I found a 12-minute Youtube compilation of natural disasters that are happening in the world. The disasters you are about to see all happened within the last month. There is nothing bloody or gory. Just a plethora of disasters that are coming upon the world like birthpangs. Note how often you hear comments in the audio from people who say things like “this is unprecedented” or “I’ve never seen this in all my life.”
I’ve reported on some of the disasters, like the Philippine floods or the Louisiana sinkhole. Below the video, is one news excerpt I expanded from the video that goes into more depth.
Here is a lengthier treatment of the moment in the video above where a sinkhole swallowed a man.
Sinkhole swallows man “As Typhoon Saola trounces Taiwan, surveillance camera footage showing an unidentified man being swallowed by a sinkhole in Sansia District, Taiwan, has surfaced. In the video, the man can be seen walking along the street until — within a split second — the ground gives way and he disappears. A rescue operation reportedly was attempted, but according to CNN the man later died of his injuries.”
I tried to screen cap it for those who can’t or don’t watch videos, but it really was a split second. On the video above, at second 7 he is walking jauntily along, and at second 8 on the video there is a gaping hole and a dead man under the rubble. Jonathan Edwards preached on this very thing in his famous sermon, Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.
“If God should withdraw his hand, by which they are restrained, they would in one moment fly upon their poor souls. The old serpent is gaping for them; hell opens its mouth wide to receive them; and if God should permit it, they would be hastily swallowed up and lost. … for awakening unconverted persons in this congregation. This that you have heard is the case of every one of you that are out of Christ. — That world of misery, that lake of burning brimstone, is extended abroad under you. There is the dreadful pit of the glowing flames of the wrath of God; there is hell’s wide gaping mouth open; and you have nothing to stand upon, nor any thing to take hold of; there is nothing between you and hell but the air; it is only the power and mere pleasure of God that holds you up. You probably are not sensible of this; you find you are kept out of hell, but do not see the hand of God in it; but look at other things, as the good state of your bodily constitution, your care of your own life, and the means you use for your own preservation. But indeed these things are nothing; if God should withdraw his hand, they would avail no more to keep you from falling, than the thin air to hold up a person that is suspended in it”.
Now …here is something else. I’ve posted very few posts lately on the prophetic indicators for the Mark of the Beast partly because it depresses me and partly because by the time the Mark comes both the saved and the unsaved are so far along in the Tribulation these pre-rapture signs will mean little to the Tribulation survivors. But this one struck me.
Robot learns to recognise itself in the mirror “NICO spends a lot of time looking in the mirror. But it’s not mere vanity – Nico is a humanoid robot that can recognise its reflection – a step on the path towards true self-awareness.”
Now if that doesn’t give you chills, I don’t know what will.
I am part of an interesting generation. I was born in 1960, before the space age. I remember the US astronauts on the moon in 1968. I lived most of my adult life before the internet, and personal computers only came along after college. I wrote my term papers on a typewriter and used a lot of white-out. Audio cassettes weren’t even invented until 1962 and my family didn’t use them until I was nearly in my teens. CD music, cellphones, cable television…all very new. I was 12 when Pong was invented and my dad brought it home. Now look where we are with computer games…
The ATM wasn’t invented until I was nine and their use didn’t become ubiquitous until I was a teenager. For most of my life, the notion of a one world payment system was simply unbelievable.
Now we are closing in on Artificial Intelligence. The major question in robotics and computering is “can machines ever become self-aware?” I propose that it is a moot question, because God would shut down the whole shebang before another “creation” with consciousness and intelligence appears on the scene. Once a robot is self-aware, would they then have to become cognizant of their own sin and then choose a savior? Of course not, the premise that God would allow man to create consciousness is ridiculous. But if a robot is that close to recognizing itself, how close are we to AI, and how close to the rapture? What will the Mark of the Beast look like…how will it work? The world doesn’t have long to find out, I think.
Fortunately those who have repented of their sin will be carried safely up to heaven before all this crashes down and man lives with his folly. We will be made fully perfect, and that includes an awareness of the entire body of the Church to a degree we know about now cognitively but don’t directly experience fully (due to our sin nature.) Best of all, we will see, know, and experience a life with Jesus the Savior clearly, and not dimly like we do now. (1 Corinthians 13:12-13).
Any person who repents will be in that blessed group of the Church Age believers who are raptured out. For those who fence-sit, or who outright refuse to believe, well, just think on this. If robots are becoming self aware, how long do you think it will take before kings, dictators, and evil men use them to hunt you down? (“Open the pod bay doors, HAL. … I’m sorry, Dave, I’m afraid I can’t do that.”)
The disasters on the video, remember, occurred in just this last month. What does God have in store for the next month? We do know the near future holds wars and rumors of wars, pestilences, volcanic eruptions, floods, drought, hail, fires, pain, anguish and death. Doom and gloom? You betcha.
Jesus is HOPE and LIGHT! I prefer the hope and light to the doom and gloom. If you repent of your sins, and you are a sinner you know, and ask Jesus to forgive them, He will. He is a good savior. So when will the end come? Just because He hasn’t judged men in wrath does not mean He won’t. He has been patient up until now:
“The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.” (2 Peter 3:9).
However that patience is coming to an end, and as a thief in the night, the end will come. The repentant will be given their reward and their relief, and the unrepentant will have given to them what they chose: the worst time the world has ever known or will ever know again. (Matthew 24:21). Like the Taiwanese man who was happily walking one moment and the next was dead under the rubble, Jesus will suddenly and without warning end His patience and begin His wrath. You really don’t want to be here for that.
I read something interesting last night. Politico, the liberal news & opinion website has by now picked upon it. I want to look at this from first a secular, factual basis and then a prophetic basis. Politico’s story starts like this:
“A Texas judge said this week that a “civil war” could possibly erupt in the U.S. if President Barack Obama is reelected. “One of the things is he’s going to try to give the sovereignty of the United States away to the United Nations. What do you think the public is going to do when that happens? We are talking civil unrest, civil disobedience, possibly, possibly civil war, OK?” Lubbock County Judge Tom Head said Tuesday on FOX 34.”
Here is the News clip:
Of course, the liberals will make this sound outlandish, far-fetched, and assert that the judge is a crackpot, if they haven’t done that already. But the Judge is right. I wrote about what he was alluding to four years ago on my other blog. I’m thrilled people are talking about this openly now.
Here is the context. There are two programs you need to be familiar with which dovetail into the statement the Judge made. One is the United Nations’ Millennium Development Goals, and the other is US legislation titled Global Poverty Act. First, the global picture, the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDG), from Wiki–
“The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are eight international development goals that all 193 United Nations member states and at least 23 international organizations have agreed to achieve by the year 2015. The goals are:”
–eradicating extreme poverty and hunger, –achieving universal primary education, –promoting gender equality and empowering women –reducing child mortality rates, –improving maternal health, –combating HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases, –ensuring environmental sustainability, and –developing a global partnership for development.
Sound nice? Well…kind yes and kinda not. “Debate has surrounded adoption of the MDGs, focusing on lack of analysis and justification behind the chosen objectives, the difficulty or lack of measurements for some of the goals, and uneven progress towards reaching the goals, among other criticisms.”
The dastardly part comes in how the United States is aiding these Millennium Development Goals. I want you to remember that the UN is not a friend to the US and is openly hostile to Israel. It is a global organization under satan’s control.
The US legislation titled the Global Poverty Act is a dear piece of legislation to Obama, and is ideologically ground zero to his plans because the bill he proposed is specifically geared to supporting the UN Millennium Development Goals. He is totally on board with the MDG. What is the crime in that, you ask? Read on, and it is not only a crime but in my opinion, a HIGH CRIME. Here is the American Thinker’s summary of the US Global Poverty Act bill:
“On December 7, 2007, Obama introduced the Senate version of the Global Poverty Act of 2007 (S.2433). On February 13, the bill cleared the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, on which Obama and 6 (Biden, Dodd, Feingold, Hagel, Lugar, Menendez) of the bill’s 9 co-sponsors serve. The House version of the bill (H.R.1302) passed by a unanimous voice vote last September 25 [2007].
“Here’s an abstract of the proposed legislation”:
“To require the President to develop and implement a comprehensive strategy to further the United States foreign policy objective of promoting the reduction of global poverty, the elimination of extreme global poverty, and the achievement of the [U.N.] Millennium Development Goal of reducing by one-half the proportion of people worldwide, between 1990 and 2015, who live on less than $1 per day.”
“If enacted, how much of a financial commitment would that represent to taxpayers?”
“One estimate is 0.7% of gross national product, or an additional $845 billion over 13 years in addition to existing foreign aid expenditures. So far, this proposal is barely on the MSM radar, but we’re likely hear more about it as a full Senate vote approaches.”
“Obama said of his bill, “With billions of people living on just dollars a day around the world, global poverty remains one of the greatest challenges and tragedies the international community faces,” said Senator Obama. “It must be a priority of American foreign policy to commit to eliminating extreme poverty and ensuring every child has food, shelter, and clean drinking water. As we strive to rebuild America’s standing in the world, this important bill will demonstrate our promise and commitment to those in the developing world. Our commitment to the global economy must extend beyond trade agreements that are more about increasing corporate profits than about helping workers and small farmers everywhere.”
The American Thinker editorialized at this point in their article, saying to the above, “In other words, other nations will like us better if we give them our money. And, our trade agreements should not be about business profit, but benevolent social action.”
Sound like Obama? I thought so. It is taxation without representation. So why is it a high crime to give 0.7% of GNP to an outside entity who will call the shots with our money? I believe it is a high crime because it cedes US sovereignty to an entity outside the US. It subsumes the US interests to a so-called higher authority without the US people voting to do so. Sovereignty is the quality of having supreme, independent authority over a geographic area, such as a territory. For centuries past, the idea that a state could be sovereign was always connected to its ability to guarantee the best interests of its own citizens. [sovereignty definition from Wikipedia]. Giving a portion of the US interests to the UN to control and then worse, be allowed to raise a tax on us without our say-so, is therefore the high crime of treason due to deliberate loss of US sovereignty. This assessment is my opinion.
The bill died in Senate committee and was never passed, but I wanted to bring it up because it is essential that you understand where Obama’s heart is and where his heart always has been. It is NOT to reduce poverty. The bill, if it had passed, would have ceded sovereignty to the United Nations. DO NOT let concept that pass unnoticed!
On May 31, 2008, I’d written on The Quiet Life, “The Global Poverty Act” would require the U.S. to initially direct .7 percent of the GNP of the United States into the United Nations coffers for distribution as they see fit, for food to third world nations. Under earlier agreements this would evolve into a national tax on the U.S. with the UN attempting to levy this on all first world nations. The U.N. would have the power to increase this rate of taxation. The U.S. would be required to surrender some of its sovereignty over foreign aid by putting it under UN control. The bill would force the U.S. to sign onto the U.N.’s Millennium Declaration, which would commit us not only to “banning small arms and light weapons” but many other collective acts. In other words, the very act of voluntary charity would then be under the control of government ownership.”
Whenever I hear words like “collective” and “global” I think ‘socialism.’ And do you know from when I hear these ideas the most lately? From Barack Obama. Back in 2008, saying Obama is a socialist got you soundly crushed on debate boards and anywhere else you “dared” to say it. But people with two eyes and a love for America spotted the buzz words right away, and just a little digging unearthed the Global Poverty Act. A bit more digging linked the Global Poverty Act to the Millennium Development Goals. It was all there for any person to research.
A few months before Obama was elected I wrote about it again,
On Oct 22, 2008 on The Quiet Life, I wrote about this Global Poverty Act, saying, “A report from Cliff Kincaid at Accuracy in Media published a critique asserting that while the Obama-sponsored Global Poverty Act sounds nice, the adoption would “result in the imposition of a global tax on the United States” and would make levels “of U.S. foreign aid spending subservient to the dictates of the United Nations.” It dedicates 0.7 percent of the U.S. gross national product to foreign aid, which over 13 years he said would amount to $845 billion “over and above what the U.S. already spends.” The UN could raise that tax on the US at will, and spend it at will, with no say from the US, which is taxation without representation. It’s also forced charity.”
I was outraged that Obama would propose ceding sovereignty to a global, non-governmental organization. I thought that any sensible person would not vote for him. But he was elected, much to my shame. Author, philosopher, and frequent defender of capitalism and of promoter of free speech, Edward Cline, was outraged, too. He wrote,
“I rarely write commentary from anger, preferring a properly objective, pseudo-dispassionate approach to a subject deserving my attention. But news of the details, nature and scope of pending legislation in the U.S. Senate has caused me to make an exception to that rule.”
I feel your pain, Mr Cline. Continuing:
RE Obama’s 2007 legislation the Global Poverty Act, Cline said, “Americans will be delivered into a state of indentured servitude as laborers for the UN. Perhaps “indentured servitude” is too kind a term, for as horrendous a condition as it is, there is usually a time limit to such servitude. Slavery would be the more accurate term in this instance, for what Congress is considering is servitude by Americans in perpetuity, in exchange for nothing but the privilege of laboring to “save” the world without thanks or reward, of filling the alleged needs of others, of performing unlimited “community service” for the offense of merely existing.”
H.R. 1302 passed the House by voice vote, but was killed in committee in the senate.
You might be breathing a sigh of relief, because Obama’s 2007 bill has not passed and never will, apparently. Do not breathe a sigh of relief. The bill is merely an external representation of the hatred Obama has for this great nation, for capitalism, for the future of its people, and for life and liberty itself.
Texas Judge Tom Head nailed it. He knows full well what is ahead for America. Anyone saying what the Judge said in 2008 at the height of Obama’s Hope N Change stupidity would likely have been run out of town on a rail, but today, today we see how far we have fallen. After all, “You didn’t build that.”
Judge Head said, if Obama is re-elected, “Now what happens? What happens? Now I’m not talking just talking riots here and there. I’m talking Lexington, Concord, take up arms, get rid of the dictator. OK, what do you think he is going to do when that happens? He is going to call in the U.N. troops, personnel carriers, tanks and weapons,” Head added.
The American Thinker said of Obama’s Global Poverty Bill, “He says, “It’s not too late to claim the American dream,” and they cheer wildly, and some even cry. Don’t they know that the American dream isn’t a wish granted by a politician, or an entitlement from the government? Do they need a political seer to tell them what to hope for, and dream of, because they are unable to find it for themselves?”
Yes. Yes they do need someone to tell them. And the bible tells us they will find it in the antichrist.
Why are they are unable to find hope for themselves? They can’t find it because it only comes with Jesus. Only Jesus is hope. (1 Tim 1:1; Titus 2:13). Yet those without Jesus and thus are without hope keep hoping the next politician will offer that elusive hope to them and then really come through with it. In the end, one politician WILL come through, the antichrist. But in the end he will only bring hope’s first cousin, disappointment, and then he will bring death for the unsaved, where there will be no hope forever.
You might be thinking, after this long slog through legislative bills and global programs, old news and Texas Judges, that I am exaggerating. I am not. Look to the bible to see our future. A one world government will exist, led by one man, supported by one false prophet, and will initially offer that elusive hope to the world. The whole world will go after the beast, even the Jews. (Rev 13:13; Rev 18:23). For a global infrastructure to be in force, the world has to have been prepared to accept it. Obama is part of that preparation.
The judge is right. There will be civil war. Jesus said the time of the end will be characterized by war (Matthew 24:6; Revelation 6:4). Nation will rise against nation, but people will rise against people, even internally inside a nation. (Mt 24:7). The world will be in such disarray that when the antichrist proposes whatever solutions he proposes, the people will clamor for them. Global rule will come- it is prophesied.
From what quarter will it come? The vehicle for global rule could emanate from the Vatican. The Vatican is the seat of the pope, who is an absolute monarch on earth, who rules with impunity until he dies or resigns, and governs the world’s largest non-governmental agency, having a tight organizational infrastructure in every nation on every continent.
The global rule could come from the United Nations, another large, non-governmental entity with tentacles in each nation on earth. Wiki explains, “The United Nations Charter gives the United Nations Security Council the power and responsibility to take collective action to maintain international peace and security. For this reason, the international community sometimes looks to the U.N. Security Council to authorize peacekeeping operations.”
1 Thessalonians 5:3 says, “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.”
Did you catch that? The UN Security Council’s charge is to maintain “peace and security.”
And don’t forget NATO’s army. The groundwork for global rule could come from the generals among that large, international army.
The vehicle on which the antichrist rides to global dictatorship could come from a heretofore unknown or unsuspected quarter. But it will come. And Obama will be leading the charge, I guarantee it. Listen to that Texas Judge, listen to those who are saying the time is near. Listen to the Holy Spirit prompting you toward repentance. THEN you will really have hope, because you will have Jesus! His hope is sure. If you don’t repent, all you’ll be stuck with is Obama, and where is his hope and change now?
Marriage was the second covenant God made with man. (The first was in Genesis 2:16-17 where God told Adam not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.) God made Eve from Adam’s rib and told them to cleave together and become of one flesh. He outlined certain standards of behavior and expectations for them both, and that was marriage, the foundation of society. Why is it the foundation? “Because it is not good for man to be alone, I shall make a helpmeet for him.” (Gen 2:18). Together, they formed the first society.
So of course satan targeted for destruction that good and solid foundation of one man and one woman married and bearing children. Satan immediately incited the woman, Adam followed, and off we go toward the Fall of Man into sin.
From that moment in the garden, we have had a constant and direct attack on marriage, specifically its definition. Any variance satan can get from the biblical definition suits his purposes. Look at this-
The recipe for happiness? An enduring marriage and an affair with lots of sex In an extract from her new book, the controversial sociologist says it is time to redraw marital rules – with a radical rethink on fidelity “As dating websites open up a global shop window of sexual possibilities, as life expectancy continues to rise and we become increasingly sexually aware, how can we still take the crushing old rules of fidelity, that turn marriage into a prison, for granted? Why should we not be able to recapture the heady thrills of youth, while protecting a secure home life? The time has come, alongside the technology, to redraw the rules of marriage for the 21st century. Just as the Pill opened up premarital sex in the Sixties, the internet is opening up a whole new culture of affairs among married people. Sex has become a major leisure activity of our time, accessible to everyone, married or not, rich and poor. It’s time to start honing our seduction skills and join the playground. Yet it is the most puritanical nations, including Britain and America, that have traditionally resisted the notion of adultery most rigorously. Here, couples endure the challenges of child care, work pressures, mid‑life crisis and dwindling marital sex against a backdrop of repressive Anglo-Saxon hang‑ups about infidelity, seen always in pejorative terms such as “cheating”. “
How’s THAT for a total repudiation of everything God stands for in marriage??
Like:
fidelity
trust
vows
promises
self-sacrifice
modesty
resistance to temptation
purity
unity
From the Center for Christ and Culture, we read from the article published in 2006, “Why is Marriage Important?“
“Marriage is far more profound than our contemporary culture would lead us to believe. It is a life-long commitment that restrains self-centeredness, self-indulgence and self-gratification. It is the one relationship that effectively prepares and conditions us for community. By restraining self-centeredness and promoting love of another, marriage becomes the foundation for social order. When this commitment labeled “marriage” is reduced to nothing more than a mere contract between two consenting persons, or worse just another option, it ceases to restrain our self-centered passions. Self-centeredness harms not only that relationship but also others as well until it spreads throughout society like ripples in a pond. Abandoning the “others before self” concept of marriage for the self-serving concept of contractual relationships between autonomous individuals makes us increasingly narcissistic, ultimately leading toward moral and social collapse. Across America the institution of marriage is being assailed, reduced to nothing more than a sentimental ceremony between consenting adults, radically redefined, or simply abandoned altogether.”
Yup. All that abandonment is contained in the article we read above and what we see enacted every day.
In the distant past, we were given biblical verses about how the world would be in the far future. There are specific prophecies about the coming perilous times, and there is no doubt we are living in those perilous times now. Conditions that we see all around us that did not exist at all or didn’t exist to the degree we see them today, such as the blatant and constant pressure to dispense with traditional marriage, are all around us. This disposal is a tragic and irreversible mistake.
That satanic urge to dispose of marriage the way God intended does not come only from the homosexual agenda but from all quarters, as we saw above. Once the foundational block of society is done away with then all else can crumble. Is this not happening now? Of course it is. The excessive narcissism that homosexual or triadic or polygamous or adulterous marriage definitions promote lead inevitably to societal collapse. And thus, society is collapsing. Paul wrote of the conditions we were to expect:
“Godlessness in the Last Days
1But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. 2For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, 4treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 5having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people.” (2 Timothy 3:1-5)
You notice the last part of verse 5 says “having an appearance of godliness”. The people perpetrating the perilous acts will be people who seem good, having a godly appearance, pious and sincere. Yet they will be in the inside, brutal, selfish, without-self control.
The article about marriage I linked to above concludes:
“Marriage is simply the highest of all human relationships and therefore must never be entered into lightly. It is the means of procreating humanity, nurturing and training subsequent generations, producing social order and for the Christian, the best means for perpetuating the Gospel. … If marriage is allowed to die in America as it is in other Western nations our posterity will inherit a godless culture.”
I maintain that THIS GENERATION is the inheritor of the godless culture. The constant barrage of marriage redefinitions (among other horrifying conditions) hath wrought godlessness in the last days. The only good news to this statement is that as the culture becomes ever more like it was in the Days of Noah (Matthew 24:37) and the Days of Lot, (Luke 17:28), it means the Day of the Lord is even closer and that means the rapture of the saints is even closer than that! But for the sinner, The Day of the LORD is near, said Zephaniah! Consider his words, ye sinners!
The great day of the Lord is near, near and hastening fast; the sound of the day of the Lord is bitter; the mighty man cries aloud there. A day of wrath is that day, a day of distress and anguish, a day of ruin and devastation, a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and thick darkness, a day of trumpet blast and battle cry against the fortified cities and against the lofty battlements. I will bring distress on mankind, so that they shall walk like the blind, because they have sinned against the Lord; their blood shall be poured out like dust, and their flesh like dung. Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them on the day of the wrath of the Lord. In the fire of his jealousy, all the earth shall be consumed; for a full and sudden end he will make of all the inhabitants of the earth. (Zephaniah 1:14-18)
What does a local territorial fight between China, Japan, and Taiwan over some Asian Sea rocky outcroppings have to do with a future prophesied war in the Middle East? Read on.
East Asia’s Sea Disputes: Scar Tissue from War Wounds “It’s not easy keeping track of all the territorial disputes over rocky outcrops, barren mini-islands and submerged chunks of coral in East Asian waters. Each piece of land seems to have competing and passionate claims by any number of countries in the region, and each island group is called different names by the opposing claimants. Fishing boats are rammed, ship captains are detained. Diplomats bluster and politicians rant. “Standoffs” are declared. “History” is invoked, with dusty maps, charts and treaties. It is, to many observers, an indecipherable mess.”
First of all, did you even know this was going on? I really wish our US mews media would focus on something other than Michelle Obama’s dress, Jay Leno’s salary, and Obama’s lies. Anyway, the article continues-
“The latest dispute began Wednesday, with Japan detaining 14 Chinese activists who clambered onto a bleak little islet claimed and controlled by Tokyo. The activists, who had set sail from Hong Kong, dodged Japanese coast guard vessels and planted Chinese and Taiwanese flags on one of the Senkaku islands, which are also claimed by China and Taiwan. The Chinese call them the Diaoyu islands.”
“The incident has the region in something of an uproar, especially in China. Global Times, a mainland newspaper with a nationalist bent that is affiliated with the Chinese Communist Party, ran a photo on its front page on Thursday of an activist standing on an outcrop and waving the Taiwanese flag. A state-run media outlet showing the flag of China’s “breakaway republic,” well, it’s almost unimaginable.’ “
The journalist is right, it IS unimaginable. So why is it happening?
“Why all these disputes over soggy and godforsaken patches of land, many of which disappear at high tide? The easy (and perhaps lazy) answer: oil and gas. The next great bonanza fields are expected to be in East Asian waters, and sovereignty over these micro-islands might conceivably be important as bases for exploration and drilling teams. Fish. That’s another commonly heard answer. Fishing boats, trawlers and factory ships from every Asian country now go thousands of miles in search of fish and seafood. It’s a hugely important industry in Asia. But the disputes — which are real and impassioned — are not about fish, oil, gas or real estate. They’re about World War II. They’re about national pride. And they’re about historical scar tissue that refuses to heal.”
Natural resources, land, and national pride. The big three. Now to Israel-
Here is Joel Rosenberg’s comment from his blog preceding an excerpt from an interesting article from NatGeo he has posted.
New Natural Gas Wealth Means Historic Change for Israel “Israel discovers more and more natural gas, will this be a “game changer” in a positive way, or a new reason for Israel’s enemies to attack? Specifically, what will Russia’s reaction be when Israel becomes a natural gas exporter to Europe? Russia is currently one of the major suppliers of natural gas to Europe. Could such developments lead to the fulfillment of the Ezekiel 38-39 prophecies? These are trends worth watching closely.”
The NatGeo article states: ———————— “Israel’s northern port city of Haifa has been a crucial energy center for decades; refineries dating back to the British Mandate in this land have long processed the oil sent by pipeline or shipped here from abroad. Today, rigs are working off Haifa’s coast to tap the first major fossil-fuel reserve ever found in Israel’s territory, a store on which it hopes to build a far more independent energy future.”
“The Tamar natural gas field was discovered in 2009 some 50 miles (80 kilometers) off Haifa’s coast in the Mediterranean Sea. There are perhaps scores of known gas fields bigger than Tamar, with its estimated 250 billion cubic meters (9 trillion cubic feet) in reserves; Alaska’s North Slope, for instance, is believed to hold four times as much fuel. But Tamar is large enough to meet all of Israel’s natural gas requirements for 20 to 30 years, the experts say.”
“This unprecedented offshore bonanza expanded dramatically the following year when another field, Leviathan, almost double the size of Tamar, was discovered another 30 miles (48 kilometers) to the west. (A smaller field, Tanin, with an estimated 33.9 billion cubic meters (1.2 trillion cubic feet) in natural gas, was discovered nearby earlier this year.)With natural gas scheduled to begin flowing from Tamar next year, and from Leviathan about four years later, Israel is on the brink of a historic shift. Instead of being an energy-scarce nation amid Middle East oil giants, many of them hostile, Israel now faces a future as a fuel producer in its own right—likely as an exporter and supplier to some of its neighbors, a development that could dramatically alter the region’s geopolitics.”
“Israel’s foreign and domestic policy no longer will be intertwined with the question of securing adequate fuel supply. Now it will face a quite different challenge—managing the nation’s newfound energy abundance.”
“This is going to change the overall way of the economy of Israel,” says Shaul Zemach, director general of Israel’s Ministry of Energy and Water Resources. “It’s like a domino—it’s going to have a domino effect on all of the markets.” Quite simply, he said, it’s a “game changer.” ———————— If three nations dispute over rocks, what do you think they will do when the Holy Spirit is taken out of the way, and He no longer restrains, and the stakes are enormously higher in terms of land and wealth and religious pride? Will it take long for Russia to think to invade Israel to steal her wealth, settle old scores, and take land?
‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: On that day thoughts will come into your mind and you will devise an evil scheme. You will say, “I will invade a land of unwalled villages; I will attack a peaceful and unsuspecting people —all of them living without walls and without gates and bars. I will plunder and loot and turn my hand against the resettled ruins and the people gathered from the nations, rich in livestock and goods, living at the center of the land.” Sheba and Dedan and the merchants of Tarshish and all her villages will say to you, “Have you come to plunder? Have you gathered your hordes to loot, to carry off silver and gold, to take away livestock and goods and to seize much plunder? ”’ (Ezekiel 38:10-13)
Do you see now how easy it will be for whole nations to band together and run hordes over those whom they perceive as weak, or rich, or for revenge? Easy. It will happen, the prophecy of Ezekiel’s Gog-Magog battle will occur. Israel would lose because she was unsuspecting. Israel would succumb to the invasion, except for God’s supernatural protection, that is. The bible says,
“This is what will happen in that day: When Gog attacks the land of Israel, my hot anger will be aroused, declares the Sovereign Lord. 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 38:18-23).
Man fights over rocky outcrops and plunder that moths and rust destroy. The LORD God has set in place a holy plan of redemption since before the foundation of the world. He is mighty and great. Man is not. Look to the LORD for salvation, protection, and security. You don’t have to wave a national flag on a pile of rocks that disappear at high tide, not when you can stand on THE Rock, (1 Cor 10:4) and wave the banner of truth, (Psalm 20:5) which endures forever.
The world is at the brink and staring at the abyss, and the world knows it. That’s why the world is clamoring for a strong leader with answers to take charge. That person is not the next President of the United States. That person is not the next United Kingdom Prime Minister. That person is not the next North Korean king. That person will be the antichrist.
The war talk from Middle East leaders is not just rhetoric any more. The usual chest thumping, threats, rhetorical subterfuge, ambassadorial slyness and outright propaganda has changed in tone and substance. Israel is talking about imminent war and speaking of actual fronts. Israel expert Joel Rosenberg said this a few days ago:
“Yes, it is possible that Israeli leaders could be bluffing. Yes, it is also possible that they are simply trying to pressure the U.S. and international community to take more decisive action to neutralize the Iranian nuclear threat. But reading the latest tea leaves, I believe evidence is rapidly mounting that this could really be it — Israel could be just days or weeks away from a massive preemptive strike against Iran. I believe there are significant changes in the way Israeli leaders are speaking about the possibility of war. One fact that has particularly caught my attention in the last 24 hours is that Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon is telling reporters that it is time for the world to admit that diplomacy has not worked, and that Iran only has “weeks” and not “months” to cease nuclear activity.”
Rosenberg’s last few posts have exclusively focused on the Middle East situation, specifically Israel-Iran. In the last few days he has consecutively posted,
Why is the third news headline about the natural gas part of the clips on a possible upcoming war in the Middle East? I’ll explain in the next blog entry. First, these news headlines from the last few days that show how serious the talk of war really is getting. And I mean serious.
‘Tumour’ of Israel will soon be destroyed: Ahmadinejad “Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told an annual anti-Israel protest in Tehran on Friday that the Jewish state was a “cancerous tumour” that will soon be excised, drawing Western rebukes.”
Israel sees month-long war after Iran strike “An Israeli attack on Iran’s nuclear program could trigger a bloody month-long war on multiple fronts, killing hundreds of Israelis or more, the Israeli Cabinet’s civil defense chief warned in an interview published Wednesday.”
Israeli school children learning to use gas masks.
Iran: Israel’s existence ‘insult to all humanity’ “Israel’s existence is an “insult to all humanity,” Iran’s president said Friday in one of his sharpest attacks yet against the Jewish state, as Israel openly debates whether to attack Iran over its nuclear program. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said confronting Israel is an effort to “protect the dignity of all human beings.”
Iran commander ‘welcomes’ possible Israeli strike Head of Revolutionary Guard’s air force says Israeli strike against Iran’s nuclear facilities would give Tehran a reason to retaliate and ‘get rid of’ Jewish state ‘forever’ “A senior Iranian commander says a possible Israeli airstrike against his country’s nuclear facilities is “welcome” because it would give Iran a reason to retaliate and “get rid of” the Jewish state “forever.”
Iran and Hezbollah issue warnings to Israel “Hassan Nasrallah, the head of Lebanon-based Hezbollah group, and Mahmoud Ahmedinejad, the Iranian president, have issued stern warnings to Israel, saying that any aggression on that country’s part would be met with a swift armed response….If we are forced to use them to protect our people and our country, we will not hesitate to do so… and that will turn the lives of hundreds of thousands of Zionists into a living hell,” he said in a speech marking al-Quds [Jerusalem] Day.”
Saudi Cleric Questions Holocaust “A prominent Saudi Arabian religious cleric declared that the Holocaust is an “exaggeration” and that Jewish people consume the blood of children during a wide-ranging interview with an Arabic television station. Saudi cleric Salman Al-Odeh, a well-known scholar revered by millions globally, went on a lengthy tirade against the Jews during an interview Monday in which he stated that “the role of the Jews is to wreak destruction, to wage war, and to practice deception and extortion,” according to a translation of his remarks by the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI). Al-Odeh ranted about the use of human blood in Jewish religious rituals, a notorious anti-Semitic smear commonly referred to as a “blood libel.”
The news article called it a tirade but it wasn’t. It was actually a calm and reasoned, quite believable argument against the Holocaust and against the sanctity of God and the right of the Jews, His people, to exist. That is why his lie is so devastating.
Muslim Brotherhood Supporters Scourge and Crucify Secular Protesters “According to reports on Friday, Muslim Brotherhood supporters scourged and crucified secular protesters in Egypt’s capital city of Cairo. Using the same punishments described in Bible as having been inflicted on Jesus, Brotherhood backed mobs rampaged through the streets, seizing protesters against the Islamist government of Mohammad Morsi, and dragging secular journalists from their offices. Their victims were beaten, scourged with whips, and crucified naked on trees.”
As a watchman, I must bring you this news. I must show you the times in which we live. I must tell of the glory of Jesus, who is and was and IS TO COME- SOON. It is not doom and it is not gloom- it is hope.
Psalm 122:6-9 gives us instructions on what to pray regarding Jerusalem. As a matter of fact, being God, He not only commands to pray for Jerusalem, but promises blessings unto those who do! (Blessed are the peacemakers- Matthew 5:9). The Psalm says-
Pray for the peace of Jerusalem! “May they be secure who love you! Peace be within your walls and security within your towers!” For my brothers and companions’ sake I will say, “Peace be within you!” For the sake of the house of the Lord our God, I will seek your good.
Peace in Jerusalem & Israel will only come when Jesus Himself returns to establish permanent peace. Between now and that blessed day, terrible wars and holocausts will occur on the people of Israel and then the world. However, God uses the devastating military attacks upon Israel, especially the Gog-Magog war of Ezekiel 38-39, to show Israel that no military might will ever be sufficient to protect them, and that He alone is their protector. It is during the Ezekiel 38 battle that Israel seeks the LORD and turns to Him. They cry out to the LORD and He saves them from Iran’s threat of obliteration. Blessed be the LORD!
Therefore we must understand that before that peace comes, praying for the peace of Jerusalem means that the worst wars of the world will happen. Just as prior to the new babe born of a mother, there is agonizing pain of the bloody labor. But would a mother trade that pain, forgoing giving birth to new life? No. The pain is instantly forgotten when the new babe, who is beloved and precious to the parents, is placed in their arms. So it is with God.
He will birth a new age, one with satan gone into the pit for 1000 years, one where Jesus is seen in His glory by His bride gathered around Him, with His people Israel thriving under His reign.
As of today, the fact remains, that praying for the peace of Jerusalem means that we are praying for His return! We must steel ourselves for the persecutions. How long will it take the angry mobs of ‘Muslim Brothers’ to turn from crucifying and scourging other Muslims and turn their satanic wrath to crucifying and scourging Christians and Jews? Not long. No, not long at all now. We must prepare our minds for the utter knowledge that wars and horror will come, and we are not gleeful nor excited about that. We lament in our prayers for the peace of Jerusalem, because we know what it entails. Even so, come, Lord Jesus.
From the Times of Israel “An exceptional 1,300-year-old olive oil factory was unearthed Tuesday during excavations in the Tel Aviv suburb of Hod Hasharon. The Israel Antiquities Authority’s find, dated to the late Byzantine or early Muslim period, narrowly escaped being paved over by a planned roadway.”
“Excavators found a pressing floor for olives, a piping system, trenches, and cisterns that drained and stored the fresh olive oil. Stone weights used for pressing sacks of olives were found beside the ruins. By the archaeologists’ estimations, the site was an industrial concern and not private.”
“Archaeologist Amit Ram with the Israel Antiquities Authority told Maariv that the olive press was carved out of older building stones that were sunk into the earth. The Hod Hasharon olive press is an exceptional find because most olive presses are typically hewn out of the living rock already in the place, he said. In this case, however, the soft, red earth demanded that a solid foundation be constructed, so mason-worked blocks were imported to build the press. City authorities were investigating the possibility of diverting the planned roadway to make room for a small archaeological park centered around the site.”
Really cool! The bible says-
“For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and springs, flowing out in the valleys and hills, 8a land of wheat and barley, of vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive trees and honey,” (Deuteronomy 8:7-8)
In other news from the Times of Israel,
Morsi reportedly mulls amending peace treaty with Israel Egypt president may move to extend full sovereignty over Sinai in wake of attack on border police, his adviser says “Eyptian President Mohammed Morsi is considering amending the Camp David Accords to expand Egypt’s control over the Sinai, Egyptian media reported Monday. Morsi legal adviser Mohamed Gadallah told newspaper al Masry al Youm that Morsi was looking into the possibility of changing the accord to give Egypt full sovereignty and control of the entire peninsula.”
Egypt is in Prophecy. It’s in Isaiah 19, “A prophecy against Egypt”. A very unpleasant near-future is prophesied for her but a glorious, GLORIOUS slightly further away future is prophesied.
And here is a short but very interesting interpretation of chapter 19 in Isaiah, explaining which verses were past, which may be occurring now, and which are to come. A theologian-expert on Old Testament named Dr. Walter C. Kaiser Jr. wrote it. His bio is at the bottom of the page, so be a Berean and compare what he is saying about the verses to actual scripture. Personally, I think it is interesting and credible.
If Egypt claims land in the Sinai that is Israel’s in God’s sight, He will not be happy!!!
Here is some news for you. I’m working on that promised essay about how to guard your thoughts, and another promised essay about satan’s symbols.
Meanwhile, the world situation is pretty interesting. Globally, it is just a mess. I’ve never seen the world in this much disarray, and I thought 1968 was pretty bad. That was a picnic compared to the 2012. Spiritually, the world is in a worse mess. Apostasy, hatred, and Fundamentalist Christians as the bad guys. Prophecy nearing fulfillment and the evil thoughts of men’s hearts only evil continually. (Genesis 6:5; Matthew 24:37). The LORD is ever-drawing the Church Age to a close while giving the rebellious time to repent. Here is a map to orient yourself, and then the news
MIDDLE EAST
I don’t think many Americans realize what a threat Iran is, not just to Israel, but to the US, and the world. Their single-mindedness in creating nukes is startling, and woefully underestimated. Just look at the progress they have made–
KAHLILI: Iran’s radical rulers close in on the bomb “Iran continues unabated with its illicit nuclear and missile programs despite a decade of negotiations, being targeted by cyberwarfare and recent harsh sanctions on the Iranian Central Bank and oil industry piled on top of earlier, crippling sanctions. … When President Obama took office, the Iranians had barely enough enriched uranium for one nuclear bomb and were limited to an enrichment level of 3.5 percent. Today, Iran has mastered the enrichment to the 20 percent level, a critical step to weaponization, and has announced that it soon will enrich to more than 50 percent in order to provide nuclear fuel for future nuclear-powered vessels. More than 11,000 centrifuges are currently spinning at the Natanz nuclear facility, an increase of 3,000 from just months ago. Hundreds of centrifuges are enriching uranium to the 20 percent level at the previously secret Fordow facility deep in a mountain. The latest IAEA report as of May verified that Iran has enough enriched uranium for six nuclear bombs, should it advance enrichment to weaponization grade.”
Saudi Arabia is not a nation we hear too much about, the focus in the Middle East is always Iran, Iraq, Israel, Lebanon, Syria…but Saudi is having its own troubles too. Saudi is one of the nations mentioned in the Psalm 83 confederacy which attacks Israel in the last days- they’re the Ishamelites. (Psalm 83:5-6)
Is Saudi Kingdom on the edge? “By appointing Prince Bandar bin Sultan as its new intelligence chief, Saudi Arabia has installed what looks like a war cabinet at a time of rising tensions with Iran and growing internal dissent from its Shiite minority. The Saudis have also heightened their alert level in other ways to prepare for possible regional conflict. Some Saudi military and security personnel were mobilized last month — called back from summer leave or told to cancel planned vacations.”
Jordan is the only nation during the Tribulation not to fall under the domination and control of the antichrist. (Dan 11:41). No one for sure knows why. It should be noted that Jordan is where Jesus tells the Jews to run to when they see the abomination of desolation spoken of by the prophet Daniel. (Matthew 24:15-16). He actually says ‘to the mountains’ but the only mountains nearby Jerusalem are in Jordan, not coincidentally, also where Petra is. Jesus plans to use that enclosed city as His sheepfold during the Tribulation to protect the remnant. (Isaiah 63:1). Now, even fairly peaceful Jordan is clashing with a neighbor:
“Syrian and Jordanian troops have clashed in the Tel Shihab-Turra area “Fighting involving armored vehicles broke out Friday night between Jordanian and Syrian troops in a border region. Reuters cited Jordanian sources and an unnamed Syrian opposition activist who witnessed the incident. The Tel Shihab-Turra border area has been used as a passage by Syrian refugees fleeing the violence. The clashes reportedly occurred after a number of refugees attempted to cross into Jordan. There appear to be no Jordanian casualties.”
I think no one in their right mind thinks a clash between Israel and someone, likely Iran, won’t happen in the near future. France announces they have made provisions to get their people out of there if it should come to war:
France Prepares For An Evacuation Of Its Nationals Living In Israel “France has prepared a contingency plan to evacuate its citizens from Israel, La Tribune has learned. According to diplomatic sources, a plan to evacuate the 200,000 French nationals living in Israel has been drafted to prepare for the eventuality of conflict between Iran and Israel. The objective, says the French financial newspaper, is not to be caught off guard should a barrage of missiles equipped with conventional or non-conventional weapons be fired by Iran or Hezbollah on Israeli territory.”
There is violence again in the southern part of the hot zone: Israel’s Sinai border with Egypt
Egypt Sends Armored Units to Sinai After Security Revamp “Egypt’s military deployed additional armored units to Sinai and closed smuggling tunnels into Gaza as it stepped up efforts to rout militants following a bloody border attack that afforded President Mohamed Mursi a chance to revamp the country’s security apparatus. The military sent several dozen more tanks and armored vehicles into north Sinai, the state-run Ahram Gate reported, citing witnesses in the area. The operation, now in its third day, is the largest offensive by Egypt in the Sinai in decades. The military also used Apache attack helicopters during operations, state media reported.”
WEATHER
Drought covers TWO-THIRDS of the United States.
July is hottest month on record; drought expands to 63 percent of United States It may come as little surprise with this summer’s sweaty nights and blistering days across much of the country, but July marked the hottest month on record for the contiguous United States, according to government scientists. Furthermore, drought now covers nearly 63 percent of the Lower 48 states, where average precipitation is 0.19 inch below average.”
This drought is having and will continue to have devastating effects on food and prices. Remember, one of God’s judgments is drought and another is famine. They are intertwined. Both are predicted for the Tribulation.
US drought threatens food prices “The worst drought in the US in at least half a century has destroyed one-sixth of the country’s expected corn crop in a month threatening a surge in global food price inflation. The US government estimated corn farmers had abandoned fields greater in area than Belgium and Luxembourg after the hottest July in US history irreparably damaged their crops. The harvest for soyabeans, largely crushed into animal feed and vegetable oil, would be the lowest in five years.”
WEIRD
Weird weather rains seaweed over Gloucestershire village “They were stunned to find their homes, gardens and cars littered with the smelly marine algae after a stormy weather spout swept up the debris from a beach 20 miles away. Weather experts believe the seaweed was picked up from Clevedon Beach in North Somerset by a twister during freak weather conditions on the coast. It was then carried through the air – before being deposited on the quiet street in Berkeley, near Cheltenham, Glos. Stunned engineer Dr Richard Overton, 55, and his wife Kay, collected an entire bucket full of the green slime from their front garden. He said: “I looked out of the window after a very big storm finished and to my amazement there were lots of flakes of seaweed scattered over the garden.”
Doesn’t anyone have any self-control anymore? Oh, wait… (2 Timothy 3:3)
Drunk tourist falls asleep on airport baggage belt and passes through powerful X-ray machine “Letting go of your all important luggage at airports can often be a stressful experience for many travellers. Stories about holidaymakers losing their bags can lead to anxiety for many passengers. But for one drunk Norwegian tourist recently this wasn’t an issue – he simply decided to join his bag. The 36-year-old man fell asleep on the baggage belt at Rome’s Fiumicino airport and travelled 160 feet before he was identified by an X-ray scanner. … It is believed he travelled for 15 minutes before his body was spotted by shocked officials in an X-ray image on their screens. The Norwegian was curled up in the foetal position. The man, who has not been named, slept through the entire incident.”
Well, this is weird.
Mysterious Louisiana Sinkhole Raises Concerns of Explosions and Radiation “A nearly 400-foot deep sinkhole in Louisiana has swallowed all of the trees in its area and enacted a mandatory evacuation order for about 150 residences for fear of potential radiation and explosions. The 400-square-foot gaping hole is in Assumption Parish, La., about 50 miles south of Baton Rouge. The sinkhole sits in the middle of a heavily wooded space where it has consumed all of the soaring cypress trees that had been there. Flyover photos show some of the treetops still visible through the mud.”
I have no idea even how to classify “pumice raft” except weird. Apparently the Royal Australian Navy has no other way to classify it, either.
25,000 sq km sea of pumice floats off New Zealand “A navy ship heading to the Kermadec Islands has sailed into a huge 25,000 square kilometre area of pumice pieces north of Auckland. It is believed to be from New Zealand’s third erupting volcano – the undersea mount Monowai. In the past week both Mt Tongariro and White Island have erupted. The navy said the raft – 463 kilometres by 55 kilometres – was spotted by an RNZAF Orion returning on patrol from Samoa. Lieutenant Tim Oscar, a Royal Australian Navy officer on an exchange with the NZ Navy, saw what he described as “the weirdest thing I’ve seen in 18 years at sea. … Rebecca Priestley said it was “an event” which caused the Canterbury’s Commanding Officer, Commander Sean Stewart to give the order to change course. “Up to 250 nautical miles long by 30 nautical miles wide, it stood out against the blue-grey of the ocean as a great white froth on the surface of the sea,” Priestley wrote.”
There is a lot going on, but remember there is a lot going on, too. Like this:
“And I give to them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.” (John 10:28)
and this:
“He that overcomes, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels.” (Revelation 3:5)
Eternal glory with the Savior is worth living through the death knells of a sinful world. Pray for each other and love one another well. He is coming soon for His beloved Bride. I hope if you are reading this you are part of the bride too. If you’re not, all you need to do is repent of your sins. Are you sorry for the wrong things you do? Tell it to Jesus. Believe on HIM. You cannot see Him, but He is there, listening. And waiting….for YOU!
Here is the news about a quake cluster currently afflicting Southern California.
About 30 earthquakes strike in Southern California ‘sequence’ “A cluster of earthquakes that began Tuesday night continued Wednesday in northern Orange County, keeping residents on edge but causing little significant damage. … This is all part of the same earthquake sequence; they’re all in the same area,” Hutton told reporters at the briefing, which was televised by several TV stations. Experts said more aftershocks are likely. “It shook us pretty good. We’ve felt earthquakes before so it came as no surprise,” said Chris Nordyke, director of marketing at the Richard Nixon Library and Birthplace in Yorba Linda.”
Southern Calif. shakes from small earthquakes “Southern California was shaken Wednesday by the second moderate but widely felt earthquake in less than 11 hours, but no harm was reported. … It was a decent sized shake and it’s a reminder for everyone to have a plan for the Big One,” said Stone. “How would you and your family survive for 72 hours with no water, no food and no amenities? Think about it. It’s a reminder to go home and say, ‘What if?’ and make that plan.”
Making Sense of Earthquake Clusters
“In some cases, one earthquake reduces the probability of subsequent earthquakes; while in other cases, one earthquake might trigger other earthquakes, causing earthquake clusters. The difficulty for scientists, insurers and catastrophe modelers is in understanding the patterns. It is known that a big earthquake releases stress on the fault segment where the rupture occurs. Therefore, on the same fault, the probability of another earthquake has reduced greatly. In contrast, if a fault has not ruptured for a long time, the stress will accumulate and thus increase the probability of a quake. This phenomenon is known as earthquake time dependency, which means that the probability of the next earthquake is dependent on the time and magnitude of the last earthquake on the same fault. On the surface, earthquake clusters seem to be contrary to the theory of earthquake time dependency. If the stress is released, why would an earthquake trigger another? In fact, although the stress is released in the segment near the rupture, it can actually increase in other areas. In addition, if the precedent earthquake is small and unable to release the majority of stress on the fault, a subsequent earthquake can happen.” (source .pdf)
The scientists are studying this swarm. While they insist the swarm/cluster is far from extraordinary, they admit that a cluster like this has not happened for a few years.
Seismologists studying swarm of earthquakes in Southern California “At a news conference Wednesday morning, Kate Hutton of the U.S. Geological Survey at Caltech said there had been at least 30 quakes since Tuesday night, but only three could be felt by residents. She said officials are studying the quakes to understand whether it was a swarm or some other type of pattern. “This is all part of the same earthquake sequence; they’re all in the same area,” Hutton told reporters at the briefing. “We haven’t had anything in the L.A. Basin in the last few years, but that doesn’t mean we’re totally quiet, and we certainly have been active in the southern part of the state,” she added.’
The scientists always minimize the potential or the situation or the effects…I suppose it is their job so as not to cause panic. But if they are studying it so swiftly then that’s something to note.
In the Tribulation, earthquakes will happen that no man has ever seen before. There will be the usual kind, just more of them that cause damage, and like birth pangs, one after another until there is overlap and one long bout of pain.
But then there will be other quakes, ‘mega quakes’ that destroy mountains, divide cities. The Greek word really is megas, meaning mega, or very large in the widest sense. It is used in the verse below to describe the last earthquake:
In Revelation 16:18-12 we read,
“And there were flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder, and a great earthquake (megas seismos) such as there had never been since man was on the earth, so great was that earthquake. The great city was split into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell, and God remembered Babylon the great, to make her drain the cup of the wine of the fury of his wrath. And every island fled away, and no mountains were to be found.”
That verse recounts the final judgment, when the angel pours out this one he says “It is done!” It is the seventh bowl, the last of the series of promised judgments. (7 Seals, 7 Trumpets, 7 Bowls).
Between the quakes of today to that last mega-quake of Revelation 16, earthquakes will only increase in frequency and intensity. Scientists can study them all they want, but by that last quake of human history, the only data that will matter is, are you saved by the blood of Jesus? Is your soul redeemed by the precious one who shed His blood for you?
As a matter of fact, it is the only data that matters now. Quakes aren’t going to subside, go away, or be only minor in intensity. They will increase until the Lord returns. The unnerving thing is not to know when the next quake will occur, but as a Christian, you know they will and more often, too. Non-Christians will wonder what’s going on but be just as surprised by the arrival of the earth-shattering commotion that we know as earthquakes as they will be by the earth and heaven shattering event and commotion that Jesus’s Second Coming will entail. Don’t be surprised. Accept Jesus as savior now, read the bible to see what’s ahead. What’s ahead for the Christian are blessings untold, the primary one being Jesus Himself.
What’s going on in the world world, anyway? Here is a news synopsis for you-
Never has so much been stated in an article and so little has been said. It is all vapors and platitudes. The only concrete news I got from this article in the Jordan Times is that Panetta is out of the country.
King warns of ‘dangerous ramifications’ of Syrian crisis “US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta’s six-hour stop in Jordan — his first visit to the Kingdom as defence secretary — is part of a regional tour that he began earlier this week, making stops in Tunisia, Egypt and Israel. … His Majesty King Abdullah on Thursday voiced Jordan’s concern over the escalating situation in Syria and its “dangerous” ramification on the region, calling for a peaceful resolution of the crisis. The King reiterated the need for a solution that would put an end to the bloodshed and spare the Syrians more suffering, a Royal Court statement said.”
UN Peace Envoy to Syria Kofi Annan quit this week. Syria’s ally Russia has something to say about that.
Annan’s Exit ‘Opens Gates’ for Intervention – Russian Ministry “Annan’s decision against extending his mandate as the UN envoy to Syria raises loads of questions regarding the future of this country. He is an honest international mediator but someone wants to push him out of the game to open the gates for forceful actions. This is obvious,” Gatilov wrote in his Twitter account.”
Note how Russia sees the situation, this next paragraph is through their eyes:
“The West is pushing for President Bashar al-Assad’s ouster, while Russia and China are trying to prevent outside interference in Syria saying the Assad regime and the opposition are both to blame for the bloodshed.”
Methinks Russia doth protest too much. Because meanwhile, the Lebanon Daily Star reports,
Russia sends navy vessels to Tartus: agencies “Moscow is sending three large landing ships with marines aboard to a Russian naval facility in the Syrian port of Tartus, Russian news agencies quoted a source in the general staff as saying on Friday. The source said each ship would have up to 120 marines on board and that the vessels, already in the Mediterranean, would arrive in Tartus by the end of this week or early next week. The source said the ships’ mission was to replenish supplies at the small Russian maintenance and repair facility, manned by fewer than 100 personnel, according to analysts.”
Landing ships. Did you catch that? Landing ships. Wiki– “They are designed for beach landings and can carry a 450 ton cargo. The ships have both bow and stern doors for loading and unloading vehicles, and the 630 m² of vehicle deck stretches the length of the hull. Up to 25 armored personnel carriers can be embarked. They were built for the Soviet Navy during the Cold War, but the current Russian Navy has little need for a long-range amphibious capability and most of them are kept in reserve or are retired.”
Well, some of them just came out of retirement.
Meanwhile in Israel, the talk is of that long spoken of and long prophesied war and rumor of war, a pre-emptive attack by Israel on Iran’s nuclear facilities. Will Israel attack? Won’t they attack? Do it! Don’t do it! (Matthew 24:6)
Oy, I think the “rumor of war” is worse than the war.
The US has been on a downward trajectory for some time. The Chinese have been on an upward trajectory. Our economies, world influence, power, and stability have been like a see-saw. We know the US is not a player in any sense in the end times prophetic plan. The US is not mentioned. The ‘Kings of the East”…are. (Daniel 11:44, Revelation 9:13-16, Revelation 16:12-16). In my opinion this article clearly shows the switch. Now, China is the nation not to say no to.
Australia rejects US proposal for nuclear aircraft carrier group near Perth “Australia, which tries to tread a fine line between supporting its closest ally, the US, and not upsetting China, its biggest trading partner, yesterday rejected a proposal to base a US nuclear aircraft carrier group near Perth, saying it did not want US bases in the country…. “I think they’ll [the Australian government] be very careful not to risk further displeasure from China by doing anything that suggests they’re supporting a US military build-up in Asia,” Hugh White, head of the Australian National University’s Strategic and Defence Studies Centre, told Associated Press.”
I’ve been watching the Uganda ebola case for two weeks now. It has grown into a concern. People are fleeing hospitals for fear of an outbreak
Suspected Ebola cases growing in Uganda “KAMPALA, Uganda — Six more patients suspected to have Ebola have been admitted to the hospital days after investigators confirmed an outbreak of the highly infectious disease in a remote corner of western Uganda, a health official said on Monday. Stephen Byaruhanga, health secretary of the affected Kibaale district, said possible cases of Ebola, at first concentrated in a single village, are now being reported in more villages. “It’s no longer just one village. There are many villages affected,” Byaruhanga said. This is the fourth occurrence of Ebola in Uganda since 2000, when the disease killed 224 people and left hundreds more traumatized in northern Uganda. At least 42 people were killed in another outbreak in 2007, and there was a lone Ebola case in 2011.”
Uganda Ebola outbreak: patients flee hospital amid contagion fears “Terrified patients fled from a hospital in western Uganda as soon as news broke that a mysterious illness that killed at least 14 people in the region was Ebola, one of the world’s most virulent diseases.”
Remember, ebola is the disease with the 90% mortality rate because it melts your insides. (pestilences: Matthew 24:7)
The NY Times lead a story on ebola with this: “Of the pathogens that keep worried scientists awake at night, few rival Ebola for ruthless efficiency. The virus contains just seven genes, yet it manages to kill up to 90 percent of the people it infects.’
Which prompted this Virology Professor to investigate if the 90% statistic was true, and found this on the WHO page:
“According to the WHO page on Ebola haemorrhagic fever, “Zaïre, Sudan and Bundibugyo species have been associated with large Ebola haemorrhagic fever (EHF) outbreaks in Africa with high case fatality ratio (25–90%) while Côte d’Ivoire and Reston have not. Reston species can infect humans but no serious illness or death in humans have been reported to date.’
I think the average mortality rate from ebola is an average 65%, but it is pretty well universally acknowledged that the rate increases dramatically during an outbreak. Hence the fear conveyed in the above articles. Just to compare, the 1918 influenza outbreak that killed about 20-100 million people had a mortality rate of 2%.
Health teams face real-life horror in Ebola battle “When officials in Uganda verified an outbreak of the Ebola virus on Saturday, it set international health workers in motion. The hemorrhagic virus is the stuff of real-life horror — spreading through contact with infected individuals, their bodily fluids and even clothing they have worn. In many cases Ebola leads to a rapid decline marked by fever, diarrhea, vomiting and internal and external bleeding.”
How is this a good idea, I ask?
Aussie Tycoon Wants to Clone Dinosaurs for His Real Life, Resort-Based Jurassic Park “In other billionaire news today, a controversial and ostentatious Australian is supposedly planning a real-life Jurassic Park, complete with cloned dinosaurs. Clive Palmer, who also wants to build a modern-day Titanic replica, has held talks with the scientists who cloned Dolly the sheep, reports Australia’s Sunshine Coast Daily. Palmer, a mining magnate, owns a luxury resort on the Sunshine Coast, in southern Queensland on Australia’s Pacific side. He would put the dinosaurs in his new resort there, the Daily reports.”
Big head squirrel feeder “Hang this vinyl 5-1/2″ x 8″ Big Head Squirrel Feeder in front of a window or near a porch, fill it with something squirrels like to eat and when they stick their head up there, the squirrel looks like he has a hilariously huge head with a goofy smile.”
Take that, squirrel! I heap humiliation upon you! Plus, I fart in your general direction!
The Millennium Kingdom is the nearly next event on the schedule of God’s prophetic plan. There will be the end of the Church Age, culminating in the rapture of the saints. Then 7 years of the Time of Jacob’s Trouble, and the return of Jesus to put an end to sin (Dan 9:24). After that He establishes His kingdom which will last for 1000 years. Satan will be bound and put in the pit so he won’t even be around to bother anyone for all that time. (Revelation 20:2-7)
The Jews will live in their promised lands, and the Church Age Saints will live in New Jerusalem. Believers who made it through the Tribulation will enter the Kingdom and repopulate the earth. Without sin and with the earth having been restored, the population will explode quickly. It will be a time of peace and harmony.
“And the effect of righteousness will be peace, and the result of righteousness, quietness and trust forever. My people will abide in a peaceful habitation, in secure dwellings, and in quiet resting places.” (Isaiah 32:17–18)
“Behold, the days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when the plowman shall overtake the reaper and the treader of grapes him who sows the seed; the mountains shall drip sweet wine, and all the hills shall flow with it. I will restore the fortunes of my people.” (Amos 9:13–15).
The curse of creation will be gone and the animals will be friendly.
“The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat, and the calf and the lion and the fattened calf together; and a little child shall lead them. The cow and the bear shall graze; their young shall lie down together;” (Isaiah 11:6–9)
The children who are born during the Millennium Kingdom will grow in a happy, healthy, whole environment. If they die at age 100 it will be as if they died while a child, so ‘young’ they must have been accursed.
“No more shall there be in it an infant who lives but a few days, or an old man who does not fill out his days, for the young man shall die a hundred years old, and the sinner a hundred years old shall be accursed.” (Isaiah 65:20).
We who are raptured or resurrected through death will be talking with these children. After all, they will be be born with a sin nature and have to be taught about Jesus. Can you imagine some of the conversations in our rocking chair as we sit under our vine, and the kids come around? Maybe a kid crawls up onto our lap, or sits on the porch and asks for a story. We can give them the real “back in my day” stories!
Back in my day, you had to lock the doors because of robbers. What’s a lock? It’s a thing where it prevents the door being open unless you have the key. What’s a key? It’s…oh, never mind. What’s a robber? It is a bad guy who comes to take away your things without permission. Why would they want to do that when everyone always has everything they need? Maybe they were hungry. What’s hungry? LOL, maybe they just wanted our TV, eh, Bessie? [speaking to neighbor] What’s a tv? Never mind. Hey, kids, look at that lion over there. Back in my day, they would chase you and chomp you and eat you up! No! Not my friend Leo! He’s nice! Well, maybe they were hungry and they wanted a human to eat. What’s hungry? You said that word before. You kids make me tired. Go play with that cobra over there. (Isaiah 11:8) OK bye Grandma Elizabeth!
Back in my day… [shudder]. I think I’ll go visit Martin Luther and Apostle Paul for a while. Ack, kids these days. They never had it so good.
the-end-time.org 