prophecy – Page 45

Ebola outbreak in W. Africa causing panic, out of control in some areas

Posted on August 1, 2014May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

There is a monster Ebola outbreak in Africa right now. Liberia is especially affected. Ebola is a deadly virus that causes a mortality rate of up to 90%. CBS News posted this morning,

Ebola: What you need to know

The death toll from the Ebola outbreak in West Africa has surpassed 700, according to the World Health Organization. It’s the deadliest outbreak ever recorded. U.S. health officials are warning Americans not to travel to the three countries hit by the outbreak: Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone. Amid fears that air travelers could spread Ebola to other countries, many are asking questions about the disease and how it is transmitted. Here’s what you need to know about Ebola. The information comes from WHO and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

I posted some of the CBS News information about Ebola below, and of course, please click on the link above to find out more. The fears related to travel come on the heels of a scare from a few days ago. The Washington Post’s choice of headline added to the scare. They wrote: This is the worst Ebola outbreak in history. Here’s why you should be worried.

What’s particularly scary, though, was the recent death of a Liberian man in Lagos, the bustling coastal mega-city in Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country. The man, a consultant for the Liberian government, had traveled from Liberia through an airport in Lome, the capital of Togo, before arriving in Nigeria. The hospital where he died is under lockdown, and the WHO has sent teams to Togo and Nigeria. (source)

That incident sparked headlines like this,

Ebola only a plane ride away from USA

The growing Ebola outbreak in West Africa serves as a grim reminder that deadly viruses are only a plane ride away from the USA, health experts say.

What is Ebola? Back to the CBS News article,

Ebola virus disease, sometimes known as EVD, is a highly infectious, usually fatal virus that leads to flu-like symptoms and severe internal bleeding. Just how deadly is Ebola? The survival rate is very low. Somewhere between 60 percent and 90 percent of the people who develop Ebola will die.

Of the 1200 or so cases reported in Africa, over 700 have died. That is a 60% mortality rate.

The severe internal bleeding mentioned in the CBS News article as one of the final symptoms of Ebola is caused by hemorrhagic fever. About half the cases don’t result in hemorrhagic fever, but of the half that do, the end is truly horrific. The bleeding is severe because the patient’s insides are melting.

The onset is just like regular flu and is often mistaken for that. The severity of the disease doesn’t make itself apparent at initial onset. Worse, the incubation period is from 2 to 21 days, meaning that up to three weeks can pass before a person comes down with symptoms. Meanwhile, he could have flown from country to country.

The good news is that it isn’t spread through the air. You can’t catch it like you catch a cold, after someone next to you sneezes. Though it is highly contagious, it is transmitted through direct contact with bodily fluids, like blood. Health care workers are especially at-risk. American’s Dr. Kent Brantly and missionary Nancy Writebol of Samaritan’s Purse contracted Ebola while on scene but are stable. Dr. Samuel Brisbane, one of Liberia’s most high-profile doctors, died from Ebola this week.

Guinea: With no vaccine and no treatment for Ebola, MSF’s priority is to
isolate cases as quickly as possible. Isolation teams are obliged to work in
‘hazmat’ suits. Photo Luis Encinas/MSF (March 2014)

This outbreak won’t be considered over until there are no new confirmed cases for 42 days.

To halt the spread, Liberia had in the early days restricted public gatherings such as marches and demonstrations. However, with the rapid spread, Liberia this week took the additional dramatic move to shut its schools and close its borders. This should give some indication of how serious the situation is.

Untreated or not caught early, the mortality rate is 90%, but this outbreak was jumped on by doctors immediately and measures were taken, this is why the mortality rate is at 60%. This is still a very high mortality rate.

By comparison, in the so-called “Mother of All Pandemics” the Spanish Influenza outbreak of 1918-1919, Wikipedia reports,

The global mortality rate from the 1918/1919 pandemic is not known, but an estimated 10% to 20% of those who were infected died. With about a third of the world population infected, this case-fatality ratio means 3% to 6% of the entire global population died. Influenza may have killed as many as 25 million people in its first 25 weeks. Older estimates say it killed 40–50 million people, while current estimates say 50–100 million people worldwide were killed.

This pandemic has been described as “the greatest medical holocaust in history” and may have killed more people than the Black Death. It is said that this flu killed more people in 24 weeks than AIDS has killed in 24 years, more in a year than the Black Death killed in a century.

Officials are concerned, obviously, with the current Ebola outbreak because the mortality rate compared to the Spanish Influenza pandemic is so much higher. The population one hundred years later is also much more mobile. As the previously referred to article suggests, Ebola could be a mere plane ride away.

Thus, despite the measures taken socially and medically, Jake Tapper reports today,
Liberian President: There are dead bodies all over
Denial and fear turning to panic.
“President: This is serious… very nearing a catastrophe“

The President of Liberia, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf said that initially people in Liberia, one of the three nations affected, didn’t believe in the gravity of the situation. “They thought it was a scam,” she said. Now, some weeks later, “They are seeing dead bodies all over the place” and they understand the seriousness. Unfortunately, the President said, they are panicking, and are fleeing places where Ebola has broken out, making quarantine difficult. It also makes it more difficult to track who they came into contact with, President Sirleaf said.

The Washington Post reported yesterday that,

The outbreak of the extraordinarily lethal Ebola virus has worsened in West Africa, with the contagion showing no sign of coming under control, prompting the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Thursday to warn Americans to avoid nonessential travel to Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. A patient who was infected with the virus in Africa is expected to be treated at Emory University Hospital in Atlanta within several days, the university said in a statement Thursday. The patient, his or her identity undisclosed, will be treated at a special containment unit set up in collaboration with the CDC to treat people exposed to serious infectious diseases. … It would be the first time a patient infected with Ebola has been treated in the United States, according to a CDC spokeswoman.

One can immediately see how and why the verses prophesying a third of the world killed by disease can easily come to pass.

When he opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature say, “Come!” And I looked, and behold, a pale horse! And its rider’s name was Death, and Hades followed him. And they were given authority over a fourth of the earth, to kill with sword and with famine and with pestilence and by wild beasts of the earth. (Revelation 6:7-8)

John MacArthur has preached that the killing by wild beasts likely will include pestilential rats carrying pestilential fleas.

There will be great earthquakes, famines and pestilences in various places, and fearful events and great signs from heaven. (Luke 21:11)

I emphasize that this Ebola outbreak is NOT a fulfillment of either of those prophetic verses. I am reporting on a current event, with facts. I will also make note as to how and why the pestilential outbreaks during the Tribulation can easily kill a third and a fourth of the nations.

By these three plagues a third of mankind was killed, by the fire and smoke and sulfur coming out of their mouths. (Revelation 9:18)

Did military medical doctors know in January 1918 at Ft. Riley Kansas that the few men who turned up sick would be the first patients of a wave of influenza outbreaks that would circle every corner of the globe? No. But they did have some inkling of the virulence of the outbreak.

In the United States, the disease was first observed in Haskell County, Kansas, in January 1918, prompting local doctor Loring Miner to warn the U.S. Public Health Service’s academic journal. On 4 March 1918, company cook Albert Gitchell reported sick at Fort Riley, Kansas. By noon on 11 March 1918, over 100 soldiers were in the hospital. Within days, 522 men at the camp had reported sick. By 11 March 1918 the virus had reached Queens, New York. (Source)

And that was in 1918, without passenger air travel.

We never know if the outbreak we are watching is the one that will lead to the pestilential outbreaks note in scripture. The Ebola epidemic in West Africa could die out without ever escaping that continent. Or it could be THE one. Last night Liberian officials admitted the outbreak is above their control.

In Revelation 6 when the fourth horse carrying death and Hades rides, it is written that a fourth of the world will die. Let’s put that to some hard numbers. The world population is currently 7 billion. A fourth of that is one billion seven hundred fifty million dead.

The remaining population would be five billion two hundred fifty million. However, many of those will die in wars, or by beasts, or secondary causes like simply being petrified. (Luke 21:26). But say when the Revelation 9 verse comes true, and a third of the 5B are killed, that will be another 1.3 billion people dead.

Imagine billions upon billions laying around dead. The Liberian President’s words, “there are bodies everywhere” would have little meaning by comparison. People living in those days will wish for the days when only a few hundred had died, if they are not killed before hand.

Whether the plague is now or it is future, it will happen. All those living on the earth who are left behind after the rapture will see these things come to pass. It will happen, and it will be a horror beyond any imagining. Jesus said it will be the worst time on earth that ever was…and this includes the Flood. (Matthew 24:21).

If you believe in Jesus and repent of your sins, you will be saved. Repent means to be sorry for the things you have done that go against God (and all people have sinned fallen short of pleasing Him, Romans 3:23 says). All means all. All means you.

But if you have faith in Jesus and repent, He will take you up in the air when He calls for His bride. This is the rapture. Jesus will call His believers up to Him and award us, (2 Corinthians 5:10). This ceremony is known as the Bema Seat. While this ceremony is happening in heaven with Jesus and the believers, His Bride, on earth the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse described in Revelation 6 will ride. The Fourth Horseman is the horse of death and Hades. All those who had failed to believe in Jesus will be subject to their power. Those who die not believing in Christ will go to Hades, AKA hell. Many will come to faith in the Tribulation, but the potential for death and an eternity in hell at that time is high. Do not risk it. Believe now.

The glory of the LORD is that at the end of all things, He will throw Death and Hades into the Lake of Fire!

Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death. (Revelation 20:14)

I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world. (John 16.33)

“The one who conquers will have this heritage, and I will be his God and he will be my son.” (Revelation 21:7)

In Jesus YOU are an overcomer, too!

china, prophecy, revelation, river turns blood red

River in China runs blood red

Posted on July 26, 2014May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

In 2012 there was a spate of bodies of water turning blood red, and interest in the phenomenon was high.

February 2012: Beirut River runs red. (a factory had illegally dumped red dye.)

August 2012: A lake in France turned red. (“Scientists say the blood red lakes in southern France are actually a natural phenomenon. Camargue, France is a river delta where the Rhône meets the sea. The picturesque area is home to numerous salt flats, and it is this concentration of salt that will occasionally stain red the region’s normally blue water.”)

September 2012: Yangze River in China runs red (“officials have no idea why, or officials say it may have been caused by recent floods stirring up silt upstream. The Environmental Protection Bureau is also looking into potential industrial pollution or sewage breaches.”)

The other day a river in China turned red and interest is again high. I can only guess this is because Revelation says that rivers shall run with blood.

The third angel poured out his bowl on the rivers and springs of water, and they became blood. (Revelation 16:4).

Source

River In China Mysteriously Turns Bloody Red Overnight

Residents in Zhejiang province said the river looked normal at 5 a.m. Beijing time on Thursday morning. Within an hour, the entire river turned crimson. Residents also said a strange smell wafted through the air. … Inspectors from the Wenzhou Environmental Protection Bureau said they have not found the cause of the incident, although water samples seem to indicate the suspicious color was a result of illegal dumping in the river…. “We suspect that somebody dumped artificial coloring in the water because he thought the typhoon yesterday would cause heavy rain, and nobody would notice [the color],” Jianfeng Xiao, Chief of the bureau told China News. “It turned out there wasn’t heavy rainfall yesterday, so the evidence is left behind,” Xiao said. Xiao said there is a paper manufacturer, a food coloring company and clothing-maker a long the river.

Cases like these are usually due to illegal dumping.

But whenever something like this happens, hits on the blog go way up. On the one hand, I’m glad that people are so interested in prophecy! The bible speaks of future things almost a third of the time.

Fully 17 of the Old Testament’s 39 books are classified as prophetic: Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel, Daniel, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi. All of the other 22 books are also filled with prophecy. Source

It’s a significant topic and one that is definitely worthy of study and attention. On the other hand though, too many people are willing to proclaim it a sign, and overlook the obvious.

For example, a river turning red is NOT a fulfillment of Revelation 16:4, because we have not been in the Tribulation for ten chapters. We are not in the Tribulation now, and none of the other signs have happened.

Even in Revelation 8:10 which prophesies a third of the rivers on earth turning to blood, happen because of a star falling from heaven.

The third angel blew his trumpet, and a great star fell from heaven, blazing like a torch, and it fell on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water. (Revelation 8:10)

And at that time, also a third of the seas will turn to blood as well. One cannot pick and choose which prophesies are fulfilled. Either it happens the way the bible says, or it is not a prophecy. It’s some food coloring manufacturer dumping dye.

Secondly when it does happen, a third of all the earth’s rivers will turn to blood. And the verse says what it says, the waters will become blood. Not salt making it look like blood, not illegally dumped dye, not silt from a typhoon, but actual blood.

I’m so grateful that people become so interested in biblical prophecy when these strange things happen. I’m personally fascinated with the sky sounds of the apocalypse, myself. Others are fascinated with the large bird and fish die-offs that had occurred a few years ago. Yet it’s our responsibility to rightly teach how to study prophecy, and not become hand-wringing, pickers and chooser bell ringers when they happen.

The most important thing is to always point to the certainty and safety of life in Christ. Once we repent and are justified by faith in Jesus as Resurrected Savior, He will always hold us in His hand. We become legal heirs and sons of God. Our life changes from one of despair to one of hope and joy. Our future is also spoken of. It does not include rivers running with blood or fish die-offs or starvation or other prophetic wrathful things. Our future is one of hopeful prophecy, like this:

Then he led me back to the bank of the river. As I went back, I saw on the bank of the river very many trees on the one side and on the other. And he said to me, “This water flows toward the eastern region and goes down into the Arabah, and enters the sea; when the water flows into the sea, the water will become fresh. And wherever the river goes, every living creature that swarms will live, and there will be very many fish. For this water goes there, that the waters of the sea may become fresh; so everything will live where the river goes. Fishermen will stand beside the sea. From Engedi to Eneglaim it will be a place for the spreading of nets. Its fish will be of very many kinds, like the fish of the Great Sea. But its swamps and marshes will not become fresh; they are to be left for salt. And on the banks, on both sides of the river, there will grow all kinds of trees for food. Their leaves will not wither, nor their fruit fail, but they will bear fresh fruit every month, because the water for them flows from the sanctuary. Their fruit will be for food, and their leaves for healing.” (Ezekiel 47:6-12)

Or this prophecy:

He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who conquers I will grant to eat of the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.’ (Revelation 23:7)

Or this:

He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away. (Revelation 21:4)

So when you come across someone who is interested in a strange phenomena, and connects it with bits of prophecy they have heard, teach them the true prophecy from the bible, show them why it can’t be happening now. Connect their interest in prophecy with Jesus and His Gospel. It is one reason He gave us prophecy, to warn of judgements to come for the ungodly- and ultimately to educate about the One who spoke it, Jesus Christ.

discernment, false prophets, false religion, prophecy

Common ground with false teachers doesn’t exist

Posted on July 26, 2014May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

These are brief excerpts from a tremendous sermon by John MacArthur in 2012 called

Exposing the Marks of Counterfeit Authority

Creative Commons, source

And the Lord said to me: “The prophets are prophesying lies in my name. I did not send them, nor did I command them or speak to them. They are prophesying to you a lying vision, worthless divination, and the deceit of their own minds. (Jeremiah 14:14-15)

Thus says the Lord of hosts: “Do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you, filling you with vain hopes. They speak visions of their own minds, not from the mouth of the Lord. They say continually to those who despise the word of the Lord, ‘It shall be well with you’; and to everyone who stubbornly follows his own heart, they say, ‘No disaster shall come upon you.'” …“I did not send the prophets, (Jeremiah 23:16-17, 21)

John MacArthur: You think that’s gone away? That hasn’t gone away.

False teachers are described graphically in both the Old Testament and in the New Testament like this:

The description of them goes like this, “They are leaven. They are whited tombs, whited walls, graves concealed, broken pots covered with silver, tares, wolves in sheep’s clothing, wells without water, they are presumptuous, natural brute beasts to be taken and destroyed, they are filth spots and scabs, immoral, covetous, cursed children, clouds in a tempest to whom the mist of darkness is reserved forever, deluded dreamers who defile the flesh, spots on your love feasts, clouds without water, trees without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots, raging waves of the sea foaming out their own shame, wandering stars to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness. They are murmurers, complainers, walking after their own lusts, their mouths speaking great swelling words, cloaks over sin, sensual and without the Holy Spirit.” (source)

That’s a sad state. That’s counterfeit religious authority. Why would you be looking for common ground with them?

The answer is obvious. Common ground with false teachers doesn’t exist.

Clerical collar on a table in a pub. CC. Source

Listen to the entire sermon. It’s good.

bride, jesus, prophecy, symbol, wife, woman clothed with the sun

The Four Women of Revelation

Posted on July 22, 2014May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

Our church is sending a mission team to Peru next week. They will distribute items and tracts to the homeless, work in an orphanage, and street witness. (Prayers please?)

Because the country is heavily Catholic, I was asked to put together some lists of verses and other material to use in witnessing to Catholics to give to the team leader in order to help them understand the keys to witnessing to lost Catholic people. As I was studying about the origin of the Mary worship, and the plethora of art and statuary depicting her as the queen of heaven with 12 stars encircling her head, I re-read Revelation 12.

Gotquestions.org offers an introductory paragraph regarding this highly symbolic yet also highly literal book. It, along with Genesis, are two of my favorite books of the bible.

The Revelation of Jesus Christ was given to John by God “to show his servants what must soon take place.” This book is filled with mysteries about things to come. It is the final warning that the world will surely end and judgment will be certain. It gives us a tiny glimpse of heaven and all of the glories awaiting those who keep their robes white. Revelation takes us through the great tribulation with all its woes and the final fire that all unbelievers will face for eternity. The book reiterates the fall of Satan and the doom he and his angels are bound for. We are shown the duties of all creatures and angels of heaven and the promises of the saints that will live forever with Jesus in the New Jerusalem. Like John, we find it hard to describe what we read in the book of Revelation.

I have the ESV MacArthur study bible. I read the note for the verse 1-2, the woman with twelve stars. The note was interesting. It said there are four women mentioned in Revelation.

1. Jezebel. This woman represents the pagan church. This isn’t the actual queen Jezebel who once actually lived. (1 Kings, 2 Kings). This Jezebel mentioned in Revelation 2:20 was more likely a Jezebel type. She was a woman who actually was living and harming the church at Thyatira, but was called by Jesus “Jezebel.” This was not a compliment.

Virgin of Quito: Catholic representation
of the woman clothed with the sun &
having 12 stars being Mary. CC

But I have this against you, that you tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess and is teaching and seducing my servants to practice sexual immorality and to eat food sacrificed to idols. I gave her time to repent, but she refuses to repent of her sexual immorality. Behold, I will throw her onto a sickbed, and those who commit adultery with her I will throw into great tribulation, unless they repent of her works, and I will strike her children dead.

2. Woman clothed with the sun. This woman represents Israel.

And a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars. She was pregnant and was crying out in birth pains and the agony of giving birth. (Revelation 12:1-2)

MacArthur’s note reads:

Not an actual woman, but a symbolic representation of Israel, pictured in the OT as the wife of God. (Isa. 54:5-6; Jer. 3:6-8, 31:32; Ezek. 16:32; Hos 2:16). … That this woman does not represent the church is clear from the context. ‘clothed with the sun, …moon under her feet…twelve stars…Cf., Gen 37:9-11. Being clothed with the sun speaks of the glory, dignity, and exalted status of Israel, the people of promise who will be saved, and given a kingdom. The picture of the moon under her feet possibly describes God’s covenant relationship with Israel, since new moons were associated with worship (1 Chron 23:21; 2 Chron 2:4, 8:13; Ezra 3:5; Ps 81:3. The 12 stars represent the twelve tribes of Israel.

3. The Scarlet Woman. This woman represents the apostate church.

And he carried me away in the Spirit into a wilderness, and I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast

EPrata photo of the Virgin of Quito

that was full of blasphemous names, and it had seven heads and ten horns. The woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and jewels and pearls, holding in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and the impurities of her sexual immorality. And on her forehead was written a name of mystery: “Babylon the great, mother of prostitutes and of earth’s abominations.” And I saw the woman, drunk with the blood of the saints, the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. (Revelation 17:3-6).

The bible note says,

Purple and scarlet…the colors of royalty, nobility and wealth. The woman is portrayed as a prostitute who has successfully plied her trade and become extremely wealthy. Adorned…Prostitutes often dress in fine clothes and precious stones to allure their victims. (cf. Prov 7:10). The religious harlot Babylon is no different, adorning herself to lure the nations into her grasp.

4. Wife of the Lamb This woman represents the true church.

[ The New Jerusalem ] Then came one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues and spoke to me, saying, “Come, I will show you the Bride, the wife of the Lamb.” And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great, high mountain, and showed me the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God, (Revelation 21:9-10)

The New Jerusalem takes on the character of its inhabitants, the redeemed.

So you have heard of the four horsemen of the Apocalypse…now you know of the four women of Revelation! 🙂

Read Revelation. It promises a blessing for those who do! (Revelation 22:7). It also has another promise.

Behold, I am coming soon, bringing my recompense with me, to repay each one for what he has done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.” (Revelation 22:12-13)

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

"Every white flag represents a body part"

Posted on July 20, 2014May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

The facts of the terrible tragedy of the downed Malaysian flight #17, a civilian airliner allegedly destroyed by a Ukrainian/Russian missile, are still coming public. But the cleanup and the investigation has quickly begun. And just as quickly, the Ukrainian rebels have disallowed entry to the area, and are doing all they can to stall and impede.

Nonetheless, here is an ABC photo by Kirit Radia. I saw it on Twitter. He wrote: “Every white flag represents a body part”

Source

It reminds me of a time when, unbelievably, there will be worse tragedies. Ezekiel 39 records it. An alliance of nations will form, including Russia and the Baltics, to come against Israel. Israel will be dwelling peacefully in the land at that future time, and this attack will be a total surprise. (Ezekiel 38:14). Without the LORD’S direct, supernatural intervention, Israel would be obliterated. God does this for the singular purpose of letting the world know He is the LORD. (Ezekiel 38:16 & 23). He will vindicate His holiness before the eyes of those who dwell on the earth.

Ezekiel 39 spends time giving the specifics of the battle and its outcome. All who come against Israel in that day, Russia, Turkey, the Baltics, Armenia, and the rest, like a cloud covering the land, hordes of them, five-sixths of them will be smote.

Fire will be sent, earthquakes will happen, missiles will be duds, and every plane will fall out of the sky. (Ezekiel 39:1-6).

Two hundred and ninety-eight people fell from the sly when Malaysia flight 17 went down. What will it be like when hundreds of planes fall? There will be so many! Like clouds covering the land! It will take seven months of constant cleansing to bury these hordes. And they will start with flags.

Normandy being supplied, Wikipedia historic photo

“On that day I will give to Gog a place for burial in Israel, the Valley of the Travelers, east of the sea. It will block the travelers, for there Gog and all his multitude will be buried. It will be called the Valley of Hamon-gog. For seven months the house of Israel will be burying them, in order to cleanse the land. All the people of the land will bury them, and it will bring them renown on the day that I show my glory, declares the Lord God. They will set apart men to travel through the land regularly and bury those travelers remaining on the face of the land, so as to cleanse it. At the end of seven months they will make their search. And when these travel through the land and anyone sees a human bone, then he shall set up a sign by it, till the buriers have buried it in the Valley of Hamon-gog. (Hamonahe is also the name of the city.) Thus shall they cleanse the land. (Ezekiel 39:11-16).

There will be so many they have to mass bury them in a place whose name translates to “Multitude”. Imagine how many flags. Each one represents a soul gone down to Hades. On that day, Hades will swell with souls flooding in.

Normandy invasion aftermath, Wikipedia historic photo

I try to bring the specificity into it regarding the flags so people will KNOW what the Tribulation will be like. Soft and Easy Christians following their Jesus and talking of love refuse to gain biblical knowledge about God’s other attributes: His vindication, His wrath, His judgment. It isn’t pretty- for those who rebel. It is bloody and awful and destructive. The soft and easy Christians think they will go through the Tribulation (which they will but not because it is a post-tribulation event, but because many of them aren’t saved. Matthew 7:21). They think their love for Jesus will float them through. They haven’t a clue.

Other Christians, sad to say, are saved but don’t spend time looking ahead. They don’t study prophecy, for whatever reason. Many pastors weren’t taught it in seminary so they don’t preach it in church. Other Christians think they are superfluous doctrines, not for edification or practical application to today.

The fact is, the Tribulation will be gross and horrific and bloody and terrifying. The Holy Spirit will not be restraining sin any more! (2 Thessalonians 2:6). Jesus said it will be the worst time there shall ever be, from the beginning of the world to the end, and will ever be again. (Mt 24:21).

Knowing these things in such detail helps us

–be grateful for His grace in rapturing His Bride before these things happen
–be urgent about pursuing holiness as a result of our gratitude
–witness in word and in deed to the lost, who, unless they repent first, WILL go through it.

In the ABC News photo by Kirit Radia I counted three flags. In the Valley of Hamon Gog, there will be untold thousands, perhaps millions.

I long for the Day when God vindicates His holiness before the world. I mourn that day too, for many will perish. Living with the joy of anticipation and the heartache of certain death for many is bittersweet. It is joy mixed with pain and regret; regret that they didn’t do the one thing required: repent of their sins and make Jesus Lord.

Yes it is that simple. Difficult, but simple.

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. (John 14:6)

Repent while there is time, Jesus is the way.

babylon, glory, ISIS, jesus, jonah, Mosul, Nineveh, prophecy

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

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

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

Jonah outside Nineveh’s gate. Rembrandt

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

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

Nineveh’s Adad gate exterior entrance. Wiki CC

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

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

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

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

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

Nineveh’s Mashki gate from the west. Wiki CC

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

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

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

Iraqi Christians flee after Isis issue Mosul ultimatum

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

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

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

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

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

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

We should:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Israel begins ground invasion of Gaza’ "imminent amphibious landing"; Missile shoots passenger plane down over Ukraine

Posted on July 17, 2014 by elizabethprata

It is a big, big news day. Any time Israel becomes involved in a ground war it puts me on prophetically high alert.

Israel Defense Force twitter stream:
BREAKING NEWS: A large IDF force has just launched a ground operation in the Gaza Strip. A new phase of Operation Protective Edge has begun. The new phase follows 10 days of Hamas attacks on Israel by land, air & sea – and repeated rejections of offers to deescalate the situation.

Twitter, Foreign Affairs Correspondent, Channel 4 News Jonathan Miller: “All we are evacuating our hotel as are all #gaza beach hotels. Warned of imminent amphibious landing. #c4news”

Jerusalem Post:
Netanyahu’s office says purpose of mission is to destroy terror tunnels and seriously harm the infrastructure of Hamas and other terrorist organizations in Gaza. Prior to the commencement of the ground invasion, the IDF launched a massive wave of combined air and artillery strikes on Thursday night. The IDF said that the operation will involve infantry, engineering corps, and tank units combined with air force and naval support and intelligence.

Analysis from a week ago, which turned out to be accurate.

“…the longer Hamas fails to stop firing rockets, the greater the likelihood for a ground incursion becomes, perhaps even as soon as within “the next 1-2 weeks,” Nisman said. He further noted that, “This would be a much larger ground offensive than Hamas is anticipating,” and that the operation, “would first aim to cut the Gaza Strip into different sections, then take control of peripheral areas which are used to launch short and medium range rockets.” Former IDF officer Dror Markus echoed this analysis, in a separate interview, indicating that if Hamas fulfills its goals of inflicting casualties on Israeli civilians, “Netanyahu will be left with no choice other than a limited ground military incursion.”

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The Ukraine and Russia are also nations who will be active in the prophetic years, AKA the time just before, during, or after the rapture, as per Ezekiel 38-39

WSJ: U.S. intelligence confirms surface-to-air missile fired at Malaysian jet but are divided over origin

PASSENGER MALAYSIAN AIRLINER #17, allegedly shot down by Ukrainian rebels. 295 souls aboard.

Foreign Policy magazine
What We Know So Far About the Passenger Jet Allegedly Shot Down in Ukraine
A spokesman for the Russian Embassy in Washington declined to comment on charges that pro-Russian rebels in Ukraine shot down a Malaysian Airlines plane. “Why should we comment on allegations?” the official said. The spokesman did however point to an article published by the Russian news service RIA Novosti suggesting that the Ukrainian military shot down the aircraft, not the rebels.

Airspace in Eastern Ukraine is now closed ‘until further notice’
Eurocontrol, which directs air traffic across Europe, said that since the crash, all airspace in eastern Ukraine had been closed “until further notice” and that the European Aviation Crisis Coordination Cell had been activated to deal with the closure.

Obama is golfing.

In other news, GOD IS STILL IN CONTROL. He has kept His had over the fuse that will eventually light the Middle East and He may do so again today. Or He may not and this particular series of events may be the ones which lead the fuse to the rapture. Or it may be that a series of wars began today which the church will be seeing from earth’s vantage point. We simply don’t know, but His plan is perfect and His sovereignty is never in doubt.

I pray for the families of the souls aboard the downed plane. While heaven’s gate was likely opened to receive some, more likely Hades’ mouth was enlarged to receive even more. Hundreds of families are at this moment in shock and mourning at this senseless and tragic act that has rendered children fatherless, wives into widows and families torn by grief..

The Israeli soldiers fighting on behalf of a frightened citizenry should also be prayed for, as well as the leaders on both sides.

For perspective’s sake, I offer to you from 2005 John Piper’s essay, “Ten Aspects of God’s Sovereignty Over Suffering and Satan’s Hand in It“

The impetus for this conference comes from th ultimate reality of God as the supreme value in and above the universe. God is absolute and eternal and infinite. Everything else and everybody else is dependent and finite and contingent. God himself is the great supreme value. Everything else that has any value has it by connection to God. God is supreme in all things. He has all authority, all power, all wisdom—and he is all good “to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him” (Lamentations 3:25). And his name, as Creator and Redeemer and Ruler of all, is Jesus Christ. In the last four years, 9/11, Tsunami, Katrina, and ten thousand personal losses have helped us discover how little the American church is rooted in this truth.

In other words, our vision of God in relation to evil and suffering was shown to be frivolous. The church has not been spending its energy to go deep with the unfathomable God of the Bible. Against the overwhelming weight and seriousness of the Bible, much of the church is choosing, at this very moment, to become more light and shallow and entertainment-oriented, and therefore successful in its irrelevance to massive suffering and evil. The popular God of fun-church is simply too small and too affable to hold a hurricane in his hand. The approach I am going to take tonight is not to solve any problem directly, but to celebrate the sovereignty of God over Satan and all the evils that Satan has a hand in.

You should click here to read in full the ten things we celebrate in our Almighty and Sovereign God. He is still on the throne, praise Him. Here are some highlights

1. Let us celebrate that God is sovereign over Satan’s delegated world rule.
2. Let us celebrate that God is sovereign over Satan’s angels (demons, evil spirits).
3. Let us celebrate that God is sovereign over Satan’s hand in persecution.
4. Let us celebrate that God is sovereign over Satan’s life-taking power.

It is a time to mourn, but it is also a time to celebrate.

A Time for Everything

1For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven:

2a time to be born, and a time to die;
a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted;
3a time to kill, and a time to heal;
a time to break down, and a time to build up;
4a time to weep, and a time to laugh;
a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
5a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together;
a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
6a time to seek, and a time to lose;
a time to keep, and a time to cast away;
7a time to tear, and a time to sew;
a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
8a time to love, and a time to hate;
a time for war, and a time for peace. (Ecclesiastes 3:1-8)

earthquake map, earthquakes, prophecy, signs, usgs

New Insight on the Nation’s Earthquake Hazards (USGS map is updated & released)

Posted on July 17, 2014May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

Excerpts from the information accompanying the new USGS earthquake hazards map, last update 2008. Thank you scientists for your hard work on behalf of the US population. Christians, we know the hazards are increasing and we know why. Be prepared.

The USGS recently updated their U.S. National Seismic Hazard Maps, which reflect the best and most current understanding of where future earthquakes will occur, how often they will occur, and how hard the ground will likely shake as a result.

42 States at Risk; 16 States at High Risk

Students conduct the “drop, cover, hold on” safety procedure during an earthquake preparedness drill. Photo Credit: Jessica Robertson, USGS

While all states have some potential for earthquakes, 42 of the 50 states have a reasonable chance of experiencing damaging ground shaking from an earthquake in 50 years (the typical lifetime of a building). Scientists also conclude that 16 states have a relatively high likelihood of experiencing damaging ground shaking. These states have historically experienced earthquakes with a magnitude 6 or greater.

The hazard is especially high along the west coast, intermountain west, and in several active regions of the central and eastern U.S., such as near New Madrid, MO, and near Charleston, SC. The 16 states at highest risk are Alaska, Arkansas, California, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Kentucky, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, South Carolina, Tennessee, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming. [Since the last map, 2008] Several areas have been identified as being capable of having the potential for larger and more powerful earthquakes than previously thought due to more data and updated earthquake models. The most prominent changes are discussed below.

Changes: East Coast

The eastern U.S. has the potential for larger and more damaging earthquakes than considered in previous maps and assessments. As one example, scientists learned a lot following the magnitude 5.8 earthquake that struck Virginia in 2011. It was among the largest earthquakes to occur along the east coast in the last century, and helped determine that even larger events are possible. Estimates of earthquake hazards near Charleston, SC, have also gone up due to the assessment of earthquakes in the state.

Central U.S.

The New Madrid Seismic Zone has been identified to have a larger range of potential earthquake magnitudes and locations than previously identified. This is a result of a range of new research, part of which was recently compiled by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

West Coast

In California, earthquake hazard extends over a wider area than previously thought. Most notably, faults were recently discovered, raising earthquake hazard estimates for San Jose, Vallejo and San Diego. On the other hand, new insights on faults and rupture processes reduced earthquake hazard estimates for Irvine, Santa Barbara and Oakland.

New research on the Cascadia Subduction Zone resulted in increased estimates of earthquake magnitude up to magnitude 9.3.

Earthquake hazard also increased for Las Vegas because of new science.

Full report here

daniel, Oliver B. Greene, pre-tribulation rapture, prophecy, rapture

Oliver B. Greene on Pre-trib rapture

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

Oliver B. Greene published a wonderful verse-by-verse exposition of Daniel in 1964. I’ve enjoyed reading it, because the book of Daniel is so hard for me to interpret. I was struck by Mr Green’s certainty and fervency regarding the pre-tribulation rapture.

A Pre-Trib rapture is biblically correct. The rapture itself has been in the bible all along, notwithstanding assertions that it was a made-up doctrine from the 1800s. And the rapture’s timing happening prior to the Tribulation has always been biblically evident too. It was only lately that man began to shy away from the clear teaching of this and muddy the waters to the extent that people now are hesitant to be dogmatic about it- so much so that they think they are being pious to show uncertainty. Look at Mr Greene’s statement on the subject (I kept his exact emphases):

The Great Tribulation has nothing to do with the church; the Church will not enter or go through any part of that terrible time. Any preacher or teacher who suggests that the bride of Christ will be subjected to any part of the reign of the Antichrist is definitely wrongly dividing the Word of Truth. God pity the preacher who will accuse Jesus of allowing the Antichrist to reign over His bride-and the Church IS the bride of Christ!

We have the blessed promise, “Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I will also keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell on the earth.” (Revelation 3:10).

In the writings of Paul we are promised. “For God hath not appointed us to WRATH, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ.” (1 Thess. 5:9). The Great Tribulation has to do with the nation of Israel, not with the Church.

If the Church were to enter or go through any part of the tribulation, believers would be commanded to watch for Antichrist, not for THE CHRIST. We would be commanded to watch for the great tribulation, not to wait for God’s Son from heaven. (1 Thess. 1:10).

end time, pharmakeia, prophecy, sorcery

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

Posted on July 9, 2014 by elizabethprata

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Here is a New Age site’s take on it

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

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

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

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

A sad tale of irresponsible adults.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Go to the link to read the rest.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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What does the bible say about sorcery?

What is the Jesus drug?

What kind of things open you to demonic oppression?