Category: end time

Posted in end time, jesus, prophecy, tolerance

Apostasy and tolerance: both are bad. Read the bible to find out more

Posted on by elizabethprata

In December, I read that the UK “census shows number of people in England and Wales who are not religious has risen to 14.1 million, almost double from 2001.”

It got me thinking about faithlessness and what we are told about in 1 Timothy 4:1

“Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons,”

I always found it interesting that the verse reads ‘the Spirit expressly says’. In other translations it reads ‘the Spirit clearly says’, and ‘the Spirit explicitly says.’ One would think that the Spirit is always clear and expresses exactly what He wants to say. I mean, it would still be authoritative enough if the verse read “The Spirit says that in latter days…” But that adverb ‘expressly’ always gets me. In interpreting His word when I come up against something like that, I come to a full stop. If the Spirit expressly says something, then it behooves us to pay attention to it.

The Greek word for ‘expressly’ is an adverb which is a derivative of rheo, meaning “command.” OK, that’s pretty strong.

So the upshot is the Spirit commands us to know and understand that in latter days some will depart the faith.

We can rest assured, that God’s numbers are not diminishing. It isn’t a weak religion where people can come and go and God #fail. Not at all. Whom He saves is saved. If they depart from the faith they are actually demonstrating that they never belonged to God in the first place. (1 John 2:19).

Oftentimes a departure from the faith is called apostasy. We are told that apostates will increase in number just before the Second Coming (Of Jesus, Not Obama. Sorry, I had to get that in there). 2 Thessalonians 2:3 has the verse:

“Let no one in any way deceive you, for it will not come unless the apostasy comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction,”

The Holman Bible Dictionary defines apostasy as “the act of rebelling against, forsaking, abandoning, or falling away from what one has believed.

Old Testament The Old Testament speaks of “falling away” in terms of a person’s deserting to a foreign king (2 Kings 25:11; Jeremiah 37:13-14; Jeremiah 39:9; Jeremiah 52:15). Associated ideas, however, include the concept of religious unfaithfulness: “rebellion” (Joshua 22:22); “cast away” (2 Chronicles 29:19); “trespass” (2 Chronicles 33:19); and “backslidings” (Jeremiah 2:19; Jeremiah 8:5). NAS uses “apostasy” in Jeremiah 8:5 and Hosea 14:4 with the plural in Jeremiah 2:19; Jeremiah 5:6; Jeremiah 14:7.”

It seems clear to most of us that the Lord is revealing that many who adopted a form of godliness but had denied its power (2 Timothy 3:5) are being stripped of their falsely spiritual cloak and are being revealed for whom they actually are.

An essay recently on iCNN, the citizen input channel of their news media’s online arm, recently published an essay that has reportedly garnered the second highest number of hits ever. 

Why I Raise My Children Without God

Posted on January 14, 2013, it has received 9,100 comments. Over 60,000 have recommended the essay on Facebook. A competing essay on iCNN titled “Why I raise my children WITH God”…has received a tenth of the number of comments and a third fewer recommends on Facebook.

People are apostatizing, and rapidly. The gap is widening so there can be no fence straddlers for very much longer.

We know what atheism is. It is people like the woman who wrote “Why I Raise My Children Without God”, they are people who never believed in God in any form for any time because they theorize that God does not exist. They have great faith in their theory.

It seems clear that we also know what apostasy is. It is people who (seemed to) believe for a time, and then abandoned any pretense of believing in their version of God. Muslims can apostatize. Buddhists can become apostate. But for the purposes of this essay, we are discussing people who claimed to believe in a risen Jesus as savior, but after a time, abandoned that belief and either went on to something else or simply became what they always were: atheist or agnostic.

But I have another question about who an apostate might be.

I wrote recently about old Eli, the temple priest whose record in the bible never revealed a sin that he personally committed, but he and his sons were killed for the sons’ sins. The sons were taking money from congregants, taking the choicest meats, and then taking women. Eli was not participating in this travesty, but he knew about it, and did nothing. That last thing is what God seemed upset about. The sons were killed for their part in the sinful behavior and Eli was killed because he didn’t do anything about it. (1 Samuel 2:29, 1 Samuel 3:13.)

What God said to Eli was that Eli was honoring his sons above God. I think we forget who we sin against, when we sin. All sins are against Jesus. (Psalm 51:4). The prodigal son said to his father that he’d “sinned against heaven, and against you.” (Luke 15:21)

In Revelation 2:21 Jesus said he had something against the church at Thyatira. “Nevertheless, I have this against you: You tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess. By her teaching she misleads my servants into sexual immorality and the eating of food sacrificed to idols.“

They knew there was sin, they knew the sin was destroying their church, and they did nothing about it. So Jesus had a condemnation for them. If it was today they would probably sit around saying “touch not God’s anointed” and “judge not” and “aren’t we so humble, in our tolerance.” Tolerance in the wrong direction is actually a sin. Think about it.

Paul condemned a situation in Corinth, where a man had his father’s wife. Paul condemned the sin and severely chastised the person performing the sin. But the church body was also chastised for tolerating it. Paul called them arrogant.

“You are arrogant! Ought you not rather to mourn?” (1 Corinthians 5:2)

Paul chastised them for boasting. The Corinthians were going around boasting about their gifts and their status and their works, and yet they were tolerating a gross sin. Their boasts were resting on a corrupted pedestal. If it were today, I would venture to say that they’d be boasting about their tolerance and their humility not to “judge.”

So the question is, is a person apostatizing if he tolerates gross sin but does nothing about it? Like Eli, Thyatira, and Corinth? If a person can tolerate such sins against Jesus and not do anything about it, are they actually loving Jesus as they should? Are they growing lukewarm, or even cold? If a people who actually know what sin does to a person, allows a person to continue in that sin, do they love that person if they do nothing to help them?

Does a false tolerance and an overdone spiritual correctness mean that love is growing dim? That they are apostatizing?

I don’t know if the definition of apostasy can be given to that kind of behavior. I’m just asking. I do know that Jesus condemned it the three biblical examples I used. At root, it means that they honor the sin more than they honor Jesus.

After Jesus threw out the moneylenders in the temple, “His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for your house will consume me.” (Psalm 69:9; John 2:17)

Barnes Notes says, “Its meaning is, that Jesus was affected with great zeal or concern for the pure worship of God. The zeal of thine house – “Zeal” is intense ardor in reference to any object. The “zeal of thine house” means extraordinary concern for the temple of God; intense solicitude that the worship there should be pure, and such as God would approve. Hath absorbed me, or engaged my entire attention and affection; hath surpassed all other feelings, so that it may be said to be the one great absorbing affection and desire of the mind.”

No matter what the exact definition of apostasy, zeal for God should consume us. Is our worship pure? Are we intensely concerned that no leaven is spoiling the lump? (The charge Paul gave to the Corinthians in the above passages). Do we tolerate a devastating pattern of sin in our own life, or in our church? You are not doing yourself, Jesus, or your brethren any favors by adopting a false sense of humility and refusing to address obvious and entrenched sin in God’s house. The bible is clear on that.

Dearest ones who have addressed sin, or tried to, in God’s house, He understands the toll zeal takes:

“My zeal wears me out, for my enemies ignore your words.” (Psalm 119:139)

The writer of Hebrews lets us know that there is nothing Jesus hasn’t gone through first that He isn’t intimately familiar with in us. (Hebrews 2:17). He understands the toll it takes to be zealous for God, and He has made many promises to those who persevere in the purest worship they can offer, the most zeal they can give, and the best attempts at rooting out sin. Here is one of those promises-

“He will swallow up death forever. The Sovereign LORD will wipe away the tears from all faces; he will remove the disgrace of his people from all the earth. The LORD has spoken.” (Isaiah 25:8)

Take heart. He is coming soon.

Posted in end time, russia, snowpocalypse

Snowpocalypse Russia: Snow ‘tsunami’ swallows streets, cars, buildings

Posted on by elizabethprata

Another example of extreme weather gone wild in the last days. Yes, I know it’s winter. Yes I know it’s snowy Russia. But take note of the word in the lede- ‘unprecedented.”

From Russia Today:
“Unrelenting snowfalls have caused unprecedented travel chaos in Russia. Over the past week the country has seen scores of traffic accidents, flight delays, and in some cases, the complete isolation of some remote settlements and towns.”

“As more than 10 inches of snow fell in Moscow – more than half of the average snowfall for the whole of January – the already congested city is on the verge of a traffic collapse. Traffic measuring portal Yandex reported Grade 10 (out of 10) jams on Friday, as strong winds created blizzard conditions and built imposing snow drifts. More than 12,000 de-icers and snow sweepers are out on the streets, working around the clock.”

More photos and the rest of the story at link above. It’s really an incredible amount of snow! Amazing photos!

CNN reports, “Survey: One in three Americans see extreme weather as a sign of biblical end times”
“Thirty-six percent of Americans say that the severity of recent natural disasters indicate that we are at the precipice of Jesus’ second coming and the end of the world, according to the survey, released by Public Religion Research Institute.”

God is in charge, all ways, all the time.

“For he saith to the snow, Be thou on the earth…” (Job 37:6)

“Praise the Lord from the earth, you great sea creatures and all deeps, fire and hail, snow and mist, stormy wind fulfilling his word!” (Psalm 148:7-8)

My opinion is that this snow in Russia is a demonstration of both His power and His restraint. God is in charge of the world, He is powerful. God could inundate the world with snow if he wanted to (as He did in the flood with water.) But that He doesn’t yet is a demonstration of His restraint.

His restraint will come to an end, and at some point after the rapture, He will release His wrath and fury. Please repent now, repent, ask Him to forgive your sins and believe on Him as resurrected Savior. And then to you O saved one, when the wrath comes, He would say–

“Come, my people, enter your chambers, and shut your doors behind you; hide yourselves for a little while until the fury has passed by.” (Isaiah 26:20)

Posted in drones, end time, mockers and scoffers

What next? Oh, it’s drone proof clothing on the runways

Posted on by elizabethprata

I read this article the other day in RT about drone-proof, anti-surveillance clothing. A NY artist is ‘about to unveil a whole line of garments designed to make the wearer nearly invisible to drones’, RT reported,

“Brooklyn-based artist Adam Harvey used to work primarily with photography, but he undertakes an entirely different medium with his newest project. He says that in the years since the United States post-9/11 PATRIOT Act has been in place, cameras have stopped becoming “art making tools” and have instead become “enablers of surveillance societies.”

Too true.

I am old enough to remember when bar codes on products at the grocery store came into use. The bar codes looked vaguely sinister and technologically suspicious to us. Of course, along with bar codes the clunky old checkout cashiers had to be upgraded. The old ‘punch ’em’ keys on the registers you toted with your fingers and your brain were now upgraded to lightly ‘binging’ smooth talking machines that rang up the groceries in infrared. This was another suspicious advance it took a while to get used to.

Can you imagine a world where there were no surveillance cameras on street corners? None in the stores? Actual store guards used to watch for shoplifters, not cameras.

Nowadays we have so many cameras in the sky watching us that enterprising artists and fashionistas are creating clothing that will deflect the drone cameras. This is a good thing, because some “surveillance drones “can zoom in and read a milk carton from 60,000 feet,” according to the Electronic Frontier Foundation.”

As the RT article says, “Ultimately, it’s a fashion statement that says an earful to those enabling a growing spy state.”

It has only been 39 years since the bar code was used commercially, and only 36 years since the first realistic desktop personal computer was sold. Yet the technological advances have been massive- and concerning. It will all culminate in the mark of the beast.

So much has been written about this mark. It comes from Revelation 13:16-18.

“Also it causes all, both small and great, both rich and poor, both free and slave, to be marked on the right hand or the forehead, so that no one can buy or sell unless he has the mark, that is, the name of the beast or the number of its name. This calls for wisdom: let the one who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man, and his number is 666.”

John MacArthur preached on the verses in 1993. He said,

“In other words, you can’t be involved in daily commerce, you’re going to starve to death frankly. You can’t buy anything and you can’t sell anything. You can’t get any food, you can’t go to the source of food and buy it because you don’t have the brand. And you can’t get anybody to buy it from you because you don’t have the brand and you can’t get any money, you can’t involve yourself in daily commerce, the needs of life are therefore cut off to you. Except the one who has the mark. Now you get the picture. One world power ruling the globe, one system of economic operation, one central controlling computer with the name of everybody. Very likely currency is gone. Controlled credit takes over. And rather than a card, which can be stolen or lost, you have a mark…a mark which identifies you as a part of the system.”

Since at least 1975 with the latest advances of computerized technology the road to the end has closed fast. If you step into Revelation and see the prediction of the global economic system’s massive reach into the lives of every person on the planet, and look backward to the mid-1970s you can see how we global citizens have been slowly boiled frogs. It has been just in my own lifetime that we went from non-computerized to humanoid robotic, drone-surveying society!

Years ago, if you were a born again believer and you read these verses, you’d shake your head and wonder how it would all come about. Well, today, unfortunately, we see. A drone can fly over and note who you are, mark your location, read your license plate…

The exciting thing is, as you look backward from the perspective of the bible’s end, and you see the closeness of the prophetic fulfillments, it means that Christ is even closer to calling us home. If we can see not only the end from where we are today and also see how the end might come about, then the rapture would be even closer than that.

When He does call, I think we will be so surprised that it was at THAT moment. Whenever it happens, it will seem sooner than we thought. Peter wrote an epistle to his flock to remind them that the Day of the Lord will come.

“This is now the second letter that I am writing to you, beloved. In both of them I am stirring up your sincere mind by way of reminder, that you should remember the predictions of the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior through your apostles,” (2 Peter 3:1-2)

This reminder goes quadruple gazillion for us, two thousand years later!

“Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn! But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.” (2 Peter 3:11-13)

Peter asked, knowing the will come, ‘What manner of people must we be?’ It is a good question. What manner of people may we be??

Clarke’s Commentary answers–

“Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be? By holy conversation and godliness, expecting and earnestly desiring the coming of the day of God, etc.’ We are the opposite of the mockers and scoffers Peter mentioned in the same chapter, verse 3. We are speaking confidently of His coming, while earnestly looking for Him and desiring righteousness to come reign over our hearts and our world.

The world seems so solid, hard with rocks and deep with caverns and high with mountains- but it will be dissolved! Yet we, our ridiculous flesh that is so weak, will remain! Therefore what manner of person will we be? Godly, I hope. Expectant I trust. Eager, I pray. We will not wear drone proof garments to block out the infrared light, but robes of righteousness that shine the light of glory. Soon, and soon.

Posted in end of days, end time, eruption, Tolbachik, volcano

Russia’s Tolbachik volcano eruption continues, creation of lava lake worries authorities

Posted on by elizabethprata

Yet another volcano that was “once dormant” has come to life. This article is from the UK Telegraph. Geology Professor Erik Klemetti says from a scientific standpoint, “bad article, cool video.” It is a cool video. Here is the news:

Erupting Russian volcano creating a lava lake
A lava lake has started to form at the once-dormant Plosky Tolbachik volcano in Russia’s far eastern Kamchatka peninsula.
“Russian scientists said there were no signs that the Plosky Tolbachik volcano will stop erupting soon, Russian broadcaster RU-RTR reported earlier on Friday. … After lying dormant for almost 40 years Plosky Tolbachik suddenly erupted in November.”

It is the creation of the lava lake that has caught their attention. This article from Australia reports:

Plosky Tolbachik volcano erupts in Russia’s Far East
A VOLCANO erupting in Russia’s Far East is sending plumes of gas and ash high into the sky and creating a lava lake. The Plosky Tolbachik volcano is located in Kamchatka peninsula, hundreds of kilometres from the nearest residential areas. Gennady Karpov, a volcano expert at Russia’s Academy of Sciences in the Far East, said: “There were no lava lakes at Kamchatka volcanos before now. We have never seen this before.” Plosky Tolbachik has emitted jets of hot lava up to 200 metres high.”

Both articles speak of hot or burning lava. Klemetti’s wry tweet made me laugh: (Erik K / Eruptions ‏@eruptionsblog)

“And what’s the deal with “burning lava”? Is this as opposed to “pleasant and soothing lava”?”

Posted in doomsday, end time, jesus, Mayans, prophecy

What is the opposite of a Mayan doomsday? Jesus’s Peaceday

Posted on by elizabethprata

Mayan doomsday hysteria is overtaking people, towns, whole nations. According to an incorrect interpretation of the long count Mayan calendar, (Baktun) the world is supposed to end tomorrow. The fascination with this calendar and its prediction of global doom has apparently affected many, many people. Crimes are being committed. Deaths are occurring. Government decisions are being made.

O, would that they would do the same by taking the bible seriously! If people changed their lives, thought of their mortality, made decisions based on the truth and fact of a REAL doomsday that will come for every human who ever lived…what a world this would be. Alas, it is not.

But be that as it may, the troubles of the mind are bubbling to the surface. The intuitive fear that every human has is giving rise to actions that are caused by those fears.

And what are those fears? Follow me on the progressive thought: The bible says eternity is set in our hearts. (Ecclesiastes 3:11). It says that we are influenced by the general revelation of God in nature, (Romans 1:20; more here) and also that we have been influenced by special revelation which is the spoken Word, miracles, visions, dreams, and Jesus. And if we are influenced by God in those ways, we also intuitively feel the weight of our sins, (2 Timothy 3:6; Isaiah 1:4). Therefore we understand deep in the recesses of the darkest corner of our minds, that we are accountable for them. Each individual in the world at some point before their death, unless they were a babe or cognitively impaired, have pondered the eternal question- what happens after death? Is this all there is?

Not knowing the answer to that question bothers people. Of a mundane day to day living, the issue doesn’t come up so often. However if a person is confronted with a horrific event, such as the Newtown School massacre, they think about it. Or if they receive a dread diagnosis, they think about it. Or if they approach old age, they think about it. It’s natural to wonder.

Not having the answer, some people go more crazy and frantic when faced with a looming appointment with mortality. For many today, that looming appointment seems to them to be the Mayan end date and alleged pagan Apocalypse. People really are going crazy. See this news from around the world:

Almost 1,000 doomsday cult members arrested in China
Police in China have carried out further arrests of members of a doomsday cult for spreading rumours about the imminent end of the world, state media say.
State media terms Almighty God an “evil cult” – the same description it applies to the banned Falun Gong group.

As ‘Doomsday’ Looms, Serbs Cash In On Mystical Mountain
If doomsday really falls on Friday, the residents of this Serbian mountain region are cashing in while they can.  “We’re booked out December 20-23. We have a New Age convention and guests are coming because of the end of the world,” said Nebojsa Gajic, manager of the 160-bed, Communist-era Millennium Hotel on the slopes of Mount Rtanj.  The region is selling itself as the best place to survive the looming apocalypse–which will fall on December 21, according to mystics whose calculations depend on the ending of an era in the 5,125-year-old Mayan calendar.

Dec. 21, 2012: Fearful ‘end of world’ callers flood NASA
If there’s one government agency really looking forward to Dec. 22, it’s NASA.  The space agency said it has been flooded with calls and emails from people asking about the purported end of the world — which, as the doomsday myth goes, is apparently set to take place on Dec. 21, 2012. … NASA decided to do “everything in our power” to set the facts straight.  That effort included interviews with scientists posted online and a web page Brown said has drawn more than 4.6 million views. [italics mine]

School Districts Cancel Class Due To Doomsday Talk, Potential Threats
Thousands of students will have an extra long holiday break after school administrators in at least two Michigan counties decided to cancel classes because of talk surrounding the shootings in Newtown, Connecticut and rumors connected to the Mayan calendar predicting the end of the world.  Five districts in Lapeer County and 20 districts in Genesee County posted announcements Wednesday evening cancelling classes Thursday and Friday. … Additionally, rumors connected to the Mayan calendar predicted end of the world on Friday have also surfaced,” a letter from Matt Wandrie, Superintendent of Lapeer Community Schools said.

Chinese police suspect man who stabbed 23 kids ‘influenced’ by doomsday rumor 
Chinese police said Monday that the man who stabbed 23 children in a rural Chinese elementary school just hours before the Newtown, Conn., massacre may have been “influenced” by doomsday predictions. A belief that the Mayan calendar predicts an apocalypse this Friday, Dec. 21, has gained peculiar currency here. And the knifing spree is the darkest manifestation yet of how end-of-the-world rumors have taken hold in China.

People are taking this thing seriously. Too bad they are all wrong. They are going crazy. And they do not need to.

Oh, the Lord may rapture His believers any day, and the last 7 years of doom on earth may begin. That last 7 years does include days of darkness as the Mayans “predict”, and asteroids and comets and other doomish happenings. But if it does occur it will not be because the Mayans said so, it will be because GOD said so.

However, the heartbreaking concepts in all this are two-fold. First, that people and governments are making decisions based on a false prediction from a lost cult of the Mayans. Their religion means nothing and it came to nothing. Chances are that naught untoward will happen tomorrow. Sadly, many people who have either committed suicide, or killed someone or went underground or sold all their stuff will sheepishly understand they made an eternal mistake based on false intel.

Secondly, what we’re seeing with all the hullabaloo is the roiling of usually placid waters of apparent unconcern with their eternal destiny. People hide or suppress the turmoil of fear and uncertainty underneath. (Romans 1:18). We don’t usually see a person’s turmoil. Big events stir up that inner turmoil. That is what we’re seeing today.

In this case it is the specter of doom in the form of an ancient pagan prediction. However, even the Newtown massacre prompted full churches and candlelight vigils in the search for meaning among the face-off with death and its eternal question.

Source

source

“Oh, the raging of many nations–they rage like the raging sea! Oh, the uproar of the peoples–they roar like the roaring of great waters!” (Isaiah 17:12) Isaiah likened the turmoil of nations with its endlessly raging peoples to the roaring seas. So did Luke:

“And there will be signs in sun and moon and stars, and on the earth distress of nations in perplexity because of the roaring of the sea and the waves,” (Luke 21:25)

Isaiah’s use of roaring is from a Hebrew word hamah that means to ‘murmur, growl, roar, be boisterous’ and that is exactly what we see when a great many people across the world at once are forced to face mortality and confront their conscience with the question of “what happens after death?” Like a Mayan apocalypse. They murmur, growl, become boisterous, just like the raging sea.

One can be peaceful, placid, and avoid the roiling of waters by being in Jesus. HE brings peace, and only HE brings peace. Without Him, there is no peace. And no answers.

“For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us; Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace;” (Ephesians 2:14-15)

“To give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.” (Luke 1:79).

The Apocalypse is coming. It is not the Mayan apocalypse, but the Jesus Apocalypse. Apocalypse literally is from the Greek word apokalýptō and Strong’s concordance defines it as:

“properly, uncover, revealing what is hidden (veiled, obstructed), especially its inner make-up; (figuratively) to make plain (manifest), particularly what is immaterial (invisible).”

The last book of the bible is Revelation and it reveals the things of the last days. It reveals to one and all the terrible wrath of God leveled upon the world for their sins. He reveals what He will do.

In Amos 3:7 it is written, “For the Lord GOD does nothing without revealing his secret to his servants the prophets”

and in this case He revealed His intentions to John, who was also instructed to write it down and thereby it becomes instructive to us in this generation.

“The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to his servants the things that must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John, who bore witness to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, even to all that he saw. Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear, and who keep what is written in it, for the time is near. … Write what you see in a book and send it to the seven churches, to Ephesus and to Smyrna and to Pergamum and to Thyatira and to Sardis and to Philadelphia and to Laodicea.” (Revelation 1:1-3, 11)

We are meant to read the book and to understand the price that pride and sin and rejection of Jesus brings. Surely the LORD does nothing without revealing it…and He has. The Mayans have not.

You have been warned, as every generation has been warned since the generation of John and the closing of the bible with the words of Revelation He ordained John to write.

Wrath is coming. But the Peace that passes all understanding is also revealed. (Philippians 4:7). That also, is yours for the choosing. I beg and plead with you who do not believe, I entreat and urge those who do believe but are falling away. I am not so proud that I would not beg you in abject tears to heed the words of Jesus the Christ who is and who was and who is to come again.

It may be today. It may be tomorrow. It may be next month. Or your very death may cause you to slide in due time toward the eternal destiny He has set before us. (Deuteronomy 32:35). There are only two destines for every person who ever lives: eternity in hell away from Him, and eternity in heaven with Him.

As Paul wrote in the great book of Romans,

“I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect”. (Romans 12:1-2).

What is the will of God, you ask?

“For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him, may have eternal life; and I Myself will raise him up on the last day.” (John 6:40)

Believe on Jesus, the resurrected God-man who was slain for the sins of the world, and who took YOUR wrath as the substitute. Repent and believe. And then you will no longer wonder about your appointment with mortality. You will KNOW.  You will never worry about anything so foolish as a Mayan apocalypse again. It is His delighted pleasure to reveal to you your destiny which is peace and glory and perfection and joy. His peace is amazing. Jesus is amazing. Come join us in His peace, I beg you.


Posted in end time, prophecy, urgency

Urgency of the times

Posted on by elizabethprata

I have the day off today. I’ve been reading Jeremiah 4, a tough, tough chapter. There are so many parallels between Jeremiah’s time and ours… So when I finished reading, I re-listened to John MacArthur’s sermon that he delivered in June 2011 about Jeremiah and his times, called, “Prophetic Message to an Ungodly Nation” and he compared it to our times. They are so similar it is amazing. I guess maybe not so amazing…because sinful people are still sinful people and pride is still pride.

I also listened to a sermon on Jesus as the Word from John 1. My favorite verses in the bible are John 1:1-5. So that was a good sermon to listen to, very edifying and beautiful. Stay in the word. Jesus is our rock to cling to.

Here is an essay by Dr. David Reagan on the topics of Urgency and Encouragement. My twitter and blog friend Child of God tweeted it and I followed the link to read this very good piece. I hope it encourages you as it did me.

——————————

 Urgency
Dr. David R. Reagan,
Monday, October 29, 2012

There is a sense of urgency in the air. Our nation is on the brink of moral and economic collapse. The world is caught up in an insane frenzy of terrorism. The Middle East is about to explode. And the biblical signs of the times are shouting from the heavens that Jesus is about to return.

In the words of Charles Dickens, “It is the best of times, it is the worst of times.”

It is the worst of times because the depravity of Man is manifesting itself in the increasing rejection and blasphemy of God. The result is an exponential increase in violence and immorality.

It is the best of times because the collapse of society worldwide is the fulfillment of end time prophecies that point to the soon return of Jesus.

Jesus Himself said that He would return at a time when society was once again as immoral and violent as it was in the days of Noah (Matthew 24:37).

An Exciting But Challenging Time

We are privileged to be living in such an exciting and momentous time when we can witness the stage being set for the triumphant return of Jesus. But it is a time that calls for courage.

We simply must keep our eyes on Jesus, and we must remember that even if our nation has no hope, we as individual Christians have great hope.

But that sense of hope will prevail in our lives only if we consciously and determinedly live with an eternal perspective.

God is in Control

We must keep in mind that as the world falls apart around us, God’s Word says that He “sits in the heavens and laughs” (Psalm 2:4). His laughter is not prompted by a lack of concern. Rather, He laughs because He has everything under control, for He has the wisdom and power to orchestrate all the evil of Man and Satan to the ultimate triumph of His Son.

He has also promised that He will walk with those who are Christians, accompanying us through fire and high water (Isaiah 43:1-3).

And He has promised us an escape before the world totally collapses into absolute chaos (Luke 21:36). That escape is called the Rapture. When Paul revealed this escape in detail in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18, he concluded by saying, “Comfort one another with these words.”

Additionally, we have the promise of the Millennial reign of Jesus to look forward to. What a day that will be!

Jesus will reign as King of kings and Lord of lords from Jerusalem. David, in his glorified body, will reign as King of Israel. We, in our glorified bodies, will be scattered across the earth to reign over those in the flesh. And the earth will be flooded with peace, righteousness and justice, as the waters cover the seas (Isaiah 2:1-4 and Isaiah 11:3-9).

Maranatha!

Posted in earthquake, end time, frankenstorm, hurricane sandy, jesus, prophecy, shell shock

Frankenstorm and British Columbia earthquake: Spiritual warfare and battle fatigue

Posted on by elizabethprata

I was reading a weather report regarding Hurricane Sandy Frankenstorm. The CT Post calls it a “freakish and unprecedented monster.” This is the storm of mega-proportions that due to its combined elements of tropical storm, arctic nor’easter and unusual trajectory have made an historic storm of never-before-seen power. Millions will be affected by this Sunday-Tuesday with wind, rain, and snow. The impacts are expected to linger well into the weeks or even months. Power is expected to be out for days along the most populated segment of the nation: Washington DC to Boston Mass or even as far north as Portland, Maine. That is according to current weather analyses.

It seems that the storms have been coming one upon the other, almost. This is true for the entire globe, but especially true for America. It was a year ago May that the tornado outbreak at Joplin MO hit, wiping out the town and a good many other towns too. Then we had severe drought, wildfires, snow, derechos, floods and more in a non-stop train of disasters and storms. In addition, there have been thwarted terrorist attacks, mass shootings, Molotov cocktails, and unparallelled violence in Detroit and other cities. Then we had wars, cyberwars, and overseas involvement in successful and failed missions (Benghazi, anyone? WHO left them to DIE?).

People are weary. Just when we got over one set of disasters or near disasters, another one occurs that is worse. The Frankenstorm is a case in point.

I was reading an article about the coming storm that called it a hybrid, 800 mile storm set to impact millions and tens of millions of people. In the midst of the hubbub of the actual event, so large the mind can hardly contain what may be coming, one man’s tears moved me.

“Across the street, Douglas Jumper, whose first floor took on nearly 5 feet of water during Irene, was tying down his patio furniture on Friday and moving items in his wood shop to higher ground. “I’m tired. I am tired,” Jumper, who turns 58 on Saturday, said through tears. “We don’t need this again.”

What is happening in the world is a battle. It always has been a fight since the fall, but because we are close to the end the battle is more furious, more visible, and more potent against the humans who dwell on the earth.

Christians know we’re in a spiritual battle. Secular people don’t, but we do. Satan rages against God and against His children. God rages against sin. The Christian battles his own personal sin, and each of suffers from the effects of it and from the effect of others’ sins. It is a fight all the time. We must be constantly vigilant, (James 4:7) on guard (1 Peter 5:8) and wearing our armor. (Ephesians 6:10-17). Even having the Holy Spirit in us to energize us, it is a weary thing to always be on guard against a relentless and intelligent enemy bent on our destruction. Ask any soldier. (Illustration: artist unknown, Illustrator of Henry Davenport Northrop’s ‘Treasures of the Bible’, 1894)

The bible warns us against growing tired and losing heart.

“Let us not grow weary in well-doing, for in due season we shall reap, if we do not lose heart.” (Galatians 6:9)

Notice the word IF. This says to me that it is possible to lose heart. The verse is talking about not getting tired of being kind and patient and loving. We become appalled at obstacles, disheartened at betrayals, grief-stricken over sin, and sometimes we just plain tire of the battle.

Jeremiah said in chapter 45:3 “You said, ‘Woe to me! The LORD has added sorrow to my pain; I am worn out with groaning and find no rest.'”

Imagine how hard it is for those people who do not have the Holy Spirit in them to help restrain their sin, grow in Christ-likeness, and in doing well to others. How is it for them who do not know Christ and wonder at the storms. I awaken this morning to news of a 7.7 quake in British Columbia (Mark 13:8) and a tsunami warning for Hawaii and small tsunami waves already hitting the American west coast. So both the east of America and the west are being pummeled.

The man from the article, Mr. Jumper, comes to mind. I do not know if he is saved or not, but his weariness just struck me. I can empathize. The battle against the worldly elements must seem insurmountable…one storm after another means that there is constant activity to protect, board, evacuate, adrenaline flowing, family members to be rounded up, cared for, evacuated. Then the waiting through the storms, never knowing if your home will even be there after it is all said and done. Then afterwards the constant activity expended to get back up and running, repairs, insurance calls, re-building….

And then it happens again. And then again.

We are told that the end time is like a woman giving birth. The long gestation began when Jesus ascended and will end when He returns in glory. As the pregnancy nears its bloody conclusion the discomfort grows as the pressure increases to unbearable levels. And when the labor pangs begin the pain only increases in frequency and intensity. The brief periods of respite between the pangs grow shorter in duration and soon before one can catch one’s breath the next pang comes crashing down. It is like that with the Frankenstorm and the major earthquake. And the Tribulation will be so much worse. We need more than ever to carry each other’s burdens. (Galatians 6:2).

Annie Vallotton, Gal 6:2

Without the Lord, I don’t know how people even cope. Perhaps they are not coping.

Battle fatigue:

Wikipedia explains, ‘Now called “Combat stress reaction (CSR), is a term used within the military to describe acute behavioral disorganization seen by medical personnel as a direct result of the trauma of war. Also known as “combat fatigue”, historically, it has some link to shell shock. Combat stress reaction is an acute reaction including a range of behaviours resulting from the stress of battle which decrease the combatant’s fighting efficiency. The most common symptoms are fatigue, slower reaction times, indecision, disconnection from one’s surroundings, and inability to prioritize.”

You can go here to look at the symptoms of combat fatigue, or see the chart below. Click to enlarge.

Satan brings disorder into our physical world by afflicting humans (Job 1-2; 2 Corinthians 12:7; Hebrews 2:14). The disorder is not just external but internal also. In my opinion I believe the symptoms many people are feeling, whether they know they are in a battle or not, are symptoms of battle fatigue.

Image from World War I taken in an Australian dressing station near Ypres in 1917. The wounded soldier in the lower left of the photo has a dazed thousand-yard stare, a frequent symptom of “shell-shock”. (Wikipedia)

Literally, I awaken each morning wondering what dread thing might have happened overnight. Is Damascus destroyed? The verses in Isaiah 17 say that it will happen suddenly. Destruction comes quickly, was there an earthquake? A volcanic explosion? The labor pangs are increasing to a degree where their effects cannot help but be felt in the world by the people. People are internalizing the stress of the economic times, the moral times, and the potential for natural disaster. These internalizations, fears, tragedies, worries have an effect on the mind and the body.

Franz von Stuck, “War,” c. 1894

The underlying root cause of all this is a spiritual battle over the deed to the earth. (Satan has already lost and our Savior owns the earth and everything in it (Revelation 5:5; Psalm 24:1), but satan refuses to believe that, so he presses on, and God lets Him, until the time is right for us to be taken up and the times to end.)

“Fret not yourself because of evildoers, and be not envious of the wicked, for the evil man has no future; the lamp of the wicked will be put out.” (Proverbs 242:19-20)

Gill’s Exposition explains that verse so well: “For their calamity shall rise suddenly,…. And come upon those that fear not God, and rebel against the king and the state, and innovate in matters of religion; and especially that bring in damnable heresies, and, while they cry Peace, peace, and are pleasing themselves with their new schemes and prosperous success, swift and sudden destruction comes upon them.”

We rejoice in our Holy Savior who does these holy things. There will be much singing in heaven over His conquering of sin. But watching the world be warned and punished is HARD. And it has its effects. We are battle weary too! Those who do not have Jesus are even more battle weary. At least we know the time is short. They don’t know when this will ever end, and for many who do not heed the warnings, it never will.

Be aware that the spiritual battle of this world is taking its very real and physical toll on people. Brethren, do not grow weary. The writer of Hebrews said,

“not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.” (Hebrews 10:25).

I believe this is why: battle fatigue. Its effects are real.  Do not grow weary. It is the last hour! The Lord is near, indeed, He is a very present help in times of trouble. (Psalm 46:1)

“but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.” (Isaiah 40:31)

Posted in end time, jesus, molotov, prophecy, sinkhole

What’s with the Molotov cocktail throwing? Tremor at LA sinkhole, and other news

Posted on by elizabethprata

Here is some news for you. There really is too much these days to cover comprehensively. The nearness of the Tribulation is truly astonishing, and getting closer each second. The events lining up in the Middle East, the deepening financial depression with no solutions in sight, the earth events such as quakes, sinkhole, storms etc, the X-flares from the sun, hatred of Israel and the Jews worldwide, the sinful behavior of people with all their violence, the false teachers and tickled ears that refuse to hear the Gospel, … I am shaking my head in amazement.

You know that the United States is rapidly becoming a Third World country, don’t you? Our debt, lack of manufacturing, loss of influence and stature in the world, shrinking military…all have combined to bring the wolves to the door. A Russian sub patrolled our shores in the Gulf of Mexico for almost a month and we didn’t notice. Or if we did, we didn’t say anything.

Now we have a UN election monitor team coming to the US to monitor OUR elections. Foreign officials coming in unprecedented numbers to monitor US elections. Texas of course, said don’t mess with us, and threatened to have anyone who even looked like a monitor prosecuted.

All I can say is, the election won’t solve our problems. And besides, even if Romney wins, it is a long time until the inauguration. Anything could happen.

In addition to foreign former superpowers nosing around our shores undetected, and global monitoring teams watching our elections, we have had a spate of Molotov cocktail throwing incidents. “The Molotov cocktail is a generic name used for a variety of improvised incendiary weapons. Due to the relative ease of production, they are frequently used by amateur protesters and non-professionally equipped fighters in urban guerrilla warfares. They are primarily intended to set targets ablaze rather than instantly destroy them.” (Wikipedia)

A Molotov cocktail was thrown in a Virginia Mall this week. “Leon Alphans Traille, Jr., 29, has been charged with committing arson for allegedly throwing a Molotov cocktail into the food court area of the Ballston Common Mall in Arlington, Virginia.” He threw it from the second floor balcony into the food court. It did not explode but it did ignite. The flames were extinguished. There is no more innocuous place in America than a mall food court. Can you imagine sitting there, munching on an Orange Julius or a Au Bon Pain croissant and suddenly the floor next to you is aflame and you’re running screaming down the hall?

This news piece is graphic. A Molotov cocktail was thrown onto a guy and it did light up, burning the man.
“Police in the United States have released shocking video of a 54-year-old man being set on fire as he was sitting outside a market in the state of California. “The victim was waiting for his father to get food, minding his own business, when the suspect came from an alley and threw an object at him, a bottle,” Sergeant Aaron Eaton of the Long Beach Police Department told local media. The graphic surveillance video, released on Sunday, shows the suspect tossing a Molotov cocktail at the victim, who was sitting on the ground outside a Long Beach, California market on Friday evening. The victim, engulfed in flames, runs into the nearby parking lot, where witnesses helped put out the fire. He is in serious condition with burns to the lower part of his body, his hands and his face, and his name is being withheld.”

This one is out of Hurst TX. “Federal agents are trying to identify who threw small explosive devices at a lawyer’s office and an oil company in Hurst. Firefighters discovered Molotov cocktails when they responded to a report of a fire in the 1200-block of Southridge Court on Sunday morning, said Andrew Young, a spokesman for the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.”

Montreal has had three Molotov attacks in 24 hours. A Molotov cocktail launched at sushi restaurant and two bars.

Throwing an incendiary device on an innocent bystander is horrible! Unconscionable!! As this writer said,

“Increase of Wickedness” – There is a pattern of lawlessness dominating our society today that throughout history was found in civilizations in the process of decline. It is a pattern evident in nations that rejected God’s Word as ultimate authority in their lives and is a pattern prevailing in many Americans today. Scripture tells us that… Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold. [Matthew 24:12]. I believe America’s rejection of Christ’s lordship is the reason behind all the bloodshed, violence, racial hatred, moral decay, drug abuse and outbreak of deadly sexual diseases in our society. Lawmakers, educators and the media have made God an unspeakable subject…

So now there’s this Frankenstorm looming. I wrote about it on Tuesday when the computer models were first showing something that would be worse that 1991’as Perfect Storm. Then I updated it early this morning. Since then, the computer models have lined up and there seems to be something of a 90% chance that this storm will be as bad as they feared. Forecasters warn East Coast about ‘Frankenstorm‘:

“It’s looking like a very serious storm that could be historic,” said Jeff Masters, meteorology director of the forecasting service Weather Underground. “Mother Nature is not saying ‘trick-or-treat.’ It’s just going to give tricks.” National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration forecaster Jim Cisco, who coined the nickname Frankenstorm, said: “We don’t have many modern precedents for what the models are suggesting. … It’s almost a weeklong, five-day, six-day event,” he said from a NOAA forecast center in College Park, Md. “It’s going to be a widespread, serious storm. … Some have compared the tempest to the so-called Perfect Storm that struck off the coast of New England in 1991, but that one didn’t hit as populated an area. Nor is this one like last year’s Halloween storm, which was merely an early snowfall. “The Perfect Storm only did $200 million of damage and I’m thinking a billion,” Masters said. “Yeah, it will be worse.”

Regarding the Louisiana sinkhole I’ve been reporting about, the people near it have been evacuated, but the sinkhole keeps growing and the return-home date is not in sight. Officials: Math doesn’t work; end to evacuation is unclear
“The math isn’t adding up in Assumption Parish, and some parish officials are worried about what might be happening underground near a Bayou Corne area sinkhole. … With this uncertainty as well as other factors — such as the natural gas still trapped underground — officials said the end date of the evacuation of the Bayou Corne and Grand Bayou communities remains unclear. “Until we figure out what is going on below the surface, it would be very negligent on our part to ask these people to come back into their homes,” Assumption Parish Sheriff Mike Waguespack said. The evacuation has been in place since the evening of Aug. 3, hours after the sinkhole was found south of La. 70 South on Texas Brine’s leased property. The evacuation affects about 150 homes.” …

But then today, Tremors were reported at the giant Louisiana sinkhole

“A sharp tremor was recorded by USGS monitors just after 9 p.m. Wednesday at the site of the giant Louisiana sinkhole in Assumption Parish.”

Gazans fire 80 rockets at Israel in last 24 hours
“Eighty rockets and mortar shells hit the western Negev on Wednesday, in the second day of one of the most severe rocket barrages on southern Israel in recent years.”

The world hates Israel.

“Heading toward an irreparable rift between U.S. Jews and Protestants
“As relations between Jews and mainline Protestants in the U.S. hit a 45-year low after 15 Protestant leaders sent a letter to Congress urging that aid to Israel be reconsidered.”

UN expert: Boycott companies in Israel settlements
“UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.N. special investigator on human rights in the Palestinian territories called Wednesday for a boycott of all companies that have dealings with Israeli settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem…”

Sudan angry, defiant after attack that it blames on Israel
“Sudan remained defiant and angry Thursday after a fatal late-night bombing of a weapons factory in that east African country – a sophisticated attack a Sudanese official continued to blame on Israel.”

The sun is pretty active. Spaceweather.com reports magnetic froth. Sounds pretty! But it packs a punch.
“MAGNETIC FROTH: Sunspot AR1598 has quieted down since unleashing an X1-class solar flare on Oct. 23rd. It might be the calm before the storm. The sunspot is still large and apparently potent, as shown in this image captured by amateur astronomer Sergio Castillo of Inglewood, California:”…

This is a very good essay by Randy Alcorn on the upcoming election. he deals with all our objections, lol. Personally I am hoping for the rapture prior to election. Obama can HAVE the world, then.

Election 2012 Part 5: Is it Wrong to Vote for the Lesser of Evils? Shouldn’t We Instead Vote for a Third Party Candidate?

We are citizens of a better country.

“But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city.’ (Hebrews 11:16)

Posted in daniel, end time, future shock, many shall run to and fro, prophecy

Space jumping and Daniel’s prophecy

Posted on by elizabethprata

“But you, Daniel, shut up the words and seal the book, until the time of the end. Many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall increase.” (Daniel 12:4).

Does this prophecy, the famous one in Daniel, mean that technology and science and widespread travel are a sign of the end times? Yes and no.

First of all, the end time has been since Jesus ascended and will end when He returns. In that case, the advances of the Romans in installing indoor plumbing, aqueducts, hot and cold running water, as many roads as are equivalent with the United States Interstate system, and the Colosseum are indicators of the end time as much as our current Interstate, the Houston Superdome, and Kohler’s no-touch kitchen faucet are.

As a matter of fact, no one still knows the how the ancients came up with the technology behind the Great Pyramid at Giza, as mathematically, architecturally, and astronomically perfect as it is.

So what does the verse in Daniel mean? Barnes’ Notes proposes one interpretation:

“Many shall run to and fro – Shall pass up and down in the world, or shall go from place to place. The reference is clearly to those who should thus go to impart knowledge; to give information; to call the attention of men to great and important matters. The language is applicable to any methods of imparting important knowledge, and it refers to a time when this would be the characteristic of the age. There is nothing else to which it can be so well applied as to the labors of Christian missionaries, and ministers of the gospel, and others who, in the cause of Christian truth, go about to rouse the attention of men to the great subjects of religion; and the natural application of the language is to refer it to the times when the gospel would be preached to the world at large.”

MacArthur explains it this way:
“At that time, many shall run to and fro and knowledge shall be increased.” Now this is a most interesting phrase, been interpreted many ways. Let me give you what is the basic interpretation, the words, the context that I think makes real sense. It is not talking about the increase of scientific knowledge primarily, although that may be an allusion or an implication that could be drawn. What it is talking about is this, many people in the Tribulation, the time of the end, are going to run to and fro trying to find out answers to what’s going on. And they’re going to find the book of Daniel and at that point, their knowledge will be increased.”

So I don’t think we can be dogmatic that this or that is definitely what the verse means. After all, the Lord said to seal it up until the end. If we are still debating what it means then obviously He hasn’t unsealed the meaning to us yet, though we do have more of a clue today than in Daniel’s day, I believe, because we are so close to the end

Francis Bacon, English philosopher of the 1600s Restoration was influential in insisting that the advances in science currently underway should be for the betterment of man. He urged a more utilitarian approach instead of a contemplative one, and thus, he was a forerunner of the Industrial Revolution. However, just as ominously, Bacon said in his major work, “Novum Organum” (the second part of the Instauration), he stated his view that the restoration of science was part of the “partial returning of mankind to the state it lived before the fall”, restoring its dominion over creation, while religion and faith would partially restore mankind’s original state of innocence and purity.” (source)

In this way, Bacon kicked us into high gear in replacing God with science.

Bacon’s motto was “Multi pertransibunt & augebitur scientia” = “many will pass through and knowledge will be the greater”, as seen on the frontspiece of his major work. It is a direct reference to Daniel’s verse.

The title page of Novum Organum depicts a galleon passing between the mythical Pillars of Hercules that stand either side of the Strait of Gibraltar, marking the exit from the well-charted waters of the Mediterranean into the Atlantic Ocean. The Pillars, as the boundary of the Mediterranean, have been smashed through opening a new world to exploration. Men have been unleashed to sail new waters of thought, science, and technology. Bacon hoped that empirical investigation will, similarly, smash the old scientific ideas and lead to greater understanding of the world and heavens. The Latin tag across the bottom is taken from the Book of Daniel 12:4. Bacon is thought of as the father of empiricism.

So each age has been amazed by science and technological advances. However up above I said ‘yes and no’ to the question as to whether technological advances are a sign of the end time. I don’t think it can be related firmly to the Daniel verse but I also think it can be seen as a mirror of man’s status a la Tower of Babel.

As man’s achievements grow, his pride grows too. The prouder man gets of his works the more he says he doesn’t need God. I also believe this generation has seen the most growth in God-dishonoring science and technology than any generation before. “Safe abortions”? What an oxymoron. Safe for whom, exactly?? We go into space to prove God is not there. Though we have heeded Bacon’s plea to create things from science and technology for the betterment of man, we have also gone far away from God with it.

“Future Shock is a book written by the futurist Alvin Toffler in 1970. In the book, Toffler defines the term “future shock” as a certain psychological state of individuals and entire societies. His shortest definition for the term is a personal perception of “too much change in too short a period of time”. Toffler argued that society is undergoing an enormous structural change, a revolution from an industrial society to a “super-industrial society”. This change overwhelms people, he believed, the accelerated rate of technological and social change leaving people disconnected and suffering from “shattering stress and disorientation”—future shocked.” (Wiki)

I believe that we are in a state of future shock now.

Though things did change dramatically between 1950 and 1970 when Toffler observed and prompted him to write of the advances and their impacts in society, that change has accelerated even more dramatically from 1970 to now. This isn’t just a feeling. It is actually related to technological change, and has been observed in Moore’s Law.

Moore’s law is the observation that over the history of computing hardware, the number of transistors on integrated circuits doubles approximately every two years.

“The capabilities of many digital electronic devices are strongly linked to Moore’s law: processing speed, memory capacity, sensors and even the number and size of pixels in digital cameras. All of these are improving at (roughly) exponential rates as well. This exponential improvement has dramatically enhanced the impact of digital electronics in nearly every segment of the world economy. Moore’s law describes a driving force of technological and social change in the late 20th and early 21st centuries.” (source)

Vernor Vinge popularized his ideas about exponentially accelerating technological change in the SF novel Marooned in Realtime (1986), set in a world of rapidly accelerating progress leading to the emergence of more and more sophisticated technologies separated by shorter and shorter time intervals, until a point beyond human comprehension is reached.

This accelerating trend has continued for more than half a century.

My half a century.

When I was born, man had not gone into space yet. Now a man jumped from space to the earth. I believe this most rapid change in technology and science has been due to the birth of the modern computer age in 1970. The world’s first general microprocessor came out on Nov. 1971 and we have never been the same.

In this bewildering world of advanced quantum technology, iPhones, space jumping, Mars roving pace, please remember that the Lord never changes. He is steady constant, and eternal. His timing is perfect. At just the right moment He will call us home, and our joy will be complete. Personally, I’m looking forward to a world without cell phones 🙂

Posted in end time, judgment, prophecy, revelation

Why is there silence in heaven for half an hour?

Posted on by elizabethprata

Here is some news that caught my eye. Prophetic mention after each news excerpt and a prophetic discussion below.

Raccoons taking over, hissing at New Yorkers
“A turf battle of sorts is taking place in some neighborhoods. Raccoons are invading. They’re getting into garbage cans, backyards and even breaking into homes. And what’s more, these resourceful raccoons are outsmarting the most determined of trappers, CBS 2’s Dave Carlin reported. Clinton Hill, Brooklyn resident Susan DeBrango snapped pictures of the suspects, their faces masked, trying to get inside her home. “They are adorable but not in your backyard when they impact your life,” DeBrango said. “When he saw at me he stood up on two legs and hissed at me.” They are getting more brazen on Washington Avenue, rummaging through trash, and running right up to neighbors. One even went face-to-face with Barbara Mattocks on her own front stoop. “I don’t want that feeling ever again. I was petrified,” Mattocks said. It’s gotten so bad, one 3-year-old Maltese named ‘Snowball,’ who used to love to play outside, is now a prisoner in his own home, according to his owner. “He refuses to go out in the yard,” Mattocks said.

One of the coming judgments will be the plague of animals. When the Pale Horse of death is unleashed, authority is given to “kill [a fourth of the earth] with sword and with famine and with pestilence and by wild beasts of the earth.” (Rev 6:6-8). A quarter of the earth will die from 4 methods and one of them will be by animal. [shudder]

Scientist predicts major earthquake in Middle East The Middle East may not possess the same reputation for seismic disasters as some other parts of the world, but that is of little comfort to the people of north-west Iran, over 300 of whom were killed when a twin earthquake struck the country’s mountainous region earlier this year. Destroying villages and injuring many thousands, the two six-plus magnitude quakes – striking the same location north-east of the city of Tabriz and spaced just 11 minutes apart – were among the worst to hit Iran since 2003, when an earthquake killed 25,000 people in the city of Bam. … We fear that a major earthquake in the Holy Land is imminent,” says Marco, whose research led him to conclude that following four major earthquakes in the region some 300 to 400 years apart in roughly the first millennium, the last 1,000 years of quiescence are a matter of grave concern for all in the Holy Land.”

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

God has always used earthquakes to warn, to judge, to demonstrate His power. It will be the same, but even more so, in the Tribulation.

Universe Today: Curiosity Finds…SOMETHING…on Martian Surface

“While scooping its first samples of Martian soil, NASA’s Curiosity rover captured the image above, which shows what seems to be a small, seemingly metallic sliver or chip of… something… resting on the ground. Is it a piece of the rover? Or some other discarded fleck of the MSL descent mechanisms? Or perhaps an exotic Martian pebble of some sort? Nobody knows for sure yet, but needless to say the soil samples have taken a back seat to this new finding for the time being.”

Large asteroid to pass by earth Friday Morning “An asteroid the size of a 7-to-10 story office building is expected to slide past the Earth early Friday at an altitude of 35,000 miles from the surface. The asteroid, designated 2012 TC4, was discovered less than a week ago by scientists. Experts said they do not expect any adverse effects from the asteroid. According to NASA, the 20-to-30 meter wide asteroid will pass Earth at 20 percent of the distance from the Earth to the moon, or 0.2 LD.”

Just discovered a week ago?!?! Passing by with a few miles? Oy.

The bible says “And there will be signs in sun and moon and stars, and on the earth distress of nations in perplexity because of the roaring of the sea and the waves, people fainting with fear and with foreboding of what is coming on the world. For the powers of the heavens will be shaken.” (Luke 21:25-26).

Personally I think the thing on Mars is a chip or a flake from Curiosity flying off in the descent. It is a stretch to say that the news of ‘something’ on Mars is a sign, because it isn’t, but it certainly does add to the sense of foreboding, and enhances the public’s proclivity to see aliens around every corner and conspiracy theories behind every water cooler. Especially when asteroids pop up out of nowhere. The truth is, society IS perplexed and in a state of foreboding, so news like this will only rattle the cages and pound the hearts all the more.

You know that war between Syria and Turkey is one mortar away, don’t you? Turkey has the 2nd largest army in NATO, after the US. Turks and Syrians have been exchanging shelling for over a week, Turkey is still burning due to Syria shooting down the Turkish war plane earlier this summer, and troops on both sides are mobilizing at the border. Syria’s Assad is thinking of making a national call-up to all soldiers. If they go to war, NATO will get involved. If NATO gets involved, the US will too. We’re part of NATO.

Turkish president says “worst case” unfolding in Syria “Turkish President Abdullah Gul said on Monday the “worst-case scenarios” were now playing out in Syria and Turkey would do everything necessary to protect itself, as its army fired back for a sixth day after a shell from Syria flew over the border. Gul said the violence in Turkey’s southern neighbor, where a revolt against President Bashar al-Assad has evolved into a civil war that threatens to draw in regional powers, could not go on indefinitely and Assad’s fall was inevitable. “The worst-case scenarios are taking place right now in Syria … Our government is in constant consultation with the Turkish military. Whatever is needed is being done immediately as you see, and it will continue to be done,” Gul said.”

The bible says, “And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not alarmed, for this must take place, but the end is not yet.” (Matthew 24:6) “And out came another horse, bright red. Its rider was permitted to take peace from the earth, so that people should slay one another, and he was given a great sword.” (Revelation 6:4).

These are signs of the end, in one way or another. But people who mock and scoff say, ‘Wars and rumors of wars and earthquakes have always happened! And the raccoons are probably either rabid or sick! And so what there’s a metal flake was on Mars, that has nothing to do with anything!”

This kind of denial is rampant. It is also easy to deny because the quakes and animals and wars, though more intense and frequent, are “normal.” Even the catastrophes in Revelation 6 during the Tribulation are “normal” insofar as the society of those that dwell on the earth will explain them away just as people are attempting to do now. Bah, they will say, Wars and quakes and storms and disease are part of life on earth. But then Revelation 8 happens…

“When the Lamb opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour. Then I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and seven trumpets were given to them. And another angel came and stood at the altar with a golden censer, and he was given much incense to offer with the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar before the throne, and the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, rose before God from the hand of the angel. Then the angel took the censer and filled it with fire from the altar and threw it on the earth, and there were peals of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning, and an earthquake.” (Revelation 8:1-5).

Why the silence? And what does that have to do with hissing raccoons, earthquakes, and Turkish war drums? Learn the Bible says, “There is a distinction between the seven seals [of Revelation 6] and the seven trumpets that indicates a shift in God’s dealings with man in the midst of the tribulation period. The seven seals bring judgment through either manmade or seemingly natural events. They are the judgment of God, but could be dismissed as natural events. The seven trumpets, on the other hand, are clearly supernatural in cause. They are clearly the pouring out of God’s wrath upon the earth. Revelation 8 describes a pause in heaven before this shift in judgment occurs.”

The essay at LTB goes on to describe more on why there is silence and what it has to do with worship. It is a good article, and sobering.

Do not wait for those times to repent. Repent now. Believe on the name of Jesus and the sacrifice for sins and which was accepted by God. God was pleased to crush His Son: “Yet it was the will of the LORD to crush him; he has put him to grief; when his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the LORD shall prosper in his hand.’ (Isaiah 53:10).

The name of Jesus is the only name by which ye may be saved. “And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” (Acts 4:12)