Category: prophecy

Posted in end time, prophecy, ufo jerusalem closer

A closer view of the Jerusalem UFO

Posted on by elizabethprata

On January 30, I posted an entry about a UFO over the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. The entry contained two videos from the same vantage point of a hovering white light that suddenly descended to the top of the Temple Mount over the Muslim Dome of the Rock, then swooped upward and broke into tiny twinkling red lights. I maintained that if was not a hoax, then it was a demonic angel, for it was highly unlikely that the most contested piece of real estate amid the most heavily guarded air space would fail to shoot down an incoming like this UFO.

Another video has surfaced of the same UFO, but much closer, giving the UFO more credence that it is not a hoax. One bystander commented that it was so bright you could hardly look at it. Here is the 47 second vid:

Please read the previous entry for a biblical stance on what the UFO’s mean.

Posted in blizzard, end time, prophecy

Here be monsters! Several humungous storms affecting millions

Posted on by elizabethprata
Cyclone Yasi bearing down on the northeast corner of Australia, already flooded from weeks of rains.

In Australia/New Zealand, the folks down under are preparing for Tropical Cyclone Yasi. Queensland cyclone could be biggest ever seen. Now that’s some headline! “Queensland premier Anna Bligh is warning residents to prepare themselves for a “frightening experience” as Cyclone Yasi approaches.”

Other newscasters speak thus of the monster:

“Tony Eastley: If the size of the satellite image is anything to go by then Cyclone Yasi bursting in from the Coral Sea is a potentially highly destructive storm system. It’s one of the largest tropical cyclones to approach the north Queensland coast for decades.” Other forecasters are saying the storm is a “once in a lifetime storm.” The storm is headed to already-flooded north Australia. Crops that may be wiped out are bananas, sugar, and of course tourism. Australia’s economy and certainly the world’s does not need another economic blow and more crops washed away in storms. The officials in Oz are really worried about Yasi. “Yasi will be worse than Larry” The article opens: “Severe tropical Cyclone Yasi will hit the north Queensland coast with greater ferocity than devastating Cyclone Larry, Premier Anna Bligh says. Ms Bligh, speaking after a meeting of the state disaster management group on Tuesday, said winds of more than 250km/h could be expected from the high category four system. By comparison Larry, which devastated Innisfail and surrounds in 2006, was a mid-level category four system. Larry damaged about 10,000 homes and caused $1.5 billion in damage.” Yasi is Australia’s Katrina.

In America, the headlines are also reporting on another monster storm. A once in a lifetime, record setting, deadly storm. This time it’s snow and ice. “A monster winter storm took aim at a third of the nation Monday, threatening to lay a potentially deadly path of heavy snow and ice from the Rockies to New England, followed by a wave of bitter, bone-rattling cold that could affect tens of millions of people.” Not just millions affected, but tens of millions. The Washington Post talks of the Midwest and New England being buried. “National Weather Service advisories and warnings are in effect in more than 20 states as a powerful storm gets organized in the Midwest. A blizzard warning is in effect for Chicago, where 12 to 20 inches of snow is possible. Other cities which may experience blizzard conditions include Tulsa, Wichita, Kansas City, and Detroit. The Chicago Tribune’s Weather Center cautions: “Snowfall totals in excess of 12 inches coupled with winds of 25 to 40 mph will make long distance travel extremely dangerous if not impossible.”

People in 20 states pinned down and buried, commerce at a standstill, plow rage erupting, lost business, lost revenues…Weather.com is saying that a third of the United States’ population could be affected. They are simply calling it “destructive”, “colossal”, “historic.”

And remember a week ago, China and Mongolia suffered under their biggest storm in years, if ever. “Rescue workers evacuated thousands of rural residents from parts of northwestern China after extreme cold and blizzard conditions killed four people and left half a million snowed under, meteorologists said Monday. “In neighboring Mongolia, an official appealed for help from the international community as his country battles the most severe winter it has seen in three decades. Storms in China’s far western Xinjiang flattened or damaged about 100,000 homes and more than 15,000 head of livestock were killed by the cold front that set in Sunday night.”

Why all these monster storms? It’s the end time, that’s why. These increasingly large warnings from the God who holds all weather in His hands is warning us to repent. I know many of you have heard this before and I know you believe that weather is just weather. But by now, do you really believe that? The crazy weather, the constant storms, the outsized monsters parading across the globe and bringing chaos in their wake…do you really think all that is just a coincidence? It’s not. After the rapture when Christians are gone (true born again believers that is) the storms will increase in an order of magnitude that will outstrip your ability to comprehend them. By then, the warnings of today will have turned to judgment tomorrow, and these monsters will seem like child’s play in comparison.

The Good News is that Jesus is warning us because He loves us. His death on the cross was the punishment for sin’s crimes, and He took that punishment. So far you may have rejected that pardon, but you have time to still take it before the storms I described a minute ago get truly bad. Email me and ask me more, if you want. But trust me, these monster, historic, record-setting storms will pale in comparison to judgment. You really need to think about what’s going on in the world and entertain the possibility that us crazy born again bible thumpers just may be right.

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Posted in end time, pre-tribulation rapture, prophecy

My left-behind "Rapture Sheet"

Posted on by elizabethprata

Hello all,

I finished a project I’ve been working on all day. Like all Christians, we feel a burden for the lost. That is why we bring up Jesus to people even though we know some people will get aggravated or even reject us. Well, a few months ago the Holy Spirit gave me a burden for doing a certain project. You see, we will be raptured soon. I don’t know exactly when, no one does. (Matthew 24:36 says “No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.”) But Paul said we who believe and are watching will not be surprised, “But you, brothers, are not in darkness so that this day should surprise you like a thief. You are all sons of the light and sons of the day. We do not belong to the night or to the darkness. So then, let us not be like others, who are asleep, but let us be alert and self-controlled.” (1 Thessalonians 5:4-6). Both Paul and Matthew were speaking of the last moments of the Tribulation but the time period is the same, the rapture will come as the punctuation of the end of the Church age and as the opening bell for the Tribulation. “The Day” is the 7 year period of judgment on the world.

In finishing John MacArthur’s book “Because the End is Near: An explanation of the Book of Revelation” the judgments on the unbelieving world were brought graphically home to me. You do not want your worst enemy to go through that. The rapture will happen at some point and since most people are at work 8 hours/day or longer, there is a one-in-three chance it will occur while we are at work. Imagine your colleagues’ confusion, fear, grief. Some who know about Jesus but never repented will know what happened. Others will have no clue. They are the children of darkness Paul mentioned, who are asleep. How will they know what had happened? How will they know what to do?

You know those axes stationed on the wall at intervals in a case that says “In case of fire, break glass”?

I am following the burden from the Spirit to make a “Rapture Sheet”. It is a one-page explanation of what happened, why it happened, and what the left behind people should do. It is one page, front and back. I am putting it inside a new bible, placing post-it notes on the salient bible verses, and wrapping in saran wrap with the title that says, “In case of rapture, open here”. What more important fire extinguisher is there than the bible? The altered photo below is only a pun, of course I am not making glass cases. I plan to put several wrapped bibles at work, places where people sit at a common desk and use the phone. Maybe you have a break room or a lunch room or a common area to just quietly place a bible with its explanatory sheet inside, where it will be seen and the existence of it will sink in over the next months. When the moment comes maybe someone will say, “Hey! I saw a bible over there once, let’s go get it!”

I understand that it’s likely that when we all disappear, that people’s first reaction will likely be to run for their car and go home, or to the day care to check on their kids. I know that. I also know that in many work places there are not even any Christians employed there, or so few that no one will miss us at first. But that doesn’t matter. For a few dollars of new bibles and a few hours of prayer to let the right Spirit-led verses come to mind, and a few hours of writing, I can put bibles with rapture explanation in a place where it might help someone at the most critical moment in all of human history. Here is the “Rapture Sheet” below. Tell me what you think. Is it clear? Uncomplicated enough, but direct? If you like it, please feel free to copy it for yourself. Or, pray to the Spirit who will lead you to verses He knows people in your place of employment need.
—————————————-

Where did they go?

If you are reading this, then it means that the rapture occurred. The rapture is a term for the moment Jesus calls to His believers, resurrecting the dead in Christ and bringing the already living believers up to heaven to be with Him. Here it is in scripture:

1 Thessalonians 4:15-17
“For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will 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.”

1 Corinthians 15:51-52
“Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed— in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.”

Why did it happen?

We were living in what was called the Church Age, AKA the New Testament times. In Old Testament times the people lived under the Law (The Ten Commandments.) The Old Testament folks had faith, but the faith was that their Messiah would come. Jesus the Messiah had not come yet. But in order to demonstrate that faith in the future promise of Messiah’s coming, and to be cleansed from their sins, they had to kill an animal twice a day and sacrifice it. Why? The blood is the life. (Deuteronomy 12:23). “For the life of a creature is in the blood, and I have given it to you to make atonement for yourselves on the altar; it is the blood that makes atonement for one’s life.” (Leviticus 17:11). Then Jesus came, but the Jews didn’t recognize Him as Messiah, or those that did, rejected Him. When Jesus died, was resurrected and ascended into heaven, everything changed. Believers no longer needed to sacrifice because Jesus was the sacrifice. He shed His OWN blood for us! As a result of the Jews’ rejection of Him, Jesus has spent the last 2000 years building His church from Gentile peoples (Romans 11:25, Acts 15:14-17). Now the Church Age is over, He is returning His attention to the Jews, and now it is Judgment time for all of those left behind.
Why weren’t we taken?

You might wonder about people whom you thought were Christians who are still here. Not everyone who professed Jesus was truly saved. We cannot tell who is saved and who is not, but Jesus knows who is who. He took the true believers. Intellectual assent is not saving faith. Tradition is not saving faith. Church-going habit is not saving faith. Only true believers were taken. A true believer is described in John 6:29: “Jesus answered, “The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.”God sent Jesus to die for your sins, as the eternal sacrifice to satisfy His justice. Sin must be punished, because it is a crime. Jesus took the punishment and paid the debt for all sins forever. As a result, you would have been pardoned- IF you had believed! But you chose to reject Jesus’ pardon, during the now concluded Church Age, or you added to belief in Him with a man-made rules or tradition. So, you are here now. John 11:25 “Jesus said, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?” I hope the rapture convinced you to believe it!

What will happen next?

Unfortunately, you are in for the roughest time that there ever was and ever will be. Jesus said “For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be. And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved; but for the elect’s sake those days will be shortened. (Matthew 24: 21-22). He is saying that if the Tribulation went on longer than 7 years surely EVERY person would die! The Tribulation is when Jesus will pour out His anger against sin and sinners. Christians do not have to endure it because we took the pardon and believed in Him before the rapture, or before they died. So Jesus removed us from this terrible time. Jesus will send increasingly terrible judgments on the earth to punish sinners. Starting now, ¼ of earth’s population will die in war and famines and diseases. Then another 1/3 will die, equaling half the globe’s population before the Tribulation is even half over! Your life is at extreme risk. If you die before asking Jesus forgiveness of your sins and becoming a believer in Him, you will go to hell forever. Sin is real. God’s judgment of sin is real. Satan is real. Hell is real. The coming Antichrist is real. Everything in the bible is real. Not any other book. Not the Mormon bible. Not the Catholic bible. Only the Christian BIBLE is truth!

What must I do to be saved?
You must repent. The jailer at Philippi saw the marvelous joy in Paul and Silas, even while they were chained in the lowest jail, and asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” So they said, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you & your household.” (Acts 16:30-31). You have to believe that your sins prevented you from being raptured and will prevent you from going to heaven when you die. Sins are your wrong thoughts, words, and deeds against God. Everyone has wrong thoughts, words, deeds, so that means everyone sins! You need to be sorry for them, and have faith in Jesus. King David was sorry, in Psalm 38:4 he said: “My guilt has overwhelmed me like a burden too heavy to bear.” Do you feel guilty for your sins? You should. They are crimes against a Holy God. Do as David did: “I confess my iniquity; I am troubled by my sin.” (Psalm 38:18). In so doing you acknowledge that Jesus is the only person who CAN forgive them, having lived a sinless life and shedding His blood as the pure sacrifice for YOU. Once you do this, He will forgive you and then He will send the Holy Spirit to you to help you understand the bible. If you do not confess and come to faith in Jesus, the Bible will never make sense. And worse, you will be at risk from the lying delusion coming upon the whole earth.
What if I wait and see how things go before I confess and repent?

Don’t do it! A great delusion will come over the whole world and those who are not saved in faith by Jesus’ blood will believe the delusion. The bible says, “The coming of the lawless one (ANTICHRIST) 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)The Good News is, Jesus still loves you and wants you! If you repent and ask Him to forgive, He will. You’ll still go through the horrendous times, but when you die you will go to heaven and live forever with Jesus. Your first step is to repent & believe, and you will be saved from hell. Also, you will then understand the bible. The bible tells you what to do and what will happen next. The most important thing to remember is, JESUS LOVES YOU! Don’t mess it up again. Repent now!!!!!!!

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Posted in end time, light pillars, prophecy

Unusual v-shaped light pillars

Posted on by elizabethprata

I love celestial displays, especially auroras. I had the privilege of seeing them twice, once in Maine and once in Canada. Today spaceweather.com reports on light pillars, which are common in winter, but these are decidedly UNcommon. Here is what they have to say:

V-TOPPED LIGHT PILLARS: Light pillars are a common sight around cities in winter. Urban lights bounce off ice crystals in the air, producing tall luminous columns sometimes mistaken for auroras. But the light pillars Mike Hollingshead saw on Jan. 26th near a corn mill in Blair, Nebraska, were decidedly uncommon. “They had V-shaped tops,” he explains, “and some of the Vs were nested.” Here is what he saw:

Pretty, aren’t they! Here is more of an explanation from spaceweather:

“These light pillars are not just rare, they are exceptional!” declares atmospheric optics expert Les Cowley. “Ordinary pillars are produced by plate-shaped ice crystals roughly half way between you and the light source. These are different. Their rarely seen flared tops show that they were made by column shaped crystals drifting slowly downwards and aligned horizontal by air resistance.” “The flares are a form of the upper tangent arcs that we sometimes see in daytime halo displays,” he continues. “But even more exotic, some flares have a second one nested within them! Some ice crystal columns do not rotate but instead keep two of their prism faces improbably horizontal to give us the very uncommon Parry arcs of solar halo displays. The nested flares here are amazing and probably the light halo equivalent of Parry arcs.”

I hope you understood all that. As for me, I caught “pretty” and ‘exceptionally uncommon.’ Expect more of the uncommon as we draw near to the rapture and then of course the skies will explode with awe-inspiring and fear-inducing displays as a matter of almost daily course. Here are a few of the celestial fireworks to come –

“I looked when He opened the sixth seal, and behold, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became like blood.” (Rev 6:12)

“Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken.” (Matthew 24:29)

“After these things I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind should not blow on the earth, on the sea, or on any tree.” (Revelation 7:1)

“Then the third angel sounded: And a great star fell from heaven, burning like a torch, and it fell on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water.” (Revelation 8:10)

“Then the fourth angel sounded: And a third of the sun was struck, a third of the moon, and a third of the stars, so that a third of them were darkened. A third of the day did not shine, and likewise the night. ” (Revelation 8:12)

And more…but you get the idea. By the time the trumpet judgments of Revelation 8 come along, the weird and uncommon light pillars will look quaint and old fashioned, almost like a Morse Code machine next to an iPod.

The Lord is sending warnings to us for the purpose of awakening us to His presence. Throughout the Church Age, which began when He was resurrected and ascended into heaven, He has been drawing us to Him through grace. As the time draws to a close for this age to end, and the last 7 years of the Age of Law to conclude, He will pour out His wrath on the disbelieving and sinning world. Still, He will make opportunity to come to Him. These signs now and the signs to come are His way of communicating with us to repent. Repentance means that you understand He exists, He is moral and Holy, and that all the bad things you think, say, and do are a crime against Him and His Holiness. Unholy people will not enter heaven, but if you are sorry for your crimes, and ask Jesus to forgive them, He will. Jesus died as the sacrifice for sin for all time. Don’t ask me why God set it up that there had to be sacrifices in the first place, I don’t know the why of it. Only the fact of it. Jesus death satisfied God’s standard for punishment and all you need to do is go through Jesus to enter heaven.

If you disbelieve all of this, then ask yourself three sets of questions: what makes you think you are good enough to go to heaven? What IS “good enough?” Is there an absolute standard? Since everybody you ask says they are good enough to get to heaven, does that mean everybody will be there? Child molesters don’t think what they do is wrong. So where does someone draw the line?

Second, ask yourself why the world is going crazy. Because it most certainly is going crazy. These things happening are predicted and will continue to unfold just as the bible says.

The final question is, what will you do in response?
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Posted in end time, prophecy

About them FEMA camps

Posted on by elizabethprata

Our nation, and the world is no longer what it was. Riots in the Middle East lead directly to another, and over the past week the conflagration has ignited a regional revolution over there. In America, our rights and freedoms are being chipped away at in increasing pace. What was once a scalpel excision of rights from the Constitution is now a sledgehammer pounding. What with TSA pat downs and Government’s dictatorial and arbitrary decisions to restrict our movements in and around the nation and world, it puts the fear of government into most people. Add to that, “watch lists,” surveillance nation, prevention of entry at public places, denial of legal protest activity and banning of videotaping of law enforcement at work, we see clearly that Big Brother is here to stay.

The totalitarianism drift of this nation and all the other nations will result in earth’s final dictatorship- the Antichrist’s regime. It doesn’t take a genius to see the totalitarian drift our own US government is taking, and it doesn’t take a theological scholar to see that the earth’s final human government will be a complete dictatorship. (Rev 13:3). In between the now and the then, people are becoming increasingly worried about a rumor of  “FEMA camps”. These camps are allegedly locations around the nation that are reportedly being built, or have been built, to contain massive segments of the population in repressive times to come. The US government is reportedly fusing together the alphabet organizations (CIA-FBI-HSA-FEMA-NSA etc) to become one gargantuan monolithic governmental agency designed to hold the US populations in containment camps, perhaps to torture or even kill us. That is the rumor.

I do know about the FEMA camp rumors. Those rumors have been circulating for a very long time. I know that this week the heated rhetoric has ramped up even more and that people are getting fairly worried about it. Former Navy SEAL and MN Governor Jesse Ventura had a recent show on TruTV about it but a careful watching didn’t really illuminate any further facts about the camps than any other show.The burial vaults that were allegedly piled up for use by the government featured on the show are actually burial vaults … and they are stored at that location because they are, um, a burial vault manufacturing and storage facility.

Here is what the bible says: Luke 21:12- “But before all these things, they will lay their hands on you and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues and prisons. You will be brought before kings and rulers for My name’s sake.” Hal Lindsey interprets that verse as happening beginning now and into and throughout the Tribulation. Watch his Hal Lindsey Report about it for 1-21-11 here to decide of you interpret it that was too. I don’t. The parallel verse in Matthew 24:4-9 is more chronological “And Jesus answered and said to them: “Take heed that no one deceives you. For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many. And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of sorrows. “Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for My name’s sake.”

Prior to Christians being persecuted all the previous signs will have occurred, and the famines and pestilences Jesus is talking about are depicted in Revelation 6, and there is no doubt that the tribulation has begun.

Additionally, the Olivet Discourse is given completely to the Jews for their understanding, because the church age will have ended and Gentile believers will have vanished. Notice the verse in Luke says that they will be delivered up to synagogues. Not churches. The rounding up as described in the Olivet Discourse and in Revelation 13 is separate and distinct from the normal persecution that Christians have always endured on this earth since Stephen’s martyrdom in 34-35 AD. Revelation 13 says “The second beast was given power to give breath to the image of the first beast, so that the image could speak and cause all who refused to worship the image to be killed.” By then, yes, some kind of containment facility will likely have been developed, because I cannot envision how all the peoples all around the world will be rounded up and contained until their murder unless there are some facilities to do so. Just as likely, existing jails will be used.

I won’t write about the FEMA camps for a few reasons. I am not convinced we will be here for the coming Christian roundup and encampment, times that include persecution in prisons and death through martyrdom. (Although a case could be made that NOW is a tough time, it is a picnic compared to what’s coming.) Secondly, I try really hard in the delivering of this blog’s information not to add to the general confusion. I want to bring light to the situation, comfort in the face of what is coming. Also, I try to keep the focus on Jesus. FEMA camps are a rumor that is hard to pin down, doesn’t add to anyone’s general comfort, and is a sign that that doesn’t stem from biblical knowledge and is better interpreted as being against the timing of the end time as opposed to occurring in the Tribulation.

Last, even IF we are sent to camps prior to the Tribulation (which I DO NOT believe) Jesus is still in our hearts and that would be a great place to be a light for Him. Many people became saved in the concentration camps in WWII. Luke 21:12b-15 goes on to say of the people put into prisons for His name’s sake: “You will be brought before kings and rulers for My name’s sake. But it will turn out for you as an occasion for testimony. Therefore settle it in your hearts not to meditate beforehand on what you will answer; for I will give you a mouth and wisdom which all your adversaries will not be able to contradict or resist.”

I believe our Federal government has become our enemy. I believe that wholeheartedly. However I do not believe Christians will be rounded up and placed in government-run FEMA camps anytime soon. That is giving our government too much credit. Not for their will and intent, but for their ability to execute.

Jesus said not to worry. I am not worried about the FEMA camps. The FEMA camp conspiracy contributes to a climate of fear in the world. The scriptures contribute to a climate of peace in the heart. I choose peace.
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Posted in end of days, end time, prophecy

Stop it!

Posted on by elizabethprata

I listened to a great John MacArthur sermon that discussed how sin starts and what happens when we allow sin to continue without ending it at its root. MacArthur’s sermon is titled “Hacking Agag to pieces” and you can listen to or read part one here, and part 2 here. I recommend it.

There is a section of the two-part hour long sermon that made me think of a Bob Newhart skit. In the skit from MadTV, Newhart is a psychologist seeing a patient for the first time. Now, here is the salient part of MacArthur’s sermon about sin:

“Now what is he [Paul] saying? I’ll tell you what he’s saying. Stop lusting. It’s not too mystical. Stop lusting. It’s like 1 Corinthians 6:18, “Flee immorality.” Do you want to put to death the lusts in your heart? Then stop entertaining them. Peter doesn’t describe some complex program of therapy, he says quit lusting. Stop it. Put it out of your life. There’s no point sitting around waiting for some heavenly power to erase lust. There’s no point spending hours and hours or years and years looking for the right formula to chase away the demon of lust. Here’s a most simple straight-forward means of killing sin, stop lusting…stop it. It’s kind of like James 4 which says resist the devil and he’ll flee from you. Stop lusting and you’ll stop sinning.”

Here is the Newhart piece which I believe makes a great companion to the MacArthur point about sin. Watch the first 2:40:

LOL! If you want to get the impact of the point, then listen to MacArthur’s full part one of ‘Hacking Agag to pieces’. Then think of the Newhart skit. We laugh at the moment when Newhart says “STOP IT!” but there is truth to those words. We engage in self-indulgent therapies for sins we maintain are generated outside of our bodies, not inside. We let them linger, run around, placate them because those sins are ‘not our fault’. But MacArthur is right. There is no complex therapy that will help us stop sin. There is no divining rod to pass over us to erase it. It is up to us to stop it at the root. And that root is our thoughts. Do not think about your lusts. Do not entertain thoughts of them. STOP IT.

“Easy for you to say that!” you might make a charge against me. But I’ve been there. I’m still there. I have to work really really hard at not letting sinful thoughts enter into my head. When I find them, I have to work at telling my brain to “STOP IT”. It’s work. Paul said in Romans 6:12 “Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts.” Do not. It is as simple as that. “Present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God.” If you put on your armor, resist the devil, and guard your thoughts, “For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace.” (Romans 6:13b-14). And that is a very good place to be.
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Posted in end time, middle east unrest, prophecy

Unrest in the Middle East: ripped from the pages of the bible (UPDATED)

Posted on by elizabethprata

UPDATE: Please go here for update as of 2-21-11, as events are moving so fast. Link also includes map.

There has been unrest, regime change, or heavy protesting taking place in Tunisia, Algeria, Egypt, Yemen, Sudan and Lebanon over the last several weeks. Arutz Sheva reports, “With no fewer than five major areas of unrest/revolutions/regime changes going on in the Arab world, Arab satellite television, one of the mainstays of information dissemination in the Middle East, has been playing a major role in communicating news – or attempting, if not to suppress it, then at least to spin it.”

Part of that suppression is Egypt’s decision to shut off internet today in the wake of intensifying protests against the government. The people have been protesting President Hosni Mubarek, Egypt’s President for nearly thirty years. As this Dallas Morning News editorial aptly titled ‘Why we should care about Egypt protests‘ states, “American foreign policy in the Middle East, for the past four decades, has relied heavily on keeping certain dictatorships firmly in power — Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Jordan. We call most of them monarchies, but their rulers are not in power because of any kind of free and fair election. They survive because the U.S. government does everything in its power to keep them there. Despite all of our talk about democracy, it would be America’s (and Israel’s ) worst nightmare if the government of Hosni Mubarak were to suddenly fall from power and be replaced by a democratically elected government that truly represents the will of the Egyptian masses. Because the Egyptian masses are not predictable and could easily be swayed by the populist promises of Islamist parties such as the Muslim Brotherhood. Every single Middle Eastern country with a democratic form of government has experimented with the extremes — even Israel. Eventually, voters learn to moderate their leadership, but it takes time. And when you’re talking about the Middle East’s most populist country with an extremely high poverty rate, it really could take Egyptians a long time to figure out what, exactly they want. In the meantime, Egypt risks lurching back and forth, and an elected Islamist government could well decide, for example, that it’s No. 1 priority is to support its Hamas brothers in neighboring Gaza.”

Unrest and collapsing peace talks in the Middle East are constant and troublesome, but revolutions and prophetic alliances being cemented before our eyes is quite another thing entirely. Tunisia, Algeria, and Sudan are northern tier African countries prophesied to ally with Turkey-Iran-Russia in the Gog-Magog battle Ezekiel describes in chapters 38 and 39. Joel C. Rosenberg discussed a growing concern of the tightening ties between Russia, Iran and Sudan, here.

As we know, last week Lebanon’s government fell because of a governmental coup by the terrorist organization Hezbollah. Hezbollah is backed by Iran and Syria. Tunisia and Algeria are protesting economic hardships and the obvious graft and corruption of wealthy officials in the face of devastating poverty. Additionally, the Israel peace talks are widely acknowledged to have failed this month.

In a short article titled “Winds of Arab revolt reach Yemen” it was stated “Tens of thousands of protesters took to the streets of the Yemeni capital yesterday to demand the end of the three-decade rule of its President in the latest sign of rebellion sweeping the Arab world.”

It seems that unrest, even revolutions, are catching. Yet Jesus told us in Matthew 24:7 that in the Tribulation nation would rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. The word for nation in this context is “ethnos”, or ‘race’. This means that civil war will be a norm in addition to country vs. country kinds of war. It is interesting to note that Yemen and Egypt’s leaders have been in power for about thirty years, Tunisia’s President has been in power for for 22, Yemen’s president for 21 years.

There is a reason all these middle eastern nations are in the news just now. They are prominent in the last days and in the Tribulation. They are biblically prophesied to have a role in God’s continuing plan of redemption and judgment. That they are nearly at the point of fulfilling that role now speaks to how close we are to the rapture.
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Posted in end time, gog magog, hezbollah, lebanon, pre-tribulation rapture, prophecy

Lebanon falling into the abyss

Posted on by elizabethprata

Washington Post reports today:
“BEIRUT – The Shiite armed movement Hezbollah cobbled together enough support Monday to appoint Lebanon’s next prime minister, effectively ending nearly six years of rule by Western-backed leaders and prompting the United States to warn it could cut off aid to this key Arab nation. The apparent strength of Hezbollah marked an important political achievement for the group. It also signaled what appeared to be a significant shift for the country, away from alliances with the United States and Saudi Arabia, and toward Iran and Syria, which support Hezbollah.”

The result of this is that Lebanon is suffering a “Day of Rage” as supporters of deposed Prime Minister Hariri protest. According to Lebanon’s Naharnet News:
“Protests turned violent on Tuesday in Lebanon’s Sunni bastion of Tripoli as frenzied demonstrators wrecked an Al-Jazeera van while protesting the likely appointment of Hizbullah-backed premier. Angry demonstrators set upon the vehicle, smashing the windshield and tearing down the satellite dish before setting it on fire, AFP reporters witnessed. Demonstrators also torched the mopeds of other media outlets considered close to the Iranian-backed Shiite group Hizbullah. Local television reported similar incidents in the capital Beirut but security officials could not confirm the reports. The incidents came as Sunni supporters of outgoing prime minister Saad Hariri held a “day of rage” to protest the likely appointment of Hizbullah-backed Sunni tycoon Najib Mikati to head the next government.”

Hezbollah is a terrorist group. It is backed by terrorist nations Syria and Iran. Both Syria and Iran, as well as Lebanon figure into the end times. Psalm 83 predicts an alliance of nations abutting Israel to attack. Sometime in the last days also, Damascus is destroyed completely (Isaiah 17:1.) Damascus is Syria’s capital. And in Ezekiel 38-39, Iran leads a confederation of nations to attack Israel. This second attack includes nations of Turkey, Russia, Armenia, the northern tier of African nations, probably Comoros Islands. It does not include the nations of Psalm 83, so it is interpreted that Psalm 83 happens first and Israel decimates them enough so that they cannot participate in the Gog Magog battle of Ez 38-39. We may be looking at the run-up to Psalm 83 and Isaiah 17:1 now.

Analysis by knowledgeable parties covering the Lebanon situation say Israel’s response has been to monitor closely and send a recon team of Israeli commandos into Lebanon for a brief period last night. It is not known if or when Israel will respond, because they are staying totally tight lipped on military intentions. There was an emergency security meeting last Sunday from which no details were leaked or discussed.

Gunfire has been reported from Kola, Lebanon, and Al-arabiya reports: heavy clashed between protesters and Army in central Beirut. The vote has been completed and the pro-Hezbollah candidate wins for Prime Minister, ensuring a Hezbollah led pro-Syria, Iran-proxy government. This is basically the worst case scenario for Israel and by extension Lebanon since they will be the literal battleground.  It looks like the pro western Mar14 now have no role in government unless there is a sudden deal. As of this moment,  there has been a massive upsurge of violence and protest once the result of the vote became known.

With the collapse of Western-led peace talks with Israel and the “Palestinians”, with the collapse of Western influenced peace talks with Iran over their nuclear program, and with the collapse of the tenuous Western-supported government in Lebanon, the tide is turning heavily against Israel and tensions are giving sway to violence and military conflicts. A UK official speaking anonymously said this morning that he thinks Lebanon is falling into the abyss. Pray!
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Posted in agriculture, bacteria, canker, end time, florida citrus, prophecy

What is happening to the world’s agricultural industry? Pests, weather, and losses bring us to the brink of famine

Posted on by elizabethprata

What is happening to the global agricultural industry? We know that the terrible winter has taken a devastating toll on crops all over the world, but it has also taken its toll on acreage. In Sri Lanka, “this month’s floods washed away swathes of agricultural lands, taking away livelihoods of thousands of people.” The situation report for the week ending January 13 states, “A total of 967,115 persons have been affected, with 18 deaths, two missing and 49 injured as of 12 January. A total of 195,919 persons are displaced in 493 temporary relocation centers in eight districts.” According to the Asia Tribune, “the floods have inundated 200,000 acres of paddy lands in the 5 major paddy cultivation districts and it is estimated that rice harvest in the next season may go down by over 360,000 tons which could precipitate a food shortages in the country in the coming months.”

Australia lost fields the size of Egypt in this current flooding season. Thousands of acres of ripe farmland have been lost, not to mention cattle and crops. On the other side of the world, “Parts of northern China are seeing their harshest winter in decades, with Beijing this month receiving its heaviest one-day snowfall in 59 years. Also Monday, Mongolia’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Zandanshatar Gombojav said most rural provinces in the poor, landlocked country sandwiched between China and Russia were covered by up to 20 inches (50 centimeters) of snow. He said nearly 800,000 animals had been lost while many transport routes were blocked by heavy snow.”

Almost a million cattle, lost? That hurts.

Florida’s non-citrus crop losses from cold could total $370M
“Green bean prices have tripled in North Florida. Mustard greens are hard to find at any price. Cabbage is now going for 69 cents a pound, way more than the three-pounds-for-$1 usually available in January. The hikes in fresh vegetable prices are the most obvious signs for many Floridians that the exceptionally cold weather this winter has taken a big bite out of the produce supply chain. The Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services has estimated 2.5 million cartons or cases of fruits and vegetables were lost during December — not including processed citrus. Officials said another 4 million cartons of produce are expected to be lost before the end of March. Those losses translate into more than $150 million of lost cash sales so far, according to agriculture department spokesman Sterling Ivey.”

It is evident just from those few excerpts that the extreme weather has taken a serious toll on the agricultural industries around the world. Though all farmers expect weather-related setbacks, the deep losses and difficulties of weather struggles of record-setting events will be nearly impossible to recover from. We’re talking millions upon millions of lost revenue, millions and millions of pounds of food, and that is not something the world recovers from easily, even if we were promised the best of conditions in the near term. And the conditions are absolutely going to get worse in the near term, that is a biblical promise. So you see where this is going.

But another kind of impact besides weather is also taking its toll on agriculture. Strange plant pestilences and diseases are cropping up all over the world, many of which ave never been seen before. These plant diseases are stumping scientists as to a remedy.

In New Zealand a new Disease Threatens New Zealand Kiwi Industry
“At ground level, a typed notice warns people not to enter the orchard since the discovery of a destructive canker, found in New Zealand for the first time last Monday. What the notice does not say is that pseudomonas syringae pv actinidae, usually known as PSA, has the country’s kiwi industry, worth 1.5 billion New Zealand dollars, or $1.2 billion, in a crisis mode.”

Monsters & Critics reported about “the potential impact of a vine disease never seen before in the country.”

Speaking of bacterial canker “never before seen”, the same thing is happening in Oregon in the US, but this time with wheat:
Investigators baffled as wheat fields wither
The wheat mystery of Umatilla and Morrow counties
“The Oregon Department of Agriculture and Oregon State University are investigating the yellowing of upward of 40,000 acres of wheat in Umatilla and Morrow counties. So far, the cause is a mystery, and researchers do not know if the problems in the two counties are related. In early November, Umatilla County growers noticed wheat fields turning yellow and dying, OSU Extension soil scientist Don Wysocki said. Sixteen fields from three to 10 miles northwest of Pendleton were affected, Wysocki said. OSU Morrow County Extension associate professor Larry Lutcher said 30,000 to 40,000 acres of wheat in his county have plants with yellow or purple tips. The discoloration spreads inward and downward on the leaf. In some cases, plants are completely desiccated and will not recover.”

And…speaking again of an incurable bacteria killing the crops and the plants and trees on which they grow, it is happening in Florida, as reported January 20, 2011:

Incurable bacteria poses threat to citrus trees
“While Florida farmers have lost some of their crop to cold weather for the second year in a row, they say a fast-spreading, incurable bacteria presents a greater threat to their trees and the citrus industry. Citrus greening has destroyed groves in the U.S., Brazil, Asia and Africa. Detected in Florida in 2005, it leaves fruit sour, malformed and unusable. Eventually, it kills the tree. The disease has been particularly devastating because it takes years for citrus trees to reach peak production, and the disease targets young trees, making it difficult for growers to replace those that have been lost. “It’s probably one of the biggest negative impacts in Florida today, short of the housing collapse,” said Louis Schacht, a Vero Beach farmer whose family has grown oranges for 60 years.”

I emphasize that weather and pests are part of the normal hazards for farmers. However, the range, scope, and pure mystery of these events coming at so close a time to each other is what bears looking into. And I was struck by the similar language in these two agricultural press releases this week:

CBP Stops Agricultural Pest at Nogales Port 
A U.S. Customs and Border Protection agriculture specialist discovered a potentially dangerous insect on fresh citrus leaves being brought into the U.S. from Mexico on Jan. 4, according to a CBP spokesman.
Brian Levin said the insect discovery was the first of its kind at the Mariposa Port of Entry near Nogales.

Destructive beetle unheard of in U.S. nabbed at San Diego Port
A beetle spotted by a sharp-eyed agriculture specialist at the Port of San Diego early this month turned out to be a highly destructive pest never before seen in the United States, federal officials reported Friday. On Jan. 3, the inspector discovered the tan-and-black insect lurking in a load of bananas in a maritime shipping container from Peru…

Do you get the idea that this is a losing battle? It is. Agriculture will wither all across the globe before too much longer. Accept Jesus as your Lord and ask him to forgive your sins and then He will do your battles for you!
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Posted in end of days, end time, pre-tribulation rapture, prophecy, yellowstone

Yellowstone Has Bulged as Magma Pocket Swells

Posted on by elizabethprata

Good morning all! I have to run, headed to work, but I saw this and wanted to get it out there ASAP. Yellowstone is the site of a super-volcano. I wrote about a link between prophecy, volcanic activity, and scripture here. My, oh, my it seeks the birth pangs are increasing up to warp speed. Please, PLEASE get right with Jesus!

January 19, 2011:
Yellowstone Has Bulged as Magma Pocket Swells
Yellowstone National Park’s supervolcano just took a deep “breath,” causing miles of ground to rise dramatically, scientists report. The simmering volcano has produced major eruptions—each a thousand times more powerful than Mount St. Helens’s 1980 eruption—three times in the past 2.1 million years. Yellowstone’s caldera, which covers a 25- by 37-mile (40- by 60-kilometer) swath of Wyoming, is an ancient crater formed after the last big blast, some 640,000 years ago. Since then, about 30 smaller eruptions—including one as recent as 70,000 years ago—have filled the caldera with lava and ash, producing the relatively flat landscape we see today. But beginning in 2004, scientists saw the ground above the caldera rise upward at rates as high as 2.8 inches (7 centimeters) a year. (Related: “Yellowstone Is Rising on Swollen ‘Supervolcano.'”) The rate slowed between 2007 and 2010 to a centimeter a year or less. Still, since the start of the swelling, ground levels over the volcano have been raised by as much as 10 inches (25 centimeters) in places. “It’s an extraordinary uplift, because it covers such a large area and the rates are so high,” said the University of Utah’s Bob Smith, a longtime expert in Yellowstone’s volcanism.”

The article goes on to say that experts don’t think there is any cause for alarm. They also say that such dramatic uplifts do not presage an eruption, and also that it is a natural part of Yellowstone’s cycle. You can decide…there’s more at link from NatGeo.

I wrote about Yellowstone as a volcano here, “Yellowstone shown to have plume on the rise“
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