rapture – Page 4

Does the Bible teach that Christians will be delivered from the wrath to come?

Posted on June 25, 2014May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

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In addition to this short, clear teaching from John Ankerberg below, I’d also add Revelation 3:10-

“Because you have kept my word about patient endurance, I will keep you from the hour of trial that is coming on the whole world, to try those who dwell on the earth.”

And these two. verses. Revelation 13:7a says “Also it was allowed to make war on the saints and to conquer them.”

But didn’t Jesus say in Matthew 16:18 that “I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”

How can Jesus say in Matthew that the church will not be overcome, yet in Revelation the saints are overcome? Because Revelation’s verse is talking about the Tribulation saints, not the church, because the church is gone! Otherwise the two verses would contradict.

Please be encouraged by this 3-minute teaching:

atonement, rapture

Rapture picture

Posted on June 17, 2014May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

I was poking around in an old, old cemetery one day. I like cemeteries. I grew up next to one, and played there for hours. I liked to look at the ‘old Indian graves’, (which were really the graves of the first residents, 1600s era), marveled at the towering granite statues from the richer dead inhabitants, I was saddened by the baby graves. I rode my bike up and down the long, hilly pathways, and read Nancy Drew books under the pine tree near the brook.

Being that the family business was Undertaking, and that we lived next to a cemetery and there were two across the street, I thought about death a lot. Even in my child’s mind, I’d wonder, what happens after death? Is there more, or is this it? Where are all those dead people now?

The interest in cemeteries lasted through my adulthood. I’d visit them to take pictures wherever I went.

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I waited 42 years, but then I found out the answers to my childhood questions. I discovered the incredible, certain, absolute truth. There IS more after death. Everyone who lay under the ground in all those cemeteries I visit are either in heaven or in hell. In heaven, it’s perfect and wonderful and Jesus is there.

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But how do you get there? One must repent of their sins. Sins prevent us from going to heaven, which is holy because God is holy. It is His holy habitation. And yes, we all sin. You are a sinner. I am a sinner. We are born that way. We are always doing, or thinking, or saying wrong things that rebel against God. We all have sinned and fall short of His glory. (Romans 3:23)

So God sent Jesus down to earth. “You made him for a little while lower than the angels; you have crowned him with glory and honor, putting everything in subjection under his feet.” (Hebrews 2:7-8)

Jesus lived the perfectly sinless life that we could not. He preached Gd’s truth to a rebellious nation. He was despised, rejected, and crucified. Jesus’ rejection and death did not surprise God. This was all according to God’s plan. When Jesus was dying, he became sin, and God poured out His wrath on Jesus, wrath that was meant for us. Pleased with His Son’s submission, life, and sacrifice, God raised Jesus on the third day. Jesus is alive!

Jesus had become the sacrificial lamb in our stead, living the life we were meant to but couldn’t because of Adam and Eve’s sin in the Garden. He died, taking on all of God’s wrath for our sins. Because Jesus made a way, now any person can enter heaven through Jesus and be forgiven of their sins. They will be declared righteous, their sins pardoned, because God exhausted His wrath on Jesus. You will have escaped the penalty. All you had to do is ask forgiveness and submit to Jesus.

If a person refuses to go through Jesus, asking Him to forgive their sins and repenting of them, then when they die they will go to hell and receive the wrath that is due them. You see, the pardon only extends to those who go through Jesus, that is the only place where the wrath was exhausted. That’s what we mean when we say ‘Jesus is the only way.’ In no other religion, scheme, method, or plan, are your sins forgiven and are you made holy by God. If all the people of all the world end up going to heaven by all these different paths, what makes it heaven? It would not be holy. And God would not be God because He never would have dealt with man’s rebellion against Him and rendered justice. No, Jesus is the only way. We are blessed that there IS a way!

As John Bunyan, eventual writer of Pilgrim’s Progress, was being convicted of his sins and just prior to his conversion, he heard this in his mind:

‘Will you leave your sins and go to heaven, or have your sins and go to hell?’

Someday Jesus will return. He will put a stop to all this evil in the world. He will render justice, and avenge the blood of the martyrs. (Revelation 6:10). He will judge all flesh, according to their deeds.

But before He comes He is going to call His bride home. His bride is His church. He is going to emerge from His holy abode in heaven, shout with a loud voice and the dead shall rise and the living shall rise and we will meet Him in the air. He will lead us to heaven and we will escape the wrath of God. God will unleash His stored-up anger and it will become a literal hell on earth.

In the rapture event to come, Paul said the dead shall rise first. He was answering the Thessalonians’ questions about the things of the end of days, and Paul said “Don’t you remember when I was with you I was telling you these things?” (2 Thessalonians 2:5.) He was referring to this verse:

For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17)

I think about that verse a lot. It is the moment when the end of the Age of Grace occurs and we shall be translated from our sinful fleshly bodies to glorified sinless bodies, and be with the Lord in Heaven.

Back to the first line in this essay. I was poking around an old cemetery in my neck of the woods. I saw this grave and I wondered what had happened to it. Then I started thinking that when Jesus calls us in the rapture, all the graves are going to look like this!!

I no longer have to wonder about the grave. The grave will not hold me. Will it hold you? Will you repent of your sins and enter heaven through the narrow gate? The narrow gate is Jesus, and He is waiting for you. The age is fast coming to a close. The trumpet will blow…and the dead shall rise…

“O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” (1 Corinthians 15:55)

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eschatology, last things, pre-tribulation rapture, rapture

The rapture!

Posted on June 12, 2014May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

This is one of the biblical passages that teach us the great doctrine of the rapture:

But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. Therefore encourage one another with these words. (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18).

Let’s encourage one another with these words! How do we do that? I’m sure you have your ideas, but one way is simply to speak of this beautiful doctrine frequently. We must not be uninformed.

S. Lewis Johnson, who taught a pretribulation rapture, said of the text,

“Then last time in our study we took a look at the calendar of future events. I hope we found it. I know it is exciting and thrilling, moving from the coming apostasy in the church — a measure that is already with us — through the advent of the Lord Jesus to the eternal state. We who are believers surely have a great hope – I’m not at all sure that we speak of it too much – in fact probably under the influence of criticism we do not speak of our heavenly hope enough.”

The rapture is getting such a terrible knock these days, and in some, it actually sparks anger! Johnson made that statement in 1976 that due to criticism sometimes we are too gun-shy to speak of it, and look at the growing apostasy now in 2014 and the anger and fervent hatred the doctrine brings up, even among “brethren”. An example of it happened to me just yesterday.

This man named Justin W. White, who in his bio says he “loves theology”, tweeted a response to my tweet regarding the Southern Baptist Convention’s resolution to affirm that God-ordained gender is God’s will and it’s sin to change it (RE: transgenderism). I’d not mentioned rapture AT ALL, but in his response, he brought it up and used profanity too.

#SBC14 opposes “Heaven Is For Real” because it is non-scriptural, but they buy into a literal rapture? Yeah. about that.
I replied, “Because heaven tourism isn’t biblical, but rapture is. (no the English word ‘rapture’ isn’t in the bible, but the concept is)“
He answered: “the rapture is not a historical/orthodox doctrine of the church. It is modern bs made to scare people into moralism.”

I seriously wonder how someone could be a Christian and NOT be comforted by the promises that Jesus is coming soon to gather His church to Himself!

How beautiful are the doctrines of His second return. Though the rapture isn’t the Second Coming per se, it is a doctrine of last things which precedes His second and final return to earth to judge the living and the dead. He will call us up to Himself and we will always be with the Lord. How encouraging to look forward to!

John 14:1-3 says,

“Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; a believe also in me. 2In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?b 3And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.”

Just reading those words are so very comforting. Knowing that the Lord is preparing a place for us, that He is returning for us, that He will resurrect our loved ones alive and dead, and bring up the ancient saints who died even during the apostolic age, that we will be given our glorified (sinless!!) bodies, that we will be with Him…there are so many encouraging things to look forward to!

S. Lewis Johnson, who taught a pretribulation rapture, said,

Lake Como: Garden, Villa Arconati, 1905

“The doctrine of the rapture of the church is an important doctrine for us. I say doctrine that suggests for us faithfulness in service. It should be a motive and incentive to give ourselves to devotion to the Lord Jesus. It should also have tremendous motivation in evangelistic activity. I refer to our own personal testimony. It also should be a comforting doctrine.”

There is an old story about a man who visited the Villa Ara Connate in Italy. He saw the gardener. The grounds were kept in beautiful shape, speaking to the gardener he said, “When does the owner of this villa come here?”

He said, “Well, I’ve been working here for 20 years, and he’s only been here four times.”

“When was the last time that he was here?”

“12 years ago.”

“Who takes charge? To whom do you report?”

He said, “I report to a steward in Milan.”

“Why, you keep these gardens as if you were expecting the owner tomorrow.”

And the gardener replied, “Today, sir. Today.”

“That really is the kind of attitude provoked by the doctrine of the rapture of the church as the next significant prophetic event. I think that on balance the Scriptures teach that the Lord Jesus to come again for the church imminently, and that we have reason from Scripture to look for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and savior Jesus Christ.”

So this great prophetic message has tremendous moral value. We should never think of the doctrines of the word of God with reference to the future as simply doctrines that tickle our curiosity. They are doctrines that are designed to affect our spiritual life. They are designed to make us more moral, more spiritual, more Christian in all of our activity. ~S. Lewis Johnson
“…to be with the Lord.” Now, THAT is heaven. Do not let satan steal your hope. Do not let criticism suppress your encouragement of the brethren. Do not let liberal seminaries forget to teach this important doctrine. Do not be shushed in church.

“knowing this first of all, that scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires.” (2 Peter 3:3)As one of the commenters said, “Their very scoffing shall confirm the truth of the prediction.”

_____________________

Apocalyptic dust storm suddenly engulfs Tehran

Posted on June 2, 2014May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

I am always intrigued when people term an event ‘apocalyptic’. We are all wired to acknowledge God, we’re made in His image after all, and we’re living on His creation. We all understand that there are events, and there are disasters, and then there are disastrous events that defy normal comprehension. (Joplin MO F-5 tornado, Japan 9.0 quake, Indonesian tsunami…). And yet, for all that, the Tribulation will be so far beyond that, we can’t even really manage a comprehensible envisioning of that event, really.

And yet, when an unprecedented or unexpected or especially disastrous event happens, they say it is an apocalypse.

Tehran, Iran engulfed by massive dust storm
A massive dust storm engulfed Tehran late Monday afternoon, killing up to five people and creating an apocalyptic scene in the Iranian capital. “The skies over Tehran suddenly turned black as a wall of sand hit the city from the west, my wife called me to come home ‘now’,” tweeted Thomas Erdbrink, Tehran bureau chief for the New York Times. Fars News Agency, an independent news organization in Iran, called the event “unexpected and rather unprecedented.”

The Washington Post reported the reason that the storm freaked everyone out so much:

Tehran, Iran swallowed by massive dust storm, walloped by 70 mph winds
Weather observations in Tehran show a stunning transformation in conditions as the storm struck. A 5 p.m. local time, it was 91 degrees with a moderate breeze. At 5:30 p.m., the temperature dropped to 73 degrees with a raging sustained wind at 55 mph gusting to 69 mph in a reported thunderstorm with heavy rain. By 6 p.m., the temperature was down to 66 degrees, with a sustained wind of 35 mph.

I am reminded of the bible’s warnings of the day when judgment shall come. Not that this particular storm is judgment, I don’t know that one way or another. But conditions were calm one moment, and half an hour later people thought the apocalypse was happening. When it actually happens, it will be just like that, rapid, sudden, unprecedented, and surprising.

“In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on that day all the fountains of the great deep burst forth, and the windows of the heavens were opened.” (Genesis 7:11)

Just like that, one day it had never rained, and the next, at a precise hour, all the fountains of the earth burst open.

“For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and they did not understand until the flood came and took them all away; so will the coming of the Son of Man be.” (Matthew 24:38-39)

The point is, are you ready? Jesus will render judgment one day. It will be sudden and surprising- to those who were eating and drinking and marrying and giving in marriage, that is. To those of us who pray, worship, and watch, it will not be surprising. We eagerly await the Groom, and we will be removed at a sudden second before the judgment comes again. Some who are left behind will see that sign and know that when the rapture occurs, the fountains of the deep are opening again metaphorically speaking, and they will repent. The penalty for not claiming Jesus as King during the Age of Grace is that they will live during a time of horrific judgment, and die during that period, or be martyred. Some will live to the end and populate the Millennial Kingdom, but oh, what sorrow they will endure.

Others will deny the rapture event as a sign and continue planting and building and buying and selling … but they will be destroyed.

“Likewise, just as it was in the days of Lot—they were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building, but on the day when Lot went out from Sodom, fire and sulfur rained from heaven and destroyed them all— so will it be on the day when the Son of Man is revealed.” (Luke 17:28-30).

Therefore friend, the question of this age, is Are You Ready?

——————————————-
From GotQuestions:

“How can I be ready to be caught up in the Rapture?”

It is much simpler than you may think. The short answer is that you must receive Jesus Christ as your Savior. Now for the long answer. When you ask this question, we assume that you have heard that not all Christians will be taken when the Rapture occurs. You probably have been told that only “super Christians” who are living a holy life will be raptured, and all the other Christians will have to suffer through the Tribulation. This is not true, and we will show you why this is not true from Scripture.

The first thing that you must understand is the purpose for the Tribulation. The Tribulation is a time of judgment on the earth and punishment for Israel. Please note that Israel and the Church are not the same group of people. The Church is a spiritual organism. People in the Church are related because of their spiritual birth (by being born again – John 3:3). The people of Israel (Jews) are related by blood. This is a race of people to whom God made special promises in the Old Testament. God declared a time of judgment upon Israel for their unfaithfulness. This time of judgment is clearly declared to be only for Israel (Daniel 9:24-27).

Gabriel brought a message from God to Daniel (9:20-21). Daniel 9:24 says, “Seventy weeks have been decreed for your people and your holy city, to finish the transgression, to make an end of sin, to make atonement for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most holy place.” In this message Gabriel specifies to Daniel that the time is “for your people.” Daniel’s people were Jews, the nation of Israel. God declared 70 weeks against the nation of Israel. This “70 weeks” is literally in the Hebrew “70 sevens.” In other words, 70 times 7 years, or 490 years. Of those years, 483 (69 times 7) of them were fulfilled from the end of the Israel’s captivity in Babylon to the cutting off of Messiah (the crucifixion of Christ). This leaves 7 years of judgment yet to be fulfilled. Those 7 years are the years of the Tribulation. The point is that this prophecy concerns Israel primarily, and the purpose of the judgment is “to finish the transgression, to make an end of sin, to make atonement for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most holy place.”

Now, we can also demonstrate from Scripture that Christians will not be in the Tribulation. A study of 1 Thessalonians 4:13 through 5:9 shows this. In this passage Paul writes about the Rapture and the Day of the Lord. First Thessalonians 5:9 gives Christians this promise: “God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.” Pay close attention to this verse. Paul says God has not destined us for wrath, specifically the wrath of the Day of the Lord (5:2).

Further evidence that Christians will not go through the Tribulation comes from 1 Corinthians. In that letter Paul sharply rebukes the believers for being carnal Christians. But in chapter 15, Paul writes of the Rapture, and he never indicates that any of the Corinthian believers, carnal though they were, would be left behind. True believers in Jesus Christ will not have to endure the Tribulation.

The only way you will be left behind in the Rapture is if you have not received Christ as your Savior.

————-end GotQuestions————

Jesus could call His bride home at any moment. I am looking forward to that. Words don’t do my anticipation justice. I hope to see you there.

appearing, clouds, crown, rapture

He is coming on the clouds

Posted on May 30, 2014May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

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Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that Day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing. (2 Timothy 4:8)

Pulpit Commentary says, “That have loved his appearing. It will be a characteristic of those who will be crowned at that day that all the time they were lighting the good fight they were looking forward with hope and desire for their Lord’s appearing and kingdom. “Thy kingdom come” was their desire and their petition. They will be able to say at that day, “So, this is our God; we have waited for him, and he will save us: this is the Lord; we have waited for him, we will be glad and rejoice in his salvation” (Isaiah 25:9)

John MacArthur says of the 2 Timothy verse,

“Now somebody might say, “This seems a little egotistical. I’ve finished my course. I’ve kept the faith. I’ve done it all, now, Lord, I want my reward.” Is this selfish? Is this somewhat crass or self-indulgent? Is this a bit self-centered? Let me tell you why it’s not. God has made the promise. God promised the reward, it isn’t wrong to want what God promised. Furthermore, listen carefully, our eternal reward takes into consideration not only what we did but why we did it. Did you get that? And why we did it can either affirm the doing or cancel the doing. For Paul writing in 1 Corinthians chapter 4 and looking ahead to the time of reward says, “Do not go on passing judgment before the time but wait until the Lord comes who will both bring to light the things hidden in the darkness and disclose the motives of men’s hearts and then each man’s praise will come to him from God.” Motive is bound up in the deed. And admittedly sometimes…sometimes it seems as though you never do anything from a totally pure motive. But God knows the motive and what of that motive is pure is that which will be rewarded. So we don’t need to fear that we might be rewarded for selfish self-centered egotistical self-indulgent crass service. The wrong motive cancels the doing of the deed. But whatever has been done for Christ and in His name with a proper heart motive for His glory, that will be rewarded.”

I tell people that Jesus will come tomorrow. And the next day I say He will come tomorrow. And the next…and so on. One of these days, soon I think, I’ll be right. He IS returning, He promised to. He will gather His babes to Himself and take us to His home, and forever we will be with the Lord.

rapture, sign

(Possible) "torrential meteor storm" tonight

Posted on May 23, 2014 by elizabethprata

This one snuck up on me. The Chicago Tribune reports,

Late Friday night into Saturday morning, North America will probably see a brand-new meteor shower, and there’s a good chance that these gentle shooting stars will become a torrential meteor storm and provide quite a light show. The new meteors — the Camelopardalids — are dusty remnants of a comet discovered in 2004. With clear skies, sky gazers may see meteor activity beginning at 10:30 p.m. Friday, according to Bill Cooke of the Meteoroid Environment Office at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. Astronomers predict that the peak will occur between 2 and 4 a.m. Eastern time Saturday, but Cooke believes that gazers may be able to catch sight of shooting stars through the dawn before sunrise washes them out. Cooke said that thanks to Jupiter’s gravitational pull, the comet’s debris trail is intersecting the Earth’s orbit for the first time.

New meteor showers are found fairly often, Cooke said, but with falling star rates so low “even an experienced observer would not notice them.” He added, “New showers with rates of tens or hundreds per hour are very rare.

It is a new meteor shower, that’s why it snuck up on me. The scientists know the date and the duration but don’t know the intensity. Some say the shower could fizzle out. Others say there could be up to 200 per hour. Hence the use of ‘possible’ in the blog essay title.

Here is another article about it: Tonight’s meteor shower cold be a really great one

What a spectacular show the Lord is putting on. The hail and lightning the last couple of days, and now this “new” and “torrential” star shower.

Though everything that happens ultimately is related to the last days, because God is working all things out to fulfill His plan, and all things will ultimately dwindle down to the one moment the church is raptured and His judgments begin, the meteor shower isn’t an event we can definitively point to and say “aha, a sign.” For example, there is this verse,

“There will be great earthquakes, and in various places famines and pestilences. And there will be terrors and great signs from heaven.” (Luke 21:11)

It is a Tribulation verse. Are there great earthquakes happening at this same time? Widespread pestilences? No. The meteor shower will be fun to watch and ascribe God’s power and glory to, and while it is tangentially a sign because everything is under His sun and working to the last moments of history, it isn’t a definitive end times sign.

Start watching at around 10pm, astronomers say. The shower is supposed to peak between 2-4 am. Some reports say there could be up to 200 an hour- that’s an amazing 3 per minute. Another scientist said that you should go to where there isn’t a lot of ambient ground light, where there is an unobstructed swathe of sky to view, and bring a chair to be comfortable. I am lucky, in my rural area there are no lights (except for one across the street at the school), and though my yard is rimmed by trees, it’s large so I can see a big section of the sky. Be sure to enjoy God’s show tonight, and as always, keep looking up.

“You, Lord, laid the foundation of the earth in the beginning,

and the heavens are the work of your hands;

they will perish, but you remain;

they will all wear out like a garment,

like a robe you will roll them up,

like a garment they will be changed.

But you are the same,

and your years will have no end.”

(Hebrews 1:10-12)

God, hail, jesus, rapture

Crazy hailstorm in Denver and Pennsylvania, photos (updated)

Posted on May 23, 2014May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

I was torn about tonight’s blog essay. I had prepared about 80% of an essay about the unusual earthquakes happening this week. Then I became entranced with the phrase “ears to hear” and discernment, and spent time in prayer and listening to a sermon about it. But yesterday and tonight I’m watching in amazement the severe weather beating up the eastern half of the United States- the thunder and lightning and wind, and especially the hail!

There was epic hail in Denver and environs last night and tonight it is happening in Pennsylvania now. I mean epic. People were flabbergasted and weather forecasters were astounded. Let me show you.

————————–

UPDATE Friday, May, 23. Shawn Reynols at Weather Center Live just tweeted, “Almost 500 reports of #hail since Tuesday. Insane.”

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First Choice Weather ‏@1stChoiceWeathr Incredible hail along 222 in Lancaster. Thanks to @s_sstormchasing

RT @Stormrushdotnet: Hail storm in Reading, PA shattered my mom’s apartment windows. Wow. #pawx

4 inch hail in Binghamton NY photo by National Weather Service NY

Tennis ball sized hail in Danville PA photo by Kevin Pursel

Tornado warned area in Franklin VA photo by @MartinMMC

Windows shattered from golf ball sized hail. Wyomissing, PA via @t_franco12

Today it has been stormy from Va to PA to NY. Last night it was the middle of the country. Here is a shot of a thunder and lightning storm rolling in to Cleveland OH-

Epic #OHwx –> RT @BuzzFeedStorm: Thunderstorm approaches downtown Cleveland, Ohio, earlier tonight – @JeffreyRStroup

Crazy pic of hail from Colorado Springs, Colo. via @KKTV11News:

Incredible #COwx –> RT @COWeatherguy: @WCL_Shawn @coloradowx hail for you!!

I saw a video of inside malls, where the hail had easily broken the skylights and hail and rain was pouring in, one in CO and one in PA. Here is a CNN report of the CO hail storm, and there were tornadoes too.

Tornadoes, large hail smack Colorado
“A fierce weather system — featuring baseball-sized hail and multiple tornadoes — ripped through Colorado on Wednesday afternoon, spurring warnings to people in and around Denver to take cover. The frenzy was tied to a dangerous super cell thunderstorm that, in addition to heaps of hail, produced a number of twisters, according to storm chasers on the scene. The National Weather Service said there were reported tornado touchdowns in Watkins, East Denver, Aurora, Byers and Leader. One witness, Jeff Piotrowski, said shortly after 3 p.m. (5 p.m. ET) that he had personally seen five tornadoes on the ground not far from Denver International Airport. … The weather service’s Boulder branch retweeted a photo of about 6 inches of accumulated hail in Denver’s Green Valley Ranch, plus another showing Highway 470 restricted to one lane because of the hard, white stuff.“

Here is a news article about the hail from Weather Channel
Hail the size of ping pong balls sent pedestrians running for cover in Colorado Springs, and cars slid on the hail along Interstate 70 in Aurora. The hail piled up several inches deep, dented cars and broke windows out of some homes. Officials used snow plows to clear the hail from the main airport access road. Frontier Airlines says 13 of its flights were canceled due to its aircraft being damaged by hail. … Wednesday marked the second day in a row a hail storm hit the Denver metro area.
Thunderstorms packing hail and dangerous lightning also made their way across Illinois and Indiana on Wednesday.

Two days of epic hail is interesting. The bible says of hail, one of many verses,

He gave them hail for rain,

and fiery lightning bolts through their land.

He struck down their vines and fig trees,

and shattered the trees of their country.

(Psalm 105:32-33)

Easton’s Bible Dictionary says of hail: “one of the plagues of Egypt ( Exodus 9:23 ). It is mentioned by Haggai as a divine judgment (Haggai 2:17 ). A hail-storm destroyed the army of the Amorites when they fought against Joshua ( Joshua 10:11 ). Ezekiel represents the wall daubed with untempered mortar as destroyed by great hail-stones (Ezek. 13:11 ). (See also 38:22 ; Revelation 8:7 ; 11:19 ; 16:21 .)”

Even secular man jokes about the plague of hail. Shawn Reynolds of Weather Center Live at the Weather Channel tweeted, “Incredible pics of hail in PA, tractor trailers on fire in AL. Anyone know if the locusts are due to arrive around 5p?“

No, not locusts (yet) but Jesus is due to arrive at some point in the future, the near future by the look of it. I hope that sinful man is prepared by repenting of his sins and submitting to Lord Jesus. He is the way, the truth, and the life. He is the ONLY way. (John 14:6).

And aren’t we grateful God made a way for us to return to Him in heaven! Separated no more! Though He reveals His power in the weather, He revealed His love through His Son, Jesus.

“And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.” (Matthew 3:17)

fig tree, prophecy, rapture

The fig tree is blooming

Posted on April 11, 2014May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

I love my End Time banner, the bird flying. I took that photo of birds against a stormy sky. The shades of blue-to-gray seemed calming to me and the bird’s perfect silhouette was just precious.

In addition, it was uncluttered and allowed for easy reading of the blog title and title description, and didn’t compete with the text.

In a Georgia spring, there is a lot to look at. I often walk around the yard, looking at the burst of blossoms everywhere. I especially like the large fig tree in the back yard. It yields lots of figs in two or three harvests a year. Yay!

Fig trees and figs figure prominently in the bible. (Did you see what I did there?) I like this verse-

“And he told them a parable: “Look at the fig tree, and all the trees. As soon as they come out in leaf, you see for yourselves and know that the summer is already near. So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that the kingdom of God is near.” (Luke 21:29-31)

When I see the fig tree blooming, I like to think that the rapture is near. I know the two aren’t literally linked, the verse is only a parable after all, but after living so many years in Maine and never even dreaming that actual fig trees could actually grow in the yard and actual figs can be picked, well, I just grin and enjoy thinking of the verse when I see the tree out there.

So I chose a fig tree banner just to change the blog a little. It’s been a few years. No. I don’t like change, but I force myself, lol. I hope you enjoy.

earthquakes, oklahoma, prophecy, rapture

Oklahoma: "We have already crushed last year’s record for number of earthquakes"

Posted on April 6, 2014 by elizabethprata

I’ve written about earthquakes a lot lately. This is why. It is an excerpt of an article that reports the quake swarm occurring in OK as it has been since 2009. The rest of the article proposes that hydraulic fracturing of rocks in oil extraction could be the cause, but this has been debunked elsewhere. I’m amazed at all the things the Lord is in control of and how He handles the events that will eventually bring us to His point when all history constricts down to one moment: the Rapture.

Please read the news article below and see what you think.

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Series of small earthquakes rock Oklahoma in record seismic activity
Earthquakes rattled residents in Oklahoma on Saturday, the latest in a series that have put the state on track for record quake activity this year, which some seismologists say may be tied to oil and gas exploration. One earthquake recorded at 3.8 magnitude by the U.S. Geological Survey rocked houses in several communities around central Oklahoma at 7:42 a.m. local time. Another about two hours earlier in the same part of the state, north of Oklahoma City, was recorded at 2.9 magnitude, USGS said.

Those two were preceded by two more, at 2.6 magnitude, and 2.5 magnitude, that also rolled the landscape in central Oklahoma early Saturday morning. A 3.0 magnitude tremor struck late Friday night in that area as well, following a 3.4 magnitude hit Friday afternoon.

Austin Holland, a seismologist with the Oklahoma Geological Survey who tracks earthquake activity for the USGS, said the earthquake activity in the state is soaring.

“We have had almost as many magnitude 3 and greater already in 2014 than we did for all of 2013,” Holland said.

Last year’s number of “felt” earthquakes – those strong enough to rattle items on a shelf – hit a record 222 in the state. This year, less than four months into the year, the state has recorded 253 such tremors, according to state seismic data.

“We have already crushed last year’s record for number of earthquakes,” Holland said.

encouragement, rapture

The Rapture of the Church

Posted on March 10, 2014May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

I love visuals. Of course, putting Jesus on a visual is always fraught with biblical issues (Second Commandment). Trying to picture the worst horrors of hell or the Tribulaton is unwise. And how does one capture some of the more nuanced concepts that can really only be seen in the Word? It’s called the word for a reason. Not ‘The Picture”. Even the Apostles and Prophets who saw what they saw still struggled with ways to say it in words. “It was like a…” and Daniel simply became ill after several of the visions.

There are three artists I can think of who seem to have done the best job In my opinion in capturing biblical concepts visually. Annie Vallotton, (and Vallotton here too) Chris Koelle, and Action Jones (AKA Chris Powers).

“…He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel.”

Action Jones

Annie Vallotton via ArtBible.net

Go to the link for Chris Koelle to see his work. It’s copyrighted. A couple of years ago he completed illustrations for the Graphic book of Revelation. he also illustrates some of John Piper’s poems, and has recently finished a series of illustrations showing the History of Redemption from Genesis to revelation. his work is available for purchase or for church events at a discounted price. His Revelation illustrations are actually chillingly, spiritually otherworldly for me to look at and so I don’t look too often.

Trying to envision the rapture is one of the hardest concepts to get right. After all, the bible says it will happen in the blink of an eye. (1 Corinthians 15:52). How do you capture that? I see lots of art that depicts Christians with arms outstretched and jet marks under their feet as they’re launched off the ground…kind of literal and corny if you ask me.

I did like this one from a short youtube video showing us a points of glory light zooming off earth into the universe:

40-second video here

Then I came across this one today. It is a free wallpaper. Someone had added the words at the bottom. I liked it because it showed the suddenness of the rapture, via the lightning. The storm clouds bespeak wrath. In my interpretation, the first Horse of the Apocalypse will ride immediately after the rapture or coinciding with it, because once the church is removed, God will unleash His stored-up wrath upon the inhabitants of the earth. So the galloping horse also is going to be part of the event at or immediately after the rapture. See what you think: