prophecy – Page 51

Christemporos- merchandising Christ

Posted on November 12, 2013 by elizabethprata

I often refer to the prophecy Peter issued regarding the future of the church, and the false teachers who will come. Peter said of these false teachers,

“And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not.” (2 Peter 2:3).

Making merchandise of “you” means “us.”

I often use the KJV for this verse instead of the usual ESV because it is descriptive in a vivid way. The merchandising of Christianity is a heinous sin that is growing terribly in these last days. The word for exploit in the Greek is emporeuomai, meaning, “I travel as a merchant, engage in trade, I traffic in, make gain or business of.” It is where we get our English word emporium, which means mall or marketplace.

I mentioned this prophecy again, in a recent essay about Joel Osteen’s “Your Best Life Now: The Board Game.” False teachers and false preachers will try to merchandise Christianity by trading on Christ’s name for personal gain, and they will try to make merchandise out of the very sheep.

I was listening to a great sermon this week called “Beware of False Prophets.” In that sermon I learned about the Didache and about the term Christemporos. Here is a quote from that sermon:

In the year 100, the year of our Lord a 100 A.D. we have the earliest of the Christian writings that we know about and it’s called the Didachē. And by the year 100 the church had been formed and it was beginning to try to help itself to, to stay away from false prophets, and so in the Didachē there’s a section where the church instructed itself as to how to deal with false prophets. It uses a term to describe them and the term I think is interesting it’s Christemporos, and that Greek word means Christ merchants, Christ merchants. They used Christ, they trade in Christ, they sell Christ for personal gain, they pad their pockets, they build their empires. They are the, they are the happy Holy Spirit healers and they are the positive thinkers and they are the people who just wind up on the gravy train end of it, sucking it all up, the Christ merchants. And I’m telling you there are so many people in the world today and even in our own country who are using Jesus Christ as a product to pad their pockets, it’s unbelievable, unbelievable. And every area from books to music to preaching in churches and television and radio it’s on and on ad infinitum ad nauseam.

Christ peddler. Of course, you recognize the ’emporos’ part of the term, like emporium, it means “a merchant using a particular venue to trade.” Of course that venue is Christ. How blasphemous, horrible, and sickening.

The first recorded Christ-monger, or one who trades on the name of Christ for personal gain or other vain reasons is found in Acts 8: Simon the Magician. He tried to buy the Holy Spirit.

Using Jesus Christ to pad their pockets…can there be a worse blasphemy? To market and trade on the name of Jesus for money? To extract money from people, especially the poor and the vulnerable and the sick, so you can own a gold commode? Justin Peters is a pastor specializing in discernment teachings, and at the Strange Fire conference in October Pastor Peters played a clip of one recent prosperity preacher preying specifically on widows. The preacher said something like this ‘You’re poor, you’re widowed, not knowing where your next dollar is coming from. So send in your seed money and watch it grow…”

Pastor Peters gently reminded us all of how Jesus feels about preying on the vulnerable.

“You shall not mistreat any widow or fatherless child. If you do mistreat them, and they cry out to me, I will surely hear their cry, and my wrath will burn, and I will kill you with the sword, and your wives shall become widows and your children fatherless.” (Exodus 22:22-24)

“Father of the fatherless and protector of widows is God in his holy habitation.” (Psalm 68:5)

In general, Pastor Peters teaches constantly that there are attempts to redefine biblical Christianity by teaching dangerous doctrines designed to distort the Gospel and to enrich themselves at the expense of the poor, the desperate, the sick, and the widows. Since Simon the Magician existed in the early days of the church, unscrupulous people have tried to gain from Christianity. This sickness and blasphemy has been with us since the beginning.

Today, we have celebrity pastors flogging their book from the pulpit, preaching gimmicks on tv, merchandising the latest fad, and making merchandise out of the sheep, even extracting a widow’s last dollar or preying on the crippled and sick for cash.

Please be aware of the merchandising of Christ and the emporium of Christianity, and keep things pure. Our treasure IS Christ, and our inheritance IS His glory, and it is the privilege of being with Him forever. What a treasure He is. Watch your money and your motivations for spending and for giving, spend and give in His name and for His glory. Greedy wolves try to trade on His name, but don’t be a part of it.

false teacher, merchandise, prophecy

Your Best Life Now: the Board Game

Posted on November 9, 2013May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

Published in 2006 and placed into the Museum of Idolatry in 2007, we find the artifact of “Your Best Life Now: The Board Game” still being sold on Amazon today. Apparently the Prosperity Gospel’s attraction does not wane but only grows more attractive with age.

A person named David Harrison wrote a review of the game on Amazon,
This was bought as a joke gift for a friend. Joel has popularized a gospel message that promises an easy, comfortable, and prosperous lifestyle to the Christian. He ignores the fact that God’s primary purpose for us is to make the glory of God known to the world, and instead, Joel promotes an idea that loving God will result in making more money. This game gives us a great example of what is wrong with the prosperity gospel.

This person wrote a hilariously sarcastic review,
This game doesn’t have the same style as those of the Reformation and even earlier. Augustine’s “Hungry, Hungry Bishop of Hippo” set a standard to which Osteen can only dream.

What is the most tragic thing on this page? The fact that such a “game” exists? Yes that’s tragic but…the fact that there exists a five-star review? Yes, that is bad also, but…the fact that even 7 years after this game was published it is still popular enough to have “ONLY 1 LEFT IN STOCK”?!?! We have a winner.

I continue to look toward my go-to prophecy, which I believe is being fulfilled in accelerating train style each day,

“And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not. (2 Peter 2:3 KJV)

I always use the KJV for this verse because the language is more descriptive. The Greek word for ‘merchandise’ is emporeuomai, from which we get the word emporium, or mall. It literally means “I travel as a merchant, engage in trade; I traffic in, make gain or business of”. We can see the devastating fulfillment of this prophecy any time we go to a Christian bookstore, especially a Lifeway store.

Money tends to corrupt faith and the faithful. We are warned over this so many times. Money itself is not bad. The love of money is. (1 Timothy 6:10). Jesus was righteously wrathful over the merchandising of faith in the Temple, and cleansed it with a whip. (John 2:13-22). Ananias and Sapphira became the first Christians in the Church killed for their hypocrisy and it was over the money they’d held back and lying about it. (Acts 5:1-2). The Rich Young Man refused to believe in the Messiah who was standing in front of Him, in favor of the property he owned far off. (Matthew 19:22). Simon the Sorcerer tried to buy the Holy Spirit. (Acts 8:19-20).

The mixture of money and faith usually ends up being tragic if one is not careful.

And now we see not just greed and interest in personal wealth climbing to stratospheric proportions but the faithful actually being made merchandise out of.

The next time you enter a Christian bookstore, see how long it takes you to be distracted from buying a serious theological book which will edify you (if they even have any in the store anymore) in favor of buying something tangential, like a game or a praise CD or a gizmo or a piece of jewelry or a set of greeting cards or a huge bejewled cross or a birdhouse or … anyway, the tangential things are seeded around the store like sirens. And I don’t mean the loud clanging bells, I mean the seductive sea creatures who tried to lure mythological Odysseus off his path and onto the shoals in shipwreck.

The Siren: John William Waterhouse, ~1900

“A siren call means something that is alluring. It is dangerous and potentially deadly. Even if you know better, the siren call is hard to resist. In Greek mythology, the sirens who allured were sea nymphs beguiling enough to begin with, but with even more enticing voices.” (source)

The Sirens were luscious sea nymphs who lured sailors to their death with a bewitching songs. As Walter Copland Perry observed: “Their song, though irresistibly sweet, was no less sad than sweet, and lapped both body and soul in a fatal lethargy, the forerunner of death and corruption.”

Merchandising is today’s mythological Sirens. And the wolves do it via smooth talk and flattery- their voices. (Romans 16:8; Psalm 12:2; Colossians 2:4)

The greedy wolves seek to exploit the faith and the faithful with bewitching merchandising songs which lure you from the aisles of the bookstore to the shoal infested waters of games, trinkets, and fluff-filled books that tickle your ears with doctrines of devils and distract you into a fatal lethargy.

Stay vigilant! Don’t buy the merchandise, but more importantly, don’t BE the merchandise.

beer, holy, nadia pastrix, profane, prophecy

Tattooed pastrix and beer church: When the Son of Man returns, will He find faith upon the earth?

Posted on November 6, 2013May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

The title to this piece is from a verse in Luke 18:7-8,

“And will not God give justice to his elect, who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long over them? I tell you, he will give justice to them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?“

Jesus is saying that we should pray for His return, and that He will render justice to evildoers, and He is also warning us that faith in general will wane as the ages go on.

And we do see that faith today is so corrupt that it doesn’t even look like faith. Prophet Jeremiah knew something of corrupt worship. So did Jesus when confronting the Pharisees and called them whitewashed tombs. But the lack of faith in view here in Jesus’s statement is a faith that exists in a few. Gill’s Exposition says,

“in the world at the last day: there will then be little of the doctrine of faith, and less of the grace of faith, and still less of the exercise of faith, particularly in prayer, and especially about the coming of Christ; it will be little thought of, and expected, or faith little exercised about it.“

We see this today. Here are two examples of the incredible, corrupt faith upon the earth, which is no faith.

Bolz-Weber’s liberal, foulmouthed articulation of Christianity speaks to fed-up believers
“Nadia Bolz-Weber bounds into the University United Methodist Church sanctuary like a superhero from Planet Alternative Christian. Her 6-foot-1 frame is plastered with tattoos, her arms are sculpted by competitive weightlifting and, to show it all off, this pastor is wearing a tight tank top and jeans.“

The lack of discernment among people who claim to be Christian is astounding. The biblical record is clear, woman cannot be pastors. (1 Timothy 2:11-12).

Profanity for any Christian, but especially for leaders, is something that impugns the spotless name of Christ. Leaders are supposed to be above reproach. This is a must. (1 Timothy 3:2; Titus 1:6-7).

Further, cursing is a sin. (Ephesians 4:29, 1 Peter 3:10, James 3:9-12).

Women are supposed to adorn themselves modestly, not deliberately show off buff arms and flat tummies. (1 Timothy 2:9-10, Isaiah 3:16-17)

And tattoos? Leviticus 19:28 has spiritual significance for Christians living under the New Covenant today.

“In forbidding tattoos, God was telling Israel He did not want them to personally possess any physical marks or characteristics that externally resembled the pagan nations. Such a thing would link them visibly to the false religious practices and immoral behaviors of those nations, which ran contrary to God’s standards.” (source)

And in the New Testament we are told that we are not to conform to the world.

“Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect” (Romans 12:2)

This pastrix has said,

“I never experience God in camping or trees or nature. I hate nature,” she told the Austin crowd as she paced the stage. “God invented takeout and duvets for a reason.”

Yet the creation is one of the ways He has revealed Himself. I’m not a fan of camping either, but when I am outside I see God reflected in the beauty and complexity of His creation, and I give Him glory for it. If I was a leader I’d never say that I hate one of the main ways He has revealed Himself to us. Romans 1:19-20 says

For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.

Why, why do so many follow an obviously false pastor like this one? Why is her church overflowing and her speeches standing room only? Because they like to elevate themselves and/or reduce God’s stature. And with the case of Nadia Bolz-Weber, she is preaching a different Jesus, one that is reduced down to our level.

She said, ““God isn’t feeling smug about the whole thing,” she writes about Jesus’s resurrection and the idea that the story is used as fodder for judgment. “God is not distant at the cross. . . . God is there in the messy mascara-streaked middle of it, feeling as [bad] as the rest of us.””

God is feeling as bad as the rest of us? You mean, the God whose ways are so high above our ways? Whose thoughts are not our thoughts? (Isaiah 55:8). God is in the thick of our petty emotional woes? Not hardly.

I used to dismiss articles like this one which describes a pastrix such as this woman, believing that an apostate as profound as this woman would be obvious to one and all, but it is not so. Hordes flock to hear her, and why not? She is part of the promise of a coming apostasy.

“For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions,” (2 Timothy 4:3)

If a profane, tattooed, lusty and buff female pastor is not your style, then maybe the church beer bar is.

To Stave Off Decline, Churches Attract New Members With Beer

Todd Fadel, at piano, leads singers at a recent gathering of Beer & Hymns at First Christian Church Portland, OR

“With mainline religious congregations dwindling across America, a scattering of churches is trying to attract new members by creating a different sort of Christian community. They are gathering around craft beer. Some church groups are brewing it themselves, while others are bring the Holy Mysteries to a taproom. The result is not sloshed congregants; rather, it’s an exploratory approach to do church differently.“

Do church differently? Ask Nadab and Abihu how different church went for them. Ask Solomon, who experimented with everything under the sun and found it all vanity. The LORD who sent His Son to tell us what to do and how to do it, laid down how to worship in His word. There is nothing that has changed, that He wants us to now do differently. There is nothing in the bible that says “when looking for a good church, go to a bar.”

These church-in-a-bar folks are giving the gospel with a microphone in one hand and a beer in another. Their churches are literally named “Church-in-a-Pub”. They take communion among the barstools. They advertise “Beer & Hymns”. I am not making this up. And denominations are taking this seriously. The article states, “Last month, the regional council of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America named Church-in-a-pub a Synodically Authorized Community.“

At one church in a pub, “Between hymns, people can stand up and say anything they want.”

Paul expressly wrote to the Corinthians to stop such carousing, communion-insulting, prophesying chaos. He demanded orderly worship. Because God demands orderly worship.

“Let two or three prophets speak, and let the others weigh what is said. If a revelation is made to another sitting there, let the first be silent. For you can all prophesy one by one, so that all may learn and all be encouraged, and the spirits of prophets are subject to prophets. For God is not a God of confusion but of peace.” (1 Corinthians 14:29-33)

He demands orderly communion!!

“When you come together, it is not the Lord’s supper that you eat. For in eating, each one goes ahead with his own meal. One goes hungry, another gets drunk. What! Do you not have houses to eat and drink in? Or do you despise the church of God and humiliate those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I commend you in this? No, I will not.” (1 Corinthians 11:20-22)

This is exactly what the hedonistic, pagan-saturated Corinthians church was doing. Paul got on to them, and came down hard. Yet here we are, repeating the exact things the bible says not to do. How can this be?

“When the Son of Man returns, will He find faith upon the earth?”

These people disregard holiness. Be holy as He is holy (1 Peter 1:16). The Lord hates profane worship. Read Malachi 1.

“Oh that there were one among you who would shut the doors, that you might not kindle fire on my altar in vain! I have no pleasure in you, says the Lord of hosts, and I will not accept an offering from your hand.” (Malachi 1:10)

Stay in the word so you will not be deceived and lured off the path. Stay prayed up like the persistent widow demanding justice. Plead for the lost and straying, and remain grateful that His grace has found us, and that we will be with Him forever, and from what the state of the church looks like today, that time is nearing each day. Soon, my friends.

I hope to be in heaven soon, where I can worship in pure church, in perfect accord with His will, and not a blot or stain in me, but only holy desires to see Him exalted. O what a day that will be!

news, prophecy, pulpit, sermons, signs

Should pastors do news-prophecy updates?

Posted on October 15, 2013May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

I’ve been thinking a lot about pastors who do prophecy updates. This is when pastors speak from the pulpit regarding current events of the day, such as the Syrian civil war, or a major earthquake, or the eclipses coming up, or Egypt’s coups, etc. The speak about this news from the pulpit during service and relate the news back to the bible.

Should pastors do this? Should they refrain from updating their parishioners on the news?? It is a difficult question. As with all hard questions (and easy ones too) let’s look at the bible first. The role of pastor is to include:

–Care to those whom he has been entrusted (1 Peter 5:2-3).
–A pastor is a shepherd of God’s flock who is to instruct, teach, and protect the people under his charge. In John 21:15-17, Jesus said to Peter, feed My sheep, tend My sheep, feed My sheep.
–Acts 6:4 those who lead the church are charged to give themselves continually to prayer and the ministry of the Word.
–Acts 20:27 declare the whole counsel of God
–2 Timothy 4:2 preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching.

Though pastors have many duties as defined by the bible, teaching and preaching the word of God to the flock is number one. It is the major way they tend the sheep, and feed the sheep. They also protect the sheep from wolves, by guarding the congregation from false doctrine and the people who bring it. Feeding the lambs with the bread of life is uniquely given to elders/overseers.

Jesus said, “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.” Mark 13:31. The only enduring thing in this world are the words of Jesus, and shepherds are entrusted to pass them to the people, to explain, to use as encouragement and rebuke, for training in righteousness.

Prophecy is part of that general mandate. Too few pastors preach the prophetic passages or even mention them in passing. Somehow prophecy has gotten a bad reputation. This is likely because so many crazy people have set dates and brought shame onto Christianity by being a fringe element. Others are too shamefully gleeful at the wrath parts of judgment in prophecy and do not demonstrate the love of Christ by counterbalancing His wrath with talk of His grace and mercy. Or, many pastors don’t want the ‘taint’ that has besmirched prophecy in general to taint them, so they shy away. Oftentimes, it is also because seminaries do not teach pastoral students the importance of prophecy or preaching the prophetic passages, calling them unknowable, or controversial, and they ignore them altogether. Thus, new pastors don’t feel equipped to preach on them and they never do, even as they mature.


Frontspiece to “America A Prophecy” William Blake 1793

As for the sheep, us, many have gotten discouraged by the hype that too many eager pastors have promoted with prophecy. Or, they have picked up on the general taint and they frown meanly from the pews when or if a pastor preaches it.

Yet the bible says to preach the whole counsel of God. Preaching the prophetic is encouraging because it shows God’s sovereignty, His careful attention to detail, and His everlasting covenants. When was the last time you heard a good sermon from, say, Obadiah? I listened to Phil Johnson preach from Nahum last weekend, and I loved every minute of it.

However that said, there is a difference in preaching prophecy and preaching secular news. As an example, John MacArthur has been preaching for 46 years, 44 of them at one church. All of his sermons he’s preached since 1969 are online. I’ve listened to a healthy sampling of them from each decade, including the ones from 1969, from the 70s, and 80s and 90s and 00s and beyond. In a bare few, he mentions current events. For the most part, he simply does what the bible says, preach the word. The word is always fresh. When he expounds on it, I literally cannot detect which era the sermon is from. It is as fresh as if he delivered it today than when he did 45 years ago. It is all edifying.

I applaud and honor those pastors who occasionally relate something happening in the culture or the world to the bible. John MacArthur did this in 2012 when he preached two sermons pointedly on America’s downward slide into immorality. They were “sermons on the spiritual and moral decline being championed by our country’s leaders.” The introduction to that two-part series states,

“If you’ve followed John MacArthur’s teaching for any length of time, you know he rarely says much about politics, culture, or society. It’s not that he’s uninformed on those topics. It’s that they’re often an intrusion upon the teaching of God’s Word. Evangelical Christians are already too easily distracted from the Great Commission in order to engage in partisan politics.“

However, sometimes mixing the current news and the bible is called for. Dr MacArthur stated

“I’m not one to talk about politics as such, but I was essentially amazed that one of the historic parties here in the United States adopted the sins of Romans 1 as their platform. This is a new day in our country. Parties which used to differ on economics now differ dramatically on issues that invade the realm of God’s law and morality.”

Even at that, the bulk of those two sermons were mainly focused on the Word of God and not the news of culture. And the rest of his sermons are focused totally on the word of God.

In the few cases if a secular news event is mentioned in an older sermon I am listening to, it’s jarring. It dates the sermon and makes it seem old and creaky. It kind of ruins the whole thing. Tying news into preaching is a bad mix, kind of like the iron and clay toes in the statue of Nebuchadnezzar that will not stay together.

There are some pastors who choose to speak a prophecy update each week, or quarterly. I have more concerns about these. I truly thank these preachers for doing weekly prophecy updates, I know their heart is in the right place. I know they love the Lord. But to work news back into the bible and claim meaning from it regularly is a dangerous activity, in my opinion. When a pastor has committed to a weekly prophecy update that includes the news of the world, their attention is necessarily divided.

I believe pastors should walk a fine line when it comes to preaching the news. They spend time reading newspapers instead of reading the bible. Tying news articles to the word means we think we can see what the Lord is doing or that we know his ways. But His ways are far above our ways. The pulpit is for God’s word.

Pastors should be excited about His appearing though, and talk much of our new home based on what the bible says, and look forward to the era to come. But they throw ALL prophecy out with the bathwater and never mention that this earth isn’t our home! Instead of preaching news stories from the pulpit, they go too far in the other direction and never preach the bible’s prophetic passages, either.

As far as news goes, we have come to the prophetic brink so often since 2008 and then the Lord saw fit to retreat the world from the prophetic brink. Russia is rising, Middle East is inflamed, the world economy is tanking, Damascus is dying, Egypt is failing, we can see the prophetic indicators.

The pastor’s role is to preach the word in season and out, ALL of the word, and this is on them- when

St Bernard preaching from a pulpit,
G. Martini, 1470

they do not preach prophecy passages from the bible they are not fulfilling the command to feed His sheep the whole counsel of God. But the word does not command shepherds to feed us news. So many pastors unwittingly get drawn away when they include secular news to their sermons from the pulpit. They start looking at the news and not expending their precious time on learning the word. Satan will take anything, even something good, and make it bad. If they feed us the word then we will understand and see the times. Jesus chastised the Pharisees for being able to tell the weather from signs but not His appearing from the fact of His appearing! (Mt 16:3). And Paul said –

“But you are not in darkness, brothers, for that day to surprise you like a thief. 5For you are all children of light, children of the day. We are not of the night or of the darkness. 6So then let us not sleep, as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober.” (1 Thess 5:4-5)

So the pastors preach the word, the whole word, and the Spirit illuminates the times for us.

It is a shame that so few are excited about His appearing. Paul mentioned it constantly! I talk about it a lot at church. I think He is coming soon. Not because the news indicates He is coming back soon but the bible says His return for His bride is imminent. It is something to get excited about! Not the news but simply the eagerness of going to our new home or the fact of His coming to get us. It is a sad thing that too few Christians look eagerly to that moment. If Paul and the early Christians did, how much closer is it today! Every NT book except Philemon mentions the prophetic future of our being raptured to Him and the new era. Christians who long for His appearing even earn a crown! And that is a shame, that so many brethren won’t share the joy of anticipation. I speak it from the bible, though, not from the news.

I do believe that the Lord is returning soon. I believe the rapture will be any day. I have believed this since I read it in the bible. The events today look to me like they are pointing to our last moments on earth under the Age of Grace. But, it’s been 7 years since I first thought that and it could be two years from now or another ten or I could die tomorrow and go to heaven anyway. We just don’t know. We look at the seasons and we look for His appearing and this should give us urgency to witness. But when I go to church I want to hear His word explained, there is no better way to spend time than hear the word. It is the only enduring thing on this earth.

What’s your opinion on the matter?

damascus, end time, prophecy, syria

USA Today news article: "Some see biblical visions of doom in Syria trouble"

Posted on September 8, 2013May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

USA Today remarks in an interesting article, that there is a run on prophecy books. People who see events unfolding in the Middle East with Syria, Iran, Israel, and Egypt are wanting to know more. This is good.

Joel C. Rosenberg was asked to speak at the Kansas House of Representatives chamber yesterday and he preached today on Isaiah 17 and Jeremiah 49 in Topeka. He posted “A few pictures from the event inside the Kansas State Capitol discussing Syria & Damascus Countdown.”

‏

“So grateful for the questions people asked during the Q&A.”

Some quotes I like from the USA Today article:

“The situation in Syria as it relates to scripture could be something that we’re witnessing, but we should be cautious. What prophecy really is about is the faithfulness of God’s word.” (Pastor Gary Cristofaro of the First Assembly of God in Melbourne, FL)

Always, always remember that prophecy is a way to see God as sovereign. He declares the end from the beginning . When a prophecy is fulfilled we shout for joy because He is faithful to His word and He is showing Himself as King of events, people, heaven, earth, and the angels. In studying the end time prophecies, we become comforted because of this. We also become fervent in urgency to witness to the lost because we know time is short (either through death or end of days events).

“Interpreting events doesn’t lead to an understanding of what’s going on. I believe it actually clouds the understanding,” said Tom Lombardo, a San Franscico-based author and researcher of end time beliefs.

Some people might not like me saying this and I may take heat for it, but I’ve stopped listening to Pastor JD Farag of Calvary Chapel Kaneohe. His weekly prophecy updates have been a blessing but I have noticed a sad trend. When I found his teachings several years ago he used to explain the prophecies from the bible. He’d take a passage and show from the bible what it meant. Slowly over time during his prophecy updates, he now focuses more on the news than on the bible. That balance has been tipped.

Last Sunday’s message was noteworthy in a negative way, unfortunately. He said that due to events occurring in Syria and Egypt and the Middle East, he had read and read and read the news, it all became a blur and he had read it for hours. I thought, “he should be spending that much time on reading the bible, not the news.” Then he said that he was putting off their regular study in Samuel so as to spend time bringing the flock up to speed. See? The congregation collects to worship God through the hearing of the word, not the news.

I think that Pastor JD is a tremendous pastor, sensitive, studious, mindful of Jesus and the Great Commission. I only mention this because we can get so wrapped up in the news that we forget the word. I have been guilty of this myself. But the more that I see events happening that seem to be hurrying us to the end, the more I back away from the news and stick with the bible. If God-ordained troubles are going to be unleashed on the world soon, and I personally believe that they are, then I want to be sure to be as strong as possible spiritually so as not to be deceived. Be mindful of the balance between the news and the word. Because, as the man said above, “Interpreting events doesn’t lead to an understanding of what’s going on. I believe it actually clouds the understanding,” Only the bible brings clarity.

I liked this tip on how to maintain a balance from Pastor Gary Cristofaro of the First Assembly of God in Melbourne FL again,

“We try to find balance by immersing ourselves in prophecy rather than being affected by it.”

Because when we immerse ourselves in prophecy of the bible we are immersing ourselves in the bible. Far from being an also-ran sphere of study, prophecy is mentioned in every New Testament book except Philemon. All the NT authors make reference in one way or another to prophecies, some new at that time, some reminding us of the prophecies of old. Either way, immersing yourself in prophecy is a good thing and hardly can be avoided if you read the bible at all!

Read the next quote: This is a good sign, actually.

Christian bookstores such as Family Christian Ministries in West Melbourne report that book sales of prophecy-themed works by charismatic minister Perry Stone, Pastor John Hagee and novelists such as Joel Rosenberg have increased in recent weeks since tension in Syria and Egypt escalated.

But just like anything, WHO you turn to for illumination is just as important as realizing prophetic implications of current events and praising God as a result. Perry Stone and John Hagee are not too solid as biblical scholars. Joel Rosenberg has been careful and he sticks with bible verses and not speculations.

People’s instinct is always to turn to the bible for understanding when large events happen. In 2008 when Obama was elected, there was a collective shudder that ran throughout fundamentalist Christendom, and for good reason. Back then, there was a run on books and studies on the antichrist. People ran to the bible and to prophecy books. When the Japan quake happened in 2011 (magnitude 9.0 which rocked the earth off its axis) people again ran to the bible. On my blog, any essay dealing with God and earthquakes got enormous hits. People want to make sense of the world and intuitively understand that sometimes it’s just the world but sometimes there is a spiritual overlay and anomalous events drive them to the bible. Earthquakes do that.

Now again two years later in 2013 with the Syria issue, people are feeling uncertain, hopeless, questioning, or just plain afraid. This is perfect time for us who have the answers to share them!! The Gospel is powerful to save and for the heart that wants answers, who are clamoring for understanding of prophecies, now is a ripe time to share and proclaim!

Maybe this is the last essay I’ll ever write, if we are raptured in the next moments of time. Maybe we will still be here five years from now and we will look back on this heightened period of biblical portent with wistfulness that the Lord still hasn’t come. I don’t know. But I do believe the time is dwindling quickly. I believe equally that every day is a good day for salvation.

ezekiel battle, gog magog, prophecy, rapture, tribulation

Is the Ezekiel 38-39 Gog-Magog battle imminent?

Posted on September 7, 2013May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

photo credit: a l-ust for all things pointless via photopin cc

God is setting the stage to bring Himself glory.

Hallelujah!

Here is the story:

In Ezekiel 38 and 39 a battle occurs. It is the most lengthy and detailed prophetic battle in the entire bible, even more than Armageddon. This future battle is a coalition which has never formed before in quite the configuration described. For this reason, bible scholars believe the battle to be yet future. I use the term battle and not war deliberately, because this seems to be a very short military foray. As a matter of fact, hardly any weapons are loosed, it is over so quick. It is a battle, and God wins it decisively.
In addition, the battle is not between nations. It is between this coalition of nations and God Himself. The coalition of nations doesn’t know it, because they think they are marching against Israel. But it is God who intervenes and protects Israel by smiting the advancing army.

He does this in demonstrable and vivid ways. He wins the battle for Israel so clearly that the nations know it is God who is doing the fighting. More on those details below.

photo credit: MoudBarthez
via photopin cc

The coalition which is prophesied to come against Israel includes Iran, Turkey, Russia, Armenia, Libya, Ethiopia, Sudan (i.e. northern tier of North Africa). Also Sheba and Dedan (Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Yemen? most likely). The merchants of Tarshish (no one quite knows who those people are) and all its leaders stand by. They don’t participate in the evil coalition, but they don’t help Israel either. They are interested sidelines quarterbacks. (Ezekiel 38:13).

The LORD said that He will plan this and execute it. He said in Ezekiel 38:4- “And 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 clothed in full armor, a great host, all of them with buckler and shield, wielding swords”.

He will do this to show the world that HE IS ISRAEL’S PROTECTOR! And to bring himself glory!!

“And I will set my glory among the nations, and all the nations shall see my judgment that I have executed, and my hand that I have laid on them. The house of Israel shall know that I am the Lord their God, from that day forward. And the nations shall know that the house of Israel went into captivity for their iniquity, because they dealt so treacherously with me that I hid my face from them and gave them into the hand of their adversaries, and they all fell by the sword. I dealt with them according to their uncleanness and their transgressions, and hid my face from them.” (Ezekiel 39:22-24)

He shows His protection of Israel and His glory by doing things that only God does:

“In my zeal and fiery wrath I declare that at that time there shall be a great earthquake in the land of Israel. The fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, the beasts of the field, every creature that moves along the ground, and all the people on the face of the earth will tremble at my presence. The mountains will be overturned, the cliffs will crumble and every wall will fall to the ground. I will summon a sword against Gog on all my mountains, declares the Sovereign Lord. Every man’s sword will be against his brother. I will execute judgment on him with plague and bloodshed; I will pour down torrents of rain, hailstones and burning sulfur on him and on his troops and on the many nations with him. And so I will show my greatness and my holiness, and I will make myself known in the sight of many nations. Then they will know that I am the Lord.” (Ezekiel 38:19-22)

All the people on the face of the earth tremble at His presence??!?! Even the birds?! He rains brimstone down! Turns over mountains! He sends plague! Some estimate the number of dead invaders at three quarters of a million up to a billion dead. All the earth will know God is on the scene. It will be a momentous day. His wrath is a fearful thing.

Remember when the Japan 9.0 quake happened in March 2011? It was a powerful enough quake that it jolted the earth off its axis 8 feet. The quake in Ezekiel’s Gog-Magog battle will be ten times worse. A hundred times worse. I can’t quantify it because my brain can’t comprehend all the mountains on earth turning over and every cliff and every wall falling down.

photo credit: chany14 via photopin cc

I am so thrilled when the LORD receives Glory and He magnifies Himself. He has been doing that in the Church Age the last 2000 years by redeeming lost sinners, cleansing them with His Son’s blood. In the future Gog-Magog battle Ezekiel describes, He will give Himself glory by demonstrating both His raw power and His seriousness about keeping His covenant promise with Israel.

When does this Gog-Magog battle happen? No one is sure where it falls on the schedule of prophesied events, and there are a lot of opinions on this topic. The only collective thought is that it happens at or after the tribulation. All the stances have some biblical credibility, but some stances are weaker than others and some are stronger. Personally, I used to think it will happen at or just after the rapture. But in reading the verse about every mountain falling down, I am not so sure. In Revelation 6:14 we read that:

“The sky vanished like a scroll that is being rolled up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place.”

So the Ezekiel earthquake removes every mountain by overturning them but then the Revelation earthquake crumbles them … again?

photo credit: ronsho © via photopin cc

If the Ezekiel battle happens at the outset of the Tribulation, then the verse where God says in Ezekiel 39:7 that “I will not let my Holy name be profaned any more” would not be true, since His holy name is continually profaned throughout the Tribulation. The antichrist is especially blasphemous. The verse mentions blasphemy three times in succession:

“And the beast was given a mouth uttering haughty and blasphemous words, and it was allowed to exercise authority for forty-two months. It opened its mouth to utter blasphemies against God, blaspheming his name and his dwelling,a that is, those who dwell in heaven.” (Revelation 13:5-6).

Many have said that since the Ezekiel battle mentions in chapter 39 a special crew of buriers burying the dead over the course of 7 months, marking bones with a flag to identify another part of another body from the army God vanquished. And the people of Israel shall use the weapons for fuel for 7 years, so people believe the 7 years means the battle occurs at the outset of the Tribulation and Israel burns fuel for the duration of it, which is 7 years. However, there is no reason the 7 years could not refer to a battle toward the end of the Tribulation, and the fuel burning overlapping into the Millennium. Or it could occur at the end of the Millennium, a more likely prospect since during that 1000 years God’s name is not profaned, AND Israel is dwelling peacefully and securely without walls (Ezekiel 38:11, Ezekiel 39:25).

In other words, the timing of this prophesied battle cannot be clearly and dogmatically stated.

In any case, it seems that the world stage is active and lively right now with prophetic implications of these battles to come. We see a potential Gog in Putin, and Russia rising. We see an isolated Israel, bemoaning they only have God and their military to rely on. God is stripping Israel of all, and when Israel finally says, ‘we have ONLY God’, He will bring them back to His bosom.

photo credit: Wessex Archaeology
via photopin cc

Since the chapters of Ezekiel 38-39 show the LORD bringing His people back into personal dealing again, the Gog-Magog battle cannot occur while the church is on earth. Since His program for the church and the nation Israel are separate, it seems the church will be gone when He resumes dealing with the nation of Jews.

During this Church Age, God is dealing with people via His Spirit and through Resurrected Jesus who is in heaven. It is an age of grace, not of wrath. During the Tribulation He parts the veil and personally intervenes on earth again- in wrath and not in grace.

Here are several progressive essays which examine the timing of the Gog-Magog battle. They are from Nathan Jones of Lamb and Lion Ministries, and one is from John MacArthur, who believes the Ezekiel battle will occur at the Millennium’s close. As always, check out these things for yourself, pray, and think.

1. The Gog-Magog Battle – Search For Timing

2. The Gog-Magog Battle – Before the Tribulation?

3. The Gog-Magog Battle – During the Tribulation?

4. The Gog-Magog Battle – During the Millennium?

5. The Gog-Magog Battle – Unfolding; (their stance on the timing)

6. Twelve attributes of God the study of the Ezekiel Battle yields

John MacArthur: The Gog Magog battle timing- at the end of the Millennium

I hope that when you read those essays and especially when you read the bible, do so with a notion that God is great, and His purpose for all of it is to bring glory to Himself, and to bring people to holiness. End time studies are meant to revive our hearts in love and awe for a great and holy God, to make us aware of the temporal and fleeting time and body in which we live, and the eternal importance of souls.

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Update on the situation in Syria

Posted on August 26, 2013May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

Here is a quick update on the situation in Syria. It seems that it is becoming more tenuous by the day. Below, an explanation of what the bible says about the future of Damascus

August 21

UK Telegraph photo

Al Jazeera reported, “Hundreds reported killed in Syria gas attack“
“Opposition groups say hundreds killed when government forces fired rockets with chemical warheads into Damascus suburbs.’

August 22

The next day, “Aid group tallies 355 dead after Syria’s alleged chemical attack; government blames rebels“
“Syrian state media accused rebels of using chemical arms against government troops in clashes Saturday near Damascus, while an international aid group said it has tallied 355 deaths from the purported chemical weapons attack earlier this week. Doctors Without Borders said three hospitals it supports in the eastern Damascus region reported receiving roughly 3,600 patients with “neurotoxic symptoms” over less than three hours on Wednesday morning, when the attack in the eastern Ghouta area took place. Of those, 355 died, said the Paris-based group. Death tolls have varied over the alleged attack, with Syrian anti-government activists reporting between 136 and 1,300 being killed.”

The Havana Times reported, “Syrian Activist on Ghouta Attack: “I Haven’t Seen Such Death in My Whole Life”
“The alleged attack occurred just days after U.N. inspectors arrived in the country to investigate previous attacks. We’re joined from Syria by Razan Zaitouneh, a lawyer and human rights activist who works with the Human Rights Violation Documentation Center. “We couldn’t believe our eyes,” Zaitouneh says of witnessing the attack’s aftermath. “I haven’t seen such death in my whole life.”

U.N. chemical weapons experts visit a hospital where wounded people
affected by an apparent gas attack are being treated, in the southwestern
Damascus suburb of Mouadamiya, August 26, 2013.
Credit: Reuters/Abo Alnour Alhaji

August 23-25

Syria to let UN inspect ‘gas attack’ site
“United Nations inspectors are to be granted access to the site of an alleged chemical weapons attack near Damascus, Syrian state TV has said, with the UN saying that the Syrian government has also agreed to observe a ceasefire during the visit. It followed an agreement between the Syrian foreign minister and the head of a UN delegation to the country on Sunday. The agreement “is effective immediately and it will allow UN delegation to investigate allegations of using chemical weapons on August 22 in Damascus suburbs”, the state TV reported.”

August 26

Bashar Al Assad

Fearing a U.S. strike, Syria warns of global “chaos”
“A senior Syrian official said Monday that his country will defend itself against any international attack and will not be an easy target as the U.S. and other countries ramp up rhetoric in response to an alleged chemical weapons attack last week on a rebel-held neighborhood of the Syrian capital. In an interview with The Associated Press in Damascus, Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Mikdad said airstrikes or other action against Syria would also trigger “chaos” and threaten worldwide peace and security.”

August 26

Kerry Says Chemical Arms Attack in Syria Is ‘Undeniable’

US Secretary of State Kerry said today:

Secretary of State John Kerry

“Well, for the last several days, President Obama and his entire national security team have been reviewing the situation in Syria. And today, I want to provide an update on our efforts as we consider our response to the use of chemical weapons. What we saw in Syria last week should shock the conscience of the world. It defies any code of morality. Let me be clear: The indiscriminate slaughter of civilians, the killing of women and children and innocent bystanders by chemical weapons is a moral obscenity. By any standard, it is inexcusable and — despite the excuses and equivocations that some have manufactured — it is undeniable.”

What does the bible say about Syria in the end times?

Syria is one of the nations that has been mentioned in the bible consistently since the beginning. The city of Damascus was first mentioned in Genesis 14:15. Abraham’s servant Eliezar was from Damascus (Genesis 15:2). It is an ancient city and an ancient nation.

However, despite the 6000 years of history we can trace back to Damascus and the nation of Syria itself, there is one stark piece of prophecy which we can safely say has not come to pass within all that history yet: Isaiah 17:1 says that Damascus will be destroyed. Never has that ancient city been uninhabited. The prophecy says that the city will be razed and made into rubble, so that no one lives there. This has never happened to Damascus:

Behold, Damascus will cease to be a city and will become a heap of ruins. (Isaiah 17:1)

The prophecy of Isaiah speaks of a partial fulfillment in the next verses (vv. 2-3) when the Assyrians conquered Damascus in 732BC. However the city was never razed as verse 1 indicates. That is still to come.

The city of Damascus is slowly being ruined because of this two-year-old conflict in Syria. The prophecy seems to indicate that the final disposition of Damascus will be complete obliteration, desertion, and uninhabited.

If the US and other nations attack Syria, perhaps the president of Syria, Bashar al Assad will indeed unleash global chaos. Perhaps that time is now, if these unfulfilled prophecies we have been waiting so long to see will come to fruition soon. Not that we hope for people to die and go to their doom, but we do want to see the Lord come in justice and establish peace upon the earth. O, Lord, come quickly.

Meanwhile, keep watching events, but more importantly, keep reading your bible. That is the only barometer of truth.

egypt, prophecy, revelation

Angry Islamic fundamentalists taking frustrations out on Christians

Posted on August 15, 2013 by elizabethprata

Here is some news, which made me think of Revelation 12. First the news–

Egypt ‘s Churches Aflame as Brotherhood Targets Christians
“Prominent among the “collateral damage” victims of the ongoing violence in Egypt are the country’s Coptic Christians. Living on the tentative goodwill of the Muslim majority even during the best of times, the community has been the subject of attacks and persecution over the past year, since the fall of Hosni Mubarak, and the subsequent fall of Mohammed Morsi. Now, with the crackdown on Muslim Brotherhood members by the Egyptian army, Islamist fanatics are taking out their frustrations on Coptic Christians. In the past few days, there has been a spate of attacks on Christian businesses, homes, and churches. As of Wednesday morning, according to local witnesses, at least 18 churches had been destroyed, and fires and riots were continuing to spread in Christian areas, the witnesses said.“

When I read this, I was reminded of the scene in Revelation 12. In that book, Satan is finally thrown bodily out of heaven. He became a sinner long ago, perhaps even before the foundation of the world, or shortly after. We know he was created holy but was already sinful when he approached Eve in the garden. In the garden he was called serpent so by then, sin had been found in him. (Genesis 3:1, 13, 14).

However, satan still has had access to heaven throughout the ages. (Job 2:1). There will come a point when satan will no longer be given access to even enter that holy domain. It is believed that the moment comes in Revelation 12. Here is the verse:

“Now war arose in heaven, Michael and his angels fighting against the dragon. And the dragon and his angels fought back, but he was defeated, and there was no longer any place for them in heaven. And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world—he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.” (Revelation 12:7-9).

I wonder what satan has thought, all this time. Did he think he will win? Did he think that because he still had access to heaven, that maybe God didn’t really mean it? In any case, when he is pushed out of heaven, he and his angels, he becomes furious.

“And when the dragon saw that he had been thrown down to the earth, he pursued the woman who had given birth to the male child.” (Revelation 12:13)

The woman is Israel and the male child refers to Jesus (Revelation 12:5).

Satan hates God and he hates anyone God loves. Therefore satan hates the Jewish people. Prime example: the German Holocaust. Back to Revelation 12, Satan’s future pursuit of the descendants of Jesus across the desert will be foiled.

“But the woman was given the two wings of the great eagle so that she might fly from the serpent into the wilderness, to the place where she is to be nourished for a time, and times, and half a time. The serpent poured water like a river out of his mouth after the woman, to sweep her away with a flood. But the earth came to the help of the woman, and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed the river that the dragon had poured from his mouth.”

Just as we can’t really conceive of how great and deep of a love Jesus has for us, we can’t really conceive of how great and deep of a hatred satan has for us. Satan’s fury is incomprehensible, illogical, and irrational. But it is very real. When his attempts to render his fury on the Jews fleeing across the desert are foiled, the fallback position is, take it out on the Christians. Look what satan does next:

“Then the dragon became furious with the woman and went off to make war on the rest of her offspring, on those who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus. And he stood on the sand of the sea. (Revelation 12:14-16).

“Make war with.” This is the point in time when the Great Tribulation begins, satan indwells the antichrist, and the beheadings begin.

Now turn your attention back to Egypt. In the article it stated, “Islamist fanatics are taking out their frustrations on Coptic Christians.”

Logically, being angry at Christians makes no sense. We are kind, helpful, quiet, and forgiving. Having a bunch of Christians around is a good thing. In a situation of chaos and upset like exists in Egypt now, it is more logical to take your anger out on the neighbor who owes you money, or perhaps to ignite long-simmering tribal feuds. But no, the fundamentalist Islamic folks look for a Christian to take their frustrations out on. Just as it always has been and just as it will continue to be according to Revelation 12.

When the Prince of Peace comes and stops the persecution, then it will finally end. (Isaiah 9:6). There will be peace in the valley. Until then, please pray for the Christians who are hunted and persecuted.

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Egypt is in violence and upset now, but the future holds blessing for His people Egypt!

Posted on August 14, 2013May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

In December 2012 I’d posted a blog entry about what was happening in Egypt, and took a look at prophecy, which says that God has a plan for Egypt. This plan is past, present and future, and as a matter of fact is one of only three nations mentioned in the Millennium Kingdom. That future prophecy is in Isaiah 19.

From Isaiah 1-15 the future looks very dim for Egypt and her people. She will fall under a cruel leader. (No one is positive if this means a sub-antichrist, or if the ‘cruel leader’ refers to THE antichrist). She will have economic devastation as the Nile dries up. Despairing of wisdom, they will turn to wizards and sorcerers, and no one will have any helpful information to give, anywhere. Isaiah 19:14 gets pretty graphic: “The Lord has mingled within her a spirit of confusion, and they will make Egypt stagger in all its deeds, as a drunken man staggers in his vomit.”

On 24 June 2012, after a period of chaos and upset, Mohammad Morsi was elected President of Egypt. Many people wondered as the shaos went on and Morsi- a well-known strict Muslim Brotherhood member, was the cruel master spoken of in prophecy. Most people said to wait and see.

Things calmed down- for a while. As the one-year anniversary of his election approached, protests began again. This time, they rose until Morsi was ousted in a coup.

Which leader will be next? Will this next one be the “cruel leader’ predicted? Is this the beginning of the prophesied terrible times for Egypt?

It’s one thing to read about prophecy and speculate on its fulfillment, but it is quite anther to see it. The anguish of Egypt is just killing me to watch. The despair, the death, the uncertainty, and so many, MANY Egyptians are without God, so they don’t even have hope!

Egypt’s Ominous Developments

A protester comforts a wounded colleague
after Egyptian security forces began to clear a sit-in by supporters of
ousted Islamist President Mohammed Morsi in the
eastern Nasr City district of Cairo Wednesday. Source

Egypt forces assault protest camp, many scores shot dead

A woman tried to stop a military bulldozer
from hurting a wounded man during clashes near Raba’a al Adiwiya mosque
in eastern Cairo. Source

Egypt’s Interim Vice President ElBaradei resigns while clashes across Egypt leave more than 270 dead

Aug. 14, 2013: A police vehicle is pushed off of the 6th of October bridge by protesters close to the largest sit-in by supporters of ousted
Islamist President Mohammed Morsi in the eastern Nasr City district of
Cairo, Egypt. Source

These scenes are devastating. Imagine of they were happening on your street! Violence is terrible. Military uprisings are frightening. Grief over loved ones is paralyzing. But in verse 16 it starts to look up for Egypt. Our Holy God has a blessed plan for this nation which sheltered His Son! Let’s read it in its entirety-

When they cry to the Lord because of oppressors, he will send them a savior and defender, and deliver them. 21And the Lord will make himself known to the Egyptians, and the Egyptians will know the Lord in that day and worship with sacrifice and offering, and they will make vows to the Lord and perform them. 22And the Lord will strike Egypt, striking and healing, and they will return to the Lord, and he will listen to their pleas for mercy and heal them.

23In that day there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria, and Assyria will come into Egypt, and Egypt into Assyria, and the Egyptians will worship with the Assyrians.

24In that day Israel will be the third with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing in the midst of the earth, 25whom the Lord of hosts has blessed, saying, “Blessed be Egypt my people, and Assyria the work of my hands, and Israel my inheritance.”

If that doesn’t make you just weep with joy, then what will?! He delivers them, and they worship Him. They worship the One true God! And He blesses them and calls them His people. Oh, what a day. Hang on, true Christians in Egypt! He will bring your nation to His bosom! No more bloodshed. No more idolatry. No more blasphemy. A blessed day.

Unsaved Egyptians! The LORD has a plan for your nation. Seek Him now, before the spirit of confusion comes (if it hasn’t already). He will bless you and then you can watch the blessing of the nation when the Kingdom comes!

earthquakes, end time, prophecy

Magnitude 6.6 quake at Columbia today, an earthquake’s lessons

Posted on August 13, 2013 by elizabethprata

After a seeming period of quiet there have suddenly been a spate of major earthquakes. USGS lists a quake as major if it exceeds 6.0 magnitude or those others 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. Here is the list of quakes in the last week the USGS deems significant.

Mag 6.6 102km WSW of Mutis, Colombia
Mag 6.1 90km WSW of Paita, Peru
Mag 6.0 112km NW of L’Esperance Rock, New Zealand
Mag 6.0 189km WNW of Saumlaki, Indonesia

Significant: 4.9 9km SSW of Volcano, Hawaii

The Guardian UK reported on today’s 6.6 quake in Columbia
“According the U.S. Geological Survey, a severe earthquake has occurred in the Pacific Ocean near Columbia. The earthquake is 6.7 magnitudes and hit about 10:43, local time, this morning. It landed approximately 59 miles west southwest of Mutis, Colombia. No immediate reports of damage and according to the Alaska Tsunami Warning Center, no tsunami warning was issued.”

God has used earthquakes to speak to His people in the past and will again in the future. In Acts 16:26, He used a quake to release Paul from prison. When Jesus died on the cross, a quake occurred, recorded in Matthew 27:54, “When the centurion and those with him who were guarding Jesus saw the earthquake and all that had happened, they were terrified, and exclaimed, “Surely he was the Son of God!” The quake was God speaking to humans … and they understood. A few days later as Jesus rose from the grave there was another earthquake. Matthew 28:2 records it. “There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it.” In Ezekiel 38:19 God promises to show Himself through an earthquake (among other things). “In My zeal and in My blazing wrath I declare that on that day there will surely be a great earthquake in the land of Israel.”

During the Tribulation, an earthquake will occur in Jerusalem as described in Rev 11:13 where 7000 people will be killed. Later, in Rev 16:18, “Then there came flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder and a severe earthquake. No earthquake like it has ever occurred since man has been on earth, so tremendous was the quake.” Every mountain will crumble and every island will flee away.

Earthquakes are important events. After a major quake in CA in 1994, John MacArthur preached this:

“My sixth point is this: God uses calamity to call people to repentance. I believe this is intended by God to warn people of what is coming when he destroys the earth. I believe it is to call people to repentance.

And then one last point. Time is limited to heed the warning. Time is limited to heed the warning. Jesus tells a story in verse 6. “A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, came looking for fruit on it and didn’t find it. Said to the vineyard keeper, ‘Behold, for three years I came looking for fruit.” By the way, three years was the limit. That’s how long they let a fig tree go before they cut it down because it would show its fruit by the third year.

“‘I waited three years, I come looking for fruit on the tree, don’t find any. Cut it down. Why does it even use up the ground?’ And he answered and said to him, ‘Let it alone, sir. For this year too, until I dig around it and put in fertilizer. If it bears fruit next year, fine. If not, cut it down.'”

What does that say? God is patient, but his patience has a limit, right? Give it another year. No fruit, cut it down. The LORD is compassionate, gracious slow to anger, abounding in loving kindness, but he will not always strive with man.

Sinners live on borrowed time. Sinners have a temporary reprieve. What a profound teacher is an earthquake. Life is fragile, there are limits to self-protection, death is inevitable, the world is cursed, temporal disasters are only previews of what is coming, God uses these frightening calamities to call people to repentance, and you better repent because time is limited.

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Further reading

Greatest earthquakes of the bible

Earthquake verses in the bible

Why does God allow natural disasters, i.e. earthquakes, hurricanes, and tsunamis?