Category: prophecy

Posted in judgment, prophecy, rapture

Back to Basics: What is the Rapture?

Posted on by elizabethprata

In this Back to Basics series, I strive to ask and answer common questions of a more basic nature, rather than do what I normally do, which is to study the nuances of scripture in light of current events. I do the latter because we seem to be very far along on God’s timeline in advancing toward the end of the Church Age, and I want bible believing Christians to be aware of the fact of the Church Age’s end, and to be aware of their responsibilities in light of this end. However, because we are so close to the end of the Church Age, that means when we are raptured, billions will be left behind, and a few of those will turn to Christian websites looking for answers. These people will not care about the nuances of prophecy, because a great deal of it will have already come to pass and as for the rest, they will need catching up on, FAST. It is these people for whom I write the Back to Basics series.

The rapture is not mentioned explicitly in much of the bible, though it is hinted at throughout, such as this from Isaiah 26:19: “But your dead will live; their bodies will rise. You who dwell in the dust, wake up and shout for joy. Your dew is like the dew of the morning; the earth will give birth to her dead.” The most explicit verses are in:

–1 Thessalonians 4:16-18, “For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet of God; and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and thus we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words.”

–1 Corinthians 15:20-23, “But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who are asleep. 21 For since by a man came death, by a man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all shall be made alive. But each in his own order: Christ the first fruits, after that those who are Christ’s at His coming.”

–1 Cor. 15:51-52, “Behold, I tell you a mystery; we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed.”

The rapture will be a supernatural event taking place at a date and time no one knows. The 1 Thessalonians verse mentions a trumpet and a shout, but these noises will not be heard by those who are not being called. For these, they will simply be going about their day, perhaps talking directly to a bible-believing Christian, and the believer will simply go ‘poof’ and disappear.

That is the rapture. What the rapture is NOT is Jesus’s Second Coming. In that supernatural event which takes place at the end of the Tribulation (7-year period of judgment on earth), He will physically arrive on earth at the end of the Tribulation to finish the transgression and put an end to sin Himself. In the rapture, Jesus comes to meet us in the air, He does not touch down to earth. He isn’t seen by all, only the believers who are dead and alive.

Where did we go? We were called to heaven by Jesus to be sequestered during the coming Tribulation, another supernatural time in which earth dwellers will experience hell on earth as judgment for their sins. (Isaiah 26:20, Daniel 9:24, John 14:3).

Why did we go? We were called by Jesus to the place He has been preparing for us (John 14:3). We get to go there because of our of belief in the Gospel (that Jesus came to earth to live a sinless life, die on the cross as the sacrificial lamb taking the penalty for our sins, and was resurrected on the third day proving He is God). He has rewarded us for this faith by removing us out of harm’s way before the judgments on sinners begins. Because the Tribulation time after the rapture is a period of judgment of sins, and our sins were forgiven because we believed on Jesus and Gospel, then it stands to reason we would not be here when the wrath begins. He isn’t angry at us. Indeed, we are told told we are not appointed to wrath (1 Thessalonians 5:9). The people who were left behind are the ones who refused to believe on Jesus despite all the evidence, and thus remained in their sins, an enemy of God. He will now judge those people and their sins.

You may be surprised by who is left behind. Not all people who went to church, or seemed devout, or had a big position in church such as deacon, or pastor, or bishop, or even pope, are true believers. Actually the bible tells us there will be few real believers. That is because we can only see the outside of a person but Jesus sees the inside. He knows who has truly repented. Many have only made an outward show if it, and that is why they were left behind, They were not really believers in Jesus’s eyes.

The rapture marks the end of the Church Age’s invisible supernatural and the beginning of the visible supernatural. For millennia, the powers, principalities, and princes of the air (demons and their kingdom Ephesians 2:2, Ephesians 6:12), the good angels (Hebrews 13:2), and also Jesus glorified, remained behind the veil invisible to human eyes. Jesus was in heaven and we were on earth and for the most part, the two remained mingled but invisible- but very active! In one case, the Lord in the Old Testament showed Elisha’s servant just how potent and vigorous the activity behind the veil is:

“Now when the attendant of the man of God had risen early and gone out, behold, an army with horses and chariots was circling the city. And his servant said to him, “Alas, my master! What shall we do?” So he answered, “Do not fear, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.” Then Elisha prayed and said, “O LORD, I pray, open his eyes that he may see.” And the LORD opened the servant’s eyes and he saw; and behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.” (2 Kings 6:15-17).

In the Old Testament there were occasional eruptions of the supernatural, the Flood, miracles such as the parting of the Red Sea, the ten plagues of Egypt, Elijah and the Widow at Zarephath where the wheat never ran out, and other examples. We also see the supernatural in Jesus’s ministry on earth for three and a half years and His resurrection, then the Apostles’ miracles. After that, for 2000 years the miraculous and the demonic have largely been invisible from human eyes. But make no mistake, just because they have been invisible, it doesn’t mean they have not been active. At the rapture, the supernatural becomes visible in the form of millions who have instantly disappeared, likely leaving behind their clothes, their vehicles, their glasses, their teeth filings, etc. The remaining 7 years the supernatural will be visible, and in an horrific way, too.

For example, the coming of the antichrist is in full power of false signs and wonders, (21 Thessalonians 2:9), in Revelation 9 demons are let out of the bottomless pit to plague the people on earth, 144,000 Jews are supernaturally sealed and thus protected during this time so they can continue the work of spreading the Gospel (Revelation 7:3-4), rivers and streams will turn to blood, (Revelation 16:4) the sun will go dark (Matthew 24:29-30)…etc. These supernatural events will be seen by one and all.

If you are reading this and are left behind, wondering what happened, you have made an excellent start by turning to a Christian site. However, do not delay in deciding whether what is written here is true or false. The Lord will send a great delusion upon the whole world, “The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders, and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.” (2 Thessalonians 2:9-12).

No one knows exactly what that delusion is, but you can see from the verse that it is bad. “Those who perish’ means people who don’t believe in Jesus. It is phrased that way because unforgiven sin in a person means they are spiritually dead and destined for hell. Perishing. This delusion will cause a person to be unable to turn to Jesus in belief for salvation. Since it is so complete and final, and since no on knows exactly when God will send this delusion, don’t wait! The biggest sign that you could receive is the fact that millions are inexplicably missing!! The best and only explanation that fills the bill are the scriptures that foretell this event’s occurrence. What other proof does a person need?

Here are further resources for your study:
GotQuestions.org: What is the rapture of the church?
Bible.org: When Christ comes for His church

Bibles online:
Bible Gateway
Online Parallel Bible

Dictionary of biblical terms. If you want to know what ‘salvation; means, or ‘repent’, or ‘sin’, go to that link for short explanations.

I wrote this because it seems the rapture may be close. How can I know this if the event is signless and imminent (dependent on nothing else for it to occur?) because the prophesies we know will occur during the Tribulation are nearing readiness for fulfillment. On Friday, Dec 30, 2011, I wrote that “The Prophetic Infrastructure is Almost Complete.” In that essay I’d written,

“The infrastructure is being laid. Remember, the Tribulation is only 7 years long. In that time, the global economy is completely changed. The global political structure is completely changed. The temple will be rebuilt and sacrifices ongoing. Old hatreds must be ignited and hot for war. We see that now. Seven years is a short period. In my opinion the infrastructure is being laid now so that when the rapture happens it all will be put together almost instantly.”

In his January 1 sermon and prophecy video, Pastor JD Farag said,referring to the Tribulation judgments on the near-horizon and the current prophetic acceleration, “Everything that is happening, is happening swiftly and even simultaneously. And if you think about it, it really has to happen this fast. Because, there is no way that the antichrist would have enough time during the 7-year tribulation to get everything, to set everything in place. It has to already be in place and ready to go by the time he comes on the scene.” [min 2:35-3:10 approx)

And later in the video at 13:40,

“I think this is about to come to pass. And if we see this now, at this stage, as we reach the end of the age, and it ultimately finds its fulfillment in the 7-year Tribulation, how close are we?” Luke 21:28 says, after listing the signs and the judgments, “Now when these things begin to happen, look up and lift up your heads, because your redemption draws near.”

When these things begin to happen… do not put off deciding on eternity. Jesus is real, He is alive, and He wants to forgive your sins. It is your sin that makes you an enemy of our Holy God.

The website at Christian Apologetics and Research Ministry says “Sin is anything that is contrary to the law or will of God. For example: if you lie, you have sinned. Why? Because God has said not to lie (Exodus 20:16). If you do what God has forbidden, then you have sinned. In addition, if you do not do what God has commanded, you sin (James 4:17). Either way, the result is eternal separation from God (Isaiah 59:2). Sin is lawlessness (1 John 1:3) and unrighteousness (1 John 5:17). Sin leads to bondage (Rom. 6:14-20) and death (Rom. 6:23). Paul, in the book of Romans, discusses sin. He shows that everyone, both Jew and Greek, is under sin (Rom. 3:9). He shows that sin is not simply something that is done, but a condition of the heart (Rom. 3:10-12). In Ephesians Paul says that we are “by nature children of wrath” (Eph. 2:3). Yet, “while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly,” (Rom. 5:6).”

What do you need to do to get saved, preferably NOW before the rapture happens? Here is an explanation

What do I need to do to get saved?
What is salvation?

The best New Year’s resolution you can make is to pray to the Holy Spirit for understanding and conviction of your sins. Conviction just means you consciously know your sins and you feel really bad about them because you know they are crimes against Holy Jesus. Do not delay. Things are happening fast now.

Please feel free to share this essay liberally, and even go to the links I provided because they are better written and sourced. Jesus is the answer. He always has been. Please do not delay so long that you come to understand this after the rapture, or worse, after you die. After the rapture it will be harder to be saved and you likely will die before you’re saved anyway, because the second judgment is war everywhere in the world, and the fourth judgment is death to 1/4 of people in the world. And if you wait so long deciding that you die without having repented, your position is fixed eternally. Join us NOW in salvation, and then join us in looking up, for our Redemption draws nigh!
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Posted in 2011 natural disasters, prophecy

Top five weather events of 2011

Posted on by elizabethprata

The following is an excerpted transcript from a CBS report on year end review of US disasters. Full video below.

Newscasters: “This is a record year for disasters. There were 96 declared disasters in the US, costing billions of dollars lost, and killing more than 1000 people. …  So, 2011, how bad was it?”

Scientist: “Pretty bad. This isn’t the media hyping something. It really was a lot worse. About three to four times as worse in terms of big disasters than we’ve ever seen before.”

#5: Drought: 600,000 cattle were sold off in TX. “It was was the costliest disaster because it went on so long and affected lots of us in various ways.”
#4: Arizona wildfires
#3: Heat wave. Every state hit a record of some kind of record in July. Texas had 100 consecutive days of 100 degree weather. It was not just a US phenomenon, it was a global phenomenon.
#2: Hurricane Irene: It was not the wind, but the rain and floods. “It shut down NY. For the first time ever, all transit was shut down in NYC.”
#1: Tornadoes: 300 people died on one day. Alabama/Missouri hardest hit.

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This review doesn’t mention disasters outside the US, such as the volcanoes, which erupted with sudden and depressing frequency last year. The US wasn’t alone in experiencing flooding. Thailand, Cambodia, Bihar, Orissa, Pakistan, Dublin also had severe floods, and Brazil’s rains spawned deathly mudslides, as this Yahoo year in review reminds us. This article from NY1 says, “Just days after the New Year, a series of mudslides and floods in Brazil bury parts of cities under layers of earth. Nearly 1,000 poor people who live in shacks perched on steep hillsides with no foundations become victims. Heavy, earth-moving rains reportedly bury residents as they sleep in an area about 40 miles north of Rio, making it the worst natural disaster in Brazil’s history.”

The New Zealand Herald reported, “The wrath of nature dominated the start of the year, when the worst floods in Queensland’s history swamped much of the state, displacing hundreds of thousands of people and claiming more than a dozen lives in the Lockyer Valley, west of Brisbane, before inundating the city itself.”

‘The wrath of nature,’ eh?

There was the Chile volcano deadly eruptions that affected both Chile and Argentina, the bird and animal deaths in January-February-March, and though not a natural disaster, it caused a disaster ecologically, the BP oil leak. New islands popped up overnight at Anak Krakatau and in the Red Sea, and almost overnight at El Hierro. There were weird sinkholes, rifts, and ground noises and sky rumbles. Birds fell from the sky and fish washed ashore. Comet Lovejoy passed through the searing heat of the sun’s corona, and survived. The term ‘Coronal Mass Ejection’ was absorbed into the common vocabulary, with its attendant companion, ‘zapped grid.’ There were unusual eclipses of the sun and the moon, meteors and comets weird clouds and weird lights.

Comet Elenin was my most-read post of the year, followed closely by the fake May 21 rapture post and then the Ghost Horse of Tahrir Square.

2012 will be worse. Am I pessimist? No a realist. Jesus said the signs would be as birth pangs. (Matthew 24:8) As any mother knows, birth pangs don’t slow down once they get going. They certainly don’t reverse. No, they press on inexorably toward the inevitable conclusion: birth. What is being birthed here is the rule of Christ on earth in the millennial kingdom, (Rev. 20:4-6). It is the 1000 years of peace He has promised the Jews where Jesus rules and reigns with them. (Isaiah 9:7, 11:4). Ezekiel has much to say about the Millennium Kingdom. Chapters 40-46 describe the Temple and its offerings in detail. These chapters also describe the Priests and the Prince. Chapters 47-48 discuss the land in general, and its distribution among the tribes during the Millennium.

The birth will be bloody and horrible, painful and tortuous. Even now as we take a look back over 2011, we see how terrible the times were and are. But it will birth the full flower of the promises of Jesus to David through covenant. And it will be beautiful. Between now and then, times will be dark, but then they will be Light! I can see through the dark time toward the Light because I have hope in me. I rest with assurance on His promises. “Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;” (Titus 2:13). If you don’t have Jesus, your view begins and ends in the dark. If you do have Jesus your view is all light, even when it is dark.

Therefore I am happy. Happy is he that hath the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the LORD his God. (Psalms 146:5).
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Posted in end time, prophecy

Iran to fire long-range missiles during naval war games

Posted on by elizabethprata

I wrote extensively yesterday about the Iran war games in the Strait of Hormuz. It is a tense situation. One spark could catapult the world into a catastrophic series of circumstances. If the Iranians close the Strait then oil prices would double overnight. If one Navy ship from either Iran or the US makes a wrong move within that constricted area, then the entire Fifth Fleet, NATO, UK, France and Iranian ships would be engaged in a battle that would undoubtedly spill over to the nearby Arab states. Anything could go wrong. This week’s escalating situations is not only rhetoric this time. Oh, to be sure, the rhetoric is very heated, there is war of words going on that contain threats very close to actions. Iran has threatened to close the Strait. They have threatened to attack ships that come too close. But actual events are occurring too. Iran is engaged in the biggest naval war games they ever executed.

Now, we learn from Reuters, that “Iran to fire long-range missiles in drill“
“Iran will fire long-range missiles during a naval drill in the Gulf on Saturday, a semi-official news agency reported, a show of force at a time when Iran has threatened to close shipping lanes if the West imposes sanctions on its oil exports. … Iran began a 10-day naval drill in the Gulf last Saturday to show its resolve to counter any attack by foes such as Israel or the United States. Iranian media have said the exercise differed from previous ones in terms of “the vastness of the area of action and the military equipment and tactics that are being employed”.

Haaretz also reported on it: “The testing of the missiles is part of ongoing navy maneuvers in the Persian Gulf and, according to Moussavi, the main and final phase is preparing the navy for confronting the enemy in a warlike situation.”

Meanwhile, In Syria, protesters are making a momentous show of defense. “Hundreds of thousands of Syrians protest; activists say at least 19 killed“
“Hundreds of thousands of Syrians poured into the streets across the nation Friday in the largest protests in months, shouting for the downfall of the regime in a defiant display invigorated by the presence of Arab observers, activists said.Despite the presence of the monitors, activists said Syrian forces killed at least 19 people, most of them shot during anti-government protests.”

They say that the number of Syrian protesters is up to half a million now.

MoneyMorning reported last week that there is an ongoing back door bank run happening in Europe. “On Wednesday, Fitch Ratings Inc. downgraded its credit ratings on five of Europe’s biggest banks, and while that decision made headlines, it’s not the most important story to come out of Europe this week. The real story, which the mainstream media is neglecting, is that there are signs of an underground run on Europe’s banks. Almost nobody’s talking about it, but there are indications money is already moving out of the European Union (EU) faster than rats abandoning a sinking ship. Not through the front door, mind you. There are no lines, no distraught customers and no teller windows being boarded up – not yet, anyway. For now the run is through the back door, and there are four things that make me think so:”

“-Italy’s planned ban on cash transactions over 1,000 euros, or about $1,300.
-French, Spanish, and Italian banks have run out of collateral and are now pledging real assets.
-Swiss officials are preparing for the end of the euro with capital control measures.
-Europe’s CEOs are actively preparing for the end of the euro despite governmental reassurances.”

I wrote about the laying of the prophetic infrastructure earlier today, and how though the rapture is a signless and imminent event and has been throughout all of history, we can see by looking at how close the prophetic infrastructure is to being complete how close we may be to the rapture. Of course, this way of thinking may be all wrong, I am fallible and see through a glass darkly. But with Syria, the global economy, and Iran so heavy in the news it seems to me to be a hopeful portent for Christians, and an ominous portent for unbelievers. Please keep praying with all urgency, please keep living the Godliest life that you can in these dark times. Being holy and sanctified in the face of pessimism, perversion, and hate will stand out like a beacon of light that we are called to be.
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Posted in prophecy, rapture

Prophetic infrastructure almost complete, golden spike soon?

Posted on by elizabethprata

I am readying another blog entry about the news from Iran and Syria which I’ll post in a moment. Both of those nations have huge prophetic parts to play. As I gathered the news about what is happening in the Red Sea, the Strait of Hormuz, and Syria today, I started thinking about prophetic infrastructure.

When I say “prophetic infrastructure” I mean just the same as any infrastructure. “Infrastructure is basic physical and organizational structures needed for the operation of a society or enterprise, or the services and facilities necessary for an economy to function. It can be generally defined as the set of interconnected structural elements that provide framework supporting an entire structure of development.” (Wikipedia).

For there to be the one world economy in Revelation 13 this present economy must somehow become inoperable or done away with. We see that now. For there to be a one world religion there must be an acceptance of ecumenism. We see that now. For there to be a one world dictator there must be fear and discontent in the world combined with erosion of freedoms. We see that now. The infrastructure is being laid. Remember, the Tribulation is only 7 years long. In that time, the global economy is completely changed. The global political structure is completely changed. The temple will be rebuilt and sacrifices ongoing. Old hatreds must be ignited and hot for war. We see that now. Seven years is a short period. In my opinion the infrastructure is being laid now so that when the rapture happens it all will be put together almost instantly.

The Lord moves His hand and a piece here and a piece there draw closer together and soon the system the infrastructure was meant to support is able to get up and running. I like to think in pictures and I visualize the Transcontinental railroad. Stay with me here.

“The First Transcontinental railroad line built in the United States of America between 1863 and 1869 by the Central Pacific Railroad of California and the Union Pacific Railroad that connected its statutory Eastern terminus at Council Bluffs, Iowa/Omaha, Nebraska with the Pacific Ocean at Oakland, California. By linking with the existing railway network of the Eastern United States, the road thus connected the Atlantic and Pacific coasts of the United States by rail for the first time.”

One group began on the eastern side of the US and the other side began on the western side, all the while blasting mountains, leveling hills, building bridges, and laying ties and rails. The whole time the two groups were moving toward each other. The people in the vast part of the US could not actually see the action. Many did not even know it was happening, unless they read a paper. The two rail lines drawing inexorably close to each other were real but invisible to the people.

Then the two groups began to get within sight of each other and excitement grew. People could actually see the progress now and started buzzing with excitement at the import. When the two lines actually met up, there was a huge ceremony, at which the last spike was pounded, representing the finality of the infrastructure building phase and the beginning of the actual use. The First Transcontinental Railroad was now a reality. The last spike was golden. “In perhaps the world’s first live mass-media event, the hammers and spike were wired to the telegraph line so that each hammer stroke would be heard as a click at telegraph stations nationwide—the hammer strokes were missed, so the clicks were sent by the telegraph operator. As soon as the ceremonial spike had been replaced by an ordinary iron spike, a message was transmitted to both the East Coast and West Coast that simply read, “DONE.” The country erupted in celebration upon receipt of this message. Travel from coast to coast was reduced from six months or more to just one week.”

This is like what the Lord is doing now, if I may be so bold as to make this metaphor. Prophecy by and large is invisible to most, but it is very real. Every hammer of the spike into a rail brings it closer to fulfillment. When it gets toward the end, it garners notice, celebration, and a knowledge that the final spike will bring inexpressible change. The Lord moves His hand and here in the world occurs an Arab Spring, and over there is an earthquake. Over to the north a bank run and to the south an atheist president elected. To the common person, we cannot see how these events will coalesce but the Lord does. He is laying the infrastructure even now. When that last, golden Christian is saved, the infrastructure will be complete.

We know from Romans 11:25 that the Lord has a certain number in mind for His church. When that number is reached, He will call His bride up to Himself. We do not know how close we are to that number and thus we don’t know how close we are to the rapture. It is a signless event and it is imminent. But we can see from other circumstances, for example, how and where the Lord is working in the world in simultaneously laying His infrastructure for prophetic fulfillment post-Church Age, and to me it seems close.

The Last Christian to be saved will close the church age, the full number of the Gentiles having been reached. Is the Lord readying the golden spike even now, lifting up the hammer to put into place the final bit of prophetic foundation?

We are all eagerly waiting.

source

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Posted in bible jesus, prophecy

New island in Red Sea: other weird geophysical changes happening in that area too

Posted on by elizabethprata

All the news outlets are reporting this today, a stunning new development in the Red Sea. I’ll post one article and then continue below with connecting the unusual seismic activity that has been ongoing in that region for over a year. And of course, connect it with the bible…

Brand new island rises from Red Sea depths

“Throw away that shiny new atlas you got for Christmas – it’s already out of date.”

“Volcanic activity in the Red Sea is causing the formation of a new island in the Zubair archipelago as lava is cooled by the surrounding seawater and solidifies. The underwater volcano responsible is located on the Red Sea Rift, where the African and Arabian tectonic plates are slowly pulling apart.”

“Yemeni fishermen first spotted lava spewing 30 metres into the air on 19 December and this was later confirmed by satellite observations. Ash plumes were detected by NASA’s Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer aboard its Terra and Aqua satellites and NASA’s Advanced Land Imager aboard its Earth Observing One satellite, which produced this image. Elevated levels of sulphur dioxide in the region were also recorded by the Ozone Monitoring Instrument aboard NASA’s Aura satellite.”

“By 23 December, the lava mass had broken the water’s surface and the new island had begun to take shape. The island is currently around 500m wide and is still growing. The question now is whether or not it has staying power. It may continue to grow significantly as volcanic activity continues, or the fragile lava mass may be broken up by the action of the sea’s waves.”

“Whatever the outcome, volcanic activity in the Red Sea region appears to be on the rise. This is the first time the volcano has erupted in over a century and follows recent eruptions in the Afar Triangle in Eritrea and Ethiopia and the volcanic fields of southern Yemen and Saudi Arabia. In 2007, the nearby Jabal al-Tair volcanic island also erupted for the first time in over a century, killing 8 people.”

If you remember, there has also been another volcanic island rising from the deep, over at El Hierro in the Canary Islands. And in November last year a new island emerged from the sea in just a few days at Indonesia at Anak Krakatau. I wrote about that, here.

Back to the Red Sea.

In December 2010 I wrote about unusual seismic activity occurring in the area off Eritrea in the Red Sea. I’d written,
“In 2005, the continent of Africa began unzipping. In just days, a 35-mile-long rift opened up, which was 20 miles wide at spots. It happened quickly and initially, scientists surmised that a new sea was growing. However, this assessment as controversial, because their understanding of plate tectonics holds a longer and a slower view. In other words, continents don’t move and split apart in days, it takes millions of years. Or so they thought. In November of 2009, scientists concluded that indeed, the continent of Africa is birthing a new sea, and that was when they used the word “unzipped.” More on this below.

At the Horn of Africa in November 2010, an earthquake swarm at Yemen caused alarm. The swarm was situated at the opening to the Red Sea at the Gulf of Aden, and seemed to be an unusual place for seismic activity. According to the history of the area, at USGS, the Yemen-Gulf of Aden-Djibouti area IS seismic, but in a minor way. Between 1950 through yesterday this area had 56 earthquakes ranging between mag 4.0-5.9. There were no quakes greater than mag 5.9 during that date range. Now there have been 31, which is 2/3 as many as in the last sixty years. This is statistically significant, as well as prophetically interesting. (Mark 13:8). It should be noted that this is the exact area where a new island has now emerged a year later.

In my opinion, there are two ways that this is prophetically interesting. First, Jesus told us plainly that in the last days of the birthpangs, there will be earthquakes in diverse places. Beyond the unusual geophysical changes occurring with rifts suddenly opening, and unusual earthquake activity that has never been replicated historically, but at the other end of the rift at this same time last year, a 5.1 mag earthquake occurred in Ethiopia, which is the other end of the rapidly “unzipping” rift. The area highlighted above is definitely diverse.

Secondly, the bible shows us that the Tribulation will be a time of massive geophysical changes. Revelation 16:20 prophesies that every island flees away and every mountain crumbles. So do Revelation 6 and Ezekiel 38:20. Isaiah 24 is the chapter that describes the destruction of the world by God, “The LORD’s Devastation of the Earth.” Remember, when the world was formed it looked very different. After the flood the land masses had changed dramatically.

As to the slow vs. catastrophic plate tectonics competing theories, many current observations are incompatible with slow-and-gradual plate tectonics. The unzipping of the African Rift is just one example. It is happening before our eyes.

Answers in Genesis explains:

Is Catastrophic Plate Tectonics Biblical?
“The Bible does not directly mention either continental drift or plate tectonics. However, if the continents were once joined together, as suggested by Genesis 1:9–10, and are now apart, then the only possibility is continental division and “sprint” during the Flood. Some have suggested this continental division occurred after the Flood during the days of Peleg when “the earth was divided” (Genesis 10:25). However, this Hebrew expression can be also translated to mean “lands being divided among peoples,” which, according to the context, refers to the results of the Tower of Babel judgment. Furthermore, the destruction at the earth’s surface, where people and animals were then living during such a rapid continental “sprint,” would have been as utterly devastating as the Flood itself. Therefore, using catastrophic plate tectonics as a model, mechanism, and framework to describe and understand the Genesis Flood event is far more reasonable and is also consistent with the Bible.”

It is the supposition of many eschatology bible scholars that the geo-physical changes that will occur in the Tribulation not only will be punishment for sin (Isaiah 24), but also a process by which the Lord reforms the earth back to its original state. (Rev 21-22). Ezekiel 47 describes the Millennial River that forges a path between the Mediterranean Sea and the Dead Sea. (see map here). Rapid geological and geo-physical changes are prophesied and are already beginning. Keep looking up.
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Posted in bible jesus, prophecy, state of the church

State of the Church part 5a: When carnality leads to spiritual abuse

Posted on by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

State of the Church:
Part 1: Introduction, Love growing cold
Part 2: Are you tending your anchor?
Part 3: The numbers aren’t good
Part 4: Carnal Carnival, & the greatest sin pastors commit
Part 5a: When carnality leads to spiritual abuse
Part 5b: Is your church spiritually abusive?
Conclusion: Spiritual Leaders and Humble Relationships

We have been exploring Jesus’ end time prophecy in Matthew 24:12, which says, “Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold,” and looked at how this prophecy applies to believers. We explored the incremental drifting away from Jesus and how that impacts our selves and our churches. In part 3 we looked at the numbers of surveyed born-again believers who state they hold to a biblical worldview and found that it was 8-9%. When you have 91-92% of a congregation that has in some part a secular worldview you are in for trouble, and part 4 looked at that trouble: carnality.

Carnality is described by GotQuestions as “translated from the Greek word sarkikos, which literally means “fleshly.” This descriptive word is seen in the context of Christians in 1 Corinthians 3:1-3. In this passage, the apostle Paul is addressing the readers as “brethren,” a term he uses almost exclusively to refer to other Christians; he then goes on to describe them as “carnal.” Therefore, we can conclude that Christians can be carnal. The Bible is absolutely clear that no one is sinless (1 John 1:8). Every time we sin, we are acting carnally. … Until we are delivered from our sinful flesh, there will be outbreaks of carnality. For a genuine believer in Christ, though, these outbreaks of carnality will be the exception, not the rule.”

It is my contention that love is growing cold because these outbreaks of carnality in Christians are becoming the rule. They are now more than outbreaks, they are the norm. Carnality and secular worldviews lead to apostasy, something else we are told will happen in the last days. 2 Timothy 4:10 shows us that it a worldly spirit that tends to make apostates.

Sanctification is the process of the Holy Spirit taking a believer away from carnality and toward Christ-likeness. To the degree that Christians are submitting to the Holy Spirit’s authority, sanctification occurs. “Sanctification is the process by which the Holy Spirit makes us more like Christ in all that we do, think, and desire. True sanctification is impossible apart from the atoning work of Christ on the cross because only after our sins are forgiven can we begin to lead a holy life.” (Source CARM.org)

The more drenched you are in the biblical worldview the faster the process of sanctification goes. The more a Christian holds to a secular worldview and who sins willfully or unrepentingly, the slower sanctification goes.

“Sanctification is an intrinsic thing; it lies chiefly in the heart. It is called ‘the adorning the hidden man of the heart.’ 1 Peter 3:4. Sanctification is an intense and ardent thing. … Its properties burn within the believer. ‘Fervent in spirit.’ Rom 12:11. Sanctification is not a dead form, but it is inflamed into zeal. We call water hot, when it is so in the third or fourth degree; so he is holy whose religion is heated to some degree, and his heart boils over in love to God.” ~Thomas Watson. (online source)

When love grows cold, it means the sanctification process has slowed or stalled. We see Jesus’s rebuke of the Church at Ephesus for their love growing cold.

Rev 2:4-5, “Nevertheless I have this against you, that you have left your first love. Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the first works, or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its place—unless you repent.”

So, “what was the matter in Ephesus? Christ found a fatal fault that probably nobody else saw. Their hard hearts, that labor of passion and fervor was becoming the cold orthodox function. That was deadly, dangerous. The service had started to become mechanical.” Sermon ‘When Love Grows Cold’ (Grace To You)

The condition of the heart is something only known to Jesus. He could see that their ardor had cooled and they were beginning to let tradition set in. “You don’t love Me like you once loved Me. Your love has cooled. That, beloved, is the forerunner of spiritual apathy. That is the forerunner of indifference. And that is the greatest fear that I have for this church for that is step one that moves you through the rest of the steps that you see in these churches into a love for the world, compromise with evil, corruption, death and judgment. … repent because to lose your first love is sin. The decreasing intensity of your love for Christ is sin. Lack of loving Him with all your heart, soul, mind and strength is sin. Repent, get on your knees before God and ask Him to forgive you for that weakening love.” Sermon ‘When Love Grows Cold’ (Grace To You)

Here is the sad, downward trend:

Apathy gives rise to churches who have stalled in their process of submission to Christ and so are apathetic in their studies. Therefore allow an authoritarian pastor to take over. They still want someone to tell them what’s what, but they have left their first love (Jesus), so the pastor will suffice. If a church is going to be abused by an authoritarian pastor, it would begin now. Having a large group that is more worldly than not, is either apathetic or ignorant of the biblical duties of a pastor, they allow him to take more spiritual authority than he is given by God.

Now, I will say that I have never been a lifelong fan of the word abuse. Everyone and their brother says today that they have been abused, and while that may or may be actually true for the many people, I’ve always been a proponent of sucking it up and getting on without much fuss. But the issue I’ve uncovered through researching this series about the effects on the church of love growing cold has shown me clearly that spiritual abuse, or if it makes you more comfortable, its synonym, authoritarianism, is not only present today, but it is just as rampant as it was in the days of Jesus confronting the Pharisees. It breaks my heart. Since discovering this, I have cried on behalf of the abused and the sinning pastors while praying every night. So is Spiritual Abuse a new phenomenon or is it biblical?

“David Henke notes in “Spiritual Abuse in the Bible?” Spiritual abuse has a very prominent place in the Bible, though that terminology has not been used until recently. In the scripture it is called bondage to men and the traditions of men. It is a by-product and outgrowth of legalism, which is bondage to the letter of the law.”

Jesus mourned that the people had no shepherd. (Matthew 9:35-38; Mark 6:33-34; John 10:11-13). Every town had a synagogue if the town had eleven men, so there were shepherds, the priests were the shepherds. What Jesus was mourning was their lack of compassion, their penchant for abuse by instituting legalistic rules, and their selfishness, self-aggrandizement and vanity. The problem was that the religious system had been corrupted by men to the extent that they were abusive, hypocritical, lordly legalistic shepherds who harm and not help the flock. These scriptures speak to the shepherds who not only harm but scatter the sheep: Ezekiel 34:1-24, Zechariah 11, Jeremiah 5:26-31, 1 Peter 5:1-4.” (online source).

So we see that though the term is modernized it is a very old problem. And everything old is new again. Though we are told many times in the New Testament that wolves will be among us, Christians usually take that to mean, out there, or at best, in other churches. But it is not so. Wolves will be among us, everywhere. (Mt 7:15).

“Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers.  Be shepherds of the church of God, which he bought with his own blood. I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock. Even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them. So be on your guard! Remember that for three years I never stopped warning each of you night and day with tears.” (Acts 20:28-31).

The Pharisees and Scribes were poster children for abusive spiritual authorities. “[I]f you look at Ezekiel and Isaiah and Jeremiah, was that they were not using the authority they had been given for the benefit of the weak, for those who didn’t have a voice. They were using their authority for their own purposes and for the sake of human kingdoms. The result in people’s lives then was the same as now: spiritual exhaustion rooted in misconceptions about who God is, about what God wants from us and about God’s stance toward us. … in Matthew 23 he not only describes the dynamics that were going on between the Pharisees and the people, but he also warns people about the Pharisees.” (Source)

So we know the path that leads to love growing cold and what a sin it is. We know that it is prophesied to be rampant in the last days. In this post we looked at the biblical history of the constant problem of authoritarian pastors and worthless hireling shepherds. In the next post I will discuss what spiritual abuse is, how frequent it is, and look at list specifics as to what constitutes the warning signals of authoritarianism in the church, or spiritual abuse.

Part 1: Introduction, Love growing cold
Part 2: Are you tending your anchor?
Part 3: The numbers aren’t good
Part 4: Carnal Carnival, & the greatest sin pastors commit
Part 5a: When carnality leads to spiritual abuse
Part 5b: Is your church spiritually abusive?
Conclusion: Spiritual Leaders and Humble Relationships

Posted in DEBKA, jesus, mines, prophecy

DEBKA says Iran may be salting Hormuz with mines

Posted on by elizabethprata

If that headline doesn’t put fear into your stomach, I don’t know what will.

However, DEBKA has a track record of being more rumor than not. However there I have confirmed several elements of their report, while not being able to confirm the mining part. Let’s sort out the information to see what has credibility and what doesn’t. The report is making huge waves and even Ynet picked up on it, which is a legitimate news outlet, so let’s take this lobster apart.

DEBKA: who is DEBKA? DEBKAfile describes themselves as “founded by a team of journalists in June 2000 as an independent Internet Web site, providing an intelligence and security news service.” Wikipedia describes them as “a Jerusalem-based English language Israeli open source military intelligence website with commentary and analyses on terrorism, intelligence, security, and military and political affairs in the Middle East. The word “Debka” refers to an Arab folk dance.”

They correctly note that most of their sources are anonymous, a non-no in journalism. “Israeli intelligence officials do not consider even 10 percent of the site’s content to be reliable. Cornell Law professor Michael C. Dorf calls Debka his “favorite alarmist Israeli website trading in rumors.” The site’s operators, in contrast, state that 80 percent of what Debka reports turns out to be true, and point to its year 2000 prediction that al-Qaeda would again strike the World Trade Center, and that it had warned well before the 2006 war in Lebanon that Hezbollah had amassed 12,000 Katyusha rockets pointed at northern Israel.”

So there you have the pro and the con of DEBKAfile. Let’s take a look at their predictions, rather than their descriptions.

This blogger has listed four years’ worth of DEBKA warnings that have failed to come true. He says of Debkafile, “where war always looms in the foggy but near future.” Of this warning from 2008, the blogger notes the headline from DEBKAfile- “Three major US naval strike forces due this week in Persian Gulf“, ‘DEBKAfile’s military sources name the three US strike forces en route to the Gulf as the USS Theodore Roosevelt, the USS Ronald Reagan and the USS Iwo Jima. Already in place are the USS Abraham Lincoln in the Arabian Sea opposite Iranian shores and the USS Peleliu which is cruising in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden’ and he comments, “Disturbing news! Or rather it would be, except that the USS Theodore Roosevelt is docked at Norfolk.”

In today’s warning, DEBKA opened their report with the following, “Thursday afternoon, Dec. 29, Tehran raised the pitch of its threats to the United States when Dep. Chief of the Revolutionary Guards Gen. Hossein Salami declared: “The United States is in no position to tell Tehran what to do in the Strait of Hormuz,” adding, “Any threat will be responded [to] by threat… We will not relinquish our strategic moves in Iran’s vital interests are undermined by any means. “The Iranian general spoke after the USS John C. Stennis aircraft carrier and its strike group passed through the Strait of Hormuz to the Sea of Oman and into the area where the big Iranian naval war game Veleyati 90 is taking place.”

This is true. The quote about threats is confirmed in many newspapers, this being just one. I worked hard to confirm that the USS Stenis is indeed in the waters DEBKA says they are, and the carrier is indeed part of the Fifth Fleet stationed at nearby Bahrain and in those waters. Confirmation is here: “Lt. Rebecca Rebarich, a spokeswoman for the U.S. 5th Fleet, said the aircraft carrier USS John C. Stennis and guided-missile cruiser USS Mobile Bay headed out from the Persian Gulf and through the Strait of Hormuz on Tuesday, after a visit to Dubai’s Jebel Ali port.” And also here.

The DEBKA report continued, “Earlier Thursday, Dec. 29, DEBKAfile reported that an Iranian plan to mine the Strait of Hormuz had put US and NATO forces in the Persian Gulf on the alert. US and NATO task forces in the Persian Gulf have been placed on alert after US intelligence warned that Iran’s Revolutionary Guards are preparing Iranian marine commandos to sow mines in the strategic Strait of Hormuz. The new deployment, DEBKAfile’s military sources report, consists of USS Combined Task Force 52 (CTF 52), which is trained and equipped for dismantling marine mines and NATO Maritime Mine Counter measures Group 2 (SNMCMG2). The American group is led by the USS Arden mine countermeasures ship; NATO’s by the British HMS Pembroke minesweeper. Other vessels in the task forces are the Hunt-class destroyer HMS Middleton and the French mine warfare ships FS Croix du Sud and FS Var.”

It was here I ran into problems. First, sowing mines would harm Iran, who relies on exporting oil through that strait as much as anyone, and so does Iran’s neighbors. Mining it would seem to be counterproductive and an inefficient way to choke off the Western use of the Strait, especially when there are other means Iran can use to do the job. But what do I know I’m not a military analyst. I’m just a woman blogging in her pajamas.

Given DEBKA’s history of putting the wrong ship in the wrong waters, I took some time to confirm that USS Combined Task Force 52 (CTF 52), NATO Maritime Mine Counter measures Group 2 (SNMCMG2) are indeed part of the Fifth Fleet. I had already confirmed through two other news articles that the USS Stennis is where DEBKA says it is. I didn’t bother looking up the British or French ships, searching through US ships was difficult enough

As for the USS Arden, I found nothing. After going to the Wikipedia list of all Navy ships currently in commission, I found that there is no USS Arden, but a USS Ardent. USS Ardent is a minesweeper. So they got the name wrong, but the ship class right. I went to the Navy website and USS Ardent is deployed at this time to Bahrain, which is its homeport.

In several articles I read things like ‘the USS Stennis passed through the Strait of Hormuz with escorts” or “the USS Stennis passed through the Strait of Hormuz with supply ships” but where those other ships were listed (USS Mobile Bay) the USS Ardent never was.

Ynet is a very credible Israeli new outlet. In today’s article they seemed to quote DEBKA, saying “The Islamic republic is halfway through 10 days of navy exercises in international waters to the east of the strait that have reportedly included the laying of mines and the use of aerial drones.”

As for the likelihood that Iran is salting the Strait of Hormuz with mines, I don’t know. I don’t think DEBKA knows. Here is what is do know, though, The tension at that area of the world is at an unbearable level. Any spark could set it off. As NPR succinctly concluded, “The Strait is a 50-kilometre (31 mile) wide passageway through which about a third of the world’s oil tanker traffic sails. Whoever controls this crucial choke-point virtually controls Middle East oil exports.”

Here are some of today’s headlines about the situation:

Iran Rebuffs US Warning on Strait of Hormuz as Tensions Rise

Iran ramps up war of words with U.S. over Strait of Hormuz: ‘Any threat will be responded by threat’

Gas price shoots up to $3.49 in Tri-Cities (“A rise in crude oil prices and tension between the U.S. and Iran over the Strait of Hormuz are possibly contributing to the increase cost.”)

[An actual blockade would double the price overnight.]

Iran Says It Recorded Video Of US Aircraft Carrier

Between the genocide in Syria and the tense faceoff between the US Navy and the Iranian Navy, it surely feels like war could erupt at any moment. This is an interesting piece from HuffPo yesterday:

The Coming Accidental War with Iran
“…due to the lack of understanding between our government and Iranian leaders who have been isolated from the rest of the world, war will not be a decision, but a mistake.”

God has a plan for the world, for Iran and the other Arab states,and for Israel. He does not make mistakes. What is unfolding is exactly according to what we see in Obadiah, Isaiah 17, Ezekiel 38-39, Matthew 24, Psalm 83 and many other bible books and parts of books. The issue is, because we so vividly see the prophesied Tribulation events unfolding in preparation for fulfillment, how much closer then, is the rapture? And the other important question is,

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Posted in end time, gog magog, prophecy, wars and rumors of wars

CFR says "Time is now to attack Iran"

Posted on by elizabethprata

There is some interesting news coming out these days. Heavily prophetic. In the last 6 months the European Union and other European nations have gone from defending an economic position of “this is manageable” to “here are our plans for when the euro/EU collapses.” The continual economic and currency pressure on the ‘eurozone’ nations is cracking it up and by now the cracks are wide enough to be visible. They’re not hairline fractures anymore, they are chasms. The UK, never a fan of the geo-political EU or the idea of a strongly centralized European currency, is openly making drastic contingency plans for the what they believe is its eventual failure.

UK to close borders if Euro collapses, other contingency plans revealed
“BRITAIN’S borders will be closed to continental Europeans if the euro collapses, it was revealed yesterday. The emergency measure would block hordes of French, German and Dutch nationals who would be desperate to withdraw cash here with credit cards if banks in their own countries dry up. It is feared a run on British banks could also result in them being unable to service UK businesses.”

That’s pretty drastic. It paints a picture of hordes of people storming banks, chaotic borders with armed guards, and riots. If this is the picture the powers that be firmly feel would happen, hence, their making plans around it, then we must pay attention.

We are concerned at this point in prophetic time with large geo-political and large-scale economic shifts. This is because the verses which are set in the Tribulation show us that the world is governed by ten kings (soon to be 8) whose top king is the antichrist. It seems that the world is governed by ten large kingdoms with sole people at the head. (Revelation 13:1; Daniel 7:16-24). Revelation 13 also shows us that the entire globe’s money system and consumer economics is also controlled by one person: the antichrist. (more here).

For the conditions to come to pass as we know they will, a massive shift in financial, political, and economic thought and infrastructure must first come to pass. We see these indicators now.

The bible’s chapters in Ezekiel 38-39 also show an evil confederacy led by Iran and Russia and Turkey attacking Israel by surprise in the last days. This prophecy has not come to pass yet in all of history so we know that it is yet future. As we see the news headlines day after day of the growing storm in the Middle East, particularly Syria and Iran, we can surmise that perhaps this prophecy is near future.

The Strait of Hormuz is key route for world’s oil
“The Strait of Hormuz, which Iran has threatened to block if the West applies sanctions on its oil exports, is a strategically important waterway through which 40 percent of the world’s oil transits.The strait links the Gulf, bordered by petroleum-rich states like Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, with Oman.Iran’s Vice President Mohammad Reza Rahimi warned Tuesday: ”If sanctions are adopted against Iranian oil, not a drop of oil will pass through the Strait of Hormuz.”Several Western states are considering oil sanctions against Iran over its nuclear program, accusing it of seeking to develop nuclear weapons.The narrow Strait of Hormuz has a maximum width of some 50 kilometers (30 miles) and a maximum depth of 60 metres (200 feet).”

When even the Council on Foreign Relations starts touting an Iran preventive attack, you know that things in that prophetic region are definitely nearing fulfillment. (If you happen to go to the link, you’ll notice the CFR article has a dateline of “January/February 2012”. Seeing 2012 as a real date seems strange…)

“CFR: Time to Attack Iran: Why a Strike Is the Least Bad Option“
“Opponents of military action against Iran assume a U.S. military strike would be far more dangerous than simply letting Tehran build a bomb. Not so, argues this former Pentagon defense planner. With a carefully designed strike, Washington could mitigate the costs—or at least bring them down to a bearable level—and spare the region and the world from an unacceptable threat.”

The interest in Iran, of course, is two fold but it should be three fold. The world’s interest in Iran is in its nuclear programme, which by all accounts is nearing completion. They will VERY shortly have the bomb. Secondly, the world is concerned with Iran’s increasing belligerence. It seems the closer they get to finishing their nuke-making the more brazen they become. They began war games in the Strait of Hormuz this week and threatened to shut the strait down. This would be a bad thing as 30% of the world oil is exported by there on tankers. Just making the threat threw global oil markets into a tizzy. During the war games the Iranian Navy allegedly warned off a foreign helicopter and are trying to provoke US ships. The US Fifth Fleet is stationed in nearby Bahrain.

The third interest that the world should have in Iran but doesn’t is that Iran is propelled, guided, and in all ways spiritually motivated. The government and the Revolutionary Guard believes firmly in Shia end time Islam, which states that they are prophetically important in Islam and that they must begin cleaning out the world of Americans, Jews, and all infidels. Their staunch belief that Israel must not exist informs their every waking thought and action.

The Manila Bulletin explains, “Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, the ideological army of the Iranian regime, controls naval operations in the Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz.” Don’t underestimate the will of Iran’s ‘ideological army.’ The ideological arm of the government is the arm that believes all Jews must die. Unfortunately, the world does not believe that they are as focused and intentional as they are. But we see from the chapters in Ezekiel, the Gog-Magog battle, that they are indeed.

As Iran begins the tactical stage of the games, “The war games, which started on Saturday, are said to differ from previous ones in terms of the vastness of the area of action and the military equipment and tactics that are being employed. It has been announced that submarines of the Ghadir class and other classes, warships, missile-firing destroyers, coast-to-sea missile systems, drones, and electronic warfare equipment will be tested during the exercises.”

Don’t underestimate the military of Iran. Though not as large as North Korea’s or as sophisticated as the US’s, remember they recently did just spoof a US drone, causing it to happily land in Iran instead of Afghanistan, and are busily scouring its secrets even now, with the Russians and the Chinese. They are not as weak or as backward as the US government would like us to believe.

In the upcoming Ezekiel prophetic battle, God supernaturally intervenes to protect Israel. Otherwise they would have been obliterated by Iran and Russia. Mercifully, the Lord once again will put His hand around His nation and all the world sees that it is by no other means that Israel was saved. Because of this, which of course Israel sees too, they clamor for a return to a covenant relationship with Him. This is why the temple is rebuilt. It is thought that the fallout of this battle jolts the world into finally confirming a peace treaty with Israel, something we know will happen (Daniel 9:27). Of course, the chronology could be otherwise but the way things are looking now, especially with Syria’s continual genocide of her people and the world’s growing impatience with it, this interpretation seems likely. (Isaiah 17)

I don’t know if any nation in the world will attack Iran prior to the rapture, or at all, there is nothing listed specifically for this as there are about prophesies about Damascus’s destruction and Iran’s attack on Israel. The prophecies do state that the birth pangs will include wars and rumors of wars, nation against nation and kingdom against kingdom. (Matthew 24:6-7)

Also because the world sees God protect Israel and thus Israel returns to (old) covenant with God, resuming sacrifices etc, the new covenant people cannot and will not be here. The two covenants don’t mix. Therefore it is thought that by the end of the Gog-Magog battle (and it is called a battle because it happens quickly) that that event is the latest that the Church will still be in the world. We could be called out and up by the Lord at any time, but the common interpretation is that Ezekiel 38-39 is the latest. Keep looking up.
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Posted in bible jesus, prophecy, simeon

Simeon: A man of faith, a man of prophecy

Posted on by elizabethprata

During Christmas-time, there are so many wonderful verses to dwell on. Of course, the Annunciation, when Gabriel revealed to Virgin Mary that she was going to be with the Messiah child is a great set of verses to meditate on. Mary’s Magnificat, her prayerful praise to God after hearing the news, brings tears to my eyes. I also love the moment when Mary visited Elizabeth, and John the Baptist leapt in Elizabeth’s womb. The still, cold evening when the angels sang over the field of shepherds at the birth of Jesus is also beautiful. There are many. Luke1-2 is a good place to start.

But the moment in the temple after Jesus was born is often overlooked. Joseph and Mary came to the temple to fulfill their duties to God for having been gifted with a son. They were to make a sacrifice. As they entered, the following happened:

“And there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon; and this man was righteous and devout, looking for the consolation of Israel; and the Holy Spirit was upon him. And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ. And he came in the Spirit into the temple; and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to carry out for Him the custom of the Law,  then he took Him into his arms, and blessed God, and said,

“Now Lord, You are releasing Your bond-servant to depart in peace,
According to Your word;
For my eyes have seen Your salvation,
Which You have prepared in the presence of all peoples,
A LIGHT OF REVELATION TO THE GENTILES,
And the glory of Your people Israel.”

“And His father and mother were amazed at the things which were being said about Him. And Simeon blessed them and said to Mary His mother, “Behold, this Child is appointed for the fall and rise of many in Israel, and for a sign to be opposed— and a sword will pierce even your own soul—to the end that thoughts from many hearts may be revealed.” (Luke 2:25-35)

Simeon. There are so many scriptural riches to be plumbed here. First, he was a righteous man. He had great faith, so great, the Lord blessed him. What was the reason for his faith? He was looking for the “consolation of Israel”, in other words, the Messiah. The Old Testament people had faith that the promised Messiah would come. The New Testament people (us) have faith that He has come. It is the same faith, just different timing.

The knowledge that Simeon had laid eyes on Messiah must have been a great moment of grace for Simeon. The promise that had come by the Spirit that Simeon would live to see Him had been fulfilled! What a great testament to the surety of the Lord’s promises! And Simeon showed us by his prayer asking to now be released from this life, having had set eyes on the ‘consolation of Israel’, tells us what a great man of faith that Simeon was. He literally lived for the coming of the Savior!

Notice Simeon’s prayer. It is all about Jesus and God’s plan for His people. Simeon was not looking for the Messiah just for himself. I heard a snippet of a sermon this week about the manger. In it, the person preaching the Lord’s coming talked of the manger and the poverty and humility of our Lord being born there. The person speaking these things then went on to make the scriptures be about us, our “manger moments”, our poverty, our disappointments. Be aware of that kind of preaching. Taking what is supposed to be about Jesus and making it about us. Simeon’s prayer is a wonderful, refreshing, proper prayer- because it is about Jesus in praise and devotion.

Then Simeon gives an oft-overlooked prophecy. He said that the opposition to Jesus would be for a sign. That many would rise and fall, and that Mary’s own heart would be pierced to the soul. And finally, that the thoughts of many would be revealed. That is what LIGHT does, it reveals. Jesus the Light was coming in His ministry to seek and save the lost. One of the things he was seeking and saving the lost from is the gross, outward displays of religiosity, in order to renew the personal relationship God wanted to have with His people and making an inward change toward repentance and growth in Jesus.

Now Simeon’s prophecy about opposition and swords and piercing must have been troubling to Mary and Joseph, to say the least. They knew they were carrying the Messiah, Gabriel told Mary, the other angel told Joseph, Elizabeth confirmed it. Zacharias confirmed it, and now Simeon and then Anna. But swords? Trouble? Piercing? Very stomach-clenching indeed.

Jesus said in Luke 12:49-53 that He comes to divide. That is what truth does, Jesus is so precise His truth can separate spirit from soul. “For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.” (Hebrews 4:12).

Simeon was living in apostate times. The Pharisees and Saducees and Scribes had made God into a terrible thing with their perversion of the Law to their own glory. Romans were oppressing the people, it was difficult to practice their faith in truth because truth was hard to find. But Simeon persevered in devoutness and righteousness. That means Simeon had been declared by God to be righteous, a person doesn’t achieve that for themselves. So Simeon was living in the deepest of the dark times just before Jesus began to preach 30 years later. Yet he had faith.

We are living in dark times now too. Our faith is perverted by false doctrines, we are surrounded by falsity. Many of us look up to see if our Redemption draws nigh. Simeon was a special man to have been told that he would not die before he had seen the coming One. Are we the generation that was told we will not pass away before all these things come to pass? (Mt 24:34). May it be so.

Let Jesus divide out the falsity in you and let His pureness and goodness remain. Let you be on the rise and not on the fall, having your heart presented to Him who judges its thoughts, and be declared righteous because of your faith in the Consolation of Israel – who is also the Consolation of the world!
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Posted in end time, prophecy

Sobering news today, and sobering future ahead

Posted on by elizabethprata

Here are a few random news nuggets that belie the danger to the lost and nearness of the time of Jesus’ judgments.

Of all the nations that recently endured an era of devastating hyperinflation, Zimbabwe is that nation. For a picture of what hyperinflation actually does to a nation, read this from Wikipedia, “Inflation rose from an annual rate of 32% in 1998, to an official estimated high of 11,200,000% in August 2008 according to the country’s Central Statistical Office. This represented a state of hyperinflation, and the central bank introduced a new 100 billion dollar note. As of November 2008, unofficial figures put Zimbabwe’s annual inflation rate at 516 quintillion per cent, with prices doubling every 1.3 days.”

In other words, they should know the signs of hyperinflation. They now see it happening in America, and they warn to get out of the Dollar standard and switch to the Chinese yuan for the reserve currency. This is from CNBC:

Zimbabwe Bashes Bernanke—On Inflation!
“The central banker of the country most famous for hyperinflation, Zimbabwe, is warning that the US may be on the wrong path and urging his country to adopt the Chinese yuan as its currency. Gono says Zimbabwe should in fact be looking to the Chinese yuan as its main currency, while urgently seeking to restore its own currency which was abandoned in 2009 after a dramatic loss of its value.”

BBC: Katla volcanic eruption imminent, could have global impact
“Hundreds of metres under one of Iceland’s largest glaciers there are signs of a looming volcanic eruption that could be one of the most powerful the country has seen in almost a century. Mighty Katla, with its 10km (6.2 mile) crater, has the potential to cause catastrophic flooding as it melts the frozen surface of its caldera and sends billions of gallons of water surging through Iceland’s east coast and into the Atlantic Ocean. “There has been a great deal of seismic activity,” says Ford Cochran, the National Geographic’s expert on Iceland.”

Epic windstorm batters west, third of a million without power
“Hurricane force winds, some topping 100mph snarls traffic, downs trees, wreaks havoc. See this video of a huge pine tree downed by the wind.

Iranian and North Korean rocket experts hold Damascus meetings
“Dozens of officials from North Korea and Iran have conducted meetings with representatives of the Syrian government in Damascus to help president Bashar al-Assad obtain weapons following the implementation of sanctions by members of the Arab League and other countries.”

So now that the Arab League has sanctioned Syria, other rogue states will help Syria get weapons of mass destruction. Not good.

Ultraconservative Islamists make gains in Egypt
“Egypt’s ultraconservative Islamist party said Friday it plans to push for a stricter religious code in Egypt after claiming surprisingly strong gains in this week’s initial round of voting for parliament, the first elections since Hosni Mubarak’s ouster.”

Ultraconservative and Islam … also not a good combination.

From the natural disasters happening, to the economic failures, to the military buildup, it is all coming together. Two gentlemen write piercingly heartfelt essays this week, of which I’d like to share some excerpts. They said it all so well:

Ron Graham
“What mankind is witnessing today is only the “birth pangs” associated with the nearness of Christ’s return; certainly we’re not feeling the full on effects of what Jesus tells us is coming in the last days. Jesus’ return is close, and every Christian should reel with anticipation and excitement every time something out of the ordinary or unexplainable happens. But today’s Christians seem to be apathetic concerning the coming of their Lord; a lull between events allows apathy to creep into the Christian’s life lessening the anticipation of future events. Although many may read about the catastrophic occurrences around the world which have led to mass amounts of human death and suffering, there seems to be a sort of disconnect as people simply dismiss any possibility of such devastation occurring near them, or in their lifetime. Today most followers of Jesus Christ are unaware of the unimaginable magnitude of catastrophic events that are coming. Jesus warns the last remaining generation prior to His return that they will be overwhelmed by three specific ever recurring events, which are earthquakes, pestilence, and famines. Interestingly we’re all witnesses to the fact that all three are increasing in frequency and intensity just like birth pangs.”

John McTernan
“I have been warning for a long time for believers to be serious with God because huge trials were coming that were going to test our faith. It now appears that two huge trials are converging at the same time. The European economic meltdown along with war in the Middle East which are going to shake the entire world. Both converging at the same time are like a 10.0 earthquake. The effect is going to be enormous. The European Union meltdown is now heading into high gear as all the warning signs are now flashing of an imminent meltdown. There is not enough money in the world to bail out Europe along with all the debt that the US is creating. The debt monster is now loose and out of control. The collapse of Europe will send the world economy into uncharted waters. Look what happened in the Fall of 2008 when Lehman Brothers collapsed. Just imagine what is going to happen with the Euro along with multiple European nations collapse!

“There are all sorts of unconfirmed reports that Israeli Jericho missiles are being moved into firing positions in the West Bank. The Jericho is Israel’s long range missile which can reach Iran. This missile can be armed with nuclear weapons. [There are also unconfirmed reports that China is moving missiles into position, also.) Syria is degenerating in chaos and Assad said he will attack Israel if war breaks out. Israel said it will totally destroy Syria in the next war, so Syria can never again attack Israel! Lebanon said its army will back Hezbollah and Israel said it will destroy Lebanon in the next war! All the elements are now coming together for the all-out war that is described in Psalm 83, Obadiah and Isaiah 17.”

“How much longer can this war be held back? If it does not start by the end of this year, can an entire year go by without it starting? I doubt it. It appears that the time has now arrived for the war that will start the direct countdown to all the end-time prophecy, the Day of the LORD and battle of Armageddon which will usher in the Second Coming of the Lord Jesus Christ with His church! All the warning signs are now flashing. The sirens are blasting full power that God’s judgments on this world are about to begin as time is running out.”
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