Category: end time

Posted in end of days. prophecy, end time, mysterious boom, philadelphia

Mysterious loud boom in Philly causes panic

Posted on by elizabethprata

I’ve been reporting on a mysterious event that is happening in various US states at various times lately. It seems that a huge boom would occur that sounded like an explosion or an earthquake, but no explosion nor earthquake had happened. In some places it was proposed that a meteor had fallen but no meteor was in sight. Physical effects of these mystery booms are felt or seen, the ground briefly shakes, pictures swing on hooks, windows rattle. But there is no physical cause to attribute to the effects that are clearly seen and heard. Just a huge “BOOM”. You can go to this link for a round up of news excerpts that report on previous booms in the last two months or so.

Another one happened in Philly last night and this one was loud. It caused panic. It was clearly seen and heard, so much so that a multitude of rescue and first responder vehicles arrived at the scene. But there was no scene.

Mystery Boom Causes Panic in Northeast Philadelphia – Video
One witness: ‘It sounded like something above you, fell down.’
A mystery ‘boom’ that ‘may not have been explosion’ caused panic in northeast Philadelphia and Lower Bucks County at approximately 9:30 PM, May 27, 2011, according to a local NBC report, with multiple fire trucks, EMS, and power companies racing to the ‘scene’. After reaching the area, no one could locate the source of an explosion. Also reported, house’s shook which led to speculation it may have been an earthquake. According to NBC 7 the USGS was unable to confirm the boom was an earthquake. Other speculation, a sonic boom which was heard in only northeast Philadelphia and Lower Bucks County.
NBC 10 Philadelphia video news report:

‘Calls and emails flooded NBC 10 News after reports of several loud bangs. This is in northeast Philadelphia and Lower Bucks County. Fire and emergency units raced to the scene but it is still not clear what has happened here.’

The local NBC reporter:

‘This is a very strange situation out here you can see behind me there are multiple crews from the fire department and the police department as well as crews from PICO and PGW. This is the area of 9th and Fairdale Rd. in Northeast Philadelphia. Here’s what we know, at about 9:30 tonight the fire department started getting multiple calls of what some people described as a possible explosion. Some people I’ve been talking to at the scene said that it actually felt like a minor earthquake. Whatever it was at this point investigators have not been able to determine what that explosion was or if it even was an explosion but people said it lasted only a few seconds.’

One witness: ‘It sounded like something above you, fell down.’ Another witness: ‘It sounded like something hit the building, like a car. It was just a shake and that’s when the cops and everything were here. And someone said a house blew up and everyone came running out and no one knows what it is.’—end of report—

As the witness said, ‘it sounded like something above you, fell down.’ Is it the voice of the LORD, warning us? Making His presence known? I don’t know but increasingly I am believing that it is. When one boom happens it is non-news, just a minor mystery upon which we shrug and go our way. When two happen in various places I go ‘oh well, that’s interesting.’ I begin to perk up at three, because in my mind, it is a pattern now. When 20 or 30 happen now THAT is something we all should pay attention to. That all 30 (or so) have no visible cause, and when the event is investigated by officials from all scientific disciplines and no cause is found, it makes for a good case that it is supernatural. The US Geological survey explicitly stated each time none were quakes. Police, gas line men, drilling experts, all say that in their sphere the boom was not man-made from their particular activity. Military bases were contacted and no hot military exercises were ongoing in that location nor were there sonic booms the sounds could be related to.

Is God calling attention to Himself? It could be. When all man-made and earthly causes have been excluded, you look up. The presence of God in the earth is real. “The voice of the LORD breaks the cedars; the LORD breaks in pieces the cedars of Lebanon.” (Psalm 29:5). His voice breaketh the cedars, He certainly can utter a sound again as He has done in the past and make Himself known. Prophetically, the end of the end time and certainly the Tribulation are a period when He has promised to make Himself known on earth to greater and greater degrees. It is a time when science and analytical rationality fly out the window as He supersedes these man made constructs and He demonstrates His power over both. As the witness said, if I may change one word in his observations, ”it sounded like something above you, came down.”

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Posted in end time, national debt, sins

National debt is piled up to the moon

Posted on by elizabethprata

I read this headline on Reuters the other day and it reminded me of something from the bible.

“Pile of debt would stretch beyond stratosphere“
“President Ronald Reagan once famously said that a stack of $1,000 bills equivalent to the U.S. government’s debt would be about 67 miles high. That was 1981. Since then, the national debt has climbed to $14.3 trillion. In $1,000 bills, it would now be more than 900 miles tall. In $1 bills, the pile would reach to the moon and back twice.”

last update: 2008

On an earthly level, this news depresses me. The national debt is an issue that is pervasive and very negative on the US and the world, but it is so nebulous that most Americans don’t, won’t, or can’t wrap their minds around it. The numbers become meaningless, after all, who can understand a trillion? But the profligate spending of the last generations has brought us to this. Though Bill Clinton made significant progress toward reducing the debt, the US government budget has actually not been balanced since 1957. That would be Eisenhower.

What does the bible have to say about living beyond our means?

“No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.” Now the Pharisees, who were lovers of money, also heard all these things, and they derided Him.” (Luke 16:13-15).

It is plain to see that US citizens have served either one master alone (mammon) or have tried to serve two (Mammon and God of the Prosperity Gospel). The attitude of ‘more-more-more,’ of getting a bigger boat, wanton spending, shop till you drop, greed is good, Me generation has gone away from biblical principles of handling money. And our leaders (The Pharisees, metaphorically) love money even more and that is bad because they have control of the budget. Paul said that at the time of the end, we would be lovers of money:
“For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy” (2 Timothy 3:2).
 
But we are also told that “the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.” (1 Timothy 6:10)

As of 2008

 America is pierced with many sorrows. When we see homosexual marriage legalized, abortion increasing,  pornography becoming accepted and ubiquitous, we recognize these social ills as sins. But the money problem…it is more invisible simply because it is so nebulous. You can’t see a debt. You can’t hold a debt. Who does debt really harm, we wonder.
Money issues, unpaid debt, borrowing, lending at usury (credit card companies who charge 30% or more) and interest are all addressed in the bible. In certain circumstances, they are sins. Here is a good study on the monetary system that includes lending and debt that God initially set up.

In biblical times the Hebrews failed to obey the monetary laws God instituted, and today we are failing in the same way. We are failing so badly that the debt has piled up to the moon. This headline reminded me of several bible verses:

“I heard another voice from heaven, saying, “Come out of her, my people, so that you will not participate in her sins and receive of her plagues; for her sins have piled up as high as heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities.” (Revelation 18:5). The Lord said in the next verse that they shall be paid back double. They did not know that they were borrowing against their sins at double interest rate!

Lest we tend to say that we ourselves, individually, have not piled up debt, nor lent, nor borrowed, nor spent, Prophet Ezra had a holy shame for the state of sin his nation was in. He prayed: “O my God, I am too ashamed and disgraced to lift up my face to you, my God, because our sins are higher than our heads and our guilt has reached to the heavens.” (Ezra 9:6). Gill’s Exposition of the bible explains “our trespass is grown up unto the heavens; being done in an open, public, and insolent manner, and in such numbers, that they were, as it were, piled up in heaps, reaching to heaven, and calling down vengeance from thence. Ezra includes himself as being one of the same nation; and these sins being so common were become national ones, which involved all the individuals, and exposed them to the divine resentment.”

If our debt is piled up as high as the moon, our national sin must surely crumble down upon our heads at double portion! Do you have a holy shame for the misuse of the wonderful assets the Lord gave us? His grace is such that in God’s economy, debt is forgiven- sin debt that is, and His love extends even farther than from the moon and back: it extends to us and through us and for all eternity. Be wise in your financial dealings, pray to the Lord for our nation that the Pharisitical leaders who run things would have wisdom, and that we repent of individual and national fiscal abuse. Our gracious Lord hears our prayers. “O God of hosts, turn again now, we beseech You; Look down from heaven and see, and take care of this vine, ” (Psalm 80:14)

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Posted in end of days. prophecy, end time

Into the tempest: would you cut away the lifeboat?

Posted on by elizabethprata

I was reading Acts 27 this morning and the sea faring language was a wonderful refresher of days when I lived on a sailboat. I’m sorry for posting much of the chapter, but here is today’s text for discussion:

The Voyage to Rome Begins
1 And when it was decided that we should sail to Italy, they delivered Paul and some other prisoners to one named Julius, a centurion of the Augustan Regiment. 2 So, entering a ship of Adramyttium, we put to sea, meaning to sail along the coasts of Asia. Aristarchus, a Macedonian of Thessalonica, was with us. 3 And the next day we landed at Sidon. And Julius treated Paul kindly and gave him liberty to go to his friends and receive care. 4 When we had put to sea from there, we sailed under the shelter of Cyprus, because the winds were contrary. 5 And when we had sailed over the sea which is off Cilicia and Pamphylia, we came to Myra, a city of Lycia. 6 There the centurion found an Alexandrian ship sailing to Italy, and he put us on board. 7 When we had sailed slowly many days, and arrived with difficulty off Cnidus, the wind not permitting us to proceed, we sailed under the shelter of Crete off Salmone. 8 Passing it with difficulty, we came to a place called Fair Havens, near the city of Lasea.

Paul’s Warning Ignored
9 Now when much time had been spent, and sailing was now dangerous because the Fast was already over, Paul advised them, 10 saying, “Men, I perceive that this voyage will end with disaster and much loss, not only of the cargo and ship, but also our lives.” 11 Nevertheless the centurion was more persuaded by the helmsman and the owner of the ship than by the things spoken by Paul. 12 And because the harbor was not suitable to winter in, the majority advised to set sail from there also, if by any means they could reach Phoenix, a harbor of Crete opening toward the southwest and northwest, and winter there.

In the Tempest

Source

13 When the south wind blew softly, supposing that they had obtained their desire, putting out to sea, they sailed close by Crete. 14 But not long after, a tempestuous head wind arose, called Euroclydon. 15 So when the ship was caught, and could not head into the wind, we let her drive. 16 And running under the shelter of an island called Clauda, we secured the skiff with difficulty. 17 When they had taken it on board, they used cables to undergird the ship; and fearing lest they should run aground on the Syrtis Sands , they struck sail and so were driven. 18 And because we were exceedingly tempest-tossed, the next day they lightened the ship. 19 On the third day we threw the ship’s tackle overboard with our own hands. 20 Now when neither sun nor stars appeared for many days, and no small tempest beat on us , all hope that we would be saved was finally given up. 21 But after long abstinence from food, then Paul stood in the midst of them and said, “Men, you should have listened to me, and not have sailed from Crete and incurred this disaster and loss. 22 And now I urge you to take heart, for there will be no loss of life among you, but only of the ship. 23 For there stood by me this night an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I serve, 24 saying, ‘Do not be afraid, Paul; you must be brought before Caesar; and indeed God has granted you all those who sail with you.’ 25 Therefore take heart, men, for I believe God that it will be just as it was told me. 26 However, we must run aground on a certain island.”

27 Now when the fourteenth night had come, as we were driven up and down in the Adriatic Sea, about midnight the sailors sensed that they were drawing near some land. 28 And they took soundings and found it to be twenty fathoms; and when they had gone a little farther, they took soundings again and found it to be fifteen fathoms. 29 Then, fearing lest we should run aground on the rocks, they dropped four anchors from the stern, and prayed for day to come. 30 And as the sailors were seeking to escape from the ship, when they had let down the skiff into the sea, under pretense of putting out anchors from the prow, 31 Paul said to the centurion and the soldiers, “Unless these men stay in the ship, you cannot be saved.” 32 Then the soldiers cut away the ropes of the skiff and let it fall off.”

A lee shore is when the wind is coming across your boat and driving it into the rocky shore. You run aground and the waves then pound your boat to pieces. A lee shore is a scary position to be in. It is hard enough for sailboats these days but back then square rigged sails couldn’t point into the wind even as much as triangular sails. In either case, with no engine all you could do is thrown out an anchor or two for drag, and try and tack away from the shore (making progress by long zig zags) by pointing into the wind as much as possible.

Now think about these sailors. It’s been TWO WEEKS! They haven’t eaten properly, then they ate nothing at all. You can’t cook when the seas are that rough. You can’t sleep, and all hands are needed to keep changing the sails for tacking. This is strength-sapping to the extreme and you are exhausted to begin with. You are literally battling the wind and waves, which, remember is late fall now so it is cold. [“After the Fast” is Yom Kippur, in Oct.] It is LOUD. A tempest isn’t quiet. The rigging squeals, the masts creak, the boat pounds into the waves, the spray hisses, the cargo shifts. The seas roar. Captain yells, and the men moan. It is loud. They threw off cargo, they threw off rigging, which meant spare sails, ropes, and other items needed for sailing the boat. They even tied the ship together with ropes! (“undergird the ship”) When all seemed lost, they got ready to let down the lifeboat.

These men were tired, cold, hungry, scared, and knew they were about to die. They had thrown off everything they could, and if they’d had Jonah on board, they’d likely have thrown him off too. When you are in that condition for as long as you are, it is survival mode. Your whole world narrows to getting through the next minute, coming up intact from the last wave. A lifeboat becomes your only vision, your only hope. Your only chance…and Paul told them to let it go.

Imagine the drama of that moment. The only thing between life and death in their view was that lifeboat. And yet…they listened to Paul and they cut it away.

Would you cut it away? Have you cut away all backups, lifeboats, safety nets? Are you making Jesus your only hope, your only life? He promised them life, and He promised you life eternal. His promises are good. If you are in the tempest, remember that Jesus is the lifeboat! And He will never leave your or forsake you.
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Posted in end time, prophecy, spiitual warfare, victory

Spiritual warfare is real

Posted on by elizabethprata

I was at some friends’ last weekend, at our Sunday School party at their home. After dinner we played a bible trivia game. Here is one of the questions:

“How many angels are named in the bible?” At first blush the answer seems easy. Can you guess? Pause.

Answer: Three. Michael, Gabriel, Lucifer. Most of the teams gave the answer as two, Michael and Gabriel. Those two are easy to remember, but we forget Lucifer, who is that old serpent, satan.

Luke 1:19 we read of the messenger angel Gabriel-
“The angel said to him, “I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I have been sent to speak to you and to tell you this good news.”

In Daniel 10:13 we read of Michael the warrior angel, who is an archangel-
“But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me one and twenty days: but, lo, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me; and I remained there with the kings of Persia.”

Paul reminds us of the hierarchies of angels, both good and fallen:
“For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him:” (Colossians 1:16)

Ephesians 6 is the famous chapter where Paul reminds us that we are in enemy territory here on earth, that the territory has a hierarchy, and that we are always at war, (whether we know it or not):
“For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.” (Ephesians 6:12)

We often forget about Lucifer as an angel, his name means star of the morning, or shining one. Isaiah laments Lucifer’s fall from the high holy place of guarding God’s throne, to his low position of evil rebel destined for the hell (Matthew 25:41).

Hebrews and Revelation together show us that about a third of the angels fell with Satan. (Hebrews 12:22; Revelation 12:3-9). Hebrews also reminds “Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by this some have entertained angels without knowing it.” (Hebrews 13:2). If angels visit us and engage with us on a personal and even intimate level (‘hospitality’ translated, “in one’s home”, “receive as a guest”) then who is to say that we are always visited by the good angels? Sometimes we are visited by the bad ones, too. Probably more than sometimes, probably we’re visited by them often.

I was in another friend’s home the other night, and I mentioned that Dr. David Jeremiah’s latest series is on spiritual warfare. She replied, “Oh! I don’t even like to think about spiritual warfare!” I was stunned by this, she being a seasoned Christian. I remarked that we are at war whether we like to think about it or not! Because of sin, the earth is a battlefield. Satan and his angels battle for souls every day. 1 John 5:19 tells us that the entire earth is under the control of the evil one. In Luke 4:5-6 satan tempted Jesus in the wilderness, and in one of the temptations, offered Jesus all the kingdoms of the world. Jesus didn’t rebuke satan for making that claim.

In Ephesians, Paul tells us to pray and to wear our spiritual armor. 1 Timothy 1:18 Paul tells Timothy to prepare for the battle. 2 Corinthians 10:2-4 describes the kind of war we Christians are in. There is war-like language all throughout the New Testament, referring to the fact that we ARE in a war. It is a spiritual war, but a war that has eternal consequences for each participant.

I was struck by the two incidents this week- the bible trivia question about Lucifer where it was so easy to forget he is really an angel, and the Christian who dismissed spiritual warfare topics as something unsavory she doesn’t like to think about. Christian, be aware that we are dwelling in enemy territory, and this is not our home. We are unwanted intruders. We are under attack all the time. Not daily, but frequently and constantly. We are attacked by demons, by our own sin, and by the curse of the world. We are in a war and that war will not be concluded for us individually until we die or are raptured. That war for all of us as a body in Christ will not end until after the 1000 year Kingdom when satan will be let out of the pit, will foment one last war and he will be squashed and sent to the lake of fire forever.

But remember an even greater truth. Unlike every other warrior who ever fought in a war, we know the outcome prior to the war’s end! We may be battling, but “You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.” Jesus won the war for us, on our behalf and in obedience to the Father’s will. Jesus is the victor, and through Him we win the war. So, battle on in confidence, but never forget we are in a war. Semper Fi!

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Posted in end of days. prophecy, end time, may 21 rapture

Facepalm: man spends all his savings in advance of (false) May 21 rapture date

Posted on by elizabethprata

New York Man Spends Life Savings Ahead of May 21 Doomsday

“A New York man spent his entire $140,000 life savings advertising his prediction that the world will end May 21, the New York Post reported Friday. Robert Fitzpatrick, a 60-year-old Staten Island resident, said he spent at least that sum on 1,000 subway-car placards and ads on bus kiosks and subway cars. They say, “Global Earthquake: The Greatest Ever! Judgment Day May 21, 2011.” In a self-published book, “The Doomsday Code,” Fitzpatrick said the Bible offers “proof that cannot be dismissed.” “Judgment Day will surprise people. We will not be ready for it,” Fitzpatrick said in an interview with the newspaper. “A giant earthquake will render the earth uninhabitable.” If you want to set an alarm clock, the quake will happen just before 6:00pm local time, he said. “God’s people will be resurrected. It is also the day that God stops saving anyone,” he said. Fitzpatrick hopes that he is one of the chosen ones, but he could not be really certain. “There’s just a little doubt,” he said. “Most churches teach that if you just believe, you will be saved. It is not our choice. It is God’s choice.”

Let’s see… where to begin. It makes no financial sense to do this. I understand believing wholeheartedly in a biblical precept and wanting to use your earthly resources to advance that precept on behalf of the lost. That is to be commended. But Mr Fitzpatrick is so misguided in this particular decision, it’s stunning to think of the waste.

But leaving the fiscal, earthly decisions aside for a moment, let’s look at the biblical error here. Nothing in the bible tells the reader that the world will end on May 21. Nothing.

Next, he said a great earthquake renders the earth uninhabitable? I don’t see that in the bible. In Revelation 6, when the ‘mega seismos’ occurs, the Great Earthquake, people still live on earth for a period of time, perhaps several years. They engage in commerce, create governments, wage in war, and, well, what Jesus said in Mt 24:38 that the days of the end will be just like in the days of Noah, “people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.” Doesn’t sound like the earth will be uninhabitable to me if people are going about their business like that.

As for not being ready? Jesus addressed that, too: “So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.” (Mt 24:44) and in Matthew 24:42, “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come,” and also in Matthew 25:13, “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour.” So no one will be ready? No one at all? Bueller? Bueller? Except Robert Fitzpatrick…he is ready, because even though Jesus said at least four times no one knows the day or hour, Mr Fitzpatrick knows. Sigh.

Mr Fitzpatrick said that on that day God stops saving anyone. A terrible accusation! And completely false! Post rapture salvation continues in the Tribulation! This is scripturally proved by Rev. 7:14, Rev. 14:13, and Rev. 20:4.

And as for being God’s choice versus faith and belief as the mechanism for salvation, Mr Fitzpatrick makes it sound as if God was up there pointing and saying, “I’ll take you and you and you but not you or you.” God’s ‘choice’ was to send Jesus to us as our Redeemer as opposed to another choice God could have made, say, obliterating us for all time. Once Jesus’ work was complete, John 6:28-29 says, “Then they asked him, “What must we do to do the works God requires?” Jesus answered, “The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.” It means that it is OUR choice: believe or not believe. That truth is repeated in John 6:39 and Ephesians 2:8-9.

I hope the rapture comes before May 21, actually, but May 21 would be fine with me. Or May 22. Or June 22. The answer is that we simply don’t know. I wonder if Mr Fitzpatrick will be doing when he wakes up May 22 and realizes he has no money to live on. Now THAT is worth a facepalm.
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Posted in end of days. prophecy, end time, transformers

Weird: transformers in ten cities blow up (UPDATED)

Posted on by elizabethprata

Last Tuesday, lightning struck a transformer that apparently set off a chain reaction. The explosions of several transformers subsequent to the lightning strike was impressive to say the least! The amateur video that captured it soared to youtube popularity and was fodder for the conspiracy sites and chat forums.

Ft. Worth Star Telegram:
“Fire and police dispatchers were busy Tuesday night answering calls about “fireballs” in the sky and on the ground in east Fort Worth. Several transformers were struck by lightning in east Fort Worth Tuesday night, Oncor spokeswoman Jeamy Molina said. Repair crews worked through overnight Wednesday through the afternoon after the lightning strikes “destroyed” some of the transformers, Molina said. About 550 power outages were being reported in the Metroplex as of noon Wednesday, with most of them in the Fort Worth area, Molina said. The number of outages have been reduced from the 4,000 outages reported late Tuesday, Molina said. About 210 cloud-to-ground lightning strikes were reported in Tarrant County between 8 and 9 p.m., said National Weather Service meteorologist Matt Mosier, who said he couldn’t pinpoint the exact locations. Some 120 more incidents of lightning striking the ground were reported from 9 to 10 p.m., Mosier said. Mosier said he didn’t know if it had to strike the transformer directly or the ground close to it but if the lightning carries a large enough electrical charge, it can “blow” a transformer.”

I don’t know how a lighting strike can blow five of them…Anyway here is the video. It is pretty spectacular.It seemed unusual to me, and I notice repetitive arcing, which seems unusual from just one lightning strike.

Then a couple of days later, an electrical transformer blew up early Thursday morning, causing a fire on the roof of Nasco International Inc. in Fort Atkinson Wisconsin. Here again is amateur video of the event:

Hmmm, two transformer explosions in two days? Interesting but still not a pattern.

Then, today, another one in Las Vegas. UPI reports:

I-15 shut down by Vegas transformer fire

“Las Vegas police said it took about two hours to clear up a traffic mess caused by an electrical transformer explosion behind the Monte Carlo casino. The blast and resulting fire created a cloud of smoke that shut down the northbound lanes of Interstate 15. Metro Police told the Las Vegas Sun there were no injuries and Monte Carlo guests had to be evacuated. The cause of the explosion, which occurred around 12:30 a.m. MDT, was not known.”

Weird. And then I discover that one in GA blew, one in Toronto closed a highway, one in St. Louis caused the tornado sirens to go off, and one in Snelville snarled traffic and a transformer explosion in Maryland caused a massive shock wave and leveled an abandoned building. Tonight 5000 unexpectedly lost power in Detroit, reason unknown. All happened this week. NOW it’s a pattern.

[UPDATE: in addition to the transformer electrical weirdness reported below, two more reports came in tonight: a Norwegian cruise ship with 1800 passengers and 200 crew aboard is completely without electricity. They are a dead duck, no lights, no operating machinery on board, no engines. They have to be towed back to port. Secondly, the main airport at Kuala Lumpur suffered a total electrical blackout tonight. “Out of the 42 scheduled flights, a total of 13 flights were delayed and in excess of 300 bags were left behind due to the power interruption.” ]

I’ve always thought that a soft target for terrorists would be the electrical grid. The Council for Foreign Relations thinks so too. In this report from 2007, titled “America’s Vulnerable Energy Grid,” they wrote, “On August 14, 2003, fifty million people in the Northeastern United States and Canada suddenly found themselves without electricity, some for more than twenty-four hours. In addition to eight lives, the largest blackout in U.S. history cost an estimated $6 billion to $10 billion. Contrary to initial fears, the outage was not the result of a terrorist attack or some other form of sabotage. Rather, untrimmed trees in Ohio set off a chain reaction that cast 9,300 square miles into darkness.”

“Sadly, this was no isolated incident. In July 2006, a nine-day power outage in Queens, New York affected one hundred thousand people. The apparent cause of that disruption was deterioration of the thirty- to sixty-year-old cables servicing the area. The same month, a violent thunderstorm in St. Louis, Missouri knocked out power leaving some seven hundred thousand people to brave a weeklong heat wave without electricity.”

“Current stresses on the U.S. energy grid present cause for concern. With an aging infrastructure and growing energy consumption, major outages may become an increasing phenomenon. The specter of terrorism also looms large: Experts say jihadis in Iraq have proven adept at disrupting the electrical grid in that country and could easily apply that same skill set in the United States.”

I think what they are saying is that if accidental outages from overgrown trees or old cables bring this much havoc and pain to millions of people, then what could a deliberate terrorist disruption do? A lot worse.

Now, the incidents reported above could simply be looting. Copper thieves are getting very desperate these days. I seem to recall a story out of Des Moines from less than a month ago: “Bold Thieves Risk Death to Steal Copper from Energized Transformer.” A Toronto article reports, “Thieves are so brazen that they will even steal copper from live transformer stations. Hydro One loses about $1 million a year from stolen copper, said Gregory Taylor, head of copper theft prevention.”

The end of the Church Age and the soon Tribulation will bring many of these kids of worries and realities to the remaining earth population. The Day of the Lord is surely coming soon. Are you ready to meet Him? Every life conceived has an eternal destiny. The default condition is death in hell. The choice we can all make is life in heaven. Being ready means recognizing your sins, asking Jesus to forgive them, and then living for Him with the aid of the indwelling Holy Spirit.

Otherwise, sitting in hundred degree heat high in an apartment building somewhere with no electricity, toilets, elevators, and marauding copper thieves at every turn, will be your best future. The future after that will be much worse. Turn to Jesus now.
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Posted in beheaded, end of days. prophecy, end time, evil, jesus, tenerife

A terrible story out of Tenerife

Posted on by elizabethprata

A British woman was attacked and decapitated in a supermarket in Los Cristianos on the holiday island of Tenerife yesterday afternoon. Witnesses said the deranged man used a large knife or machete he picked up in the supermarket to stab and decapitate the 62-year-old grandmother, a resident on the island. He then ran out into the street covered in blood, carrying his victim’s head and telling passers-by, “This is my treasure”.

In another news story of the incident, the mayor of the popular resort town where it occurred said, “the incident was ‘the most horrific crime to hit the resort in recent years’,

See, there’s those superlatives again. Every day we read of the “worst” drought…”biggest tornado”…”epic flood”…”Most horrific crime”…yet each week the superlatives are surpassed by yet ANOTHER, more horrific crime, a worse epic flood, a more ferocious tornado… In truth, things are off the charts now. Natural disasters, crime, economics, we are entering uncharted territory, and we have no more words to describe these events.

Read these then I’ll put up some scriptures of what this attack makes me think of in the bible. These following phrases are from the news stories of the attack. The photo below of of the man’s arrest:

–had a history of violent behaviour
–the attacker spent most days sitting 50 yards from the scene of the attack ‘talking to himself and gesticulating wildly’.
–‘He was very disturbed and intimidating, the sort of person you would cross the road to avoid,’
–He was a bizarre individual who was known to police
–had a history of intimidating passers-by on the street
–He knocked a stranger’s teeth out on the street.
–the killer lived in a ‘semi-abandoned’ house
–He was not the smartest looking of guys and not well groomed,
–the man was muttering and shouting

now read these excerpts from Luke and Mark:

–And when He came out onto the land, He was met by a man from the city who was possessed with demons;
–who had not put on any clothing for a long time,
–was not living in a house, but in the tombs.
–and he was bound with chains and shackles
–kept under guard, and yet he would break his bonds and be driven by the demon into the desert.
–no man could bind him, no, not with chains: because that he had been often bound with fetters and chains, and the chains had been plucked asunder by him, and the fetters broken in pieces: neither could any man tame him.
–And always, night and day, he was in the mountains, and in the tombs, crying, and cutting himself with stones.

I do not know if this guy was demon-possessed or if he was on drugs or merely psycho. I am saying that there are similarities in the known and observed behavior of this man and the Gadarene demoniac. That the bizarre demonic or demonic-like behaviors are not relegated to the distant past when Jesus walked the earth. It happens now, too. The demon world is very real, though not usually seen. When Paul wrote to Timothy in 2 Timothy 3 that people in the end of days would be brutal, we tend to sanitize our own epoch and not really understand true brutality. Life was cheap in biblical tims: witness the robber victim that the Samaritan helped who was lying bleeding in the road as people walked on by (reminds of me of the MARTA bus driver that dragged the elderly woman 60 feet and then just drove around her), or from the bible Lazarus the poor man dying by the side of the road of the rich man’s house, dogs licking his sores. Christians were being martyred in increasingly evil ways. They knew brutality, they saw it every day.

There was real brutality then, but just because it is the new Millennium now and we can dwell in air conditioned houses in subdivisions does not mean that same kind of brutality is absent from the earth. It is not. We tend to think we live in a sanitized world because we don’t see the kind of brutality the 1st century Christians saw, or even people in violent impoverished nations do today. But Satan is still given charge of this domain and he is the most brutal. And after the Restrainer is removed, brutality will be unleashed that will make the Tenerife beheading look like a picnic. That is because the antichrist will be allowed to come to full iniquity at his appointed time.

It is hard to comprehend, I know. “And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.” (John 1:5) Just as the demons cannot comprehend the Light, we cannot comprehend this kind of darkness. But it is soon coming to that as the normal state of things, and they will get a lot worse after we are gone and the antichrist rises to full evil.

The grace to cling to is two-fold. We are saved by God’s mercy, and we will be dwelling with Him soon! We have the Light, it is in us and nothing can snatch us out of His hand, ever. And second, the people who will be here after the rapture can turn to the Light. They can appeal to Him for forgiveness, and be with Him in the Light when it is all over. “In him was life, and that life was the light of men.” Jesus said, “I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness.” (John 12:46) Jesus’ power and love reaches all of us, it could reach even that psycho man in Tenerife: as it had reached the Gadarene demoniac: “Then people came out to see what had happened, and when they came to Jesus, they found the man from whom the demons had gone sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind.” Nothing is impossible with God!! Praise Him forever!

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Posted in cryptozoology, end time, iran, roc, weird bird

Weird bird carcass found in Iran: Roc?

Posted on by elizabethprata

File this under “weird”. Even the Iranian journalists posting this story used ‘weird’ in the headline–

“The dead body of a strange dinosaur-like bird has been reportedly found near the city of Meshginshahr in the northwestern Iranian province of Ardebil. The locals found the feathered bipedal creature, which seemed to have died a few days ago, near a remote village of Meshginshahr, IRNA reported on Sunday. A team of officials of Iran’s Environment Protection Organization (EPO) were dispatched to the region to investigate whether the reports were true. One of the villagers has reportedly hidden the carcass and the EPO team is trying to find it. The team has managed to obtain a photo of the creature taken by one of the locals. The team has also found evidence that confirmed the locals’ claims the bird lived in a cave near the village. The creature has a reptilian skull with long canine teeth and large molars. It has small wing bones like those of flightless birds. The avifauna of Iran includes a total of 527 species, none of which are similar to the found creature; however, the discovery needs ornithologists to verify the claims. Scientists believe that fossil evidence demonstrates birds and dinosaurs shared many features such as hollow bones, gastrolith in the digestive system, nest-building and brooding behaviors.”

Below is an Iranian news spot about the ‘find.’

Could be a hoax, as always, caveat emptor! But Iran certainly seems to be taking it seriously. Remember, the mythological creature the Roc was the mythological bird beast of Persia. The roc is featured in 1001 Arabian Nights and in Sinbad’s adventures. A roc or rukh (from the Arabic and Persian rokh, asserted by Louis Charles Casartellito be an abbreviated form of Persian simurgh) is an enormous legendary bird of prey, often said to be white. [Wikipedia] Roc is allegedly a gigantic winged bird like a peacock, with the head of a dog, and the claws of a lion.

In the 13th century, Marco Polo stated “It was for all the world like an eagle, but one indeed of enormous size; so big in fact that its quills were twelve paces long and thick in proportion. And it is so strong that it will seize an elephant in its talons and carry him high into the air and drop him so that he is smashed to pieces; having so killed him, the bird swoops down on him and eats him at leisure”. Marco Polo explicitly distinguishes the bird from a griffin, another mythological bird. The Roc is to the Persians a messenger and sign of the divine, fertility and purification. It alights on a person to indicate god’s approval of that person to be king and the representation of the divine on earth.

The bird in the photo if it is a roc (lol) would have to be a baby. Just food for fun thoughts tonight!
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Posted in end of days, end time, prophecy, tower of babel

Building a Tower of Babel in Argentina

Posted on by elizabethprata

Symbols matter. If they didn’t, why do companies spend so much time and energy on logos? Why are logos patented?Why do people go nuts when a famous logo is changed? Why it is called a “brand”?

Symbols add understanding to our lives. They are expressions of human nature, and they are found in all cultures over all time. Human communication depends on interpretation of letter and number symbols, and picture symbols themselves.

Handprints are the most common symbol in ancient rock art, depicting perhaps the original, “I was here” message. Aboriginal handprints have been interpreted to mean the spiritual imprint of the symbol-maker. In India, handprints are a symbol of protection and placed on the doorframe.

The bible is full of symbols. Clothing or garments represent character (Isaiah 64:6, Isaiah 59:6). Oil represents the Holy Spirit. (Matthew 25:1-13) The fish was and still is a symbol denoting a believer lived there. The fish was also a Greek acrostic. The Greek word for fish was ixthus which was an acrostic spelling for Jesus as the first letter, the 2nd letter for Christ, the next two, God Son, and the final letter represented the word Savior. This spells “Jesus Christ is God’s Son, the Savior.”

I wrote a piece in October of 2009 titled “EU: end time symbols too blatant to ignore.” In it, I showed that here again, symbols are important and used for particular meaning. Choosing them also illustrates that the chooser was intending to convey a certain meaning, certainly because there are so many symbols to choose from. I always get soundly mocked by non-believers for saying this when I post a movie-symbolism piece, but Hollywood symbolism is picking up on satanic symbols left and right, fast and furious. I had written in the essay in Oct 2009 that choosing certain slogans and symbols of the EU is satan’s way of spitting in God’s eye once again.

If companies can have symbols, why not God? If God can have symbols, why not satan? If satan can have symbols, why not Hollywood? Symbols convey meaning, they are chosen for a reason, and they matter to the chooser, and they matter to God.

A certain Argentinian street installation artist finished her latest piece. It is the Tower of Babel.

link

Photo taken on May 6, 2011 shows the “Tower of Babel”, a creation made by Argentine artist Marta Minujin with thousands of books in languages from all over the world, at San Martin square in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The artwork was created to celebrate that the UNESCO nominated Buenos Aires as the World Book Capital 2011. (Xinhua/Martin Zabala)

There are many installation representations she could have chosen. She could have re-created a Gutenberg Press, certainly a revolutionary machine in the history of book-making and global dispersal of literature. She could have made a rocket symbolizing transport to outer reaches that books take you, the Huckleberry Finn raft, the whale of Moby Dick, the Round Table at Camelot. She could have made a cross, or the city of New Jerusalem. She did not. She chose the Tower of Babel, one of the most iconic moments in the bible of an ‘in your face’ disobedience.

Babylon becomes, in past history and in future prophecy, the fountainhead of false religion in all the world. According to Gotquestions’ summary,

“The Tower of Babel is described in Genesis 11:1-9. After the Flood, God commanded humanity to “increase in number and fill the earth” (Genesis 9:1). Humanity decided to do the exact opposite, “Then they said, ‘Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves and not be scattered over the face of the whole earth’” (Genesis 11:4). Humanity decided to build a great city and all congregate there. They decided to build a gigantic tower as a symbol of their power, to make a name for themselves (Genesis 11:4). This tower is remembered as the Tower of Babel.”

“In response, God confused the languages of humanity so that they could no longer communicate with each other (Genesis 11:7). The result was that people congregated with other people who spoke the same language, and then went together and settled in other parts of the world (Genesis 11:8-9). God confused the languages at the Tower of Babel to enforce His command for humanity to spread throughout the entire world.”

The Argentinian artist chose a symbol of open defiance of God’s command. Such choices have repercussions. Just as the people building the tower lived a consequence both physically and spiritually, people who choose to lift up unholy things instead of holy things will also suffer the consequences of their choices. This is not a fact that is appreciated or even absorbed by the unsaved-at-large, but it is absolute.

Romans 13:1-5 says, “Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God. Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God: and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation. For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil. Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power? do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same: For he is the minister of God to thee for good. But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid; for he beareth not the sword in vain: for he is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil. Wherefore ye must needs be subject, not only for wrath, but also for conscience sake.”

Or more to the point, “Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. 8 For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life”. (Gal 6:7-8)

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Posted in 2011 natural disasters, birth pangs, end of days. prophecy, end time, pre-tribulation rapture

Disaster roundup, 2011

Posted on by elizabethprata

Here is a 2011 disaster roundup for the year so far, with less than half the year gone. Statistics were gathered from this week’s Hal Lindsey report. It is pretty sobering to read this list, and it doesn’t even include most of the rest of the world which has had their share of disasters.

In the American south, there were massive thunderstorms that spawned 266 tornadoes within a 24/hr period. People in 5 states were killed.

One tornado was clocked as an EF-5 (highest tornado rating, with winds in excess 200/mph)

One twister was 1.5miles wide, was at least EF-4 and was on the ground for an unthinkable 80mi!

The record for single day of number of twisters was super-outbreak 1974, when 267 twisters touched down.
The highest number of  tornadoes in single month was May 2003, when 558 touched down. May is historically the worst twister month.

April 2011 there were 871 tornadoes, shattering ALL records!

This year so far there have been many disaster records tied or broken:

Jan: Australia had floods of biblical proportion
Jan: Floods occurred throughout world including massive floods in Brazil.
Feb: a deadly earthquake flattened Christchurch NZ
March: a 9.1 quake in Japan, so powerful it moved Honshu Island and shifted earth on its axis.
Mar: Tsunami washed away much of Japan’s coastline
Mar: Tsunami caused nuclear meltdown at Fukushima, which is still ongoing

All year, ongoing :
–unexplained eq swarm in Arkansas, with thousands of continual earthquakes
–record drought
–record snow
–record cold
–catastrophic wildfires in TX
–Midwest historic flooding

This year already there have been 23 FEMA fedederal disaster declarations. In addition,

–The US is involved in 3 separate wars
–The Middle east erupted in chaos
–Oil prices are skyrocketing
–US Dollar is in freefall
–UN warns of severe food shortages worldwide

This is not normal. This is not global warming, either. This is Jesus. Jesus said that prior to His return, the earth would experience wars, rumors wars, famines, earthquakes, unrest, international tension. He said that these things would begin slowly and increase in frequency and intensity the closer we got to His appearing. (To when He returns bodily on the earth, not the rapture when He meets His Bride in the air and does not return all the way to earth).

You need to be ready. Being ready means being saved. Period. If you are reading this and are not saved, don’t let the rapture and the Tribulation judgments be the sign that you needed all along to convince you. Prepare your heart to receive the conviction of the Holy Spirit NOW, and then repent in all sincerity while there is still time join us in the church age. Repent simply means being sorry for the bad things you have thought, said, and did. And asking Jesus to forgive those. God’s justice was satisfied in Jesus’ death and shed blood, so you need not pay the penalty for your sin-crimes. And besides, you never know which day your end will come, it is of utmost eternal importance to be prepared to meet Jesus as His friend and not His enemy. Because, you WILL meet Jesus, one way or another.

If you are reading this and you THINK you are saved but have niggling doubts, or you assent intellectually that Jesus lived and died, but never really believed in His deity, you also need to allow the Holy Spirit to convict you toward sincere repentance. The longer you let it ride the more likely it is that He will give you over to your hard heart. Don’t resist the Spirit if you feel Him drawing you. And finally if you know that you KNOW that you are saved but it has been a while since you repented of a daily sin, please do that now. Don’t let anything hinder your walk with Jesus or obstruct your prayer life, with your praise going up and His blessings flowing down. Keep the lines of communication open.

Friends, it is too late to play games. Get serious. The generation is this one. Your days are numbered. The time is now.

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