Category: prophecy

Posted in bible, prophecy, shepherd

Reclining at Jesus’s bosom

Posted on by elizabethprata

Growing up, I used to watch the PBS Masterpiece Theatre classic “I, Claudius”. It was about one of the least known Emperors of the Roman Empire, Claudius. Who wouldn’t overlook him, being sandwiched between Caligula and Nero, lol. I was fascinated with the Roman banquets, of which the show “I, Claudius” had many, and I used to wonder why they ate while reclining. It seemed cumbersome to me.

However, Amos mentioned reclining while eating in Amos 6:7- “Therefore they shall now go captive as the first of the captives, And those who recline at banquets shall be removed.” Amos lived in around 760 BC. As a matter of fact, the first known artistic depiction of someone reclining while eating is captured in this ‘Garden Party’ relief from the North Palace of Ashurbanipal, Nineveh, Iraq, about 645 BC, well before the Roman Empire. The relief is currently housed at the British Museum. King Ashurbanipal reigned from 669-631 BC. Here he is shown eating while reclining on his left side, with a pillow propped under his armpit and his wife upright in front of him. This custom was later shown in Greek, Etruscan, and Roman art and writings. It was picked up in Jewish traditions.

source

I was then and I am still bemused by the Roman custom of eating while reclining. The Romans said it aided digestion. It also was a cultural boast, that the upper class Romans were so wealthy they could afford to not only sit to eat, but to recline. Leisure was a mark of class and wealth.

The photo below from Wikimedia Commons shows a re-enactment of a Roman banquet. The Romans would lie on their left side with a pillow under their armpit. They would use their right hand to eat. Their feet would extend out and away from the specially designed couches upon which they would recline for many hours. Dinners took a while, interspersed as they were with conversation and entertainment. Women were allowed to participate at dinners at later stages of the Empire, and usually sat in upright chairs in front of their husbands.

This reenactment of a Roman banquet shows members of the upper class reclining on couches. The women wear their chiton and palla, while the men wear purple-bordered togas, denoting their position of senator. As women are present, this is most likely a dinner party, as opposed to a symposium, where women would only be permitted if they were entertainers.

As the custom caught on, the middle class then the lower classes copied the posture of reclining while eating.

The typical dinner would include nine guests. There were three reclining couches arranged in a semicircle, with three diners to a couch. The inside of the horseshoe was left open so slaves could pour wine and serve food. Anything not eaten, like bones or shells, were cast to the floor to be swept up by the slaves later.

The host would assume the place in the middle of the central couch and to be placed next to him was the place of honor. It is like “the head table” at a wedding. The place of honor was given to the one on his left. Jesus spoke to this when he said in Matthew 23:6, “They love the place of honor at banquets and the chief seats in the synagogues,”

As Barnes’ Notes describes, “On these the guests reclined, leaning on their left side, with their feet extended from the table, and so lying that the head of one naturally reclined on the bosom of another. To recline near to one in this manner denoted intimacy, and was what was meant by lying “in the bosom” of another, John 13:23; Luke 16:22-23.

“John 13:23– “There was reclining on Jesus’ bosom one of His disciples, whom Jesus loved.”

Embroidered altar dossal, 1633. source

Barnes continues, “As the feet were extended “from” the table, and as they reclined instead of sitting, it was easy to approach the feet behind, and even unperceived. Thus, in Luke 7:37-38, while Jesus reclined in this manner, a woman that had been a sinner came to his feet “behind him,” and washed them with her tears, and wiped them with the hair of her head. She stood on the outside of the couches. So our Saviour washed the feet of his disciples as they reclined on a couch in this manner, John 13:4-12. Whenever we read in the New Testament of “sitting” at meals, it always means reclining in this manner, and never sitting as we do. The chief seat, or the “uppermost” one, was the middle couch at the upper end of the table. This the Pharisees loved, as a post of honor or distinction.”

All one had to do if wanting to ask a private question or make a one-on-one comment was to lean back against the person next to you, and with your head at their bosom, ask it in a low voice. The Beloved Disciple, assumed to to be John, asked this of Jesus when prompted by Peter, who was going to be His betrayer?

“He, leaning back thus on Jesus’ bosom, said to Him, “Lord, who is it?” (John 13:25).

Jesus replied to the Beloved Disciple who had just asked Jesus who His betrayer was going to be by saying it is the one to whom I will dip this bread (Verse 26). Because Jesus was able to hand Judas the bread it it assumed that Judas had been reclining at the second place of honor, to the Host’s left.

Though Jesus certainly had upside down ideas about the places of honor, so the ritual usually associated with Roman & Jewish dining places can’t be dogmatically assumed, except for Jesus being at the center. “When he noticed how the guests picked the places of honor at the table, he told them this parable:  “When someone invites you to a wedding feast, do not take the place of honor, for a person more distinguished than you may have been invited. If so, the host who invited both of you will come and say to you, ‘Give this man your seat.’ Then, humiliated, you will have to take the least important place. But when you are invited, take the lowest place, so that when your host comes, he will say to you, ‘Friend, move up to a better place.’ Then you will be honored in the presence of all your fellow guests. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”” (Luke 14:7-11).

The handing of bread that had been dipped was a custom of friendship, or reconciliation. By Jesus handing Judas the bread He was giving an offer of friendship at that late stage, and still giving Judas grace to change his mind.

Judas was close to Jesus because Judas was handed the bread and he took it.

“After the morsel, Satan then entered into him.” (John 13:27).

So Judas accepted the gesture but still resolved to betray Jesus! Then Jesus said, “What you do, do quickly.”

Here are a couple of other verses referring to intimacy and closeness in proximity by being at the bosom-

Luke 16:22– “Now the poor man died and was carried away by the angels to Abraham’s bosom; and the rich man also died and was buried.”

Isaiah 40:11– “Like a shepherd He will tend His flock, In His arm He will gather the lambs And carry them in His bosom; He will gently lead the nursing ewes.”

The picture of the different people at the bosom of Abraham or Jesus shows us rest, intimacy, care. Are you reclining at Jesus’ bosom today? It is an amazing thing to know that He is holy, holy, holy; that His thunder can rend the earth into pieces, but that love of His forgiven is as gentle and accessible as being able to lay your head on His bosom. He will even gather you into His arms and carry you. He is not just the Judge of all sins, He is not only the Subduer of foes, but He is the gentle Shepherd, able to tenderly carry the feeble and the weak. Come to Him today, your Shepherd, your Companion.
http://platform.twitter.com/widgets.jshttp://www.facebook.com/widgets/like.php?href=http://the-end-time.blogspot.com/2012/02/reclining-at-jesuss-bosom.html

http://s7.addthis.com/js/250/addthis_widget.js#pubid=xa-4df8df7d18b59150

Posted in prophecy

The Bride awaits her Groom

Posted on by elizabethprata

What a lovely and spotless bride Jesus is creating! We often look around and see the mud and grime of the world and despair. For those of us who are older, we remember innocent days when children played outside unsupervised, roamed the streets with sticks and balls and bats, safe and happy. We remember when crime was lower and people were nicer. Today is it pretty ugly out there, and that of course is because of sin. But…the Bride of Jesus is shining, spotless, and beautiful! Do not forget that! Wearing garments white as snow, standing by the crystal sea, singing praises to Jesus! His acceptance of all the wrath of God on our behalf made possible our entrance into heaven. Our ugly and putrid sins were forgiven through His sacrificial act.

This is the long betrothal period, when the bride is separated from her groom. The bride are all those people past, present and future in the Age of Grace who have believed on the atoning sacrifice of Jesus on the cross, and His resurrection. We are anxious, waiting. We are making preparations such as remaining faithful. We are looking forward to the wedding day when everything will be perfect and we will be ready! (Revelation 19:7)

All brides on her wedding day are beautiful. She is radiant, and glowing and smiling and happy. Her white garment is spotless and adorns and wraps her gracefully. All the believers are installed in New Jerusalem, the holy city, which takes on the characteristics of the bride herself, because we who are His bride are in it. (Revelation 21:2).

“I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God.”

We are finally united with our Groom!

The world is ugly and putrid and dripping with evil and poison and sin. But that is not us, thanks to Jesus our Christ. We are not of the world. Believers are spotless and beautiful in Christ’s eyes. “…Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless.” (Ephesians 25b-27)

Stand up, you believers, and make ready for the Groom. You are so pure and lovely in His eyes. We who eagerly await Him are also eagerly awaited BY Him!
http://platform.twitter.com/widgets.jshttp://www.facebook.com/widgets/like.php?href=http://the-end-time.blogspot.com/2012/02/bride-awaits-her-groom.html

http://s7.addthis.com/js/250/addthis_widget.js#pubid=xa-4df8df7d18b59150

Posted in prophecy, river turns blood red

Beirut River mysteriously runs blood red

Posted on by elizabethprata

UPDATE: The Yangtze River is running red, no one knows why. See my blog entry about that issue, here.

—————————-
The Lebanon Star newspaper is reporting that the Beirut River ran blood red today. I’ll post the excerpt from the article, then speak to a negative and a positive.

“BEIRUT: The Beirut River mysteriously turned blood red Wednesday after a stream of unidentified red liquid began pouring from the southern bank of the river in Furn al-Shubbak. The source of the liquid had yet to be determined Wednesday evening, as the river continued to empty the red-colored water into the Mediterranean Sea. Government and local officials rushed to the scene at the Chevrolet crossing of Furn al-Shubbak Wednesday morning in an attempt to locate the sewage canal that was dumping the red-colored water but they were unable to locate the source.”

Authorities have yet to determine the source of the substance causing the red color. 

I do not know why they used the word “mysteriously” in the headline and lede, because later in the article it says this happens every two months or so.

“Several business owners around the Chevrolet crossing said that colored water pours into the river roughly every two months but no one pays attention to it. It was the quantity and brightness of the red liquid that grabbed the attention of many passersby and commuters on different bridges in the city Wednesday.”

OK, so granted, it is strange to see the river turn blood red with that depth of color. In all the other times, perhaps, it maybe ran green or yellow but never red.

“First we thought it was blood, but it seems like it is a kind of coloring dumped by a factory,” said Sabbagh, who also said that the test to determine the type of the chemical would take a week.”

Now that initial testing has taken place, The Star reported in a subsequent article that it is NOT blood. “BEIRUT: Laboratory tests of samples from Beirut River that mysteriously turned red Wednesday have discounted blood as the source of the coloration of the major waterway.”

It is obviously some industrial or organic runoff. The source will be found soon, I’m sure.

But I want to talk for a moment about the reaction to the first story as it unfolded online. This is the negative. People thought it was prophecy coming true. They believed that it was a direct fulfillment of Revelation 16:4, the Bowl Judgment where “The third angel poured out his bowl on the rivers and springs of water, and they became blood.”

The incident at the Beirut River cannot be a a fulfillment of Revelation 16 because all that is prophesied to happen before Rev. 16 is fulfilled has not occurred yet. God is orderly, and He said that His wrath in judgment would unfold after the church is taken up to heaven (1 Thess 5:9, Is 26:20). He said that the Third Bowl judgment would happen after the First and the Second Bowl judgments, and they haven’t occurred yet. He said that the Bowl Judgments would take place after the Trumpet Judgments (Rev 8-9) which take place after the Seal Judgments (Rev 6). None of this has taken place. Read Revelation 6-16 to see the order of what I just described.

A little biblical learning is a dangerous thing. Prophecy is meant to be God’s word to us foretelling the future, so that we may act accordingly, and so that we may believe. Only God knows the future, so when we see it coming true, we know He is sovereign and omniscient- knowing all things. We know He is omnipotent, because only He can cause the things to come true in the manner in which He has said. Thoughtlessly flinging around prophetic verses and casually and incorrectly saying they are fulfilled, is dangerous at worst and stupid at best.

This article in the Florida Baptist Witness is about Joel C. Rosenberg, a Christian and an expert on both geo-politics at the top levels and also is familiar with prophecy. In the article, Joel said war in the Middle East is coming soon. He also said of prophecy in general,

“Prophecy is an intercept from the mind of an all-knowing and all-seeing and all powerful God,” he said. It is meant to inspire, motivate and encourage. It will lead to repentance, holiness, and prayer and fasting, Rosenberg said, adding that prophecy is about the “preaching of the Gospel, making of disciples, planting churches, reaching young people with the Gospel, [and] reaching all people with the Gospel.””

Pastors today resist preaching prophecy. Rosenberg said, “For some it’s because prophecy has been “sensationalized” in the past and they resist the “cheapening of God’s Word,” he said. Others might feel unprepared. Some have simply forgotten its power.”

Amen to all the above. Prophecy, as is all of God’s word, is the truth of GOD delivered at great cost to the messenger and carried on the backs of martyrs who died for the faith. I feel particularly aggrieved when people cheapen prophecy by studying it casually and applying it liberally, and incorrectly. Don’t do that.

On the positive side, I was glad to see that when people saw the river turn red the first thing they thought of was God. For many, biblical prophecy in the end times was the first thing that came to mind, not an industrial accident or an organic event. That is good.

But now the question comes, what are you going to do about it? Because God’s word is sure. When it turns out to have been an industrial runoff, people will shake off their prophetic thought and think themselves a silly person. Not so. That premonition, that inkling, is real. Revelation 16 will come, and the rivers will turn to blood, for real. And then what will you drink? I hope by then you will be drinking the Living Water. (John 4:1-26). Jesus is the answer.
http://platform.twitter.com/widgets.jshttp://www.facebook.com/widgets/like.php?href=http://the-end-time.blogspot.com/2012/02/beirut-river-mysteriously-runs-blood.html

http://s7.addthis.com/js/250/addthis_widget.js#pubid=xa-4df8df7d18b59150

Posted in earthquakes, prophecy

Are there more earthquakes? YES

Posted on by elizabethprata

How to find earthquake data. I go to the United States Geological Survey and I click on Global Earthquake Search. I enter the parameters for the date, which is always 1-1- YYYY to 12-31-YYYY. I plug in the magnitude, which is 5.0 to 5.9 or 6.0 to 6.9 etc. Here is a screen shot:

Then the search presents me with data in sum. 

I compare the search results with USGS annual averages, here.

I make a chart in Word by using “table” and plugging in the data I get from USGS search. When I’m done I paste the Word chart into Photoshop. I do it in Word (or Excel) so I can update it more easily. Today I updated the chart I’d last published as of Nov 2011. Click on it to make it bigger.

The number of earthquakes per year is increasing.
http://platform.twitter.com/widgets.jshttp://www.facebook.com/widgets/like.php?href=%20http://the-end-time.blogspot.com/2012/02/are-there-more-earthquakes-yes.html

http://s7.addthis.com/js/250/addthis_widget.js#pubid=xa-4df8df7d18b59150

Posted in damascus, Isaiah, prophecy, syria

Western Syria is aflame, violence spills over to Lebanon

Posted on by elizabethprata

This information is from UK Telegraph’s live blogging tweets of the Syrian Uprising. They have stopped for the day, but you need to see this map they linked to.

They wrote: “Syrian uprising live. Live coverage of developments in Syria, as the violence escalates in the Syrian flashpoint city of Homs with soldiers loyal to Bashar al-Assad’s regime attempting to crush opponents. Join us for DAILY updates: http://www.facebook.com/syrianuprising, twitter: @SyriaUprising”

This was their last tweet for the day:

“21.05 All eyes are on Homs and the battle for Damascus but the uprising against Assad is actually far more widespread. Check out this Google map to see how almost all of western Syria is aflame.” [emphasis mine]

Syria – Friday 10/02/2012
“Videos and updates from around Syria. Towns with reported protests or on strike are marked in blue. Towns with updates alone are marked in green. Red markers show places which are under attack or where martyrs fell today.”

You see that there is violence at the borders. Indeed, the violence spilled over to Lebanon today.

“Syrian forces continued to bombard Homs on Saturday as Iraq claimed jihadists are crossing into Syria and weapons are being sent to opponents of President Bashar Al Assad’s regime. The bloodshed showed no signs of abating, even spilling over into Lebanon. Activists said 25 people were killed across the country, including a 55-year-old woman among seven who were killed in the latest attacks in many districts of Homs which also saw house-to-house raids. Food and medical supplies are running low in blockaded areas and many people are trapped in their houses. “We have intelligence information that a number of Iraqi jihadists went to Syria,” Adnan Al Assadi told AFP, adding that “weapons smuggling is still ongoing” from Iraq to Syria. In Damascus, Brigadier General Eisa Al Kholi was killed by three gunmen outside his home as part of a “framework of targeting Syrian intellectuals and the medical and technical cadres,” the official Syrian Arab News Service said. Al Kholi was the director of the Hamish Hospital in Damascus, it said.””

There is no way you can be a student of prophecy and know the prophecy of Damascus, and not see that map and get shivers. Damascus is 150 miles from Jerusalem. Now here is another shiver-worthy article–

Assad mulls use of chemical weapons (translated from Hebrew)
“According to dissident elements, the Syrian army had concentrated cluster of chemical weapons at a school in the city, Prime Minister of Britain: a horrible situation, very difficult”
“Homs opposition warned today (Thursday) from the Syrian army can use chemical weapons against the protesters. Forum social network today who told activists that received reports that the Syrian army gas masks distributed to his soldiers at checkpoints and cluster grenades and mortar shells containing chemical weapons were assembled one of the schools in Homs. Whether the Syrian military will use chemical weapons against civilians is thus sufficient grounds for outside military intervention.”

If they use chemical weapons, will they also use nuclear? The destruction of Damascus from being a city is a given because it is a prophecy, but how it is destroyed is not given.

Dr. Jill Dekker is a consultant to the NATO Defense Establishment in bio-warfare and counter terrorism. Dr. Dekker is also a member of the board of advisors of the Intelligence Summit. She gave an interview to the New English Review in December 2007. In it, she said,

“Contrary to how the US State Department and other agencies tend to downplay the sophistication of the Syrian biological and nuclear programs, they are very advanced. Syria has always had the most advanced chemical weapons program in the Middle East. The US and other western agencies have in a sense been distracted by this, but their biological programs and the “concept of use” are robust. Syria’s biological weapons capability today is closely tied to the former and current Soviet and Russian programs respectively, the DPRK, Iran and the former Iraq regime. A major concern is their strategic concept of use – which has gone from one of ‘special weapons’ to incorporation into their ‘conventional arsenal.’ That is a significant shift and one that seems to have eluded the US. The Syrians run their biological programs out of the Syrian Scientific Research Council (SSRC) in Damascus.””

In a 2011 article I’d commented on, the unrest that had begun in Syria those many months ago immediately sparked fears and the question was asked “what will happen to its chemical weapons?”

The 2007 Dekker interview summarized the situation like this:

“Dr. Dekker’s answers give a foreboding picture of how large and refined the Syrian bio-warfare programs are and how little Western Intelligence knows about how the programs were developed. The potential exists for a significant WMD threat in the Middle East and the West, especially, against America. Syria is a proxy ally of Iran, North Korea (DPRK) and terror groups such as Hezbollah, Islamic Jihad and Hamas. Thus, the supply of bio-weapons and delivery platforms that could results in mass casualties makes it a real and present danger.”

So Syria has the weapons (means), the motive (‘concept of use’ doctrine) and the opportunity (revolution). That danger is even more present now, and combined with the prophecy about Damascus’s destruction…well, shivers once again. The battle for Damascus goes on overnight.

“Behold, Damascus will cease from being a city, And it will be a ruinous heap. (verse 1)
http://platform.twitter.com/widgets.jshttp://www.facebook.com/widgets/like.php?href=%20http://the-end-time.blogspot.com/2012/02/western-syria-is-aflame-violence-spills.html

http://s7.addthis.com/js/250/addthis_widget.js#pubid=xa-4df8df7d18b59150

Posted in gog magog, iran, israel, prophecy

Foreign Press renting rooftops in advance of expected Israel-Iran war

Posted on by elizabethprata

This was in Hebrew and google-translated to English

The foreign media is preparing an Israeli confrontation with Iran
—Various agencies, including Reuters, the roofs of houses in Tel Aviv hired to prepare an attack on the town photography
–In addition, television networks in Israel sent senior producers
“Although non-ongoing uncertainty in Israel around the nuclear confrontation with Iran, Globes “has learned that the foreign media feel that the great event – meaning going to happen. Learned that recently hired various agencies, including Agence Reuters, roofs of houses in Tel – Aviv, to prepare for the shooting attack on the city. Also, the world’s television networks, more and less significant, senior producers sent to Israel to examine means of Helena, communications infrastructure, and protective measures in favor of big teams will come to Israel to cover the events. Between the agencies considering the deployment of these networks is currently FOX , NBC and CBS networks of American and European and Asian. One senior source said foreign broadcasters Globes: “It would be illogical not to prepare for it, when we hear your defense minister expressed constantly on. This assessment is similar to that which was here before the days of the Gulf War, the early ’90s.”

This article was in English originally, it is an opinion piece of irony and sarcasm from Eurasia Review:

Foreign Press Rents Tel Aviv Rooftops To Cover Iran War – OpEd
“You remember the descriptions of the First Battle of Bull Run when all of Washington’s high society rode out in their fine carriages and horses to picnic under the shady trees and watch their Union boys send the Rebs packing? Did they get the shock of their lives when the Rebel musket balls whizzed over their heads and the Union soldiers ran for their lives from the field? Or similarly, the Israelis in southern Israel who took lawn chairs out to watch the IDF smash Gaza to smithereens in 2009? Here’s a picture of another group of expectant, thrilled Israelis watching the action. That’s what the foreign press corps appears to be doing now in Tel Aviv in preparation for an attack on Iran. They’re renting the right to put film crews and reporters on the city’s rooftops (Hebrew) during the upcoming war in order to cover the anticipated Iranian counterattack. That way they can get great photo ops and pictures of missiles wreaking havoc on the city. What a story! What a feast for the eyes! Other news organizations like CBS, Fox News, and NBC are sending their senior producers to Israel to scope out the place in case they have to send in the big boys–the news anchors and senior correspondents (especially since no one can report from Tehran!).”

On one webpage discussing this story/rumor of the day, Daniel F stated, “In January 1991 everybody was caught by surprise at 03:00am in the morning when the first Scuds hit Tel Aviv. CNN, the most aggressive news agency at the time, had paid handsomely for access to a rooftop and provided excellent live coverage (and were also inadvertently acting as a forward artillery spotter for the Iraqis). Other news agencies were quick to follow suit until some understood that the Iraqis might be watching TV. So I suppose that some of the news agencies are “buying options”, hardly surprising and I suppose that the asking prices are still reasonable. More dancing in the streets of Gaza?”

We know from prophecy in Ezekiel 38-39 that Israel and Iran get into it, as well as Israel and the Psalm 83 nations (Lebanon, Gaza, Hezbollah, Hamas, Jordan, Egypt) and we know Syria’s capital of Damascus is obliterated at some point in between all this (Isaiah 17). The only question is, when. I don’t think we have long to wait to find out.
http://platform.twitter.com/widgets.jshttp://www.facebook.com/widgets/like.php?href=%20http://the-end-time.blogspot.com/2012/02/foreign-press-renting-rooftops-in.html

http://s7.addthis.com/js/250/addthis_widget.js#pubid=xa-4df8df7d18b59150

Posted in doomsday preppers, last days, prophecy

I am a prepper! Are you prepping for doomsday?

Posted on by elizabethprata

Are you a prepper? It means someone who is prepared for a certain eventuality they believe might occur in their life at some point in the near term or the far future. Being prepped used to mean to be prepared for an operation, lol, but it also used to mean prepared for retirement with a good sized savings account and retirement plan. Preparing for retirement was what my generation did, penny by penny, dollar by dollar, over the course of a life.

Then it came to mean insurance. “Do you have insurance?” The boutique kinds of insurance were created and the people buying them felt prepared. Pet illness insurance, flood insurance where floods had not occurred before, hurricane insurance, term life insurance because we are living longer, long term care insurance to tide us over in the nursing home until the end. Life was getting more complicated so we had to be prepared for more things.

Now prepper means prepared for Armageddon. The secular world does not mean literal Armageddon. They do not think that is going to happen, of course. The prophesied battle of the last days where the world’s armies assemble for one last cataclysmic battle against the Holy Savior is what Armageddon really means. (Rev 16:16, Revelation 19:19-21).

What the world means when they say they are prepping for Armageddon is they are getting themselves ready to live through any number of earth-shattering, wide-scale cataclysmic events. We certainly have seen enough of them in the last few years. There was the Christmas Tsunami at Indonesia in 2004, and the March 2011 quake and tsunami at Japan. The series of quakes that occurred at Haiti and Chile and New Zealand at the beginning of last year. Tornadoes wiping out whole towns, one after another. Volcanoes exploding, spewing ash to halt half the world’s air travel. Floods covering a quarter of Australia. The world has seen death and destruction on a wide scale. We have seen that it can and it does happen. Now they are getting ready. Preppers have constructed a safety net for any and all contingencies.

Even Chevy got into the apocalypse game and presented (a winning) ad during the Superbowl. In this still clip, a man in a Chevy survived meteors, UFO invasion, earthquakes, volcanoes, a plague of frogs, fires, and civilizations’ collapse.

 

Here is the ad:

I like to read futuristic fiction. Last summer I read the classic Alas, Babylon, a 1950s era novel depicting the effects of a nuclear attack on the US. Despite being over fifty years old it consistently ranks in Amazon.com’s Top 20 Science Fiction Short Stories list. The novel deals with the effects of a nuclear war on the small town of Fort Repose, Florida, which is based upon the actual city of Mount Dora, Florida. Despite being a bit scientifically inaccurate it does a good job of showing the collapse of society and the reformation attempts in the nuclear aftermath.

I also read One Second After, a 2009 novel by American writer William R. Forstchen. The novel deals with an unexpected electromagnetic pulse (EMP) attack on the United States as it affects the people living in and around the town of Black Mountain, North Carolina. It was extremely realistic. The end of the book talked about the likelihood of a given population’s survival after an EMP with all the attendant collapses. The Wiki on this book states, “Refugees from the cities show up looking for food and shelter and the fight over scarce resources leads to confrontation, home invasion, and more violence-related die-offs. The community becomes an inviting target for free prisoners and organized gangs and more violence-related die-off. Ration cards are issued to conserve the little remaining food; regardless, the community slowly starves with the elderly the first to die off. Next parents starve themselves to save their children. Throughout this period suicides are common. After a year, approximately 20% of the initial population has “survived”. It was stated in the epilogue section from actual sociologists and scientists that such a die-off rate (80%) in the aftermath of an EMP is very likely. I recommend the book.

A few months ago I watched a very compelling, recent documentary called “After Armageddon” on the History Channel. It is a theoretical account of a worst case scenario for global disaster, this time, a pandemic thanks to a superflu. The live scenes of how this affects a family in Los Angeles were interspersed with interviews with real scientists discussing what to do and how to act at the various points of the flu’s run. The docu-drama shows in graphic detail just how fast normal society can break down. I thought it was very realistic. The video can be seen here, part 1/9.

There is a new television show now on the National Geographic channel, called “Doomsday Preppers.”  The tagline goes like this: “Doomsday Preppers explores the lives of otherwise ordinary Americans who are preparing for the end of the world as we know it. Unique in their beliefs, motivations, and strategies, preppers will go to whatever lengths they can to make sure they are prepared for any of life’s uncertainties. And with our expert’s assessment, they will find out their chances of survival if their worst fears become a reality.”

An article about it opens, “A lot of people are terrified that, unlike Harold Camping, the ancient Mayans got it right and that the apocalypse (zombie or otherwise) will unfold in 2012. … Hence, the arrival of new show “Doomsday Preppers” (Tues., 9 p.m. EST on Nat Geo). Ordinary Americans who are readying themselves for disaster get to have their apocalypse survival plans evaluated by survival experts. On the series premiere, Kellene Bishop taught self-defense techniques to a group of women so that they could overcome their worst-case scenario, whether it be doomsday or attempted rape.”

The end of the world is equated to attempted rape. Uh, okayyyy.

The end of the world is touted as survivable. Uh…okayyyyy.

In another article about the new show they write, “The channel commissioned an online survey of 1,007 adults in the USA, and found that 61% of Americans believe the country will experience a major catastrophic event within the next 20 years, but only 15% feel they are fully prepared for it.”

I can guarantee that less than 15% are actually prepared for it. The article continues,

“In the series premiere, viewers meet a retired couple who have 50,000 pounds of food stored in their doomsday-proof home built of steel shipping containers, an an urban survivalist in Los Angeles prepping for a severe earthquake.”

Here is what is coming: “Then there came flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder and a severe earthquake. No earthquake like it has ever occurred since mankind has been on earth, so tremendous was the quake. The great city split into three parts, and the cities of the nations collapsed. … Every island fled away and the mountains could not be found.” (Revelation 16:18-20)

No amount of “prepping” will survive that.

Here is what will happen to that doomsday-proofed home: “Ezekiel 38:20 The fish of the sea, the birds of the air, 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.”

Every. Wall. Will. Fall.

It is part of man’s hubris to think he can outsmart, out-wait, out buy, and make an end run around what every heart knows is coming: their judgment. The air is ripe with expectancy. Chevy commercials, movies, books, television are focused on last days. They like to use the Mayan 2012 doomsday date as an excuse, but it is really because they know something is coming.

The 2012 Mayan doomers certainly are not helping this focus on doomsday, apocalypse, Armageddon, whatever they are calling it now. The Harold Camping ‘rapture May 21, 2011’ got them going. The endless stream of catastrophes have gotten everyone thinking about how best to prepare for the next one. But they are thinking along the wrong lines. I am prepped for doomsday. I am ready! Getting prepped doesn’t take a container house full of food. Nor does it take a grab bag and a bug out plan. It doesn’t take stockpiles or guns or puffed-up prep jargon and a Berky water filter in my Jeep.

It takes a second to prepare for doomsday. It takes a second to get prepped for eternity. One second. And one second after, you will enter a light and a joy that will last forever. All it takes is repentance.

If you repent of your sins and plead with Jesus to accept your apology (and turn away from the bad ways you act,- and we all act bad against Jesus, no one is sinless except Him), He will forgive you! You will be set forever. He will cherish you, provide for you, teach you, wipe the very tears from your eyes. “He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” (Revelation 21:4)

Repent literally means change. It means to change your mind that you are a good person and can stand before Holy God on your own merits. It is a change from old ways hateful to God to new ways pleasing to God with the aid of the indwelling Holy Spirit. It means change your heart from thinking you don’t need a Savior to a heart that cries in shame for its lack of humility toward Him and an acknowledgement of our need for Him.

The final 7 years is a judgment time upon the earth. It culminates at Armageddon with assembled armies literally thinking they can defeat Jesus (Rev 16:16). They don’t. But in between the opening salvo at the Tribulation’s start and the final Word at Armageddon (Rev 19:21), preppers who see their carefully constructed homes collapse in a moment (Isaiah 24:1,3) will sincerely wish they had done their one second of prepping: repent, and be saved. Christian preppers were ready for His return. They repented and were in Him, were in His gracious gift of salvation, sanctification, regeneration, and justification. They will be taken in the rapture to a glorious marriage supper (Revelation 19:7-10), and installed in their place He has been preparing (John 14:2), and given crowns and awards (1 Thessalonians 2:19-20, Rev. 22:12). You have the option to choose which kind of prepping you want to do. You can go here to learn about what salvation is and what you are being saved from, or you can go here to watch NatGeo’s part 1 of Doomsday Preppers.

You can rely on your Chevy which man created, or you can rely on God, who created the world.

http://platform.twitter.com/widgets.jshttp://www.facebook.com/widgets/like.php?href=%20http://the-end-time.blogspot.com/2012/02/i-am-prepper-are-prepping-for-doomsday.html

http://s7.addthis.com/js/250/addthis_widget.js#pubid=xa-4df8df7d18b59150

Posted in eu, mark of the beast, prophecy

The European economy and Nebuchadnezzar’s statue

Posted on by elizabethprata

In Nebuchadnezzar’s dream of the statue, Daniel explained the meaning to the king. The statue was composed of four metals from head to toe, and each metal represented an empire. (Dan 2:31-35). The head of gold represented Babylon, the Chest and Arms of Silver represented Medo-Persia. The belly and thighs, or hips, represented Greece. The legs of iron were Rome. The Roman empire was divided, east and west as the eastern capital of the empire was stationed at Constantinople, now Istanbul in Turkey. The toes were said to be mixed iron and clay and very brittle, not holding together, and that is the Tribulation revived Roman Empire from which the antichrist will emerge.

The final piece of the prophecy involves a stone. “Thou sawest till that a stone was cut out without hands, which smote the image upon his feet that were of iron and clay, and brake them to pieces.” (Dan 2:34). The Stone comes and “and the stone that smote the image became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth.” The stone that was cut without hands is Jesus, who is prophesied to have all the governments upon His shoulder (Isaiah 9:6).  Mountains are usually symbols for governments. Jesus will rule and reign after He crushes the final kingdom at Armageddon.

So, are we there yet? Is the old Roman Empire revived? Yes. How do I know this? We see that kingdom has emerged now. If you look at the European Union you will note its government. It is composed of disparate elements which will be more disparate after the rapture and the antichrist seeks to unite elements which do not normally adhere and in truth will fall apart. The EU’s government is not a democracy. Not at all. Though there is a Parliament, in truth the EU is run by behind the scenes men in Belgium who were NOT ELECTED. Most of these men are former financial chiefs from the highest echelons of their former governments or from the extra-governmental International Monetary Fund or the European Central Bank. And the IMF and ECB run Europe too, anyway. The people of Europe who belong to the EU, five hundred million people, have no say in how their governments are run, really.

There are no borders in Europe. EU members opened their borders, so that anyone from “Germany” who wants to take a train to “Italy” or “Slovenia” will not have to have a passport stamped or go through customs. It is all one.

The EU operates through a system of supranational independent institutions and intergovernmental negotiated decisions by the member states. Supranational means outside of national influence, or, higher than national. And you notice it says decisions, not votes. When 500 million people are ruled by a few men through decision whereupon they have no national accountability, it is an empire, and those men are kings of Europe. With that in mind, look at how the guys at Zerohedge phrase their post and presented a video in which economist

“David McWilliams succinctly explains how Europe has evolved from a democracy to a bankocracy, the implications of which lead to austerity for the people and a Franco-German imposition (the ‘fiscal compact’) that can only lead to social unrest and chaos. In this brief (and expertly illustrated) video, the Irish economist clarifies Europe’s ‘dirty little secret’ where economic policy is being run almost exclusively for the banks which, as we see in Greece and Ireland, means the political elite are becoming more and more detached from the people.”

Sovereign men who run large swathes of lands by decision, who are more and more detached from the people, are exactly the kind of governments we see prophesied in the last days, the antichrist’s government. Then, the rich buy their luxuries such as ivory, gold, silver, jewels, (Rev 18) and care not for the poor who work all day for pay that only buys a loaf of bread (Rev 6:6) and even then sometimes gets cheated out of it. (James 5:4). The wealth gap prophesied to occur is happening now, even as Europe revives its empire economically, politically, financially, governmentally…

EU unemployment all time high
“The number of unemployed people in Europe is reaching record highs as the economic crisis unfolds into one with significant social consequences.In eight member states alone, over 30 percent of young people under 25 are out of jobs. The worst affected continues to be Spain where half its young are jobless. Images of long queues outside unemployment offices paint a bleak picture in the Spanish state where almost a quarter of all its citizens are unemployed.”

The Baltic Dry Index is an indicator of global economic health. It has been collapsing–and though the Wall Street Journal is fairly staid in its use of language, they wrote that the BDI is not only collapsing, but “spectacularly” collapsing

Spectacular collapse of BDI
“The spectacular collapse in the Baltic Dry Index, which tracks the cost of shipping bulk freight, gives copper traders something to worry about, says Country Hedging’s Sterling Smith.The index is a proxy for moving goods around the globe and the now-30-session decline appears to indicate global commerce is stalling.”

After the stall…what? A monetary crash? An economic limbo? A financial revival? We don’t know exactly except for what Revelation 6:6 shows, that people will work all day and only be paid enough for a loaf of bread. And in Revelation 18:11-20 it shows economic Babylon’s fall but in that fall it shows that a healthy economic trade in luxuries had been going on. Revelation 13 shows that an economy exists, because no one may buy nor sell if they do not accept the mark of the beast (verse 16-17).

The Roman Empire has been revived, setting the stage for the above verses to be fulfilled.
http://platform.twitter.com/widgets.jshttp://www.facebook.com/widgets/like.php?href=%20http://the-end-time.blogspot.com/2012/02/european-economy-and-nebuchadnezzars.html

http://s7.addthis.com/js/250/addthis_widget.js#pubid=xa-4df8df7d18b59150

Posted in damascus, homs, prophecy, syria, UN security council

It’s all about Syria: Massacre in Homs, UN Security Council vote, prophecy nearing fulfillment

Posted on by elizabethprata

Sobering news today in the wake of the bloody massacre in Syria last night. Assad is hanging on and the world is tense and watching.

Last night I was relaxing while surfing the internet. I had my Twitter stream up, and suddenly all these tweets started coming in about violence in the Syrian city of Homs. Twitter was flooded with tweets and re-tweets of people saying that a violent battle was taking place. The tone soon shifted to people making an outcry that civilians were being massacred. The pain and outrage, distress and despair was evident in the people by the tweets I was watching scroll quickly up the screen. Hundreds upon hundreds of tweets rolled past my tearing eyes. Cries of shame upon Dictator Assad’s men who were killing innocent people. Reports of blood literally running in the streets. Mourning over children with no heads. Bodies piling up. A hospital obliterated. Many tweets contained links to videos and photos with appropriate warnings of the graphic nature of the images. I didn’t click on any of those but one did catch my attention: amateur video of a very large explosion at Hama. The Syrian inky night sky lit up orange as the entire horizon fired up from some kind of weapon of mass destruction. It was VERY disorienting to watch and read about a massacre in real time. Nothing can prepare you.

Some tweets:

  • My city is bleeding. We’re being attacked since 8 pm. 5 hours, 230 dead, 800 injured.
  • BBC’s Paul Wood breaks cover in Homs Syria. Reports Free Syria Army will begin “general assault” in next 24 hrs in retaliation for attack
  • BBC reports Homs “Does seem to have been sustained bombardment, large sustained attack”
  • The Syrian embassy in Tripoli of Libya is now under the control of Syrian revolutionists
  • Horror. GRAPHIC: Another video from Khaldiyeh, dead young men, many injured, people screaming
  • Jon Williams- Has Homs proved final straw for some? Syrian “Independence” flag reported flying over embassy in Greece.
  • Tunisia expels Syria ambassador over Feb 3 “bloody massacre” in Homs that killed over 200 people (via @AP)
  • Guardian news Top story: Fury over Homs massacre as UN security council gathers for Syria

Soon the tone shifted again to freedom fighters trying to organize worldwide protests at embassies outside of Syria. Some did respond, and were attacked, such as Greece. Others called upon the UN to shame Russia for diluting the latest resolutions condemning the violence.

  • People all over the world are asked to go to the Syrian embassies & protest Syria
  • They’re chanting “one solution, one solution – revolution, revolution” in Wash DC

One man tweeted, “Mankind has never been so connected as it is today. Yet, we stand powerless”. I understand his sentiment. We watch, we see, yet what can we as individuals do in the face of such vivid violence in real time? Some called for uniting at embassies around the world in protest. Greece and Washington DC, as well as people Spain responded and assembled in front of the Syrian embassy in their capitals. In other words, anger was palpable. I mourned, and soon I had to turn it off, the devastating implications of the massacre were too great.

“Today, European envoys to the Security Council said they would vote Saturday on a draft resolution backing an Arab League call for Syrian President Bashar Assad to step down amid talk that Russia would ask for a delay. The ambassadors spoke as they headed into an unusual weekend session. The urgency was heightened by an assault by Syrian forces firing mortars and artillery on the city of Homs.”

This morning “Obama said in a statement on Saturday that he condemns Mr. Assad’s “unspeakable assault.” He called for the Syrian leader to step aside and make way for a democratic transition.” This is essentially what the UN Security Council Resolution calls for.

UN web cams inside the voting chamber ahead of the vote show heavy lobbying of the Russian envoy to get him to soften his stance. A similar resolution was proposed to the Security council in October but members China and Russia vetoed it. They are trying not to have a repeat of that awful decision, particularly in light of last night’s massacre and the additional dead by Assad’s orders since October. Voting will occur momentarily… it is a tense moment for the watching world.

OK, I watched the UN Security Council vote live. Russia and China voted no, meaning they vetoed the draft resolution condemning Syria’s violence and calling for Assad to resign. Russia and China both are prophesied leaders players in future Middle East violence as per Ezekiel 38-39 and Rev 16:12.

I think often on the prophecy in Isaiah 17, whereupon Damascus will be destroyed, it will be a heap of ruins (V. 1).

This oracle in its entirety has a partial fulfillment in 722 and 732 BC of Samaria and Damascus. It is obviously a partial fulfillment because Damascus, though defeated by the Assyrians, the city continued to be a city under their rule. It was never razed to the extent that the prophecy indicates it will be someday. The middle of the chapter focuses on the defeat of Samaria, and then toward the end of the short chapter at verse 12-14a you see the following:

“Woe to the multitude of many people Who make a noise like the roar of the seas,And to the rushing of nations That make a rushing like the rushing of mighty waters! The nations will rush like the rushing of many waters; But God will rebuke them and they will flee far away, And be chased like the chaff of the mountains before the wind, Like a rolling thing before the whirlwind. Then behold, at eventide, trouble! And before the morning, he is no more.”

Two thoughts here. One is that ‘the mighty rushing waters’ is always used as a metaphor in the bible for outcries, restless and angry multitudes upset about something. Certainly last night was evocative of that verse. Today might be worse, considering that Russia and China stand by Assad’s violence and outrages against the people.

Washington Post immediately reported, “Russia and China have vetoed a Security Council resolution backing an Arab League peace plan that calls for Syrian President Bashar Assad to step down. The other 13 council members, including the U.S., France and Britain, voted Saturday in favor of the resolution aimed at stopping the ongoing violence in Syria.”

What could God be doing, allowing such evil? How can any nation not condemn a leader massacring children? One answer is that we see the evil inside the Russian envoy’s and Chinese envoy’s heart that they would vote in this way. God is good and He allows the sins inside of us to come to their full fruition, eventually revealed to one and all. “But their evil intentions will be exposed when the light shines on them” (Eph 5:13)

France said of the vote, “France: “History will have no mercy for those who blocked the UNSC from bringing its support to the Arab League efforts.”

“Now the word of the LORD came to me, saying, “Son of man, set your face against Gog, of the land of Magog, the prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal, and prophesy against him, and say, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD: “Behold, I am against you, O Gog, the prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal.” (Ezekiel 38:1-3).

It is interesting to think of the plan God has for Russia and for China (Kings of the East). I don’t know about history but I know that God will have no mercy on them. Ezekiel’s prophecy continues regarding Russia particularly, “I will call for a sword against Gog throughout all My mountains,” says the Lord GOD. “Every man’s sword will be against his brother. And I will bring him to judgment with pestilence and bloodshed; I will rain down on him, on his troops, and on the many peoples who are with him, flooding rain, great hailstones, fire, and brimstone. Thus I will magnify Myself and sanctify Myself, and I will be known in the eyes of many nations. Then they shall know that I am the LORD.”” Gog is destroyed. Ezekiel 39:2 says that God will destroy five-sixths of their army. Then He gives burial instructions.

Secondly the verse that speaks of trouble coming in the evening and then by morning he is no more…what can raze a city that quickly? What would reduce a city to rubble so completely that it is obliterated? A nuclear device. I got to bed at night, on nights like last night, and I wonder, ‘Will Damascus be there in the morning?’ We are the final generation that will see these things come to pass (Matthew 24:34), we see the other signs, and at some point it will happen. What will be the final straw? Was last night’s massacre and today’s UN vote the final straw? I do not know, God knows. We trust Him and His perfect plan. Meanwhile, He wants no one to be lost, but all to come to repentance. Hang on Syrians! Jesus loves you! Look UP, for your Redemption draweth nigh, if you but repent and believe!

As for feeling powerless while watching the massacre unfold, we are not powerless. As the tweets rolled by, and the knowledge that many who had died fell into hell instead of heaven, I prayed hard. I prayed that the nearness of death would awaken many to His offer of salvation. I prayed that the seeds that have been left previously by missionaries and Gideons would sprout into understanding. I prayed that the Holy Spirit would grab those He is drawing near and they would respond with an eternity changing decision for Jesus. Prayer is the ultimate weapon. Trusting in His goodness even while dark evil lurks is the ultimate faith.
http://platform.twitter.com/widgets.jshttp://www.facebook.com/widgets/like.php?href=http://the-end-time.blogspot.com/2012/02/its-all-about-syria-massacre-in-homs-un.html

http://s7.addthis.com/js/250/addthis_widget.js#pubid=xa-4df8df7d18b59150

Posted in blackbirds, mass strandings, prophecy

Blackbirds invade Kentucky Town; Mass stranding of dolphins, seals

Posted on by elizabethprata

Remember the Aflockalpyse at the beginning of 2011 and 2012? Where large swarms of birds inexplicably dropped dead in several towns? Well, LaGrange KY has had an influx of birds, but they’re not dying. They just keep coming, and coming and coming…

Birds Invade Town: La Grange, Ky. Swarmed By Black Birds
“Residents in a Kentucky town are saying “Get the flock out of here” to thousands of black birds that fill the sky each night.At dusk, the birds take flight in La Grange, Ky., and create what some locals describe as a “cloud of birds,” according to TV station WAVE. The birds nest down in a wooded area for the night and depart each morning in a huge pack, reports said. Fine-feathered friends, they’re not. Residents complain that they’re constantly cleaning up after the avian arrivistes, who started showing up last November in the community northeast of Louisville. Nearly everyone has heard their town compared to Alfred Hitchcock’s classic film “The Birds.” The birds’ unexplained presence has allegedly coincided with a surge in respiratory ailments, according to one woman who spoke with WAVE.”

Dolphins are latest mammal deaths in New England
“Whether they got lost, sick or swam astray chasing food, 77 dolphins that beached on Cape Cod in recent weeks have died, the second time in three months New England has seen a mass of marine mammal deaths.Now, scientists are trying to figure out why.They’re also researching whether there’s any connection to a die-off this fall of 162 harbor seals, whose carcasses were found between northern Massachusetts and Maine.Scientists later determined the seal deaths were linked to an influenza virus similar to one found in birds but never before seen in seals…”

Poor things!

In the bible, God created man and creatures to co-habit. He blessed the animals. He said for us to have dominion over them. (Gen 1:28-30). We were all vegetarians and there was no killing. Beasts did not kill us and we did not kill beasts. God blessed it all.

However after the Fall, things changed. God cursed the ground and the food and told Adam that he would have to toil for it. He clothed them of skins, the first time animals had been killed for man’s need and use. (Genesis 2:21). After Cain and Abel were born, we see that they knew to sacrifice animals in blood to pay homage to God. (Gen 4:4) After the flood, God put the fear of man into beasts and Noah was told that all the animals, birds and fish were now food for man. (Gen 9:2-3).

But in Revelation 6:8 we see that the fear and dread of man seems to be gone from animals as they kill man in the plague of beasts that cause widespread death on the earth (along with war, famine and disease). Animals have been getting more brazen over the last year or so. They have been acting in unusual ways. Perhaps as the Lord lifts His restraining hand they are becoming more and more ready for the day when the fear and dread of man is lifted completely.

I can’t wait for the day when all will be restored! We will cohabit with animals in gentle fashion again. Nature will not groan under the curse. Isaiah 11:6-9-

“The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them. And the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together: and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice’ den. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain: for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea.”

Amen!

http://platform.twitter.com/widgets.jshttp://www.facebook.com/widgets/like.php?href=http://the-end-time.blogspot.com/2012/01/blackbirds-invade-kentucky-town-mass.html

http://s7.addthis.com/js/250/addthis_widget.js#pubid=xa-4df8df7d18b59150