prophecy – Page 107

Stephen and Paul enraging the mobs

Posted on July 7, 2010May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

The WORD of God incites people. It incites people to various reactions. Some are convicted and fall to their knees in repentance. Others get irritated and move away from the speaker. Still others become enraged. I was reading Acts 7 one day and then Acts 22 another day. It is the tale of two mobs’ reactions upon hearing the Gospel.

In the first, Stephen, Christianity’s first martyr, was speaking to the elders and the scribes. They were unable to cope with the wisdom and the Spirit with which he was speaking. Apostle Paul, then known as Saul, was int eh crowd.

The mob stones Stephen, (Acts 7:54-60)

The Stoning of St. Stephen, by Paolo Uccello, Duomo, Prato

“Now when they heard this, they were cut to the quick, and they began gnashing their teeth at him. But being full of the Holy Spirit, he gazed intently into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God; and he said, “Behold, I see the heavens opened up and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.” But they cried out with a loud voice, and covered their ears and rushed at him with one impulse. When they had driven him out of the city, they began stoning him; and the witnesses laid aside their robes at the feet of a young man named Saul. They went on stoning Stephen as he called on the Lord and said, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!” Then falling on his knees, he cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them!” Having said this, he fell asleep.”

Later in Acts, Paul is mobbed and about to be flogged, (Acts 21:35; 22:22-24)

“When Paul reached the steps, the violence of the mob was so great he had to be carried by the soldiers. They listened to him up to this statement, and then they raised their voices and said, “Away with such a fellow from the earth, for he should not be allowed to live!” And as they were crying out and throwing off their cloaks and tossing dust into the air, the commander ordered him to be brought into the barracks, stating that he should be examined by scourging so that he might find out the reason why they were shouting against him that way.”

I noticed a few things in thinking about the two mob scenes. First, like many fights, men take off their jackets, un-knot their ties, and roll up their sleeves. They did so there, laying aside their robes. The cut to the heart means to extremely exasperate, and gnash their teeth means acting in rage and pain. Imagine: the simple words of a man enraging them so much! They rushed at him with one impulse, and they drove him out, indicating frenzy and furor. From this description, we can safely say this is a mob scene.

In the second scene, there is the same thing happening again, and all because of the Truth! The WORD incites reactions. There was foaming at the mouth, furor and rage. Men took off their robes. They cried out. One difference is that this time, the mob threw sand over their heads. This is an interesting picture. We read of an enraged mob, disrobing, in a cloud of dust and noise.

What is this throwing dust? It is mentioned previously in 2 Samuel 16:13, “So David and his men went on the way; and Shimei went along on the hillside parallel with him and as he went he cursed and cast stones and threw dust at him.” Casting dust is a sign of extreme hatred and rage and abhorrence. It is the opposite of the act of tamping dust down, as explained here:

“It was an ancient custom, in those warm and arid countries, to lay the dust before a person of distinction, by sprinkling the ground with water. Dr. Pococke and the consul were treated with this respect when they entered Cairo. The same custom is alluded to in the well-known fable of Phudrus, in which a slave is represented going before Augustus and officiously laying the dust. To throw dust in the air while a person was passing was therefore an act of great disrespect; to do so before a sovereign prince, an indecent outrage. But it is probable that Shimei meant more than disrespect and outrage to this afflicted king. Sir John Chardin informs us, that in the East, in general, those who demand justice against a criminal throw dust upon him, signifying that he ought to be put in the grave: and hence the common imprecation among the Turks and Persians, “Be covered with earth,” or, “Earth be upon thy head.”

The Gospel incites people who are under satan’s sway. Any Christian who has uttered the name of Jesus has felt some sort of reaction ranging from disapproval all the way to martyrdom. In addition, note this: it changes lives. Stephen was stoned to death in AD 34 or 35. Paul was deep in his sin, persecuting Christians and becoming enraged at hearing the Gospel. He approved of putting Stephen to death. (Acts 8:1). It was some three years later, after Paul’s conversion on the road to Damascus, that Paul returned to Jerusalem to meet with James, and was himself subjected to a mob enraged beyond the capacity to rationally act, but this time it was directed at Paul, not Stephen. You never know where the road to Jesus’ feet will take you. If any person, even respected Gamaliel. had told Paul that a few short years later Paul would be preaching Jesus resurrected to an enraged crowd, Paul would have laughed or worse, had Gamaliel arrested, I bet. The truth of Jesus is so great that a conversion such as Paul’s, chief persecutor, was preaching the resurrection shortly after the first martyr’s death is a testament to the power of the truth to change lives!

doomsday ark, end time, prophecy, seed vault, vivos

Doomsday vaults doing bunker-busting business

Posted on July 6, 2010May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

I get a kick out of secular people who mock Christians for preparing for the moment when the Lord will come collect us and doomsday ensues for those left behind. They say we are crazy fear-mongers, nut-cases and ridiculous wingnuts. Then they spend billions of dollars preparing for doomsday.

‘Doomsday Ark’ to be Housed on the Moon -A Remote Access Toolkit to Rebuild the Human Race
“Eventually, it will be necessary to have a kind of Noah’s ark there, a diversity of species from the biosphere.”

See, already, the doomsday seed vault, the doomsday genetic vault, and the private doomsday vaults we are recently learning about are touted as inadequate for the horrific things that are coming. So we need one on the moon. There’s the seed vault in Norway, buried deep in a frozen mountainside, which houses all the supplies that humanity would need to rebuild a green world in the event the one we already have is wiped out. There’s the underground vault in Britain that houses genetic samples that could help rebuild an entire ecosystem. “The thing is, though, as highly reinforced as these structures may be, if Earth is wiped out, chances are these vaults won’t survive. But a vault on the moon — that’s a different story. The Ark will contain the essentials of life and human civilization, to be activated in the event of earth being devastated by a giant asteroid or nuclear war. The construction of a lunar information bank, discussed at a conference in Strasbourg last month, would provide survivors on Earth with a remote-access toolkit to rebuild the human race.”

That will only work if the people who have access to the “toolkit” are alive after the asteroid hits.

The notion of an ark was original to the bible. The LORD said He would render judgment because man at that time continually had evil thoughts. The LORD was grieved He had made man. (Genesis 6:5-8). However, Noah was deemed righteous and the LORD made a provision for Noah and his family to be saved through the coming Tribulation judgment. He directed Noah to build an ark. Note that the catalyst for building the ark, a vessel designed to hold the precious cargo in safety so that earth can start over, was GOD’S. Not man’s. Notice that the cataclysm that came was because of man’s evil, not God’s.

However, we have fallen so far that now, that things have reversed. Man decided he can rely on himself to carry him through doomsday, a doomsday that will come because of the evil and uncaring God. Note that the fall-back position is of the certainty of a doomsday. That a doomsday will come is not in question. The question is what to do about it. And man sure has been busy these last couple of years, but he is not taking actions in the right direction. We now hear in the news of of seed bunkers , genetic bunkers, lunar bunkers, private bunkers. All of them are called “arks” of some kind. Biblical references are often made.

Vivos’s private doomsday bunkers are selling like hotcakes. ABC News said, “Armageddon. Apocalypse. The end of the world as we know it. Call it what you want, but they believe the end, some end, is near, and so they are preparing, buying bunker properties with hi-tech amenities. 21st centry fallout shelters to carry them through catastrophe. Vivos’s private luxury bunker touts that “Vivos may prove to be the next Genesis.” As the sales pitch went, “It’s Noah’s Ark, it just happens to be underground.” As the ABC News reporter says:

“There is now a critical mass of customers shopping for that extra sense of security.”

They think they can survive what is coming. They can’t. NO man can survive while relying on his own self, his own ingenuity, his own protections. They couldn’t before, they won’t now. UNLESS they are saved by the grace of Jesus and His blood shed on the cross for all humans. It is that, and that alone which will give them that sense of extra security.

Arks. Doomsday. Genesis. They deny the bible, but they prepare for its promised effects. And they will find that man’s preparations will be futile.

end time, prophecy

Jerusalem’s list of sins … seem horrifyingly familiar to us today

Posted on July 6, 2010May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

The LORD spoke to Ezekiel in Chapter 22 of the book of Ezekiel, listing Jerusalem’s sins that will cause Him to punish. It is the famous “standing in the gap” speech where the LORD said He looked for even one righteous person willing to stand up for Him (pray, in the gap) and found none. The proportions of a population’s ratio of righteousness to cravenness just prior to judgment is an interesting topic for another time.

In reading the list of sins God lists for the prophet to report, it strikes me…they are exactly the same as America’s now. Are we on bended knee?? No.

–Shedding blood in her midst
–Defiles herself by making idols,
–They have treated father and mother with contempt;
–Oppressed the alien
–Mistreated the fatherless and the widow.
–You have despised my holy things
–Desecrated my Sabbaths.
–Slanderous men bent on shedding blood
–Eat at the mountain shrines and commit lewd acts.
–Dishonor their fathers’ bed
–Violate women during their period, when they are ceremonially unclean.
–Commits a detestable offense with his neighbor’s wife
–Defiles his daughter-in-law
–Violates his sister, his own father’s daughter.
–Men accept bribes to shed blood
–Take usury and excessive interest
–Make unjust gain from your neighbors by extortion.
–And you have forgotten me, declares the Sovereign LORD.
–There is a conspiracy of her princes within her like a roaring lion tearing its prey; and they devour people
–Take treasures and precious things and make many widows within her.
–Her priests do violence to my law and profane my holy things
–They do not distinguish between the holy and the common
–They teach that there is no difference between the unclean and the clean;
–They shut their eyes to the keeping of my Sabbaths, so that I am profaned among them.
–Her officials within her are like wolves tearing their prey; they shed blood and kill people to make unjust gain.
–Her prophets whitewash these deeds for them by false visions and lying divinations. They say, ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says’-when the LORD has not spoken.
–The people of the land practice extortion and commit robbery; they oppress the poor and needy and mistreat the alien, denying them justice.

That’s what the people did. The LORD said several times that they brought it on themselves: ” You have brought your days to a close, and the end of your years has come.”… bringing down on their own heads all they have done, declares the Sovereign LORD.”

This is what the LORD promised to do because of their persistent sins:

–I will make you an object of scorn to the nations and a laughingstock to all the countries.
–Those who are near and those who are far away will mock you,
–I will put an end to your uncleanness.
–I will surely strike my hands together at the unjust gain you have made…
–I will disperse you among the nations and scatter you through the countries;
–When you have been defiled in the eyes of the nations, you will know that I am the LORD.’
–I gather you in my anger and my wrath and put you inside the city and melt you.
–I will gather you and I will blow on you with my fiery wrath, and you will be melted inside her.
–You will know that I the LORD have poured out my wrath upon you.’ So I will pour out my wrath on them and consume them with my fiery anger…

Take heed, nations! Take heed, America!

bp, end time, prophecy, revelation

The BP spill is not a fulfillment of prophecy

Posted on July 6, 2010 by elizabethprata

Many people have been asking and wondering if the BP Oil catastrophe in the Gulf is a fulfillment of Revelation 8:8-9 – “And the second angel sounded, and as it were a great mountain burning with fire was cast into the sea: and the third part of the sea became blood; And the third part of the creatures which were in the sea, and had life, died; and the third part of the ships were destroyed,” and/or Revelation 16:3 – The second angel poured out his bowl on the sea, and it turned into blood like that of a dead man, and every living thing in the sea died.”

No, it isn’t a fulfillment.

First: the Revelation judgments have not begun. They will not begin until after the Rapture, and Israel is returned to a state of covenant relationship with God (Romans 11:25). We in the church are not appointed to wrath (1 Thess 5:9), and the judgments of Revelation are wrath (Rev 6:16). God is clear on this point. I wrote an explanation with more scriptures, here, if you would like to delve into the subject more deeply.

Secondly, the verses say that the seas became blood and turned into blood. Not oil that looked like blood. John was familiar with the plagues of Egypt and knew that God had the capability of turning large bodies of water into actual blood. In Revelation, when John could not explain what he was seeing, he said things like “Then I heard what sounded like a voice” as described here in Rev 6:6. Other times, when he could exactly describe what was happening, he wrote “He called out in a loud voice” as in Rev 7:2. So writing the seas will be blood means the seas will be blood. Take the literal when it is plain.

Third, the Gulf of Mexico is a small body of water and the amount affected is only 35% of that. Most of the globe is water, 70%. There are approximately 140 million sq miles of ocean on our planet. The Gulf of Mexico is 600,000 square feet, and the amount affected by oil is 200,000 sq feet. So we are a long way from biblical proportions, even though the catastrophe is horrendous.

However, the horrendous catastrophe in the Gulf is an example of how quickly and devastatingly the LORD can and will render pressure on the people to repent, and during the Tribulation, to render wrath to punish. If we think this is bad now, then imagine how VERY bad it will be when a third of the earth’s seas are dead, and later, all of them. I think the BP spill is the beginning of an ongoing event that can turn into a judgment during the Tribulation. But as of right now, it is not a fulfillment, it is merely a localized catastrophe of the kind we are told would be brought to bear on an unrepentant people.

In Haggai, the LORD told prophet Haggai to ask the people if they noticed the pressure He had brought to bear on them in His plan to make them aware of the need to return to Him. He had put a drought on the land, caused the rain not to fall, made their purses like sieves (the more they spent the more they wanted), made their exports decline, He put a drought on labor…He pressured them. Squeezed them. The LORD could be doing that now with the oil spill, pressuring America to return to Him and repent. The Lord is patient and long-suffering, pressuring His people increasingly to give them an opportunity to return to Him. When they don’t, then He starts the judgments.

That said, though, the BP oil catastrophe is gut-wrenching to watch and experience as a nation.

Tar balls washing up on all five Gulf states now: More than two months after oil from BP’s blown-out seafloor well first reached Louisiana, a bucket’s worth of tar balls that washed onto a Texas beach means the crude has arrived in every Gulf state. In a development potentially related to the BP oil spill, a recent news report stated,“two baby sperm whales died [on June 23, 2010] after beaching themselves on Florida’s East Coast; ‘Infections and toxins are going to be the big killers of these animals’ says pathologist.” Christian Science Monitor reports that a dead sperm whale was found floating and decomposed. Forty-five dolphins have beached themselves on the Gulf shores as well.

This is beyond heartbreaking, but imagine when a third of the sea creatures die. Or ALL of them. I simply cannot imagine. You do not have to be here when those judgments come down, though. You can confess your sins to the Lord and ask Him to forgive. He will! And then you can be dining with saints at a heavenly banquet, and then rejoice with praise and shouts when the Lord remakes the earth and restores all the animals to perfect environments.

end time, haggai, prophecy

Blessings come from the Lord

Posted on July 4, 2010 by elizabethprata

In the time of King Cyrus, the Jews had returned from Babylonian captivity in joy, relief, and thankful to God for their deliverance. They immediately set about re-building the Temple, the place of God’s presence so they could honor Him. However, they also set about building their own homes, so they could live. They planted their vineyards and olive groves, which were important money crops and exports. Soon – heartbreakingly soon – the Israelites’ focus shifted to personal home enhancement and the Temple was left unfinished and eventually no one was working on it. The LORD started pressuring the Israelites to remind them to return to their first priority. This has similarities to the US now. More on that in a moment.

After 15 years of the Jews failing to work on the Temple despite increasing pressure from the LORD, the pressure the LORD had brought to bear on them had had no effect. So the Word came to Haggai on what to tell them. Haggai urged the Israelites to resume work.

“Now therefore, thus says the LORD of hosts, “Consider your ways! “You havesown much, but harvest little; you eat, but there is not enough to be satisfied; you drink, but there is not enough to become drunk; you put on clothing, but no one is warm enough; and he who earns, earns wages to put into a purse with holes.” Thus says the LORD of hosts, “Consider your ways! “Go up to the mountains, bring wood and rebuild the temple, that I may be pleased with it and be glorified,” says the LORD. You look for much, but behold, it comes to little; when you bring it home, I blow it away Why?” declares the LORD of hosts, “Because of My house which lies desolate, while each of you runs to his own house. “Therefore, because of you the sky has withheld its dew and the earth has withheld its produce. “I called for a drought on the land, on the mountains, on the grain, on the new wine, on the oil, on what the ground produces, on men, on cattle, and on all the labor of your hands.” (Haggai 1:4-11)

Haggai’s encouragement shamed them into resuming work on the Temple, shamed them so much they began again with alacrity, only 23 days later! Would that all convictions from the Spirit resulted in such immediate action! Good for them.

Haggai said the LORD asked the Israelites, in effect, hadn’t they felt the difference in blessings? Haven’t they noticed that things had been getting more difficult? He said that He saw they had been increasingly consumed with material goods to the neglect of their spiritual life. They ate but were not full. They drank but still thirsted. Their purse was full of holes, indicting mis-spending and little saving. Sounds like America now.

The LORD continued, saying that He had brought a drought on the land, on the mountains, on the grain, on the new wine, on the oil (which was a drought on local agricultural production and exports). Sounds like America now.

The LORD called for drought on men, on cattle, and on all the labor of your hands. A drought on labor. Sounds like America now. The LORD pressures a people to remind them of whence their blessings come. Sounds like America. As we go forward on this day remembering our origins and celebrating our future, let us remember Who holds the country’s future in His hands.

crust, earthquake, end time, malaysia chasm, prophecy

Earth crustal changes continue, Malaysia chasm opens in highway

Posted on July 4, 2010May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

I’ve been looking into the pattern of crustal collapses lately that evidence themselves in sinkholes, chasms, and explosions. I reported on them May 25 here, May 31 here, June 10 here, June 13 here, including the famous Guatemala sinkhole and the fear-inducing spate in China. For end time connections, I like to work from the firmly known and described from the Tribulation, and work backwards. I proposed the theory that the floods, quakes, volcanic action around the world was a precursor to the shifts in earth’s crust that will later, during the tribulation, be catastrophic.

Staring into the abyss: Traffic halted as 16 foot crack tears through Malaysian road

A five metre wide chasm has mysteriously opened in a busy road. The enormous crevice tore through the ground late last night, causing traffic chaos in Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia. Miraculously no one was killed, although one truck was overturned by the force of the collapse. Officials have no explanation for why the giant hole has appeared but confirmed they were looking into it.

“Lucky escape: No one was killed, although this truck was overturned by the force of the collapse.”

Another report stated “Most motorists were simply bemused at the sight, taking photos of the geological menace – but the fact the road collapsed in the middle of the night caused trouble for others. June tends to be the wettest time for this part of the country, with the southwest monsoon dumping nearly a fifth of the annual rainfall during the month. But since no one has yet come up with a definitive explanation as to the appearance of the hole, officials continue to look into it.”

It’s interesting to think that the road “mysteriously” cracked, and that “officials have no explanation.” These kind of words are repeatedly and often in news stories these days about why the ground is simply not solid anymore beneath our feet. The red mud bubbling up from underneath a Chinese thoroughfare puzzled officials too, as well as the road that cracked unexpectedly from which the bubbling mud oozed. New first-ever airborne radar images of the deformation in Earth’s surface caused by a major earthquake show that in the April 2010 Calexico 7.2 mag quake just south of San Diego, the earth moved substantially, in some places 2 1/2 feet, it shifted 6-10 feet in Mexico. The quake broke San Diego’s Crust and at Mexico’s border, and the new space imaging shows where Earth’s crust shifted 10 feet.

As this age comes to a close, major shifts of all kinds, not just earth crustal shifts, are evident. These changes will become worse as time goes on, until the full-fledged Great Tribulation begins and nothing is the same. For now, though, the shifts may seem distant and unconnected, but they are as bright as neon for the aware Christian watchmen, because “you, brethren, are not in darkness, that the day would overtake you like a thief; for you are all sons of light and sons of day. We are not of night nor of darkness; so then let us not sleep as others do, but let us be alert and sober.” (1 Thess. 5:4-6)

end time, fossil doscivered peru, job, prophecy

Leviathan discovered and it ain’t a crocodile

Posted on July 2, 2010May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

The bible mentions “leviathan.” That is a word that means “a very large creature.” The verses that discusses leviathan are in Job 41 and they are extensive. The discussion between God and Job is a comparison of Job the puny man to the mightiest of earthly creatures at that time, Leviathan. Read the description of this creature below, it seems fierce indeed.

In biblical circles, the actual animal Leviathan describes was always in dispute. It has variously been called a crocodile or a whale, but even then, scholars acknowledged that neither animal seems to match the mightiness of the animal God is talking about.

Job 41
“Can you draw out Leviathan with a fishhook? Or press down his tongue with a cord?” Can you pull in the leviathan with a fishhook or tie down his tongue with a rope? Can you put a cord through his nose or pierce his jaw with a hook? Will he keep begging you for mercy?Will he speak to you with gentle words? Will he make an agreement with you for you to take him as your slave for life? Can you make a pet of him like a bird or put him on a leash for your girls? Will traders barter for him? Will they divide him up among the merchants? Can you fill his hide with harpoonsor his head with fishing spears? If you lay a hand on him,you will remember the struggle and never do it again! Any hope of subduing him is false; the mere sight of him is overpowering.”

“No one is fierce enough to rouse him. Who then is able to stand against me? Who has a claim against me that I must pay? Everything under heaven belongs to me. “I will not fail to speak of his limbs, his strength and his graceful form. Who can strip off his outer coat? Who would approach him with a bridle? Who dares open the doors of his mouth, ringed about with his fearsome teeth? His back has rows of shields tightly sealed together; each is so close to the next that no air can pass between. They are joined fast to one another; they cling together and cannot be parted.”

“His snorting throws out flashes of light; his eyes are like the rays of dawn. Firebrands stream from his mouth; sparks of fire shoot out. Smoke pours from his nostrils as from a boiling pot over a fire of reeds. His breath sets coals ablaze, and flames dart from his mouth. Strength resides in his neck; dismay goes before him. The folds of his flesh are tightly joined; they are firm and immovable. His chest is hard as rock, hard as a lower millstone. When he rises up, the mighty are terrified; they retreat before his thrashing. The sword that reaches him has no effect, nor does the spear or the dart or the javelin. Iron he treats like straw and bronze like rotten wood. Arrows do not make him flee; slingstones are like chaff to him. A club seems to him but a piece of straw; he laughs at the rattling of the lance. His undersides are jagged potsherds, leaving a trail in the mud like a threshing sledge. He makes the depths churn like a boiling caldron and stirs up the sea like a pot of ointment. Behind him he leaves a glistening wake; one would think the deep had white hair. Nothing on earth is his equal— a creature without fear. He looks down on all that are haughty; he is king over all that are proud.”

Wow. That’s some creature.

Matthew Henry wrote — “The description of the Leviathan, is yet further to convince Job of his own weakness, and of God’s almighty power. Whether this Leviathan be a whale or a crocodile, is disputed. The Lord, having showed Job how unable he was to deal with the Leviathan, sets forth his own power in that mighty creature.”

Scientists have unearthed a fossil that is fairly complete and illustrates the skeletal attributes of the disputed but firmly described creature in Job. And guess what? They named him “Leviathan.” [The sea creature is not 12M years old, as a literal creationist I believe that the creature is no older than 6000 years old]

‘Sea monster’ whale fossil unearthed

Researchers have discovered the fossilised remains of an ancient whale with huge, fearsome teeth. Writing in the journal Nature, the scientists have dubbed the 12 million-year-old creature “Leviathan”. It is thought to have been more than 17m (56ft) long, and might have engaged in fierce battles with other giant sea creatures from the time. Leviathan was much like the modern sperm whale in terms of size and appearance. But that is where the similarity ends. While the sperm whale is a relatively passive animal, sucking in squid from the depths of the ocean, Leviathan was an aggressive predator. According to Dr Christian de Muizon, director of the Natural History Museum in Paris, Leviathan could have hunted out and fed on large sea creatures such as dolphins, seals and even other whales. “It was a kind of a sea monster,” he said. “And it’s interesting to note that at the same time in the same waters was another monster, which was a giant shark about 15m long. It’s possible that they might have fought each other”. The researchers speculate that Leviathan was able to feed on very large prey up to 8m long. It would catch the prey in its huge jaws and tear it apart quickly and effectively with its giant teeth. Now, the discovery of the skull means that the Leviathan is not merely the stuff of myth and legend. “Finally we found it,” said Dr Lambert. ” It was a very exciting moment”.

It is an exciting moment for many Christians too, who know that the bible is always right, all along! Please read the rest of the article at the headline-link. Good stuff!

end time, god loves you, prophecy

I’m taking the day off

Posted on July 1, 2010 by elizabethprata

I’m working on a couple of blog entries, but I don’t know if I will get them done today or not…I have prayer meeting with my partner and after that I might just want to start reading a new novel. Now there’s something rare, recreation!!

I am also working on the next issue of my prophecy newsletter. It is in a digest-form sent by subscribers via e-mail. (No charge). I match the scriptures to the latest news in subject clusters such as “Israel”, “Wars and Rumors of Wars”, “Natural Disasters”, “Days of Lot” etc. and I also offer explanations and encouragement. It’s meant to be a quick read for people who like to browse. Let me know if you want to be included, email me at elizabethprata at gmail dot com

We are celebrating the Fourth of July here in the US, a holiday that means much to American patriots, especially since we have men and women actively serving in two wars at the moment. Freedom means liberty to pursue happiness among other things, but realize that our freedoms are slowly being strangled and the first one to go will be religious freedom. Even then, as Jack Kelley eloquently wrote, in his essay “Don’t Pray for America“:

“The Religious Right and other well intended American Christians frequently send out eMails urging everyone to pray for America. But where in the Bible did God to say to pray for any place on Earth other than Jerusalem? God’s will would be much better served if the Church would pray for itself, that it would finally adopt the Biblical world view it was intended to have, and become what it was intended to be, the body of Christ. It’s an indication of what a secular world view the American Church has when more of us are praying that God will restore the good old days in our country than are praying for the Lord’s speedy return to take us away from here. Prayers for America are fine as far as they go, but they’re motivated more by a love for what our country has been than by a desire to see God’s will done on Earth. And when you get right down to it, praying that God will restore America could be seen as an admission that we’re really not ready to see God’s will done on Earth yet.”

Pray for the lost to hear the Gospel, pray for God’s will to be done in hearts that have heard the Gospel, pray for His soon return. Pray to love your neighbors as yourselves on this patriotic holiday that comes at a time when divisions among Americans are their widest ever. I hope you have a wonderful day and remember that God is bigger than any problem, issue, or heartache we may have individually, and He is bigger than any Federal boondoggle or national downturn. And though He is so big, He holds you in the palm of His hand and He loves you.

end time, hitler, nazi, prophecy

There’s a global love affair with Hitler, can Antichrist be far behind?

Posted on June 30, 2010May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

The Tribulation’s second half is a period of intense persecution of Jews (and of Christians). Jesus Himself said that it was a time of persecution that never has been and never will be again. It is hard to imagine what could be worse than the Jewish Holocaust of WWII.

There are still people alive today who bear the Nazi concentration camp number tattooed on their arm, and will tell you that was a period of intense persecution. Any student of history will remember textbook photographs of emaciated internees lying in bunks, too weak to even arise and celebrate Allied deliverance. No one can forget the horrible and cruel tortures and ways the Nazis invented for the Jews to die. Millions of millions were herded into cattle cars and were killed. The cry “Never again!” is the motto of the Jewish Defense League. The Great Tribulation will make that time of Holocaust look like a picnic.

The great Tribulation will be worse than THIS!

The bible tells us that in the end time Israel will be alone. She will have no friends and all will be her enemy. The bible says ALL. (Zech 12:3; Zech 14:2). Her land will have been divided (Joel 3:2). The nation of Israel will have withstood many indignities but soon, real killing persecution is going to be upon them. And Jesus says when they see it coming, RUN.

We see the advance to that time now. Israel is globally condemned for protecting herself. She is pressured to concede land. She is haughtily ordered to allow or not allow apartment complex construction here or there, within their own borders. Helen Thomas was only one of the many who believe the Jews should “go back to where they came from: Germany and Poland” where they were killed by the millions not so coincidentally.

Coinciding with AntiSemitism, is the rise in Nazism worldwide. Yes. Hitler’s back, and he’s back by invitation. These are but a few of the articles I found published within the last week:

London: Pair jailed over racist messages
Two white supremacists have been jailed after being convicted of posting violent and vicious racist messages on the internet. Michael Heaton, 42, and Trevor Hannington, 58, described Jews as “scum” and called for them to be “destroyed”. The “proud neo-Nazis” were unanimously cleared of soliciting murder at Liverpool Crown Court but Heaton was jailed on Friday for 30 months after being convicted of four counts of using threatening, abusive or insulting words likely to stir up racial hatred.

Pakistan: The Führer Cult: Germans Cringe at Hitler’s Popularity
Germans are popular in India and Pakistan, but not always for the right reasons. Many in South Asia have nothing but admiration for Adolf Hitler and still associate Germany with the Third Reich. Everyday encounters with the love of all things Nazi makes German visitors cringe.

Latvia: Parade celebrates Nazi invasion
A parade to commemorate the day Nazi troops marched into Latvia during World War II is set to proceed on Thursday after a court on Tuesday overturned an earlier ban on the event. Latvian Prime Minister Valdis Dombrovskis and Foreign Minister Aivars Ronis said Wednesday in a joint statement that they were “puzzled and upset” by the decision of the district court, which reversed a ban on the event imposed by Riga city council. Nazi-hunter Efraim Zuroff of the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Jerusalem called for “saner minds” to prevail. “To celebrate the anniversary of the Nazi invasion is to celebrate the mass murder of all those victimized by the Nazis in Latvia – primarily Jews, but also communists, Gypsies and the mentally ill,” Zuroff said in a statement.

UK: Man jailed for Hitler ringtone
The man had programmed his Nokia telephone to play a speech in which the Nazi leader pledged the “destruction of world Jewry” if Germany was “dragged” into war, according to a story in the Daily Telegraph.

Hitler film exposes India’s interest in dictator
Here, Hitler is not viewed as the personification of evil, but with an attitude of morally ambiguous fascination. He is seen as a management guru — akin to Machiavelli or Sun Tzu — by business students, and an object of wonder by people craving order amid the chaos of India.

The last sentence captures it. Hitler is an object of wonder by people craving order amid chaos. And things are not even chaotic now, like they will be when the conditions are set that will allow for Antichrist’s rise. If Antiochus IV Epiphanes was an antichrist-type, if Emperor Nero was an antichrist-type, if Hitler was an antichrist-type, then the real Antichrist will arise and become an object of wonder to those who will be (by then) desperate to make order of the global chaos. The world will cling to his flatteries and promises. They will trust him to bring order to a chaotic world.

The world will have undergone earthquakes, famines, signs in the sun, moon, and stars. They will have endured at least three wars in rapid succession, and possibly more. They will be struck with terror at the loss of millions who had suddenly vanished in the blink of an eye: including their children. This loss likely will have caused a global economic meltdown, which is underway now but cannot survive the loss of millions in the workplace or the economy and will topple world economic regimes. The globe will be in chaos. The nations will crave peace and calm. This current longing for Hitler will increase into an insane clamor for someone, anyone, who can bring order among the chaos. Antichrist will promise it. They will love him for it. And they will be deceived.

end time, large hadron collider, prophecy, sonify, sound

The Sound of Blasphemy, or Symphony?

Posted on June 29, 2010May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

We are told that in the end times, man will liken himself to God but deny God, being selfish and unholy (2 Timothy 3:1-5). They will always be learning but never able to come to knowledge of the truth (2 Tim 3:7-8). The Tower of Babel incident in Genesis shows man’s earliest attempt to reach God by his own efforts and then in the process, setting God aside completely to celebrate his own accomplishment. In my opinion, the Large Hadron Collider experiment under the Alps in France-Swiss border is another Tower of Babel. This multi-million dollar experiment searches for the glue that holds the universe together, the Higgs-Boson particle that scientists think exists, and are trying to prove it. We Christians know that they only need search as far as Colossians 1:17, which says “He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.”Jesus is the glue that holds the universe together.

The LHC experiment re-creates the Big Bang, the theory that there was a bang at the start of time that exploded the material that contained the entire universe into the expanded universe we see today, rather than the literal creation account in Gen 1. (Ahem, no one has ever explained the two fatal flaws in the Big Bang theory: 1. Where did the material come from that was a tiny ball before it exploded, and 2. What exploded it? Something to ask a scientist next time you have a cocktail party conversation.)

A series of interesting and unique events hampered the long road to the Collider’s initial start up, which I wrote about here. Anyway, the latest hubris to come out of the 17-mile ring of particle smashing big bang experiment under the Alps, is that the scientists got the notion to set the Higgs-Boson particle smash-moment to sound. They are making recordings of “the sound of God.”

God particle signal is simulated as sound
Scientists have simulated the sounds set to be made by sub-atomic particles such as the Higgs boson when they are produced at the Large Hadron Collider. Their aim is to develop a means for physicists at Cern to “listen to the data” and pick out the Higgs particle if and when they finally detect it.

This article was more irreverent:

Large Hadron Collider: What does the ‘God particle’ sound like?
Who would have thought that the sound of God would be so whiney?
Scientists working at the Large Hadron Collider in Switzerland say they have simulated the noise that might be made when a Higgs boson particle – nicknamed the “God particle” – comes into being. And to the untrained ear it sounds a little bit like a bunch of coins spinning in a wine glass.

No it doesn’t. It sounds like blasphemy. Anyway, if you want to listen, you can go here. It takes a while to load. There are several sound files and a blog explaining what they are.

It is good to explore the things of His creation, but not to the irreverent exclusion of Him who made it.

Below, the Large Hadron Collider:

Below, the Astronomy Picture of the Day (APOD). Explanation: Is beauty in the eye of this beholder? Earlier this month, over Réunion Island in the Indian Ocean, a playful photographer with an eye for the sky took eight images and composed the above intriguing picture. The full fisheye frame shows everything above the horizon, including a lamp-illuminated landscape around the edges, and the zenith of the sky directly overhead. The image, however, may be more than beautiful — it may also be a scavenger hunt. Can you find the photographer’s tent, the slope of a volcano (active Piton de la Fournaise), a picturesque shoreline, and the lights of the nearby town (Saint Philippe)? One remarkable feature of the above image is that its center contains the very center of our Milky Way Galaxy.