Category: prophecy

Posted in gog magog, jews, prophecy, spurgeon, ukraine

Ukraine Jews, Anti-semitism rising, Russia-China gas megadeal, kids’ reaction to gay couple, prophecy

Posted on by elizabethprata

We are moving rapidly to the end of the school year here in northeast Georgia. As a teacher’s aide in kindergarten we have been busy with end of year programs, field day, field trips, ice cream day, ceremonies with certificates, and the like. Friday noon, the kids leave for the year. The next Friday after that, I’m done completely.

It’s been busy, but good. I always love the beginning of the year, so fresh with promise of making a difference in a child’s life. The end of the year is weary but happy, knowing we are sending the children to the next grade armed with knowledge and love, ready to grow some more on their life’s path.

Despite coming home so tired lately, I praise the Lord for His enduring strength which He gives me generously. No matter how tired I am when I get home, after a time of cool beverage refreshment (lately ice water with lemon, but I’m anxious to try fruit-infused water this summer) and a period of quietude, I feel ready to read His word, write about Him on the blog, and pray some more.

Here are some news headlines I thought were particularly evocative of the end of the end times. We see ahead in God’s word what will come to pass. And on the ground all around us we see motions drawing toward those events which will come to pass. Some, most, of the machinations are invisible to us, either because they take place in back rooms out of public view, or because they take place in the heavenlies and we are not privy. But with the times being what they are, more and more often we see the drawstring tightening, the hole closing, and the times darkening The few items below are examples of such machinations, attitudes, and events I believe play directly into the Tribulation prophecies to a larger than normal scale.

Israel National news reports,
EU Officials Appalled at Rise of Anti-Semitism in Europe
“At high level meeting with Jewish leaders, 18 EU member-state representatives are urged to wake up and lead the fight against Jew-hatred. …European Jewish Association (EJA) General Director Rabbi Menachem Margolin led a briefing for EU ambassadors and officials at week’s end, following the release of the most comprehensive survey to date on global anti-Semitism by the ADL, which revealed startling levels across the continent.”
“Then you shall be left few in number, whereas you were as numerous as the stars of heaven, because you did not obey the LORD your God. “It shall come about that as the LORD delighted over you to prosper you, and multiply you, so the LORD will delight over you to make you perish and destroy you; and you will be torn from the land where you are entering to possess it. “Moreover, the LORD will scatter you among all peoples, from one end of the earth to the other end of the earth; and there you shall serve other gods, wood and stone, which you or your fathers have not known. (Deuteronomy 28:62-68)

‘Startling levels.’ That’s an interesting phrase, especially for a newspaper not usually given to hyperbole.

Then there’s this. On May 4, the Times of Israel reported that “Ukrainian Jews immigrate to Israel amid growing unrest; immigration from troubled country up 142%
“Almost 800 people arrived in the country over January-April, and over 200 have signed up for May. The agency noted these figures do not include those who have arrived as tourists and later completed the immigration process while already in the country.”

Yet this week Israel National News (INN) says that “Reports of mass exodus of Ukrainian Jews are ‘nonsense,’ says Joint head“
In first interview since taking over as head of JDC, Alan Gill says Jews are not fleeing the violence en masse, and are not likely to in the future.

Yet the news article cities the same statistics as the Times of Israel. It is fair to say that in the Haaretz report, there are over 350,000 Jews in the Ukraine, many of the elderly and not planning to move anywhere. A thousand Jews moving back to Israel is very small sampling, however the fact that so many more Ukrainian Jews are moving back compared to the year before as INN reported, is also fair to look at.

What does the bible say?

In the Tribulation, Jews will be hunted and killed. Persecution levels will reach genocidal, bloodbath proportions. (Revelation 12:13; Jeremiah 30:7; Daniel 12:1).

The WWII Holocaust, the terrible time when millions of Jews were hunted and killed, was a preview for what is coming on the Day the LORD has set.

In other news, it is reported today that Russia and China have signed a gas exporting contract and in so doing seem to be moving toward a new Eurasian nation. Business Insider has the report:

Russia And China Sign Gas Pipeline Megadeal
Russia’s Gazprom and China’s China National Petroleum Corp. (CNPC) have signed a historic 30-year contract to supply natural gas to China, according to Russia Today and confirmed by Bloomberg. The total value of the contract is $400 billion, Gazprom CEO Aleksey Miller told RT, although the price in the document remains a “commercial secret.” Negotiations have been ongoing for more than a decade. … The gas will be sent through a new eastern pipeline linking the countries. Reuters reports that Russia will invest $55 billion in gas exploration and pipeline construction and Beijing will give roughly $20 billion to Moscow as part of the agreement. … Europe is Russia’s largest energy importer as it bought more than 160 billion cubic meters of natural gas in 2013, but tensions and sanctions over Putin’s meddling in Ukraine have Russia looking elsewhere.

The Business Insider article has the facts, but what are we to make of it? Is there an analysis of what this means? Yes. Yves at Naked Capitalism reposted the take on this megadeal by a reporter for the Asian Times. He introduced the Asian Times reporter’s analysis this way:

“Astute readers will no doubt point out that some of the elements of the Russia-Chinese emergent plan, such as reliance on gold-backed currencies, are sorely misguided. But the bigger point is that the two nations are looking hard for ways to undermine the US economic hegemony.”

This week should provide the first real fireworks in the celebration of a new Eurasian century-in-the-making when Russian President Vladimir Putin drops in on Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing.  You remember “Pipelineistan,” all those crucial oil and gas pipelines crisscrossing Eurasia that make up the true circulatory system for the life of the region.  Now, it looks like the ultimate Pipelineistan deal, worth $1 trillion and 10 years in the making, will be inked as well.  In it, the giant, state-controlled Russian energy giant Gazprom will agree to supply the giant state-controlled China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) with 3.75 billion cubic feet of liquefied natural gas a day for no less than 30 years, starting in 2018. That’s the equivalent of a quarter of Russia’s massive gas exports to all of Europe 
 

Look at that. Russia’s monstrously big.
Combined with Asia as ally or as one of the ten kingdoms, it dominates


Exit the Petrodollar, Enter the Gas-o-Yuan
And then, talking about anxiety in Washington, there’s the fate of the petrodollar to consider, or rather the “thermonuclear” possibility that Moscow and Beijing will agree on payment for the Gazprom-CNPC deal not in petrodollars but in Chinese yuan. One can hardly imagine a more tectonic shift, with Pipelineistan intersecting with a growing Sino-Russian political-economic-energy partnership. Along with it goes the future possibility of a push, led again by China and Russia, toward a new international reserve currency — actually a basket of currencies — that would supersede the dollar (at least in the optimistic dreams of BRICS members).

There’s more good stuff at the link to Naked Capitalism, but there is much to consider here, prophetically.

What does the bible say?

The United States figures nowhere important in prophecy. By the time the Tribulation arrives, the US will likely be marginalized, insignificant, or maybe even reduced to rubble. We’re nobody special, at least in the prophetic theater, which is 99% contained in the Bible Lands.

Russia, however, does figure prominently. God plans to use Russia to demonstrate His power and His protection of Israel. Ezekiel 38-39 has the story. (Begin with Ezekiel 38:1-4). Asia also figures in prophecy too. The Kings of the East come from Asia (Revelation 16:12).

There are prophesied to be ten kings reigning with the beast over ten kingdoms for a brief time at the end of history. Perhaps this megadeal is the demonstrable movement toward that. (Revelation 17:12). Europe is already united by open borders, economic alliances, and a common currency.

We’ve looked at God’s people the Jews. We’ve looked at geo-political changes in the prophetic lands. Last, let’s look at culture. The liberal media Huffington Post posted this video which apparently (according to them) has gone viral. It is listed as ‘Most Popular’ on their Gay pages. It is a snippet of a little boy reacting to learning that the two men talking with him are married. The boy looks to be about 5 or 6 years old. It is actually a three-year old video.

WATCH: This Kid’s Reaction To Meeting A Gay Couple For The First Time Is Priceless

Transcript. Calen is the kid.
Calen: A husband is a boy.
Right.
Calen: A husband’s a boy and a wife is a girl. But you two are husbands! A husband is a boy.
Yeah, we’re both husbands
Calen: You’re both husbands?! You married each other???!!! That’s funny [smacking forehead, and not funny as in ha-ha but that’s funny as in that’s weird]
That’s funny, right?
Calen: Yeah. It’s usually husbands and wives. But this is the very first time I saw husbands and husbands!
Homosexual man leans into camera range, laughs- ha ha ha ha ha
Calen: So funny. [thinks, looks away] So that means you love each other.
Yeah.
Calen: Yeah. You’re much alike. I’m going to play ping pong, You can play if you want to.

The liberal media is picking up on this (3 years late, I don’t know why) and calling it “ridiculously adorable” “innocent” etc. One writer at Slate said

“kids who haven’t been indoctrinated with their parents’ animus tend to react to gay couples with open-hearted curiosity that quickly fades into apathy.”

One commenter said, “what i want to know is what were 2 gays with a video camera and a child doing in the bathroom?” Good point.

What media is focusing on is the child’s statement that they “must love each other.” They trumpet his reaction as one totally without prejudice. But it is not so. The title could well be changed from “Kid reacts to gay couple” to “Kid confused by gay couple”. What none of the articles picking up on this speak to his first reaction, with head smack no less; ‘that’s funny’ [weird].

Matthew 18:5-6 says

And whoever receives one such child in My name receives Me; but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble, it would be better for him to have a heavy millstone hung around his neck, and to be drowned in the depth of the sea.

Homosexual union IS weird. It is unnatural. (Romans 1:26). There are two prophetic things here. First, any culture that engages in the perverted behavior of homosexuality is ripe for judgment, (Romans 1:18) and any nation that heartily approves of it is being judged already. (Romans 1:32).

Romans 1 is the picture of a process into degradation and God’s judgment for that degradation.

Cultures that have become totally depraved such as the world in Noah’s day, or the homosexuality that was rampant in Lot’s day, are noted by Jesus to indicate that the time of judgment is near. (Luke 17:6, Genesis 6:5, Luke 17:28).

We will see in the near future if things come together quickly or not. I think they will. It seems that the prophetic activity is quickening each day. The Lord is always working so each day actually brings us closer to the Lord’s re-appearance. Blessed is He. May His name always be exalted in the highest.

Charles Spurgeon said,

It is idle to talk about looking for His coming if we never set our house in order, and never put ourselves in readiness for His reception.

Are you ready?

Posted in birth pangs, earthquakes, prophecy

"This year there was a typical pattern of quake activity up until the end of March, and then things went bonkers"

Posted on by elizabethprata

In the last two weeks there have been 15 ‘major’ earthquakes in the world. Major quakes are considered above 6.0. The month of May seems to be continuing the pattern for an increased number of large earthquakes. The Atlantic reported the following about April’s earthquakes:

April Had a Record Number of Big Earthquakes
This year there was a typical pattern of quake activity up until the end of March, and then things went bonkers.
 In a typical month, the planet is shaken by an average of one or two medium-to-large earthquakes. This past month was not typical. Things were running on track up until the end of March, and then the ground went totally bonkers.  There was an incredible 13 quakes of magnitudes 6.5 or higher in April. The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center, which issued bulletins for each one, says that is “easily a record for this institution.” Five of these temblors were powerful enough that the center also put out tsunami warnings.”

If as the article says, the globe is shaken once or twice a month by a large-ish quake, then what of 15 large-ish quakes in 15 days? And what of the information reported in these two articles?

Northwest Alaska–
Unusual Arctic earthquakes intrigue scientists
“In recent weeks, two powerful earthquakes have rocked the Northwest Arctic, leading some to ask why, and if these two are a sign of things to come. On April 18, the first quake rang in at a magnitude of 5.6, while on May 3 a second quake shook the region at 5.5. Before the first one in April, it had been more than 30 years since an earthquake that strong struck the region, said Mike West, a seismologist with the Alaska Earthquake Center. “This got our attention,” West said. “It’s not unprecedented, but it is unusual.“

Reno, NV-
Study: 300 Earthquakes In Parker County Since December
There have been more than 300 earthquakes reported in Parker County since December, according to just-published research conducted by an earthquake study team. In preliminary findings released Wednesday, the team reported that the quakes show a complex fault system in the area near Reno and Azle, which started experiencing quakes for the first time in November.

Prophecy is packed with predictions of earthquakes. At this late stage of history, we read the last book of the age, Revelation, which contains predictions of at least five major earthquakes, the final one being so large that ‘none like it has ever occurred on the earth’. You might remember the recent 9.0 quake at Japan that sparked the tsunami, devastated millions across continents, jogged the earth off its axis, and shortened the astronomical day. The one in Revelation will be worse. Read this account from Tacitus in his Annals, where a large quake occurred sometime between 16-19 AD, and a dozen Asiatic cities crumbled.

In the same year, twelve important cities of Asia collapsed in an earthquake, the time being night, so that the havoc was the less foreseen and the more devastating. Even the usual resource in these catastrophes, a rush to open ground, was unavailing, as the fugitives were swallowed up in yawning chasms. Accounts are given of huge mountains sinking, of former plains seen heaved aloft, of fires flashing out amid the ruin

The last predicted earthquake is a judgment poured out from seventh bowl of wrath and the description of what is to occur is similar to what happened in Tacitus’ day. Except for one thing. It will be much, much worse.

The Seventh Bowl
The seventh angel poured out his bowl into the air, and a loud voice came out of the temple, from the throne, saying, “It is done!” 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. And great hailstones, about one hundred pounds each, fell from heaven on people; and they cursed God for the plague of the hail, because the plague was so severe. (Revelation 16:18)

There are people who say that the bible doesn’t teach that earthquakes will increase throughout the end of the age. By the way, we are in the end of the age. It has been the end of the age since the Messiah was announced at Pentecost. The Messianic age, or the Age of Grace, began at the resurrection of Jesus and will end with His return.

It is true, the bible doesn’t directly state that earthquakes will increase at the end of the age. But the bible doesn’t directly state that God is a Trinity, either. That doesn’t mean the concept isn’t indirectly taught.

Jesus said that a sign of His coming will be earthquakes. In prophecy, this is a two-fold event. The five or so major quakes predicted in Revelation are one such concrete sign. Jesus said so in Matthew 24:3,7. Certain, specific quakes are predicted which will kill a certain, specific amount of people or do certain, specific damage.

However He also taught that earthquakes in general will occur and they will increase as time goes on. How? In The Olivet Discourse, He spoke to the Disciples on the Mount of Olives as a long response to their query as to the signs of the end of the age, that the end of the age will be like birth pangs. (Matthew 24:8). Paul echoes this analogy in 1 Thessalonians 5:3, where he is also discussing the Day of the Lord-

While people are saying, “There is peace and security,” then sudden destruction will come upon them as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.

The notion here is compared to the Days of Noah or the Days of Lot. Just as the people of Noah’s day were thinking themselves secure and happy, all things going along as they had been, sudden destruction came in the form of the rains and the wells of the deeps opening up to drown them. Or in Sodom, all things were going along as they had been, and suddenly brimstone rained down from the sky and destruction came.

And yet, all things had not been going on as they had been, in Noah’s day sin was getting worse and worse and worse from the time of the expulsion from the garden and one murder (Abel, Genesis 4:8) to the situation where all men were always thinking and doing evil continually. (Genesis 6:5). This time period was around 1500 years. (source)

In the days of Lot the outcry against the sins of the cities of the plain (Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, Zeboiim) was reaching God’s ears. Between the time of the Flood’s subsiding with 8 righteous people left upon the earth, and the four cities’ destruction for sin, it was about 433 years. (source). Both were situations were things descended gradually but inexorably from a state of near-perfect righteousness to almost all men exhibiting a deep rebellion.

Well if there are metaphorical birth pangs, there must be a metaphorical pregnancy. If there is a pregnancy, there must be a gestation. In gestation, it takes time for the babe to grow and grow and grow. The water breaks. The pains begin. The bloody birth. And then new life.

Even within the birth pangs, they begin spaced apart, then grow in intensity and painfulness as the climactic moment approaches. Jesus could have used any metaphor but in specifically answering the question about the signs of the end of the age, including earthquakes, He said it will be like birthpains. Not only that, but the earthquakes being the beginning of the birth pains, indicating once again that things will intensify as events unfold. The quadruple judgments of Revelation show us this The judgments themselves intensify and increase in frequency as the Tribulation proceeds. (Seals, Trumpets, Thunders of Revelation 10:3-4, Bowls).

I could be wrong of course in interpreting the birth pangs this way. But I’m not wrong about saying that sin begins small and grows widespread, as seen between the time between Adam and Eve’s expulsion to the Flood, or the advancing and retreating pattern of sin-judgment-repentance evidenced by Israel in that cycle shown to us as a demonstration of God’s long-suffering. Or the outcry against Sodom growing to the point where God sent His angel to judge it. Sin and rebellion grows to a certain point and then God decides to judge in His timing. So birth pangs are an apt description. Things get worse and worse and worse, then destruction.

Earthquakes are an interesting sign of the end of the age. Jesus declared they are a sign in Matthew 24:7. Earthquakes in prophecy are a sign of power and sovereignty of God. Isaiah 29:6 says

“the LORD Almighty will come with thunder and earthquake and great noise, with windstorm and tempest and flames of a devouring fire.”

It is wise, I believe, to watch the earthquakes. Don’t read too much into them, but as a sign, if Jesus said they are a sign then they are a sign. That they are verifiably increasing is a fact.

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

And I will show wonders in the heavens above and signs on the earth below, blood, and fire, and vapor of smoke;…before the day of the Lord comes, the great and magnificent day. (Acts 2:19, 20b)

I believe the earthquakes increasing is one sign among many others that show the time is growing short. I’ll close with the next verse from Acts 2:20:

And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.

 

Posted in carl trueman, Isaiah 66, jesus, lament, prophecy, woe

Of church bulletins and the language of lament

Posted on by elizabethprata

I’m an Old Testament kind of woman. I love the Old Testament. I was shocked as I’ve grown in the faith to see that many Christians never read the OT. I’ve mentioned once that a pastor’s wife I knew used to carry a New Testament bible only to church. I’ve also mentioned that once, a Sunday School teacher laughed dismissively, saying, “I just take most of the Old Testament with a grain of salt”.

I’ve never understood that attitude that half of God’s word doesn’t count. I’ve also never understood the attitude that the ‘God of the Old Testament’ is wrath but the ‘God of the New Testament is love.’ Have they never read of Jesus’ wrath in revelation? Have they never read of His love in Hosea?

It is uncomfortable to read of His wrath, in OT or NT. God’s wrath makes me tremble and just to think I’ve displeased Him for one nanosecond makes my stomach clench. In this present Age of Grace we have rarely witnessed His Old Testament power, other than a monumental natural disaster or two. Usually, though, people deny it is Him behind that power, and they go on with their lives without giving Him praise and glory. But the Tribulation will be all-wrath, all the time. His power will be unleashed but not in the way it has been this past age, through grace and love, the cross of Jesus and salvation of sinners. His power will be unleashed in woes, anger, and death. They WILL know it is Him doing the miracles of disaster and woes. For example, Ezekiel 38:21-23,

“I will summon a sword against Gog on all my mountains, declares the Lord God. Every man’s sword will be against his brother. 22With pestilence and bloodshed I will enter into judgment with him, and I will rain upon him and his hordes and the many peoples who are with him torrential rains and hailstones, fire and sulfur. 23So I will show my greatness and my holiness and make myself known in the eyes of many nations. Then they will know that I am the Lord.”

Gill’s Exposition says,

“Thus will I magnify myself, and sanctify myself,…. Show the greatness of his power, and the strictness of his justice and holiness, and glorify these, and all other of his perfections, in the destruction of the enemies of his people: and I will be known in the eyes of many nations, and they shall know that I am the Lord; Heathen nations shall now come to the knowledge of the true God, and his Son Jesus Christ, and of the Christian religion, and shall embrace and profess it”

God is God, and His wrath shows His perfections as much as does His love. Often, in my reading of the OT when I come across such a passage, I mourn. I lament my sin, the lost-ness of others, the destruction those who refuse to repent. I cry over the waste of opportunities to promote His glory. I cry real tears and I’m often grief-stricken over these things. I’m not bragging, but letting you know that sin is a palpable, real burden and weight that slays me in grief more often than not.

I was looking at the church bulletin cover from last Sunday’s worship service. I was thinking, once again, that the covers always, ALWAYS show some sunny-happy verse and smiling people. I wondered, where are the verses about His wrath? His anger? Where are the photos of people standing beside a tornado-destroyed house, a cancer ward, or a prophet in sackcloth and ashes? Never. We never see that. It irks me that we don’t.

Proverbs 19:20 is good. But why not also sometime print Proverbs 19:23, a couple of verses later?

“The fear of the Lord leads to life, and whoever has it rests satisfied; he will not be visited by harm.”

When was the last time you read a church bulletin cover or heard a sermon on the fear of the Lord? Do we not need to see the whole counsel of God? Read verses extolling all His attributes? Yes. Why not some verses like Isaiah 6:5? Isaiah 10:1-2? Isaiah 30:1?

Or these, like Lamentations 3:55? Jonah 2:2? Psalm 130:1? Like, is no one ever miserable?

Then I came across Carl Trueman’s piece at Reformation 21 blog. It dovetailed nicely with my current thoughts on the lack of balance in the verses shown on bulletin covers, or the lack of balance of the woe verses as the basis for sermons. His piece is called “Miserable Christians Revisited“.

Some time ago, I wrote a short article entitled ‘What Can Miserable Christians Sing?’ Over subsequent years, I have had a lot of friendly correspondence as a result of that piece and it has been reprinted in numerous church newsletters and posted on various websites. Then, earlier this year Jonathan Leeman, of 9Marks Ministry, kindly asked if I would write a further piece, reflecting on the original article. This has now been published in the 9Marks Journal. Here is a taster:

 The article was intended to highlight what I saw as a major deficiency in Christian worship, a deficiency that is evident in both traditional and contemporary approaches: the absence of the language of lament. The Psalms, the Bible’s own hymnbook, contains many notes of lamentation, reflecting the nature of the believer’s life in a fallen world. And yet these cries of pain are on the whole absent from hymns and praise songs. The question that formed the article’s title was thus a genuine one: what is it in the hymnody of your church that can be sung honestly by the woman who has just lost her baby, the husband who has just lost his wife, the child who has just lost a parent, when they come to church on Sunday? The answer, I suggested, was the Psalms, for in them one finds divinely inspired words which allow the believer to express their deepest pains and sorrows to God.

You can read the whole piece here

The language of lament. Yes. Carl Trueman has it right. Woe, lament, and judgment.

I was reading Isaiah 66:23-24. Here are the verses,

God’s Final Judgments against the Wicked
…23″And it shall be from new moon to new moon And from sabbath to sabbath, All mankind will come to bow down before Me,” says the LORD. 24″Then they will go forth and look On the corpses of the men Who have transgressed against Me. For their worm will not die And their fire will not be quenched; And they will be an abhorrence to all mankind.”

Isaiah 66:23 is a verse of great blessing, but immediately after, in verse 24 there is a verse of great judgment. Verse 23 shows a monthly worship by representatives who constantly come to acknowledge Jesus as supreme upon the earth. In verse 24 there is a monthly and constant review of the judgment of God, “a perpetual sacrament of judgment”, as S. Lewis Johnson puts it.

If it pleased God to tell us that we will worship Him in love and submission; and likewise will view His eternal judgment of those whose worm will not die; to vividly show us that both these things will be constantly occurring, then what of man that we deny singing laments and printing the verses which also show these things?

Posted in born in one day, israel, prophecy

Israel celebrates 66th year of independence, Israel’s existence a fulfillment of prophecy

Posted on by elizabethprata

On 14 May 1948, after almost 2000 years, declared itself a nation.

“Who has heard such a thing? Who has seen such things? Shall a land be born in one day? Shall a nation be brought forth in one moment? For as soon as Zion was in labor she brought forth her children.” (Isaiah 66:8)

The May 1948 re-birth of Israel is widely seen as a fulfillment of the above prophecy.

Much more lies ahead for His chosen nation. However, much history lay behind for the harlot nation known as Israel. Hosea 1:1-9 has the story

When the Lord first spoke through Hosea, the Lord said to Hosea, “Go, take to yourself a wife of whoredom and have children of whoredom, for the land commits great whoredom by forsaking the Lord.” 3So he went and took Gomer, the daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and bore him a son.

 4And the Lord said to him, “Call his name Jezreel, for in just a little while I will punish the house of Jehu for the blood of Jezreel, and I will put an end to the kingdom of the house of Israel. 5And on that day I will break the bow of Israel in the Valley of Jezreel.”

 6She conceived again and bore a daughter. And the Lord said to him, “Call her name No Mercy, for I will no more have mercy on the house of Israel, to forgive them at all. 7But I will have mercy on the house of Judah, and I will save them by the Lord their God. I will not save them by bow or by sword or by war or by horses or by horsemen.”

 8When she had weaned No Mercy, she conceived and bore a son. 9And the Lord said, “Call his name Not My People, for you are not my people, and I am not your God.”

Can you imagine anything worse than God saying He is not your God and He will not have mercy or compassion on you? No! It is a breathtakingly mournful pronouncement! It is a divorce that reverberates through the ages!

However, does the language in Hosea indicate that God has cast off His people? Never! Hosea goes on in verses 10-11

Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be like the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured or numbered. And in the place where it was said to them, “You are not my people,” it shall be said to them, “Childrene of the living God.” 11And the children of Judah and the children of Israel shall be gathered together, and they shall appoint for themselves one head. And they shall go up from the land, for great shall be the day of Jezreel.

Here is S. Lewis Johnson in a wonderful sermon on those verses, called “The Panorama of Divine Love“. As much as the people of Israel had wandered away to other gods, as often as they rebelled, as much as they forgot Yahweh, God never forgets His covenant promises to His chosen people. As He told Abraham,

And he brought him outside and said, “Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” (Genesis 15:5)

 And again in Genesis 22:17

I will surely bless you, and I will surely multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore. And your offspring shall possess the gate of his enemies,

And the lesson for us is that of those He chose to be part of the Bride He will in no way forget either. His promises are true and His prophesies come to pass. Though after 70AD both kingdoms of Israel and Judah were trounced under the dust of Roman feet, and the temple destroyed, on the glorious Day of May 14, 1948, as Ezekiel had prophesied, the dried bones knit together and God in His timing declared a nation to be reborn, life entering their grave and a nation rose up–

So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived and stood on their feet, an exceedingly great army.

11Then he said to me, “Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. Behold, they say, ‘Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost; we are indeed cut off.’ 12Therefore prophesy, and say to them, Thus says the Lord God: Behold, I will open your graves and raise you from your graves, O my people. And I will bring you into the land of Israel. 13And you shall know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves, and raise you from your graves, O my people. 14And I will put my Spirit within you, and you shall live, and I will place you in your own land. Then you shall know that I am the Lord; I have spoken, and I will do it, declares the Lord.” (Ezekiel 37:10-14)

Despite the rebellion of His chosen people, He will enact His covenant, because He is a God of true promises and of mercy and forgiveness. Thank the Lord that His actions do not depend on us, a rebellious and adulterous generation of sinful people! He surely does not choose His own, Israel or Bride, based on merit!

Israel is still a nation of lost and wandering sheep. On His day they will mourn for the one they have pierced and declare Jesus as their Messiah, On that Day He will pour out His spirit and they will plead for mercy. (Zechariah 12:10). And the borders shall be enlarged and Jesus shall reign among them and they will have a kingdom of peace and prosperity.

“For I will pour water on the thirsty land, and streams on the dry ground; I will pour out my Spirit on your offspring, and my blessing on your descendants.” (Isaiah 44:3)

Sixty-six years ago next week, Israel was born. The LORD is great and His purposes come to pass. You can trust the LORD!!

“I, the LORD, have spoken and will do it.” (Ezekiel 36:36b)

Israel marks 66th Independence Day with torch-lighting ceremony
The heart of the ceremony is the lighting of 12 beacons, one for each of the tribes of Israel. Every year a dozen Israelis are selected for this honor by a special committee.

Posted in culture, gay marriage, homosexuality, north carolina, prophecy

An unusual twist to North Carolina’s gay marriage lawsuit: banning gay marriage inhibits freedom of religion

Posted on by elizabethprata

Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter! (Isaiah 5:20)

Here is one example of how satan is twisting good to evil and evil to good. In this case, he has it both ways. Remember, the very first time satan is introduced to us in the word of God, we learn that our adversary is crafty. (Genesis 3:1)

The issue on today’s essay is homosexuality, which as you know, is a sin according to the words of God. (Leviticus 18:22, 1 Corinthians 6:9-11, Romans 1:26-28, 1 Timothy 1:10). However, the culture around the world for the most part has been very busy in this generation and the last to redefine homosexuality as an equality issue, or a discrimination issue, or not a sin issue. And so far, it has been successful. Culture has normalized the activity, worked to remove the stigma to it, and presented it as something that deserves inclusion into one of society’s (and God’s) institutions: marriage.

I thought that this news article from earlier in the week represented a ‘natural’ next step in the ongoing perverse battle to get homosexuality into churches and into the minds of people as a normal, God-ordained activity;but was also brilliant as a next step that seems almost fated (as in, why didn’t we see this coming?)

North Carolina’s New Gay Marriage Lawsuit Could Turn ‘Everything On Its Head’
An unusual lawsuit in North Carolina is shifting the conversation about religious freedom — and could be driving a wedge between some major opponents of same-sex marriage.

Clergy from the United Church of Christ, a liberal denomination that voted to support gay weddings in its churches in 2005, filed suit in a North Carolina district court Monday, becoming the latest in a nationwide series of cases against a state’s same-sex marriage ban. Like dozens of similar lawsuits filed across the country, the North Carolina suit argues that the state’s ban violates gay couples’ constitutional right to equal protection. But in a unique twist, the suit adds that the ban also violates the First Amendment right of members of the clergy to practice their faith — because the state’s ban criminalizes pastors who bless same-sex unions, leaving clergy open to arrest.

Satan was created by God and by biblical account was the most beautiful of all the angels, the highest of the high, adorned and in the midst of the holiest of places in heaven. (Ezekiel 28:12–18). Angels have intelligence and they use their intelligence to study, observe, and preach. (Matthew 8:29; 2 Corinthians 11:3; 1 Peter 1:12). Since satan is so cunning and was able to turn a third of the holy angels of heaven from holiness to unrighteousness by getting them to follow him, it stands to reason that satan is brilliantly effective at his dark work. (Hebrews 12:22, Revelation 12:4)

What a tremendously evil campaign! To infiltrate first the culture by presenting homosexuality as normal, then infiltrate marriage with it, then insinuate himself into the churches with it, and finally to turn our own laws against us by claiming that to deny homosexual marriage in the church violates the first amendment because it denies “pastors” the right to perform their duties in marrying two men or two women. What a twist!

I can’t say I have a begrudging admiration for satan, but I do have a breathless awe at the depth of his evil and his ability to perform seemingly endless iterations of the swap for dark for light and bitter for sweet.

The lesson for us here is two-fold. First, satan is patient. He has long-term plans and is willing to work incrementally in order to carry them out. I personally believe this latest version of his 6000 year campaign to normalize homosexuality in America began in 1969 with the Stonewall Riots.

If you’re old enough, in the US in 1968 everything was turning upside down. Protesters were marching against and rioting about the Viet Nam War. The Civil Rights movement was reaching its highest pitch. Several promising politicians were assassinated, and the 1968 political convention was a mess of melee and policemen and batons and brutality. At the same time, second-wave feminism was rising, a movement that focused attention on female sexuality, family, the workplace, reproductive rights, and perceived and real inequalities. Every arena of culture, from one end to another was being questioned, protested, and turned upside down.

Against this backdrop Sexual Revolution burst into cultural consciousness. As described by Wikipedia, “the sexual revolution (also known as a time of “sexual liberation”) was a social movement that challenged traditional codes of behavior related to sexuality and interpersonal relationships throughout the Western world from the 1960s to the 1980s. Sexual liberation included increased acceptance of sex outside of traditional heterosexual, monogamous relationships (primarily marriage). Contraception and the pill, public nudity, the normalization of premarital sex, homosexuality and alternative forms of sexuality, and the legalization of abortion all followed.” (source)


It was inevitable that the Stonewall Riots of 1969 would bring us to a First Amendment challenge of violation of relisous freedom. It was never obvious at the time of course, but hindsight is 20/20 and looking back we can see the road our culture has traveled. Incremental dilution of standards away from the bible’s standards is always disastrous. Never, ever give an inch.

Secondly, we as humans are sitting ducks. Just as we may not boast of our own works or even our own participation in our own salvation, we always must remember that our adversary is crafty and seeks our destruction in general and specifically at every moment. (John 10:10; 1 Peter 5:8). To put it bluntly, we’re dumber than we think.

Third, because we need Christ so desperately, our defense against being deluded by satan’s schemes is Christ alone and Christ constantly. Apart from him we can do nothing. Any person who strays from that narrow path He has set before us even by an inch will soon find themselves deluded and wandering, swapping dark for light in short order.

Christ overcame the world and He sends the Holy Spirit to dwell within us. In the Spirit’s ministry of pointing to Christ, the Spirit seeks our best, whether it be clarity in understanding scripture, strength to persevere, or even interceding for us when we are too weak or ignorant to pray. (Ephesians 1:17-18; Ephesians 3:16, Romans 8:26). How we resist the devil is by staying in the word, praying to Jesus, submitting to His statutes, and repenting when we do sin. All this helps us stay clean and clear. In other words, in every way, look to Jesus.

Satan’s brilliance is obvious. However he is a crumb compared to the glory that is Jesus our Savior! In Jesus, we can overcome all things, including drawing on  the Holy Spirit’s the wit and strength to resist satan’s schemes. (James 4:7). The twisted ways of this world will become increasingly twisted, but we have the mind of Christ. And always, always remember, earth is not our home.

For we are strangers before you and sojourners, as all our fathers were. Our days on the earth are like a shadow, and there is no abiding. 
(1 Chronicles 29:15)
Posted in famine, food scarcity, prophecy, revelation

Food prices rising dramatically, food scarcity affecting many

Posted on by elizabethprata

Revelation 6:8 in the KJV says that one of the judgments God will hurl at the earth is death by hunger. Just above that verse is one where it is seen that a purchase of enough wheat for the day costs a day’s wage. (Revelation 6:6). Food will be an issue in the Tribulation.

It takes time for famine to set up. It begins with drought.

“The cause of droughts is easily understood, but hard to prevent. Depending on the location, crop failures, famine, high food prices, and deaths can occur. One of the scariest parts of a drought is the onset time. Unlike other forms of severe weather or natural disasters, droughts often develop slowly. Droughts are caused by a depletion of precipitation over time. Unlike a dry spell, prolonged lack of rain will cause regions around the world to slowly dry out. Because of the slow onset of droughts, their cost is often only estimated.” (Source)

Drought in the Wheatlands, W. Australia, 2010,
Phillip Capper picture, CC

In the article below, a dramatic rise in beef prices is attributed to drought. How is beef tied in with water, one may wonder? The complex systems involved in food production are many, and they are delicately intertwined. For example, weather (atmospheric conditions), ground conditions, (soil, fertilizer, seed quality), breeding stock if raising animals, transportation systems, and consumer demand are just a very few. Oftentimes, one string of the intertwining system involved in food production isn’t particularly visible but is being dramatically affected somewhere along the line, only to surface all of a sudden. But the set-up was years in the making. This article is from last week:

Beef prices hit all-time high in U.S.
Come grilling season, expect your sirloin steak to come with a hearty side of sticker shock. Beef prices have reached all-time highs in the U.S. and aren’t expected to come down any time soon. Extreme weather has thinned the nation’s beef cattle herds to levels last seen in 1951, when there were about half as many mouths to feed in America. … Soaring beef prices are being blamed on years of drought throughout the western and southern U.S. The dry weather has driven up the price of feed such as corn and hay to record highs, forcing many ranchers to sell off their cattle. That briefly created a glut of beef cows for slaughter that has now run dry.

It’s not only beef that is being affected. Pork is undergoing a dramatic rise in price at the consumer end, too. This Michigan farmer lost 5000 pigs.

Bacon, Pork Prices Rise As Deadly Diarrhea Virus Wipes Out Michigan Pigs
A virus that kills piglets at an alarming rate has been found on 93 farms in Michigan, according to the state agriculture department. Sam Hines, executive vice president of the Michigan Pork Producers Association, said porcine epidemic diarrhea (PED) is not a human health concern, but is deadly to newborn pigs. “This is not a food safety issue,” Hines told WWJ’s Marie Osborne. “Most hogs do acquire the virus but bigger animals can recover from it. Pigs that are less than a month old will have such a severe diarrhea that they dehydrate. There’s nearly 100 percent mortality with pigs less than three-weeks of age.”

Beef and pork are two sources of protein for the American consumer, as well as many others. I have a friend who runs a BBQ place. She has had to raise prices this week and revise the menus. They hate to do it but the rise in prices for the meat has to at least be partially passed on at some point. The problem is not just “out there,” and the problem is not just facing you individually at the grocery store. It affects business owners too.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reports this month that “in March, retail food prices rose 0.4% from the preceding month, matching February’s increase. These marked the largest monthly gains in food prices since September 2011…” This is from an article titled ‘The 10 Fastest Rising Food Prices‘. As mentioned above, bacon and beef were the #1 and #2 fastest rising food price (no more inexpensive BLTs or hamburgers from the diner!). The rest are:

3. oranges
4. coffee
5. peanut butter
6. margarine
7. wine
8. turkey
9. chicken
10. grapefruit

You notice that 5 out of the 10 items listed ad having dramatic price increases are proteins (beef, bacon, turkey, chicken, peanut butter). As for the citrus, here is an article explaining the citrus crop failure. Sometimes it’s not drought that causes it, but disease.

Wikimedia commons photo

US Orange production hit by disease, prices soar
“New York (AFP) – A citrus disease spread by a tiny insect has devastated Florida’s orange crop, which is expected to be the worst in nearly 30 years, and sent juice prices soaring on New York markets. The culprit? The gnat-sized Asian citrus psyllid, which is infecting citrus trees across the Sunshine State with huanglongbing, or citrus greening disease, which causes fruit to taste bitter and fall from trees too soon. …Citrus greening disease has become such a problem this year that the US government has lowered its forecast for the upcoming harvest four times.”

Citrus isn’t the only produce item whose prices are leaving families in the dust. This Wall Street Journal article reports rising prices in many other produce areas too. In this case, the culprit is drought, After three years, the soil fatigue and lack of precipitation is finally taking its toll.

The cost of fresh produce is poised to jump in the coming months as a three-year drought in California shows few signs of abating, according to an Arizona State University study set to be released Wednesday. The study found a head of lettuce could increase in price as much as 62 cents to $2.44; avocado prices could rise 35 cents to $1.60 each; and tomatoes could cost 45 cents more at $2.84 per pound. (The run-up in produce prices is in line with other projections showing that overall food cost gains are expected to accelerate this year.)

And finally, it’s not only beef, pork, citrus and other produce that are showing rising prices at the retail end, but seafood as well.

Wikimedia Commons, author Ramiroja

Prices for shrimp have jumped to a 14-year high in recent months, spurred by a disease that’s ravaging the crustacean’s population. At Noodles & Co., a chain with locations across the country, it costs 29 percent more to add the shellfish to pastas this year, and shrimp-heavy dishes at places like the Cheesecake Factory Inc. are going up as well…

Goodness, pretty soon we won’t be able to afford anything except crackers! And probably not even that either! Friends have started keeping chickens (for the eggs). Some are taking up hunting. Others who never planted gardens before are doing so now. Most people I know have cut back on going to restaurants and are cooking at home. Prairie mother blogs are booming, and food co-ops are bustling.

I am a vegetarian so I am not affected by any loss of meat or seafood in my diet, but I do rely on eggs, peanut butter and tofu, all of which have increased in price. I also use a lot of quinoa, a super-grain that is a complete protein. I bought a can of salmon (the first one in half a year, and ouch, the price has gone up so much! And it wasn’t the fancy kind but the kind that takes a long time to clean because it is full of skin and fish bones). Anyway, I made salmon-quinoa patties today, they are great.

EPrata photo

Quinoa is good for hot cereal in the morning with apples and raisins, and it is a very filling salad accompaniment at lunch with a sandwich.

Another complete protein is hummus and pita bread, and amazingly my local mom and pop grocery store has started carrying hummus, and blessedly at a reasonable price, too. They also carry tofu,  something of a miracle in my redneck, pig-hunting, BBQ eating county. Tofu is an always-difficult food item to work with but it’s a must for vegetarians looking for protein and at a good price. Beans and rice are another complete protein as well.

So the above were some suggestions for alternatives to the ever-expensive meat. You can always raise chickens or rabbits for meat and learn to pluck and cook them. The time of squeamishness and picky eating appears to be at an end. Hunger will do that to a person.

I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the biggest blessing to me that has come along in decades. It is a produce co-op called Bountiful Baskets. For a low price of $21.50 you will receive a basket of fruit and a basket of vegetables. The charge is broken down in the following manner:

$15.00 for the food, and $6.50 for the fee; 1.50 is processing and administration and the other $5 is for fuel for the truck. If you order with a friend you can split the $6.50. You can order up to three baskets in one order and so three friends split it, bringing my cost down to $17.20.

Bountiful Baskets is described this way: “BBFC is a group of people who work together for mutual benefit. This is a grassroots, all volunteer, no contracts, no catch co-operative. Since there are no employees at Bountiful Baskets, we as a group pay rock bottom prices on your food.”

I know what you’re thinking, but there really is no catch, and the produce is the best I’ve ever seen. I have been a life-long vegetarian and this basket of produce I get every two weeks is the pot of gold at the end of my vegetarian rainbow. The amount received exceeds what I’d be able to duplicate at the store in cost and in quality. It is healthy, lasts a long time, and is of excellent quality. You do not have to sign a contract and you’re not committed in any way. Here is a photo of some recent Baskets. The only catch is that you get what you get, you can’t order what you want. But it’s always so good that it takes a small adjustment in attitude toward food preparation and you’re set. We are all undergoing attitude adjustments to our approach to food these days anyway, so please keep an open mind.

Facebook Danielsville Co-op (Bountiful Basket chapter)

Go to the BB link above and click on locations to see if a local co-op exists in your area. If it doesn’t, it is very easy to join and set one up for your town. If you google Bountiful Baskets you will find a plethora of articles exclaiming over its popularity and explosive growth. The only problem is that as the program catches on in each area, and there is a limit of 95 baskets for each co-op chapter, the competition to get a basket grows. When the pay-window for that week’s basket opens, some sites sell out in minutes, unfortunately.

We are all being pinched by food inflation. In my county, a Federal program grants money for a summer lunch program. Our School Nutrition Program workers were hoping to feed at least 5000 children last summer, they fed 12,000. Blessedly, we received the grant again and the summer ‘feed the children’ summer lunch program will continue.

I’ve written about food several times over the years. In the past, when I’ve written about it or mentioned it, some have scoffed, not seeing a difference in their local area. By 2014, most people see great changes, and are experiencing adjustments in either minor or major ways. The pain at the grocery check out is no longer spotty or local or “elsewhere”. It’s everywhere.

Man-made global warming is a crock but the climate IS changing. Extreme weather is a fact, and this affects food production on all fronts (farming, animals, and fishing). In 2012, this article from the UK Guardian said that food scarcity is a timebomb waiting to go off. In my opinion, recent events have shown that the fuse is very short.

“This situation is not going to go away,” says Lester Brown, an environmental analyst and president of the Earth Policy Institute in Washington. In a new book, Full Planet, Empty Plates, he predicts ever increasing food prices, leading to political instability, spreading hunger and, unless governments act, a catastrophic breakdown in food. “Food is the new oil and land is the new gold,” he says. We saw early signs of the food system unravelling in 2008 following an abrupt doubling of world grain prices. As they climbed, exporting countries [such as Russia] began restricting exports to keep their domestic prices down. In response, importing countries panicked and turned to buying or leasing land in other countries to produce food for themselves. The result is that a new geopolitics of food has emerged, where the competition for land and water is intensifying and each country is fending for itself.”

What do you think is going to happen after the rapture, when the restraining ministry of the Holy Spirit ceases, food becomes scarce-to-non-existent as the verses from Revelation show us, and sin is rampant? I shudder to even think! I believe it is clear that the LORD’s work in setting up the coming Tribulation famine is well underway. The iceberg has finally poked through the surface of the water and the existence of a mountain of conditions for massive food failure is here.

Meanwhile we Christians continue to adjust our pocketbooks and attitudes, keep lowering our expectations for the meal time, keep sharing what we have, and keep looking up. Only God knows how tight He will draw the tension we will experience before we fly up to Him in the rapture, but it is to His glory that until the moment we do, we always glorify Him in every circumstance. So whether it’s dandelion weeds on our plate or Kobe steak, we say, thank you Jesus for Your provision and may your glory be ever bright in our hearts and praise continually on our lips.

Posted in crimea, ezekiel 38, gog, prophecy, russia, ukraine

Donetsk leaflet: Jews must register or face deportation; Russia, Ukraine, and prophecy

Posted on by elizabethprata

This is a summary of what has been going on in the Crimea and Ukraine with Russia this past month. Russia and the Baltics have some prophetic significance in the upcoming Ezekiel 38/Gog Magog war and the Tribulation wars. I don’t know much about that area of the world so I haven’t been covering it from the geo-political angle. But something came to light today that must be addressed, because it is of high and clear prophetic significance.

[UPDATE: flier accepted as authentic now seen as a possible fake. But still, even that someone would think to do this as a prank, OR as a real incident, bespeaks prophecy. Like Putin joking he won’t annex Alaska because it’s too cold…]

[UPDATE 2, Joel Rosenberg weighs in: Leaflets ordering Jews to register in east Ukraine city or be deported creating fear. Threat evocative of 1930s. Pro-Russian separatists say order isn’t real. But someone is trying to scare Ukrainian Jews. The question is: Who?

First, the news,

April 15, 2014: First deaths in Ukraine; Putin admits Crimea invaded
A clash outside a military base ended with the first deaths so far in a Ukraine anti-militant operation as Russian President Vladimir Putin admitted Thursday in a radio interview that Russian soldiers did secretly invade Crimea to help pro-Russian Ukrainians take over the province by force. Meanwhile, high-level talks aimed at calming soaring tensions over the crisis in Ukraine were being held in Geneva between representatives of the United States, European Union and Russia. Three pro-Russian militants were killed in a skirmish outside a Ukrainian National Guard base in the Black Sea port of Mariupol in an attack Ukraine’s interior ministry called the bloodiest to date by militants who want the entire East Ukraine to go the way of Crimea. Crimea was annexed by Putin after Ukraine militants took over the province with the help of mysterious well-armed squads of masked soldiers who sealed off the province to prevent Ukraine from bringing in troops. Ukraine said Putin is doing the same thing in East Ukraine, but he denied it.

April 15, 2014: The UK Telegraph reports that the Ukraine is “on the brink” of civil war as the government launched an “antiterrorist operation” against pro-Russian separatists in the east of the country.

The Washington Post editorialized about Russian President Vladimir Putin’s ambitions. Keep in mind that by the time the antichrist comes to the fore and he is revealed, the world will have been divided into ten geo-political regions led by ten kings. (Dan 2:31-35, 40-45; 7:7-8, 19-24 ; Rev 13:1-2; 17:3, 7, 12-16.) These kings will be the most ambitious of the most ambitious, and the most ruthlessly successful, if they end up as one of only ten leaders of the entire globe. The Gog Magog war is sparked by a Russian leader who invades Israel under the influence of demonic Gog. The leaders of the last of the last days will have huge ambitions and will not be afraid to put their tanks where their mouths are.

Of geo-political realignments:
Al Arabiya.net has recently described the current standoff between the West and Moscow concerning Ukraine as potentially the gravest instance of tension in the post-Cold War era. The tensions between Russia and the West seem to be causing some significant geopolitical re-alignments following Russia’s recent political aggressions in relation to Ukraine and Crimea. (Source)

Of dictatorship ambitions:
The Obama administration is underestimating Putin’s ambitions
President Obama has dismissed Russia as a “regional” power that “leads no bloc of nations, no global ideology.” But the Obama administration has consistently underestimated Vladimir Putin and continues to do so by asserting that Russia is isolated. Putin has laid the groundwork to assemble a powerful alternative to the transatlantic alliance.

Russia stands at the center of dozens of nations uncomfortable with or unsuited to the Western principles that President Obama described as “self-evident.” They chafe at Western control of global institutions and norms. Putin aims to offer them alternatives and is strengthening key relationships that will allow him to do so — with disgruntled mid-powers such as India, with regimes that have been kept at arm’s length for their behavior and with certain European political elites. t is wrong to think that Crimea is Moscow’s only strategic objective. As Putin’s stock at home soars, he is likely to methodically challenge the European Union and, especially, NATO. Russia’s willingness to use overwhelming force and the West’s inability to effectively respond give him two key advantages.

I believe those news excerpts bring us up to general speed on the Russian involvement in Ukraine and Crimea. Here is a map of Russia and the Baltics. The ‘A’ Pin is on Crimea with Ukraine just to the north. Click to enlarge.

There are two main reasons God will enact the Tribulation. The Tribulation is a hellish 7 years on earth that precede Jesus’ bodily return. One reason is to deliver His long-promised stored-up wrath on an unbelieving world. The other main reason is to punish the Israelites, today’s Jews. He never finished His punishment of them and paused His prophetic plan 7 years short of the decree. The Tribulation is the resumption of the prophetic clock of the Jews in God’s timetable.

What has He been doing since the pause, you might ask? He has been building His church. (Matthew 16:18). When the Jews rejected Jesus, and refused to share Him with the world through the Good News, He founded His church and allowed the Gentile nations to be His light. (Acts 13:44-47; Romans 11:11-12).

When the church is complete in quota containing all the names He set down since before the beginning of time, (Revelation 13:8) He will rapture us and resume His plan with the Jews. (Romans 11:25). This link explains the prophetic clock and God’s ever unfolding but differing plans for His different peoples (Jews, Church, unsaved).

One of the events prophesied to take place during this time is a Holocaust of Jews. The Tribulation holocaust will take 2/3 of Israel’s Jews, demonic hatred of them will be so fervent and evil. (Revelation 12:13, Zechariah 13:8-9).

The German Holocaust of WWII began seemingly innocently enough. Jews were told to register. In 1937 and 1938, Jews in Germany were told to register all property. All Jews were obliged to carry identity cards that indicated their Jewish heritage, and, in the autumn of 1938, all Jewish passports were stamped with an identifying letter “J.” In January 1940, Polish Jews were ordered to register all property. The Holocaust Encyclopedia explains that of the order to register, it was “a prelude to the gradual expropriation of their material wealth by the state.” 

Well, it’s happening again.

Donetsk leaflet: Jews must register or face deportation
Fear replaced communal atmosphere in Donetsk’s Jewish community as armed men handed out a leaflet Passover eve calling on Jews register their religion and property with the interim pro-Russian government or face deportation and loss of citizenship. A leaflet distributed in Donetsk, Ukraine calling for all Jews over 16 years old to register as Jews marred the Jewish community’s Passover festivities Monday (Passover eve), replacing them with feelings of concern. The leaflet demanded the city’s Jews supply a detailed list of all the property they own, or else have their citizenship revoked, face deportation and see their assets confiscated. Donetsk, a Ukraine province with 4.3 million people – 10 percent of Ukraine’s population – and 17,000 Jews, is home to much of the country’s heavy industry, and is thus the biggest prize of the eastern regions where pro-Russian separatists have captured government buildings in the past week.” [HT to The Sovereign]

These events I’ve related to you may or may not have direct prophetic implications. In my opinion, they do. Jan Markell of Olive Tree Views listed 16 converging end of days signs, and my goodness, seeing them listed out like that does give one pause for thought of the times in which we are living.

Christian persecution is rising exponentially. This headline from the Christin Post mentions China, but it’s emblematic of worldwide persecution of Christians. “Gov’t Persecution of Christians in China Worsens Significantly: Persecution rose by 38.82 percent since 2012. It’s the same in most places for Christians, and Jews are experiencing it too. Attacks on synagogues are up, and the Kansas City Jewish Center shootings this week are just one example of similar attacks and killings worldwide against Jews. And now the order for Jews to register their religion in the Ukraine city…is another highly significant sign of converging prophecy.

Tomorrow I’ll write about the horrific rise in food prices. That is another sign.

Please understand the Good News. When Adam sinned, he separated humankind from intimate fellowship with God, and this barred our unholy selves from entering heaven. God had a plan though, and that was to send Jesus, His Son, to earth to preach reconciliation, repentance, and holiness to first the Jews and the world. He died as the sinless lamb upon the cross as bloody sacrifice for us with God unleashing His wrath upon Jesus’ broken body. Jesus was sinless and thus lived the perfectly holy life God requires for entry to heaven. Satisfied, and with His wrath exhausted, He raised Jesus from the dead and brought Him to heaven and sat Him at His right hand.

Now, any person believing in Jesus as resurrected Messiah and having repented of their sins can enter heaven through Jesus as the door. Any person rejecting Jesus will have to endure God’s wrath for their sins for all eternity.

Death seals the choice. If you die in your sins it is too late. Please don’t leave resolving these questions until it is too late. As it is written in Dante Alighieri’s famous medieval Italian literary masterpiece, The Inferno, here is hell’s gate, and the plaque above it says, “Abandon all hope, ye who enter here.”

Jesus is all hope. He is the only hope. Apart from Him, there is none.

Illustration by Gustave Dore, wikimedia commons

And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire (Revelation 20:15)

I pray your name be found in the Lamb’s Book of Life, and then you have this hope to look forward to:

“But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city.” (Hebrews 11:16)

Putin with dictator ambitions desires a better country, but he will find that his country won’t last. Please be reconciled to Jesus and live in a better country, the eternal one. The city is New Jerusalem, and Jesus is there.

Posted in four blood moons, hagee, prophecy

All your debunked blood moon information right here in one place

Posted on by elizabethprata

As the article below sums it up, “Clearly, the scriptures that Pastor Hagee says refer to red moons are not the result of lunar eclipses. Instead, these verses describe cosmic phenomena that tell of the moon turning red or being darkened because of comets falling and putting so much dust into the atmosphere that even the sun will be darkened. These verses tell of impact events that are to take place in the last stages of the Tribulation Period as described in the Fifth, Sixth, and Seventh Trumpet, and the Seventh Vial of the Book of Revelation. (Also, see Isaiah 13:5-13 and Isaiah 34:4).”

Keep reading the link below to see exactly why the four blood moons may be astronomically interesting, but in no way are prophetically interesting, nor are they related to any prophecy of the bible. (Correctly interpreted prophecy of the bible, that is).

Four Blood Moons
“Bottom line: the four blood red moons caused by solar eclipse that are to occur in 2014-2015 do not constitute signs of important prophetic events that will soon take place.”

Answers in Genesis, Astronomy section
Will Lunar Eclipses Cause Four Blood Moons in 2014 and 2015?

Christian News Network
Upcoming ‘Blood Moon’ Lunar Eclipses Spark Woes, Discussion About End Times Bible Prophecy

Video: Pirate Christian Radio
Debunking Hagee’s 4 Blood Moons

GotQuestions
Question: “Is Jesus going to return during the blood-red moon of 2015?”

Posted in few find it, prophecy, tribulation

"The way is narrow and few find it"

Posted on by elizabethprata

“For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.” (Matthew 7:14)

Christianity is the world’s largest religion, 31.59% of the world population – on the face of it. Broken down, Christianity comprises the following sects:

Roman Catholic 18.85%,
Protestant 8.15%,
Orthodox 4.96%,
Anglican 1.26%

Saint Peter’s Basilica, Vatican, Wiki CC

However, if you remove Catholicism and Orthodox, which aren’t Christian and are false, all you’ve got left is Protestant and Anglican, or 10% of the world population.

The Anglicans have a mix of Catholic and Protestant Reformation theology and so one cannot say with assurance that likely most of the people in that sect have been fed pure doctrine. So say perhaps .26% of Anglicans of the reported 1.26% are saved. And with apostasy rising and the remaining 8% of Protestants representing Christianity left, one can say with assurance that likely at least half of those claiming Protestant roots are not saved (or more).

Remember, mixed in with Protestants are Charismatics, Word/Faith heretics, and Liberals. That brings the Christian denomination from a 31% of the world’s population down to a likely 2-4% of the world population.

2-4 percent of 8 billion is 160-380 million saved. Alternately, that’s seven billion eight hundred forty million people alive today on this planet right now who are going to hell when they die.

source

We know that there is only ONE way, ONE truth and ONE life, in Jesus. There are no near misses or almosts. Jesus said the way is narrow, and few find it. He really means few.

When the rapture comes, all those people listed as a number in the chart above will be left behind to face a terrible and horrific hell on earth. God’s wrath will be unleashed. He has refrained from delivering His full cup for all these thousands of years, since the last global judgment, The Flood. But once again He will unleash it. It will be so terrible that unless He cut the days short, no flesh would survive. (Matthew 24:22)

In Revelation 6:8, it is often interpreted that to mean that in that Seal Judgment, a fourth of the earth’s population will be killed.

“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 6:8)

Narrow gate on The High Way Cotterdale, North Yorkshire, Great Britain.
This gateway, and another further east, is only 2ft 6in wide.
Photo by John Slater, Creative Commons

At the moment of this writing there are 7.2 billion people on the earth. That’s 1.8 BILLION people dead in a matter of moments, or days, weeks at most. And you remember how the world reacted when 3000 were killed in the twin towers and the Pentagon and the planes of 9/11.

The above judgment leaves 5.4 billion alive. However, there will be fewer than that because of suicide, murder, starvation and disease. (Revelation 6:4-8, Revelation 8:11). So roughly let’s say 5 billion.

Then, Revelation 9:15 says,

“So the four angels, who had been prepared for the hour, the day, the month, and the year, were released to kill a third of mankind.”

A third of 5 billion is 1.6, leaving 3.4 billion. More than half the earth’s population has died off, or more, because we haven’t counted additional deaths from secondary causes, or war. Three and a half years have passed, and the Great Tribulation hasn’t even begun yet. You see how completely Jesus meant it when He said that unless the days were cut short no flesh would survive. For example, let’s look at a series of cascading events.

In Revelation 8:7 & 11 it says,

“The first angel blew his trumpet, and there followed hail and fire, mixed with blood, and these were thrown upon the earth. And a third of the earth was burned up, and a third of the trees were burned up, and all green grass was burned up.” (Revelation 8:7)

The name of the star is Wormwood. A third of the waters became wormwood, and many people died from the water, because it had been made bitter. (Revelation 8:11)

Vision of John of Patmos from Revelation 4:4
four seraphim surround the throne of Christ,
twenty-four elders sit on thrones to either side
(Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry)

Hail ruins crops. Without crops, people can’t eat. If people can’t eat, they die. If all the grass burns up, then cattle can’t eat. If cattle can’t eat, they die, and there is no meat or dairy. Without meat or dairy, people die. In addition, millions of dead and bloated cattle laying around pollute the waters. Cholera breaks out. Disease runs rampant, and people die.

I hope you are getting a more specific idea of just how many people are deceived in a false religion and will be left behind to die in their sins. It has been like this throughout the ages, most don’t believe in Jesus. The Great White Throne Judgment will have a very long line.

God’s grace is very great. He is merciful. See a picture of this in Pastor Phil Johnson’s sermon on “Raising Cain“. Cain was the world’s first born man. He was the world’s first falsely worshiping man. And He was the first murderer. Pastor Johnson says in his exposition of Genesis 4:1-17,

Notice the gracious way God deals with Cain throughout this account. This is important. There are people who believe God loves the elect, but has nothing but hatred for everyone else. I don’t believe that. Scripture teaches that “The LORD is good to all, and his mercy is over all that he has made.” (Ps. 145:9). He has “no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live” (Ezek. 33:11).

 I’m committed to the doctrine of divine election. But let me say as clearly as possible that I also believe those who go to hell have no one to blame but themselves. The fact that Cain ultimately lived a life of self-will and sin was in no way God’s fault. God constantly dealt graciously with Cain.

 Over and over in Scripture we see God graciously and patiently appealing to those who ultimately spurn Him, and Cain is the first example of this. Notice that even God’s judgments are tempered by grace. Even when it would be perfectly just for God to destroy Cain, the Lord shows him great mercy.

 Cain deserved to die for his act of killing his brother.

 Genesis 9:6 says, “Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for God made man in his own image.” In other words, capital punishment is a fit penalty for murder.

 And Cain knew this. As soon as he knew he could not hide his act of murder, he feared that (verse 14) “I shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth, and whoever finds me will kill me.” The Hebrew literally means, “All who find me will kill me.” The King James Version translates it this way: “It shall come to pass, that every one that findeth me shall slay me.” (I think that’s funny. Everyone who finds me shall slay me?

 Actually, even if that were the whole world’s ambition, only the first person who found him would get to kill him. After that, Cain wouldn’t have to worry about it any more.)

 But God was gracious, and He put a mark on Cain so that those who found Him would know that he was under divine protection. We don’t know what sort of mark this was. Obviously, this was at a time when the earth’s population was still very small. It would have been no big deal for word of this to spread throughout the whole human race, so that everyone knew Cain was under the protective hand of God. This mark was not the mark of a pariah. The mark itself was not God’s judgment; it was an act of mercy.
 …
But failing that, why didn’t God strike Cain dead the moment he killed his own brother? Why did He guarantee him protection from avengers and mark him with a special mark and allow him to live a long life? There’s only one reason: because God is a God of grace and mercy. He was extending to Cain the opportunity to repent. God’s words to Cain in verse 7 are an explicit plea for repentance.

God is gracious and merciful! He is wonderful. Please be aware of the lateness of the hour. Please be aware that His long-suffering mercy will end and He will unleash His long-stored up wrath. Please be aware of the real people behind the numbers of just how many are going to die in their sins. Please be grateful you are one of the few who found Him.

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

Further reading:

Here is a neat link to World Population statistics, live

Sermon, “A Jet Tour Through Revelation”

List: 21 Brief Observations concerning Revelation 6:9-11

Posted in earthquakes, encouragment, news, prophecy

Lightning strikes on the rise, quakes this week, ground shift in WY, Heaven tourism books, New Jerusalem

Posted on by elizabethprata

From a good science essay which discusses a comparison of DNA between apes and humans and shows why Christians don’t have to worry about the theory of evolution. “How Similar are Humans & Apes?“

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

Here’s why Christians don’t need to worry about the Jesus Wife papyrus fragment. Or listen to this 15 minute podcast on Issues, Etc, with Dr Craig Evans.

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

I’ve often published essays reporting on the statistics which show increasing numbers of earthquakes, or storms, or strength of storms, or sinkholes, etc. But I’ve never been able to discover whether lightning strikes are more common now than before, until I read this article in an Israeli news outlet.

Lightning strikes a warming planet
They say lightning never strikes twice, and that getting struck by lightning is as rare as winning the lottery. But such folk wisdom may no longer be true, report scientists studying global lightning patterns. A cross-country research project published recently in the American Journal of Climate Change suggests that in developing countries especially, lightning strikes and death by lightning appear to be growing. Asked to comment on the story by the BBC, Price said: “The underdeveloped world is where you have the maximum frequency of lightning and thunderstorms — in places like the Central African Republic and DR Congo, the Amazon region of South America, the Indonesian islands and Borneo in South East Asia. “When you add the figures up, there may even be more people killed or injured by lightning than most of the other natural hazards we have on the earth today.” A rising world population also means that there are more people who have the potential to get hit by lightning.

 According to Price, the increase in lightning activity will be seen especially in areas that become warmer and drier –– like the Mediterranean region and the southern United States. From 2012 research, he already concluded that the storms of the future will be more violent. For example, the Brazilian city of Manaus, in the middle of the Amazon, has witnessed a 50% increase in lightning strikes over the last three decades. The city now gets about 13.5 strikes per kilometer per year.

There have been several major earthquakes over the last day. According to the US Geological Survey (USGS), there was a quake at

Nicaragua, 6.6
Papua New Guinea, 6.5
Papua New Guinea, 7.1
Chile, 6.0
Nicaragua, 6.1

In Chile there have been 61 quakes this week.

Of interest is the continuing quake swarm at Oklahoma. This week there have been 50 quakes, including a large (for the area) 4.1.

In France, a rare 5.0 earthquake occurred this week. Strong earthquakes are rare in France.

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

Dozens evacuated in Wyoming as ground shifts
Dozens of Jackson residents who were evacuated after land began shifting on a hillside in this Wyoming resort town are waiting to find out if and when they can return home. Assistant Town Manager Roxanne Robinson said today there is still no word on what is causing the East Gros Ventre Butte land to shift, but officials have taken steps to ensure there is no catastrophe. Geologists are on the scene, and other geologists are being brought in to get a better idea of what is happening. A road and parking lot of a Walgreens pharmacy have been distorted and buckled by ground movement, which was also the cause of breaks in nearby water pipes last weekend.

“When you see these kinds of scenes out of Washington state and the landslides in the canyon, it’s not to be trifled with,” he said, so the officials are monitoring carefully, but despite many rumors as to the reason this is occurring, in the article “Worry Mounts as Butte Slips, he continued, “I don’t know if anybody knows exactly what the issue is,” Barron said.

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

Understanding the times and knowing what the church should do. Seven things to keep in mind.

Pastor David Platt speaks with clarity and beautiful fervency and discernment of the demonic deception of the surge in heavenly tourism books. They’re fanciful accounts, frivolous features and juvenile attractions. 4-minute video. Please watch

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

In light of the two blog essays I’ve written recently about adopting a heavenly perspective and being of heavenly good, let’s finish with Nathan Busenitz’s essay on the physicality of the heavenly city of New Jerusalem. It is an essay titled The New Jerusalem.