3 powerful earthquakes, 14 aftershocks rock Mariana Islands “In a 24-hour period, the region of the Mariana Islands, near Guam, experienced three powerful earthquakes ranging from 6.3-magnitude to 6.9-magnitude. The region also has witnessed 14 aftershocks. Earthquakes have been the dominant natural disaster for the year 2010. Powerful earthquakes continue to rock nations all around the world. The Mariana Islands, near the nations of Guam and Micronesia, is the latest part to be hit. In a 24-hour period, the Mariana Islands region was hit by three earthquakes measuring at 6.3. 6.6 and 6.9-magnitude, according to the United States Geological Survey (USGS). The agency has also recorded at least 14 aftershocks. The latest earthquake, 6.6-magnitude, was located 240 miles (390 km) southwest of Hagatna, Guam and 290 miles (465 km) northeast of Yap, Micronesia. The temblor’s depth was measured at 14 miles (22.5 km). There have been no immediate reports of injuries, deaths or significant damages. The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center has said there is no threat of a widespread tsunami, however, a small tsunami could occur 75 miles of the epicenter.”
MAP 6.6 MARIANA ISLANDS REGION
MAP 5.1 MARIANA ISLANDS REGION MAP 5.0 MARIANA ISLANDS REGION MAP 4.8 MARIANA ISLANDS REGION MAP 5.7 MARIANA ISLANDS REGION MAP 5.0 MARIANA ISLANDS REGION MAP 4.9 MARIANA ISLANDS REGION MAP 5.9 MARIANA ISLANDS REGION MAP 4.7 MARIANA ISLANDS REGION MAP 5.0 MARIANA ISLANDS REGION MAP 5.2 MARIANA ISLANDS REGION
MAP 6.3 MARIANA ISLANDS REGION
MAP 4.7 MARIANA ISLANDS REGION MAP 4.6 MARIANA ISLANDS REGION MAP 4.8 MARIANA ISLANDS REGION
MAP 6.9 MARIANA ISLANDS REGION
(note: originally this quake was rated as 7.2 and later downgraded. Most of the news headlines refer to the higher figure) The above are red because United States Geological survey indicates red for eq’s above 6.0
2010 = 16 as of Aug 14, with 1/3 of the way still to go! 2009 = 16 2008 = 12 2007 = 14 2006 = 9
Earthquakes are increasing in every way imaginable. There are deep-focus quakes, these are the kind of quakes that occur deep in the earth that technically should not be able to occur. But they do, stumping seismologists. There are swarms, quakes in places that do not usually have them, and huge quakes popping all over the globe. What more to people want for a sign that God is near?!
I’ve noticed that there have been a spate of sinkholes (China, Guatemala and elsewhere), cracks in the earth (Mexico), and pipeline and well explosions (USA). I’ve discussed before that since we know the earth will crack up at the end of time, (Isaiah 18b-20) and then the LORD remakes the earth, that at some point those devastating earth changes will begin as low-grade birth pangs. We also know that during the Tribulation many geologic events occur, from 100 lb hailstones flattening everything, mountains melting away, rivers drying up, etc. So backing up one more step, from the Millennium, back to the Tribulation, and then back tot he end time just before the Trib, what events could be occurring that are a precursor to the more major earth-changes? Sinkholes, cracks, and blown wells.
Well, another well blew today. An eyewitness on CNN posted that a well in Louisiana blew, spewing oil 300 feet into the air, and the sou,d could be heard for three miles. Locals are being evacuated now.
“You know it’s a good night when a beautiful alignment of planets is the second best thing that’s going to happen. Thursday, August 12th, is such a night. The show begins at sundown when Venus, Saturn, Mars and the crescent Moon pop out of the western twilight in tight conjunction. All four heavenly objects will fit within a circle about 10 degrees in diameter, beaming together through the dusky colors of sunset. No telescope is required to enjoy this naked-eye event.”
“The planets will hang together in the western sky until 10 pm or so. When they leave, following the sun below the horizon, you should stay, because that is when the Perseid meteor shower begins. From 10 pm until dawn, meteors will flit across the starry sky in a display that’s even more exciting than a planetary get-together.”
It is a great chance to see God’s handiwork on display! Some things to think about as we see the planets come together and the stars fly:
Psalm 147:4 – He counts the number of the stars; He gives names to all of them. Job 22:12 – Is not God in the height of heaven? Look also at the distant stars, how high they are! Psalm 8:3-4 – When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, The moon and the stars, which You have ordained; What is man that You take thought of him, And the son of man that You care for him? Genesis 1:14 – And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years: And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so.
“For more than a century, a point on the top of a hill in south-east London has been recognised as the centre of world time and the official starting point of each new day. Now the supremacy of Greenwich Mean Time is being challenged by a gargantuan new clock being built in Mecca, by which the world’s 1.5 billion Muslims could soon be setting their watches. Due to start ticking on Thursday as the faithful begin fasting during the month of Ramadan, the timepiece sits atop the Royal Mecca Clock Tower which dominates Islam’s holiest city. … Islamic scholars hope the clock’s influence will stretch far further than the sands of Saudi Arabia, as part of a plan for Mecca to eclipse the Greenwich Observatory as the “true centre of the earth”.” Article and photo source: UK Telegraph
Big Ben (L) and the Mecca Clock Tower (R) are now in competition to be recognised as the centre of time.
In Daniel 7 quite a bit is revealed about the antichrist. We know that he will emerge from the 4th of four great world kingdoms as described in Daniel 2’s statue of Nebuchadnezzar, the 4th being the iron legs of the statue. The Roman Empire was split in 330AD to include two capital cities, Rome, and Constantinople. Constantinople was later renamed Istanbul. Istanbul is in Turkey, which is 99.8% Muslim. It has been my theory that the antichrist could be a Muslim (or seeming-Muslim.) In any case…
In Daniel 7:25 we are told the antichrist will do some things:
“He shall speak pompous words against the Most High, Shall persecute the saints of the Most High, And shall intend to change times and law. Then the saints shall be given into his hand for a time and times and half a time.”
Changing the times…likely means the appointed times of God’s Holy Days and Feasts, as the antichrist will never cease oppressing the saints as they try to worship. But could a first step of that coming oppression and hindrance against the saints in the path to obliterating the Judeo-Christian ethic be an attempt to change the time? Is one way to do that by Islam insinuating itself in supremacy and control of a basic reality under which we all operate: time itself? This challenge by Islam is in any regard an aggressive one, and something sad to see as we view Christianity declining, as the bible said it would in 2 Thessalonians 2:3.
We can feel the changes ahead, see the prophetic puzzle pieces coming together. We can peek around the prophetic corner and know that soon, our Messiah will be calling us to “COME UP HITHER!”
Nano-technology is here? So what’s nano-technology?
The ability to construct machines at the sub-atomic level is Nanotechnology. It is the engineering of functional systems at the molecular scale. Molecule by molecule you can build something from the bottom up. It is already being applied in medicine and environmental technologies. This theoretical capability was envisioned as early as 1959 by the aforementioned renowned physicist Richard Feynman. He wrote: “I want to build a billion tiny factories, models of each other, which are manufacturing simultaneously. . . The principles of physics, as far as I can see, do not speak against the possibility of maneuvering things atom by atom. It is not an attempt to violate any laws; it is something, in principle, that can be done; but in practice, it has not been done because we are too big.” — Richard Feynman, Nobel Prize winner in physics. Nanotechnology is also known as molecular manufacturing.
Here is a 1-minute news spot from June 2009 of tech students experimenting with nanobots.
Above, a nanotech robot
There are four generations of nano-technology development.
–In 2000, the first generation was successfully passed: passive nanostructures, materials designed to perform one task at the simple level. We are now routinely using nanotechnology to make colloids (gold), aerosols, coatings, polymers, and ceramics. –The second phase, which we entered in 2005, introduces active nanostructures for multitasking; for example, bio-devices, drug delivery devices, 3-D transistors, and amplifiers and sensors. –The third generation is expected to begin emerging around 2010 and will feature nanosystems with thousands of interacting components such as robotics or 3D networking (like a 3D internet-grid, and more advanced virtual reality like Wii…). –A few years after that, perhaps by 2015-2020 the first integrated nanosystems, functioning (according to Roco) much like a mammalian cell with hierarchical systems within systems, are expected to be developed. Meaning, by then, man would be able to create another biological being. Like God. That is the path, and that is how close they are. It is not cloning, that is a simple replication. It is creating.
Shortly after this envisioned molecular machinery is created, and it will be, and the assembly issue is resolved, it will result in a manufacturing revolution, probably causing severe societal disruption. It also has serious economic, social, environmental, and military implications. This tipping point is known as The Singularity, or Techno-rapture.
You see the implications! Once man can create from the atom, up, we become gods. Humankind will settle for the notion on a grand scale that we do not need God because we have solved all our biological, social, environmental, and military issues. The Techno-rapture is the moment when humankind, in my opinion, ceases to be the beings God intended and the final result of evolution-thought begins.
I think we are at a precipitous moment!! We are on the cusp of purposefully evolving away from human creation in the pure biological sense, toward a techno, transhumanism, in other words, enhanced beings merged with technology in one body, including neural implants to change brain function.
Here are the biblical implications: first, the gold! This was cool.
In my research, I found that nano-gold is THE hottest topic since amazing discoveries were made 18 months ago. Scientists have discovered that as the gold particle size is decreased, there are many intriguing phenomena.
I see in one discovery if you shrink gold down to a nanoparticle, its properties change dramatically. Its color changes, it becomes a very good catalyst, and is no longer a metal – instead it turns into a semiconductor.
Even today, ultra-thin gold is being used on buildings and air craft windows – thin film of gold display some unusual characteristics. When processed with ultra-thin sheets, gold becomes transparent. It allows green light waves to pass through but reflects infrared lights. Windows coated with gold admit light but reflects heat. Therefore, the cockpit windows of modern aircraft are coated with gold, as well as the windows of many new office buildings. On the nanoscale, gold becomes a potent catalyst, exhibiting new and surprising, chemical, mechanical, electrical and magnetic behavior, which could not have been extrapolated or predicted on the basis of our knowledge about this substance in the bulk form. WE didn’t know, but GOD knew! He knows what He is doing with gold!! In general, bulk gold is not transparent in visible region, but the nano-gold may reflect efficiently near-infrared rays and can maintain the transparency.
–The material of the wall was jasper; and the city was pure gold, like clear glass. –The twelve gates were twelve pearls, each gate made of a single pearl. The great street of the city was of pure gold, like transparent glass. (Rev 21:21)
LOL, I guess we will need those special properties of gold to help reflect GOD’S GLORY!! 🙂
Rev 21:18 The construction of its wall was of jasper; and the city was pure gold, like clear glass. Rev 21:21 And the street of the city was pure gold, like transparent glass.
WOW!!
Next biblical connection: The Techno-Rapture:
Although technological progress has been accelerating, (no, it’s not your imagination!) progress is limited by the basic intelligence of the human brain, which has not changed much for millennia.
However, people are able to work on discrete problems independently and in parallel at speeds that modern global communication permits. They can also work with the increasing power of computers and other technologies, it may be possible to build a machine at some point that is more intelligent than humanity. Wikipedia: “Theoretically, if a machine built by humans could bring to bear greater problem-solving and inventive skills than humans, then it could design a yet more capable machine. If built, this more capable machine then could design a machine of even greater capability. These iterations could accelerate, leading to recursive self improvement.” I. J. Good described this as an “intelligence explosion”. So the knowledge increase at a certain tipping point would be exponential. It is quite different from normal technological progress because the underlying driving force is increasing quickly, causing exponential growth. The term Technological Singularity or Techno-Rapture reflects the idea that the change may happen suddenly, and that it is very difficult to predict how such a new world would operate. Toffler wrote about the societal imbalances of sudden knowledge explosion in his seminal book Future Shock.
See graphs. It is happening now. Already within the past sixty years, life in the industrialized world has changed almost beyond recognition except for living memories from the first half of the 20th century.
DANIEL 12:4- “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.”
You see how close we are?
–The material of the wall was jasper; and the city was pure gold, like clear glass. –The twelve gates were twelve pearls, each gate made of a single pearl. The great street of the city was of pure gold, like transparent glass. (Rev 21:21)
A youtube video showing you the Rapture and Tribulation. The end is nigh. Get right with Jesus if you have not already. Ask Him to forgive your sins. What you see in the video WILL occur, and soon. You can be with the traveling lights streaming off-earth seen at the beginning, or you can be among the people seen in the rest of the video…Jesus leaves it up to you.
Please pray for missionaries, relief workers, and charitable organizations in the hot zones! Christians, we are hated, and it is only the start. “Then they will deliver you to tribulation, and will kill you, and you will be hated by all nations because of My name.” (Matthew 24:9)
Stay strong! Every mention of the Gospel counts. As for these precious ones, they are in glory now…
From Yahoo Health News: “Ten members of a medical team, including six Americans, were shot and killed by militants as they were returning from providing eye treatment and other health care in remote villages in northern Afghanistan, a spokesman for the team said Saturday. Dirk Frans, director of the International Assistance Mission, said one German, one Briton and two Afghans also were part of the team that made the three-week trip to Nuristan province. They drove to the province, left their vehicles and hiked for hours with pack horses over mountainous terrain to reach the Parun valley in the province’s northwest. Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid told The Associated Press that they killed the foreigners because they were “spying for the Americans” and “preaching Christianity.”
“Frans said the International Assistance Mission, the longest serving nongovernmental organization operating in Afghanistan, is registered as a nonprofit Christian organization but does not proselytize. “This tragedy negatively impacts our ability to continue serving the Afghan people as IAM has been doing since 1966,” the charity said in a statement. “We hope it will not stop our work that benefits over a quarter of a million Afghans each year.” The team, made up of doctors, nurses and logistics personnel, was attacked as it was returning to Kabul after the two-week mission in Nuristan, Frans said. They had decided to travel through Badakhshan province to return to the capital because they thought it would be the safest route, Frans said.”
Ann Rice is famous for her vampire series of books, her bi-sexual erotica, and her very public conversion to Catholicism ten years ago. Her announcement this week that she is quitting Christianity is, of course, just as public. She said:
“Today I quit being a Christian. I’m out,” she wrote. “I remain committed to Christ as always but not to being ‘Christian’ or to being part of Christianity. It’s simply impossible for me to ‘belong’ to this quarrelsome, hostile, disputatious and deservedly infamous group. For 10 years, I’ve tried. I’ve failed. I’m an outsider. My conscience will allow nothing else…. In the name of Christ, I refuse to be anti-gay. I refuse to be anti-feminist. I refuse to be anti-artificial birth control. I refuse to be anti-Democrat. I refuse to be anti-secular humanism. I refuse to be anti-science. I refuse to be anti-life. In the name of Christ, I quit Christianity and being Christian. Amen.”
Rice wrote that she cannot get behind a religion that is “anti-gay”. The culture of our times, here in the last days before the Time of Jacob’s Trouble, is such that man’s personal choices and ideas always trump God’s. His standards for morality and purity are that His men and women refrain from sexual indulgence until marriage, that they stay married, that they remain faithful until they die. This notion is mocked and scorned today. The literati firmly claim that it is hopelessly outdated. Even Federal Judge Walker said that the notion of opposite-sex genders as the only qualifiers for marriage is an “artifact from a past time” when he overturned the California constitutional amendment defining marriage as between one man and one woman.
Equally, the notion that God renders consequences on those who choose to set aside His standards is anathema to today’s culture. No one wants to be held accountable and no one wants to think that anything they do has any consequences whatsoever. Ann Rice’s renunciation of the religion, the bible, yet claims of remaining faithful to Jesus are just another example of the tendency for fallen humans to pick and choose ideals with which they can remain fleshly and indulge in their favorite pastimes.
It is particularly poignant that she states that she remains “committed” to Christ but quits adhering to His standards, and in His name, no less. One cannot remain committed to someone or something after you selectively decline so many precepts the entirety looks like a foundation-less house. It is not possible to remain “committed to Christ” and repudiate His Word and His standards for purity, marriage, life, and culture. It is simply not possible.
Further, her statement reveals just how little she understood genuine conversion. Upon renunciation of your sins, seeking forgiveness of Jesus for them, and last, submitting to His will for your life, The Holy Spirit then enters and seals you. Thinking that even for a minute that man can tell the Spirit to come or go is ridiculous. Thinking for even a minute that man has the power to break a seal that God Himself set is even more ridiculous. And Jesus promised that the gates of Hades will not prevail against His church. Ann Rice never was a Christian. You can’t leave something you never went to. And sadly, Ann Rice believes she is a friend of God, has the power to break His seal, and can select at will the precepts to which she will adhere. This attitude is prevalent today, held not just by author Rice, but many, even most, Christians and non-believers.
Of course there is no such thing as an ex-Christian. But it speaks to how far we have fallen and how blinded we have become to even say such a thing with a straight face. The only thing left in Ann Rice’s spiritual landscape is the name of her Savior; the very God who hung on the cross so that she would be allowed to claim Him as savior- or reject Him. Unfortunately, Rice, and all of who believes as she does, will discover the devastating choice she made when Judgment Day rolls around. She can refuse to be anti-gay, anti birth control, anti-feminist all she wants. And she, and all who refuse the Way of Jesus will hear this: “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. “Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ “And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; DEPART FROM ME YOU WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS.’
Christian, if you have the Spirit in you, your walk should be closer each today to Him. If you wonder whether you are saved (or are considering “leaving Christianity”), then pray, pray hard and do a heart-check. Appeal to Him to forgive your sins and then repent, which means turn away from temptations and lifestyles that draw you back into lawlessness. It’s now, or then. And for eternity’s sake, turn from lawlessness NOW.
