Category: prophecy

Posted in end of days, prophecy, watchmen

What a watchman’s prophetic ministry does

Posted on by elizabethprata

This is a post about what a prophetic ministry does. Watchmen on the wall (Is 62:6) don’t only tell the news. They don’t only ring the end-is-near-repent bell. The Lord uses these ministries to complete a process in hearers’ hearts. It isn’t only a cognitive absorbing of news, but a spiritual changing of hearts.

Paul uses analogies quite often and one of his favorites is the race:

“I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.” (2 Timothy 4:7).

“Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever.” (1 Corinthians 9:25).

“You were running a good race. Who cut in on you and kept you from obeying the truth?” (Galatians 5:7).

The Church Age is a marathon. A marathon is a 26-mile race. Initially there is a burst at the starting gate, runners quickly jogging away in an explosion of energy. The Church started quickly, like marathoners at the gun.

Above, Participants in the 2010 Boston Marathon in Wellesley, just after the halfway mark. Source Wikipedia

Then there is the long middle part. Runners get tired. Some stumble, but they get up. Others drop out. The pace is plodding, not a lot of energy is expended. Runners look at the crowd, the birds, their shoes, becoming unfocused. They get complacent.

But then suddenly they round a bend and they see that finish line tape up ahead. Suddenly their focus zaps back to the task at hand- fully and completely. They run full throttle, the tiredness leaving their legs and adrenaline kicking in. People are on the sidelines cheering and the crowds swell with energy. There is joy in seeing it and arms start to reach out.

Prophecy is the finish line tape. The watchmen are close to the finish line  shouting and clapping and encouraging and pleading with them to keep running the race. Meanwhile, the Holy Spirit quickens their pace, opens their eyes, gives them energy. And the Lord changes hearts.

Here is what a watchman does: “Isaiah 62:6 I have set watchmen upon thy walls, O Jerusalem, which shall never hold their peace day nor night: ye that make mention of the LORD, keep not silence,” (Isaiah 62:6)

Here is the effect of what a watchman does: See, as you begin to think about the immediacy of prophetic fulfillments, The Holy Spirit changes your thinking. It changes your heart. Suddenly your priorities are different. You feel more urgency, have more focus on your Christian walk. Watchmen who exhort put these seeds in your mind and heart and the Holy Spirit revives you by showing you that the end of the race is near. You feel a deepening sense of burden for the lost world while at the same time a lessening of hanging on to it.

What you can do: Ask the Spirit to give you discernment, an ability to distinguish truth from error. Diligent study in the Word is the mechanism for growing discernment, because the bible is All-Truth. Once you know truth more solidly the Spirit will lead you to discerning untruth when you come across it. You will then feel stronger in standing on your foundation as the rest of the world tips crazily.

“The period of man’s day is ending, the period of God’s day is coming. But in light of the fact that we are soon to be taken to be with Christ and that will initiate the day of the Lord in which the ungodly will be destroyed and damned forever. It is time to get your priorities right. It’s time to wake up. This is no time to be slumbering and sleeping. This is a time for alertness. The same Jesus who is taken up from you, the angel said, shall so come in like manner as you’ve seen Him go. In other words, you’ve got to live in the light of the return of Jesus Christ.” It’s time to wake up.”
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Posted in ahmadinejad, gog magog, iran, prophecy

Men of destiny, men of prophecy

Posted on by elizabethprata

The Gog Magog battle looms before us. This is the battle that Ezekiel prophesied in Ez 38-39. If you read Ezekiel 36-48, it is largely chronological. Book 36 begins with the New Covenant, (Ez 36:26-28). Then it skips ahead 1900 years where in the next two chapters he describes a horrendous battle of an evil alliance attacking Israel. It is such a surprise to Israel that they are caught off guard and almost succumb. At the last moment, God steps in–

“And I will plead against him with pestilence and with blood; and I will rain upon him, and upon his bands, and upon the many people that are with him, an overflowing rain, and great hailstones, fire, and brimstone. Thus will I magnify myself, and sanctify myself; and I will be known in the eyes of many nations, and they shall know that I am the LORD.” (Ezekiel 38:22-23).

Just in case we’re not sure that all will know that it is the LORD winning the battle, He repeats His promise in verse Ez 39:6-7- “And I will send a fire on Magog, and among them that dwell carelessly in the isles: and they shall know that I am the LORD. So will I make my holy name known in the midst of my people Israel; and I will not let them pollute my holy name any more: and the heathen shall know that I am the LORD, the Holy One in Israel.”

And again in Ez 39:21-22- “And I will set my glory among the heathen, and all the heathen shall see my judgment that I have executed, and my hand that I have laid upon them. So the house of Israel shall know that I am the LORD their God from that day and forward.”

The rest of Ezekiel 39 is consumed with graphic descriptions of the carnage and the cleanup. The burials will take 7 months to complete, and the fuel from downed war materiel take 7 years to burn. That is one of the major reasons scholars think the Gog-Magog battle occurs at the outset of the Tribulation, or just prior, because the Tribulation period is 7 years. There has to be seven years left in which to burn the fuel. Also, the LORD makes Himself known to the Israelites and they renew their covenant with Him. They begin clamoring for their Temple, which we know is built at some point because 3 1/2 years later the antichrist stands in the Temple and calls himself God and stops the Jews’ sacrifices.

Ezekiel goes on in books 40-48 with glorious descriptions of the Millennium Kingdom.

In this battle, Persia (Iran) is one of the lead attackers, along with Russia. America is not listed in prophecy, but the US was raised up in might and we have used that might to cause a tipping of the balance in the Muslim world through ten years of invasions. These invasions are leading to the final set-up of the players and the circumstances that will be in place when the Gog-Magog battle begins.

That said, I found it interesting that recently a top aide of Russia’s President Putin said that he thinks Putin was sent by God at this moment in time to fulfill a pre-ordained prophetic destiny. Secondly, in March of this year, an inside documentary was made by the closest associates of Iran’s Ayatollah but smuggled out from the East. The documentary revealed that both the Ayatollah of Iran and President Ahmadinejad personally feel that they are specific players in the prophetic destiny of Iran. And finally, it has long been known that President George Bush felt strongly that his invasion of Iraq was an order from God that would directly lead to impacts on Israel. In a sense, they are all correct. Read the quotes:

PUTIN
“Prime Minister Vladimir Putin was sent to Russia by God to help his country during one of its most turbulent times, the Kremlin’s chief political strategist said on Friday in rare public remarks. “I honestly believe that Putin is a person who was sent to Russia by fate and by the Lord at a difficult time for Russia,” Vladislav Surkov, a staunch Putin supporter and one of Russia’s most powerful men, was quoted by Interfax news agency as telling state-run Chechen TV. “(Putin was) preordained by fate to preserve our peoples,” said Surkov, who is also the Kremlin’s first deputy chief of staff.”

AHMADINEJAD
“The purpose of the film is to make the case that Iran is prophetically destined to lead the war against Islam’s enemies, which is as a prelude to the appearance of the Hidden Imam, also called the Mahdi, who brings the final victory for Islam and reigns over the whole world. It uses current events to argue that “the final chapter has begun” and the Mahdi’s arrival is imminent. Most disturbingly, it teaches that Khamenei, Ahmadinejad and Nasrallah are the individuals prophesied to make this happen. President Ahmadinejad is an End Times character named Shoeib-Ebne Saleh, the film states. He is appointed as the commander-in-chief by Seyed Khorasani (Ayatollah Khamenei). The speaker in the film says that this individual will “move” 72 months [6 years] prior to the arrival of the Mahdi and will lead the recapturing of Jerusalem on “the threshold of the Coming.”

In Muslim end time theology, the Mahdi is strikingly similar to the Christian antichrist. So it makes sense that Iran’s leaders feel not only prophetically destined but the timing is also nearly a mirror match for the timing of the Gog-Magog battle.

BUSH
“George Bush has claimed he was on a mission from God when he launched the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, according to a senior Palestinian politician in an interview to be broadcast by the BBC later this month. Bush revealed the extent of his religious fervour when he met a Palestinian delegation during the Israeli-Palestinian summit at the Egpytian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, four months after the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003. One of the delegates, Nabil Shaath, who was Palestinian foreign minister at the time, said: “President Bush said to all of us: ‘I am driven with a mission from God’. God would tell me, ‘George go and fight these terrorists in Afghanistan’. And I did. And then God would tell me ‘George, go and end the tyranny in Iraq’. And I did.” Mr Bush went on: “And now, again, I feel God’s words coming to me, ‘Go get the Palestinians their state and get the Israelis their security, and get peace in the Middle East’. And, by God, I’m gonna do it.”

The LORD sets up kings and he takes down kings. (Dan 2:21). He uses all men for His purposes, whether they are saved or not. He uses people for His global purpose, and He uses people individually to prepare us. God uses negative circumstances for His outcomes. He doesn’t need to make a positive circumstance every time. There are many examples of this in the bible. God has been actively working in the lives of all people on the planet to prepare for the culmination of His promises to Israel and the end of the age. I believe we can see it in hindsight over the last ten years with the rise of Russia, Iran, and the invasions of the US into the Middle east. What do you think?

Note: Terry James has a good essay this week about one of the other major Gog-Magog players, and their drawing-in toward prophetic destiny: Turkey.
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Posted in end time, katla, prophecy, volcano

Volcanoes going off everywhere: Katla, Etna, and… Oz?

Posted on by elizabethprata

Just a short entry today. I spent all day putting together the prophecy newsletter and between the heat and the humidity I’m tapped out. Two volcano stories for you–

Warnings of volcanic eruption in Australia
“Scientists are now warning that volcanoes in Western Victoria and South Australia are due to erupt. The prediction comes just hours after two earthquakes hit the state this morning. Using new dating techniques, University of Melbourne scientists have found that the volcanoes usually erupt every 2000 years, with the last eruption at Mt Gambier, South Australia, 5000 years ago. Earth sciences Professor Bernie Joyce says Australia needs a plan in case of an eruption. It comes as Victorians are warned to brace themselves for more tremors after a shallow magnitude quake hit at 11.32am, sending shockwaves through towns and suburbs more than 100 kilometres away. A series of tremors lasting up to 15 seconds have been felt across Melbourne’s CBD and southeastern suburbs. A second, smaller quake shook Korumburra, with reports it was again felt in Melbourne, at 12.37pm. Senior seismologist Clive Collins said people should prepare for aftershocks in the coming hours. “There will be aftershocks, that’s a certainty,” he told the Herald Sun. “We still expect lots of smaller ones. “After the last significant quake in Victoria there were more than 200 aftershocks.” The tremors shook Melbourne office buildings and many homes across the state, including Warragul, Ferntree Gully, Sunbury and as far north as Melbourne Airport.”

I had written three days ago that scientists were warning that Hekla in Iceland may erupt. I put up a map showing Eyja, Hekla and Katla were in close proximity and noted that when one of the three erupts then one of the others  usually does as well. Today this is being reported:

Possibly Small Eruption in South Iceland Volcano Katla

There was sudden flooding and melting of a glacier and the thought is that a small eruption caused it.

“A glacial flood, probably, from the volcano Katla in Mýrdalsjökull has disrupted the Ring Road (highway no.1), by the river Múlakvísl on Mýrdalssandur in south Iceland, tearing the bridge across Múlakvísl. The road is closed between Höfdabrekka, east of Vík, and the river Skálm, near Álftaver. The flood is thought be the result of a small eruption underneath the icecap of Mýrdalsjökull, probably in the Katla crater, ruv.is reports. “At least this is not a large eruption, the Katla eruption people have been waiting for,“ geophysicist Freysteinn Sigmundsson told ruv.is “If it is a volcanic eruption, it is a small event and possibly only geothermal water.“ The Civil Protection Department has issued a warning to people in the area, to beware of sulphurate smell near the river, as it might be poisonous sulphurate gas.”

In this news article, they write, “Small eruption at Katla“
“For the people of Iceland, the past few years must feel like the old saying “when it rains, it pours’: we’ve seen two significant eruptions, one at Eyjafjallajökull and one at Grimsvötn, in less than a year. Earlier this week, there was news that another Icelandic volcano, Hekla, was showing signs of unrest, although it was unclear whether they pointed towards an eruption. Then, the switcheroo, where instead of anything at Hekla, we get a surprise jokulhlaup (glacial outburst flood) at Katla on the southern end of the island.”

His description reminds me of the people at a tennis match when their heads swing this way then that way then this way…just as we look to one p art of the world for an expected event, another one pops up over there where we least expected it. In 2008 the Chilean volcano Chaiten erupted suddenly and is still erupting. Volcanologists say that Chaiten volcano had not erupted in 9500 years. Last month, the Eritrean volcano Nabro suddenly erupted for the first time ever. In Java, a new volcano was formed within two days. Fisherman were stunned. Three weeks ago I reported that there were 35 earthquakes at the Cuidad Juarez/El Paso border of the US that have geologists and seismologists thinking a new volcano may be born there soon, and a joint team of scientists from US/Mexico went to investigate. Volcanic eruptions from existing volcanoes have increased. Two days ago, “Palermo – An uncountable series of quakes have been recorded in Sicily. The strongest one had a magnitude of 3.1 and was recorded in the province of Messina, along the northern coast of Sicily that has been subjected to a persisting series of seismic events in the last few weeks. The quake was detected 3:01 am at a depth of a little more than 8 km. In the same area, a lighter 2.3 magnitude quake was recorded at 1:58 at approximately the same depth. . .” Today, ash from Mt. Etna closed an Italian airport. What next?!

Stay tuned, and be glad you chose to repent of your sins and accept the free pardon Jesus offers. If you have not repented, heed these wonderful words:

“Seek the LORD while he may be found;
call on him while he is near.
Let the wicked forsake his way
and the evil man his thoughts.
Let him turn to the LORD, and he will have mercy on him,
and to our God, for he will freely pardon.” (Isaiah 55:6-7)

“For thy name’s sake, O LORD, pardon mine iniquity; for it is great.” (Psalm 25:11)
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Posted in famine, gog magog, prophecy, sudan

Africa: Worst drought in 60 years: 12 million fight for survival

Posted on by elizabethprata

A massive drought which has swept across Kenya, Somalia and Ethiopia is causing severe famine. Twelve million people are fighting for survival at this moment, and countless wildlife and cattle are dying as the land is increasingly unable to sustain them. The linked article mentions mother nature within the first few sentences, but we know that prophecy tells us that famine will be a hallmark of the last days. (Mt 24:7). Famine is one of God’s four sore judgments. (Ezekiel 14:21). The place where the worst of the drought is occurring is the Horn of Africa, which is here:

In prophecy, the Gog Magog war is generally considered to occur at the outset of the Tribulation, or even the catalyst for the Tribulation. The prophesied nations that participate are Russia, Iran, and the nations along the northern tier of Africa, including the ones depicted at the Horn of Africa: Sudan, Ethiopia (Cush, Put, Libya, Ez 38-29). Interestingly as well, Sudan today split into a northern Sudan and a Southern Sudan. There are now 193 nations in the world. Bloomberg wrote, “After almost 50 years of rebellion against the Muslim north, independent South Sudan will assume control of about 75 percent of Sudan’s daily production of 490,000 barrels of oil, pumped mainly by China National Petroleum Corp…” Are there any takers on just which part of Sudan will take part in the Gog-Magog battle? Muslim north, or free south? (See map below)

Things are moving fast. The nations prophesied as players in the last days are increasingly in the news. One can almost see the chess pieces moved into place as the events long-prophesied begin to start their engines. I had started to write about the effects of drought and famine but I cropped the information I just spent 3 hours writing to write this instead. I’ll probably re-write it into a different essay later. I thought it was very interesting about the famine in Africa, and Sudan splitting in the face of the imminence of the Gog-Magog battle (Ezekiel 38-39.

If you go to the headline link be aware that there are disturbing images..saddening and emotionally trying. Please pray for our brothers and sisters who are missionaries in these places, and pray for the lost there, that though their bodies may be failing from famine, that their souls will find eternal refreshment at the Fount of Life.
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Posted in hope, jesus, prophecy, self-immolation

"Live Free or Die:" NH man chooses ‘die’, setting himself on fire to protest America’s decline

Posted on by elizabethprata

This is interesting…

New Hampshire man lights himself on fire to protest America’s decline
by Simon Black
Late last week, Thomas James Ball reached his breaking point. Driven to desperation by a system that bankrupted him and destroyed his family, Ball walked up to the main door of the Keene County, New Hampshire courthouse, doused himself with gasoline, and lit himself ablaze.
Hardly anyone seems to have noticed.
Conversely, when a 26-year old Tunisian man lit himself on fire a few months ago after police confiscated the fruits and vegetables he had been selling without a proper permit, it launched a wave of revolution across the Middle East.
People were shocked into taking action… protests and riots swept the region and one regime after another crumbled.
Rather than sparking an “American spring” and shocking US citizens into taking their country back, though, Mr. Ball’s act of self-immolation seems to have been largely ignored. There has been scant coverage (and scant is being extremely generous) of Mr. Ball in the mainstream media, and what little coverage there is generally discredits the man as a troublemaker.
This is how the system’s gatekeepers have been so adroit at maintaining the status quo– by suppressing dissent, marginalizing the detractors, and distracting the populace with meaningless, irrelevant drivel.

There’s a lot more at the link.

Are Americas so numbed by overindulgence, so dumbed down by the education system, so bummed by shrinking paychecks, that they don’t even react to an American MAN ON FIRE? The Tunisian who set himself alight last December sparked a revolution in his country that spread to neighboring nations that brought down rulers and is forever called The Arab Spring.

Since I was a small child, my memory remains indelibly seared with images of people who had set themselves on fire. Vietnam War, India protests, Czechoslovakians protesting Soviet invasion, Kurds during Clinton presidency, Chinese…all imprinted on my mind. What would cause a person to do such a gruesome thing to themselves, I’d wonder. What an awful way to go.

Mr Ball had reached the end of his rope. According to his suicide note, and his blog, he was depressed, sad, angry, and hoping that his act, or ANY act would spark a change in the course of what we all see happening. His act is a symbol of the great gulf that is fixed, with two paths inexorably set in stone, each with their travelers.

There are people like Mr Ball who draw on their man-made hope. They have optimism. They have the sunniness of past American experience to propel them toward what they surmise will be a continually sunny future. It won’t be, ever again. It will only get worse. When people realize that, and at some level millions are realizing that fact right this minute, they cave. They collapse, because “there’s no there there.” The center does not hold.

Those on the other path have hope too. It is not man-made. It is not generated from the recesses of a dark and corrupt spirit. It is from Above. It is endless, eternal, pure, and strong. It is the Hope of redemption in Jesus Christ, and His eternal Kingdom. THAT hope never leaves a person. It indwells us by supernatural command of the Most High. We abound in hope. (Romans 15:13). We continue in immovable hope. (Colossians 1:23). We have a better hope. (Hebrews 7:19). We have a hope that against all hope triumphs over difficulties! (Romans 4:18).

We will see more people lose hope in the coming days, though I pray they won’t commit suicide nor do an act such as Mr Ball’s self-immolation! It is my prayer that we Christians who possess the highest hope of all eternity will share it, in word and in deed. Be strong and of good faith, because our Hope is near.
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Posted in arrested taking photographs, end of days, law enforcement abuse, prophecy

Photography is not a crime. Or maybe it is

Posted on by elizabethprata

Have you noticed the increase in arrests for taking pictures? I have. These incidents are everywhere in the US now, in different venues, at different times of the day, for different reasons, and among different people, by different law enforcers. One thing remains the same: private citizens are getting arrested for merely snapping a photo of law enforcement. Here are four examples, representing different venues in which the “criminal” was arrested. These four examples are progressive, in that the place of arrest goes from public to private. Nowadays it seems it doesn’t matter where you are, if you are recording or photographing law enforcement from any distance, you could be arrested.

Reporters arrested by Park Police for taking photos at D.C. Taxicab Meeting
“At a Wednesday meeting of the D.C. Taxicab Commission (DCTC), two journalists were arrested by Park Police for taking photos at the public meeting. Pete Tucker, who writes for TheFightBack.org, showed up to the meeting, held at the Park Police headquarters, to document a proposal to implement a new medallion system. During the first hour of the meeting, a taxi inspector approached Tucker and told him that he couldn’t take photographs of commission members seated at the front of the room. Tucker snapped a photo of the inspector. According to his account, two Park Police officers approached him, and one said, “You can come with me or you can get locked up.” He responded that he was merely documenting a public meeting.”

The reporter was led from the room in handcuffs.

Woman Escorted Off US Airways Flight For Snapping Photo
Deemed a “security risk” for photographing nametag of rude employee
“A Miami photographer was escorted off a US Airways plane and deemed a “security risk” after she snapped a photo of an employee’s nametag at Philadelphia International Airport Friday. Sandy DeWitt said the employee, whose name was Tonialla G., was being rude to several passengers in the boarding area of the flight to Miami. So DeWitt snapped a photo of her nametag with her iPhone because she planned to complain about her in a letter to US Airways. But the photo didn’t come out because it was too dark. However, once DeWitt was settled in her seat, preparing for take-off, Tonialla G. entered the plane and confronted her. “She told me to delete the photo,” DeWitt said in an interview with Photography is Not a Crime Saturday morning. DeWitt, who already had her phone turned off in preparation for take-off, turned the phone back on to show her that it didn’t come out, but deleted the photo anyway. “I complied with her wishes but it’s not something I would normally do,” she said. “It just wasn’t usable.” But Tonialla G. wouldn’t let the issue go. She then walked into the cockpit to inform the pilot that DeWitt was a “security risk.” “

An update later said that the passenger was escorted off because she used profanity.

Activist stunned from video fallout
“Rochester activist Emily Good says she had no idea she would set off a firestorm when she stood on her lawn videotaping a police traffic stop on May12. She never expected to be arrested, handcuffed for nearly an hour, or taken to jail in her pajamas, either. “It was outrageous and I still kind of don’t believe it. This is still a little bit of numbing shock, this entire situation.” A video of that night’s events in front of Good’s house on Aldine Street shows Good not obeying Rochester police Officer Mario Masic’s commands to go inside her home. “I felt like that was an unreasonable order, and I stood in my yard and I said: ‘This is my yard,’ and I tried to understand what he wanted because I felt like going inside my house was unreasonable, and it just escalated very quickly.”

So she stood in her own yard, videotaping the police who were dealing with a traffic stop at a neighbor’s house. They told her to go inside, and arrested her when she didn’t and kept recording.

State police arrest homeowner for taking photos of a crash in her yard
“Massachusetts state police arrested a 65-year-old woman who was standing on her property photographing the damage after a car had come crashing through her yard and into her driveway late Sunday night. Judith Davis-Scott, the West Elm Street homeowner in whose backyard the car crashed, said she was handcuffed and arrested at her house after police took away her Nikon camera as she was taking pictures of the damage to her backyard. “I told them this is my property and I have a right to take pictures on my property,” said Davis-Scott, an optician. Her husband, Michael Scott, a disabled veteran, sat on his back porch on Monday, and shook his head when speaking of the night before and of his wife’s arrest. “This is ridiculous,” Scott said, his eyes filling with tears. “You try to live a decent life and this is what you get. It’s upsetting.”

State police arrest homeowner after car crashes into her house
“Judith Davis-Scott, the West Elm Street homeowner in whose backyard the car crashed, said she was handcuffed and arrested at her house after police took away her Nikon camera as she was taking pictures of the damage to her backyard. Davis-Scott was charged with interfering with police and disorderly conduct. She said she spent the night in a jail cell at the Brockton Police Department and was released on $40 bail. Monday morning, she showed media crews bruises on her arms that she said resulted after a state police officer grabbed her and handcuffed her. “I told them this is my property and I have a right to take pictures on my property,” said Davis-Scott, an optician. She said the state police officer “grabbed me and dragged me up the stairs and he pushed me into the house.”

In the first incident, media representatives attending a public meeting were arrested for taking pictures. In the second incident, Airline employees used their authority to detain a passenger deemed a “security risk.” The risk was never defined. In the third and fourth incidents, the events occurred on private property. The Massachusetts homeowner was on her own property taking video of an incident next door, and in the last one, the homeowner was on her OWN property taking pictures of something that happened on her OWN property.

We see that the authorities in each case varied from Government Airline officials, Park Police, State Police, and Local police. I chose these four because they are emblematic of the different places where people are increasingly denied a right to scrutinize public servants engaged in their business; meetings, security areas, and police stops. In each of the four, the kind of public servant varies. It cannot be said that it is always a belligerent citizen, or always a certain kind of law enforcement official, or always in one certain city. These happened in NY, Mass., Philly, and DC.

The fact is, as things become more authoritarian, there is less tolerance for scrutiny. There is less need to accede to citizen vigilance and more desire to shut them out. As the wheels of civil law become eroded there is more ease in abusing the power that has been delivered to it.

This fact should not surprise us. It is written in 2 Timothy 3:2-4 that in the last days, “People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God.” Do not suppose that the “unloving” and “brutal” applies only to private citizens. It applies to all people. Those in power in a world where the Holy Spirit no longer restrains will be more than ever compelled to allow their carnal brutality to unleash. If they have some power and a gun, then all the more dangerous.

In Matthew 24:12 we are warned that “Love will grow cold.” If you look up the Greek word for “cold” it means: “spiritual energy blighted or chilled by a malign or poisonous wind.” It give me chills just to read that, never mind live it!

Prior to the Flood, we were warned that there is a set time period for His longsuffering and then when the time is up, the Spirit will be removed and judgment rendered. (Gen 6:3- “My Spirit shall not strive with man forever” Greek translation of strive: administer, govern). When the Holy Spirit Restrainer is removed then the perilous times shall indeed begin. Without restraint, the conditions will shortly revert to what they were in the Days of Noah, as Jesus said in Matthew 24:37. What were those days like? “Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” (Genesis 6:5) EVERY intent was ONLY evil, CONTINUALLY. That is 100% saturation, folks!

Crime rates are up. Jails are opened to let out the ‘milder’ criminals because we cannot afford to keep them. Yet retired housewives are arrested while their disabled Military veteran husbands sit on the porch and cry for a country we no longer recognize.
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Posted in end time, phoenix dust storm, prophecy

About that Phoenix dust storm…

Posted on by elizabethprata

A dust storm occurred in Phoenix the other day. Forbes is certainly writing about it breathlessly. Get this:

Arizonans are calling it the mother of all dust storms.
“The mile-high wall of ominous, billowing dust that appeared to swallow Phoenix and its suburbs is all that locals can talk about. It moved through the state around sundown Tuesday, halting airline flights, knocking out power to nearly 10,000 people, turning swimming pools into mud pits and caking cars with dirt. The sky was still filled with a hazy shade of brown Wednesday as residents washed their cars and swept sidewalks. Because dust storms, also known by the Arabic term “haboobs,” are so hard to predict, Tuesday’s took everyone by surprise. Seemingly out of nowhere, the 100-mile-wide storm moved like a giant wave, the dust roiling as it approached at up to 60 mph. Once it hit, visibility dropped to zero in some areas, the sky turned nearly black, trees blew sideways, and even downtown Phoenix skyscrapers became invisible. “Just the height of it looked like a special-effect scene from a movie, like a dust storm out in Africa,” said Charlotte Dewey, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Phoenix. “It looked so huge, looking at the city down below, it was just specks of light and miniature buildings. She said meteorologists were still trying to get exact measures from satellite and radar to figure out how big the dust storm was and compare it with previous ones, but they estimate it was more than a mile high and more than 100 miles wide. “People who’ve lived here their whole lives, 30 or 40 years, are saying they’ve never seen a storm this large,” Dewey said.” More at link.

The question remains, however, in wondering first how common or uncommon are dust storms in Phoenix? Pretty common, according to this 1984 article in the Journal of Climatology, based on studies of storms in Arizona from 1965-1980. “In general, Yuma experiences the most dust storms per year followed closely by Phoenix, with Tucson and Winslow having very few events. Dust storms at Phoenix, on average, tend to be more severe than those experienced at the other sites. The most intense and frequent dust storms in Arizona occur during the summer months and are associated with strong downdrafts generated by intense thunderstorm activity.”

This short news article from 2009 warned about a storm that limited visibility and advised motorists to use caution. That’s all, run of the mill.

So in seeing an event like the storm this week, it is wise to stop and place it in context. The answer is that dust storms happen frequently in Phoenix. But in looking at end time signs, it is also wise to wonder about frequency and intensity. We know from Matthew 24:8 that Jesus said the Tribulation will be as labor pains. He likened the Tribulation and end time events as such because it will be a time of increasing travail, rising and rising in pain and intensity until the birth. The end of the Church age as it approaches the threshold of the Tribulation will also be a time of increasing disasters in all realms: spiritual, economic, and ‘natural.’

I find it interesting that the storm was so huge, sudden, and particularly devastating. I also think it is interesting that they likened the air quality to the ash fall from the various volcanoes erupting in different hemispheres this month. That the storm was a mile high and 100 miles wide is a very large storm that would strike fear into any person unlucky enough to be in its path.

This article says, “The massive dust storm that swept through Phoenix, Ariz., last night (July 5), reducing visibility to near zero and delaying flights, was a whopper, meteorologists said. The dust storm is what’s called a a haboob (Arabic for “strong wind”). In the United States, haboobs are common in Arizona, Texas and New Mexico. But yesterday’s haboob was more like something you’d see in the Middle East or other arid regions around the world, said Ken Waters, the warning coordination meteorologist with the National Weather Service (NWS) in Phoenix. It was mind-boggling, just absolutely amazing,” Waters told OurAmazingPlanet. “I’ve been a meteorologist for years and I’ve not seen a wall of dust like that.”

We can all agree- even atheists have to agree- that the science shows increasing meteorological disruption. Outsized storms, volcanoes erupting that never erupted before, strange sun behavior, earthquakes in diverse places…all speak to end time signs. I’ve been beating the drum long enough that people should really begin looking to Jesus if they have not repented, and be looking to Jesus if they have, as the comfort of His soon appearance.
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Posted in end times, prophecy, repent

Blessed, not oppressed, by the times

Posted on by elizabethprata

Iceland’s Most Feared Volcano Ready To Erupt
“An Icelandic stratovolcano, one the country’s most active, could erupt at any time according to a leading geophysicist. University of Iceland geophysicist Pall Einarsson said Wednesday that measurement instruments have shown “unusual” magma movements around the Hekla volcano in recent days. According to Ríkisútvarpið RUV – The Icelandic National Broadcasting Service – the GPS movements around Hekla in the past few days are real. Civil disaster authorities and local emergency authorities in the country also were notified Wednesday of the possibility of an eruption.” Irish Weather online has the story, plus more about Hekla.

Map source

You notice Eyja, Katla, and Hekla in the lower center of the country. The scale of miles shows the three volcanoes between 15 and 30 miles apart from each other, roughly.

You might remember Eyjafjallajökull, Iceland’s volcano that erupted between March-May 2010, disrupting the globe’s air commerce and causing travel chaos and revenue loss. At that time, all the airlines estimated their losses at $1.7billion. These natural disasters are costing the world billions and billions of dollars. It isn’t just the money loss, but time lost, transport of goods lost, employment lost. Time Magazine did a recent article on natural disaster sticker shock, “What extreme weather costs the US“. They wrote that “a study by the National Center for Atmospheric Research estimates that the bottom-line cost of all the meteorological craziness is a staggering $485 billion per year in the U.S. alone, as much as 3.4% of the country’s GDP.”

In May 2011, Bloomberg Business News wrote, “Lloyd’s of London, the world’s largest insurance market, has estimated net claims of $3.8 billion before tax from this year’s Japan and New Zealand earthquakes and Australian floods.” Two billion of that was the Japan quake and tsunami alone. Can the world keep paying for disaster cleanup and reconstruction? No. Especially since they will keep occurring and on consistently larger scales. Just as one day we hear of Mount Soputan in Indonesia erupting this week, with Chile’s Puyehue still erupting, Nabro in Eritrea which never erupted suddenly going off, and now a resumption of Iceland’s volcanoes showing magma on the move is too much to keep up with. And three US nuke plants in trouble simultaneously – check physicist Michio Kaku’s essay on that one. No, we cannot afford the continual shaking of the world from below, surface and above. But neither can we ignore the spiritual shaking.

That is what this is all about, shaking un-believers from their stance that this is all natural. It isn’t  of course. They are birth pangs, getting ready to ramp up into labor, which will result in a bloody mess that will finally produce a clean and pure Kingdom.

I’m sad at the process that will mean death and hell for many people caught in these disasters, but I am also thrilled at His power. He put us here at this time for a reason. Every believer has a purpose and aside from the common purpose of making disciples that applies to all of us, we each have a unique purpose to accomplish His will. Is it to ring the warning bell as a watchman? It it to exude peace in uncertain times? Is it to go on mission to Muslim nations? Is it to be a steady church-goer and encourage the body? Pray for His will to be revealed in your life. He has one and after the Apostles founding the church, this age is unique in all the church age! Feel blessed by the times, not oppressed.

How thrilling to watch the pages of the bible rip open each day as His words become alive in the world. We are living in biblical times as surely as the Israelites who saw the Red Sea parting, or who saw the Walls of Jericho fall down or who helped construct Solomon’s temple, or who saw Lazarus emerge from the tomb or who went on mission with Peter Paul and witnessed miraculous healing. I am in awe of the promises that are written coming true before my eyes. Each day brings miracles in themselves and I glory in Him who has the entire world in His hands, and in which, someone, somewhere may finally turn from their sin and say, this is not all a coincidence. Jesus, I believe.”
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Posted in end time, gog magog, ottomans, prophecy, revelation

The Ottomans are back. Are they Revelation’s 7th kingdom?

Posted on by elizabethprata

There is a difficult prophetic passage in Revelation, some say the most difficult. Revelation 17:9-11 says-

“Here is the mind which has wisdom: The seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman sits. There are also seven kings. Five have fallen, one is, and the other has not yet come. And when he comes, he must continue a short time. The beast that was, and is not, is himself also the eighth, and is of the seven, and is going to perdition.” (Revelation 17:9-11)

Oh, boy, where do you start? OK, in the first phrase, it says ‘here is wisdom.’ To me, that means that the interpretation won’t be easy or obvious. It will take deeper study, but that it will be revealed to the one who seeks wisdom. James 1:5 makes that promise.

Next, “Mountains”. In biblical symbolism, mountains represent kingdoms or strong, powerful governments. When it says THE mountain, like in Isaiah 2:2-4, it means Jesus’ government. “It shall come to pass in the last days that the mountain of the LORD’s house shall be established in the top of the mountains.”

“The seven” past kingdoms (empires) are generally accepted to be Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Greece, Media-Persia and Rome past and/or Rome to come, or perhaps someone else. “The eighth” seems to be the antichrist which is part of the seventh.

Remember that in Daniel’s interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar’s statue of the kingdoms (Dan 2:31-35), it was gold at the head, silver at the chest and arms, bronze torso and thighs, legs of iron and feet of a mixture of clay and iron. A side note, you notice two things of the statue’s metals: as they progress from head to toe, the metals become less expensive. Gold is the most precious metal, iron the least. Clay is worth nothing at all. But they also become stronger. Gold is the softest metal but iron is strongest.

The legs of iron are generally thought to be the split Roman empire. The Romans split their empire in 330AD when they allowed Constantinople to become a sister capital, and the kingdom was split east and west. (The feet of iron and clay are thought to the coming Tribulation kingdom.) So let’s look at Constantinople.

Now known as Istanbul, it is located in Turkey and is its largest city. Wikipedia says Istanbul has served as the capital of the Roman Empire (330–395), the Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire (395–1204 and 1261–1453), the Latin Empire (1204–1261), and the Ottoman Empire (1453–1922). That’s a lot of empires! It was also chosen as a joint European Capital of Culture for 2010-2011, and as such organized cultural events with a strong European dimension. Yet…Istanbul is not European, and despite its long desire to align with the west, that desire has been thwarted.

Though Turkey was one of the first countries to become a member of the Council of Europe in 1949, a predecessor to the EU, and is now an associate member of the EU, it has been denied full membership ever since its application in 1987. It seems that the two legs of the Roman empire are still split, though it is part of the body of historically precedent empires and loosely connected to the west, is not the west.

The Turks figure into end time prophecy as the nation who aligns finally with the east. They come together with Armenia, Russia, Iran, and northern Africa and others to attack Israel. Their final status as an Israel-hater is certain. The journey from  been a tumultuous one ever since Paul’s missionary days into Asia Minor, which Turkey is still known as (also Anatolia). The question is, how does Turkey get from here to there?

Ezekiel 38:6 says that Gomer and the house of beth-Togarmah join the Gog-Magog attack. I interpret Gomer to be Turkey and beth-Togarmah as Armenia. You can research the historical/biblical names here, and here, and directly from the bible here and here. Turkey reverts to her roots in the last days, no matter the Western overlay this generation has come to see Turkey outwardly present.

Now to the original verse in Revelation. The verse says that there were/are 7 kingdoms. Some say the 7th both are Rome, and some say that the 7th could be the Ottoman Empire. Note the last part of the Revelation verse, ‘the beast is the eighth AND is of the seven’ could be satisfied by a ruler from the eastern leg of the statue that was part of Roman empire but not Rome.

The Ottomans existed as an empire for 500 years, disappearing in 1922 with the cessation of the office of Caliph (Ruler of all Muslims). Jack Kelley explores the notion of the Ottomans as 7th Revelation Kingdom, here. He said in part, “There are already some who believe the 7th Kingdom of Rev. 17:10 is the Ottoman Empire, and point out that Constantinople is also a city on seven hills. If so, its loyalty to Islam would confirm the identity of the one world End Times religion, and could also support the idea of an Islamic anti-Christ, the one some call al-Mahdi. As details of Islamic eschatology become more widely known, prophecy students are discovering a striking similarity between descriptions of al Mahdi and the anti-Christ.”

John MacArthur said in his sermon “The Grim Reality of the Last Days“, “Now somebody might say, “Well, when you think about the future and what’s going to happen in the world, don’t we have a revived Roman Empire? Doesn’t that mean the west? You remember that the image in Daniel 2 of the final world empire had two legs and the Roman Empire had the west and the east? You know, of course, if you know history that the western part of the Roman Empire basically dissolved and the east survived for a thousand years or more so that at the time of the New Testament, sixty percent of the Roman Empire was land that is now under Muslim control…at least 60 percent. The vast majority of the Roman Empire in New Testament times is today under Muslim control and Islam is moving across the west rapidly in Europe, isn’t it? When you have a picture in Ezekiel 38, you have a picture of the Antichrist, Gog and you have the listing of eight nations, that will be a coalition for the Antichrist. All eight of those are Muslim nations, all eight of them. And they ring the Mediterranean to Libya. In Revelation 17:9 to 11 it says there were six kingdoms and then a seventh and finally an eighth. What is the seventh? Well there’s been a discussion about that, it well could be the Ottoman Turk Empire which lasted five hundred years and didn’t really fall until the modern era. The Turkish Empire was the last Caliphate which ended in 1923 and they’re waiting for the restoration when the Mahdi comes.”

What I’m saying is, the bible shows us that Turkey is a powerful and influential nation in the Gog-Magog battle. We saw Turkey’s influence come to the fore last year in the Gaza Flotilla attack, and we see it now in her continuing spokesmanship for Muslims in Asia Minor.

This article from a Turkish daily newspaper titled “Turkey is shaping the Arab Spring” states flatly, “the Ottomans are back”.

That the Ottomans could be the 7th kingdom mentioned in the Revelation verse is worth pondering, as we watch Turkey’s pre-eminence in the Middle East rise again.
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Posted in israel, prophecy

Muslim Brotherhood demands of US: "Drop Israel"

Posted on by elizabethprata

I wrote on Monday that over the weekend the Obama Administration instructed Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to reach out to the Muslim Brotherhood. The Muslim Brotherhood was banned as an illegal organization in Egypt for decades but once Mubarek fell they popped up quickly and were almost instantly acknowledged as a legitimate political party in Egypt. In another act over the weekend, no coincidence I’m sure, Obama also listed Israel on the list of ‘Specially Designated Countries’ as a terror-sponsor. Now, the Brotherhood’s sworn aim is to obliterate the ‘cancer’ that they say is Israel (and also destroy the West, namely, the US). They would also love Egypt to return to a state of war with Israel. Currently the only Arab States that have have a peace treaty with Israel are Jordan and Egypt. And do not forget, it was the Muslim Brotherhood who assassinated Former Egyptian President Anwar Sadat for making peace with Israel.

Well, the response from the Muslim Brotherhood didn’t take long. Today we learn that in an email to Clinton, quoted by Bloomberg News, the Brotherhood wants the US to stop supporting Israel. Israel Magazine Today reports, “In an email response quoted by Bloomberg, Muslim Brotherhood spokesman Mahmoud Ghozlan stated that if America wants solid relations with the group, it should “stop supporting the corrupt and tyrannical regimes, backing the Zionist occupation and using double standards.” Israel National News also has the story.

The time of Zechariah 12:2 is rapidly advancing, when Israel will be alone in the world without one friend on earth. Praise the LORD that His promises are true, and He remains a friend to the People until the end. And in the end, His friendship is all that matters. Look at Ezekiel’s vision of the Millennium Kingdom, which is ushered in after the Tribulation and battle at Armageddon: (chapter 43:1-2)

“Afterward he brought me to the gate, even the gate that looketh toward the east: And, behold, the glory of the God of Israel came from the way of the east: and his voice was like a noise of many waters: and the earth shined with his glory.”
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