prophecy – Page 44

last days, prophecy, sex week, signs, sin, university of new mexico

University of New Mexico’s ‘sex week; Church teaches Harry Potter

Posted on September 30, 2014May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

Jesus told the disciples at the Mount of Olives the signs of His return. They had learned that the establishment of the Kingdom was not going to happen immediately, as they had thought. So they asked Jesus.

“As he sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?” (Matthew 24:3)

The ‘these things’ refers to a statement Jesus had made in verse 2. He said the temple would be destroyed, not one stone left upon another. So there are three questions they asked,

–When will the temple be thrown down?
–What will be the signs of the end of the age?
–What will be the sign of Your coming?

In terms of the signs of the end of the age, and Jesus was speaking of the Tribulation (Mathew 24 is a Tribulation passage, NOT a message to the Church). However there are some general principles we can look at to understand the cycle of depravity in the world.

After the Fall of man in Genesis 3, the first murder occurred in Genesis 4. So did the first case of polygamy and another murder. It didn’t take long, did it? By Genesis 6:5,

The LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually

We went from perfection to utter sin in three chapters. God sent the Flood in Genesis 7-8, and when it subsided in Genesis 9, the nations began to spread in Genesis 10 and by Genesis 11, again, sin. Terrible sin. In Genesis 11 we have the world’s first dictator and the founding of Babylon. Here is a rough timeline from Answers in Genesis-

It roughly took only 1600 years for man to be created, fall and be wiped from the earth. It took only 100 years for man to revive from being wiped out to such rebellion that God changed man’s language and scattered them from Babel.

What a depraved creature fallen man is! As Christians with the Spirit in them grow fewer and fewer in the world, (though the church will never be overcome) it seems that the sin rising is beginning to appear to be piling up to heaven!

Ezra 9:6,
and prayed: “I am too ashamed and disgraced, my God, to lift up my face to you, because our sins are higher than our heads and our guilt has reached to the heavens.

Jeremiah 51:9,
“‘We would have healed Babylon, but she cannot be healed; let us leave her and each go to our own land, for her judgment reaches to the skies, it rises as high as the heavens.’

Revelation 18:5, of Babylon,
for her sins are heaped high as heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities.

They are metaphors, of course, but the weight of sin upon the world is definitely heavy in these days. Witness two examples,

Univ. of New Mexico to host ‘threesome’ sex event for students

The University of New Mexico (UNM) is hosting a “Sex Week,” where students can learn “How to be a Gentleman and get laid,” negotiate threesomes, and [other things]. The event, sponsored by the University of New Mexico Women’s Resource Center and the Graduate and Professional Student Association (GPSA), is offering lectures on “How to be a Gentleman AND Get Laid,” “Reid’s Negotiating Successful Threesomes,” “[and other things]”.
“[F]or example, when you are having sex with more than one person it can be very challenging to make sure that everybody’s needs are being met and that everybody’s boundaries are being respected.”
According to local news station KOB4, “The events are designed to prevent sexual assault, but organizers have taken a new approach…Instead of teaching students how not to get hurt, they’re teaching them how to have safer and better sex.”

Other news articles on the event. Thankfully not all people are happy with this.

Sex Week at UNM has varied reaction among people on campus

Critics concerned about UNM’s first ‘Sex Week’

That is the world’s view of the act of sexual union. Here is God’s view-

Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body. (1 Corinthians 6:18-20)

What is sexual immorality, exactly, that we should be fleeing from?

Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous. (Hebrews 13:4)

For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality; that each one of you know how to control his own body in holiness and honor, (1 Thessalonians 4:3-4)

Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? Never! Or do you not know that he who is joined to a prostitute becomes one body with her? For, as it is written, “The two will become one flesh.” But he who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him. (1 Corinthians 6:15-17)

But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart. (Matthew 5:28 )

The sexual union between a man and a woman only is for the sanctified marriage bed only. Anything else is adultery, fornication, and sexual immorality. It dishonors God to do these things. Not only is it bad to do them in secret, but worse is that these things are now openly taught and heartily applauded. Adults are supposed to train up the youth in the way that they should go. Is the way that they should go? Into sexual perversity?

Romans 1:32 says, Though they know God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.

A heavy judgment awaits those who put such dishonorable and perverse things in the way of children.

Here is a second piece of news. The Berean Times on Twitter tweeted,

“An episcopal church here in Tulsa will start teaching Harry Potter cause the leader said the Scriptures were too hard to teach…no joke.”

I investigated and indeed, it is no joke.

“…the children went into a candle-lit darkened room where a witch-like “sorting hat” was placed on their heads, and they were assigned to groups named Gryffindor, Slytherin, Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff. Teachers and helpers dressed in black robes. Crystal balls, owls and jars of magic potions decorated the classrooms. “It was my idea,” said Paula Rule, director of youth ministries who developed the program. “This is one of the things that a lot of our kids have grown up with. They relate to it. They’ve read the books. “We’re exploring the same Christian themes that you find in the Bible — good versus evil, redemption, salvation, love.” The Rev. Kenneth Orsburn, curate at the church, teaches the adult portion of the Harry Potter program. He said Biblical literacy is on the decline, a symptom of a general decline in church attendance across America. “We’re getting folks in here who have been unchurched for 30 years,” he said. “They don’t know these stories. That’s a challenge for us and for the church. The Scripture is very daunting. Harry Potter is easier.

Oh! It’s easier. Well that explains it.

Some people in the congregation have questioned the wisdom of using books filled with witches, magic and sorcery to teach the Bible, she said.

Only ‘some’?

Lexi Medina, 12, who played the part of a mythical creature, also was happy with it. “I love Harry Potter, for real,” she said. “I think it’s pretty cool, as long as I get to act, like, creepy around people.”

As long as the kids like it, then I guess it’s OK. /sarcasm

It is such a shame that the priest/pastor person does not see that a “30-year unchurched person” is a lost person. They need the scriptures, not the culture! But of course that is exactly why they do not understand. Their minds are blinded to the truth. So the church dumbs down the Gospel, or in this case, excludes it completely and puts in its stead the exact things that God said He hates.

Here is what God says about sorcery, divination, and witchhraft-

“A man or a woman who is a medium or a necromancer shall surely be put to death. They shall be stoned with stones; their blood shall be upon them.” (Leviticus 20:27)

“You shall not permit a sorceress to live.” (Exodus 22:18)

Oh dear, that’s pretty harsh. Surely the ‘Lord of Love’ has softened His stance on the sorcerers, diviners, witches by the New Testament’s arrival. Jesus isn’t that harsh.

But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.” (Revelation 21:8)

Idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. (Galatians 5:20-21)

I guess Jesus is that harsh. His love doesn’t exclude His wrath upon the ungodly.

Isolated events like fornication, and wayward behavior in apostate churches have always been present on the earth. What I am seeing is that these behaviors are becoming systemetized by the power structures such as Universities and Churches, and presented as normal. They are codified: “to put (laws or rules) together as a code or system.”

No longer is it the one or two aberrant person, but a system of depravity or sinful behavior that is presented and applauded. Romans 1 says this would happen.

First they deny the truth (a truth God has made plain to them).
Then they refuse to honor Him.
Next, their thinking became darkened and futile.
Then they began to worship creeping things.
Now it goes faster. God gives them over, and their hearts full of impurities act out the perversions in it.
Last they live in a debased mind that not only lives in perversity but also all the other sins blossom, such as malice, envy, insolence, haughtiness, etc.
Finally, they turn to others and applaud their degenerate descent into dishonor. (Romans 1:18-32)

And that is where we are. Verse 32.

Do not be surprised when the world acts like the world. More and more people, cities, organizations, Universities, and churches are adopting sin wholesale and then promoting it heartily. This is very bad for the people individually, and in the cities, organizations, Universities, and churches but it is an opportunity to be the Light we are called to be. We always strengthen ourselves in prayer, staying in the word, and worshiping in spirit and in truth.

For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.. (2 Corinthians 4:6)

Paul said he learned to be content in whatever situation he finds himself, (and he was in jail at the time) because he knows God will strengthen Him. (Philippians 4:13). It is our Savior’s strength we need in these dark days, and the more we submit and rely on Him, the brighter our light will shine in these dark places. Until the Day…

For 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. Then 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. Therefore encourage one another with these words. (1 Thessalonians 4:16-18)

discernment, false teacher, prophecy, rick joyner, visions

Rick Joyner – "Encountering Heaven"… Or not.

Posted on September 13, 2014May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

On September 7, 2014, in his Prophetic Ministry 101 speech, Rick Joyner shared about when he had a bad case of food poisoning (or flu) and …

…was caught up in to heaven for eight hours. … I say prophetic, but I don’t know if it was just prophetic experience or if I was really there, but it seemed real. I saw things that I believe really are part of the heavenly realm. But this one was many times better than I’d ever experienced before. At the end of the whole dream – and this was an 8-hour, earth-time dream – I know because it started at midnight. I laid down at midnight, went right to sleep, went right into this dream, woke up several times during the night astonished, just trying to understand everything I’d just seen and heard. I’d then I’d fall back to sleep and go right back into the same place. Over and over. … I’d had that experience one time before, just one time, where I woke up, went back the same place in the dream, but this time it happened over and over. It was just awesome.

At the end of the dream, I ended up on Main Street down here. [pointing]. Our Main Street. And I’m standing there, I’m in heaven and I’m on Main Street, and the Lord said ‘You’ve got to bring this here.’ We’re going to have heaven on earth. Right here!

Joyner goes into ‘explaining’ that Jacob’s ladder dream meant that the angels ascending and descending means that the angels are “bringing back to the earth evidence of heaven’s reality.”

In the video synopsis, we read, “In this week’s Featured Video, Rick Joyner shares about a recent experience in heaven.”

The phrasing, ‘recent visit’ made me think of the frequent hotel points you can rack up for a free gift if you travel to a place enough times. “Purchase 9 drinks, get the 10th free!” Like, on this ‘recent trip’, Joyner could redeem his points for either a ride on Jesus’ rainbow horse Colton Burpo said Jesus owns, or enjoy a light lunch with John the Baptist.

A few things, in seriousness.

1. Joyner’s “recent trip to heaven”. How sacrilegious, impious, and irreverent to even describe the gift of seeing the heavenly realms in such a flippant way. Of course Mr Joyner did not go to heaven, but he thought he did, and to describe it in such a way demeans the realm our King Jesus presides over. Paul was too humble to even speak of his trip for 14 years, only did so when pressed, and then it was in the third person. Paul would never flippantly say something like, “Oh yah, this time I went up there I saw…”

2. The false visionaries like Mr Joyner try to legitimize their false experience by using biblical language to describe what happened. When Joyner says “What I saw and heard” is reminiscent of the bible’s command from God to “Write what you see and hear” as in Revelation 1:19, Deuteronomy 27:8, Jeremiah 36:2. Of course Joyner’s description of whether it was a prophetic experience or whether he was really there is reminiscent of Paul’s description (which he was too awed to even ascribe to himself in the first person) of 2 Corinthians 12:3. That is one way the false prophets attempt to make their false teaching sound biblical, by using biblical language. But you can think it through, and you remember that Paul was too awed to even tell it, but Joyner is eager not only to tell it right away but to piggyback his ‘awesome’ heaven trip with his explosive flu. Also if you think it through, knowing that if Jesus is bringing people up to heaven and giving a command, then it is new revelation and equal in authority to what is already written.

So when you tell this to someone and they say “But they use the bible!” you can say of course they do. Satan did even with Jesus when satan tempted Him. If they didn’t use the bible, it’s easier to see they’re false. So….they use the bible and biblical language. Like when Beth Moore said she saw Jesus in the heavenly realms and He purportedly said to her, “And boy you write this one down. And you say it as often as I give you utterance to say it.” Who talks like that? No one, except the Old Testament prophets, so the false ones inflate their puffed up visions with puffed up language.

3. Obsessing over irrelevant details as if to legitimize it. Example: “It was an 8-hour dream.” As if that matters. How long was the Jacob’s Ladder dream? How long was Paul’s dream in the third heaven? How long was John’s vision on Patmos? How long was Daniel’s dream? John simply said “After this…” and began recording the next vision.

Jacob awoke from his ladder dream, “When Jacob awoke from his sleep, he thought, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I was not aware of it.” 17He was afraid and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God; this is the gate of heaven.” (Genesis 28:16-17).

Jacob praised God and built and altar, he didn’t spend time repeating how long the dream was, as if these details have the power to cement false visions into reality.

3a. Another detail this false diviner Joyner obsessed over was the ‘wonder’ of waking up so many times and then falling back into the vision and being ‘right back there’. If God is going to lift you into the third heaven, as He really did to Paul, are you really going to marvel at the lesser minutiae of His ability to wake you and then drowse you and bring you back up? More to the point, don’t you think God has the power to keep you in the sleeping vision state until He has finished showing you what He wants to show you? I bet Joyner woke up ‘over and over’ because he had to pee.

4. Joyner said it felt real. Just because it feels real, it isn’t. Satan performs lying signs and wonders, it is not hard for an angel to appear to a person in a dream. In Matthew 2:13 an angel appeared to Joseph in a dream and told him to flee with baby Jesus and Mary to Egypt. The unholy angels have lost none of their power, including entering your dreams like that holy angel did with Joseph, they just use it for evil. The unholy ones have the power to enter your dreams – obviously, because Joyner had a false one. I mean, it is up to Rick Joyner to bring heaven to earth? Or earth to heaven? And it was not clear in the speech which he meant.

Behold, I am against those who prophesy lying dreams, declares the LORD, and who tell them and lead my people astray by their lies and their recklessness, when I did not send them or charge them. So they do not profit this people at all, declares the LORD. (Jeremiah 23:32)

Why teach through the filter of a dream that was filtered through a sinful brain and out a sinful tongue, when one can simply teach from the unadulterated word of God? That is what Peter meant when he said we have a more sure word (2 Peter 1:19). Peter was ranking Scripture over experience.

It should be obvious that Rick Joyner is a false teacher, a false prophet, and a wolf. These descriptions of encounters with Jesus, via visions, and dreams, like Kim Walker Smith music born from fresh encounters with Jesus in heaven, and audible devotions and romantic “Presences” a la Sarah Young, and mind-pictures and visitations and visions like Beth Moore’s, and books and books and books written about people’s ‘recent trip to heaven’ (or hell)… it is a scourge! A plague of falsity. False visions are so commonplace nowadays that it is not enough to have only one, you must have many and join the frequent heaven flier club.

The people claiming these divine experiences make a fatal mistake: they forgot that satan’s ministers masquerade as righteous angels (2 Corinthians 11:15) and that the white light, or the friendly voice, or the romantic warmth is easily counterfeited by powerful angels out to lie, kill and destroy.

Let no one disqualify you, insisting on asceticism and worship of angels, going on in detail about visions, puffed up without reason by his sensuous mind, and not holding fast to the Head, from whom the whole body, nourished and knit together through its joints and ligaments, grows with a growth that is from God. (Colossians 2:18-19).

Did you catch that? People going on about their false visions are puffed up and are not even Christians (not attached to the Head).

If you have NOT encountered heaven in some kind of ecstatic vision or dream, be grateful.

If you HAVE encountered someone who says they have gone to heaven, be wary.

If you have been saved by the grace of our resurrected Jesus, be ready!

Religious deception in the church is a marker of His soon return. (Matthew 24:3–5, 11, 24; Mark 13:5–6; Luke 21:7–8).

We will all see His heaven soon enough, together. And that is good enough for me.

earthquake, prophecy

A synopsis of quakes today, and a list of prophesied Tribulation earthquakes

Posted on September 11, 2014May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

USGS quakes in continental US as of Sept 7

I look at the USGS map of 2.5+ quakes everyday. After a few years your mind gets used to seeing the visual pattern. Anomalies then stand out.

You’d be surprised at how many 2.5-plus quakes hit different spots of the US nowadays, as opposed to years ago. I knew that the Americans were jolted when a large quake hit Virginia a few years ago and cracked the Washington DC monument. Small quakes happen in Maine. In Georgia last year there was one that was felt for a wide range of the state.

Typically we think of quakes happening in the Aleutian Islands, Hawaii, or California. But they happen in Texas, too. And ALabama. And Tennessee. And almost everywhere else. Occasionally. I think the only state not to have regular quakes is Florida. Only one quake centered in the state caused damage, but quakes outside of Florida have caused peripheral damage, notably Cuba in 1880 and Charleston SC in 1886.

But when I saw the above map I was struck. Usually there are not so many quakes at once in the unusual parts of the US.

Of course, the ongoing quake swarm in Oklahoma has people rattled. Since 2009 there has been an upsurge in felt-quakes and no one knows why. They attribute it to hydraulic fracturing (fracking) but Texas fracks much more than OK and they have less than a quarter of the quakes OK does, so who knows.

This map above showed 14 single, stray quakes in unusual parts of the US. The one over the farthest right is centered in the New Madrid Seismic Zone, location of one of the worst US quakes ever (in 1811-12). Yes, Missouri. The USGS article on the subject is titled,

The New Madrid Seismic Zone is at Significant Risk for Damaging Earthquakes

Last year, Joel Rosenberg wrote about earthquakes in the Tribulation.

Fifth earthquake in five days hits Israel

Every 80 years or so, Israel has a major, catastrophic earthquake. So Israelis know they are “due” for a “big one.” Those who pay attention to Bible prophecy also know that both the Old and New Testament Scriptures describe major earthquakes occurring in Israel in the last days. Earthquake preparations are on the increase by government agencies and among private companies and such preparations will now accelerate, especially in the wake of five minor earthquakes in Israel in the course of the past five days. Among the steps being taken: a new earthquake alert system is being developed by the government and is expected to be ready in 2016.

“Israel’s last major earthquake rattled the region in 1927″ reports the Times of Israel, was “a 6.2-magnitude tremor that killed 500 and injured another 700.” Before that, “an earthquake in 1837 left as many as 5,000 people dead.”

Here is a synopsis of the prophesied quakes that will happen in the Tribulation. We are in the last days. We have been since Jesus ascended. When I say the last of the last days, I mean now. After that, the Tribulation are the very last days of the age before the Millennium Kingdom.

Revelation 6:12-14
When he opened the sixth seal, I looked, and behold, there was a great earthquake, and the sun became black as sackcloth, the full moon became like blood, and the stars of the sky fell to the earth as the fig tree sheds its winter fruit when shaken by a gale. The sky vanished like a scroll that is being rolled up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place.

In the verse 12 where it describes a “great” earthquake, the Greek word is megas. It’s defined, “large, great, in the widest sense.”

Revelation 8:5
Then the angel took the censer and filled it with fire from the altar and threw it on the earth, and there were peals of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning, and an earthquake

The text isn’t specific about what magnitude or where it will occur.

Revelation 11:13 predicts a quake in Jerusalem. When the Two Witnesses have lain dead in the street for three and a half days, God will call “Come up here!” and they will resurrect in front of the amazed and fearful world. Then-

“And at that hour there was a great earthquake, and a tenth of the city fell. Seven thousand people were killed in the earthquake, and the rest were terrified and gave glory to the God of heaven.”

More earthquakes…
There are noises, thunderings, lightnings, an earthquake and great hail. (Rev 11:19)

As great as the quake in Revelation 6 was, there will be an even bigger quake at the end of the Tribulation. We know this is true because the verse in Revelation 16:18 predicting it says there has never been a quake like this on the earth.

And there were flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder, and a great earthquake such as there had never been since man was on the earth, so great was that earthquake. The great city was split into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell, and God remembered Babylon the great, to make her drain the cup of the wine of the fury of his wrath. And every island fled away, and no mountains were to be found.

As rich in specificity as Revelation is, it is not the only book that predicts last days (Tribulation) quakes. Joel 2:10 says,

The earth quakes before them;
the heavens tremble.
The sun and the moon are darkened,
and the stars withdraw their shining.

Ezekiel 38:19

For in my jealousy and in my blazing wrath I declare, On that day there shall be a great earthquake in the land of Israel.

In Indonesia today there was a 6.5 quake, no tsunami, thankfully.

There was a 2.1 in Alabama today, no damage.

Iceland’s erupting volcano is sparking quakes. Or maybe the other way around.

After a brief lull, eruption concerns spiked again as a 5.5 magnitude earthquake shook the northern rim of the caldera of Iceland’s Bardarbunga volcano Wednesday morning, according to the Icelandic Met Office.

And that is your quake report for today.

end time, prophecy

The time is near

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

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.

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

The enduring comfort of prophecy

Posted on August 11, 2014May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

God said in Genesis 3:15, “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.”

Adam in Genesis 3:20, “…named his wife Eve, because she would become the mother of all the living. (NIV)

Jesus tells us things in advance for many reasons. (to foretell). One reason is so that we may be on guard, be warned. (Matthew 24:25). Another is to show His holiness at judgment. (Ezekiel 2:5).

“Eye of God” Helix nebula, source Hubble Telescope

Prophetic declarations of future events also serve to comfort. Adam seemed to be comforted by God’s promise of a future redeemer. Perhaps Adam wondered as they faced God, if He would smite them on the spot. Instead, Adam clung to the knowledge that there would be offspring. Adam was so trusting in God’s word that Adam named his wife Eve, “because she would be the mother of all the living”. Bearing a son was still in the future, (Genesis 4:1), so Adam took comfort in God’s forthtelling, clung to His word, and took action because of it it.

We don’t have new prophecies today that forthtell new information because the canon is closed, but we still are built up when a person reiterates them, and preaches truth, called prophesying. This includes referring to prophecies, as well as the bible’s poetry,truths, doctrines, and history.

On the other hand, the one who prophesies speaks to people for their upbuilding and encouragement and consolation. (1 Corinthians 14:3). In this case prophesying means forthtelling.

Helix Nebula a different view, NASA

God told the first prophecy in the bible, in Genesis 3:15. Adam re-iterated that prophesy in Genesis 3:20. But who was the bible’s first human prophet? Enoch.

Enoch was the 7th person born from Adam.

Genealogy from Adam, Adam, Seth, Enosh, Kenan, Mahalalel, Jared, Enoch, Methuselah, Lamech, Noah, Shem, Ham and Japheth. (1 Chronicles 1:1-4)

Enoch lived prior to the Flood. At the Institute for Creation Research, Dr. John Morris writes,

One of the favorite characters in the Old Testament is Methuselah, who lived 969 years (Genesis 5:27), longer than anyone else recorded. His father was Enoch, of whom it is said he “walked with God” (5:24) but who was taken to heaven without dying at 365 years. Methuselah’s son Lamech died a few years before the Flood at 777 years (5:31) after bearing Noah.

When Methuselah was born, his godly father must have prophetically known of coming things for his son’s name means “when he dies, judgment,” and interestingly enough, Methuselah died in the same year God judged the sinful world with the great Flood of Noah’s day.

God took Enoch alive in a snatching away that is a typology of the rapture. Enoch was taken in Genesis 5:24. (Hebrews 11:5)

William Blake’s only known lithograph
(lithography was rather new and experimental in 1807),
illustrating Genesis 5:24 “Enoch walked with God; then was no more,
because God took him away”.)

Genesis 5 records a genealogy. The repetitive language forms a pattern … until you get to Enoch

Genesis 5:5, “Thus all the days that Adam lived were 930 years, and he died.”
Genesis 5:8, “Thus all the days of Seth were 912 years, and he died.”
Genesis 5:11, “Thus all the days of Enosh were 905 years, and he died.”
Genesis 5:14, “Thus all the days of Kenan were 910 years, and he died.”
Genesis 5:17, “Thus all the days of Mahalalel were 895 years, and he died.”
Genesis 5:20, “Thus all the days of Jared were 962 years, and he died.”
Genesis 5:23, “Thus all the days of Enoch were 365 years.”
Genesis 5:24, “Enoch walked with God, and he was not, for God took him.”

Who didn’t die?

“By faith Enoch was taken up so that he should not see death, and he was not found, because God had taken him. Now before he was taken he was commended as having pleased God.” (Hebrews 11:5)

Before Enoch was taken up, Enoch prophesied. His prophecy is recorded in Jude.

“It was also about these that Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied, saying, “Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of his holy ones, to execute judgment on all and to convict all the ungodly of all their deeds of ungodliness that they have committed in such an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things that ungodly sinners have spoken against him.” (Jude 1:14-15)

CC, Wikipedia

This is an extremely precious prophecy. It is an heirloom seed. Why? the Flood.

FLOOD

Noah was six hundred years old when the floodwaters came on the earth. And Noah and his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives entered the ark to escape the waters of the flood. (Genesis 7:6-7)

Enoch’s prophecy was given before the Flood. Everyone on earth died. After the Flood, only 8 people knew the prophecy. For Jude to record it, it means the prophecy was carried through the Flood in the heart and mind of Noah and his family.

What comfort it must have been for Noah to have heard Enoch prophesy before the Flood that the Lord will return with ten thousand of His holy ones to execute judgment. What torture it must have been for righteous Noah, (Genesis 6:9), one of the three declared most righteous men on earth, (Ezekiel 14:14) to live among such evil. Enoch’s prophecy was a light and a pure hope amid the darkest days on earth!

When the waters receded and the family emerged onto a new earth, one where continents were split and only mud existed, Noah knew the prophecy. He told the prophecy. It was told and retold, until it became ingrained in the tradition of the Jews. Jude knew it, and the Holy Spirit inspired Jude to mention it. Though Enoch’s prophecy is not recorded by Enoch in the bible, it is recorded by Jude.

In these dark days, prophecy performs the same function. The Lord WILL RETURN to execute judgment and vindicate His holy name! While we do not take delight in the death of the ungodly, we do delight in knowing Jesus will rectify all wrongs, judge the wicked, and institute peace on earth. This is ultimate comfort. The ark carried 8 precious souls. It carried every kind of animal. And it carried with it the knowledge of the One True God, and His promises to all generations: holiness in the end.

birth pangs, mark of the beast, motorola, prophecy

Digital tattoos and advanced phone technology advertised by Motorola

Posted on August 10, 2014May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

In Revelation 13 we read that the Beast (Antichrist) will cause all people on earth to have a mark on their forehead or hand, that is a mark of worship of him.. The bait-and-switch to entice or force people to accept the mark will be that they cannot buy or sell if they do not have it. However, if they take the mark, they are declaring their allegiance with satan, and God’s wrath will be forever on them. That is why the true Christians who convert after the rapture will not accept the mark. Their allegiance and worship is to Jesus. They will pay a heavy price for their stand, they will either starve or be martyred.

What this means is, during a time of war and chaos, the antichrist will have such control over the world that he can institute an infrastructure so penetrating that all the billions of people remaining on planet earth can be tracked.

Until recently we knew by faith that this will happen, but it was very hard to envision. The computer technology and scientific advances to allow this to happen did not exist. Now they do, and not only that, they’re being used in exactly the way it will eventually be intended to be used, as the mark of the Beast.

In the following story we read that both the technology and the science is not just theory but in active use. The science to create a small ~~tattoo~~ mark on a person’s body that is connected to the technology is also being advertised. I am NOT saying that this is the mark. I am saying, that as a 53 year old woman who remembers the adults in her life remarking about the wonder of the new invention called ‘bar codes,’ that the advance of technology within half a generation is consistent with the rapidly increasing birth pangs we read about that will fulfill the eventual end.

I am in awe of Jesus who sustains the universe by the power of His word.

Now You Can Unlock Your Moto X with a Digital Tattoo

Last year at the All Things D “D11” conference, Regina Dugan talked about new digital tattoo technology that would make it easier to unlock your phone. Now the moment is here: We’re excited to see this new technology brought to life for Moto X by Google’s Advanced Technology and Projects group and VivaLnk Inc. Made of super thin, flexible materials, based on VivaLnk’s eSkinTM technology, each digital tattoo is designed to unlock your phone with just a touch of your Moto X to the tattoo, no passwords required. The nickel-sized tattoo is adhesive, lasts for five days, and is made to stay on through showering, swimming, and vigorous activities like jogging. And it’s beautiful—with a shimmering, intricate design. It’s another step in making it easier to unlock your phone on the go and keep your personal information safe. An average user takes 2.3 seconds to unlock their phone and does this about 39 times a day—a process that some people find so inconvenient that they do not lock their phones at all. Using NFC technology, digital tattoos make it faster to safely unlock your phone anywhere without having to enter a password

Can you see the dots connecting? No? Here is a photo:

Source

encouragement, Jerusalem Countdown, prophecy, rapture, scripture

A good rapture clip to watch

Posted on August 10, 2014 by elizabethprata

Here is a clip from the movie Jerusalem Countdown, released in 2012. The movie was from a book written by Pastor John Hagee. I haven’t seen the movie and I make no statement or claim about Hagee because this essay is not a discussion about the book, the movie, or the pastor. It is not a discussion about whether there IS a rapture, nor is it a discussion about the timing of the rapture.

I’m focusing here on the visuals of the rapture as presented below in a 3-minute movie clip.

At some point, the LORD will declare the Age of Grace closed, for He will have gathered the quota of people He has grafted-in to Himself (Romans 11:25). This will be the signal that the pause put in place for many years in God’s working with the Jews, will resume. That pause was initiated 7 years before the close of the age of Law. (Daniel 9:24-27). God did this because the Jews, who were given charge to make God known in the world, failed to do this, and they rejected Him as their Messiah when He came in His incarnation. (Romans 11:11, all of Romans 9). So He began gathering a Gentile people to Himself and charged them with the task. (Matthew 28:18-20; Acts 1:8). When the grafting-in is done, the Age of Grace is done.

Here are the two most clear verses related to the joy that awaits the persevering Christian, also known as the rapture. The joy comes from knowing that the rapture is an event, it will happen, and there is no judgment connected with this event for any Christian. Christians can look forward to it in hope and blessing.

in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. (1 Corinthians 15:21-52)

In 2008, there used to be many more rapture clips on Youtube. Just as there are amateur film-makers publishing clips related to their favorite secular subject, there are amateur Christian film-makers publishing clips of their favorite subjects, too. Capturing the joy, fear, mystery, and wonder of the moment of the rapture is a favorite among many people. We will not be here to see that moment, but we are fascinated with the instant that heaven and earth collide. What will it look like? What will it sound like? Will there be many people found to be Christian who will go? Will few found to be Christian and are called home? What about the graves?

But for some reason the rapture clips are fewer in number than they used to be. Fortunately one thing Youtube is good for is you can always find a cheesy 70s or 80s rapture or Tribulation movie. Thirty and forty years ago, eschatology was a more mainstream Christian doctrine. It was talked about, preached, and there were books and movies made. I know that books like ‘88 Reasons Why the Rapture will be in 1988′ blighted the cause, but still, with all the wrongheaded stuff, there was right-headed stuff too. Now there’s no stuff. Either there’s either a big yawn, or a black hole where eschatology used to be.

I watched part of one of the rapture movies the other day on Youtube, it was excruciatingly cheesy and awful, but I did like the witnessing parts of it. It obviously had come out of the 1970s Jesus Movement. It preached rapture from Matthew 24, which is incorrect. However it was earnest. As I said, the parts where the witnessing happens was enjoyable. A key to the witnessing was the inclusion of eschatology, something you don’t see today. There was no “God has a plan for your life” but “Jesus wants you to be ready for your next life.” I think we are cheesier now in the way we witness, and totally wrong-headed about failing to speak of the future prophecies and the Second Coming of Christ. Paul was with the Thessalonians only three weeks, and he taught them about the rapture right away.

Anyway, the movie I watched part of was called “A Thief In the Night” series, and I think there are several movies in the sequence. However, movies like that were so low budget, they couldn’t afford to show the impact of the rapture, lol. This clip does.

In most rapture movies, the event is invisible. During the instant of the rapture, and the few moments after the rapture, there is no noise, no impact on land or sky, and nothing to indicate people have been taken except a pile of clothes left behind. People look adoringly at a husband, go in the kitchen to get him some coffee, and return to see an empty chair and a wedding ring on the table.

In the clip above, there is a light in the sky, a parting of the clouds, a rumble in the air and on the earth, and blazing light for a moment as souls are taken.

After the sky snaps shut, there are some clothes drifting down from above, lol. Then the cars start crashing and a helicopter falls from the sky. The chaos begins.

I think the above depiction is closer to the way it will be. I’m not sure, of course, no one is, aside from what is declared in the verses of holy scripture. But the verses themselves do offer some clues, and other verses do also. In the 1 Corinthians verse, we read

–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

Many rapture movies present the rapture as happening silently, or if there is noise, only the Christians will hear it. Yet the rapture will be an unprecedented global event, affecting every person on the planet. Will no one hear the trumpet? Will only Christians hear the cry? What were the circumstances when other cries from heaven occurred in the bible? Were they undetectable to bystanders? No.

There’s the scene on the road to Damascus. Jesus in heaven broke through the veil separating heaven and earth, and spoke to Paul. Paul heard Him clearly and conversed with Jesus. (Acts 9:4). The men who were with Saul/Paul heard the voice, too.

The men who were traveling with him stood speechless, hearing the voice but seeing no one. (Acts 9:7)

Now those who were with me saw the light but did not understand the voice of the one who was speaking to me. (Acts 22:9)

In John 12:29-30, Jesus is explaining that He must die. Jesus praises the Father, and the Father answers from heaven-

“Father, glorify your name.” Then a voice came from heaven: “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.” The crowd that stood there and heard it said that it had thundered. Others said, “An angel has spoken to him.”

In Daniel, when the angel appeared to him and gave the vision, Daniel wrote later, “I, Daniel, was the only one who saw the vision; those who were with me did not see it, but such terror overwhelmed them that they fled and hid themselves.” (Daniel 10:7 cf. Luke 2:9)

It seems from these examples that when a voice from heaven speaks to someone on the ground, those on the ground hear it, or some reverberation of it. It seems that when a connection is made from heaven to earth, people sense and know that something supernatural is happening (they usually express fear or terror). I think when Jesus cries out and the trumpet sounds, people will hear a rumble or thunder. I think they will see a light. I think it very likely may be as it was shown in the clip. Food for thought, idly. We won’t know until it happens of course. And I believe that moment is near.

Please enjoy an exposition of the rapture from Thessalonians, Corinthians, and John, by John MacArthur.

Here is a good verse to ponder as you watch, and think about the perfections of our glorious Savior

Beyond all question, the mystery from which true godliness springs is great: He appeared in the flesh, was vindicated by the Spirit, was seen by angels, was preached among the nations, was believed on in the world, was taken up in glory. (1 Timothy 3:16)

The rapture is when He takes His bride up to glory with Him. Encourage one another with these words.

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The Great Apostasy is not the general apostasy we’re experiencing now

Posted on August 5, 2014May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

Wiki CC. Photographer: Irving Rusinow. Alabama

Let no one deceive you in any way. For that day will not come, unless the rebellion comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, (2 Thessalonians 2:3)

Paul is talking to the Thessalonians about the order of events leading to the revealing of the antichrist, which will happen in the Great Tribulation. He is speaking of a specific event, “the apostasy” which is the antichrist standing in the temple and declaring himself God.

General apostasy has always been in existence and always will be. GotQuestions defines apostasy in two ways,

(1) a falling away from key and true doctrines of the Bible into heretical teachings that proclaim to be “the real” Christian doctrine, and (2) a complete renunciation of the Christian faith, which results in a full abandonment of Christ.

Even while Jesus lived, and while the apostles worked, there were apostates. Judas was apostate. He could be seen as the apostate type #2. His apostasy had been well hidden but he defected in the end and the rebellion hidden in his heart became clear. In another case of mass apostasy, when Jesus began to teach hard things, “From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him.” (John 6:66).

After Jesus’ ascension there were apostates, too. Demas was an apostate. He could be seen as the apostate type #1. In Philemon 1:4 Paul called Demas a ‘fellow worker’. By 2 Timothy 4:10 Paul said Demas loved the world and had departed.

So THE apostasy in Thessalonians’ Great Tribulation times is not the same as general apostasy now. However, Jesus said the time of the end (ascension to rapture) will be as birth pangs, and birth pangs get worse as time goes on. Paul taught that evil men and seducers will grow from bad to worse. (2 Timothy 3:13). John MacArthur said last week, “Cultural Christianity is dying at warp speed”. In 2006 he preached of Americans-

We’ve rejected God. He gave us revelation, we rejected it. We rationalize it and call ourselves an elite educated advanced culture and we invent religion as if it’s an indicator of how high we have ascended when the fact of the matter is we’re going down at warp speed. We have abandoned God and God has returned the favor.

So as the birth pangs grow and the world succumbs to evil, even general apostasy is getting worse. Jesus warned that even churches could have apostates in them, (Matthew 13:26), and that whole churches would be apostate, as seen in the following Revelation verse.

Jesus said to the church at Laodicea, Behold! I stand at the door and knock. (Revelation 3:20). The verse was an actual warning, to an actual church at Laodicea which had become a cultural, Jesus-less church. The verse is also a warning for us today. There are congregations (local “churches”) where Jesus isn’t inside it at all. MacArthur on Laodicea

This is an unsaved church. In fact, if there were any believers in this church they aren’t even referred to in the letter at all. It is a church that is characterized by lukewarmness which becomes a metaphor for being non-saved people. Laodicea has the grim distinction of being among all seven letters the only one in which Christ has nothing good to say. It is unmitigated, unspared condemnation. There is in this church apparently absolutely no redeeming feature. This is the unsaved, unregenerate false church.

How could it be that churches exist where there are no believers at all? This is the point of today’s essay. There are. Believe it. More and more churches and whole denominations are showing themselves apostate.

In Charisma News last week, Jennifer LeClaire wrote,

Wiki CC, photographer: ForestWander. West VA.

Apostasy Rising: 4 Denominations In Less Than a Week Defy God’s Word

The UCC, [United Church of Christ] which considers itself a mainline Protestant denomination—claiming over 1 million members and about 5,200 congregations in the U.S.—proudly announced it will serve as a major sponsor of the Gay Games. The UCC will now go down in Christian history as the first major denomination to sponsor the homosexual Olympics when the games roll into Cleveland, Ohio, in August.

The Presbyterian Church (USA) last week voted to allow its ministers to perform gay weddings in states where it’s legal. On Tuesday, Methodist Pastor Frank Schaefer, who was defrocked for officiating his son’s gay wedding, was fully reinstated and the Moravians voted to ordain gay clergy. My research shows there’s a long and growing list of gay-affirming denominations, including the Affirming Pentecostal Church International.

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There comes a tipping point where the weight of apostasy drowns all those who are in the church. I thought this next article was interesting, reporting on the collapse of the middle class pastor

Higher Calling, Lower Wages: The Vanishing of the Middle-Class Clergy

Barringer’s story is becoming increasingly typical as Protestant churches nationwide cut back on full-time, salaried positions. Consequently, many new pastors either ask friends and family for donations (a time-honored clerical tradition) or take on other jobs. Working two jobs has become so common for clergy members, in fact, that churches and seminaries have a euphemistic term for it: bi-vocational ministry. Working multiple jobs is nothing new to pastors of small, rural congregations. But many of those pastors never went to seminary and never expected to have a full-time ministerial job in the first place. What’s new is the across-the-board increase in bi-vocational ministry in Protestant denominations both large and small, which has effectively shut down one pathway to a stable—if humble—middle-class career.

[Side note: seminary training does help & is important]

Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the first works, or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its place– unless you repent. (Revelation 2:5)

The removing of the church’s lampstand meant Christ’s Spirit would depart and leave them on their own, which in turn would result in them being as Laodicea (Laodicea means “men’s opinions ruling in place of God”). Loyalty to Christ can and often is replaced by loyalty to an organization, a church, and its leaders, substituting new rules and interpretations for Biblical truths. (Let Us Reason)

Let Us Reason continues on the apostasy seen in the Laodicean church:

In modern times this falling away had started in liberal seminaries who sent teachers out to unsuspecting pulpits teaching their liberal ideas– those who promote homosexuality, who ordain people that deny the Trinity, the deity of Christ, the virgin birth and the essentials of the faith.

Then the new age movement began to emerge and infiltrate the Church with kingdom dominion theology and placing subjective experience over the authority of the objective Word of God. Then the homosexual movement came through the Episcopal church along with feminists who disdain God as father. Now this apostasy has become something so widespread it encompasses most things that are considered sacred. Affecting almost all denominations to some degree. Doctrines are distorted and abandoned, controlling shepherds are in charge, teaching coveting, wealth and perfect health as God’s will to all. They approve of divorce and accept homosexuality.

Warp speed…

The apostasy of professing Christianity has increased with a momentum that is stunning to those watching its growth. It has gone off the Richter scale. In the absence of the lampstand (the presence of Christ), devils have stepped in and taken over in many churches. This falling away has certainly begun and is picking up momentum each year, month, and week. Whole movements have arisen that draw huge crowds by catering to the natural mans desires and prey on his propensity of being deceived by the supernatural. They are being offered the very things Christ refused and warned against in his teachings.

THE Apostasy discussed in Thessalonians will be one, stunning and undeniable event. We’re not there. General apostasy IS rising however. Many a church member awake one day to look around the pews, and bemoan that they hardly know any people anymore, their church doesn’t look like it once did, and it teaches unrecognizable doctrines. The choir disappeared and instead there is an ever growing praise band. Hymns drifted away and we now stand around uncomfortably and look at a screen while a few people sing doctrine-less contemporary songs. The preacher teaches gospel-lite, or worse, prosperity gospel. Sometimes he seems to be preaching rightly but the sermons in fact are all plagiarized. Sometimes he is a she.

Apostasy is an interior thing. It is in the heart and we can’t see it right away, most times. Apostasy that looks like this:

Source NASA

Is really this-

How does it happen? Incrementally. Satan takes an inch at a time. (Hebrews 2:1). He is patient, relentless and laser-focused. This means we have to guard each and every move away from the center line of the narrow road. We have to deal with each and every incremental move. And yet we should display the discernment to know which battles to pick and when, and how to raise them. This is not because there are some battles best left alone, no. It’s because the Holy Spirit has some people working on some battles and other people working on others.

The bible also says to treat our leaders with respect and double honor, and not to exalt ourselves nor think of ourselves more highly than we ought. It’s a delicate balancing act, discernment.

Too often, people say, ‘well that’s too small, too petty. I’ll let it go’. But you have given the camel a nose-hold under the tent. The pew member sitting next to you carrying a Jesus Calling book…the woman in your Sunday School class who watches Joel Osteen, the deacon who doesn’t think occasional porn harms anybody, the teenager living with her boyfriend or girlfriend, the brother in the men’s group who wants a divorce…all these need to be addressed.

In the classic novel Watership Down, the rabbit motto was “One cloud feels lonely.”

EPrata photo

Soon, one cloud becomes this:

EPrata photo

Do you think satan will let one apostasy alone when he can have two? Do you think he will let two apostasies alone when he can have four? Before you know it, the sky has been obliterated and there are so many clouds you don’t know where one ends and another begins. It gets dark real fast.

——————————-

So far we have distinguished the prophesied coming event of The Apostasy from the ongoing General Apostasy of the Church Age. We have seen that apostasy in general is rising. We have looked at the general apostasy’s increased speed among the global churches here on earth.

But as with all things about Jesus, there is always hope. His church will never fail! The gates of hell will not prevail against it! Mathew 16:18). though there may be more churches that are Laodicean than Philadelphian, there are Philadelphian churches in the world. The church at Philadelphia was one of only two churches in Revelation not to receive one word of condemnation! (Rev 2:8-11, and Rev. 3:7-13).

Jesus has a pure Bride and she will never be spotted. A true believer can never go astray permanently. He has us in His hand. His work on the cross atoned for our sin, and we are washed in His blood and have received His righteousness. He has made us His children!

Though it may seem dim and dark in your corner of the world, Jesus did commend the church at Smyrna for persevering in persecution, tribulation and poverty. There are true believers in the world who are not apostasizing, who keep His word and do not deny His name (Rev 3:10). We look forward to the glorious day when He calls us home, either by rapture or resurrection, and we meet Him in the air, a purified Bride He has made worthy.

Meanwhile, pray for fellow believers that they do not apostasize. Encourage! Edify! Study the word so that you will have a good word to share with a fainting brother. There is nothing like the word of God to revive a failing heart. His peace prevails, always.

beth moore, david platt, discernment, ebola, encouragement, gatwick, priscilla shirer, prophecy

[UPDATE: Woman tested negative for Ebola] News Briefs: Woman de-planes at London Gatwick & dies of Ebola; Priscilla Shirer & Beth Moore in Kendrick Brothers’ new movie; Platt; "You Twit Face"

Posted on August 4, 2014May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

[UPDATE]
The BBC is reporting the following this afternoon

The Department for Health said the test on the elderly woman, who landed at Gatwick Airport, came back negative on Sunday afternoon. … “The correct procedures were followed to confirm there was no reason to quarantine the airplane, the passengers or staff. PHE can confirm there was no public health risk around the sad death of this individual.”

——————————————–

Some news briefs for you-

Ebola terror at Gatwick as passenger collapses and dies getting off Sierra Leone flight
Staff tell of fears as jet from Africa is quarantined after the death of passenger who was ‘sweating and vomiting’ before she collapsed

Airport staff tonight told of their fears of an Ebola outbreak after a passenger from Sierra Leone collapsed and died as she got off a plane at Gatwick. Workers said they were terrified the virus could spread globally through the busy international hub from the West African country which is in the grip of the deadly epidemic. The woman, said to be 72, became ill on the gangway after she left a Gambia Bird jet with 128 passengers on board. She died in hospital on Saturday. Ebola has killed 256 people in Sierra Leone. A total of 826 have died in West Africa since the outbreak began in February. Tests were carried out to see if the woman had disease. The plane was quarantined as officials desperately tried to trace everyone who had been in contact with the woman. Airport workers faced an anxious wait to see if the woman had Ebola. One said: “Everyone’s just petrified. “We’ve all seen how many people have died from Ebola, especially in Sierra Leone, and it’s terrifying.”

Yes, its terrifying. Imagine how much more terrifying it will be when billions are dying at once, as Revelation 6:7-8 and Revelation 9:15 and Luke 21:11 tell us. The door to heaven is open to all right now during this Age of Grace. Repent and turn to Jesus as Savior.

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The Kendrick Brothers finish making their fifth movie. The Albany GA brothers are known for Christian movies Flywheel, Facing the Giants, Fireproof, and Courageous. Their fifth movie is reportedly about prayer, and includes Priscilla Shirer in a large role and Beth Moore in a cameo role. I dont’ ant to jump to any conclusions, because the Kendrick Brothers have a solid grounding in doctrine and their previous movies have been good. However, the combination of the subject of prayer and the inclusion of two women noted for un-orthodoxy in this subject, does not bode well. Both Shirer and Moore engage in and promote contemplative prayer. Further, Moore is known for having unbiblical visions and hearing the voice of God audibly, and explains during her “bible lessons” that this is or should be normal activity for all Christians. Perhaps Moore’s smaller role means that any negative impact on the movies direction would be minimal. However it is also true that we should “not be deceived: “Bad company ruins good morals.” (1 Corinthians 15:53.) In laymen’s term,s when the glove drops in the mud, the mud doesn’t get glovey.

My hope and prayer is that the movie will still be doctrinally solid. When it is released in a few months, please be discerning about it. Here is an essay with more information about Priscilla Shirer.

Here is the press release of information about the Kendricks’ new as yet untitled movie:

Kendrick Brothers Wrap Filming on Anticipated Fifth Movie

CHARLOTTE, N.C., July 29, 2014 /Christian Newswire/ — Alex and Stephen Kendrick–creators of hit faith films FIREPROOF and COURAGEOUS–have just wrapped principal photography on their anticipated fifth movie–a family drama with humor and heart focused on the power of prayer and its primary role in the Christian life…. The film features New York Times best-selling author and Bible teacher Priscilla Shirer in her film debut. “I’m honored to be working with the Kendricks, and to be part of a story that encourages people to pray,” Shirer said. “Prayer is the most powerful weapon the church has to unlock the activity of heaven on earth.”… “It’s time for fierceness in prayer, and I cannot think of a more crucial message for a movie to convey,” Moore said. “God waits to see a generation that will take Him at His Word. Let’s be that generation.”

I have a peeve about teachers claiming that ‘we are the generation’ to finally get it right. Has no other generation in 6000 years ever taken God at His word? Apparently not, according to Moore. How narcissistic. As if God hasn’t used every generation to further His will and plan. If I may be allowed to echo the words of the eminent Dr Craig of the long-departed television drama St. Elsewhere,

“Oh for crying out loud.“

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A good word from Pastor David Platt:

Twitter wisdom, and apparently from an 11-year-old no less: ‏@JonathanDLeeman:

A friend’s 11 year old boy: they should combine YouTube, Twitter, and Facebook and call it You Twit Face.

I deactivated my Facebook account. The constant drama, me-orientation, superficiality, time-wasters, temptation to sin, and false doctrine abounding finally got to me. And you know what? I haven’t missed it.

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If you’re struggling financially, living in an urban ghetto, a third world nation, your car, or just barely hanging on, I leave this verse with you-

Listen, my beloved brothers, has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, which he has promised to those who love him? (James 2:5)