Category: end time

Posted in end time, end time. prophecy, gratitude

A grateful heart will remain unshaken

Posted on by elizabethprata

Where I stand as this year draws to its close: I stand on the Cornerstone of all creation, because the mercy of Jesus has saved me. Gratitude fills my heart and my life with the blessings He has delivered to me, first fruit of which is that precious salvation. He Who is the fount from which all beneficence flows, in His mercy accepted my piteous cries for forgiveness and smiled upon my soul, bringing light and peace.

He continued to bless me by installing the Holy Spirit within me to rely upon as my guide and teacher. He allows me to grow in His light and remain upon His paths by sending me wisdom as I read His Holy Word. He gives me earthly fulfillments- I am not hungry, I am in a warm home, I am clothed and I am employed. I learn from Paul who said to the Philippians, “Not that I speak from want, for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am. I know how to get along with humble means, and I also know how to live in prosperity; in any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need. I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.” (Phil 4:11-13)

Contentment no matter the circumstance is truly a gift. Do you have a grateful heart as this year closes? The end time is a period when the Lord is shaking heaven and earth, and we see what remains. “At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, “Once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.” The words “once more” indicate the removing of what can be shaken—that is, created things—so that what cannot be shaken may remain. Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, for our “God is a consuming fire.” (Hebrews 12:26-19). In the meanwhile, here on earth, He is shaking loose governments, mountains, economies, hearts…so what remains? Believers! The Kingdom is within us and we must not be shaken as the the end time warnings continue to deepen. Gratitude and contentment in the midst of terrible circumstances is key to remaining unshaken. Paul was unshaken, content in all that occurred. So was Abraham Lincoln. The basis of Lincoln’s Thanksgiving proclamation was gratitude to the LORD. Notice how his decree began, not with a listing of current troubles, and if any man had a right to complain it was Lincoln. But the proclamation began with gratitude toward the Lord for blessings. Lincoln begins:

“The year that is drawing towards its close, has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature, that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever watchful providence of Almighty God. In the midst of a civil war of unequalled magnitude and severity, which has sometimes seemed to foreign States to invite and to provoke their aggression, peace has been preserved with all nations, order has been maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed everywhere except in the theatre of military conflict; while that theatre has been greatly contracted by the advancing armies and navies of the Union. Needful diversions of wealth and of strength from the fields of peaceful industry to the national defence, have not arrested the plough, the shuttle, or the ship; the axe had enlarged the borders of our settlements, and the mines, as well of iron and coal as of the precious metals, have yielded even more abundantly than heretofore. Population has steadily increased, notwithstanding the waste that has been made in the camp, the siege and the battle-field; and the country, rejoicing in the consciousness of augmented strength and vigor, is permitted to expect continuance of years, with large increase of freedom.”

“No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy.”

“It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and voice by the whole American people. I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens. And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to his tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquility and Union.”

“In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand, and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed. Done at the city of Washington, this third day of October, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three…”

Friend, you are of the Kingdom – the Kingdom that will not be shaken! My prayer for you is that your heart is filled with gratitude for all things, no matter the circumstance. “Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts.” (Col 3:16)

http://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

Posted in end time, florida, ocna mures romania, prophecy

Sinkhole in FL opens to 100 feet wide within minutes

Posted on by elizabethprata

From Highland Today, Interim Emergency Operations Management Director said ‘this was the biggest one he’d seen’. I’ve written about the phenomenon of sinkholes several times before. Here is an essay from Nov. of this year with scriptures plus some context reporting on additional sinkholes titled “Experts worried about increase in sinkholes“. In that piece, it was reported that ‘Citizens Property Insurance Corp., the state’s second largest multi-peril home insurer, told a state Senate committee during a hearing on the sinkhole issue that the number of claims being made to the company has more than doubled since 2005.” Premiums are up 30%. Last June I wrote an essay called “Is the Earth Cracking Up?” which explains further my thinking on the biblical implications of sinkholes’ increasing appearance. By the way, another sinkhole opened in Ocna Mures Romania on December 23, where the town is in a state of emergency.  Below is a story excerpt with photos from this latest sinkhole in Florida:

“About 3:30 p.m. Thursday, Luis Hernandez felt the soil trembling beneath his feet. “He had to run that way,” said his wife, Orpha, pointing to the east behind their three-bedroom mobile home. He heard air coming up, “Whooo, whooo, whooo,” Orpha approximated the noise, as if underground air was rushing to the surface. Luis knows because he looked at the clock on his phone – in just five minutes, a 100-foot wide sinkhole opened in the sand, gulping pots with palm trees and ligustrum hedges and catley guava. By Friday, they’d rescued all the nursery plants from the one-acre plot, moving them to the adjoining nine acres. But the hole had swelled 20 feet wider, and at 4 p.m. Friday, the circular mouth was an estimated 140 feet across. “This morning, there was just a little water in it,” she said. But by late afternoon, water was three feet deep and rising in the center of the hole.”

Within five minutes, the hole was 100 feet wide, said Hernandez. The owners had to run to escape:

By Friday afternoon, several feet of water had accumulated in the bottom of the sinkhole. The couple owns Florahome Nursery, and they had plants on the area of the property when it caved in:

A wall of sand and soil shows the division of one of several tiers of ground where a sinkhole opened up, which had increased to 140 feet wide by Friday afternoon:

http://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

Posted in atheists, end time, prophecy

Apollo 8 Christmas Eve message to the world

Posted on by elizabethprata

1968: The crew of Apollo 8 delivers a live, televised Christmas Eve broadcast after becoming the first humans to orbit another space body.

http://c.brightcove.com/services/viewer/federated_f9?isVid=1

That is so beautiful!

Forty years later:

source

Lord, come soon! He is so worthy, the undivided Trinity remains forever, may His name be exalted.
http://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

Posted in end time, end time. prophecy, holy spirit, salvation

The Spirit pursues you

Posted on by elizabethprata

Today is the day that our Savior was born and lived a life incarnate. How do I even think of the Immeasurable and Infinite God, pouring Himself into a human flesh with all its limitations, and living for three decades on this earth? I can’t, it defies the imagination. Even more so, His sacrifice of becoming flesh so He could die for our sins is for all time. He will never go back to being Spirit, but is the once for all sacrifice (Heb 10:10) and will remain glorified flesh forever. (Luke 24:36-43).

Epiphany, by Giotto, circa 1320

In His compassion, He seeks you, He draws you, He enlightens your depraved mind (Rom 10:20; John 6:44; Eph 1:18). We are too craven to seek Him on our own (Is 64:6), our hearts are too darkened (Jer 17:9) so instead He draws us to Him. This is another miracle. He seeks us fervently, and in His love, grace, and mercy, He sends the Holy Spirit to draw us to Him.

And we have the word of the prophets made more certain, and you will do well to pay attention to it, as to a light shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts. 2 Peter 1:19

I look back over my life and I clearly see the stepping stones of His drawing me to Him. The first time I really heard the Gospel was when my Aunt shared with me at age ten. She also told me that there would be a day when Jesus returned for His children and the dead will rise from their graves and the living would be caught away into the air, to be with Him always. I puzzled over the physics of that, spiritually drawn to its inherent truth but unable to understand it cognitively. I liked the story, though and I kept it in my heart.

All through my early adulthood, I attended church at times on Christmas Day, because that’s what you did. The Christmas season held opposing emotions for me, at one side I enjoyed the Christmas Carol “O Come All Ye Faithful”, singing it with gusto. At the other hand, I was insulted by things religious. My freshman Philosophy class at State University was held in a room containing a crucifix on the wall. I hated the crucifix. I stared at it and cursed it, wanting to alert the ACLU that there were state funds being spent in a place that had religion in it. Yet for Christmas break I’d happily drive home, go to church, and sing ‘O Come All Ye Faithful, Come let us adore Him’. Who did I think I was singing about?

I can see so well the work the Spirit did to keep my heart open to His truth, until the day when eventually my salvation met up with the destiny God had known about since the foundation of the world.

He pursues you, too. But here’s the thing: He doesn’t beg and He doesn’t pursue you forever. He stands at the door and knocks (Luke 12:36; Rev 3:20). He doesn’t burst in and He doesn’t capture you. He is polite. He knocks. But He will not strive with man’s spirit forever. (Genesis 6:3). At some point, the point at which He knows that you will not answer the knock, He graciously gives you your heart’s desire: to be left alone in your sin. (Rom 1:24; Rom 1:26; Rom 1:28; Acts 19:9; John 12:40). He withdraws His spirit and gives you over to your sin.

Gen 6:3 says “Then the LORD said, “My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, because he also is flesh; nevertheless his days shall be one hundred and twenty years” and the writer of the Geneva Study Bible explains: “Because man could not by won by God’s leniency and patience by which he tried to win him, he would no longer withhold his vengeance.” Do not be so vain as to think He will chase you forever, pleading with you and begging you to open the door. He won’t.

Do NOT be casual about your  salvation! Do not attend church today while ignoring the knocking at your heart of hearts by the Holy Spirit. Do not lead a blessing at Christmas dinner without hearing the Spirit’s call to your salvation. Do not commune in love with family members without acknowledging it was Jesus who gave you the family and He asks you to become part of His. He will not strive with you forever. Today is a perfect day to settle your sin-debt to Him. All you have to do is acknowledge your sins and ask Him to forgive them, and in so doing you acknowledge that He is the Sinless Savior who alone has the power to answer your  prayer.

What a merry Christmas it would be for you to allow the Spirit’s pursuit to catch up with you and to fold you into Glory with millions of others who opened the door to His offer of salvation.

Peace be with you.
http://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

Posted in earthquakes in diverse places, end time, prophecy

Guy Arkansas residents sick of three-month quake swarm

Posted on by elizabethprata

On October 15, 2010 I posted a story about an incredible earthquake swarm in Arkansas that had begun in late September. It was a 4.0 quake that caused the story to become of national interest. One news excerpt I posted reported: “Faulkner County residents had a shaky start to their Monday morning as a 4.0-magnitude earthquake rattled throughout the county. The quake, which occurred at 8:33 a.m. and was centered two miles southeast of Guy, was just one of 48 earthquakes reported since Wednesday afternoon. According to Shelia Maxwell with the Faulkner County Office of Emergency Management, the U.S. Geological Survey is looking into the recent earthquake activity in the area. “We’re having them (earthquakes) in places we’ve never had them before,” Maxwell said. “The USGS is looking into why we’re having them and why there have been so many.”

Jesus said that there would be earthquakes in diverse places. To me that means places that do not usually experience earthquakes will have them, and at not only the surface location but the depth. Deep-focus quakes are quakes aren’t supposed to happen, but they do, occurring in the very deepest parts of the earth. Last July, a series of quakes occurred in the Philippines which were 400+ feet deep that scientifically were not supposed to be able to occur. Deep-focus quakes are rare, just as rare as ongoing quake swarms in Arkansas. At one point during the Arkansas swarm, Oklahoma radio jockeys even joked that though they had experienced one strong quake (for them) at a 4.8 magnitude on the Richter scale, they felt left out because neighboring Arkansas was getting all the attention. So, earthquakes in diverse places.

Since last September, the Arkansas tremors have never stopped. The earthquakes have continually shaken, and shaken, and shaken the ground and have never ceased rattling nerves for a second. CNN reports today, “Central Arkansas growing weary of relentless tremors.”

“More than 500 measurable earthquakes have been reported in central Arkansas since September 20, ranging in magnitude from a barely noticeable 1.8 to a very noticeable 4.0 (recorded on October 11), according to the U.S. Geological Survey.Geologists can’t say whether they’ll stop anytime soon. … Meanwhile, Sam Higdon, the mayor of Guy, says the quakes’ novelty is worn out. “I think everyone just kind of figures maybe it’ll just go away,” he said. “And that’s what we’re all hoping.”

The New Madrid Seismic Zone is in the northeast corner of Arkansas and was home to one of the most devastating earthquakes to occur in the continental US, back in 1811-12. Faulkner County’s town of Guy Arkansas is 200 miles away from the New Madrid seismic zone, though the area is historically seismically active in a minimal way. In reviewing the Arkansas Geological Survey spreadsheet on Arkansas seismicity for 2009, Arkansas statewide had 39 measurable earthquakes last year. Eight were in Faulkner county. This year, over 500 occurred in central Arkansas alone.

The disciples asked Jesus when He will come back. “And Jesus answered and said to them, “See to it that no one misleads you. “For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will mislead many. “You will be hearing of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not frightened, for those things must take place, but that is not yet the end. “For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and in various places there will be famines and earthquakes. But all these things are merely the beginning of birth pangs.” (Mt 24:4-8) “But when these things begin to take place, straighten up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.” (Luke 21:28).

The Arkansas ongoing quake swarm is another warning to the lost and dying world that He is about to return, in wrath and judgment. But for the believers who are saved and eternal, we know that His sooner arrival for us in the air is even closer. No one needs to perish, all can come to the glory of God even though we fall short. How? By recognizing our sins, that we do sin and each and every sin is an affront to God and creates an incredible rift between us humans and Him Who made us to have a relationship with. Is it a coincidence that just at the time Jesus said there would be famine and wars and earthquakes and signs from heaven that we are experiencing more famine and wars and earthquakes and signs from heaven than ever before? That we are experiencing things that science has no clue as to explain? That the world is in perplexity with no rational explanation yet there are historical events and statistical anomalies occurring all over the place? Daily?

Well, it is not a coincidence. One cannot separate our behavior and our rebellion from God’s promises of warning, then judgment. It is happening: the warnings are continuing this long because of His mercy and His love for us, that none should perish. But eventually many will perish because they refused to heed the signs. Don’t let that be you. Ask Him to forgive your sins and accept that He is your Sovereign King whose glory is immeasurable and who is worthy to be served. His grace abounds and I pray that you will see His light and become one of His lights in the world … before it is too late.
http://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

Posted in end time, high priest, melchizedek, prophecy

Jesus as High Priest

Posted on by elizabethprata

There are many aspects to the Lord’s personality, aspects we have been given through His grace to explore for all eternity. We will never learn all there is to learn about Him, because He is infinite, but the glory will be in the journey, drawing ever closer to Him.

The Christmas season rightly focuses attention to Him as savior, the babe born of a virgin and who lived a sinless life, died as the sacrifice to satisfy God’s Holy righteousness and fulfill the sin-debt that must be paid. We usually focus on Him as Savior, friend, father, and occasionally as judge. But there is another aspect to Him that I would like to explore today: Priest.

David refers to the coming Messiah as a priest on the order of Melchizedek. “The LORD has sworn and will not change His mind. You are a priest forever According to the order of Melchizedek.” (Psalm 110:4)

Caption: (Cf. Gen 14:18-20). Here the mysterious figure of Melchizedek (Cf. Heb 7:3), depicted as prophet, priest and king, goes out to meet Abraham after his return from the latter’s defeat of his enemies and offers a sacrifice of bread and wine on his behalf. Melchizedek prefigures the person of Christ who, similarly shrouded in mystery, enjoys the three-fold status of priest, prophet and king and will also offer a similar sacrifice of bread and wine become his Body and Blood for us all.” Source

Who was Melchizedek and why is his Order considered higher than Aaron’s, the first High Priest of the Levites? We read of Melchizedek when he meets with Abraham in Genesis. He is an actual King and an actual Priest, living and walking on the earth in Abraham’s day.

“And Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine; now he was a priest of God Most High. He blessed him and said, “Blessed be Abram of God Most High, Possessor of heaven and earth; And blessed be God Most High Who has delivered your enemies into your hand.” He gave him a tenth of all.” (Gen 14:18-20). 

The city of Salem was later known as Jerusalem.

In Hebrews 7:3 we read again of Melchizedek, and notice that there is an omission. Usually, especially in the Old Testament, people are introduced to the reader by their genealogy. “So-and-so who was the son of so-and-so and father of…” But it is specifically noted that Melchizedek has no genealogy, so we wonder how anyone who claims Melchizedek is actually Shem, for example, and some Talmudic scholars do, learned of Melchizedek’s lineage. No one knows his geneology, as is stated in the Hebrews verse below.

In any case, the personage of Melchizedek is certainly righteous. Anyway, the story of the meeting with Abraham is repeated in Hebrews, and introduced this way:

‘Melchizedek’s Priesthood Like Christ’s‘
“For this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the Most High God, who met Abraham as he was returning from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him, to whom also Abraham apportioned a tenth part of all the spoils, was first of all, by the translation of his name, king of righteousness, and then also king of Salem, which is king of peace. Without father, without mother, without genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but made like the Son of God, he remains a priest perpetually.” (Heb 7:1-3).

Melchizedek is referred to again in Hebrews 5:6-10; Hebrews 6:20; Hebrews 7:1-21: “Thou art a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek”; and Hebrews 8:1. From his initial introduction at the meeting with Abraham it was another thousand years until David mentioned him and another thousand again until the writer of Hebrews mentioned him, and then Melchizedek disappears from the biblical record. But the notion of Jesus as Priest does not.

High Priests of the Temple died and their office was given to the son. But Jesus is perpetual and His office of High Priest will never die. High Priests in the temple managed the sacrifices, which were daily. Thousands upon thousands of lambs and other animals were killed, blood ran by the buckets all day every day, but Jesus is the once for all sacrifice. He IS our High Priest, forever.

“Therefore, holy brethren, partakers of a heavenly calling, consider Jesus, the Apostle and High Priest of our confession;” (Hebrews 3:1-3)

So what does a High Priest do? They were compassionate about sins, being human themselves. They participated in the sacrificial system, managing others’ sacrifices. Yet being human, they also had to sacrifice on behalf of their own sins. They represented humans before God.

In Revelation 1:6 we read that we are made to be Kings and Priests. “and He has made us to be a kingdom, priests to His God and Father–to Him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen.” 

Again, in Rev. 5:9b-10 we read that

“Worthy are You to take the book and to break its seals; for You were slain, and purchased for God with Your blood men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation. “You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to our God; and they will reign upon the earth.”

Peter reveals that we as believers are part of a royal priesthood:

“you also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. … But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.” (1 Pet 2:5,9).

Matthew Henry writes:

“All true believers are a holy priesthood; sacred to God, serviceable to others, endowed with heavenly gifts and graces. But the most spiritual sacrifices of the best in prayer and praise are not acceptable, except through Jesus Christ. Christ is the chief Corner-stone, that unites the whole number of believers into one everlasting temple, and bears the weight of the whole fabric. Elected, or chosen, for a foundation that is everlasting.”

What Grace! What Mercy! He as the Chief Cornerstone as High Priest, elects His priests and unites us in a priesthood to serve Him! We are called privileged and we are. Our duties today and forever are to offer up spiritual sacrifices to Him the Most High. Is this a good gift in your eyes? Better than an X-box or a bike or a diamond bracelet? It is a tremendous gift to be called to a royal priesthood serving the High Priest in heaven. It is a high calling. Are you living a holy life worthy of Him and making spiritual sacrifices so His name is magnified? I am rejoicing! I am singing His praises!

As you ponder the mysteries of His very Being this Christmas season, ponder Him as high Priest representing us before God. What a blessed Gift to be able to serve for Him and with him!

Posted in end time, prophecy

Government sanctioned homosexuality and staggering storms on the west coast. Coincidence? I think not.

Posted on by elizabethprata

Does anyone notice an interesting juxtaposition with Drudge’s latest front page?

When individuals or nations succumb to sin, particularly homosexuality, God warns, then judges. He always has and He always will. We are the formerly blessed nation of America whose light was set up on the hill. As Massachusetts Governor John Winthrop wrote in 1630 aboard the ship Arbella, “For we must consider that we shall be as a city upon a hill. The eyes of all people are upon us. So that if we shall deal falsely with our God in this work we have undertaken, and so cause Him to withdraw His present help from us, we shall be made a story and a by-word through the world. … But if our hearts shall turn away, so that we will not obey, but shall be seduced, and worship other Gods, our pleasure and profits, and serve them; it is propounded unto us this day, we shall surely perish out of the good land whither we pass over this vast sea to possess it.”

The light upon a hill was a reference to Matthew 5:14-16; “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hid… Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.”

Does it glorify God to formalize and legitimize government-sanctioned homosexuality? No. And so we see just above the photo a series of headlines where unusual rains and staggering storms have arrived in California. And unseen in the photo but contained under it was another headline, “Freak diversion of jet stream paralyzing globe with freezing conditions…” These are not coincidences. They are not. The photo may be worth a thousand words, but the Word of God is the real treasure.

“For this reason we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away from it. For if the word spoken through angels proved unalterable, and every transgression and disobedience received a just penalty; how will we escape if we neglect so great a salvation? After it was at the first spoken through the Lord, it was confirmed to us by those who heard, God also testifying with them, both by signs and wonders and by various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit according to His own will.” (Hebrews 2:1-4) Take heed!

http://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

Posted in end time, obama lie to pope, pedophilia normal, prophecy

Pope says pedophilia kind of normal

Posted on by elizabethprata

In his Christmas message yesterday, Pope Benedict shook off complete responsibility for the child abuse scandal among priests in the Catholic Church, saying that the culture is partly to blame.

Pope Blames 1970s Society for Pedophile Priests
“Pope Benedict used his annual speech to Rome’s cardinals and bishops on Monday (Dec. 20) to ask them to reflect on the church’s responsibility in the child sex abuse scandals. Benedict qualified his mea culpa by stating that the scandal (in which priests who sexually abused children were often ignored or protected by the Catholic Church) was partly justified by the broader social context. Benedict said that while the church accepted some responsibility, he could not be silent about ”the context of these times…. There is a market in child pornography that seems in some way to be considered more and more normal by society.” Benedict claimed that as recently as the 1970s, “pedophilia was theorized as something fully in conformity with man and even with children.” In this climate, the Catholic Church’s actions were merely reflecting the moral relativism of the times: “It was maintained — even within the realm of Catholic theology — that there is no such thing as evil in itself or good in itself,” Benedict said.”

Source

If there is anything that should wake up the people that Catholicism is a false religion this should be it. First, that there existed a climate of oppression and evil that allowed pedophilia to run rampant to such extent is a healthy indicator that the Holy Spirit Restrainer to a large degree wasn’t and isn’t present within the Catholic church. Man is sinful and we fail by falling into the flesh so often, so we cannot point fingers against individuals who sin unless we remove the log from our own eye first. We all sin. We all stumble. However, and this is a big however, the quantity and extent of the pedophilia is more than a brief stumble, is more than a momentary straying away from the Restrainer, is more than individuals who neglected to die daily and briefly fell prey to sin. It is systematized, organized, and widespread evil.

Secondly, Christians familiar with the bible know that we are told that the world is evil. I do not know why the Pope is surprised by the immoral conditions of the 1970s because we are told the moral conditions of the world are bad and were going to get a lot worse. (2 Timothy 3:1-5; 2 Peter 2:1-3; Jude 1:7 for starters).

I do not know why the Pope is surprised by the cravenness of man and the depth of God’s hatred of sin, particularly homosexuality and child abuse. We are told these things repeatedly. (Lev 18:22-23; 1 Tim 1:9-10; Rom 1:26-27) “But if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a large millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea.” (Mt 18:6)

We are told that the world is given to the evil one, and he rules it. (2 Cor 4:4; John 12:31). We are told that we should not love the world and not to try to blend in with it, we Christians must be apart from it. (1 John 2:15-16)

Jerry Solomon wrote on “Culture and the Bible“, and said,
“[T]he world is hostile toward God; this includes the rebellion of mankind. Second, this hostility was not part of the original created order; the world was created good. Third, this world is also the object of God’s redemptive love and Christ’s sacrifice. Fourth, the world is not to be seen as an end in itself. We are always to view culture in the light of eternity. Fifth, we are to be about the business of transforming the world. “We are not to follow the world’s lead but to cut across it and rise above it to a higher calling and style.”

Corinth was one of the most immoral cities on the planet, and yet Paul’s messages to the Church at Corinth and the believers there are encouraging to them on how to live in a craven culture, and contain proper admonitions on how to remove one’s self from the fallen society yet make a difference for the Lord in the world. For the Pope to blame the culture of forty years ago as ‘partly to blame’ for Priests using children as sex toys is unconscionable.

Th Pope’s normalization of pedophilia is a good example of what happens when we remove our eyes from the standards of God. His Word is all we need to know for the moral barometer of Christian conduct, based on His absolutes. Though those standards are unattainable in our fallen state, He gracefully gives us the Holy Spirit as restrainer of sins. However, if we take our eyes off His attributes, His absolutes and His word, immediately we begin to normalize evil. For those of you who are shocked, saying, ‘surely pedophilia is evil! Anyone should be able to see that!’ I say to you that just as God’s love knows no bounds, sin knows no depths. There is always a worse. There is always another depth to descend to.

Paul warned about the influence of ungodliness in 1 Corinthians 15:33. “[T]his was the second time Paul warned the Corinthians not to be deceived (1 Corinthians 6:9). He cautioned them not to take up the lifestyles of corrupt people—those who will not inherit the kingdom of God. Paul knew how easy it is for people to be influenced by such adverse teachings. If not checked at the very beginning, they could begin to adopt such perverted ideas and behaviors as normal. For this reason, Paul quotes a proverb by the Greek poet Menander: “Bad company corrupts good character.” No doubt this proverb was well known among Greeks of this time. The point Paul makes here is pertinent to all people in all ages. When we associate with or take delight in the company of people with worldly morals, we run the risk of mimicking their behaviors, their language, and their habits. Before long we are no longer of Christ, but of the world with its denial of absolute authority, its rejection of the Bible as the Word of God, and its ideology of relative morality.” (source)

That the Pope knows all this, was biblically warned not to be misled, understands that the world will corrupt absolutely, and still blames the culture for his priests’ child abuse, is the true evil.
http://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

Posted in end time, eu recognize palestinian State, prophecy

Slouching toward Gomorrah: Palestinian state now recognized by 13 nations

Posted on by elizabethprata

I’ve been writing about a troubling notion taking root in the discussions revolving around the Middle East morass known as “peace talks.” In July 2009, then- EU top diplomat Javier Solana cut through all the hyperbole with a simple but devastating statement. Solana-

“called for the United Nations Security Council to recognize a Palestinian State and the two-State solution by a certain deadline even if Israel and others did not. After a fixed deadline, a United Nations Security Council resolution should proclaim the adoption of the two-State solution.”

Since then, Obama has picked up the banner of “just declare it.” A few months after Solana’s proposition to the UN in October 2009, The Asia Times reported in April 2010, “Obama imposing a Palestinian state.” It was reported: “US President Barack Obama’s demands during his meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last Tuesday point to an intention to impose permanent settlement on Israel and the Palestinians in less than two years,” the Israeli daily, Ha’aretz, wrote on Monday. We may draw a similar conclusion from analyses such as the one by Tony Karon in Asia Times Online.”

How about that. Just do it. After all, the European powers created an Israeli state by unilateral decision, so why not do the same for “Palestine”? Never mind the fact that initially the Israeli state contained land that was taken away to be given to the original Palestinian state: Jordan. THAT was supposed to satisfy the peoples calling themselves Palestinians as described in the Balfour Declaration. Jordan IS the Palestinian State. How soon they forget. Since 1917, more land has been taken away from Israel on the false basis that the Palestinians must have their state. Over time, Israel has given the Arabs Sinai Peninsula, Gaza Strip, the southern zone of Lebanon, and partial control of West Bank. The Arabs always ask for more. And it appears that Solana’s dastardly idea may soon come to pass and Israel will be carved up once again.

Sadly, we can say with authority that we know that will happen. It is prophesied. “Jerusalem will be trampled on by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.” (Luke 21:24). “But exclude the outer court; do not measure it, because it has been given to the Gentiles. They will trample on the holy city for 42 months.” (Rev 11:2). I will gather all nations and bring them down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat there I will enter into judgment against them concerning my inheritance, my people Israel, for they scattered my people among the nations and divided up my land.” (Joel 3:2)

So therefore we know that dividing Israel into small bits will occur and all or part of Jerusalem will be given over. What we, as the terminal generation are watching, is the prophecy being prepared for fulfillment right before our eyes. There are extremely troubling developments  occurring this week:

On December 13: Erakat Asks EU to Recognize Palestinian State Alongside Israel. Now, Saeb Muhammad Salih Erekat (his surname is spelled both ways) is the Palestinian chief of the Palestinian Liberation Organization Steering and Monitoring Committee. The PLO is a political and paramilitary organization founded in 1964. It is recognized as the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people. In the above linked article, “Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat formally asked the European Union in a letter to recognize an independent Palestinian state.”

On that same day it was reported in South America that “Brazil and Argentina recognize Palestinian State“
“Many in Latin America and around the world were asking one question following the news that Brazil and Argentina had recognized the state of Palestine in the West Bank: Why now? Among the answers, PLO envoy to Washington Maen Areikat told JTA, was the frustration with the stops and starts in the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, which he said created the atmospherics ripe for recognition.”

On December 17 Norway formally moved toward recognition of a Palestinian State. Norway is not part of the European Union. Norway upgrades Palestinian mission
“Oslo says upgrade from ‘general delegation’ to ‘diplomatic mission’ in recognition of Palestinian Authority’s efforts to establish independent state.” From my understanding, an upgrade means that it is a step closer for the representations to enjoy the status of embassies of a sovereign country.

And on December 19: apparently in response to Erekat’s letter, or Obama’s push, or Solana’s idea, that “10 EU states will upgrade their PLO missions”
“Chief PA negotiator says Palestinian missions abroad are step closer to becoming embassies of an “occupied state with defined borders.”

The formalized, diplomatic steps to recognizing a Palestinian State apparently include recognizing diplomats to deploy to any upcoming new State. And that has happened from Southern Hemisphere to Northern, from West to East. Thirteen nations are prepared to recognize a Palestinian State by fiat.

Brazil has even gone a step further today, and donated land for Palestinian embassy: “Palestinian ambassador to Brazil Ibrahim Az-Zein received the title to a piece of land Monday, where the Palestinian embassy in Brazil will stand following that country’s recognition of a Palestinian state earlier in the month.”

In response, “Israel asks its embassies to thwart PA unilateralism” but you can see how this tide is flowing. It is flowing against God’s people, and toward Armageddon, where these nations will be severely judged for their disgraceful rebellion against Him and their intrusion upon His land.
http://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js