Category: prophecy

Posted in days of lot, end time, gay, homosexual, marriage equality, prophecy

Days of Lot: in one generation, homosexuality went from being viewed as a vile practice to societally accepted

Posted on by elizabethprata

I wrote the other day about the prophecy in the Olivet Discourse where Jesus referred to His second coming and said the conditions on earth will be as the Days of Noah. That essay is here. In Luke, Jesus made a different reference. It was to the situation at Sodom, when He said that the conditions prior to His second coming will also be like they were in the Days of Lot. Lot loved at Sodom, that infamous city of homosexual sin. He said,

“Likewise, just as it was in the days of Lot—they were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building, but on the day when Lot went out from Sodom, fire and sulfur rained from heaven and destroyed them all— so will it be on the day when the Son of Man is revealed.” (Luke 17:28-30).

Lot and the story of Sodom is in Genesis 19.

Jesus is emphasizing that mankind will be deep in sin, unaware of the looming catastrophe their sins have wrought upon them. In referring to the days of Noah, the specific sins were not mentioned, except to say that man was evil all the time, and that the Nephilim were on earth in those days. (Genesis 6:1-8).

In the case of Lot, we know that he was living in Sodom at the time of the judgment upon that city and the four other cities ruined that day. (Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, Zeboiim, Deuteronomy 29:23). Jude 1:7 mentions Sodom,

“Just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities, which likewise indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural desire, serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire…”

And Peter mentions Sodom-

“if he condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah by burning them to ashes, and made them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly; (2 Peter 2:6 )

And Revelation mentions Sodom, comparing its great sins to end time Jerusalem:

“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.” (Revelation 11:7-8)

There is no doubt that Sodom stands as an example of judgment upon ungodly behavior- and the ungodly behavior at issue here is homosexuality, carnality of the most perverse kind.

Jesus said that the end of days would be like the days of Lot. So….has the sin of Sodom permeated many cultures, as homosexuals party unaware of the looming judgment upon them? Yes.

This week, New Zealand politicians have voted in the gay marriage bill, making New Zealand the 13th country to allow same-sex couples to marry. It wasn’t even close. The “Marriage Equality Bill” passed 77- 44.

Right, François Elluin, “Sodomites provoking the wrath of God, from Le pot pourri de Loth, 1781”

New Zealand is not the only nation dealing at a Parliamentary level with the homosexual agenda. Ireland also made some movement toward ‘marriage equality’ this week. This article from the Christian Science Monitor states,

“Ireland, a famously conservative country with a government dominated by the center-right, has taken a step toward legalizing same-sex marriage, following several other Catholic nations into what some say is belated equality – and others claim is murky legal and moral territory. Ireland’s Constitutional Convention, a body set up by the government to propose wide-ranging changes to Ireland’s Constitution, voted Sunday, with 79 percent in favor of extending marriage rights to same sex couples.”

South Africa recently held its first “traditional” gay wedding
“Two 27-year-old South African men, Tshepo Cameron Modisane (pictured left) and Thoba Calvin Sithole (pictured right), tied the knot Saturday in a ceremony that is being heralded as the nation’s first gay wedding, according to the Huffington Post. The couple was married in the town of KwaDukuza and stood before 200 guests as they exchanged their vows. On a continent that views homosexuality as vile lifestyle, both men were brave enough to proudly proclaim their love for one another in a public setting.”

Vile indeed. Yet the vileness is wearing off and the lifestyle is becoming accepted.

Did you notice the change in language about homosexuality? I’ve written about ‘softening’ language before, and in this case note that we have gone from saying–

sodomy/sodomites,
to homosexual,
to gay.

We have gone from-
Sodomy
to homosexual union,
to civil union,
to gay marriage,
to marriage equality.

Interestingly, it always favors the proponent to be the first to claim the language they want, because they can then frame the argument on both the pro and the con side. And the Lesbian, Gay, Transgender and Queers does have such a stylebook on ‘recommended language’ to use when referring to them in the public spheres. Therefore, someone saying “I’m for marriage equality” sounds nice. If you are against sodomites marrying, then you’re against “equality” and you sound mean-spirited.

From Wikipedia, we learn,

“The Jewish historian Josephus used the term “Sodomites” in summarizing the Genesis narrative: “About this time the Sodomites grew proud, on account of their riches and great wealth; they became unjust towards men, and impious towards God, in so much that they did not call to mind the advantages they received from him: they hated strangers, and abused themselves with Sodomitical practices” “Now when the Sodomites saw the young men to be of beautiful countenances, and this to an extraordinary degree, and that they took up their lodgings with Lot, they resolved themselves to enjoy these beautiful boys by force and violence; and when Lot exhorted them to sobriety, and not to offer any thing immodest to the strangers, but to have regard to their lodging in his house; and promised that if their inclinations could not be governed, he would expose his daughters to their lust, instead of these strangers; neither thus were they made ashamed.” (Antiquities 1.11.1,3[18] — circa AD 96).

There is a REALLY interesting 46-year-old video of a “CBS Reports” documentary, a precursor to 60 Minutes. The same Mike Wallace who had appeared in 60 Minutes, did an investigation of “The Homosexuals.” The hour-long program ran in 1967 and according to Yahoo! News today, “took on the then-taboo topic of homosexuality in America. …[NOTE: the article remains at the link but the video no longer exists. A different, presently working, link to the documentary is below]

 The report is “now impossible to watch without cringing,” The Atlantic’s Conor Friedersdorf wrote.”

What they meant about cringing was, that the Days of Lot are here, because what America once thought of homosexuality as a lifestyle 46 years ago (vile, promiscuous, disgusting, and unacceptable, as well as more damaging to the societal fabric of America than adultery, prostitution, and abortion- and these are quotes) are attitudes America ‘cringes’ at now because America thinks homosexuality is just terrific. That happened in the space of just one generation.

In the documentary, the prevailing psychiatric position of the day was that homosexuality is a mental disorder, and a pathology. Now it’s gay to be gay. Back then, the prevailing attitude was that homosexuals were to be rejected and shunned. Today they are embraced and honored. Days of Lot.

This was Wallace’s conclusion to the report:

“The dilemma of the homosexual: told by the medical profession he is sick; by the law that he’s a criminal; shunned by employers; rejected by heterosexual society. Incapable of a fulfilling relationship with a woman, or for that matter with a man. At the center of his life he remains anonymous. A displaced person. An outsider.”

But today there are whole nations endorsing the lifestyle as normal by allowing marriage and other benefits that the bible states clearly should be denied people who engage in the behavior. The CBS Reports documentary is very interesting in using as a benchmark to see how far we have gone in ungodliness.

The documentary is below. And the Days of Lot are here.
//player.vimeo.com/video/61123970
“The Homosexuals”: Mike Wallace’s controversial 1967 CBS report from TRUTH Exposed and Revealed on Vimeo.

Posted in days of Noah, end time, prophecy

The Days of Noah

Posted on by elizabethprata

This is part one of a two-part series on the Days of Noah and the Days of Lot.

Students of prophecy often refer to the prediction Jesus made in the Olivet Discourse called “Days of Noah”. The Olivet Discourse is the lengthy answer Jesus gave to the Disciples who had asked what will be the signs of the end of the age and of His coming. (Matthew 24:3). Often misinterpreted as a treatise of the signs presaging the rapture of the church, it is in fact a discussion of God’s plan for the Jews/Nation Israel and His judgment on the unbelieving world. The Church will have been raptured before the events that the Olivet Discourse discusses begin.

Anyway, Jesus said that the Tribulation will be like it was in the Days of Noah.

“As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. For in the days before the
flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away.” (Matthew 24:37-39).

Even though the condition of the world as Jesus described there won’t be present in full for Christians, it is still helpful to take a look. Anyone over the age of 50 can see the change over the last 30 years in society. It is much more godless, more brutal, violent and rebellious. We are not in the Days of Noah but we can certainly see the days coming.

Genesis 6:5-8 describes the Days of Noah more specifically.

“The LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the LORD was sorry that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart. So the LORD said, “I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens, for I am sorry that I have made them.” But Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD.”

Look closely and ponder the phrases used in the verse to describe the days of Noah.
–The wickedness of man was ‘great’
–‘Every’ intention of the thoughts of his heart was ‘only’ evil ‘continually’
–Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD

In Old Testament times, the Holy Spirit did not dwell inside a person for life after salvation like He does with us now in the Church Age. (Ephesians 1:13-14, 2 Corinthians 1:22). There were a few exceptions. John the Baptist had the Spirit in him since before birth (Luke 1:15). 1 Samuel 16:13 shows how He came upon David ‘from that day on’.

But more usually in Old Testament times, the Spirit was given for a specific period of time for a specific task. Some examples of this are the Spirit the workmen for building the temple (Ex. 28:3, Ex. 31:3) and given to the Judges for wisdom (Numbers 27:18; Judges 3:10).

So, think about how it was on earth when the earth was populated by men without the Spirit. Every man did and thought evil, completely, all the time. Humans were SO evil that God determined to wipe them out! Noah was the only one who did right. Wow.

We are so fortunate to be living in the Church Age with the Spirit actually inside us post-salvation for all our lives. He grows us in sanctification and helps us resist sin. Can you imagine what it will be like when He, the Restrainer (of sin) is removed? (2 Thessalonians 2:6-7). Wow again. It will be just like the Days of Noah!

Posted in jesus, mark of the beast, one world economy, prophecy

Bitcoin: a digital currency enjoying an "epic rise", potentially ‘revolutionizing’ global payments system

Posted on by elizabethprata

The bitcoin. Ever heard of it? I hadn’t either until an astute reader mentioned it in a comment recently. In researching this new currency, a digital one, I became intrigued, then astounded. Wikipedia explains the bitcoin:

“Bitcoin (sign: BTC) is a decentralized digital currency based on an open-source, peer-to-peer Internet protocol. It was introduced in 2009 by a pseudonymous developer, Satoshi Nakamoto. … Bitcoin is the most widely used alternative currency and accepted by various merchants and services internationally. As of April 2013, the monetary base of bitcoin is valued at over $1 billion USD.”

And I go…”Huh. How ’bout that.”

Forbes Magazine says Bitcoin is a disruptive technology. They explain what it is this way–

A financial network is a technological platform that people build businesses on top of. And the traditional banking and credit card networks are closed platforms. If you want to build an e-commerce site, a payment network like Paypal, or any other service that deals in dollars, you need to convince incumbent financial institutions to do business with you. Getting such a partnership is difficult and involves a lot of red tape.

There’s a good reason for the high barrier to entry: electronic transactions in the conventional banking system are generally reversible. If someone makes a fraudulent charge to your credit card, you can dispute the transaction and in most cases the bank or the merchant, not the customer, will cover the cost. That’s convenient for consumers, but it requires the financial system to be a fairly close-knit web of trust. Allowing a new member into the club creates risks for everyone else. So the incumbents are understandably reluctant to deal with anyone who isn’t well-known and well-capitalized.

Bitcoin is different. Because transactions are authenticated cryptographically and cannot be reversed, there’s no need to restrict access to the network. There’s no risk to accepting payments from complete strangers. That means people don’t need anyone’s permission or trust to go into business as a Bitcoin-based merchant or financial intermediary. Accepting Bitcoins also allows merchants to avoid much of the administrative overhead, like dealing with chargebacks, that come with a conventional merchant account.

So though I don’t understand much about the intricacies of international commerce and the currencies that allow it, the bitcoin seems to me to be a way to get around the Man. After what happened in Cyprus (the Man, i.e. banksters, scooped out money from the citizens’ accounts just cuz.) The bank of Cyprus failed, there was a bank run, and riots, upper crust mucky-mucks were allowed to get their money out but not the peons like you and me, now it appears that key data is missing from banking records and they are vehemently denying there is a gold reserves sell-off. The bitcoin looks better every day. And that’s no joke, look at this article from NPR-

Bitcoin Surpasses $200 Mark, Continuing ‘Epic’ Rise

Bitcoin, the digital currency that trades outside the control of central banks and international borders, reached new heights Tuesday, surpassing the $200 mark for the first time. That level comes just five days after bitcoin approached $150, a development that Mt. Gox, the largest exchange service for the currency, deemed to be “epic.” Bitcoin’s rise has been sharp. It was only two months ago that exchange rates put a single bitcoin’s value at around $20. … Whatever the cause, bitcoin’s gains have translated into new wealth for people who bought into it since it was created in 2009. The currency is released at a very steady rate — “roughly every 10 minutes 25 new bitcoins come into circulation,” as last week. Its adherents say that regular pace, and the fact that there is only a finite number of bitcoins, make it an attractive alternative to government-backed currencies. Just over half of the 21 million bitcoins in existence have so far been released.”

The international economic system is interesting. I do not understand its mechanisms. But God does. He told us in the bible that the system at the end of time (Tribulation years) will undergo a radical and massive shift from what we have known in recent generations just prior, to a one world government and economy.

No, the bible does not use the phrase “one world economy” but it describes it. Revelation 13:16-18,
“Also it causes all, both small and great, both rich and poor, both free and slave,e to be marked on the right hand or the forehead, so that no one can buy or sell unless he has the mark, that is, the name of the beast or the number of its name. This calls for wisdom: let the one who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man, and his number is 666.”

One mark indicates THE currency or at least entry into the economic system, and absent the mark, denial of participation in the economy. “It” is the beast,and make no mistake, the economic control by this beast (antichrist and later satan directly) will be global.

The bitcoin is digital and outside the current system. The last economy on earth will be a digital one also. Though the bible does not say, it indicates this by saying that the mark will be on or in the hand or forehead, and that having it means one can buy things. How it will likely work is that at the point of sale the mark will be passed over a digital mechanism that will verify it as authentic and at the same time withdraw the money. If all peoples on the globe have a mark (except Christians who refuse) then controlling it as a day in and day out currency must mean the data behind it is centralized, accessible, and digital. We practically have this now with debit cards and other bar coded swipe items that automatically bring up your account.

Whether the bitcoin will morph into the mark or not it is interesting that the banking system is in collapse, the economic system is in collapse, and there is a widely used alternative currency that already has the digital infrastructure to become something more than resembling the mark of the beast.

As an aside, I am 52 years old and never in my wildest imaginings did I think that 30 years ago or 20 or even 10 that we would be using digital currency to the extent we are (I mean not only bitcoin but debit cards and paypal etc).

Developments are moving fast. And lest you think that bitcoin is an esoteric monetary mechanism outside the spheres of real people, as of February 2013 bitcoins can be used to buy Domino’s pizza. As of today, this article from the NY Times states,

“Bitcoin is the new new thing but the question is whether it will end up in the same dustbin as Dutch tulips and Pets.com, or, as its backers believe, turn into a disruptive technology with the potential to revolutionize the global payments system.”

Given the times, the lateness of the hour, and the certainty of the coming one world economy, I’d put smart money bitcoins on the latter.

Posted in end time, missile, north korea, peace and security, prophecy, south korea

North Korea Loads 2 Missiles Onto Launchers, tells UK to consider evacuating ambassadors from Pyongyang

Posted on by elizabethprata

Here is the latest from Steve Herman on the Korean peninsula, reporting for Voice of America. VOA material is in the public domain.

Report: North Korea Loads 2 Missiles Onto Mobile Launchers
“South Korea’s military is stepping up preparations for anticipated missile launches by North Korea. Meanwhile, the Cabinet minister in Seoul in charge of North-South relations says it is up to Pyongyang to keep in operation the only joint project of the two Koreas.South Korea has dispatched two of its warships, equipped with advanced missile tracking radar, amid rising concern North Korea could soon conduct provocative missile launches.One ship has been placed off the west coast of the Korean peninsula, the other is monitoring the east coast. South Korea’s semi-official news agency, Yonhap – quoting what is described as a top government official – reports North Korea has now placed a second intermediate-range missile on a mobile launcher. The Ministry of National Defense in Seoul on Thursday confirmed the movement of one missile. The Yonhap report says both missiles have now been hidden in a military facility near the east coast.”

Above, North Koreans attend a rally against the United States and South Korea in Nampo, North Korea, April 3, 2013. Reuters via VOA.

“They want to scare the world well enough so that after the missile test or nuclear test when we decide to convene and pass another round of sanctions against them, another round of condemnation, we would think twice, do we really want to bring the escalation by another notch up or not,” said Mansourov. South Korean officials and independent defense analysts speculate Pyongyang may time missile launches to coincide with an April 15 national holiday. That is when North Korea celebrates “The Day of the Sun” to commemorate the birth of its late founder, Kim Il Sung. At the only joint project involving the two Koreas, the Kaesong industrial complex, operations were suspended Friday, which is a national holiday in North Korea. On the two previous days, the North did not allow any cargo trucks or South Korean citizens to enter. The vehicles and the managers of numerous small factories making household goods were not given permits required to cross the border.”

End VOA Report. There is more at the link. Next, in the UK Telegraph we read,

North Korea tells Britain to consider evacuating Pyongyang embassy 
“We can confirm that the British Embassy in Pyongyang received a communication from the North Korean government this morning,” said a spokesman for the Foreign Office. “It said that the North Korean government would be unable to guarantee the safety of embassies and international organisations in the country in the event of conflict from April 10,” he added.”

In the Telegraph article above, the UK spokesman said that Russia also said it had received the same notice. Though we understand that North Korea blusters annually every spring, this time seems different.  As the official is quoted in the Telegraph article, “Unfortunately, the situation (on the Korean peninsula) is not developing in the way that we would like.”

Amen to that.

The world is certainly paying attention. In separate Voice of America tweets (@W7VOA) today, ‘Australian Prime Min. Gillard tells Pres. Park her nation fully supports efforts to cope with North Korean threats and Australia’s heart is with South Korea’ and ‘The Philippines foreign minister tells reporters his country considering offering U.S. use of military bases there if North Korea attacks.’

I don’t know if this is accurate, being from a lay-person in Florida on Twitter, but it seems so, “Thank you to our troops supporting the United Nations Command (S.Korea). Army: 19,755 Navy: 274 Air Force: 8,815 Marines: 242.”

We have focused our attention on our troops in the Arabian deserts so long that we also need to

remember the troops in the Asian sphere; Hawaii, Japan, Guam, South Korea.

However, if the situation is not moving in the direction the officials would like, is it moving in the direction as Jesus would like? Of course. Jesus said that there would be wars and rumors of wars. (Matthew 24:6). He goes on in the first part of verse 24:7 to say, “For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom.” (Photo caption, Juche Tower Monument to the philosophy of Juche = self-reliance. Wikipedia).

His dialog in Matthew 24 with the Disciples is a Tribulation discussion. Jesus is speaking to them about what will happen to the Jewish people and the world in the future “Time of Jacob’s Trouble.” (Jeremiah 30:7). There will be wars because in Revelation 6:4 we read that peace will be taken from the earth and to the rider of the war horse “he was given a great sword.”

If the rider is to take peace from the earth, peace must have existed upon it prior. This is the peace and safety spoken of in 1 Thessalonians 5:3, that “While people are saying, “There is peace and security,” then sudden destruction will come upon them as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.” It is the peace spoken of in Ezekiel 38:8b before the Gog-Magog alliance attacks Israel, “Its people were brought out from the peoples and now dwell securely, all of them.”

In Barnes Notes, we read of the Revelation verse where peace is taken from the earth by the rider on the red horse,

The characteristics of the period referred to by this are:

(a) that peace and tranquility existed before;
(b) that such peace and tranquility were now taken away, and were succeeded by confusion and bloodshed; and,
(c) that the particular form of that confusion was civil discord, producing mutual slaughter: “that they should kill one another.”
(d) The presentation of a sword: and there was given unto him a great sword. As an emblem of what he was to do, or of the period that was referred to by the opening of the seal.
The sword is an emblem of war, of slaughter, of authority Romans 13:4, and is used here as signifying that that period would be characterized by carnage.

I’m interested in the ‘great sword’. Sword is a symbol of war in the bible. This time it is a great sword. In the Greek great means ‘great, in the widest sense.’ A great war tool that brings great carnage…could it be thermo-nuclear? Very likely. But that is then. What about now?

Wars and rumors of wars are nothing new in the Age of Grace. For the past 2000 years, there have been wars and rumors of wars. However the context of these rumors and threats from North Korea if placed within the context of everything else happening, makes the situation more closely aligned, in my opinion, to the coming prophecies in Matthew and Revelation (And Zechariah 10).

All the officials seem to believe that though North Korea’s bluster is annual, this time is different. And that difference is causing them to make troop deployment and war materiel movements based on their collective assessment of the Korean situation being of a more threatening color than previously. If we look at Matthew 24 and Revelation 6 and 1 Thessalonians 5, for there to be such worldwide peace, perhaps it is brought on by war. Perhaps something occurs first to shake the world into shock and push them over the edge into wanting peace at all or any cost. Perhaps this is that moment.

Perhaps not.

But we still watch, wait, and look up for our Redemption.

After relating that there would be wars and rumors of wars, Jesus went on to say, “See that you are not alarmed, for this must take place, but the end is not yet.

How much less should we be alarmed given that we are dwelling in the Age of Grace? Jesus advised the disciples not to be alarmed, and that would be taking place after terrible wars that thrust Israel into the clamor for peace we discussed above, after the rapture, after mystifying cosmic incidents, massive storms… seems pretty alarming! But don’t be alarmed in that context is “Don’t be scared because it is all unfolding exactly as I wish. Have no fear, I am in control.”

We live in a beautiful time. It is a time of Jesus. We read in the bible of the heroes, Moses, Jeremiah, Elijah, David, Daniel, Rahab, Jael…but what of the decades and centuries in between where multitudes of Israelites just lived their lives in regularity an anonymity? There are countless men and women who lived, worshiped the LORD and died, of whom we know nothing. Yet Jesus put us here, now, at a time such as this, when His mightiest works will be shown, prophecies unfold and the rapture occur. We are His ambassadors for that time when we can call people to repentance, share the Gospel, and be His lights in the darkest time as yet.

How great is that? Jesus said how great it is to serve Him:

“If anyone serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there will my servant be also. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him.” (John 12:26).

Posted in end time, kings from the east, north korea, prophecy

Will North Korea strike the US? Should we fear? No!

Posted on by elizabethprata

Well North Korea certainly seems to be making a permanent job of bluster. Except this time, it may not be bluster.

Lately they have been issuing videos of ridiculous quality which would be laughable if they weren’t so crazy. There have been three in the last month so far. As the UK Telegraph reports on the latest video issued last week,

North Korea ‘defeats’ US troops in new video
“The latest propaganda video to emerge from North Korea depicts paratroopers descending on Seoul in an invasion scenario that it said would see thousands of US citizens living in South Korea taken hostage. … An video released early last month showed New York in flames after an apparent missile attack, and another two weeks later depicted US soldiers and President Barack Obama burning in the flames of a nuclear blast. And earlier this week, another video showed the dome of the US Capitol building in Washington exploding in a fireball.”

Then have come the belligerent threats, backed up by action this time however. Dictator Kim Jong Un has threatened nuclear war on the Korean peninsula, in the Pacific at Guam and Hawaii, and on our shores at the continental US. We sent stealth bombers. He made more threats and declared war and started his missiles to ignite position (or some such). We sent destroyers. Jong Un threatened to re-start nuclear facilities, and China sent troops to its border with Korea. We sent a radar tracking device closer to Korea. Finally the UN stepped in yesterday and said enough is enough, this will end up in a collision course.

I keep reading in the news that NK has no such capability to hit Guam or Hawaii and of course not the US shores. But if they have obtained a sub, they can launch a nuke over the US and with one electro-magnetic pulse, fling us back to pre-industrial age. Or from a container ship, same deal. They are so secretive we really don’t know what they have nor what they will do. Our intelligence has failed us on many a more open nation and there is no reason to think that the times being what they are, that NK will not follow through with igniting something.

For Jesus said…

“And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not alarmed, for this must take place, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are but the beginning of the birth pains.” (Matthew 24:6-8).

The Oriental nations do play a role in the last days Tribulation (which the church will be long gone by).

At Bible.org, the opening paragraph to the essay titled “Kings of the East, The Oriental Confederacy” states,

One of the significant developments of the twentieth century is the political and military awakening of the Orient. The great nations of Asia east of the Euphrates River, slumbering for centuries, are now beginning to stir and to become a major factor in the international situation. The geographic immensity and the millions of humanity involved make it inevitable that any future development embracing the entire world must take the Orient into consideration.

Times are such that in the end of the end when the ten-nation conglomerate spoken of in Daniel 2:31-35, 40-45; 7:7-8, 19-24; and Revelation 13:1-2; 17:3, 7, 12-16 comes to fruition it is more than likely one of those will be the Asian peoples. Japan, the Koreas, China and perhaps Mongolia, Tibet etc will have joined forces. That China and North Korea are joined as allies now is a start, and that is a huge percentage of the world’s population. Also is worrisome that two militaristic and insular nations are joined. It is only a matter of time until the rest join in too.

1986 is the last year North Korea released any statistics at all regarding their population, and at that time it stood at almost 20 million. It may be more now due to growth rates or it may be less due to starvation.

China’s population is 1.3 billion.

I personally believe that an electro-magnetic pulse (EMP) burst will be the preferred method to reduce our stature, remove us from the world stage and push us over the edge (if the rapture hasn’t happened first, which will achieve the same result). An EMP over America’s heartland will do much more damage to us than a nuke, which has a more discrete damage area.

But Jesus and the Holy Spirit said many times, fear not!

I was reading Psalm 86 yesterday. It is titled “Great is Your Steadfast Love.” It is a wonderful, wonderful conversation David is having with God. Even though we do not read of God answering back in the Psalm, we know it is a conversation because God is living and active and so is His word. We know He heard David, and we know David’s prayer was answered. Here is something that David asked for which touched me. It is now my second favorite phrase after “Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all ye lands” (Psalm 100:1)

“Teach me your way, O Lord, that I may walk in your truth; unite my heart to fear your name.”

I fear nothing on this earth. I fear no man, for Jesus who is with me is greater than any man. I fear no event, because the event of the cross is greater than anything man can devise against man.

I want to fear the LORD. It is a good fear, a holy fear. O Lord, unite my heart to fear Your name!

Fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom. (Proverbs 9:10). His holiness is fearfully glorious and awesome in its power. We fear Him because He is the Creator with all power, and He also chastens us when we rebel against Him. But we do not have a fearful relationship with Him because we are to endure no judgment from Him. Jesus paid that through enduring God’s wrath at the cross.

O Lord, unite my heart to fear your name!

David’s praise continues in Psalm 86:12-13,

“I give thanks to you, O Lord my God, with my whole heart, and I will glorify your name forever. For great is your steadfast love toward me; you have delivered my soul from the depths of Sheol.”

David knew that despite being pursued by insolent men and a ruthless crowd seeking to take his life, God is “abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness” (verse15b).

If David can praise His name, glorify Him, seek to fear Him, and depend on Him whilst running from a murderous crowd, we can do the same from the comfort of our homes, which still have not been struck by a bomb or darkened by an EMP. And if you are in the part of the world where you, just like David, indeed are running from a murderous crowd (like Saudi Arabia) or experiencing bombs or rioting, then take heart in David’s plea for mercy to a God who is steadfast and merciful. Fear not, because fear of the LORD is whence our comfort comes. If you fear Him, you need not fear anyone or anything else.

Lord, unite my heart to fear Your name, that is where it all begins … and ends 🙂

Posted in el hierro, hekla, magog, north korea, prophecy

News and prophecy

Posted on by elizabethprata

I read Pastor Jim McClarty’s blog today. He is a pastor I’d recommended back along who has started a blog. He is a good pastor, preaching through the bible verse by verse with precision and verve. Currently they are going through Hebrews, a series I am going to enjoy while at home next week on Spring Break. He is pastor at Grace Christian Assembly in TN.

Here is Pastor Jim’s blog

And …drum roll please….here is Pastor Jim’s review of the History Channel’s The Bible. He reviewed Week 1-3 and I’ll include just a few excerpts.

The critic of the Bible has all the more reason to discount it since the God of this series is cruel and haphazard. And the biblically ignorant folk who watch this will come away with a completely false concept of God, His word, and His interactions with the children of Israel.

Abraham’s act of utter faith was reduced to him arguing with God that he felt he’d been tested enough. What a repugnant program this is.

And you know the producers and pitch men (Joel Osteen, Rick Warren, T.D. Jakes, et. al.) are going to claim that this is a great evangelistic tool. They’ll encourage their listeners to buy the DVD and share it with their friends and family. Apparently, Peter’s description of false prophets didn’t sink in — “And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you.” (2Peter 2:3)

Then again, one accomplishment the producers did achieve was that they managed to take some of the most exciting, compelling stories in human history and make them mind-numbingly boring.

It’s obvious that the writers and producers are systematically eliminating or explaining-away all the accurate prophecy in the Old Testament. The TV version of the prophets merely heard from God, but there’s no hint of accurately foretelling future events.

In His dealings with Peter, the show gave us no sense of Jesus’ divine ability to effectively call people to Himself. And, of course, there was the horrid insertion of words into Jesus’ mouth that He simply never said, like, “Change the world.”

This series is as damaging as anything Rome, the Mormons, or Islam have done in their denial of the historicity, perspicuity, and trustworthiness of the text of the Bible. And the sub-biblical church in America is all excited about it.

OK, here is some news about locusts in Israel:
“But this year is the first time since 2005 that modern-day Israel has had to combat locusts, which can swarm so thickly that drivers can’t see beyond their windshield. But it’s not just Israel. Today the Palestinian Authority’s Ministry of Agriculture sprayed pesticides in Hebron, in the southern West Bank. And Egyptian farmers have suffered millions of dollars in damage after a swarm of about 30 million locusts hit Cairo earlier this month.”

And El Hierro is active. After rumbling and spurtling last year, the canary Island volcano is speaking up again. Remember, the Canary Islands volcano is next to the other Canary Island volcano called La Palma, the one that has a massive section of land atop it hanging by a thread, that scientists have said if it ever comes loose would cause a tsunami that’d swamp NYC. Anyway, quakes around El Hierro and nearby sea have been increasing, 229 on Monday, 175 on Wednesday, and 47 in the last few hours. Maybe El Hierro is speaking up to call Hekla.

Hekla is an Icelandic volcano. Yahoo asks, “Is another Icelandic volcano getting ready to erupt?” The Icelandic volcano, Hekla, is causing a bit of worry lately, and News of Iceland is reporting that, as of Tuesday, authorities there have declared a ‘Civil Protection State of Uncertainty’. Hekla is a nearly 1,500 m-tall ‘stratovolcano’ in southern Iceland, that has apparently been called the ‘Gateway to Hell’ by Europeans since the Middle Ages. … While ‘micro-earthquakes’ like these aren’t anything unusual, as millions of them are felt around the world every year, Martin Hensch, an earthquake expert with the Icelandic Met Office told News of Iceland that this “is quite unusual activity in the volcano”.

Perhaps El Hierro in the Canary Islands and Hekla in Iceland are calling Pacaya in Central America. “Hey! Come to the lava party!”

Warn of possible eruption of Pacaya (Google translated)
“Guatemala- In the last hours is a change in the activity cycle of the Pacaya volcano, with increased shallow earthquakes, ash emission and lava flows that did not show up for two years and a half, so that experts warn an eruption at any time.”

The North Koreans cut the last hotline with South Korea amid increasing blowhard rhetoric that is uncomfortably close to possibly not being hyperbole. So we deployed bombers. The North Koreans have definitely ratcheted up the danger.

Russia’s Putin suddenly decided to conduct surprise military exercises at the Black Sea. It involves 36 ships and up to 7,000 troops. Apparently, Putin does not have to give warning of exercises if they contain fewer than 7,000 troops. (Ezekiel 38-39, Russian people and those north of the Black Sea).

Cyprus’s banks are crashing. Emerging economies plan World Bank rival.

An Oklahoma doctor may have infected thousands with HIV. A deadly virus is missing from a TX biolab, FBI is investigating. (Rev 6:8;  Luke 21:11).

There is just a bewildering array of news. It seems that the time is so short.

Precious Lord, take my hand, I am tired. I am weak. I am worn. And He does come! In times of trouble gives a very present help! “The LORD is my strength and my shield; in him my heart trusts, and I am helped; my heart exults, and with my song I give thanks to him.” (Psalm 28:7)

Posted in israel, jews, Obama, prophecy, turkey, zechariah

Israel PM brother-in-law says Obama is an anti-Semite

Posted on by elizabethprata

I happen to agree with Israel Prime Minister Netanyahu’s brother-in-law. Here is news today regarding Obama in Israel-

Netanyahu’s Brother-In-Law Says Obama Is An Anti-Semite, Hates Israel
“In the midst of trying to ease tensions following one of the worst diplomatic rifts between the US and Israel in recent memory, Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was forced to distance himself from his brother-in-law Wednesday after he accused US President Barack Obama of being an anti-Semite during a radio interview. “It’s not that Obama doesn’t like Bibi,” Hagai Ben-Artzi said during the interview, according to Haaretz. “He doesn’t like the nation of Israel.” Ben-Artzi attributed Obama’s alleged anti-Semitism to his long association with Rev. Jeremiah Wright, whose views Obama came to disavow during his presidential campaign in 2008. “When there is an anti-Semitic president in the United States, it is a test for us and we have to say: We will not concede. We are a nation dating back 4,000 years, and you in a year or two will be long forgotten. Who will remember you? But Jerusalem will dwell on forever,” Ben Artzi said.”

Netanyahu immediately distanced himself from his brother-in-law and rejected his opinion.

However, as with anyone, anywhere, check to see that what they say and what they do match up. Obama’s behavior over the last 4 years as president toward Israel’s prime minister has not been one of love or even regard, but of barely disguised disdain.

Last September, Reuters reported, In an unusual snub, Obama to avoid meeting Netanyahu

In 2010 the UK Telegraph reported, “Obama snubbed Netanyahu for dinner with Michelle and the girls, Israelis claim“
“Benjamin Netanyahu was left to stew in a White House meeting room for over an hour after President Barack Obama abruptly walked out of tense talks to have supper with his family, it emerged on Thursday.”

In January 2013, an American columnist with close ties to the White House described Obama’s disdain for Netanyahu.

This is not how you treat your ONLY ally in a harsh and hostile part of the world, not if you have regard and respect for its people nation to nation, that is.

Obama seems to be getting some props for “brokering” a rapprochement between Israel and Turkey. Their relations had broken down after Turkey violated (allegedly) a marine blockade by Israel and Israel shot several Turkish officers in the sea scuffle. Diplomatic relations had been called off since late 2010-early 2011, with only one phone call by Netanyahu to Turkey to offer help after Turkey’s earthquake. Turkey said no thanks.

The Japan Times explains, “Israel and Turkey were once close allies. Relations began to decline after Erdogan, whose party has roots in Turkey’s Islamist movement, became prime minister in 2003. Erdogan has embarked on a campaign to make Turkey a regional powerhouse in an attempt to become the leading voice in the Muslim world but has in the process distanced the country from Israel.”

However, despite those ambitions, at least for today, the two nations appeared to ‘bury the hatchet’ as Japan Times said. Haaretz reports, “In November 2012, Israel and Turkey resumed talks on ending the crisis in relations between the two countries. On March 22, 2013, Netanyahu made the phone call to Erdogan, apologizing over the deaths of the nine Turkish citizens in the flotilla incident. The normalization agreed by both countries included the return of the Turkish ambassador to Tel Aviv and the Israeli ambassador to Ankara.”

Some say that it is good that diplomatic tensions have eased between the two nations. The region is aflame with Syria’s civil war and refugees streaming into Jordan, Turkey and Lebanon. Israel could use Turkey’s help with the situation and vice versa. Others say it is not a good idea, Israel looked weak to bow to Turkey after all this time and lowered morale of the soldiers. His apology created a firestorm at home. And after all, biblically, Turkey will attack Israel in the Gog-Magog war. (Ezekiel 38:6). If they form warm relations now, it won’t last.

At the end of Obama’s trip to Israel, he stopped to tour the ancient rose-red city of Petra in nearby Jordan. Petra means rock, and it is located in the region of Bozrah, which means sheepfold. It is the place where the Jews will flee to when they see the abomination of desolation. (Matthew 24:16). How do we know this?

Daniel 11:41 declares that Jordan is the only place that will escape the domination of the antichrist in the last days. The Jews at that time will flee over the mountains as per Matthew 24:16 and as Revelation 12:14 says, they will cross the desert. Geologically, the only mountains and desert is toward the southwest, over the Jordan river and into Edom. Isaiah 63:1 shows the Lord Jesus coming from Bozrah with blood stained robes, indicating one of His stops before He lands on the Mount of Olives (Zechariah 14:4) will be to save the Jews hiding there.

To see a person such as Obama who has such a strong antichrist spirit (1 John 4:3 and also here) standing in such a prophetically wonderful and important place for the Jews, and he who hates Israel so much…it is a jarring juxtaposition.

As far as Netanyahu’s brother-in-law goes, I am in total agreement. Obama by his behavior and by his placement here at this time in America, seems to have severe disdain for the nation of Israel. But that is no more or no less than the rest of the world, which seems to be hurtling toward fulfillment of the following prophecy:

“On that day I will make Jerusalem a heavy stone for all the peoples. All who lift it will surely hurt themselves. And all the nations of the earth will gather against it.” (Zechariah 12:3)

Zechariah has much to say about the coming times. There is an incredible amount of last days prophecy throughout Zechariah’s book, including parallels with Revelation. As Pastor Steve Hadley says, pound for pound, Zechariah has it almost over even Daniel in terms of prophecy. If you would like to listen to a preacher preach through this book, verse by verse, I’d recommend Steve Hadley at Harvest Family Fellowship, here.

Always keep your eyes on the Lord through His word. What He is doing is amazing. We look at the news in wonder but the real wonder comes when we read His valuable and precious word, and see what He has planned. Did you ever stop to think that it is amazing in itself that He even tells us what He plans to do? He is God after all. He doesn’t have to. Just reading the bible is a miracle for us, because it is the place where His holiness and perfection and love is revealed. If your bible is dusty, brush it off and open it up. There are many wonders awaiting you there.

Posted in prophecy, rapture, second coming

The differences between the Rapture and the Second Coming

Posted on by elizabethprata

Christ coming for His church (Rapture) is not to be confused with His second coming (Judgment). These are two separate events:

Click to enlarge

Prophetic outline of Revelation explained in Revelation 1:19–

John is told by Jesus to write down the things which he has seen, the things that are, and the things which will take place after this.

Revelation 1:9-18 the things which John has seen
Revelation 2:1-3:22 the things that are: letters to the seven churches (church age)
Revelation 4:1-22:21 the things which will take place after the church age.
In Revelation 4:1 it says after these things, which are, is when the rapture occurs: The Greek word here is meta tauta “after these things” referring to the church being received in heaven. After this event the church is not mentioned on earth but in heaven.
Revelation 4:1-5:14 the church worshipping in heaven
Revelation 6:1-18:24 the tribulation period
Revelation 19:1-21 the second coming of Christ, coming with His church
Revelation 20:1-5 millennium kingdom
Revelation 21:1-22:21 new earth

Go to this source for more information and essays and explanations.

Posted in end time, jesus, prophecy, tolerance

Apostasy and tolerance: both are bad. Read the bible to find out more

Posted on by elizabethprata

In December, I read that the UK “census shows number of people in England and Wales who are not religious has risen to 14.1 million, almost double from 2001.”

It got me thinking about faithlessness and what we are told about in 1 Timothy 4:1

“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,”

I always found it interesting that the verse reads ‘the Spirit expressly says’. In other translations it reads ‘the Spirit clearly says’, and ‘the Spirit explicitly says.’ One would think that the Spirit is always clear and expresses exactly what He wants to say. I mean, it would still be authoritative enough if the verse read “The Spirit says that in latter days…” But that adverb ‘expressly’ always gets me. In interpreting His word when I come up against something like that, I come to a full stop. If the Spirit expressly says something, then it behooves us to pay attention to it.

The Greek word for ‘expressly’ is an adverb which is a derivative of rheo, meaning “command.” OK, that’s pretty strong.

So the upshot is the Spirit commands us to know and understand that in latter days some will depart the faith.

We can rest assured, that God’s numbers are not diminishing. It isn’t a weak religion where people can come and go and God #fail. Not at all. Whom He saves is saved. If they depart from the faith they are actually demonstrating that they never belonged to God in the first place. (1 John 2:19).

Oftentimes a departure from the faith is called apostasy. We are told that apostates will increase in number just before the Second Coming (Of Jesus, Not Obama. Sorry, I had to get that in there). 2 Thessalonians 2:3 has the verse:

“Let no one in any way deceive you, for it will not come unless the apostasy comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction,”

The Holman Bible Dictionary defines apostasy as “the act of rebelling against, forsaking, abandoning, or falling away from what one has believed.

Old Testament The Old Testament speaks of “falling away” in terms of a person’s deserting to a foreign king (2 Kings 25:11; Jeremiah 37:13-14; Jeremiah 39:9; Jeremiah 52:15). Associated ideas, however, include the concept of religious unfaithfulness: “rebellion” (Joshua 22:22); “cast away” (2 Chronicles 29:19); “trespass” (2 Chronicles 33:19); and “backslidings” (Jeremiah 2:19; Jeremiah 8:5). NAS uses “apostasy” in Jeremiah 8:5 and Hosea 14:4 with the plural in Jeremiah 2:19; Jeremiah 5:6; Jeremiah 14:7.”

It seems clear to most of us that the Lord is revealing that many who adopted a form of godliness but had denied its power (2 Timothy 3:5) are being stripped of their falsely spiritual cloak and are being revealed for whom they actually are.

An essay recently on iCNN, the citizen input channel of their news media’s online arm, recently published an essay that has reportedly garnered the second highest number of hits ever. 

Why I Raise My Children Without God

Posted on January 14, 2013, it has received 9,100 comments. Over 60,000 have recommended the essay on Facebook. A competing essay on iCNN titled “Why I raise my children WITH God”…has received a tenth of the number of comments and a third fewer recommends on Facebook.

People are apostatizing, and rapidly. The gap is widening so there can be no fence straddlers for very much longer.

We know what atheism is. It is people like the woman who wrote “Why I Raise My Children Without God”, they are people who never believed in God in any form for any time because they theorize that God does not exist. They have great faith in their theory.

It seems clear that we also know what apostasy is. It is people who (seemed to) believe for a time, and then abandoned any pretense of believing in their version of God. Muslims can apostatize. Buddhists can become apostate. But for the purposes of this essay, we are discussing people who claimed to believe in a risen Jesus as savior, but after a time, abandoned that belief and either went on to something else or simply became what they always were: atheist or agnostic.

But I have another question about who an apostate might be.

I wrote recently about old Eli, the temple priest whose record in the bible never revealed a sin that he personally committed, but he and his sons were killed for the sons’ sins. The sons were taking money from congregants, taking the choicest meats, and then taking women. Eli was not participating in this travesty, but he knew about it, and did nothing. That last thing is what God seemed upset about. The sons were killed for their part in the sinful behavior and Eli was killed because he didn’t do anything about it. (1 Samuel 2:29, 1 Samuel 3:13.)

What God said to Eli was that Eli was honoring his sons above God. I think we forget who we sin against, when we sin. All sins are against Jesus. (Psalm 51:4). The prodigal son said to his father that he’d “sinned against heaven, and against you.” (Luke 15:21)

In Revelation 2:21 Jesus said he had something against the church at Thyatira. “Nevertheless, I have this against you: You tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess. By her teaching she misleads my servants into sexual immorality and the eating of food sacrificed to idols.“

They knew there was sin, they knew the sin was destroying their church, and they did nothing about it. So Jesus had a condemnation for them. If it was today they would probably sit around saying “touch not God’s anointed” and “judge not” and “aren’t we so humble, in our tolerance.” Tolerance in the wrong direction is actually a sin. Think about it.

Paul condemned a situation in Corinth, where a man had his father’s wife. Paul condemned the sin and severely chastised the person performing the sin. But the church body was also chastised for tolerating it. Paul called them arrogant.

“You are arrogant! Ought you not rather to mourn?” (1 Corinthians 5:2)

Paul chastised them for boasting. The Corinthians were going around boasting about their gifts and their status and their works, and yet they were tolerating a gross sin. Their boasts were resting on a corrupted pedestal. If it were today, I would venture to say that they’d be boasting about their tolerance and their humility not to “judge.”

So the question is, is a person apostatizing if he tolerates gross sin but does nothing about it? Like Eli, Thyatira, and Corinth? If a person can tolerate such sins against Jesus and not do anything about it, are they actually loving Jesus as they should? Are they growing lukewarm, or even cold? If a people who actually know what sin does to a person, allows a person to continue in that sin, do they love that person if they do nothing to help them?

Does a false tolerance and an overdone spiritual correctness mean that love is growing dim? That they are apostatizing?

I don’t know if the definition of apostasy can be given to that kind of behavior. I’m just asking. I do know that Jesus condemned it the three biblical examples I used. At root, it means that they honor the sin more than they honor Jesus.

After Jesus threw out the moneylenders in the temple, “His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for your house will consume me.” (Psalm 69:9; John 2:17)

Barnes Notes says, “Its meaning is, that Jesus was affected with great zeal or concern for the pure worship of God. The zeal of thine house – “Zeal” is intense ardor in reference to any object. The “zeal of thine house” means extraordinary concern for the temple of God; intense solicitude that the worship there should be pure, and such as God would approve. Hath absorbed me, or engaged my entire attention and affection; hath surpassed all other feelings, so that it may be said to be the one great absorbing affection and desire of the mind.”

No matter what the exact definition of apostasy, zeal for God should consume us. Is our worship pure? Are we intensely concerned that no leaven is spoiling the lump? (The charge Paul gave to the Corinthians in the above passages). Do we tolerate a devastating pattern of sin in our own life, or in our church? You are not doing yourself, Jesus, or your brethren any favors by adopting a false sense of humility and refusing to address obvious and entrenched sin in God’s house. The bible is clear on that.

Dearest ones who have addressed sin, or tried to, in God’s house, He understands the toll zeal takes:

“My zeal wears me out, for my enemies ignore your words.” (Psalm 119:139)

The writer of Hebrews lets us know that there is nothing Jesus hasn’t gone through first that He isn’t intimately familiar with in us. (Hebrews 2:17). He understands the toll it takes to be zealous for God, and He has made many promises to those who persevere in the purest worship they can offer, the most zeal they can give, and the best attempts at rooting out sin. Here is one of those promises-

“He will swallow up death forever. The Sovereign LORD will wipe away the tears from all faces; he will remove the disgrace of his people from all the earth. The LORD has spoken.” (Isaiah 25:8)

Take heart. He is coming soon.

Posted in end of days, last days, prophecy

The world’s richest, science’s dumbest, weather’s worst

Posted on by elizabethprata

Here is some general news which I feel is of prophetic import. This prophetic import is my opinion, of course 🙂

World’s 100 richest earned enough in 2012 to end global poverty 4 times over
“The world’s 100 richest people earned a stunning total of $240 billion in 2012 – enough money to end extreme poverty worldwide four times over, Oxfam has revealed, adding that the global economic crisis is further enriching the super-rich. “The richest 1 percent has increased its income by 60 percent in the last 20 years with the financial crisis accelerating rather than slowing the process,” while the income of the top 0.01 percent has seen even greater growth, a new Oxfam report said. For example, the luxury goods market has seen double-digit growth every year since the crisis hit, the report stated.”

This is interesting to me because the Tribulation, though the financial and economic systems will have been crashed and remade into a one world system, will contain the largest gap between rich and poor the world has ever seen. Though millions will be dying of famine and starvation for want of a loaf of bread, the trade in the world’s richest luxuries will have been going strong throughout. See the verse indicating the poor in Revelation 6:5-6 and the rich in Revelation 18:9-20.

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Brazil rape statistics skyrocket
Reported rapes in Brazil rose by 157 percent between 2009 and 2012; 5,300 rapes in first six months alone
“Reported rapes in Brazil rose by 157 percent between 2009 and 2012, with Rio de Janeiro state recording 16 sexual assaults a day last year, according to official data released Sunday. In just the first six months of 2012, more than 5,300 people — 90 percent of them women — were raped in Brazil, which is home to about 194 million people.”

This is interesting to me because of the verse in Matthew 24:12 –“And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold.”

The word “lawlessness” here in the Greek means sin which is breaking God’s law, not secular lawbreakers. But the result of sin often leads to secular lawbreaking, in the form of crimes such as rape. 2 Timothy 3:1-5 tells that the last days will be perilous in the extreme.

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40% of flights to Paris’s main airports cancelled due to heavy snow
“London’s Heathrow Airport canceled a fifth of flights on Sunday and airlines scrapped 40 percent of flights to Paris’s main airports as snow blanketed parts of Europe, with more forecast.”

Avalanche in Scottish Highlands kills 4, injures 1
Four people were killed Saturday when a group of climbers was swept away by a powerful avalanche in the Scottish Highlands, local authorities said on Sunday. A young woman remains in a critical condition with serious head injuries. Large parts of Britain have been affected by heavy snow and strong winds in recent days. Accidents on the scale of Saturday’s incident are extremely rare in the United Kingdom

Nearly 40,000 without power in southeast Michigan, crews contend with frigid temperatures
“It’s a one-two punch for tens of thousands of people without power in southeastern Michigan. Wind gusts up to 60 m.p.h. roared through the area early this morning, knocking out power to more than 100,000 homes and businesses. Now, both powerless customers and utility crews trying to restore electricity have to contend with frigid temperatures moving into the area for the next several days.”

I read a report from Scotland in 1990 that said avalanche fatalities were increasing and at that time two killed per year was the norm. Avalanche dangers have only increased from the 1990s as heavy snows increasingly fall on the Highlands as a regular course.

As for the “one-two” weather punch in Michigan, it seems that our weather has been “one-two-three-four-five…punch” of late. We are receiving storm after storm, interruption after interruption. This is expected, as Jesus said that there would be meteorological disturbances the closer to the Tribulation we get. (Luke 21:10-11). Jesus also said that during the Tribulation there will be even worse climatological events, such as drought for three years, no wind blows anywhere, sulfur from the sky, scorching heat that burns men, and more. The birth pangs we’re experiencing now seem to indicate the disruptions are increasing in frequency and painfulness in advance of the total waywardnness of the weather during the Tribulation.

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Wanted: ‘Adventurous woman’ to give birth to Neanderthal man – Harvard professor seeks mother for cloned cave baby
Yet this incredible scenario is the plan of one of the world’s leading geneticists, who is seeking a volunteer to help bring man’s long-extinct close relative back to life. Professor George Church of Harvard Medical School believes he can reconstruct Neanderthal DNA and resurrect the species which became extinct 33,000 years ago. His scheme is reminiscent of Jurassic Park but, while in the film dinosaurs were created in a laboratory, Professor Church’s ambitious plan requires a human volunteer. He said his analysis of Neanderthal genetic code using samples from bones is complete enough to reconstruct their DNA. He said: ‘Now I need an adventurous female human.

Since the Fall, it has been satan’s desire to reduce man from human made in God’s image, to monkey, or even a lower order biological lump, like an amoeba. It has been his desire to mingle the unholy and ungodly with the Godly and the holy so as to pollute anything God has done. The miracle of human birth via God’s knitting of him in the womb, to brutal and unthinking neanderthal ape-man, is right up his alley.

Our fight is for the integrity of Genesis 1 and the creation in seven literal 24 hour days. Satan’s war wages deep. Look how satan got to Billy Graham:

“How you believe doesn’t affect the doctrine. Either at a certain moment in evolution God breathed into one particular ape-man who was Adam, or God could have taken a handful of dust and blowed and created a man just like that” (Billy Graham, ‘United Church Observer’ ‘Sunday Magazine’ June 1966).

God blew life into an ape-man? Satanic in the extreme. Billy Graham has always been a liberal compromiser and friend to the world.

 As Ken Ham said today in his essay “The Legacy of Brainwashing”,

“Despite their claims to the contrary, atheists use evolution as their religion to replace God. Evolution is a foundation for their set of beliefs about life and how it arose, just as creation, as described in Genesis, is our set of beliefs about how life arose. Atheists blindly hold to evolution because of their rejection of Christ.”

Asking a woman to be a biological host for an alleged ape-man goes one step further toward Jesus’ prophecy that immediately prior to His coming the days would be like the Days of Noah (Matthew 24:37), when as this passage titles it, there was “Increasing Corruption on Earth”

“When man began to multiply on the face of the land and daughters were born to them, the sons of God saw that the daughters of man were attractive. And they took as their wives any they chose. Then the Lord said, “My Spirit shall not abide in man forever, for he is flesh: his days shall be 120 years.” The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of man and they bore children to them. These were the mighty men who were of old, the men of renown. The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” (Genesis 6:1-5)

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“Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God” (2 Peter 3:12).

Pray for His soon return, and hasten it. Do not let anyone belittle eschatology. Don’t let anyone intimidate you away from knowing the important commands of living in expectation and anticipation of His coming, even looking for it, praying in alignment with it, and speaking boldly of it.

“Let’s look at verse 12 and just see the component parts of this tremendous truth. Looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, it’s as if Peter is saying you certainly shouldn’t be afraid of it, you certainly shouldn’t be worried about it, you ought to be like those of whom Paul speaks and with whom he identifies himself in 2 Timothy 4:8, when he talks about those who love Christ’s appearing. You ought to be like John who said, “Even so, come Lord Jesus.” Like Paul who said, “It’s nice to be here, far better to depart and be there.” You ought to have a longing in your heart for the coming of the day of God.” (source)

Even so, come Lord Jesus!