ISIS

"All schools shut down in Augusta County, Virginia, over Islam homework", plus goings-on in Missouri

Posted on December 19, 2015May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

UPDATE: Another unexploded ordnance was found in another National Forest, this time, in Spokane WA. The following is from Spokane News, December 18-

Fairchild Air Force Base main gate, highway 2 briefly closed due to unexploded ordnance brought to base visitor center
FAIRCHILD AIR FORCE BASE, Wash. – At approximately 4 p.m. base security personnel closed the main gate while Washington State Troopers later closed a small section of U.S. Highway 2 outside Fairchild AFB. A cordon was established when a civilian brought a live 60mm mortar round into the base visitor center in an apparent attempt to safely turn the ordnance over to Air Force officials. The 92nd Civil Engineer Squadron’s Explosive Ordnance Disposal team safely removed the device from the main gate area and the gate and highway were reopened to traffic at 4:50 p.m. The mortar round was reportedly discovered by a local resident while he was hunting two hours away from base. The incident is currently under investigation.

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News today, excerpt from CNN

When the world geography class at Riverheads High School in Staunton rolled around to the subject of major world religions, homework on Islam asked students to copy religious calligraphy.

It read:

“Here is the shahada, the Islamic statement of faith, written in Arabic. In the space below, try copying it by hand. This should give you an idea of the artistic complexity of calligraphy.”

The illustrative classical Arabic phrase was the basic statement in Islam. It translated to: “There is no god but Allah, and Mohammed is the messenger of Allah.”

When students took it home, it was like a spark hitting a powder keg. … Calls and emails flooded the school. Some of them demanded the teacher be fired for assigning it. … The county school system reacted. It removed the shahada from world religion instruction. “A different, non-religious sample of Arabic calligraphy will be used in the future,” it said.

Of course it was an attempt to indoctrinate students. Of ALL the Quran or Hadiths one could have asked the students to copy “as an example of calligraphy”, the workbook the teacher said she took it from had THAT particular sentence. If we translated this news story into one that said the exact same things but used a Christian example, it would go like this:

Here is the Isaiah 45:5 verse, the Biblical statement of faith, written in Hebrew, and the 1 Timothy 2:5 verse, written in Greek. In the space below, try copying it by hand. This should give you an idea of the artistic complexity of calligraphy.”

The illustrative classical Hebrew phrase was the basic statement in Christianity. It translated to: “I am the LORD, and there is no other, besides me there is no God; and the Greek verse reads, “For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,”

Imagine the outcry. Read the rest of the article linked above for the security part and why the School Administrators felt the need to close all their schools for the day.

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For no particular reason, I’ll post this next graph. It struck me. From Marketwatch:

Just because the news media focuses more on a topic, doesn’t mean it is happening more. But in the case of terrorism, your eyes may not be deceiving you. New research produced by the University of Maryland’s National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism at the University of Maryland has identified a big surge in mass terror attacks. The chart here doesn’t take into account the Paris or Mali terror attacks, or indeed any that have occurred this year. [2015] (There were 11 in the first half of [2015].) The terror group that claimed responsibility for the Paris attacks, Islamic State, is also the leading perpetrator of all attacks between 2000 and 2014, accounting for 12% of the total.

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Did you know there are a series of highly suspicious and unusual events occurring in Mid-Missouri?

In and around December 10, 2015 we learned that there was a spate of suspicious bulk cell phone buys in the wee hours of the morning at various Wal-Marts. Some men of Middle Eastern aspect attempted to purchase 20 or 60 or more cell phones at a time. Cell phones of this type make tracing calls very difficult, and cell phones also are used to detonate bombs. The FBI is looking into to it.

Number of reports of mass cell phone buys grows in Missouri

We also learned that week that there was a mysterious spate of propane tank thefts in the same area. In and around December 11, 2015, we read of the thefts.

Dozens of propane tanks stolen from three different Missouri locations

KANSAS CITY, MO – Many are on edge after several law enforcement agencies notified the FBI about bulk purchases of cell phones at Missouri Walmarts. Now, another incident has some worried about terrorism. A large number of propane tanks have been stolen from several locations near Kansas City. WDAF-TV reports that a BP gas station in Lee’s Summit had 18-20 tanks stolen from outside cages last month. A CVS reported the same crime on the same night. Two weeks later another CVS in Independence was hit and 28 tanks were stolen from that location.

Then we learn about the man in the woods. The Conservative Tribune reports,

A viral picture of a strange man walking in the woods in Missouri — combined with a number of suspicious cell phone purchases elsewhere in the state — have many believing the two may be connected to a possible terror plot. According to KFVS-TV, residents have described odd encounters with the man, who was caught on a trail cam in Madison County, Missouri.

From what I understand, the area is rural, the entry to the national forest at that location is remote, no car was found, he was not dressed for hiking or camping, and he disappeared. Which is interesting, because of this next news item from, you guessed it, Missouri. This is from October 2015.

Explosives in Mark Twain National Forest created 2 large craters

WAYNESVILLE, Mo. -Pulaski County sheriff’s department investigators are trying to find who left explosives in the Mark Twain National Forest in. A hunter found them early Saturday. More from KY3-

The hunter is an Army combat engineer from Fort Leonard Wood. He recognized his discovery as explosives and immediately reported it to the sheriff’s department. “The first shock went off just like ba-boom! Rocked my house. And then about another 15 seconds later baboom! It was even worse than the first one, rattled the windows and stuff in my house,” said Eugene Davis, who lives near the discovery.

On Missouri 17, south of Waynesville just inside the national forest, there’s a little dirt path used by hunters and campers. In a clearing just a few hundred feet from the highway, a hunter found a box containing a significant amount of explosives. A bomb squad from Fort Wood used a robot and found commercial explosives and decided it could not be moved and had to be detonated there. The sheriff’s office warned neighbors in the area and, about 15 minutes later, two large explosions rattled windows in the area and left two craters each about two feet across. Leaves were blown off trees and the explosion set a small brush fire that was quickly put out by firefighters.

Apparently the explosives are the kind “that cannot be purchased easily.” Officials are not saying if they were homemade bombs or IEDs.

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Next up, we have this stupidity. I mean, really.

We have an adversary. He is the devil, satan, that old dragon. (1 Peter 5:8)
He has schemes. (2 Corinthians 2:11)
He is relentless, for his hatred drives him. This hatred was demonstrated at the time he entered Judas (the only human alive that the Bible records satan himself possessing) all to betray Jesus. (Luke 22:3-6).
He steals, kills, and destroys. (John 10:10)
He knows his time is short (Revelation 12:12) and thus strives to do everything possible to continue his rebellion against God (Isaiah 14:13-154) by attempting to destroy humanity’s relationship with God (remember, humans were created in God’s image. Angels weren’t).

So it should not surprise us that satan is using God’s enemies to work his will of evil and chaos and terror. We love Muslims individually as sinners in need of the Light of salvation. However we’re rightly suspicious of Islamic terror groups who have sworn our national death and are engaged in persistent, confirmed and credible attempts to fulfill their threat. Perhaps God will use the Islamic State as a hammer of judgment against America, as He used the Assyrians and the Egyptians and the Babylonians against the Israelites in their time of punishment for rebellion.

Share the Gospel – it is the only hope for most of the earth’s inhabitants. And be prepared to see acts of terror even more heinous than the ones we have seen since 9/11 and San Bernardino etc. We are not surprised that satan is alive and well and at work. But we have the mind of Christ, His promises through His word, His son’s atoning work and intercession in heaven as our priest, and the Holy Spirit to sustain and energize us in His holy work, even if (when) things get grievous in our nation.

Though the spirit of the age is at war with us Christians, and the pagans of this age war with us Americans, we have peace.

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. (John 14:27).

false religion, ISIS, islam, muslim, prophecy

Islam is not a religion, it is a government

Posted on December 13, 2015May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

Shah’s official portrait. Wikipedia

I remember the overthrow of the Shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, in 1979. Shah is another name for king. As world events went, it was right up there in terms of impact and import, even to my then college-aged sensibilities. Wikipedia says

A secular Muslim, Mohammad Reza gradually lost support from the Shi’a clergy of Iran as well as the working class, particularly due to his strong policy of modernization, secularization, conflict with the traditional class of merchants known as bazaari, relations with Israel, and corruption issues surrounding himself, his family, and the ruling elite. … By 1979, political unrest had transformed into a revolution which, on 17 January, forced him to leave Iran. Soon thereafter, the Iranian monarchy was formally abolished, and Iran was declared an Islamic republic led by Ruhollah Khomeini. (source)

The revolution was considered a surprise to most Western observers. Unlike in other revolutionary situations, there had not been an extended period of demonstrations or protests, nor did unrest seem to have permeated the kingdom to any threatening extent. Yet between September 1978 and February 1979, Iran was transformed.

Ruhollah Mūsavi Khomeini known in the Western world as Ayatollah Khomeini, was an Iranian Shia Muslim religious leader, revolutionary, politician, the founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran and the leader of the 1979 Iranian Revolution which saw the overthrow of the Pahlavi monarchy and Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the Shah of Iran. Following the revolution, Khomeini became the country’s Supreme Leader, a position created in the constitution of the Islamic Republic as the highest-ranking political and religious authority of the nation, which he held until his death. He was succeeded by Ali Khamenei. Khomeini was a marja (“source of emulation”) in Twelver Shi’a Islam, a Mujtahid or faqih (an expert in Islamic law) and author of more than 40 books. (source)

The Ottoman Empire was in existence from 1299 to 1923, yet we forget the power, force, violence, Mohammedans” if they mentioned Muslims at all, apart from the oil.

Ayatollah Khomeini

and duration of the historical Islamic kingdom. That’s one reason why the Iranian Revolution was such a shock, at least to us lay people. The tectonic shift in the balance of power and stability in the Middle East with the coming of the revolution in the Middle East cannot be overstated. Prior to the Ayatollah Khomeini’s appearance and elevation to power, mostly we were only familiar with Islam when we saw flashes and clips on the news of desert people wearing turbans and the announcer was speaking of oil. We were not familiar with Islam, and indeed many of the Western religious leaders of the times prior to the 1970s simply referred to the adherents as “

Then came the Ayatollah Khomeini. His influence and power was another thing that was underestimated.

He was named Man of the Year in 1979 by American news magazine TIME for his international influence, and has been described as the “virtual face of Islam in Western popular culture” where he remains a controversial figure. He was known for his support of the hostage takers during the Iran hostage crisis, his fatwa calling for the death of British Indian novelist Salman Rushdie, and for referring to the United States as the “Great Satan”. Khomeini has been criticized for these acts and for human rights violations of Iranians (including his ordering of execution of thousands of political prisoners), and the pursuit of victory in the Iran–Iraq war that ultimately proved futile.

He has also been lauded as a “charismatic leader of immense popularity”, a “champion of Islamic revival” by Shia scholars, who attempted to establish good relations between Sunnis and Shias, and a major innovator in political theory and religious-oriented populist political strategy. (source)

All this to set the foundation for what I’m writing next. The above quote mentioned that Ayatollah Khomeini wrote 40 books. He was a revered figure in Islam, who lectured often. One series of those lectures was made into a book and is the foundation for the political attitude of his and succeeding generations of Iranians.

In Iran, the Revolution was not merely an outgrowth of economic unrest or instability. It was not merely dissatisfaction with political status quo. Islam is not a religion. It is a government.

One of the books that Ayatullah Sayyid Imam Ruhallah Musawi Khomeini wrote was, Islamic Government: Governance of the Jurist. From the website Al-Islam.org, we read the Ayatollah’s works. Remember, the concepts contained in the Khomeini lectures a mere 8 years later formed the basis for the government that Iran governs itself still today. In the Introduction of the book,

This book originated in a series of lectures given at Najaf between January 21 and February 8, 1970. Three major points emerge from the lectures. The first is the necessity for the establishment and maintenance of Islamic political power for Islamic goals, precepts, and criteria. The second is the duty of the religious scholars (the fuqahā) to bring about an Islamic state. Third, a program of action for the establishment of an Islamic state, including various measures for self-reform by the religious establishment.

The faith branch of Islam is the mechanism by which citizens of the Caliphate learn about how to live their lives under the Law- Sharia law. The faith IS the government, because the Quran is their constitution given by Allah through Mohammad. The mosque is where they go to learn about how to govern themselves, according to Allah’s dictates, which again, is contained in the Quran. I will quote from Ayatollah Khomeini’s book, Islamic Government: Governance of the Jurist. This is from the chapter, The Form of Islamic Government–

Islamic government is neither tyrannical nor absolute, but constitutional. It is not constitutional in the current sense of the word, i.e., based on the approval of laws in accordance with the opinion of the majority. It is constitutional in the sense that the rulers are subject to a certain set of conditions in governing and administering the country, conditions that are set forth in the Noble Qur’an and the Sunnah of the Most Noble Messenger (s). It is the laws and ordinances of Islam comprising this set of conditions that must be observed and practiced. Islamic government may therefore be defined as the rule of divine law over men.

You are beginning to see that Muslim faith and Muslim governance are intertwined and never shall an adherent reject one or the other. He would not be a Muslim if he did. To continue with quotes from the Ayatollah’s book, the chapter on The Necessity for Islamic Government,

A body of laws alone is not sufficient for a society to be reformed. In order for law to ensure the reform and happiness of man, there must be an executive power and an executor. For this reason, God Almighty, in addition to revealing a body of law (i.e., the ordinances of the sharī‘ah), has laid down a particular form of government together with executive and administrative institution. The Most Noble Messenger (s) headed the executive and administrative institutions of Muslim society. In addition to conveying the revelation and expounding and interpreting the articles of faith and the ordinances and institutions of Islam, he undertook the implementation of law and the establishment of the ordinances of Islam, thereby, bringing into being the Islamic state.

He did not content himself with the promulgation of law; rather, he implemented it at the same time, cutting off hands and administering lashings, and stonings. After the Most Noble Messenger (s), his successor had the same duty and function. When the Prophet (s) appointed a successor, it was not only for the purpose of expounding articles of faith and law; it was for the implementation of law and the execution of God’s ordinances.

The precepts are not for a previous time, with only the faith portion of Islam to be followed by the faithful Muslim. No, the intertwining of with and government is inextricable and permanent. Islamic government includes performing all the typical tasks as, say the United States Government does. I’d remind us all again that these quotes are from the book which formed the foundation for the successful revolution of the nation of Iran and is their basis for governance today. They are not cherry-picked quotes from an obscure Imam or from a discredited segment of Islam.

According to one of the noble verses of the Qur’an, the ordinances of Islam are not limited with respect to time or place; they are permanent and must be enacted until the end of time. They were not revealed merely for the time of the Prophet, only to be abandoned thereafter, with retribution and the penal code no longer be enacted, or the taxes prescribed by Islam no longer collected, and the defense of the lands and people of Islam suspended. The claim that the laws of Islam may remain in abeyance or are restricted to a particular time or place is contrary to the essential creedal bases of Islam.

Therefore as the Ayatollah outlined the Necessity of Islamic Government, and then the Form of Islamic Government, he instructs on the Program for the Establishment of Islamic Government. Here is how to get the job done, and remember, he actually did:

You teach the people matters relating to worship, of course, but more important are the political, economic, and legal aspects of Islam. [underline mine] These are, or should be, the focus of our concern. It is our duty to begin exerting ourselves now in order to establish a truly Islamic government. We must propagate our cause to the people, instruct them in it, and convince them of its validity. We must generate a wave of intellectual awakening, to emerge as a current throughout society, and gradually, to take shape as organized Islamic movement made up of the awakened, committed, and religious masses who will rise up and establish an Islamic government.

It worked in Iran, and it is working in the rest of the coming caliphate with al-Qaeda and ISIS.

Source NBC

The major point here is that the religion aspect of Islam is NOT the important aspect. It is only the important aspect in that it teaches the men who attend mosque as to the duties and rules regarding ‘Allah’s’ divine command for establishing an Islamic government. Here is the Ayatollah again-

Propagation and instruction, then, are our two fundamental and most important activities. It is the duty of the fuqahā to promulgate religion and instruct the people in the creed, ordinances, and institutions of Islam, in order to pave the way in society for the implementation of Islamic law and the establishment of Islamic institutions. [underline mine] In one of the traditions we have cited, you will have noticed that the successors of the Most Noble Messenger (s) are described as “teaching the people”—that is, instructing them in religion.

Many of the ordinances of Islam that refer to worship also pertain to social and political functions. The forms of worship practiced in Islam are usually linked to politics and the gestation of society. For example, congregational prayer, the gathering on the occasion of hajj, and Friday prayer, for all their spirituality, exert a political as well as moral and doctrinal influence.

Ayatollah Khomeini was not simply a religious figure, as some biographies put it. For a decade he was formerly the Supreme Leader of Iran, a nation with borders and a population of 40 million people at the time. Islam is a government, and they want and are aiming for global theocratic rule by Islamic jurists.

The Ayatollah and Iran itself are Shia Muslim, one of two branches that comprise the major points of Islam. However Shia Muslims comprise only 15% of all Islam, Sunni Muslims make up the rest. The Iranian Revolution was an empowering event for Shias, which make up most of Syria also.

There are a few differences between Shia and Sunni but they are not major in terms of how non-Muslims are to be treated, nor do they wildly differ in terms of Sharia Law.

The important thing about Sharia law is that it is perfect and sacred. Law based upon democratic process is offensive to Islam because such law is based upon people. Sharia law is based upon the Koran and Mohammed, the only perfect guidance. Therefore, it is an offence to Islam for Muslims to have to live under democratic constitutional law. (source)

Because Islam is a political institution which rejects government by democracy, Islam and a Constitutional Republic are incompatible. A Muslim who lives under a democracy and not Sharia is living treasonously to Islam and if they are a Muslim living under Sharia Law in the US (or working toward that end) they are living treasonously to the Republic.

In my own opinion we can safely say that to deny a Muslim’s practice of his religion is not a violation of the Second Amendment protection of religion, because it is not a religion- it is a government. A divided government cannot stand. Just as Jesus said that one cannot live divided between the world governance of satan and the kingdom of God, so our democracy and a Sharia enclave of Muslims cannot live peacably together (as we have repeatedly seen in Beirut, Baghdad, Paris, San Bernardino CA and elsewhere).

And knowing their thoughts Jesus said to them, “Any kingdom divided against itself is laid waste; and any city or house divided against itself will not stand. “If Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself; how then will his kingdom stand? (Matthew 12:25-26)

Our spiritual loyalties are with the One True God, but in our earthly life as Christians we submit to government. Ours in America happens to be a Constitutional Republic. We look forward to the day when we will become not only full citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven as we are now, but are physically present in our homeland. Until then, if you are an American as I am, it is sad to see our once-great nation and our once-strong country succumb to divided loyalties and self-indulgence and outright sin.

EPrata photo

Due to America’s continued rebellion against God, I fully expect His wrath to be poured out on us as Romans 1:18-32 states. The Wrath of Abandonment is a difficult thing to watch, and I am sorrowful that God may indeed decide to use Islam as the hammer against which He will render His verdict against us here in America. It seems that in coming months or years, it may be a bloody time, a difficult time, and a sorrowful time. The flood of false religion will not be stopped,because it is prophesied that apostasy will rise (Matthew 24:10, 1 Timothy 4:1, 1 John 4:3) until the Great Apostasy takes over and the world staggers under the sin of its one world religion. (2 Thessalonians 2:3-4).

We have hope, a secure and a glorious hope. We cling to the promises of His soon return, His everlasting kingdom, and the TRUE theocracy under which we Christians are subject. The Lamb reigns!

And on His robe and on His thigh He has a name written, “KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.” (Revelation 19:16)

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God loves the Muslim terrorists of ISIS

Posted on February 19, 2015May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

I’ve written before of how many parallels there are between the ancient Ninevites and their brutality, and today’s ISIS members and their terrorism. From the same region as Nineveh, Assyria now comes ISIS, which one of their own leaders called/calls himself “Prince of Nineveh.” We know that the ancient Assyrians did not worship God but were pagan.

The ancient Ninevites were so held in terror and fear, and so firmly did the hapless cities which lay in their path know this, that oftentimes all the Assyrians had to do is march to a city and announce to the besieged residents a list all the other cities they had conquered, and capitulation would ensue almost immediately. (2 Chronicles 32:18)

As for their gleeful, maniacal brutality, the ancient Assyrians used to push meathooks into the jaws of captured prisoners of war and march them back to Nineveh. Others, they threw off ramparts as a warning, or skinned them alive and hung the skins over the walls to graphically illustrate the penalty for opposing them. Ancient Ninevites were brutal, bringing new meaning to the word.

ISIS is the same. From the exact region of ancient Nineveh, we see a re-emergence of that same demonic spirit. One of gleeful brutality, of worship of satanic gods, of horror and shock. We see swords flashing, heads rolling, blood-stained beaches, children fleeing, houses burning. We see exultation amid the black hooded ISIS men, and we pray for the people in their path, just as sister cities Lachish (which was conquered by the Assyrians, 2 Kings 18; 2 Chronicles 32, Micah 1:13) and Jerusalem (which wasn’t, 2 Chronicles 32:1-33, 2 Kings 19:35) endured.

Judean captives being led away into slavery by the Assyrians
after the siege of Lachish in 701 B.C.

But God loved the Ninevites.

Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, 2“Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it, for their evil has come up before me.” (Jonah 1:1-2)

We know from the biblical account that Jonah did not do this. He fled in the other direction. Why, we’re never quite told. Perhaps Jonah was afraid. After all, no one likes having a meathook put in their jaw and being led across the desert sands as a captive. Perhaps Jonah had had family that was killed at Lachish or some other place. Perhaps Jonah was simply afraid. We do know that Jonah resented God’s version of justice. Salvation and repentance were not for the Ninevites, thought Jonah. “Why should they get it?” (Jonah 4:1)

The ancient Assyrian royal city of Kalhu, The archaeological site of Nimrud
was known in antiquity as Kalhu (biblical Calah). It is located just to the east
of the Tigris river, in what is nowadays northern Iraq, some 30 km (roughly 20 miles)
south of the the modern city of Mosul. Although Nimrud is now a peaceful archaeological
site in the countryside, in ancient times Kalhu was a huge and bustling city. It served
as the capital of the mighty Assyrian empire for nearly 200 years, from the early 9th to
the late 8th century BC, but was also inhabited for many centuries before and after.

Soon, Jonah needed to repent for his disobedience and hope in the LORD’s mercy be extended to himself. And it was. God delivered Jonah from the great fish and then said a second time to go preach judgment, repentance and salvation to the Ninevites.

Then the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time, saying, “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it the message that I tell you.” So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord. (Jonah 3:1-3a)

The evil, brutal people heard the LORD in Jonah.

And the people of Nineveh believed God. They called for a fast and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them to the least of them. (Jonah 3:5)

Starting with the King.

And he issued a proclamation and published through Nineveh, “By the decree of the king and his nobles: Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything. Let them not feed or drink water, but let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and let them call out mightily to God. Let everyone turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands. Who knows? God may turn and relent and turn from his fierce anger, so that we may not perish.” When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil way, God relented of the disaster that he had said he would do to them, and he did not do it. (Jonah 3:7-10)

God loves the ISIS terrorists, the folks of modern day Nineveh (Mosul) and all pagan peoples. We know this because back in the day God did the best thing possible for them: He sent Jonah to preach judgment and righteousness to them so that they may know the LORD. Today He sends missionaries for the same reason.

And the Lord said, “You pity the plant, for which you did not labor, nor did you make it grow, which came into being in a night and perished in a night. And should not I pity Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know their right hand from their left, and also much cattle?” (Jonah 4:10-11)

The main lesson of the book. If Jonah so pities a plant which cost him no toil to rear, and which is so short lived and valueless, much more must Jehovah pity those hundreds of thousands of immortal men and women in great Nineveh whom He has made with such a display of creative power, especially when many of them repent, and seeing that, if all in it were destroyed, “more than six score thousand” of unoffending children, besides “much cattle,” would be involved in the common destruction: Compare the same argument drawn from God’s justice and mercy in Gen 18:23–33.

Jamieson, R., Fausset, A. R., & Brown, D. Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

but the persons in Nineveh whom God had compassion on were all the work of his own hands, whose being he was the author of, whose lives he was the preserver of, whom he planted and made to grow; he made them, and his they were, and therefore he had much more reason to have compassion on them, for he cannot despise the work of his own hands (Job 10:3). … That though God may suffer his people to fall into sin, yet he will not suffer them to lie still in it, but will take a course effectually to show them their error, and to bring them to themselves and to their right mind again…That God will justify himself in the methods of his grace towards repenting returning sinners as well as in the course his justice takes with those that persist in their rebellion

Matthew Henry’s commentary on the whole Bible.

We can be a part of the effort to urge mercy rather than judgment. God loves and pities His wayward people, even the brutal ones.

there is one Lord over all, that is rich in mercy to all that call upon him, and in every nation, in Nineveh as well as in Israel, he that fears God and works righteousness is accepted of him; he that repents, and turns from his evil way, shall find mercy with him

Matthew Henry’s commentary on the whole Bible.

ISIS, jesus, jordan, nimrod, prophecy

ISIS, Jordan and prophecy

Posted on February 7, 2015May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

Jordan is much in the news today, due to the horrific killing of its downed pilot. The world became aware of the pilot’s killing because the Muslim terror group ISIS released a video of it.

ISIS’ brutal killings, march of terror over the interior Middle East, and its famed videotaped beheadings certainly bring back to mind their ancestors, the Assyrians. In this same region several thousand years ago, the mighty kingdom of Assyria had arisen, with its capital, Nineveh. God used this nation to punish Israel.

In 722 BC, the Assyrians conquered Israel. The Assyrians were aggressive and effective; the history of their dominance over the Middle East is a history of constant warfare. In order to assure that conquered territories would remain pacified, the Assyrians would force many of the native inhabitants to relocate to other parts of their empire. They almost always chose the upper and more powerful classes, for they had no reason to fear the general mass of a population. They would then send Assyrians to relocate in the conquered territory.

When they conquered Israel, they forced the ten tribes to scatter throughout their empire. For all practical purposes, you might consider this a proto-Diaspora (“diaspora”=”scattering”), except that these Israelites disappear from history permanently; they are called “the ten lost tribes of Israel.” (Virtual Jewish Library)

One small section of Sennacherib’s Lachish relief. Wikipedia

Assyrian King Sennacherib’s statement inscribed on the relief: “Sennacherib, the mighty king, king of the country of Assyria, sitting on the throne of judgment, before (or at the entrance of) the city of Lachish (Lakhisha). I give permission for its slaughter“

The Assyrians were known for their terrible brutality. When Sennacherib defeated Israel’s second most important city, Lachish, he commissioned a 12 foot tall relief commemorating the effort. In the Lachish relief we see the Assyrians flinging Israelites off the ramparts, leading them in a line with meathooks in their jaws, and worse. Just the name of Assyria brought terror to the hearts of its enemies.

In His sovereign plan, God used Assyria as His rod of judgment upon Israel. We read When Assyria was God’s Rod…

In Isaiah 10 our Lord spoke about the coming judgment of Israel through the prophet. He explained in vivid imagery that nothing remained for those who stood condemned, but the coming condemnation. In this case, God was going to rouse Assyria against Israel (Judah). To frame this judgment, the Lord says through Isaiah, that Assyria doesn’t intend to be God’s rod of correction; that they are merely another wicked nation and that this plundering of Israel is merely an expression of their own corruption. Once God has used the Assyrians to judge Israel, He will then judge Assyria.

He did. Assyria’s capital, Nineveh, was so thoroughly destroyed that though its destruction occurred in 612 BC, the city and environs were not re-discovered until 1849AD. God had promised Israel that He’d make an utter devastation to the place, and that the Assyrians would not bother them a second time. (Nahum 1:8-9).

Jordan. National Motto: “God, Country, The King.” But which God?

Now, what of Jordan? Jordan’s history is pretty interesting. When the Ottoman Empire was defeated in 1916, the Sykes–Picot Agreement carved it up between Britain and France, defining much of the common border between Syria and what was to become Jordan, Palestine / Israel and Iraq. Wikipedia has more:

The Emirate of Transjordan, also hyphenated as Trans-Jordan and previously known as Transjordania or Trans-Jordania, was a British protectorate established in April, 1921. The Hashemite dynasty ruled the protectorate, as well as the neighbouring Mandatory Iraq, following the Cairo Conference. The territory was officially under the British Mandate for Palestine, but it had a fully autonomous governing system from Mandatory Palestine. In 1946, the Emirate became an independent state named the Hashemite Kingdom of Transjordan. In April 1949 the name was shortened to the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan.

The Emir of Transjordan from 1921–1946 was Abdullah I. The British Representative from Oct 1921 – Nov 1921 was T. E. Lawrence, also known as “Lawrence of Arabia.” Yes, he was a real man, it wasn’t just a movie.

The Hashemite emir Abdullah, elder son of Britain’s wartime Arab ally Hussein bin Ali was placed on the throne of Transjordan. The king of The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan today is Abdullah II. Both Abdullahs were/are Sunni Muslim.

After WWI, Abdullah I, alone among the Arab leaders of his generation, was considered a moderate by the West. It is possible that he might have been willing to sign a separate peace agreement with Israel, but for the Arab League’s militant opposition. Because of his dream for a Greater Syria comprising the borders of what was then Transjordan, Syria, Lebanon, and the British Mandate for Palestine under a Hashemite dynasty with “a throne in Damascus,” many Arab countries distrusted Abdullah and saw him as both “a threat to the independence of their countries and they also suspected him of being in cahoots with the enemy” and in return, Abdullah distrusted the leaders of other Arab countries. Source.

King Abdullah I

In 1951, King Abdullah I was assassinated while visiting Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem. The alleged reason was that his enemies suspected the King of engaging in secret talks to participate in a peace treaty with the new country of Israel. The regional distrust of the dynasty ruling Jordan continues today, partly because the peace treaty Jordan signed with Israel did come about (in 1994), despite pressure as recent as a few months ago to cancel it. We know from prophecy that in the end, no nation will be friends with Israel (Zechariah 12:3) so at some point that one remaining regional pact will disappear.

One last thing before we go to this week’s news. The Abdullah family traces its Hashemite ancestry back to Ishmael, (Abraham’s son by Hagar), and ancestry continuing through the prophet Muhammad and his daughter Fatima.

You might remember Genesis 16:11, where Sarai told Hagar to come to Abram and lay with Abram and Hagar did so. The LORD said the son from that union shall be called Ishmael.

You shall call his name Ishmael, because the Lord has listened to your affliction. 12He shall be a wild donkey of a man, his hand against everyone and everyone’s hand against him, and he shall dwell over against all his kinsmen. (Genesis 16:11-12)

The LORD promised blessings to the line of Ishmael, but His covenant would be with Abram’s son Isaac and his line.

As for Ishmael, I have heard you; behold, I have blessed him and will make him fruitful and multiply him greatly. He shall father twelve princes, and I will make him into a great nation. (Genesis 17:20)

Ishmael’s half-brother Isaac was born a year later. However due to the laws of primogeniture wherein the first-born son is considered the inheritor, the line from Ishmael never recognized Isaac’s right to inherit and still to this day considers Ishmael the proper heir. That is why King Abdullah traces his line back to “Ismail”. However it was the LORD’S decision that not only will the covenant be through Isaac’s line, but the elder shall serve the younger. This was stated when Jacob and Esau were in the womb-

And the LORD said to her, “Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples from within you shall be divided; the one shall be stronger than the other, the older shall serve the younger.” (Genesis 25:23)

In addition, the Ishmaelites forget that Esau purposely renounced his birthright for a bowl of lentil stew. (Genesis 25:34).

The News: Nothing New Under the Sun

King Abdullah II of Jordan was incensed this week that one of his pilots who crash landed in ~~Assyrian~~ ISIS territory was put in a cage and burned alive. It was a barbaric and brutal event, made worse by its videotaping by conscienceless terrorists. He vowed to crush ISIS and retaliate with everything the nation’s got.

Jordan unleashes wrath on ISIS: ‘This is just the beginning’

Jordanian Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh later stressed to CNN that the airstrikes marked the beginning of his nation’s retaliation over the pilot’s death, but not the start of its fight against terrorism. He vowed to destroy ISIS. “We are upping the ante. We’re going after them wherever they are, with everything that we have. But it’s not the beginning, and it’s certainly not the end,” Judeh said.

Jordanian fighter jets strike hard at ISIS, pay tribute to murdered pilot

Jordanian fighter pilots carried out devastating sorties against ISIS early Thursday, making good on their king’s vow of vengeance for the horrific burning death of a captured airman — whose hometown the jets buzzed triumphantly after the mission. Reports from the Middle East said the latest strikes killed 55 members of ISIS, including a senior commander known as the “Prince of Nineveh.”

You can see by that statement that ISIS purposely identifies with ancient Assyria and with Nineveh itself. Nineveh has a long and terrible history. The city’s history goes back to just after the Flood, to Genesis 10. After Noah was 500 years old, Noah begat three sons, one of them was Ham. (Genesis 5:32). Ham begat Cush, and Cush begat Nimrod. (Genesis 10:8-9). Noah’s great-grandson Nimrod is specifically noted as the first on earth to be a mighty man, AKA a tyrant. Nimrod built Nineveh.

A handshake between Hussein I of Jordan and Yitzhak Rabin,
accompanied by Bill Clinton, during the Israel-Jordan peace negotiations,
July 25th, 1994

Assyria was an actual nation and its name also stands for the type of nation which in the future, in all brutality will come against Israel. Another name for this type of nation is “Land of Nimrod.” Jesus will smite them and Israel will be at peace. This is an end-time Tribulation/Millennium prophecy. Some believe Micah refers to the antichrist when he says ‘the Assyrian’, but most commenters believe the Assyrian stands for the type of brutal enemy in general that the former nation of Assyria was. For example, Walvoord and Zuck’s Bible Knowledge Commentary says,

Though Assyria will not exist as a nation in the future, it represents nations who, like Assyria in Micah’s time, will threaten and attack Jerusalem (cf. Zech. 12:9; 14:2–3).

Micah 5:1-6 has the prophecy-.

Now muster your troops, O daughter of troops;

siege is laid against us;

with a rod they strike the judge of Israel

on the cheek.

But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah,

who are too little to be among the clans of Judah,

from you shall come forth for me

one who is to be ruler in Israel,

whose coming forth is from of old,

from ancient days.

Therefore he shall give them up until the time

when she who is in labor has given birth;

then the rest of his brothers shall return

to the people of Israel.

And he shall stand and shepherd his flock in the strength of the Lord,

in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God.

And they shall dwell secure, for now he shall be great

to the ends of the earth.

And he shall be their peace.

When the Assyrian comes into our land

and treads in our palaces,

then we will raise against him seven shepherds

and eight princes of men;

they shall shepherd the land of Assyria with the sword,

and the land of Nimrod at its entrances;

and he shall deliver us from the Assyrian

when he comes into our land

and treads within our border.

Bible Knowledge Commentary again,

This is one of Messiah’s several accomplishments in bringing peace to Israel (vv. 5–15). He will be Israel’s peace because He will subdue the hostile powers around that nation. … The land of Nimrod (cf. Gen. 10:8–9; 1 Chron. 1:10) was a synonym for Assyria (cf. Assyria as a name for Persia in Ezra 6:22). Christ will enable Israel to defeat her foes, giving the nation a more-than-adequate number of shepherds or leaders (on the formula seven … even eight; cf. comments on “three … even four” in Amos 1:3). Whereas many nations have ruled Israel with the sword, in the Millennium the tables will be turned and Israel will rule over her foes because He, Messiah, will deliver her (cf. Zech. 14:3).

CONCLUSION

All of this to show several things:

1. The Preacher said,

What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done, and there is nothing new under the sun. (Ecclesiastes 1:9)

and that which is done, is that which shall be done; what is done in the present age, nay, in this year, month, or day, shall be done over again in the next; Gill’s Exposition

War after war in the Middle East, man’s brutality, hatred of Israel, the long struggle between the two nations in Rebekah’s womb, the old Assyrians, the new Assyrians (ISIS) …all known to God and He will bring it to the good for those who love Him and to the justice of those who don’t. Either way, it all will end in glory.

2. God’s sovereignty, majesty, power, and might are demonstrated from the opening letter of the bible to the last amen. What’s happening now goes back to Genesis 10 and even before, to Genesis 3. All that is being done now on earth by men and demons are part of His sovereign plan which will culminate in the visible glory of our risen Christ coming to judge, rule, and reign. Prophecy is mighty in demonstration just Who is in control.

3. Prophecy marches apace. Today is one day closer to the fulfillment of all that is written. Hallelujah!

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

Ayatollah Khamenei tweets that ISIS was created by wicked US, Zionist, & British governments to sow discord between Muslims

Posted on October 18, 2014May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

The Ayatollah Khamenei tweeted this today. The Ayatollah is the ‘Supreme Leader of Iran’.

Yes. By all means let’s let Iran have the bomb.

Remember the bomb? Iran? Nuclear enrichment? Nuclear talks?

ISIS, Ebola, tensions at the Temple Mount, and short attention spans have driven that issue off the media’s table. But it is still front and center for Iran. Especially because the final deadline for nuclear talks is November 24. Just a day or so ahead of Congress’ get out of town mentality before the holidays and end of year recess

Iran’s Nuclear Program: A Thousand Times More Dangerous than ISIS

Left unasked are key questions. Why should the Number One state sponsor of terrorism in the world be allowed to develop any nuclear capacity? Even without an atomic bomb, the radioactive waste that is produced by every nuclear power plant could easily be used to create a so-called dirty bomb. That would be an explosive device that spreads deadly radioactivity in any Western capital city. Another key question is this: Why should one of the world’s leading oil producers be allowed the fiction that they need nuclear energy for peaceful purposes? Iran’s record since 1979 abundantly shows the ruling mullahs have no peaceful purposes.

Israel’s Ambassador to the United States, Ron Dermer, recently put the Mideast turmoil in perspective. “A nuclear Iran would be a thousand times more dangerous than ISIS,” the envoy told guests at his suburban Maryland home.

Ambassador Dermer is right. This administration is simply not serious about stopping Iran from getting the bomb. The fact that Mr. Obama has set November 24th as his artificial deadline for progress in the nuclear arms talks is most illuminating. That is Monday before the traditional get-out-of-town fever hits Washington. Congressmen and staffers will be focused on Thanksgiving Recess, not on talks in Europe about Iran’s endless and monotonous negotiations. Iranians have long since mastered the technique of talking their opponents to death

So…how long will it be until Iran arms one usable nuclear bomb?

Nuclear-armed Iran would pose a far bigger threat than Islamic State

“…the Gulf region has a well-organised, well-resourced radical Islamist regime with hegemonic ambitions that commands a formidable army, has abundant funds, equips several proxy armies and terror groups abroad, and reportedly is also occupying and oppressing swaths of Iraq. Most disturbingly, it has reached the advanced stages of developing a nuclear weapon and an intercontinental ballistic missile delivery system. That nation is the Islamic Republic of Iran, and the long-term threat it poses to regional stability, global energy supplies and global non-proliferation efforts remains more disconcerting than the dangers posed by the Islamic State.

Yes, I agree it would be really bad if they got it. So how close are they?

Charles Krauthammer: Obama Surrendered To Iran on Building Nuclear Bomb

Washington Post columnist Charles Krauthammer has claimed that 2014 will be remembered as the year that President Barack Obama surrendered to Iran by allowing the Islamic republic to build a nuclear bomb.

Yes I agree that Obama seems to be dragging his feet on decision-making in this area. But how close is Iran to actually being able to use a nuke they created?

Fact Sheet: Iran’s Nuclear and Ballistic Missile Programs, from the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation

On November 24, 2013, the P5+1 and Iran agreed to the Joint Plan of Action (JPOA) a historic, six-month first-step deal that verifiably freezes Iran’s nuclear program and begins to roll back its most proliferation-sensitive aspects. The purpose of the deal is to build time and trust to negotiate a more comprehensive final agreement that ensures Iran cannot develop a nuclear weapon. Key provisions of the agreement include:

–Halting all enrichment above 5%, diluting or converting the existing stockpile of 20% uranium to a form that cannot be further enriched, and restricting any further increase in the stockpile of 3.5% uranium.
–Prohibiting the installation and activation of new centrifuges, devices that enrich uranium to a higher grade.
–Suspending construction at Iran’s heavy water reactor near Arak.
–“Unprecedented transparency measures” in the form of daily IAEA inspections at Iran’s Natanz and Fordow facilities, along with regular access to centrifuge assembly, component and storage facilities.

In return for these concessions, Iran will receive limited, reversible sanctions relief in the amount of approximately $7 billion. The relief will primarily amount to a release of sanctions on oil assets, gold and precious metals and Iran’s auto sector, while leaving the much stronger sanctions on Iran’s oil and banking.

Thanks for the facts, which only make me believe that Iran is doing ALL they can do to get a bomb before November 24. So are they that close?

Netanyahu warns Obama: Iran must never be a ‘threshold nuclear power’

Benjamin Netanyahu has made a public appeal to President Barack Obama, urging him to reject any agreement that would leave Iran as a “threshold nuclear power”. During a meeting with Mr Obama in the Oval Office on Wednesday, the Israeli prime minister voiced his unease over the talks designed to settle the confrontation over Iran’s nuclear ambitions by a deadline of Nov 24. Mr Netanyahu fears that a final agreement might leave Iran a few months away from being able to make enough weapons-grade uranium for one nuclear bomb.

At present, Iran has about 9,500 operational centrifuges and another 10,000 standing idle. If all these machines were used, they would be able to convert Iran’s existing stockpile of low-enriched uranium into enough weapons-grade material for one nuclear bomb in less than two months.

Oh. A few months. Allrighty then. Plus, according to the Ayatollah, it’s all Israel’s fault anyway.

November 24 nuke talks deadline is not that far away. We do not know what tomorrow holds. It may be filled with Ebola pandemics, a violent flash mob at the corner convenient store, a nuke against Israel sparking the Ezekiel war, (or the Psalm 83 war), collapsing megachurches … or it may be filled with mundane work, babies born, sunshine, purring cats, fixing broken down cars, wiping noses, and cooking dinner.

God knows. We trust His plan and His will. Praise Him that His will includes protecting His sheep from the Tribulation via rapture, and that we have it to look forward to.

The Coming of the Lord

13But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. 14For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. 15For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord,d that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. 16For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. 17Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. 18Therefore encourage one another with these words. (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18).

allah, idols, ISIS, jesus, pope, vatican

ISIS threatens to conquer Rome and break the Vatican’s crosses

Posted on October 14, 2014May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

ISIS, also known as Islamic State, publishes a glossy, slick magazine each month called Dabiq. It is propaganda, of course, but it is a nice production. In this month’s issue, the Islamic State threatened to conquer Rome and break the Vatican’s crosses.

The Clarion Project explains the magazine’s name:

Dabiq is a place in Syria that is supposed to be the location for one of the final battles according to certain Muslim myths about a final apocalypse. Choosing such a name for the magazine highlights the Caliphate’s goals.

In their eschatology, Sunni Muslims believe they must ignite a holy war to prove to Muhammad that they are serious about worshiping Allah and serious in seeking for Muhammad to return in ‘the last hour.’

The magazine is full of exhortations from “Allah”. They call westerners who are opposed to them “Crusaders”, whether they are military or Christian. Here is one example of their latest rhetoric:

From magazine Dabiq, page 37, Issue 4, The Final Crusade

This certainty was echoed by Shaykh Abū Muham – mad al-’Adnānī (hafidhahullāh) in his last speech when he said, “And so we promise you [O crusaders] by Allah’s permission that this campaign will be your final campaign. It will be broken and defeated, just as all your previous campaigns were broken and defeated, except that this time we will raid you thereafter, and you will never raid us. We will conquer your Rome, break your crosses, and enslave your women, by the permission of Allah, the Exalted. This is His promise to us; He is glorified and He does not fail in His promise. If we do not reach that time, then our children and grandchildren will reach it, and they will sell your sons as slaves at the slave market” [Indeed Your Lord Is Ever Watchful].

In other sections, the authors of the magazine reiterate that after conquering the Vatican they will sell all the women they capture into slavery. The magazine is full of articles with titles like “The Revival of Slavery: Before the Hour”, and “In the Words of the Enemy” (US Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel) and gruesome pictures of beheaded people and the slain ‘Crusaders’.

The cover photo of the current issue (October 2014) is of an image of the Vatican with a photoshopped ISIS flag atop the Vatican obelisk.

In May 2014, Pope Francis met with Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, Muhammad Hussein, and pointed to the fraternal dialogue and exchange between Christians and Muslims, this quote is from Vatican Radio Archives:

Dear brothers, dear friends, from this holy place I make a heartfelt plea to all people and to all communities who look to Abraham: may we respect and love one another as brothers and sisters! May we learn to understand the sufferings of others! May no one abuse the name of God through violence! May we work together for justice and peace! Salaam!

In September 2014, “Pope Francis Slams Extremists Who ‘Pervert Religion‘” saying,

“May no one use religion as a pretext for actions against human dignity and against the fundamental rights of every man and woman, above all to the right to life and the right of everyone to religious freedom,” he said. … Islamic State has declared a “caliphate” in the territories they control and have killed or driven out large numbers of Christians, Shi’ite Muslims and others who do not subscribe to their hardline version of Sunni Islam.

The acts of ISIL ARE Islam. They are the religious center, the non-violent Muslims are the extremists. Needless to say, the Pope’s entreaties are going ignored.

Islam is not a religion of peace. But God is using it to bring about His final peace, the Prince of Peace who will rule with a rod of iron, and minister justice to all the nations. He warned the ancient Ninevites (present day ISIL) against their unceasing evil, saying through Prophet Nahum,

An oracle concerning Nineveh. The book of the vision of Nahum of Elkosh. God’s Wrath Against Nineveh 2The Lord is a jealous and avenging God; the Lord is avenging and wrathful; the Lord takes vengeance on his adversaries and keeps wrath for his enemies. 3The Lord is slow to anger and great in power, and the Lord will by no means clear the guilty. (Nahum 1:1-3)

As long as a Muslim is praying to Allah, he has forsaken the only steadfast love there is. (Jonah 2:8). But as long as a Muslim draws breath, even one involved in an unholy war as the ISIS men are, he will receive mercy if he repents. (1 John 1:19).

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

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.

barack obama, God, ISIL, ISIS, middle east, prophecy

Does submitting to governing authorities mean ones like ISIS or Obama?

Posted on August 21, 2014May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. (Romans 13:1)

That can’t mean submit to … Obama, could it? I can’t stand ~~Obama~~ [Nero, Pol Pot, Idi Amin, Muammar Gaddafi, Herod, Pharaoh, Nimrod, Saddam Hussein, Mao Tse-Tung, Genghis Khan, Stalin, Nebuchadnezzar, Vlad Tepes…]

Why yes. Yes it does.

Consequently, whoever rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves. (Romans 13:2)

The events taking place with ISIS in the old Assyria region of Nineveh/Mosul, Babylon/Baghdad are truly horrific.

Babylon is home to the deepest, longest lasting origin of evil on earth. (Genesis 11:4, Revelation 17:18), Babylon was first in evil religion and it will be the last. The angel of the Prince of the kingdom of Persia was strong enough to prevent the angel dispatched from God in reaching earth to bring the message to Daniel. (Daniel 10:13). That’s a strong, evil angel.

Nineveh was so evil God threatened to wipe it out, and eventually He did, so thoroughly that the city wasn’t even discovered until the mid-1800s! This area of the world is so evil that Revelation 9:14-15 says there are four evil angels bound in the Euphrates River who will be released during the Tribulation. When they are, they will immediately kill a third of mankind!

That ISIS is spawned from that area of the world is no surprise. That they are so vicious is also no surprise. Every man has that evil in him, the potential for it exists in all of us. While not all of us are as bad as we can be, the evil in us does run deep and some leaders are deeply evil. They are NOT an anomaly.

In addition, the area between Iran-Iraq-Syria (Assyria) has always had an evil government. Cain built a city (Genesis 4:17) and Nimrod was first dictator in the world, in addition, he founded Babylon, the very symbol for deceit, evil, and rebellion. (Genesis 10:8-10). The very first man-made government mentioned in the bible had a dictator and a false religion! In that same spot that there is still such evil happening!

From that perspective, the evil in the governments of the land of Assyria should not surprise us. Compared to ISIS, which is not just a terror group but a government, maybe old Saddam Hussein is looking kind of good right now! (in comparison)

So what good can some from submitting to such evil? Did God really mean to submit to governments like that? Who kill children and suspend the rule of law and torture and oppress?

Yes.

God makes good come out of it.

Like this:

In that day there will be an altar to the Lord in the midst of the land of Egypt, and a pillar to the Lord at its border. It will be a sign and a witness to the Lord of hosts in the land of Egypt. When they cry to the Lord because of oppressors, he will send them a savior and defender, and deliver them. And the Lord will make himself known to the Egyptians, and the Egyptians will know the Lord in that day and worship with sacrifice and offering, and they will make vows to the Lord and perform them.

And the Lord will strike Egypt, striking and healing, and they will return to the Lord, and he will listen to their pleas for mercy and heal them. In that day there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria, and Assyria will come into Egypt, and Egypt into Assyria, and the Egyptians will worship with the Assyrians. In that day Israel will be the third with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing in the midst of the earth, whom the Lord of hosts has blessed, saying, “Blessed be Egypt my people, and Assyria the work of my hands, and Israel my inheritance.” (Isaiah 19:19-25)

In the Millennium kingdom, God will BLESS them! They will convert and worship the one True God! There is no higher good than that! What good can possibly come from ISIS terrorists chopping off heads? That area of the world will be personally blessed by the LORD!

I love this prophecy so much. It brings tears to my eyes every time. They are the only three nations mentioned for such blessings. I also love the verse because it says, Assyria, Egypt and Israel will be blessed and the verse explains why. Egypt is His people, they hosted & protected His Son. (Hosea 11:1)

Assyria, the area ISIS is brutalizing, …Gill’s Exposition says of the prophecy regarding Assyria,

“Assyria the work of my hands; not as creatures only, but new creatures, having the good work of grace wrought in their hearts, of which God is the author; and therefore are called his workmanship, Ephesians 2:10 and who must be blessed, because, by this work of grace upon them, they appear to be the chosen of God, and precious, to be his children, and dear unto him, whom he will not forsake, and who are formed for himself, and for heaven, and happiness:”

The ISIS peoples, will be His children? Yes!

We have the advantage of knowing this great work of God is ahead, no matter how many dams are booby trapped, no matter how many heads are chopped off, no matter how many children are killed. God has a purpose, and we know what it is.

What a blessing to know the future. What a blessing to know their future redemption. What a blessing to know His holiness, even in wrath, then He will save.

It’s terrible what is happening now in and around Iraq, but the worse things get the better things will be later, because God will show Himself holy and righteous and merciful to Egypt, Israel and Assyria.

Patriarch (a parallel position to Pope)
Anton II of Georgia

Let’s say that there are Christians in the Middle East. Many of the people who are called “Christians” are not- they are Eastern Orthodox. EO is a mirror of Catholicism, so if they adhere to the doctrines of EO they are not real Christians.

But for the sake of argument, let’s say there are some, because there probably are.

Let’s say that they decide for their own self, that though the bible says to subject themselves to ruling authorities, they say, “ISIS is killing children. That’s heinous. I will not pay jizya taxes which will support that government, in any way. I will wait for a better government and I will pay taxes then.”

But, that is the short view. God has the long view. He said to store up treasures in heaven. As a citizen of heaven, I want to invest in heaven. In the essay above I’d shared the Isaiah 19 passage, in which God says He will bless Assyria, Egypt, and Israel.

In subjecting myself to the ruling authorities on earth (as long as I’m not denying Christ and converting to Islam), I am investing in His blessed government that is to come. I am trusting the LORD to fulfill His promise to bring peace in Assyria, conversion in Assyrian hearts, and the Good ruling authority- Jesus.

The short view is selfish and myopic. Who am I to say, rebel against this government because they’re bad? They’re ALL bad! There is none Good except Jesus! But in following the bible and subjecting myself to ruling governments, whether they be Queen Elizabeth or ISIS, or Saddam Hussein or George Washington, I am simply waiting for the REAL government to come, investing in it, and storing up treasure. No, I don’t want my taxes to go toward the bad things that are happening in the US nor in Iraq, but God will take care of the leaders who deal falsely. My taxes, my submission, my Christian participation, is an investment as a shareholder of the great government to come.

The long view. It’s important.

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"Iraqi Christians flee after Isis issue Mosul ultimatum," Prophecy and Mosul/Nineveh

Posted on July 19, 2014May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

God said ‘Jonah, arise and preach to Nineveh.’ (Jonah 1:1-2)

Jonah outside Nineveh’s gate. Rembrandt

We know the rest of the story. Initially Jonah refused, and ran in the other direction. He boarded a ship and sailed away. God sent a storm and overboard Jonah went. As Jonah contemplated his options on the way down to the bottom of the sea, he relented and acknowledged the sovereignty of God. He accepted the call to preach repentance to Nineveh. God had appointed a big fish and the fish swallowed Jonah and then spit him up back to where he began. Hoisting his toga, Jonah set off for Nineveh, heeding God’s call.

It was ‘an exceedingly great city’ some three days’ travel in breadth. Some historians calculate that as many as 250,000 lived in Nineveh. For several decades it was the largest city in the world. When Jonah preached, all the Ninevites repented, from the king on down to the lowliest peasant. All of them. It surely was a great move of God and a great shower of grace upon the many people of Nineveh.

Nineveh’s Adad gate exterior entrance. Wiki CC

God’s move was so powerful and so amazing that even till this day Eastern Orthodox churches of the Middle East commemorate the three days Jonah spent inside the fish during the “Fast of Nineveh”. There are streets named after Jonah in the Middle East and monuments to him. There are even several places claiming to be his tomb. He is known to Muslims as Nabi Yunus, and Prophet Jonah is mentioned in the Q’uran. Therefore we see that God’s move was SO GREAT that the vestigial memory of it rests in the hearts and minds of even the most blinded and spiritually distant from God.

Unfortunately, the Ninevites’ repentant attitude was not permanent and Prophet Nahum records Nineveh’s end. One hundred years later, they had gone back to their ways. Nahum says that it was a city full of blood, lies, and plunder. God said He would make an utter desolation of the city and He did.

The city was so obliterated by 400BC the city of Nineveh itself had passed into history. Even the very name was forgotten. The city was buried so well it was never re-discovered until 1842.

In 1842, French Consul General at Mosul, Paul-Émile Botta began to search the vast mounds that lay along the opposite bank of the river. The Arabs whom he employed in these excavations, to their great surprise, came upon the ruins of a building at the mound of Khorsabad, which, on further exploration, turned out to be the royal palace of Sargon II, which was largely explored for sculptures and other precious relics. Wikipedia

Today’s Nineveh overlaps Mosul. Mosul is in Iraq, or what used to be Iraq, now that the ISIS group has taken over and established “The Islamic State”. You might know that the goal of the Caliphate is to have 100% of all residents in it compliant to Allah. If someone is not a Muslim, they must pay jizya, a religious tax to the dhimmi (community). Or convert. Or die.

Nineveh’s Mashki gate from the west. Wiki CC

The leaders of ISIS issued an ultimatum recently to that very effect. Before the war in Iraq in 2003, there were about 65,000 Christians living there. That is according to official records. However, spiritually, most of those are not Christians, because they adhere to an Eastern Orthodox religion, which is false. Personally I cannot say that the numbers were so large, but we do know that at out of 65,000 claiming Christianity, least some are true Christians.

Remember, Iraq is also home to Baghdad, AKA Babylon, the first city which Nimrod built and future history’s (almost) the last city; a city which will be the prophetic focus of the Tribulation. It has been said that the bible could be subtitled “A Tale of Two Cities: Jerusalem and Babylon.” What I’m saying is, the area has a long, loooong spiritual history. Moreover, and future history will dwindle down to events in this exact region.

After the 2003 invasion of Iraq about half the Christians left. After ISIS came, 10,000 more left. Suffice to say that life for a true Christian in this war-torn, spiritually hostile ground zero place would be hard. And this week, it just got harder.

Iraqi Christians flee after Isis issue Mosul ultimatum

Iraqi Christians are fleeing Mosul after Islamist militants threatened to kill them unless they converted to Islam or paid a “protection tax”. A statement issued by the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (Isis) was read out at the city’s mosques. It called on Christians to comply by midday on Saturday or face death if they did not leave the northern city. Isis has control of large parts of Syria and Iraq and said last month it was creating an Islamic caliphate. The ultimatum cited a historic contract known as “dhimma,” under which non-Muslims in Islamic societies who refuse to convert are offered protection if they pay a fee, called a “jizya”. “We offer them three choices: Islam; the dhimma contract – involving payment of jizya; if they refuse this they will have nothing but the sword,” the Isis statement said.

This is very similar to the upcoming ultimatum that the antichrist will issue. The antichrist will locate headquarters in Babylon. At the Tribulation, the antichrist will force all to worship him by accepting a mark on their hand or forehead. Or be excluded from the economy and unable to buy or sell, and then to be beheaded. (Revelation 13:16-17).

In addition to the hostility against perceived Christians, the ISIS people also took a sledgehammer to “Jonah’s tomb” in Mosul.

Shocking moment ISIS militants take sledgehammers to Mosul tomb of Prophet Jonah

Donning balaclavas and black coats, they swung sledgehammers into the tombs, causing pieces of dust and stone to fly through the air. One of the devastated tombstones belonged to the Prophet Jonah (Younis in Arabic) and was revered by Muslims and Christians alike, according to Iraqi authorities. Speaking of the latest attack, Ninevah official Zuhair Al-Chalabi, told IraqiNews.com: ‘The elements of ISIS [have] controlled the mosque of the Prophet Younis in Mosul since they invaded the city.’

It should be noted that there are also alleged burial sites for Jonah in Hebron, Lebanon, and Galilee in addition to Mosul.

We should:

1. Pray for the true Christians in the Middle East. As Joel Rosenberg calls it, it is “the epicenter” because geologically the epicenter is the point on the earth above the center of the earthquake. It aptly describes Israel, Jerusalem, and the countries surrounding her. Geographically, God considers Israel the center of the world. (Ezekiel 5:5) as Rosenberg explains here. Spiritually, it all comes down to God and His people, and history’s last events will be located in Jerusalem and surrounding environs.

From this moment forward, whenever you are reading this, life will only be harder for Christians there. Jews also. Every day will be harder than the day before it.

2. Pray for the rapture. (2 Timothy 4:8). It is spiritually all right to pray for a time of deliverance, in so doing, acknowledging your citizenship (heaven), identifying yourself with the promises of Jesus, and wanting to be where there is no more pain.

3. Be strong in the word. Persevere, and in so doing, being the Light of Hope within us. Let it shine, your patience, calm, and hope will be a balm to those around you.

4. Study scripture and memorize it. Even in America, the time is coming and might already be here when we will need to rely on memory for scripture- as possessing a bible may soon be not-possible. The noose is tightening daily. Apostasy is rising and as John MacArthur said, “Cultural Christianity is dying at warp speed.” I’ll do another blog post later today about that. Therefore we should be aware of what is happening in the world and in our nations, and in that way we can be responsible to our duties as Christians on behalf of the glory of God.

5. Always shine the glory back to Him, He is the originator of the world, the sustainer of the world, and the King, Lord, and Judge of the world, He deserves all glory and acknowledgement in all we say and do. At the very moment that attitude is becoming more rare, is when we need to display it the most.

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(Updated) Isis captures oil field, aims for Jordan? Ebola out of control, SBC gay-affirming Pastor feted at White House, lauded for "progress"

Posted on July 3, 2014May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

(Update below)
I’m catching up on some news. I like to follow up with previously reported issues. Let’s start with Danny Cortez, Obama, and the SBC.

In February of this year when Pastor Danny Cortez of California’s New Hope Church (a Southern Baptist Convention affiliated church) told his congregation that his son had come out as gay and that he as pastor has been wrong to preach against homosexuality as a sin, his church split.

However, the bulk of the congregation voted to retain Pastor Cortez and go forward on a third way, in other words, not yes and not no but maybe (the lukewarm, middle of the road way?) in agreeing to disagree and focusing on other issues (besides sin?)

Albert Mohler, Jr., an American theologian and the ninth president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky, published an essay declaring there is no third way.

This all came down just before the Southern Baptist Convention. The Bylaws of the SBC state that cooperating churches which dissent or vary from orthodox and agreed upon doctrines can be voted out of the denomination.” The SBC Constitution states: “Among churches not in friendly cooperation with the Convention are churches which act to affirm, approve, or endorse homosexual behavior.” This didn’t happen at the Convention.

The ~~excuse~~ reason was that it all happened too close to the convention’s opening and the leaders had not had time to review the situation formally nor properly. They did not want to make a hasty decision. OK, fine, but when no movement on the issue happened after the convention either, Al Mohler wrote another essay in effect saying, ‘OK, time to get moving on this issue now’. (I interpreted it that way).

As of today, still nothing from the SBC. It is reported that the SBC Executive Committeee may take it up in September. May take it up.

Meanwhile the Homosexual lobby is not waiting around to take an advantage. Pastor Danny Cortez was almost immediately invited to the White House for Lesbian-Gay-Bisexual-Transgender (LGBT) celebration to cap off Gay Month, hosted by Obama. The Baptist Press reported (and picked up by the Biblical Recorder) that Cortez was delighted to attend.

Pro-gay [SBC] pastor attends White House event (I added the ‘SBC’ to the headline)

The Los Angeles-area Baptist pastor whose church split after he announced he no longer believes all homosexual acts are sinful was President Obama’s guest at the White House LGBT Pride Month reception June 30. Danny Cortez, pastor of New Heart Community Church in La Mirada, Calif., attended the reception with his son Drew, who Cortez said in a Feb. 9 sermon is gay. At the reception, Obama acknowledged open homosexuals serving in his administration and said 11 openly gay federal judges have been confirmed by the Senate, including 10 during his administration. Danny Cortez, pastor of New Heart Community Church in La Mirada, Calif., attended the reception with his son Drew, who Cortez said in a Feb. 9 sermon is gay. “This tremendous progress we’ve made as a society is thanks to those of you who fought the good fight,…”

Obama is exactly right, the “progress” the homosexual lobby has made in culture is due to either false Christians helpfully promoting satan’s agenda, or true Christians standing by and doing nothing.

On another topic, I stopped following the ISIS event in the Middle East when the news reports and even twitter accounts posted photos without warnings of graphic nature. The photos were terrible, terrible.

As of 6/28/2014, the dark red area indicates land now controlled
by ISIS, while the light red area is territory claimed by ISIS.
Source. Spesh531/Wikipedia

That does not mean the issue is no longer important though. It is. It may have fallen off this blog and it may have receded into the background of world news, but ISIS is still capturing, advancing, and murdering. See this photo-safe news report from Israel’s Arutz Sheva from today

ISIS Captures Largest Oil Field in Syria
Islamist group adds to its resources, seizing oil field and consolidating its hold in the Euphrates corridor from Iraq into Syria.

The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) continues to roll forward, adding to its collection of captured resources the Al-Omar Oil Field, the largest oil field in Syria located in the eastern Deir al-Zour province of the war-torn country, near the Iraqi border. The Islamist group has already amassed great assets during its blitz offensive in Iraq, seizing Iraq’s largest oil refinery, a chemical weapons facility, and becoming the “world’s richest terrorist organization” by looting 500 billion Iraqi dinars ($425 million) from banks in Mosul. Now, video footage uploaded to YouTube shows armed ISIS jihadists at the entrance to the field with their flag flying high, after having wrestled the field away from the Al-Nusra Front, a rival opposition force in Syria that is linked with Al-Qaeda, which ISIS broke off from. … ISIS’s lightning series of victories have given it control of a corridor on the Euphrates River ranging from the far-eastern Syrian town of Bukamal, located on the border with Iraq, on through the provincial capital of Deir al-Zour to the northwest from the border.

Additionally ISIS, which on Sunday declared itself an Islamic “caliphate” and proclaimed its leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi as “Caliph,” has succeeding in winning pledges of allegiance by numerous rebel factions in the area.

I have not watched the video which accompanies the article. You’re on your own with that one. Here is another news piece discussing how much territory ISIS has now

Sunni fighters of the Islamic State in Iraq and Greater Syria (ISIS) Thursday gained control over the eastern Syrian province of Deir Ez-zor and now occupy an area five times the size of Lebanon in Syria, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. (source)

Where will ISIS go next? The Wall Street Daily reports,

You see, some early reports suggest Baghdadi may have a new target: the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, which is ruled from nearby Amman. Jordan is considered a constitutional monarchy, but King Abdullah II has the power to appoint 75 members of the Parliament directly. He also has the power to pass laws himself, and he is the head of both the state and the military. But while Abdullah II has all of the power, he doesn’t have strong support amongst the people. You see, Jordan has been the recipient of many refugees in recent decades, and the country is now brimming with Arabs from both Palestine and Syria. These people feel oppressed by the small, but controlling, Hashemite tribe… and that could spell trouble. Abdullah would be supported by his military and the United States, but not his Sunni Muslim population, which would likely be sympathetic to ISIS. On top of that, if ISIS controlled Jordan, it could surround Damascus, which is just 100 short miles north of Amman. In that regard, Jordan could be the key to winning in Syria.

I posted a couple of news reports about Jordan two weeks ago. (here, and here) I feel the ISIS group will go to Jordan for exactly the above described reason, and also Saudi Arabia. Jordan is prominent in prophecy for one simple reason is that the antichrist will conquer the world but God will not allow him to take Jordan. However, Jordan will not escape unharmed.

UPDATE: Daily Mail is reporting the following about Saudi Arabia:

Saudi Arabia has placed 30,000 soldiers on its northern border after 2,500 Iraqi soldiers reportedly quit their posts, leaving the country open to the threat of a lightning advance by ISIS militants.

As a matter of fact, Jordan is prophesied to be devastated (except for Petra). From Jordan it is but a small matter to conquer Lebanon (a proxy of Syria anyway) and then attack Israel, which would pretty much be the Psalm 83 battle.

Dr. Mordechai Kedar believes ISIS (ISIL) will go to Jordan next also. Dr Kedar is a senior lecturer in the Department of Arabic at Bar-Ilan University. He served in IDF Military Intelligence for 25 years, specializing in Arab political discourse, Arab mass media, Islamic groups and the Syrian domestic arena. He definitely has the intellectual chops and professional credibility to make such a call. He said,

ISIL has never concealed its intentions regarding Jordan, created, as were Iraq and Syria, by European colonialism, and therefore deserving to be eliminated. The name of the organization expresses is goals, because “al-Sham” is the Levant, and that area includes Syria, Lebanon, Jordan and Israel. In order to make its plans for Jordan obvious, the organization expanded its control in Iraq westward, up to the border between Iraq and Jordan, also conquering the border town of Turayvil. Its successes in Iraq and Syria awaken the “Jihadist adrenaline” in the marginal populations of Jordan and the demonstration in Ma’an expresses what is well-known: ISIS success draws the masses, especially those on the fringes of society, those who want to belong to something successful at last. And if this successful thing brings an end to a suppressive regime, it is an even more worthy group to join.

Of course it could all collapse tomorrow. Only God knows.

Drought: “Arizona’s largest city has gone four months without any measurable rain, and neighboring New Mexico is in the midst of four years of severe drought.”

Earthquakes: Quakes are still pounding Oklahoma.

USGS, Quakes this week, 2.5+

Big earthquakes double in 2014, but scientists say they’re not linked. (Sure….sure.) There is a a 65 percent increase compared to the rate of large quakes since 1979. (larger than magnitude 7).

We have recently experienced a period that has had one of the highest rates of great earthquakes ever recorded,” said lead study author Tom Parsons, a research geophysicist with the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in Menlo Park, California. But even though the global earthquake rate is on the rise, the number of quakes can still be explained by random chance, said Parsons and co-author Eric Geist, also a USGS researcher.

The disease Ebola is “out of control” in parts of West Africa. Remember, Ebola is the disease with an extremely high mortality rate that melts your insides. Mortality of those who contract the disease range from 34% to 70%. Compared to the previous influenza epidemics, which were less than 0.1%, the 1918 Spanish Influenza epidemic had a mortality rate of 2.5%. Now perhaps, with that comparison in mind, it is easier to envision this verse’s fulfillment:

“And its rider’s name was Death, and Hades followed him. And they were given authority over a fourth of the earth, to kill with sword and with famine and with pestilence and by wild beasts of the earth.” (Revelation 8b)

Keep praying, keep loving each other, and keep looking up. Have a safe and Hurricane Arthur-free Fourth of July Holiday!