Category: prophecy

Posted in erdogan, gog magog, prophecy, turkey

Turkey in prophecy

Posted on by elizabethprata

‘Thus says the Lord GOD, “Behold, I am against you, O Gog, prince of Rosh, Meshech and Tubal. “I will turn you about and put hooks into your jaws, and I will bring you out, and all your army, horses and horsemen, all of them splendidly attired, a great company with buckler and shield, all of them wielding swords; Persia, Ethiopia and Put with them, all of them with shield and helmet; Gomer with all its troops; Beth-togarmah from the remote parts of the north with all its troops—many peoples with you. (Ezekiel 38:3-6)

The LORD God told Ezekiel to record a prophecy about the last of the last days. Russia and other nations will attack Israel. The allied nations that will join Russia in this surprise attack will be Iran, Ethiopia, other northern African states, Armenia, part of the Baltic States (the -stans), and Turkey.

Turkey has spent the last 20 years aiming to meld with the west, to show the West up, even, diplomatically, politically, and economically. In past decades, the nation of Turkey had subdued its rabidly Muslim religious tendency in favor of a more tolerant, democritized attitude. It had sought to join the European Union, revive itself as a player in the Middle East, and to be friend to both Muslim nations and democracies near and far.

It has failed.

During the time of Turkey’s upward trajectory, it seemed impossible that the nation would join in a dastardly alliance and attack the only other democracy in the Mid-East. Their pinnacle of world favor was reached a few years ago, but now it seems all of Turkey’s goals are slowly unraveling. Since Turkey is a major player in the area specifically concerned with last days prophecy, let’s take a look at the following news stories and see how Turkey is doing:

Turkey’s once-worldly aims falter, even close allies concerned
From a political perspective, defending Turkey’s blend of political Islam and neoliberal economic policies was not terribly difficult a decade ago. After all, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan helped build the 17th largest economy in the world and what would be the sixth largest among European Union countries. His plan was to be a top-10 economy by 2023, and operating under free-market fundamentals, Turkey was quickly tacking toward that goal. Externally, Turkey seemed to be the perfect partner for Washington. She was the second-largest troop contributor to Afghanistan, backed the invasion of Libya, armed the rebels in Syria, denounced the military coup in Egypt and came to the rescue of countless Tsunami-stricken regions from Indonesia to Japan. Internally, however, the country was falling apart.”

The article goes on to show that internal corruption, crackdowns and a power-hungry Prime Minister has all combined to plummet Turkey’s standing with other nations in both the east and the west.

In the economic areas, Turkey isn’t faring much better.

A Leader Shows Vulnerability in Turkey’s Cash Crisis
“First, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan criticized the bold move by Turkey’s central bank this week to raise interest rates sharply to halt the decline in the country’s currency, telling reporters that higher borrowing costs would lead to inflation — an argument that contravenes accepted economic logic. Mr. Erdogan’s economic adviser, Yigit Bulut, then did little to reassure skittish investors, suggesting that the prime minister would do something that would be “very positive for the markets,” but did not say exactly what Mr. Erdogan’s plans were. The remarks only added to jitters in financial markets, which have battered the Turkish stock market and in recent weeks sent the currency, the lira, to historic lows.”

“Officials in Western capitals, including President Obama, came to see him as the prime example of a leader who could meld democratic values, Islam and economic prosperity. But much of the money was funneled to a group of insiders who made fortunes while building malls and other developments that increasingly lacked sound economic underpinnings. Now, with bond investors fleeing and interest rates rising, Mr. Erdogan’s economic turnaround is in jeopardy of unraveling in a toxic stew of bad loans, accusations of cronyism and the appearance of seat-of-the-pants economic stewardship.“

Turkey is a powerhouse in the region. Its fortunes are changing, and in my opinion the new conditions for Turkey show more closely it is being readied to fulfill prophecy. Any nation at this junctue in time on a downward spiral should be watched closely, and more so becase of the ptomise of Turkey’s activity in coming against Israel inthe last days.

Keep an eye on the nations that are specifically mentioned in prophecy (Ethiopia, Sudan, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Israel, Lebanon, Iran, Iraq, Turkey, etc) and also of course keep an eye on the region in general. (the peace talks between Israel and Palestine led by Secretary of State Kerry, Hamas, Hezbollah, Al Qaeda…). God is always at work and it is a wonder to know that he is, and when it’s possible, to actually see His works.

But Jesus answered them, “My Father is working until now, and I am working.” (John 5:17)

God raised up Pharaoh so that God’s glory would be shown. Pharaoh lived many, many years and who would have guessed at the time of the plagues and the confrontation of Moses that all the prior years of raising up it was for a specific time such as that and for the specific reason. It is the same now with the kings of the earth earth.

But for this purpose I have raised you up, to show you my power, so that my name may be proclaimed in all the earth. (Exodus 9:16)

Has God raised up Erdogan…Putin…Netanyahu…Morsi…to show His works and His glory for the fulfillment of the long-ago prophesied deeds? Or will they be other men at a future time when the prophecies come to fulfillment? Time will tell, but never fear, the Father is working.

Posted in Athaliah, fulfilled, judah, prophecy, satan

Athaliah: the only Queen of Judah

Posted on by elizabethprata

I’m reading through Kings. I finished 1 Kings and I’m up to chapter 12 of 2 Kings. It is taking me a long time. I am not super-spiritual and I’m not super-smart and the going is slow.

There were quite a few kings of Israel. The history behind them all is daunting, never mind simply keeping the names and family lines straight. Without context it’s hard to keep it all from running together. Oh well, I’ve got to read through the first time, don’t I, and then I’ll have context for the second time, and so on.

In chapter 11 we meet Athaliah. She was Queen Regent for 6 years over Judah. She was the daughter of Ahab and Jezebel and she was just as zealous that Baal worship be re-instated as the official worship as her mother had been. BibleGateway has a summary of her life, titled “The Woman Who Was a Notorious Murderess“

Athaliah, as depicted in
Antoine Dufour’s Vie des femmes célèbres, c. 1505;
in the Dobrée Museum, Nantes, France.
Giraudon/Art Resource, New York

Why was she a murderess? She killed all who could lay claim to the throne, even grandchildren. Well, almost all.

“And Athaliah the mother of Ahaziah saw that her son was dead, she arose and destroyed all the royal seed.” (2 Kings 11:1)

The Bible Gateway summary is interesting and good, and it’s not long. Here are a few excerpts from Bible Gateway’s life of Athaliah.

—She was the granddaughter of Omri, 6th king of Israel, “who waded through slaughter to a throne he never inherited.”
–After reigning for eight years Jehoram died, unmourned, of a predicted incurable disease. While he reigned, he was dominated by Athaliah who had the stronger character of the two, and who, having inherited from her evil mother strength of will and fanatical devotion to the worship of Baal, made Judah idolatrous.
–After putting to death her young grandsons, Athaliah reigned for six years, and was the only woman to reign as queen of Judah.
–The daughter of a king, wife of a king, mother of a king, she is now queen.
–During her reign part of the Temple of Jehovah was pulled down and the material used in the building of a temple of Baal.
–Unknown to Athaliah as she set out to massacre all her grandsons, the youngest was hid from the orgy of destruction.
–Athaliah was left in a horse-path, to be trampled upon. Like her mother she died a queen, but without a hand to help her or an eye to pity her.

“So all the people of the land rejoiced, and the city was quiet after Athaliah had been put to death with the sword at the king’s house.” (2 Kings 11:20)

I took two things away from my reading this morning. One is, like Jezebel, Athaliah was a near-perfect fulfillment of the curse of Eve and the promise that God made in the Garden:

“Your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you.” (Genesis 3:16b). Both Jezebel and Athaliah sought power from and not submission to their husbands and thereby did not submit to God. They both ruled over their husbands and their husbands let them. Abandoning one part of God’s best (Ephesians 5:22) will inevitably lead to abandoning more parts of God’s word and then all parts. Both women, left to their sinful desires, fully served Baal and not God.

Secondly, Athaliah sought to wipe out the line of David. You want to know what satan is like? Like this: he kills babies without a second thought. Just as satan tried to wipe out Noah’s line, which remained perfect in his generations, (Genesis 6:9), and as Herod tried to wipe out the babe Christ in the massacre of the Innocents (Matthew 2:16–18), Athaliah tried to wipe out the Davidic line. However, the Word of God will never be undone by man nor women!

“The previous deaths of Jehoram’s brothers and Ahaziah’s brothers and relatives (2 Kings 10:12-14, 2 Chron 21:17, 21:14), left only her grandchildren for Athaliah to put to death to destroy the Davidic line. Though the LORD had promised that the House of David would rule over Israel and Judah forever, Athaliah’s purge brought it to the brink of extinction.” (source MacArthur Study Bible).

Only one little grandbaby was left of the Davidic line, it all came down to one child. And Jehosheba, Ahaziah’s sister, hid Joash and did so successfully for 6 years until Athaliah was ignominiously killed. The LORD is mighty to protect and is perfect to fulfill His word.

In the midst of all that murder and plotting and Baal-worship, the ultimate glory of the passage for me today is that the Lord is will fulfill what He says He will fulfill, no matter what machinations satan and man throw in His way.

“The words of the Lord are pure words, like silver refined in a furnace on the ground, purified seven times. You, O Lord, will keep them; you will guard us from this generation forever.” (Psalm 12:6-7a)

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

For Further Reading-

Bible Study Tools: Athaliah

Bible Hub Topical Study: Athaliah

Posted in end time, imminence, prophecy, rapture

What’s going to happen in the end time?

Posted on by elizabethprata

The world is going crazy. Things are deteriorating at a pace that older people have never seen happen so fast in previous generations. People who don’t believe in Jesus even are noticing this. Many people are asking, “What’s going on?”

This is where prophecy comes in. Prophecy is the future told in advance. In order for the future to be told with such detail accuracy in its fulfillment, only God, who is outside of time and the author of history, can do so.

“There is no way to explain the Bible’s ability to predict the future unless we see God as its Author. For example, the Old Testament contains more than three hundred references to the Messiah of Israel that were precisely fulfilled by JesusChrist (Christ is the Greek translation of the Hebrew word Messiah). Peter Stoner, a scientist in the area of mathematical probabilities, said in his book Science Speaks that if we take just eight of the Old Testament prophecies Christ fulfilled, we find that the probability of their coming to pass is one in 1017.” (source)

God said that this world will end. This affects every human being living at the time of when it happens. During the Tribulation, it will be a time of UNcreation, when the orderly creation account we read in Genesis is reversed but in a chaotic and horrific way. For example, every island will flee away and every mountain will be thrown down. (Revelation 16:20). This prophesied event will affect every person living on the planet. For those who are not alive during this period when God’s wrath descends to earth, affecting everyone on it, He said that some will be awakened to everlasting life and others to everlasting wrath. (Daniel 12:2). Either way, prophecy has meaning for every person who ever lived or is living at the time of fulfillment, believer in Jesus or not a believer. Therefore, prophecy is of utmost importance.

The purpose of prophecy

Considering such weighty emphasis upon prophecy in the Scriptures, we may properly ask regarding its purpose in God’s unfolding plan. Why did our heavenly Father cause so much of his word and revelation to consist of prophetic utterances that spoke of future times, circumstances, and events? All Scripture, we understand, “is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness” (2 Tim. 3:16). But what is the special role that prophecy holds in influencing the life of the believer?” (source)

All scripture is profitable. (2 Timothy 3:16-17). Since two-thirds of the bible is prophecy, it is obvious that God put the words of prophecy in the bible to profit us for His purposes.

Prophecy exists to reveal the glory of God:
“I am God, and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done” (Isa. 46:9, 10).

Prophecy exists to establish the bible’s credibility and to authenticate the biblical speakers of prophecy, including the Triune God and the men that God designated to speak His words. (2 Peter 1:21).

Prophecy exists to enlighten the believer and to stimulate to activity. (Mark 13:23). (source)

I hope you understand by now how important prophecy is to the believer and non-believer alike. So the next question is,

What does God say is going to happen?

God has been working since before the foundation of the world. He is still working. (John 5:17). After He created humans there was an entire span of time He was doing works that will result in His glory. But then Jesus came. In the days of His flesh (Hebrews 5:7) Jesus taught and performed signs and miracles to prove who He was. Then He was killed and nailed to a cross and absorbed all God’s wrath for sinners. (2 Corinthians 5:21, Isaiah 53:5-6).

Pleased with His son’s obedience, God raised Jesus on the third day and soon after, Jesus ascended to heaven to be at the right hand of the Father. (Hebrews 12:2). When Jesus ascended, the Spirit came and thus began this present age, the age where Jesus is building His church. (Matthew 16:18).

When the church is complete, Jesus will call His church to heaven in an event known as the rapture. (Romans 11:25, 2 Thess 2:1-12, 1 Thess 4:16, 1 Corinthians 15:52). All those who have come to saving faith in Him since He began building His church will arise from their graves or from their live bodies, be glorified instantly and meet Jesus in the air. He will lead us to heaven, where we will enjoy the Bema Rewards ceremony where our works we performed while int he flesh will be tested. Then we’ll having received our crowns for works done in His name on earth that stood the test.

During that time in heaven there will be ceremonies and activities and hallelujahs and praise. But back on earth, there will be Tribulation. (Matthew 24:21). This tribulation will involve Israel, and the whole world. Since all believers will have been taken to heaven at the rapture, and along with them, the indwelling Holy Spirit, His restraining ministry will cease.

Did you know that the Spirit restrains man from the worst they can do? Did you ever wonder why there isn’t a Hitler or a Jeffrey Dahmer every day? Man are totally depraved and sinful, but they don’t do their worst because the Spirit restrains us. (Genesis 6:3). When Jesus calls us to Him in heaven the Spirit will still draw men to belief but He won’t restrain sin. Sin will be loosed to run fully rampant. (Daniel 9:27).

It will be a time of unparalleled evil in the world. Murders and heinous acts and death and disease and horror and hell on earth. It will be a time of the uncreation of the world. Volcanoes, earthquakes, heat, hail, drought, bloody waters, and more. Demons marauding and putrid corpses. Hell.

This tribulation will begin immediately after the rapture. It will last 7 years. Most of the world will die.

Then at the end of the Tribulation, Jesus will return. He will rescue His remnant left on earth, kill the armies assembled against Him at Armageddon, and install His throne on earth. peace will reign for 1000 years. This is called the Millennial Kingdom, because it will last 1000 years. Ezekiel 41 onward has the scene.

At the end of that time, satan who had been bound for the 1000 years, will be loosed so as to deceive the nations one last time, and many will follow him. Jesus will squash the rebellion, he will be thrown into the Lake of Fire, and all who ever lived will be resurrected to face their judgment. This is known as the Great White Throne Judgment (Revelation 20:11-15) and it will occur at the end of time. Glorified bodies will be given to those who are raised from death, so that those who are destined for hell can withstand their eternal punishment, and those who are destined for eternity with Jesus can withstand looking Him full in the face with all His glory. The eternal state will begin as the earth melts away. (2 Peter 3:10). The bible doesn’t say what comes next.

So if you have followed along, the rapture is the next event in God’s long, long plan for humankind. Please be on board with all that is required to join Jesus in the air. You don’t need your money. You don’t need your works. You don’t need baggage or clothes, those will be provided. All you need is faith in the work and person of Jesus Christ, to lay your sin down at His feet, sorrowful for your blasphemies against Him. This is called repentance. He will forgive you of those crimes and invite you to His abode in heaven, He will give you His spirit as a seal of the guarantee of your place.

“Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober” (1 Thess 5:6).

“But the end of all things is at hand: be ye therefore sober, and watch unto prayer” (1 Peter 4:7).

Posted in earthquake, mount of olives, prophecy, signs

Large earthquake at Cuba felt in Florida from the Keys to Orlando

Posted on by elizabethprata

Quake off Cuba shudders folks from Keys to Orlando
January 10, 2014|By Robert Nolin and Adam Sacasa, Sun Sentinel

“A rare but moderate earthquake off the Cuban coast shook buildings and rattled residents from the Keys to Orlando on Thursday afternoon. The 5.1 magnitude quake occurred just before 4 p.m. in the ocean about 24 miles north of the Cuban city of Corralillo, more than 100 miles east of Havana. … Becky Herrin, spokeswoman for the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office, felt her building shake. It was the only quake she’s experienced in 28 years in the Keys. “It’s certainly unusual,” she said. “I haven’t heard any reports of damage or injuries so that’s really fortunate.” Still, the ground shook as far north as Central Florida, nearly 400 miles from Cuba. … Thursday’s temblor happened in a region not known for earthquakes. “It is an uncommon area for a quake,” he said. But in 30 years, in a 150-mile radius of Thursday’s quake, only two other weak ones have occurred, Abreu said. In 1982, a 4.5 magnitude quake struck, and in 2005, there was a magnitude 4.1 in the area. Florida, far from the margins of the earth’s tectonic plates, is traditionally not subject to quakes.“

Jesus said that in advance of His second coming there would be signs. This was in answer to the Disciples’ question in Matthew 24:3, “As he sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the close of the age?””

Verse 24:4 begins, “And Jesus answered them…

One of the signs He said would occur is that there will be earthquakes in various places. (Matthew 24:7b).

It is important to know that the “last days”, the “last times”, the “end time” is now, and it has been since Jesus ascended. Paul warned Timothy of the last days in 2 Timothy 3:1, Peter did in 2 Peter 3:3, Paul again in 1 Timothy 4:1, and Jude did in 1:18 for example. They all repeat the warning of the last days. These were not warnings of some far-off time, they were warnings for the Church at that time until Jesus returned. What they didn’t know was that there would be a 2000 year gap.

In my opinion, the warning of the last days in Jesus’s Discourse in Matthew 24 (AKA The Olivet Discourse, because He delivered it atop the Mount of Olives) can be sectioned off into parts. When Jesus begins to answer, He offers some warning signs from Matthew 24:4-8. Even twice within that short time frame, He said that the end is not yet. Then He launched into a section from verse 9-14 of a kind of overview of the entire Tribulation. Then Jesus backtracks and gives specifics of the Great Tribulation from verse 15-28. This part is aimed mostly at Jewish believers living during those days who will have converted by that time. At the passage’s end He speaks of the signs of His actual, physical return. (Vv. 29-31.)

John MacArthur said in his sermon “The Grim Reality of the Last Days“,

“Luke’s account says great earthquakes, seismos megalos, mega quakes, like the 9-point quake 80 miles off the shore of Japan. Through history, millions and millions, countless millions have died in earthquakes. I read this week that there are one-half million earthquakes a year every year. You are on a shaky place. A hundred thousand of them are felt. But half a million register on Richter scales. … And the worst is yet to come. …[O]ur Lord says, “Those things…in verse 7…must take place but that’s not yet the end.” It’s the nature of living in a cursed planet. It’s not yet the end. In fact, if you will look at the end of verse 8 it says they’re merely the beginning of birth pangs.

That’s an analogy of a woman’s contractions. They are separated, they are mild, and they intensify and intensify and intensify to a great degree just before birth. What we’re seeing in human history is just the beginning, is just the mild contractions. Wait till you see what’s going to happen just before the very end. Two thousand years of these milder contractions will explode in the end, in the time of Tribulation described starting in verse 14.“

The verse is clear when it says earthquakes will be in various places. Other translations say diverse places. In my opinion the quake near Cuba the other day qualifies for being in a diverse place. It did to the USGS. They highlight quakes on their list that are significant. Though the 5.1 magnitude quake wasn’t a mega-quake like the March 2011 9.0 magnitude off Japan, it was listed as significant anyway. USGS explains,

“List items with a red background have been identified as “significant”, based on a combination of magnitude, PAGER alert level, and the number of Did You Feel It? responses.“

The location of the quake surprised officials. As we saw in the data Dr MacArthur provided, there are a great many quakes occurring each year on this planet. As the time draws nearer to the return of Jesus, scientists, officials, and humankind will discover that there is no place that is earthquake-free. There will be more and more frequent quakes and they will occur any place at all. Just as the Cuban quake did.

Pray for the return of Jesus.

“Look, I am coming soon! Blessed is the one who keeps the words of the prophecy written in this scroll.” (Revelation 22:7)

Posted in evil, prophecy

What does a seared conscience look like?

Posted on by elizabethprata
“Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons, through the insincerity of liars whose consciences are seared,“
(1 Timothy 4:1-2)

What does a seared conscience look like? Like this:

Now as the king of Israel was passing by on the wall, a woman cried out to him, saying, “Help, my lord, O king!” And he said, “If the Lord will not help you, how shall I help you? From the threshing floor, or from the winepress?” And the king asked her, “What is your trouble?” She answered, “This woman said to me, ‘Give your son, that we may eat him today, and we will eat my son tomorrow.’ So we boiled my son and ate him. And on the next day I said to her, ‘Give your son, that we may eat him.’ But she has hidden her son.” (2 Kings 6:26-29)

You see the issue. The woman was appealing to the King for justice. For a breach of contract. But what a breach of contract! She was SO SEARED in mind that she never stopped to think of what she was saying. “I want justice because the other woman broke our deal to cannibalize our children?!” The horror is that she related this so matter of factly. The worse horror is that she was so unconscious about her sin that she simply and unemotionally stated the facts of the case without stopping to think of what she was actually saying.

That is a seared conscience.

That is also a judgment. Judgment for their apostasy was prophesied by Moses in Deuteronomy 28:56-57:

The most tender and refined woman among you, who would not venture to set the sole of her foot on the ground because she is so delicate and tender, will begrudge to the husband she embraces,to her son and to her daughter, her afterbirth that comes out from between her feet and her children whom she bears, because lacking everything she will eat them secretly, in the siege and in the distress with which your enemy shall distress you in your towns.

Cling fast to the faith. In my opinion, this is why Paul said to take very thought captive, every thought. (2 Corinthians 10:5). Do not listen to liars with seared consciences, who have already been pre-judged for their lies by having the seared conscience to begin with. The road which they travel and lure followers only gets darker and more evil with every step. As with everything biblical, there exists a progression. Ascent into holiness and then glorification is a process and descent into evil and the final apostasy is also a process. It all begins with one step.

This is where sin brings the unwary to: cannibalism…and worse. How can it get worse you ask? Apostasy is a terrible thing. It brings people so deep into sin they can’t even feel their sin anymore. People who have seared consciences are not only sinners, but are “inventors of evil”! (Romans 1:30) Worse, they not only sin deeply, don’t care, and invent ways to perform more evil, but they give hearty approval to those who practice the evil. (Romans 1:31).

Times of great apostasy are always dangerous for the vulnerable- the physically vulnerable and the spiritually vulnerable. In the Tribulation, the vulnerable will be at most risk once again. (Matthew 24:21-22; Luke 12:51-53). It will be a free-for-all of sins like we saw in the 2 Kings passage. A seared conscience is a terrible thing.

If you still feel conviction over your sin, great! Keep that feeling alive by remaining in a humble and penitent relationship with your Holy God. If you do not feel the same about sin as you used to, you must check yourself to see if you are in the faith. (2 Corinthians 13:5). If you don’t, you know the outcome. You will get eaten up- either by your neighbor because love has gone cold (Matthew 24:12) …or by satan, for the wages of sin is death.

Posted in earthquake data, earthquakes are increasing, prophecy, signs

By The Numbers 2013: how many earthquakes this year?

Posted on by elizabethprata

As the New Year enters and the old year departs, it is time for me to produce my annual By The Numbers, year in review. It has no particular meaning, other than it demonstrates that either I have too much time on my hands, or I enjoy research and manipulation of data as a hobby. Both, I think!

A few years ago I became interested in the schism between what I saw were definite increased numbers of global earthquakes and the US Geological Survey’s equally definite insistence that quakes were not increasing. I decided to look into the data, using their own numbers, benchmarks, and search engines. Well guess what? Earthquakes were increasing.

Jesus said that His coming would be preceded by signs. Some of these signs are emotional, such as men becoming greedy, loveless, brutal, etc, as listed in 2 Timothy 3:1-5. Some of the prophesied signs are religious, such as apostasy rising among the professing church, false doctrine being accepted, and a loss of discernment, as many verses in 1 John, 1 Thessalonians, and other passages tell us. Some of the signs would be geophysical or celestial. There will be earthquakes in diverse places, the seas will be roaring, there will be signs in the skies and so on.

Most of those signs mentioned in the passages, notably Matthew 24, Luke 21, and Revelation 6, are going to occur in the Tribulation period. However, the signs Jesus enumerated and are listed elsewhere in the Old and New Testaments are for the entire church age and will continue into the Tribulation. The church age is between the moment Jesus ascended (Acts 1:11) and when He calls for His bride, ending the Age of Grace. (1 Corinthians 15:51-52). The Tribulation period will begin the moment after the rapture and finish when Jesus returns to the Mount of Olives. (Zechariah 14:4). His signs of return are spread throughout the church age and then are clustered heavily well into the Tribulation.

As Jesus likened the signs to birth pangs, and birth pangs increase as the event nears, so will the signs increase. I could look at numbers of baptisms to determine if apostasy is rising, or number of crimes to see if lovelessness is increasing, but there is a large element of subjectivity to them. Instead I just concentrate on the geophysical signs presented in hard data because there is a lesser amount of subjectivity included in the results. It is in that context that I put together an annual look at the data than can be quantified.

One final caveat: we don’t need signs to tell us Jesus is coming, because He said He is coming and that is all we need to know. I do this out of curiosity and interest, not because we need validation from scientific sources for the certainty of His appearing.

Meanwhile we can learn from the lessons every disaster gives us. John MacArthur’s church is in California. In January 1994 a tremendous earthquake occurred. It is known as the Northridge quake. The earthquake had a “strong” moment magnitude (Mw) of 6.7, but the ground acceleration was one of the highest ever instrumentally recorded in an urban area in North America.

The epicenter was practically underneath Grace Community Church. Five days later, Dr MacArthur delivered a sermon titled “Lessons from the Earthquake.” It is a tremendously relevant and insightful sermon, and I urge you to read to or listen to it. Here are the main bullet points he shared. In every calamity, there are many lessons for the Christian, and many other, separate lessons for the non-Christian. He preached 7 lessons for each.

Lessons for Christians
God is sovereign,
What is eternal can’t be destroyed,
Disaster produces dependence on God,
Adversity enriches fellowship,
Suffering makes us long for the perfect kingdom,
Calamity strengthens us to serve others,
What is the greatest calamity can bring God the most glory.

Lessons for not Christians
For those unprepared to die, lesson number one, life is fragile,
There are limits to self-protection,
Death is inevitable,
We live in a cursed world,
Temporal disasters are only previews of coming attractions,
God uses calamity to call people to repentance,
Time is limited to heed the warning.

Time is limited. All of history is dwindling down to the moment when Jesus will return, and judge the living and the dead for all eternity. THAT is the main lesson I share with you. Repent, while there is still time. Let these statistics and notes be a lesson to you and to us all through the year: life is fragile, and to enter death unprepared is an eternal tragedy.

WEATHER

“The 2013 extreme weather events included several all-time temperature records in Northern and Southern Hemisphere. The February extent of snow cover in Eurasia and North America was above average, while the extent of Arctic ice in the same month was 4,5% below the 1981–2010 average.” (source)

There were lots of record high temperatures, and record lows. It snowed in Cairo Egypt, and in many other places in the usually arid and snowless Middle East. Typhoon Haiyan was the largest storm on record. “With sustained wind speeds of more than 310 kilometres per hour, Haiyan was the most powerful tropical cyclone to make landfall in recorded history. … Unusually warm subsurface Pacific waters appear to have endowed Haiyan with the energy that made it the strongest typhoon ever known to make landfall.” (source)

TORNADOES

Though the top deadliest tornadoes occurred in the 1800s and the early part of the 1900s, tornadoes in the new millennium have some notable aspects.

Notable events for the 2013 tornado year were-
–A general under-performance of tornado activity continued for the second straight year across the United States during 2013,
–The largest tornado outbreaks occurred in times typically not noted as the main tornado season,
–Two confirmed violent tornadoes that passed through New Minden and Washington, IL. are “the only violent tornadoes on record in Illinois during the month”. (Tornadoes.com)
–On May 20, 2013an EF5 tornado struck Moore, Oklahoma – the first EF5 tornado to occur in nearly two years. (Wikipedia)

Notable events for the tornado year 2011 were:
–553 people in the United States died, compared to 564 US deaths in the prior ten years combined. (Wikipedia)
–The April 25–28, 2011 tornado outbreak is the most prolific tornado outbreak in US history. It produced approximately 358 tornadoes, with 209 of those in a single 24-hour period on April 27. (Wikipedia)
–The May 22, 2011 Joplin MO tornado is the 7th deadliest US tornado on record, with 162 deaths

General note:
–Four of the top ten costliest tornadoes occurred in the last two years. Costliest tornadoes number 1 and 2 were the April-May 2011 Joplin MO and Tuscaloosa Alabama tornadoes, and 3rd, the May 2013 Moore OK, and 4th, Hackleburg, Alabama in April 2011.

2004, 2008, and 2011 were the highest number of tornado years. Click to enlarge

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

LIGHTNING

I know the men at the Weather Service have been working for many years to get lightning information out to people. I think – hope- this graph shows their efforts are working.

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

Dave Barry wrote a laugh out loud, hilarious review of the year. I mean Laugh. Out. Loud. In it, Barry said, “the economy’s been recovering for years now without actually getting any better.” He’s right. But at least the bank bailout has been successful. Fewer banks are failing. But there are still more failing in this decade than at the beginning of the millennium.

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

VOLCANOES

The go-to database for searching eruptions is Smithsonian Volcano Project. However, they shut their database down recently for searching with filters. So I can’t get good volcano information. Here is an article from The Atlantic, though the first sentences drive me crazy:

2013: The Year in Volcanic Activity
“This been a particularly eventful year for the world’s volcanoes. Out of an estimated 1,500 active volcanoes, 50 or so erupt every year, spewing steam, ash, toxic gases, and lava.”

OK…so if this was a ‘particularly eventful year’ and 50 volcanoes erupt every year, how does this year compare?? Did 60 volcanoes erupt? 70? 1000? How many eruptions over 50 qualifies as a ‘particularly eventful year?’ But the article does have lots of beautifully photographed volcano eruptions.

This was interesting, from Dec 29: El Salvador’s Chaparrastique volcano erupts for first time in 37 years , and there was this

Seven Volcanoes In Six Different Countries All Start Erupting Within Hours Of Each Other “A new island has appeared in the Pacific. A submarine eruption just off Nishino-Shima Island Japan has erupted for the first time in 40 years. The Japanese Navy noticed the explosions as boiling lava met sea water giving rise to plumes of steam and ash.“

The Extinction Protocol person published a volcano report which got a lot of attention, and I looked into it but can’t see where he got his data from. Caveat Emptor:

2013 marks record year for the number of volcanoes erupting across the planet (as of Dec 5, 2013)
“This year will go down on record, as seeing the most volcanic eruptions recorded in modern history. The previous number was set in 2010, at 82 volcanic eruptions for the year. The number of volcanoes erupting across the planet has been steadily rising from a meager number of just 55 recorded in 1990.”

He also said that all the planet’s supervolcanoes are in a phase of simultaneous inflation, but…I dunno. Caveat Caveat Emptor.

EARTHQUAKES

Here is the updated chart of the global number of earthquakes in various magnitudes. USGS benchmarks are seen in the left-most column. Numbers in red indicate meeting or exceeding those benchmarks. Click to enlarge.

This science researcher named “R. Webb” in the UK looked into long, long-term trends, over centuries. He reports of earthquake trends,
“Apart from the “long-term” trends… which show an ongoing persistent increase, it is perhaps more stark to record that earthquakes across the planet show a marked increase in activity since 1997. There are more major earthquakes occurring now, and this on an ever more frequent basis. 

Trends since 1986

 For example, between 1986 and 1996 (incl), a period of 11 years, there were “just” 15 earthquakes listed by USGS of magnitude 7.0 or greater. This is not markedly different (albeit a slight decrease) from previous (similar periods) of 20th century, where an average of about 18 might be expected.

 But between 1997 and 2007 (incl), a period of only 11 years, there were 99 earthquakes with magnitude 7.0 or greater : This is more than a six-fold increase on the previous similar period – and is a stark increase on any earlier decades in 20th century too.

His estimation of there being 190 quakes greater than 7.0 magnitude during the 38 year period between 1977 and 2014 was grossly underestimated. There were 583! (as of Dec 31, 2013)

 The trends in nature here, particularly from 1997 support the wider realisation of prophesy about the “End Times”, namely that an increase in earthquake activity is a per-requisite for the “second coming of Jesus Christ” foretold in the bible. It does not indicate how close we are to this event, but suggests it is not too far away. …Although Jesus is clear that no one will know the day or the hour, and his return will indeed happen “when you do not expect”, he does give us broad pointers, one of these being natural events – like earthquakes. (source)

Broad pointer…I agree. And as John MacArthur advises, there are lessons to be learned in each and every calamity. These aren’t just numbers on a page but lives affected, deaths injuries, lives changes. As always, be in prayer for the people affected by disasters, and be in prayer that the Lord should come soon. May 2014 be the year of the rapture.

Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that Day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing.  
2 Timothy 4:8

 

Posted in end of days, end time, gog and magog, middle east, prophecy, south sudan

South Sudan erupts in ethnic violence and inches toward civil war; US involved

Posted on by elizabethprata

Over the last week a hot war has broken out in South Sudan. I’ve stayed away from political and war stories the last few days due to the holiday but it is important to bring this news to you now.

Sudan is one of the regions mentioned as being a future participant in the Gog-Magog war. (Cush, Ezekiel 38:5). And, anything happening in the so-called ‘epicenter’ is worthy of note. As Joel C. Rosenberg’s Facebook page states, he “tracks geopolitical and spiritual events and trends in Israel and throughout the Middle East”. We call this region the epicenter because all historical-to-prophetic events important to God arise from this region, especially Israel.

The Washington Post reported on December 23, “The world’s newest country is already on the brink of civil war. Here’s how it happened.”
“It was considered one of the world’s great successes when, on July 9, 2011, South Sudan became an independent nation. After many unhappy years as a region of Sudan, the new country declared its independence with crucial support from the outside world, particularly the United States.”

 “Now, less than two and a half years later, South Sudan appears to be on the verge of a potential civil war. Since an alleged coup attempt Dec. 15 (it probably wasn’t really a coup), fighting between rebels and government forces has killed at least 500, injured four U.S. troops and left entire cities disputed. As of this writing, the South Sudan army says it’s preparing to attack rebel groups who’ve taken control of oil-producing regions. How did this happen?“

The report goes on to enumerate four reasons, and explains them in easy to understand terms.

The BBC reports this morning, “South Sudan crisis: Kenya and Ethiopia leaders in Juba for talks“
“The leaders of two of South Sudan’s neighbours, Kenya and Ethiopia, have arrived in the capital, Juba, in an attempt to halt fighting there. Thousands of people are feared dead in violence that began 11 days ago and has raised fears of a civil war. President Salva Kiir was seen going into talks with Ethiopian PM Hailemariam Desalegn and Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta on Thursday.”

There is oil in S. Sudan…

“Fears are intensifying that South Sudan is on the verge of full civil war, and that the country’s estimated 250,000 b/d of oil production could be put at risk as a result. Hundreds of oil workers are flying out of South Sudan as former vice president Riak Machar claims his rebel forces have seized control of the oil-rich Unity state, which can produce some 45,000 b/d of oil.” (source)

The United States was hit while trying to evacuate personnel:

“Gunfire hit three US military aircraft trying to evacuate American citizens in a remote region of South Sudan that on Saturday became a battle ground between the country’s military and renegade troops, officials said. Four US service members were wounded in the attack in the same region where gunfire downed a UN helicopter the day before.” (source)

CBS reports that U.N. Investigators Find Mass Graves In South Sudan but then later the UN denied there was a mass grave of 75 bodies and revised the death toll downward to 34 with 75 missing. The fog of war… And how many people have to die and be buried together before they call it a ‘mass grave’?

The US is sending troops to South Sudan in anticipation they may be needed to respond to the violence, as well as the UN “increase in peacekeepers in a bid to rein in South Sudan’s ethnic violence.”

Here is a chart of the modern names of the ancient nations named in Ezekiel’s prophecy of a future regional war: (Ezekiel 37-38).

So that is the unfortunate news. More strife in the Middle East, more deaths and eternal destinies cemented forever. More inching toward the moment when it will all break out as Ezekiel and the other prophets have said. Prophecy is sure, so it will happen, perhaps on our watch or perhaps on another generation’s. I feel it will be us who sees the final eruptions begin even as we are whisked homeward by the call of our Savior.

Posted in christmas, jesus, joseph, nazareth, prophecy

"He shall be called a Nazarene": God is the author of the future

Posted on by elizabethprata

“But when Herod died, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, saying, “Rise, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who sought the child’s life are dead.” And he rose and took the child and his mother and went to the land of Israel. But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning over Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there, and being warned in a dream he withdrew to the district of Galilee. And he went and lived in a city called Nazareth, that what was spoken by the prophets might be fulfilled: “He shall be called a Nazarene.” (Matthew 2:19-23)

God is the author of the future. He ordained it and only He knows it. Sometimes, He tells us before it happens. That is what’s called prophecy.

God tells us in different ways what His plans are for the future. In the Old Testament, He told Adam directly there would be a savior. Other times, He selected men as Prophets to receive His word. In the NT, He selected men as Apostles and told them to speak His future. Then finally, He spoke through His Son. (Hebrews 1:1-2). The life and death and resurrection of Christ is part of that amazing reliability of God’s ordination of events, because all the events prior to His coming pointed to Him!

“I will tell of the decree: The LORD said to me, “You are my Son; today I have begotten you.” 
(Psalm 2:7)

And after Jesus rose and went to heaven, God sent His Spirit to inspire men to write it all down so we could read the past, the present and the future all at once, in one book.

John MacArthur wrote,
There is no way to explain the Bible’s ability to predict the future unless we see God as its Author. For example, the Old Testament contains more than three hundred references to the Messiah of Israel that were precisely fulfilled by Jesus Christ (Christ is the Greek translation of the Hebrew word Messiah).

 Peter Stoner, a scientist in the area of mathematical probabilities, said in his book Science Speaks that if we take just eight of the Old Testament prophecies Christ fulfilled, we find that the probability of their coming to pass is one in 1017. He illustrates that staggering amount this way:

We take 1017 silver dollars and lay them on the face of Texas . They will cover all of the state two feet deep. Now mark one of these silver dollars and stir the whole mass thoroughly. . . . Blindfold a man and tell him he must pick up one silver dollar. . . . What chance would he have of getting the right one? Just the same chance that the prophets would have had of writing these eight prophecies and having them come true in any one man. ([ Chicago : Moody, 1963], 100-107)

And Jesus fulfilled hundreds more than just eight prophecies!

God is the author of the future. In eons past, He ordained that His Son would redeem a sinful humanity, and do it in a way that stops our heart just thinking about it. His Son would voluntarily depart from His holy habitation in heaven and descend into a helpless babe’s body. He would live and grow on earth as a human, amid the pollution, curse, and sin we created. He would teach and prophesy and die a bodily death as the Spotless Lamb of God, and pleased with His Son, God would raise Him on the third day.

“Be silent, all flesh, before the LORD; for He is aroused from His holy habitation.“
(Zechariah 2:13)

This was His plan since the beginning and made known to us since Genesis 3. Jesus is a fulfillment of God’s prophecies, His plan since the beginning of time, and the very embodiment of love.

“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. “For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him…” 
(John 3:16-17)

And He was and is called The Nazarene. Believe on Him and be saved.

Posted in Obama, prophecy, technology. selfie, two witnesses

Cultural narcissism, Obama’s selfie, and prophecy

Posted on by elizabethprata

When Former President of South Africa Nelson Mandela died, Barack Obama attended the memorial service. There were many other Heads of State in attendance of course. Memorial services for Heads of State are usually somber, filled with gravitas, and dosed with a healthy portion of dignity.

Not so with Barack Obama. So childishly entranced by the pretty blond girl next to him (who is the Prime Minister of Denmark by the way), Obama put on a white man’s overbite cell phone picture with her and a giggling UK Prime Minister David Cameron, risking the ire of his wife (who is making the ‘I’ll get you later’ angry wife face next to him).

British Prime Minister David Cameron, Denmark’s Prime Minister
Helle Thorning Schmidt and President Barack Obama pose for a
“selfie” picture during the memorial service for Nelson Mandela.
ROBERTO SCHMIDT/AFP/Getty Images

The Oxford dictionary crowned selfie as word of the year and defined it as “a photograph that one has taken of oneself, typically one taken with a smartphone or webcam and uploaded to a social media website.”

The NY Post described selfie another way in their article “Obama’s ‘Selfie Presidency’ – It’s All About Me!“:
“Selfie! It’s the concept of the year. Maybe — given its accompanying connotations of technology, media, instantaneous global transmission, carelessness, solipsism, frivolity, youth, inappropriateness and ironic juxtaposition — it’s the concept of our age.“

And there we have it summed up our world culture today: a pandemic of narcissism, solipsism, lack of gravitas, and instantaneous global transmission. The bible sums it up this way:

“But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people.” (2 Timothy 3:1-5)

Let’s look at the instantaneous global transmission first. Remember when the news of Osama bin Laden’s death came across the wires? ESPN reported:

“The “U-S-A, U-S-A” chants began at Citizens Bank Park in the ninth inning Sunday night, as the New York Mets’ Daniel Murphy batted as a pinch-hitter against Philadelphia Phillies reliever Ryan Madson. And as the news filtered among the announced crowd of 45,713 — the 137th consecutive sellout in the stadium’s history — about U.S. special forces killing accused Sept. 11 mastermind Osama bin Laden in Pakistan, the chants grew louder and more widespread, and people could be spotted all over the ballpark checking their phones.“

The moment that bin Laden’s death became public, thousands upon thousands of attendees at a baseball game knew it, and erupted in cheers. Those who were a few seconds behind the news, caught up almost instantaneously as they checked their phones for texts from friends or family, or internet news. The big news was the death, but the second most reported news was how fast the news got out.

The UK Daily Mail reported,


Ecstatic fans at the game in Philadelphia held up their mobile phones
showing the news that Bin Laden was dead as they received messages
from friends. source

Hold this thought. I’m going to come back to it.

As for instantaneous global transmission, I think of this heartbreaking series of tweets from a woman who is slowly discovering her husband had died in a car crash. We not only share news after it happens, we now share it while it happens. Toledo News Now has it:

I am 53 years old so that means I grew up with phones that hung on the wall and you could only walk as far as the cord would let you. There were no cell phones. If you were out and about you had to use a pay phone (if you had a dime) or ask to use a business phone. We got along perfectly fine.

I remember the first time I saw cell phone selfies. It was 2007. I was attending a religious revival, and there were some high school kids on the bleachers. They were almost in unison taking photos of themselves. It was unusual enough that I shot a photo of them taking a photo of themselves. (I was there to take pictures for the newspaper). I never used the photo but I kept it. This was before the word ‘selfie’ was coined but it was the time when all people under the age of 25 had a cell phone in their back pocket and instantaneous global communication was born.

Now in 2013 we have this from Breaking News,

@BreakingNews

On Youtube I watched a flash mob re-enact the scene just before Rembrandt captured it forever in his painting The Night Watch. The final scene of the flash mob was to station themselves as Rembrandt did in his famous painting. Prior to the final scene, men dressed in Dutch Renaissance clothing were running all around a mall trying to capture a robber. Men in armor tramped through, a chicken was released, ropes dropped from the ceiling and people clambered up and down. In the video I noticed this woman. Either she is so involved in her texting she is oblivious to the strange goings-on around her, or she is so aware of what’s happening, she’s texting someone as it is happening. Either way, the technology is globally instantaneous; and either way it’s tragic.

This is what satan has always been after. God gave us Himself so we would look at Him. Satan gave us enticements so we would look at ourselves.

“So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate.” (Genesis 3:6)

Immediately when satan enticed Eve, she turned her thoughts to herself, my food, my pleasure, my wisdom. And we have been off and running ever since. Because the curse always gets worse, we are coming to the moment when all of 2 Timothy 3:1-5 will be true for almost everyone on the planet. If a culture reflects itself in who we elect to lead us, then Obama certainly shows us that it’s all about MEEE!!! Satan’s work since the garden will be almost completed. Sin, which is narcissistic after all, will soon be making its final run.

Though there are advantages to instant global communication which are selfless and culturally elevating, technology soon turns to a vast wasteland. That is what satan does, he takes everything that is at hand and turns it to waste. (John 10:10). And it will be the same with technology. In the end technology will be used to instantaneously celebrate the deaths of the Two Witnesses that God sent for their edification and salvation but instead will be used to endlessly repeat the news loop of their putrefying bodies in the street of Jerusalem.

And when the Two Witnesses die, can’t you see the same thing but even even more instantaneous than bin Laden’s death? If people discovered the hated man’s death when it occurred, how much more will the virulently hated Two Witnesses’ deaths be celebrated? After all, the prophecy says ‘every tribe, people, language, and nation’.

“And when they have finished their testimony, the beast that rises from the bottomless pit will make war on them and conquer them and kill them, and their dead bodies will lie in the street of the great city that symbolically is called Sodom and Egypt, where their Lord was crucified. For three and a half days some from the peoples and tribes and languages and nations will gaze at their dead bodies and refuse to let them be placed in a tomb, and those who dwell on the earth will rejoice over them and make merry and exchange presents, because these two prophets had been a torment to those who dwell on the earth.” (Revelation 11:7-10)

The global instant communication is here, ready for the prophecy to be fulfilled. The mental and emotional state of pandemic narcissism Paul warns Timothy of is here also. The combination is one that will see the Two Witnesses deaths instantly known and instantly celebrated.

Christians will be gone well before that. We will be raptured prior to the Tribulation AKA Time of Jacob’s trouble. It will happen in the blink of an eye, so that no one will be able to capture our disappearance on cell phone or other instant media. The aftermath, yes. But our disappearance, no.

Come soon Lord Jesus.

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

Further reading

GLAAD: The Vicious Tolerance Police

Infamous Selfies

Posted in faithless, jesus, judgment, prophecy

What is the clearest sign of the approaching return of Jesus Christ?

Posted on by elizabethprata

There is no doctrine I can mention which someone purporting to be a Christian doesn’t refute.

In the old days, lol, five years ago when I started this blog, some people would argue about the timing of the rapture, whether sprinkling or dunking is a proper method for baptism, or whether Methodist or Baptist was a more conservative denomination. These are examples of doctrines and opinions which are not foundational to Christianity. In other words, if one believes one or another, it doesn’t mean they are not a Christian.

An essential doctrine of Christianity is one which distinguishes a person from all pagan religions. It establishes them as a child of God. An example of an essential doctrine is that one must believe that one is a sinner, destined for hell, and that Jesus the Son of God lived a sinless life on earth, died as the atoning sacrifice for our sins and rose again and went to heaven, and will return in glory to judge the living and the dead. Ha ha, I just gave the Gospel.

One must believe that Jesus is the Son of God and is God. One must believe that hell is real and sinners spend an eternity there, while repented sinners will go to be with Jesus in heaven. One must believe Jesus was both God and man. One must believe that salvation is by God’s grace through faith alone.

And so on.

Essential doctrines are the foundation of the faith structure. No builder says, “ah, we don’t need foundation forms, let’s just pour the concrete now.” All structures need a firm foundation, and so does faith. These are the foundational doctrines of which I speak.

Wiki commons

Five years later, the entire foundation has collapsed. Not of the Christian faith structure, because that is eternal, but belief in the foundational doctrines that many alleged Christians now challenge, or even set aside. There is no doctrine I can put forth as propositional (true or false, no in between) that some “Christian” doesn’t challenge as unnecessary. There isn’t one doctrine we can agree is untouchable in its necessity in the pantheon of things Jesus taught. Even the foundational ones.

Many other religions change their foundational doctrines at will, as needs change or cultures change. Mormons believed that polygamy was essential, until they didn’t. Islam has its additions/changes, and contradictions. Buddhist doctrines came in and went out, as they worked or didn’t work. Hinduism adds gods and now they are up to 330 million. Or 33 million. Who can keep track. Catholicism has added to the bible with its apocrypha (extra-biblical books written between the OT and NT times). Catholicism changes constantly because they depend on tradition, and as new traditions occur they were added into the pantheon of false beliefs. False religions change because they are doctrines of man. The doctrines of God don’t change.

Yes some want to change these doctrines, water them down, or delete them entirely.

“And then many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another.” (Matthew 24:10).

–Is hell eternal? Nah, love wins, said Rob Bell.
–Does God punish sin? God is love and His mercy and He will forgive all. We’re all one, says Neale Donald Walsch.
–Is the revelation from God complete? No, more is coming in, say Sarah Young and Beth Moore.
–How important is it for people to understand they’re sinners? Not that important, says Joel Osteen.
–Is Jesus God? Probably not but He taught great things. Thomas Jefferson certainly thought he was a good teacher, but nothing more.
–Is Jesus the only way to heaven? Not if you’ve lived a sincere life, says Billy Graham.

You see how many doctrines that are fundamental to our belief structure are being set aside and/or challenged. This is apostasy.

“For it is time for judgment to begin at the household of God; and if it begins with us, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God?” (1 Peter 4:17)

Apostasy is a judgment upon those who are not Christians and it is a chastening upon those who are. Apostasy is a testing and an opportunity for true Christians to exalt Christ. The more apostasy around us, the more we are tested.

Judas betrays Jesus with a kiss. Judas Iscariot,
one of the Twelve Apostles, became an apostate. Public domain

“And the ones on the rock are those who, when they hear the word, receive it with joy. But these have no root; they believe for a while, and in time of testing fall away.” (Luke 8:13).

The collapse has been rapid and stunning. I’ve watched through the lens of the bible and by writing on this blog nearly every day, and I’ve seen a swerve away from these precious doctrines. It pains me to see friends carried away by wolves. These folks are prey and it hurts to see them hurt. It is agonizing to see a church fall. It is very hard to see the celebrity pastors, and unknown pastors too, take so many down with them, particularly their families.

But it is prophesied and what is more, it is a judgment from God. When you’re persecuted for standing on truth amid a bevy of goats swirling around as your church weakens like the Swiss cheese photo above, count it all joy. Jesus said to rejoice in sufferings, and apostasy and what comes with it does make us suffer. Some are even harassed and dismissed because of it. But rejoice. I know that is hard. John MacArthur spoke to that in his sermon on the 1 Peter 4:17 verse titled The Fiery Trial, Part 2:

Paul Gorbould, Creative Commons

“Sometimes this is quite challenging, to be honest with you. When I have been battered around a little bit and say to myself, “Well, I should expect it, after all if I desire to live a godly life and preach the truth of God and if I want to hold the standard of holiness very high and if I want to hold the standard of doctrinal purity and biblical truth very high, I can expect to get this, so I must be ready for it.” I can usually handle that. It’s moving to that second one where I rejoice over it that challenges me…where I say, “Thank You, Lord, this is really wonderful, I’m loving every minute of this.” I find that sometimes a bit much. But I by the grace of God if I have the time to meditate on it and to lay it before the Lord, I find that the Spirit of God fills my heart with joy and it’s usually the joy twofold, the joy of participation in the sense that no matter what I might suffer it is small compared to what Jesus Christ suffered and yet I am a partaker of His suffering. And the second element that hits me hard is that whatever suffering I may incur in this life shall be more than rewarded in the eternal joy which shall be mine forever in the presence of the Lord. Rejoice in it.”

Here is a short answer by Jacob Prasch to the question, ‘what is the clearest sign of the coming of Jesus Christ?’ I understand that Mr Prasch is a polarizing figure and I make no claim to endorse or not endorse his ministry. I just liked what he said here. And despite his brashness in speaking this answer, I agreed with it completely. Every word.

Hear hear

Here is Dr Thomas Ice in a recent essay titled Drowning in Apostasy. I also liked his answer.

“The following is a list of the seven major passages that deal with the last days for the church: 1 Timothy 4:1-3; 2 Timothy 3:1-5; 4:3-4; James 5:1-8; 2 Peter 2:1-22; 3:3-6; Jude 1-25. Every one of these passages emphasizes over and over again that the great characteristic of the final time of the church will be that of apostasy. The New Testament pictures the condition within the professing church at the end of the age by a system of denials.

 Denial of GOD — Luke 17:26; 2 Timothy 3:4-5
Denial of CHRIST — 1 John 2:18; 4:3; 2 Peter 2:6
Denial of CHRIST’S RETURN — 2 Peter 3:3-4
Denial of THE FAITH — 1 Timothy 4:1-2; Jude 3
Denial of SOUND DOCTRINE — 2 Timothy 4:3-4
Denial of THE SEPARATED LIFE — 2 Timothy 3:1-7
Denial of CHRISTIAN LIBERTY — 1 Timothy 4:3-4
Denial of MORALS — 2 Timothy 3:1-8,13; Jude 18
Denial of AUTHORITY — 2 Timothy 3:4 [2]”

“As can be observed from the above characterizations, apostasy occurs in two basic areas: 1) doctrinal defection from the Bible, and 2) immoral or ungodly behavior. The clear course of the last days for the church consists of constant warnings to the believer, especially to pastors and leaders, to be on guard within the flock against doctrinal defection, commonly known as apostasy. Such a characteristic provides for the believer today a clear sign that we are in the last days of the church age.“

Forsaken Fotos, Creative Commons

Judgment began in the house of God. It continues. It is most evident in the form of apostasy. The faithless who in fact worship demons fall away, and as they fall, they tumble the walls of the church with them, exposing the goats and shearing the sheep.

The Lord’s return must be very close. As apostasy rises we rejoice that the Lord has a plan. He plans to return after He allows faithlessness to run its course. He will establish His holy hill, and the government will be upon His shoulders. No one will disbelieve again. No one will fall away again. No one will be persecuted for speaking the truth again. Hold on, dear brethren. Let the Lord find you standing when He returns.

by Aeterium