end time – Page 8

earthquake, end time, God, last days, sovereign

Unusual quakes in CT, TX, Smoky Mountains

Posted on March 2, 2015May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

We haven’t had a good old earthquake update for a while. I think that nothing expresses His sovereignty over the earth as much as when He shakes it.

who shakes the earth out of its place, and its pillars tremble; (Job 9:6).

People will flee to caves in the rocks and to holes in the ground from the fearful presence of the LORD and the splendor of his majesty, when he rises to shake the earth. (Isaiah 2:19)

There was a small quake in the Smoky Mountains. What is notable is that it is only the third earthquake in that region, ever.

Earthquake strikes the Smoky Mountains

Early in the morning on Wednesday, February 26, 2015, a minor earthquake shook up the Smoky Mountains. For a little over a week, the Smoky Mountains have been covered in snow and ice, but that didn’t stop the earthquake that rumbled in the mountains sometime between 4-4:15 a.m. on Wednesday morning. The earthquake registered at a 2.1 magnitude about 7 miles south of Gatlinburg, closer to Clingmans Dome. According to local news station WATE, this is only the third earthquake that has been recorded within national park boundaries. The first was in 1979 and the second in 2011. Thankfully, no earthquake in the Smoky Mountains has been powerful enough to cause any damage.

Another location has been experiencing quakes: Connecticut

Connecticut’s quakes unusual

Geologists are trying to make sense of about a dozen small to moderate earthquakes that have peppered eastern Connecticut in and around Plainfield, a sleepy town that hasn’t seen much excitement since its textile industry moved out in the 1920s. The largest of these was a magnitude 3.3 quake that was felt at 6:36 a.m. on Jan. 12. “We’re getting a swarm of earthquakes, which is a little unusual for Connecticut,” said Susan Long, professor of geology at Yale University who specializes in earthquakes.

2.2 Magnitude Quake Is the 12th in a Week

The ground shook again in Eastern Connecticut on Thursday morning as the area experienced its 12th earthquake in a week. On Friday local and state officials will be holding meetings to inform residents and discuss how prepared the state is should a damaging earthquake strike here.

Plainfield gets another quake

PLAINFIELD- Earthquakes, no matter how minor, can rattle one’s nerves, not to mention pictures and plates. Still, the people of Plainfield appear to be settling into their new existence. The Quiet Corner has morphed into the Quake Corner. Tuesday morning, at approximately 9:30, the Plainfield Police Department fielded roughly a dozen phone calls, most from Green Hollow Road, reporting yet another earthquake. This one was a 2.1 magnitude. “And, that’s nothing like the hundreds (of calls) that we were dealing with earlier when this was all occurring,” said Plainfield Police Capt. Mario Arriaga. … Dr. Long says seismologists worldwide remain interested in the state’s recent rumbles.

Jeepers! New Look at ‘Creeping’ San Andreas Fault

A small part of the San Andreas Fault that was thought to quietly slide without shaking its neighbors may actually be capable of strong earthquakes, including magnitude-6 shakers, a new study finds. The San Andreas Fault is divided into three legs. The middle leg has long been treated as a benign barrier between the more seismically active northern and southern segments. That’s because the central section “creeps” — rocks on either side of the fault slip past each other without snagging. On the other two legs, rocks lock together, building up strain that is unleashed as powerful earthquakes. … Scientists had thought that San Andreas Fault earthquakes primarily struck in the locked zones, so it was a surprise finding locked patches big enough to trigger sizable earthquakes in the creeping zones, said lead study author Romain Jolivet, a geophysicist at the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom, who conducted the research as a postdoctoral scholar at Caltech in Pasadena, California. … Scientists have recently raised the possibility that an earthquake could rupture the entire length of the San Andreas. The biggest recorded earthquakes on the fault either started or stopped in the transition zones.

Earthquakes in Texas…Again

In the relative calm of an early morning where North Texas was bracing for a rare snow storm, the Dallas suburb of Irving got a wake-up call, literally, on Friday, February 27, when a small 3.1 magnitude earthquake struck at 6:18 AM, according to the US Geological Survey (USGS). This was the first temblor felt in a month. The City of Irving has been the site of “roughly two dozen quakes to hit since the beginning of 2015, and more than 40 earthquakes have hit since April of last year,” CBS DFW reported. They stated that the USGS located the epicenter as just east of the former site of the Texas Stadium off of State Highway 193. … Although the team has not yet been able to provide an answer as to what has been causing all the seismic activity, it does indicate “there is a narrow two-mile fault extending from Irving into Dallas, running 3 to 5 miles deep,” also according to CBS DFW. … Dallas residents are not used to having earthquakes and their nerves have been frayed by the constant seismic activity of late.

You have made the land to quake; you have torn it open; repair its breaches, for it totters. (Psalm 60:2)

church, encouragement, end time, fellowship, gather together, prophecy, putnam

Churching Alone: The Collapse of American Churches

Posted on October 25, 2014May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

In 2000, an important book was published. Robert Putnam wrote Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community.

Since the founding of America, we as a nation have always emphasized the importance of a strong and active civil society to the consolidation and perpetuation of democracy. When Thomas Paine wrote “Common Sense” before the American Revolution, people grabbed up his pamphlet and brought it to the tavern to discuss. Taverns and public squares were abuzz with discussions of ideas, concepts, philosophies. A robust public conversation with personal engagement among neighbors was the foundation of democracy.

I grew up in Rhode Island, the 13th state in the American Colonies, a place where there are more pre-colonial buildings still standing than anywhere else in the US. The first American Jewish synagogue is in Newport. (Touro). The first Baptist church is in Newport. A letter written in 1790 from George Washington to the RI Hebrew Congregation, assuring them, citizens of a newly independent United States, of tolerance and freedom of religion. Washington wrote,

May the children of the stock of Abraham who dwell in this land continue to merit and enjoy the good will of the other inhabitants — while every one shall sit in safety under his own vine and fig tree and there shall be none to make him afraid.

But back to the old days. Men discussed ideas together in public spaces- taverns, the town square, the general store, front porches. They argued, persuaded, they met, they wrestled with ideas and formed community. It was that wrestling and knitting that made us strong enough as a collective of disparate farmers, millworkers, sailors, and the like, to dare to poke the eye of the mighty United Kingdom, and fight for freedom, including freedom to assemble and freedom to worship.

In this paper, the Daily Life of the American Colonies: The Role of the Tavern in Society Noon Inn Barroom, we learn of the importance of a citizenry discussing ideas together,

In the century or so leading up to the Revolution, colonial taverns and inns were an essential part of the community. Horses need frequent rests, travel by coach and horseback were far from comfortable. In Massachusetts on the roads leading to Boston, taverns and inns were spaced about every eight miles, which worked out to a reasonable journey in the winter cold before a person needed to warm up, inside and out.

The main reason for the importance of the colonial era tavern was as a social hub. Issues of the day were discussed and hammered out here, in fact, often in official settings. The City Tavern in Philadelphia, was the site of the first continental congress. The Virginia legislature met in the taverns of Williamsburg. And the initial investigations of the Salem Witch trials were supposed to be held at Ingersoll’s ordinary, [a name for a small tavern] though it was in the end was too small for the crowds.

To the common man, the tavern was where you learned the current prices for your cash crops. It was where you could find a newspaper, often read aloud for those who couldn’t read. It’s where local issues were debated and local governments met. The colonial era tavern was the link to the outer world for those in rural areas, and a place where you could meet your neighbors for conversation, games and diversion.

Entertainment included gambling; on horse racing, cockfights as well as cards. Actually the colonists were known to gamble on almost anything, including guessing the weight of pigs, a practice eventually outlawed on Long Island as it led to too many fights. The tavern also served as courthouse, where you learned of new business opportunities and worked out trades with your neighbors.

The tavern also served as post office. Originally the practice was to put your posts on a table, which travelers would then take along the route with them. It was commonly accepted that the travelers had the right to read your mail, providing a bit of entertainment along the way. Mail arrived in the community in the same way that it left, eventually becoming more organized and efficient.

In addition, recruitment and deployment of the militia took place in the taverns. Prior to the battle of Lexington, the militia organized and fortified themselves at Buckman’s tavern, before marching out onto the Lexington Green and into the history books.

In Newport RI, where our family would often drive on a Sunday, the White Horse Tavern still stands. It was constructed before 1673, is one of the oldest tavern buildings in the United States. It is located on the corner of Farewell and Marlborough streets in Newport. We used to eat brunch there. I’d sit in one of the many small rooms, with small fireplace blazing, hardwood floors and ladderback wooden chairs, and wonder about the Colonists who lifted a tankard in debate as to whether to separate from England.

In Wikipedia it is stated,

“In the first half of the 19th century, Alexis de Tocqueville had observations about American life that seemed to outline and define social capital. He observed that Americans were prone to meeting at as many gatherings as possible to discuss all possible issues of state, economics, or the world that could be witnessed. The high levels of transparency caused greater participation from the people and thus allowed for democracy to work better.”

White Horse Tavern, Newport, in 2009. Wikipedia

And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers. (Acts 2:42 KJV)

If the foundation of a democracy was forged by citizens together in community, discussing things of import, ideas traded, dispensed with, held onto; how much more should those behaviors be replicated in the church? Where do the community of Christ’s members gather, discuss, flesh out biblical ideas, knit ourselves together in His name? Where are the robust discussions, healthy praises to Jesus, songs and fellowship? Because it’s not in church. And increasingly, it’s not in homes, either. Forget the public square, if a gathering occurs, say at Cracker Barrel, the talk is rarely biblical. Other times, Christians are prevented from speaking of Jesus in public.

Public domain

Corporate worship is extremely important. In this sermon by Phil Johnson called A Foretaste of Glory Divine. Pastor Johnson explains the verse from Psalm 122.

Notice the plural pronouns in the first two verses: “I was glad when they said to me, “Let us go to the house of the LORD.” Our feet are standing Within your gates, O Jerusalem.” One of the distinctive joys David is writing about here is the corporate nature of this worship experience. He had spent much of his youth alone on the hills tending sheep and meditating on the truth of God in solitude and that’s certainly a good and valid exercise. But it cannot take the place of fellowship and public worship with the multitude of God’s people. That is why the feasts were so important in Israel. Verse 4: “The tribes go up, even the tribes of the LORD–An ordinance for Israel–To give thanks to the name of the LORD.”

And,

There’s a sanctifying influence in the gathering of believers that you will not benefit from if you think watching a church service on TV or streaming church on the Internet is a valid substitute for real live participation in the public worship of God’s people. Hebrews 10:24-25: “Let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.”

There are two problems in today’s ‘churching alone’ era. One is that people increasingly satisfied to stay at home and watch someone on TV or streamed online. The second and the greater problem is that when people do attend church for any reason at any function, rare is the talk of doctrine. We might sing some ‘me-oriented’ songs, listen to a (too-short/self-help/topical) sermon. And then when the last ‘Amen’ is said, people are out the doors, never to speak of Jesus again until next week.

When believers gather these days, too often it is not really to worship God but merely to entertain one another. ~Phil Johnson
What are we losing by ‘churching alone’? What are the effects on the church when its members forgo social intercourse, fellowship, and good discussions and praises to the Lord? Wikipedia summarizes Putnam’s book,

Putnam surveys the decline of “social capital” in the United States since 1950. He has described the reduction in all the forms of in-person social intercourse upon which Americans used to found, educate, and enrich the fabric of their social lives. He believes this undermines the active civil engagement which a strong democracy requires from its citizens.

iPhone wallpaper

When we ‘church alone,’ whether at home or alone as an island at church, our biblical lives are not enriched. When we are not educated in biblical literacy, we weaken. When we are weak, the scarlet thread of our lives that should be evident when we gather with others isn’t connected. And the Preacher said in Ecclesiastes 4:12,

And though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him—a threefold cord is not quickly broken.

If Putnam’s notion of social capital is an investment in social relations with expected returns in the marketplace, then in the church world, social capital is investment in spiritual-social relations with expected returns in the church. In Acts 2 we see the priority of fellowship, and along with that came praise for the Lord. (Acts 5:42)

It seems clear that the more we meet in His name, breaking bread, having fellowship, and discussing His doctrine, then the more we have glad hearts, generous spirits, and praise for Jesus on our lips. It stands to reason that the opposite is true too; less we get together, the fewer times we discuss His doctrines, break bread, and have glad hearts, and thus we praise Him and proclaim Him less.

And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, (Acts 2:46)

And truth be told, if we do get together, how often do we really discuss His doctrines as the verse in Acts 2:42 states the first church did? Not a lot.

Whoever isolates himself seeks his own desire; he breaks out against all sound judgment. (Proverbs 18:1)
Yet personal engagement at an all-time low. The previous networking availabilities in church, such a personal visits, dinners on the ground, home gatherings, have gone the way of the dinosaur. People don’t do that anymore. We do not ‘continually devote ourselves to… fellowship.’

More often than not, the way this generation engages today is via social media online. Visiting in person is a relic from the past.

What do colonial times in the 1770s to 1800 have to do with today’s church? Cut to 100 years later, the 1900s. There was still a public square. Before television, before the internet, people sat and talked. They had coffee. They visited. They had Sunday suppers. They sat by the pot bellied stove at the feed store and talked. People played bridge, gathered for parties, told stories. They discoursed.

The iconic Andy Griffith show reflected this reality- front porch sitting was a favored past time.
It was a time when people were invested in each other’s lives. They know when someone wasn’t feeling well. Or wasn’t themselves. They knew when someone was struggling. They celebrated victories and pitched in during hard times.

We have lost that.

We’re “crazy busy” now.

Yet the youngsters don’t know any other way of engaging except what they see online or through their parents or other trusted adults. They think fellowship is gathering at a google hangout.

I’m not saying anything that is unknown to anyone living in the year 2014. It’s old news that we do not socialize anymore. Here is the new news. New, at least to me.

We are forgetting HOW to socialize.

The influence of personal cellphones and texting have infiltrated our psyche to the extent that front porch sitting, passing the time, just being with someone is a lost art.

If people socialize at all in person now, it includes a phone interruptions and texting, looking at email, or a myriad of other things that distract from looking fully into someone’s eyes and listening to what they are saying with full attention.

This is my favorite episode from Andy Griffith. A business man in a hurry breaks down in Mayberry on a Sunday. Initially chafing at the slow pace of life and the almost uniform commitment by its inhabitants to the priority of fellowship on the Lord’s Day, the man eventually succumbs to the love shown to him- and he slows down.

Will you visit someone this week? Will you sing with them, or speak of the glories of our savior, or read the bible together? Will you linger at church for a while afterward and praise the sermon and flesh out some of its points- coming to happy agreement with a fellow believer? Let us not “church alone.” The foretaste of glory divine Mr Johnson was preaching on is the corporate gathering of believers on earth being the glad foretaste of the gathering in praise of all of history’s saints at the end of time. What a true foretaste- glorying in the Lord together, never alone forevermore.

Then the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.” (Genesis 2:18)

Man in a Hurry- full episode

end time, prophecy

The time is near

Posted on September 9, 2014May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

end time, gaza, hamas, ISIS, jerusalem, peace

Quick update on Gaza/Isis

Posted on August 24, 2014May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

Life in Israel today:

Warning sirens have sounded over 4,000 times in Israel over 45 days of fighting with the Gaza Strip.

Israelis take cover as siren sounds warning
of incoming rockets near the Gaza border. Photo by Reuters. Source

Joel C. Rosenberg writes of the war in Gaza against Israel. (Biography source). This is yesterday’s update.

War with Gaza Day #46, by Joel C. Rosenberg
(Jerusalem, Israel) — The last 48 hours have seen a dramatic surge of violence here in Israel, and horrific atrocities throughout the epicenter. At the moment it is 2:15 in the morning here, the beginning of Day #46.

Here is the latest:

–Hamas and its allies have fired more than 320 rockets at Israel since Tuesday night when it broke its 11th ceasefire agreement.
–This represents one of the largest surges of violence in the past 46 days.
–Why such a ferocious barrage by Hamas? Because the Shin Bet and IDF just scored an enormous intelligence and operational coup — IDF airstrikes killed three very senior Hamas military commanders.

There is much more at the link.

Bomb Fired From Gaza Kills Israeli Child, Netanyahu Vows Tough Response

In new violence, a 4-year-old Israeli boy was killed by Palestinian rocket fire, while four Palestinians were killed in Israeli airstrikes in Gaza. Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, vowed a tough response to the killing. In all, more than 2,000 Palestinians and 68 people on the Israeli side have died.

Source

A four-year-old Israeli boy was killed by a mortar shell fired from the Gaza Strip on Friday afternoon. The boy, named late Friday as Daniel Tragerman, was at home with his parents and siblings at Kibbutz Nahal Oz in the Sha’ar Hanegev Region, close to the border with Gaza, when the attack took place.

Pray for the peace of Jerusalem! “May they be secure who love you! (Psalm 122:6)

Why Should we pray for the peace of Jerusalem?

God tells us to pray for the peace of Jerusalem in Psalm 122:6-9: “Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: ‘May those who love you be secure. May there be peace within your walls and security within your citadels.’ For the sake of my brothers and friends, I will say, ‘Peace be within you.’ For the sake of the house of the LORD our God, I will seek your prosperity.” From this passage, we see that praying for peace and good to come to God’s holy city benefits those who pray. God promised blessings on those who bless Israel and curses on those who curse her (Genesis 12:3), and since Jerusalem is depicted as the center of Jewish life, it follows that those who pray for her peace and security will be granted peace themselves.

Praying for the peace of Jerusalem is most appropriate for a city whose name literally means “peaceful” and which is the residence of the God of peace. The phrase “peace be upon Israel” is found also at the end of Psalm 125:5 and 128:6, indicating that it was a common farewell blessing. Further, Jerusalem will be the scene of Christ’s return (Acts 1:11; Zechariah 14:4), and at that time He will establish permanent peace with its walls. All Christians should be eagerly awaiting His return and praying for the time when the Prince of Peace will reign in Jerusalem.

Jesus also said that we should be peacemakers, which would include praying for peace. “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God” (Matthew 5:9). And we are commanded to do our best to live at peace with others. “If possible, so far as it depends on you, be at peace with all men” (Romans 12:18). So, God wants us to seek peace among all people, and that would include praying for peace in Jerusalem, especially because of its special place in His heart.

America is not escaping the terrorists’ notice. While Hamas is busy fighting Israel in Gaza, ISIS has made threats against the US on our soil. Joel Rosenberg again

Increasingly, U.S. officials see ISIS preparing to attack Americans directly in the homeland.
“ISIS today represents a direct and growing threat to the United States,” reports National Journal.

To conclude, a biblical perspective by Joel Rosenberg,

At the same time, let’s maintain a Biblical perspective on all that’s happening. Bible prophecy warns us that such terrible things are going to happen in the last days before the return of Christ. Indeed, they are signs that the return of Jesus and the establishment of His kingdom is getting closer. Therefore, as we study the Scriptures, let us not lose heart. Rather, let us be motivated to love our neighbors, and love our enemies, and care for the persecuted church in the Middle East and around the world. We may not have the power on our own to stop such evil. But we can help our brothers and sisters to stand firm in the Lord, and be to brave in sharing the Gospel and to show compassion to the helpless, and to be true lights in the darkness.

apocalypse, end time, it's a disaster, review, the war game

Two apocalyptic movie reviews: The War Game, It’s A Disaster

Posted on July 16, 2014May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

The War Game, 48 minutes. So shocking to the BBC, who commissioned it, the film was banned for over 20 years.

IMDB synopsis:

The War Game is a fictional, worst-case-scenario docu-drama about nuclear war and its aftermath in and around a typical English city. Although it won an Oscar for Best Documentary, it is fiction. It was intended as an hour-long program to air on BBC 1, but it was deemed too intense and violent to broadcast. It went to theatrical distribution as a feature film instead. Low-budget and shot on location, it strives for and achieves convincing and unflinching realism.

IMDB user quotes:

‘Threads’ is good, but ‘The War Game’ is still the best portrayal of a nuclear attack on Britain ever made. It should be shown more often.

I reviewed Threads here, titling the essay, “The most unrelentingly horrific and unsettling apocalyptic movie you will ever watch that comes the closest to what the Tribulation will be like”. And it is unrelenting and horrific. Threads follows a pregnant woman for 13 years during and after the bombs fell. In that circumstance, a generation. The War Game shows the bombs falling and follows the survivors about ten months. The War Game unstintingly shows the effects of nuclear bombs on flesh. It harshly reveals the immediate truth. It shows unpreparedness physically and mentally and depicts societal collapse. Threads is slightly less graphic at the outset but the effects of nuclear war build in the mind as the years pass. It shows civilization’s collapse, and how humans are reduced in body and mind because of it. Both movies are unrelenting, but from different vantage points. I’d say that both are the most horrific for different reasons. Back to The War Game imdb.com user quotes:

Although this film clocks in at a mere 48 minutes, not a scene, second or frame is put to waste. A level-headed and all too analytical examination of civil preparedness versus the yield of nuclear weapons

This film is too important to ignore, and too powerful to dismiss.

Even though the subject matter is dark and bitter, The War Game is a compelling watch and I highly recommended it for everyone.

Close to ~~forty~~ fifty years after it was made, it’s still one of the most powerful and disturbing documentaries you’ll ever see.

It’s a brilliant film made by the BBC which was banned for many years because of the fact it was too real… In most cases it’s re-released because films from the 60’s tend to date somewhat compared to modern cinema standards. But the War Game is still as hard hitting as it was the day the BBC decided they couldn’t put it on television.

My reaction:

It shows in unvarnished truth the realistic picture of what those left behind will face. And as realistic as it was, the horrors of the upcoming wars will be worse. The population on earth now has doubled since 1965. Then, it was 3.3 billion. Today it is 7.2 billion. We have hydrogen bombs now, chemical means of tortuous deaths, and the supernatural prophecies of demons afoot and satan furious coming to earth.

Even without all that, the show was almost unwatchable. This was partly due to the juxtaposition of the realistic effects of a thermonuclear bomb upon a population with the recounting of the emotionless narrator’s data and facts. It was jarring and horrific. A British movie site says,

Shot on location, the wholly harrowing depiction of what could happen immediately before, during and after a nuclear attack on rural Kent; The War Game is filmed in pseudo-documentary style and is disturbing in its verbal realism.

So why put ourselves through such movies, such tension and torture? A few times a year, I watch one of these types of movies for specific purposes. At least four reasons I can think of:

1. This understanding of a post-nuclear world overlaid with our knowledge of the additional atrocities of the coming antichrist not shown in the movies should give us more urgency in witnessing about the glory of Jesus as Savior.

2. The movie showed how utterly we cannot rely on anything of this world. Man made protections, sandbags, guns, shelters, self-sufficiency, grit & determination, governments, they all fail, and right away, too. For Christians watching this movie, it should give us courage and power knowing we have all-power in us and He will never fail.

3. Though it is a movie showing complete hopelessness, that is its redeeming quality. Stripping away all of the above; self-sufficiency, infrastructure, government, pride, etc., the movie shows us how completely without hope we are without Jesus. We are craven, sinful rebellious children who will always come to a bad end. Without Him, nuclear war and extinction are the only futures for mankind. The starkness of the movie highlights the eternal hope we have in Jesus!

4. Whatever I’m going through is nothing compared to the horror of nuclear war. It puts my troubles in perspective. And even though there is no nuclear war gong on right now, there are rockets in the Middle East, atrocities and coups and beheadings of the brethren. There is starvation and disease and strife. I look around me and I’m grateful.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Now on a different vein, I also watched an apocalyptic movie called “It’s a Disaster.” Usually, apocalyptic movies feature bombs or aliens and explosions. I wish very much they would make a movie out of William Forstchen’s book One Second After, a book I discussed here, about the devastating effects of a detonated EMP over the central US. There are some apocalyptic events that occur that are not visible and less explosive and are more like carbon monoxide- colorless, odorless, and undetectable. Life seems to go on, and yet the reality is, life has ended.

It’s A Disaster is a movie about the latter. Several couples gather for Sunday brunch at one of their suburban homes. They chat, argue, passively-aggressively jab each other, all the while dim sirens in the background go unnoticed. Apparently a series of chemical bombs were detonated on their city 12 miles away and in many other cities too. The dirty bomb contained VX gas, the most deadly weaponized nerve gas known to man. Life outside looks exactly the same, yet within hours, all will be dead.

It is that which is hardest to comprehend. When a nuke falls, one knows a nuke fell. The mind can’t comprehend the effects, but it knows it happened. With a dirty bomb or other near-extinction event like EMP, the first problem is getting the mind to accept the new reality. In one moment the couples were arguing over a divorce, and the next a neighbor in a hazmat suit arrives to tell them the news and advises them to tape the windows shut. Is life the same?? Will we really die? Is it really over? The champagne in the mimosas is still bubbling and the quiche is still on the stove…how can it be that we are already dead?

The opening credits in black and white are brilliant and shall I say it again, brilliant. The director used the backdrop to illustrate in graphic visual juxtaposition the mundanity of extinction.

The opening scene where two of the characters, on their third date, discuss the 1812 overture as it plays in the car continues this theme. As the famous overture nears its climactic moment, the man pulls up to the curb and turns off the ignition. The woman, who is listening, asks why it didn’t bother him to turn off the music in the middle of the crescendo. The abrupt ending of the music was jarring. Why not finish the crescendo out? How can you just turn it off like that? It is a metaphor for the suddenness of end of life. It’s over, but it’s not finished.

This reviewer sums it up:

What’s funny is that, apart from acknowledging the whole impending death thing, they do exactly what most people do all the time: They lapse into denial and retreat into the familiar patterns of behavior they’ve become accustomed to, as if stubbornly determined to act just like themselves even under the most extreme of circumstances. It’s easier to get outraged over some newly discovered relationship betrayal than it is to wrap your head around a possible alien invasion or nerve gas attack, which you can’t really do a whole lot about with a single roll of duct tape, anyway.

As they scoured the basement ot find duct tape, they have an argument about whether it is really duck tape or duct tape. They need the duct tape to make a likely vain attempt to ward off death in the form of VX nerve gas, but as humans, they still argue about inconsequential things. That was the kind of humor.

Now, the movie is not for everyone. Though The War Game was so gripping, I do recommend everyone see it. It’s A Disaster has two things that will likely turn off a great many. First, it is a sly, witty, dialogue driven, black comedy. It is hilarious. The end is perfect, no matter how many complaints about it you read on forums and websites. But the comedy isn’t for everyone. Many people hated the end. The director utterly pierced the selfish thirty-somethings by highlighting their lack of commitment. Lots of people wanted a more demonstrable ending. And not everyone liked the black humor.

Several scenes in the middle drag a bit, but the wonderful thing about Hulu is that you can fast forward.

Secondly, there are swears. The f-word us used about ten times as well as sh– and a few others. References to sex and adultery.

For a disaster film, it is offbeat and thought-provoking.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

For Further reading:

Wikipedia entry on The War Game

Director Peter Watkins essay on how The War Game came about

end time, pharmakeia, prophecy, sorcery

A follow up on Ouija board-demonic possession story: Pharmakeia

Posted on July 9, 2014 by elizabethprata

On June 23, 2014 I posted a story about three American teens and young adults who had used a Ouija board in Mexico and had become apparently possessed. The striking and horrifying video of the girl, who was reported to be 22 but turned out to be 16, went around the world in a heartbeat.

I like to follow up. I was thinking, how is that girl? Is she OK? Are they recovered? Was the story bogus, or does it have a happy ending? Well there is more, it turns out.

The teens had been encouraged by their guardians in Mexico to take a psychedelic drug used by shamans, so that they would be “opened to the spirits” before they played with the Ouija Board. In case you’re unfamiliar, a Ouija Board is a “game” where players attempt to contact the spirit world for the purpose of asking questions, which are allegedly answered by the demonic forces through the seekers who are holding a planchette which is supposedly moved by said demonic forces to spell out the answers.

Here is the Daily Mail’s update
‘We tried to pray for them but it only made the demons angrier’: Inside the terrifying ‘possession’ of Mexican orphan girl who took shamanic drugs to contact her dead parents with a Ouija board

The girl who shocked the world this week after she was videoed being ‘possessed’ after using a Ouija board was trying to contact her dead parents and had taken a shamanic drug used in Mexico to contact the ‘spirit world’, MailOnline can reveal today. 16-year-old orphan Alexandra Huerta, who appeared possessed by evil spirits in a video taken by paramedics as she was taken to hospital had taken Brugmansia, a poisonous plant which grows in tropical regions of Latin America. The drug is also known as Angel’s Trumpet for its large poisonous flowers, and induces dark hallucinations, confusion, muscle paralysis and can lead to death in large doses.

Brugmansia can induce temporary insanity, especially in those who are not yet fully grown. ‘She started convulsing and screaming of terrible visions’, said Maria Camaño, 48, her guardian in the house where the trio tried to make contact with the dead on Sunday June 22. ‘We tried to pray for them and to get them to pray as well, but it only made the demons who had taken control of her angrier’, she said in an interview with the MailOnline in the house near the village of Tepotzlan where the disturbing episode took place. Maria gave a terrifying account of the effects the Ouija board and ‘bell flower’ drug, as it is known in Latin America, had on Alexandra and her brother and cousin. They still firmly believe that she was in fact possessed.

I thought they were going to lose their minds’, said Maria. ‘There is a lot of shamanism in the hills where we live and I was terrified when I saw what the Ouija had done to them. ‘She was possessed by a spirit who wanted to harm her.

Here is a New Age site’s take on it

Here’s some good news for anyone who was contemplating trashing their Ouija board after the story last week about three young adults in Mexico who claimed they were possessed by demons after using one, including a girl who was videotaped screaming and struggling in the EMS vehicle on the way to the hospital. It turns out the odd behavior was caused not by demons but by Brugmansia, a drug used by shamans.

New details on the story reveal that Alexandra Huerta, the girl in the video, is 16 years old, not 22 as first reported. What’s worse, the drug was knowingly referred to her, her brother and their cousin by Maria Camaño, the girl’s legal guardian, who admits she was “helping” the orphaned girl and boy contact their dead parents. They boiled the flowers in a tea that they drank an hour before the session and its subsequent problems. Mrs. Camaño is the same woman who went to a priest first to perform an exorcism rather than getting medical help for the hallucinating teens.

Brugsmansia, also called Angel’s Trumpet for its poisonous flowers, has long been used in South American cultures as a topical remedy for pain relief, arthritis, infections and as an anti-inflammatory. All parts of the plant are poisonous and can cause death when ingested in large quantities, but it has also been used internally for spasms, pain and asthma. It is known to cause visual and auditory hallucinations and was traditionally given to misbehaving children who were told the visions they had were dead ancestors coming to scold them. Yikes!

It appears Alexandra and her relatives have recovered, although she has no memory of the experience. This is not surprising since Brugmansia hallucinations can cause a loss of awareness and amnesia. The Camaños say they regret suggesting the teens use Brugsmania and the Ouija board. And, of course, they plan to sue the paramedic who filmed the girl.

A sad tale of irresponsible adults.

This does not reduce the horror of the demonic possession. In fact, knowing that shamanic drugs were a part of their demon-play in fact brings it even more into the prophecy arena.
Strong’s: pharmakeia=drug-related sorcery

In Revelation we read an indictment against the world. Here it is-

“Then a strong angel took up a stone like a great millstone and threw it into the sea, saying, “So will Babylon, the great city, be thrown down with violence, and will not be found any longer. “And the sound of harpists and musicians and flute-players and trumpeters will not be heard in you any longer; and no craftsman of any craft will be found in you any longer; and the sound of a mill will not be heard in you any longer; and the light of a lamp will not shine in you any longer; and the voice of the bridegroom and bride will not be heard in you any longer; for your merchants were the great men of the earth, because all the nations were deceived by your sorcery.” (Revelation 18:21-23)

In Greek the word is pharmakeia. If ‘pharma’ looks familiar to you it should be, it means drugs combined with witchraft or sorceries. Four years ago I’d written about this, here. I’d said,

We know from many verses that God is against sorcery, astrology, witchcraft, etc.; God hates sorceries.

The curious thing is that the word in the verse, “nations were deceived by your sorcery” the root Greek word for sorcery is actually pharmakeia. It is the word from which we get pharmacy. In the Strong’s it means “from pharmakeuó (to administer drugs).” It is further defined as “the use of medicine, drugs or spells.”

I am of the opinion that the verse in Revelation is NOT saying that legal drugs administered by doctors is bad. I am concerned with a trend I am seeing these days toward a renewed and vigorous interest in psychedelic drugs. How this ties in with sorceries, you will discover when you read on…

The trend I speak of is not new. It is ancient, actually. But in the search for God, many people take the broad way, the fork in the road that leadeth to destruction. That road is the search for experience, not a submission to belief. They seek feelings, and when they cannot find them, they turn to drugs. A melding of drugs and the spiritual is the most dangerous kind of sorcery, because it dulls the senses and creates a false god: self.

Go to the link to read the rest.

Drug induced shamanism to find a higher power is twisted but at least the motive is somewhat understandable if the method is all wrong (and evil). Drug induced shamanism to contact a dead loved one is twisted but understandable when unsaved young people unwisely do it. They don’t know that this opens them widely to the demons. There is a great curiosity out there to the other side, and sadly, most do not turn ot Jesus to find it.

Worst of all though, increasingly, we see that shamanic or psychedelic drugs are being ingested so as to purposely seek the demonic. In this case I’d say it was less a ‘sad tale of irresponsible adults’ than a terrible poison given to children by evilly wayward adults. Seeking the other side? Contacting ghosts? Giving drugs to children? What a horror.

One only needs to see movies, television, youth-aimed books, games, clothing, and cultural pressure to know that more poeple are unhealthily interested in the demonic. I’ve written several times about this. Add drugs to the mix and it dramatically worsens the situation. In the sermon “Satanic Slaughter,” explaining Revelation 9:21, we read,

And then he mentions sorceries. Interesting word in the Greek, pharmakeia from which we get pharmacy, pharmaceutics, drugs. This is a word that is bigger than just drugs, although it literally could be translated druggings. Whatever it is that they use to dull their senses, whatever it is that they use to induce their satanic worship, whatever impure occultic practices they use to get in deep to their witchcraft, drunkenness, drugs, seances, hypnotism, incantations, mystic mantras, whatever induces their religious experience, cavorting with mediums, spirits and the deceptions of Satan. They’re not about to let go of that. That, too, will be rampant. We see that coming, don’t we?, in the New Age

It is not even the Tribulation yet and we can see the heightened interest in and indulgence of shamanic drugs so as to contact the other side. Those poor teenagers, their legal guardians exposing them to such evil when we rely on adults to protect us from evil.

It is one reason I do pray for the rapture. All the children will be safe, then. Please come soon Lord Jesus.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

What does the bible say about sorcery?

What is the Jesus drug?

What kind of things open you to demonic oppression?

daniel, end time, many shall run to and fro, prophecy

"From buggy to outer space": Many shall rush to and fro, prophecy and hope

Posted on July 9, 2014May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

When our pastor and the congregation parted ways, he left behind a study full of books. In order to get ready for the new pastor, the deacons cleaned out the room and put the books in the hallway. Any and all members were encouraged to look through and choose any books they wanted. This was one of the happiest days for me, a bibliophile’s, life.

Our other two pastors picked up many of the commentaries and expositions, but there were still plenty left over. I picked up several, along with atlases, reference books, and biographies. One book I happily got is Oliver B. Greene’s verse by verse exposition of Daniel (pub. 1964). Please allow me a brief diversion from my upcoming point about the Daniel prophecy where “many shall run to and fro”, to introduce you to a worthy man of the faith. Wikipedia:

Oliver Boyce Greene (February 14, 1915 – July 26, 1976) was a Independent Fundamental Baptist evangelist and author. He converted in 1935 at the age of 20. Over 200,000 confessions of faith were recorded as a result of his ministry. He attended North Greenville Baptist College briefly before entering full-time ministry, conducting revival meetings in tents and in churches across the eastern United States for 35 years. Greene wrote over 100 books and brief booklets about the Bible.

In 1956, he founded The Gospel Hour, Inc. as a Christian outreach ministry. It included a radio program of his preaching called The Gospel Hour, which began on one station in Georgia and gradually became syndicated until the point it spanned the nation. The Gospel Hour was heard on 150 stations at the time of his death. The cause of death was a cardiac aneurysm. The broadcast is currently on over 80 stations, including international stations and the Internet. Taped copies of the program are still aired today on the Fundamental Broadcasting Network and other Christian radio stations.

Greene hoped that the radio program would continue hopefully until the Lord came back. May it be so. You can read his and many other short biographies of the great men of faith here at The Sword of the Lord

Here is part of the prophecy the angel delivered to Daniel and subsequently interpreted. The title of chapter 12 in the ESV is “The Time of the End”. In Daniel 12:2, the angel said to Daniel that the prophecy was for his people and will happen during a time of trouble no man has ever seen nor shall see again (cf. Matthew 24:21). The angel was speaking of the Israelites (Jews) and the Tribulation. The angel reassured Daniel that his people will be delivered in the end, and then the judgment will come. (Daniel 12:1-3). However, the angel said then, “But you, Daniel, shut up the words and seal the book, until the time of the end. Many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall increase.” (Daniel 12:4)

Since the ascension of Jesus it has been the time of the end. It has been the Messianic Age, the time of Christ as prophesied. The Last Days means the time when Messiah comes. Yes, the past 2000 years have been the latter days. The Jews and early Christians did not know that there would be a 2000 year interval. The rapture could have happened at any time during this last two millennia. Paul certainly thought it would happen in his lifetime.

The Jewish last days began 2,000 years ago, did you now that? That’s right. The Jewish last days began 2,000 years ago with the arrival of Messiah. They will be completed when the setting of the kingdom takes place. It just so happens that the last days has stretched at least in the 2,000 years. You say why so? Because God graciously is calling a people from the Gentiles. And secondly, because God in chastisement is punishing Israel for unbelief.

And when God gets through calling together the fullness of the Gentiles and gets through gathering and regathering Israel to the land, then the last days will be consummated. Now Paul writing to Timothy in 1 Timothy 4:1 and 2 Timothy 3:1, talks about the last days there, but he’s talking about the last days of the church. That the interval of 2,000 years that we’ve been living in, I believe we’re living in the last days of that. Do you believe that? Do you believe Jesus is coming soon? Do you believe the rapture is soon? Then we’re not only in the last days of Israel and have been for 2,000 years, but we’re in the last days of the church. John MacArthur “Explaining Pentecost“

The last of the last days will begin when the rapture happens and Jesus pours out His wrath upon the world, and then consummates all His plan by judging, setting up the Millennium Kingdom, and then after that, close the age to begin eternity. The Millennium Kingdom (so called because it will last 1000 years) is what the Jews are looking forward to, but first, they must be punished for their rebellion. That’s what the angel is explaining to Daniel in chapter 12.

So at the time of the end, people will rush to and fro. I was reading the news headlines like I always do, with more often than not one eye closed lately because of the headlines’ increasingly heinous nature. I saw several headlines that reported passenger airliner near collisions over metropolitan airports. Here are the news pieces:

Boeing 767 Aborts Landing To Avoid Crashing Into Another Plane

The news article comes with stunning video showing just how close the crash nearly was. Below is a still from the video showing the second the airborne plane sees throttles up, points his nose up and aborts the landing. He really kicked it into high gear. The video goes on to show the airliner circling around and making a 2nd attempt to land, this time successfully with no planes in the way.

These two planes were in Houston TX and came within 200 vertical feet of one another in early July – but an aware traffic controller noticed the danger and gave timely instructions to avert the collision. The article ends by noting that the FAA was investigating another near miss at that airport from May.

Last month, there was an actual crash of two passenger planes on the tarmac. Thankfully there were no injuries. One of the plane’s wings was crushed and the incident forced three hour delays of all traffic at Stansted Airport north of London.

In the US a ground crash between two passenger planes occurred at Boston’s Logan Airport, causing damage but thankfully again, no injuries.

In Ottawa Canada, A quick-thinking air traffic controller saved an ORNGE air ambulance helicopter from taxiing into the path of a cargo jet at Ottawa airport

All these examples are from the last few days to last few weeks. Increasingly, we read of these crashes and near misses as our world’s airports and other transportation hubs as they have become overloaded with travelers.

I found Mr Oliver B. Greene’s explanation about the people rushing to and fro in the prophecy very interesting. I quoted his bio above, he was born in 1915 and died in 1976, an interesting time span. I’ve often wondered about my grandmother’s life, emigrating from Britain as a young woman, having been born in 1900 and living through to the early 1980s. What a century the 1900s was!

Mr Greene wrote of Daniel 12:4. I think it is interesting so please bear with me as I post his long exposition of the verse.

A fleet-footed horse was probably the fastest mode of transportation in Daniel’s day. The kings had horses and chariots which were very fast in that day, but compared to the speed of today they were slower than a tortoise.

Notice that “MANY” – not just a few, but multitudes – shall run to and fro. My father lived to be seventy years of age. He left his home state only once during those years, and the only reason he traveled so far from home was because my brother, out of state at an army camp, was preparing to go overseas. Had it not been for the fact that my brother was going to war, I doubt that my dad would have left his home state during his lifetime.

I’ll pause here to insert that I have met many people here in Georgia, older folks who farm or have animals. Many of them have never left the state of Georgia, or a few have ventured to nearby South Carolina (40 miles away) to visit nearby family or go to the lake that borders our two states. This was amazing to me when I moved here, having grown up in the northeast and having traveled the world by the time I was 40. But the north tends to be transient not just in travel but in simply moving to and fro and here to there. The south has farmers who are tied to the land, and whose families also tend to stay put. It is not uncommon for family reunions in the south to have 50 or more attendees, all of whom are still living in the same county.

Continuing with Mr Greene,

Fifty years ago, [in 1914, working back from 1964 when the book was published] very few people traveled very far; but today almost everyone travels. Millions travel even across the seas, and a trip around the world is nothing today. Regardless of where you go on this earth, many are running to and fro. I visited the jungles of Africa, and in Leopoldville we purchased a ticket for that native train that rain 100 miles back into the jungle. I supposed there would be an ambulance of room, but the next morning when we went down to the station to board the train we found people standing, hanging out the windows, and riding everywhere they could find a place to stand or sit. Wherever you go today, people are on the move, traveling, going, and coming.

In the early days of our country, people traveled from east to west, but as a rule they traveled only one way – most of them never returned. But Daniel was instructed to write that many would go “to and fro”: they will go, but they will return.

Another pause here to put before you several translations of the verse.

NLT: “But you, Daniel, keep this prophecy a secret; seal up the book until the time of the end, when many will rush here and there, and knowledge will increase.”

KJV: “But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased.”

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

The word for run or rush is to roam about, rush back and forth, rove. It indicates movement, and restless movement at that. Mr Greene says of the rushing part of the verse, and I replicate his emphasis:

Notice that “many will RUN to and fro”. When I was a boy, I walked 5 miles to school. Today the average child who goes as far as two city blocks to school either rides in the family automobile, or has his own bike or motor scooter. There is a minimum of walking.

Wherever you go, people are in a hurry- and for what? Most of them could not tell you. They are hurrying to get – where? Most of them do not know, but they are always in a hurry. The only way to stay alive today is to run, even in the supermarket. If you are not careful, someone will run a grocery cart right into you if you stop moving!

LOL, you notice our pattern of speech, As I grew up I always heard my mother say “I’ve got to run to he grocery store.” Or if she was leaving a person’s home or concluding a telephone call, she said, “I’ve gotta run.” In my lifetime we’ve gone from saying “I will go” to I’ll run”. Of course the statement I just made isn’t absolute nor does it apply to everyone, but in general, I’ve noticed an ever further speeding up than did Mr Green in his day of 1964. To continue:

This is the age of speed. As I dictate these lines, the President of the United States has just announced that we have a jet fighter that flies more than 2,000 miles per hour… think of it! It makes one dizzy to think of such speed. It has just been announced that France is building a transport that will carry 200 people across the Atlantic ocean in just one hour and twenty-five minutes.

Mr Green was speaking of the Concorde, which came online in 1969 and ran in service from 1976 to 2003. It did indeed run an hour and a half. Donald Fagen’s song I.G.Y. (What A beautiful World) mentioned it,

On that train all graphite and glitter

Undersea by rail

Ninety minutes from New York to Paris

Well by seventy-six we’ll be A.O.K.

What a beautiful world this will be

What a glorious time to be free

‘The undersea by rail’ may indeed refer to the Channel Tunnel, AKA the Chunnel, “a high-speed undersea transport from France to the UK. The tunnel carries high-speed Eurostar passenger trains, the Eurotunnel Shuttle for automobiles and other road vehicles—the largest such transport in the world—and international rail freight trains. It has the longest undersea portion of rail in the world.” (Wikipedia)

Amazing! None of this was even conceived of or possible before my generation. Mr Greene remarks about Daniel,

If Daniel could have read a statement such as I have just made, he could not have understood the words he read. Thus the Lord God instructed him to seal up the book and close up the words until the time of the end. WE can understand because we have seen these things come to pass. We are living in the days of fulfillment of this prophecy.

Isn’t he good?! I have enjoyed his commentary and exposition. In addition, he wrote a half-page pre-tribulation stance that is just tremendous. I’ll be posting that later in another post.

Not only do I agree with what he wrote but see how far it’s gone even in the last 50 years since Mr Greene published his exposition of Daniel’s prophecy of traveling to and fro. The Chunnel, the Concorde, space ships, the Space Shuttle, regular commuting distances of hundreds of miles, travel at the drop of a hat, so much so that now airports are SO crowded that planes crashing in to one another even on the ground is a regular threat and a frequent occurrence.

Our crowded, rushing, to and fro world is certainly an amazing one. When the angel said to Daniel to shut up the prophecy for the time of the end, the time of the end came in 33AD, but until this past 75 years, it still would not have been understood. Has the prophecy been opened? I believe it has. As Mr Greene said, we understand it because we have seen these things come to pass.

And may it soon come to pass that Jesus calls His bride home, and the time of the very end will come in which He will blessedly rectify all the blasphemous injustices that have been performed against Him.

Enjoy the thoughts from Mr Greene, and above all, slow down!

earthquake, end time

8.0 quake strikes Alaska, 2 large quakes hit New Zealand

Posted on June 23, 2014May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

USGS screen shot, page of recent quakes this week:

This is the second 8.0+ quake this year. A 8.2 quake hit Chile on April 1, 2014. Typically in a year the average number of 8.0-plus quakes is 1.

This is the 72nd 6.0-6.9 magnitude quake this year. The annual average number of magnitude 6 quakes in a year is 134.

A Tsunami warning has been issued for the Aleutian Islands, but hopefully it will expire without a tsunami materializing. There have been no immediate reports of damage.

As for the New Zealand quakes, we have this report from down under-

Pacific Ring fires up

A magnitude-8 earthquake has struck in the northern Pacific but is not linked to this morning’s 7.2 quake closer to New Zealand, GeoNet says. The North Pacific quake was off the coast of the Rat Islands, about 2000 kilometres west of the Alaskan peninsula at 8.53am (NZ time). It was initially recorded as a magnitude 7.2 quake but this was revised to magnitude 8 a short time later. It was at a depth of 114km. A tsunami warning was issued for coastal areas of Alaska. It followed a 7.2 earthquake south of Raoul Island at 7.19am, which DOC staff on the island described as a “rocking good time”. That quake was initially reported to be 5km deep, but was revised to 30km. Raoul Island is part of the Kermadec Island group, about 1100km northeast of New Zealand. GeoNet duty seismologist Caroline Holden said the timing of the quakes was interesting but there was nothing to relate them other than both occurred in the Ring of Fire

You have made the land to quake; you have torn it open; repair its breaches, for it totters (Psalm 60:2)

end time, ISIS, jordan, prophecy

Jordan braces for ISIS

Posted on June 16, 2014May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

From the Jordan Times today:

Jordan strengthens security along Iraqi border as ISIL makes gains

AMMAN — The Jordan Armed Forces (JAF) have strengthened their presence along the Iraqi border on Sunday as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) reportedly inched towards Jordanian territory.

Sources said Sunday that the terror organisation has opened a clandestine branch in Jordan to prepare for its expansion into the region.

Meanwhile, lawmakers scheduled a meeting Monday to discuss the developments in Iraq and their potential impact on the Kingdom.

According to military sources, the JAF nearly “doubled” its forces along the country’s 180-kilometre shared border with Iraq early Sunday amid a reported withdrawal of Iraqi forces from nearby border towns in western Iraq.

Although military sources reported no “unusual movement” along the Iraq border, one source familiar with the situation stressed that border guards “remain on high alert” as ISIL continues to make gains in nearby western Iraq.

According to media reports, Iraqi government forces withdrew from several towns and villages in western Anbar province in the face of an ongoing military offensive by the hard-line Islamic State.

In a statement quoting an Iraqi military source, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported that Iraqi forces had withdrawn from the western towns of Saklawisat in Ramadi and the village of Al Jisser near Fallujah, key towns in Anbar province that have been at the heart of fighting between the Iraqi military and jihadist forces since late December 2013.

Ramadi and Fallujah lie some 400km from the Jordanian-Iraqi border.

Despite the “precautionary” military build-up, security sources say the situation remains “calm” along the western Iraqi border, in contrast to the country’s shared border with Syria, which has seen several clashes between the armed forces and suspected Islamist militants over the past two weeks.

Lawmakers plan meeting

Government Spokesman Mohammad Momani could not be reached for comment on the border build-up.

However, MPs on Sunday expressed worries towards the ongoing instability in Iraq, amid expectations that the Kingdom would receive another wave of refugees from the neighbouring country.

The MPs filed this request during the Lower House’s session on Sunday, calling on Speaker Atef Tarawneh to schedule a “special” meeting with the government to discuss the ramifications of the ongoing fighting in Iraq on Jordan.

“The situation in Iraq and in particular on our eastern border with this country is a source of concern for everyone,” MP Bassam Manaseer said. The suggestion was supported by three major blocs: Mubadara, Islamic Centrist Party and Watan.

Branch for ISIL in Jordan

Meanwhile, Islamist sources claim that the Islamic State is preparing for “expansion into Jordan” as it continues to push westward through Iraq.

According to jihadist sources close to ISIL, the former Al Qaeda affiliate opened on Friday an “unofficial” office and branch in Jordan to usher what sources claim as expansion of the Islamic “caliphate”.

Despite having a low-profile presence in Jordan over the past six months, with over 800 Jordanian nationals reportedly serving under the ranks of ISIL, the movement has allegedly been reluctant to open an official branch in Jordan due to its ongoing rivalry with Al Qaeda, which retains larger popularity and support among hard-line Islamists in the country.

Senior members of Jordan’s hard-line Salafist movement, which keep strong ties with both Al Qaeda and the Baghdad-based ISIL, had previously mediated “understandings” with the Islamic State to forego expansion into the country in a bid to prevent ongoing jihadist civil war in Syria to spill over into the country.

In the wake of ISIL’s rapid gains in northern and western Iraq last week Jordanian jihadist sources fear that the previous pacts “are no longer being honoured”.

“The Islamic State seems to have reached a stage that it believes it no longer must act with cooperation or even informing its partners or the Islamic ummah,” said a leader of the Jordanian Salafist movement, who declined to be named due to security concerns.

“The last thing we want to see is bloodshed, and the entrance of the Islamic State into Jordan may unleash this.”

On Thursday, Saudi Arabian news network Al Arabiya published a map allegedly posted by ISIL depicting its planned so-called Islamic caliphate, which featured Jordan falling under the movement’s banner.

Al Qaeda has long differed with ISIL over its approach to establishing an Islamic state in the region.

The Pakistani-based Al Qaeda leadership, headed by Ayman Zawahiri, has called for cooperation with local populations in bringing about an Islamic caliphate, while ISIL leaders insist that an Islamic state should be imposed by force.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The month that shook the world: Incredible time-lapse reveals planet as it was rocked by record-breaking earthquakes in April

Posted on May 4, 2014 by elizabethprata

UPDATE: Rare Earthquake Warning Issued for Oklahoma “We’ve never seen this before“
“Mile for mile, there are almost as many earthquakes rattling Oklahoma as California this year. This major increase in seismic shaking led to a rare earthquake warning today (May 5) from the U.S. Geological Survey and the Oklahoma Geological Survey. In a joint statement, the agencies said the risk of a damaging earthquake — one larger than magnitude 5.0 — has significantly increased in central Oklahoma.”

——————————————–

An article appearing earlier this week at NBC posed the following question:

Does it seem as if there have been more earthquakes in recent weeks? Some scientists thought so. … Ross Stein, a senior U.S. Geological Survey geophysicist who studies how quakes interact, got so excited that on April 12 he fired off an email to colleagues that started with this: “Guys, seems like a lot of big quakes have been popping off around the globe over the past week. … Experts for years have known that the seismic waves from one quake can trigger a quake somewhere else — a process known as “dynamic triggering.” … Lay’s own research has found that over the last decade the number of major quakes, those measuring 8.0 or bigger, is nearly triple the rate for the 1900s, but whether that’s just a random cluster or a sign of dynamic triggering is unclear.”

‘Dynamic triggering’ is a scenario in which the scientists who study earthquakes say that one big earthquake triggers other, smaller ones. A shaking the tree effect, where one big quake shakes out not one apple from the tree but a bunch, all over.

So even though the data says that the number of major quakes has tripled, they’re not sure if that means there are more quakes. In fact, this scientist in the discussion concluded that it’s an illusion.

“Stein, like Lay, also counted quakes but looked instead at moderate and large quakes (4.5 magnitude or greater) in the 10 days before and after the April 1 quake that struck Iquique, Chile. In his email to peers, Stein concluded: “I do not see a global increase in activity post-Iquique, at least for moderate and larger quakes — the ones that matter for hazards.”[It] seemed like a lot of big quakes” after Iquique, he later told NBC News, “but it’s largely an illusion.””

Um…Okayyy. If there are more earthquakes, there are more earthquakes. In my opinion they should study why this is happening, not get busy creating more theories as to why the data doesn’t really mean there are more earthquakes.

Still, the scientist found something else that perplexed them,

“Stein, for example, told peers in his email that he had found something “very unusual” about the Iquique [Chile 8.2] quake: The area near the epicenter saw an unusually high number of “foreshocks” to the mainshock on April 1. “Maybe only 5 percent of quakes have what, in retrospect, we would call foreshocks,” he says. It turns out that the Iquique foreshocks covered an area almost as large as the area of the Iquique aftershocks. That, Stein adds, is “extremely rare and worthy of study.”

An interesting article and video came out this week also, on the topic of whether there are more quakes, This time, the data is from the Tsunami Warning Center.

The month that shook the world: Incredible time-lapse reveals planet as it was rocked by record-breaking earthquakes in April

Earth shown as calm until April 1 when huge earthquake rocks Chile
Another huge earthquake shakes Solomon Islands in the South Pacific
The activity doesn’t let up all month with larger-than-normal quakes all in Nicaragua, Mexico, Canada, and even an unusual one in the South Atlantic
According to the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center, which issues alerts for tsunamis, there were 13 major earthquakes in April

The 6.0-magnitude earthquake that jolted parts of Indonesia today served as a reminder of just how active the seemingly-solid ground beneath us can be. And these reminders have become increasingly frequent. On average, the world only sees one or two earthquakes per month that are 6.5-magnitude or higher. But April produced a higher-than-normal number of the major seismic events, as revealed in this incredible time-lapse video.

According to the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center (PTWC), which issues alerts for tsunamis, there were 13 major earthquakes in April. Five were higher than 7.8, which prompted tsunami warnings. Moderate-to-large earthquakes are less common, but last month was ‘easily a record for this institution,’ according to the PTWC. The time-lapse takes you on a journey of all recorded large and medium-sized earthquakes that took place from January through to April of this year.

The video is worth watching in its entirety. The first 2 minutes show the rather regular popping of small to medium earthquakes all over the world, and mostly in the same places. You get lulled. Then when the large 8.2 in Chile happens, the screen goes pop-pop-pop and it reminded me of popcorn, when the bag in the microwave really gets going and things are popping all over the place.

The USGS people say that more earthquakes happening [despite the data showing otherwise] is just an illusion, while the Tsunami Warning Center people say that April broke a record.

I respect the work of scientists and I am a happy beneficiary of their work, but the end of the end time means that at some point, God’s work in His creation will far outstrip what science can deal with, or what scientific but unsaved minds are prepared to deal with. At the height of the Tribulation men will see what is happening, be unable to comprehend, and fear will overtake them and they will die on the spot. (Luke 21:26).

How will the scientists explain 100 lb hail? (Revelation 16:1). No wind anywhere on earth or sea? (Revelation 7:1). No rain for three years? (Revelation 11:6). A third and only a third of the earth’s grass and trees burned? (Revelation 8:1). Men who are scorched and combust with heat from the sun’s rays just by going outside? (Revelation 16:10). People who try to die, but can’t? (Revelation 9:6)

We are headed toward the time of intersection. Man believes he has made gains in understanding our world and the universe and how it works. And he has. But mans falsely believes that–

–he will continue to make gains in understanding
–once understanding, he can control what happens

Mankind will discover that he does not understand as much as he believes he does and that though he is always learning he is never able to come to knowledge of the truth. (2 Timothy 3:7) The truth is not in many of them. That truth is that God created the universe and He is in control of every dustmote and every atom. Albert Einstein came close when he said,

“Everything is determined, the beginning as well as the end, by forces over which we have no control. It is determined for the insect, as well as for the star. Human beings, vegetables, or cosmic dust, we all dance to a mysterious tune, intoned in the distance by an invisible piper.”

Not “an” invisible piper, but God, YHWH, and He is not invisible,

“He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. 16For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities– all things have been created through Him and for Him.” (Colossians 1:15-16).

For those people who repent of their sins and claim Him as supreme Lord of all, they will see Him, and they will finally know as they are known. For the rest, what lies ahead is a continual restlessness of mind and soul, seeking the answer to life’s mysteries, and never able to discover the glory that exists right here, in Jesus, in knowing Him, and in the security of our eternal future.

And just for fun, 90s throwback