our Lord and our God, to receive glory and honor and power; for You created all things, and because of Your will they existed, and were created. (Revelation 4:11)

The River and the Tree of Life: And he showed me a river of the water of life, clear as crystal, coming from the throne of God and of the Lamb, in the middle of its street. (Revelation 22:1).

Keep persevering – with keeping the prophetic finish line in sight!

birth pangs, chile, earthquake, end time, prophecy

Are the birth pangs happening now?

Posted on June 11, 2022June 11, 2022 by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

Birth pangs, or labor pains, are defined as “One of the repetitive pains occurring in childbirth. Often used in the plural. Also: Difficulty or turmoil associated with a development or transition.” Birth pangs are an event that is unstoppable, they increase in intensity and frequency, and result in a new creation. During labor, the mother is in throes, sweats, and travails. When it is over there is peace, and rest.

God is fully in control and He has always sent weather to show His wrath, or to shake up the people, or to render judgment. He sends snow: Job 37:6 “For to the snow He says, ‘Fall on the earth,’ And to the downpour and the rain, ‘Be strong'”

He sends hail. Psalm 105:32: “He gave them hail for rain, And flaming fire in their land.”

He sends drought, earthquakes, thunder, and so on.

In a different kind of judgment, He also lifts his hand of restraint and gives a people over to their desires. (Romans 1:18-32). It’s less dramatic than the showy weather related ones, but in all ways more devastating judgment. John MacArthur describes the wrath of abandonment:

In Hosea 4:17, it is recorded that God said, “Ephraim is joined unto idols; let him alone.” There comes a time when God abandons men. God comes to a point where He lets a people go, lets them go to the consequences of their own sinful choices. They will not accept His counsel, they spurn all His reproof, as Proverbs says, so they eat the fruit of their own choices and they have to be satisfied with the devices they have chosen. Of the Pharisees, Jesus said, “Let them alone; they are blind leaders of the blind.” Matthew 15:14, the most terrifying words, “Let them alone.” Source- John MacArthur

The runaway inflation the US is currently experiencing, the squeeze of our budgets to buy groceries and gas, the racial and sexual and gender agendas seemingly succeeding, even overtaking our children, the rampant abortions, is emotionally difficult to endure. God’s judgment on a nation as seen in the Bible is often displayed in giving us over to our desires and no longer restraining us. When a nation is under judgment He gives them bad leaders and women leaders. Surely America is under judgment…

Josh Love said recently,

Does everyone understand that America is reaching the level of Sodom and Gomorrah and in some aspects have surpassed it already? I fully believe America’s judgment is going to be much worse than Sodom’s or just as bad. Repent & trust Christ today to flee the wrath to come.
@JoshLove45

Cognitively, we understand we are no better than Sodom or Gomorrah and in many ways a lot worse, and we understand we are deserving of judgment. Emotionally, it’s so hard to watch, though. On the one hand, to see the LORD’S power is fearful and awesome. To watch His promises unfold is a blessing, hard as these particular promises are to endure. But also with the increase in intensity and frequency of birth pangs comes heartache and tragedy for people. People we know and love are travailing. People we do not know are weeping in grief. Children lose parents, parents lose children. The unsaved are at increased risk of their fate: eternal separation from God! The terrible times Paul said would come are indeed here.

and yet, to the good of those who love Him-

“Affliction awakens the sins in our hearts that we didn’t realize were there. Seeing the truth about ourselves produces the fruit of humility.” — Christina R. Fox

Are we in ‘the end time”? Yes. The last days spoken of by Christ in Matthew 24 and elsewhere in the New Testament, are the times between His ascension and His return. All of the Church Age, so to speak. So yes, it’s now. Christ has never been closer to His return than He has ever been since the writing of the New Testament.

We are not in the Great Tribulation but we are in the expansive period between 33 AD and the promised return of the future, which is characterized by birth pangs. One could assert the birth pangs began in 64 AD at the Great Fire of Rome, which Roman Emperor Nero blamed on the Christians. Thus, the first wave of persecutions started. The Church believers were martyred and those who survived dispersed over Asia Minor. How much more intense are birth pangs after 2000 years? Intensifying, even if the Lord tarries another 1000 years, birth pangs intensify over time, and we are feeling their intensity here in American and elsewhere on earth.

For me, it is a most terrible time knowing that as each day passes, many more unsaved are sent to their eternal destiny. The loss of so many unsaved is a heartache beyond comprehension. I know that for the Lord it is even worse, for “God is not willing that any should perish, but all should come to repentance.” (2 Peter 3:8-10). Unfortunately we know that many still go on the broad way, to their destruction.

Hardest of all though is watching coldness overtake love, and apostasy or apathy overtake zeal. People are falling away from their first love at a terrible rate. It’s hard to watch church betrayals, spiritual abuse, denominational political agendas, all substituted for strength in the Lord and love for His people.

Provost & Research Professor of Theology, @GBTSeminary Owen Strachan said, “The thief in the night is coming, so keep your bags packed and ready by the door. I urge you to pray for the church in this hour, saints. Denominations aside, Satan is pressing his attack on the bride of Christ. Pray hard for the strengthening and endurance of the body, assaulted from all angles as we are. Pray that we will trim our lamps and await our King.”

Christian, please continue praying. Stay strong, appealing to the Holy Spirit to stand us upright. Now is not the time to quail, cower, or quit. “Do all things without grumbling or disputing; so that you will prove yourselves to be blameless and innocent, children of God above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you appear as lights in the world,” (Philippians 2:14-15).

The world needs the light of Jesus now more than ever. Be that light, in prayer and in love.

end time, mark of thebeast, prophecy

Satan is a good counterfeiter

Posted on April 28, 2022April 28, 2022 by elizabethprata

We know that satan is a liar and the father of lies (John 8:44). He is a counterfeiter, never having created anything himself, but only copying and perverting what God has made. Satan promotes a counterfeit gospel. (2 Corinthians 11:3, 4), raises up counterfeit ministers (2 Corinthians 11:13-15), perverts doctrine into a counterfeit doctrine (2 Timothy 4:3-4, Galatians 1:6-7), even has a counterfeit communion table (1 Corinthians 10:19-21), has a counterfeit power of lying signs, wonders and miracles (2 Thessalonians 2:8-10), even promotes a counterfeit messiah (2 Thessalonians 2:3, 4).

Our loving God gave us the grace to follow Him. I sincerely pray you have praised Him for that grace. The best way to see through counterfeit gospels, gods, doctrines, activities, and commandments, are to know the real ones through and through. Read the Bible each day, practice memorizing scriptures. Pray deeply in your walk with the Lord, not just quickie hello prayers or “I want” prayers seeking things from Him, but giving Him your worship and devotion. Seek His face. If you possess the REAL Spirit, sealed inside you, not the fake belief that leads to destruction in the Lake of Fire, you will be able to spot the counterfeit when it comes along. And it will!

end time, prophecy

A word of encouragement

Posted on April 26, 2022April 26, 2022 by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

Fellow Christians, as the Church Age draws to a close, the anger, mocking and scoffing grows. On internet chat boards, forums, blogs, and e-mails, the unsaved do rail and rebel in unloving and unforgiving manner. In real life, they mock and sneer, scorning our beliefs. Oppression, ridicule and persecution grows. Even witnessing to family members can be heart-breaking, as the most polite response is usually simply a deafening silence and at worst, rifts grow.

All this can bring a Christian down. It can cause one to despair and stumble, as we wonder if the tears that Jesus wipes from our face will be falling in grief because our loved ones are absent in glory.

Remember, Jesus knows this would be the circumstance in the end of days. He inspired Jude to write these words, as comforting to the church then as to us now:

A call to persevere

But, dear friends, remember what the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ foretold. They said to you, in Jude 1:18-23, “In the last times there will be scoffers who will follow their own ungodly desires.“

These are the men who divide you, who follow mere natural instincts and do not have the Spirit. But you, dear friends, build yourselves up in your most holy faith and pray in the Holy Spirit. Keep yourselves in God’s love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life. Be merciful to those who doubt; snatch others from the fire and save them; to others show mercy, mixed with fear—hating even the clothing stained by corrupted flesh. Jude 1:18-23

Doxology
To him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy— to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen. (Jude 1:17-25)

Witness in love, pray for the lost, and persevere dear Brother and Sister. For He is able to keep us from falling, He is the most Worthy One to whom we shall be presented in due time and in great joy. Until then, “to others show mercy.”