Category: rapture

Posted in rapture

No one knows the day nor hour

Posted on by elizabethprata

I talk about the soon return of Jesus a lot in real life. I am constantly surprised by the reactions I receive from Christians. More often than not, the rapture conversation makes them uncomfortable. It is sort of amazing to think of the prophesied abruptness of the change from one epoch to another. It will happen in the twinkling of an eye. In 1/100th of a second, Christians will be changed from corruptible to incorruptible, and the lost will remain and wonder what is happening. But still, the notion of a speedy snatching up to Jesus is supposed to make us glad, eager, and aware of our destiny in Christ. Yet too many Christians see that moment as an unnecessary interruption of their lives.

Some Christians take it better than others. The mildest kind of deflection usually goes something like this: after listening patiently, even indulgently to me, of Jesus’s return and the necessity of our forgiven state, they will say “Well…no one knows the day or hour.” And then they change the subject.

I want to address that response. I want to address it because it is wrong.

The bible is right, no one knows the day or hour. But too many people use that verse as an incorrect response to any discussion of the imminence of the rapture. What they mean is, because no one knows the day or hour, we must not speak of His snatching us away at all. They say “It may be thousands of years. No one knows.” And they believe that to be a sufficient deflection of the topic. They verbally and rhetorically push it off a few thousand years, hinging on that verse as their justification to put it out of their mind. How wrong they are. But they deflect the topic because confronting that notion, that time for us may end at any second, means they must take a close and imminent look at their sin, their lifestyle, their walk, their weakness.

I say this: because no one knows the day or hour, we must speak of it constantly. Why? It could be tomorrow.

Posted in earthquakes, rapture

Earthquakes in diverse places

Posted on by elizabethprata

Jesus said of the end times, there will be earthquakes in diverse places. (Matthew 24:7). So what is going on lately in the geo-seismic world with quakes and volcanoes?

From Geology Professor Erik Klemetti’s Eruptions blog:
“Nevado del Ruiz in Colombia May Erupt in “Days to Weeks”
“The developing volcanic crisis at Nevado del Ruiz in Colombia looks like it is continuing to escalate. INGEOMINAS, the Colombian geological survey, released a “special bulletin” this afternoon elevating the alert status at Nevado del Ruiz to Orange Level (II). This means that the signs of activity at the volcano suggest that an eruption is likely in the days to weeks timescale. Marta Calvache from INGEOMINAS mentioned that over the past few days the volcano has experienced tremor related to “fluid motion” (likely magma), rock fracture earthquakes at the summit have been increasing in pulses and sulfur dioxide emissions continue to be high.”

Prof. Klemetti’s Eruption Update for March 30, 2012: Alaska and Hawai’i–

Alaska
“Two volcanoes dominate the news from Alaska these days: Cleveland and Iliamna. Both have jumped back and forth from Yellow/Advisory to Orange/Watch status over the past few months. Right now, Cleveland has returned to Orange/Watch status after new observations showed a dome forming at the summit. This, of course, increased the likelihood of explosive activity as the dome may trap gases in the volcano, creating overpressure, or the dome could collapse, releasing pressure rapidly. Both of these mechanisms can prompt an explosive eruption. Iliamna is back onto Yellow/Advisory status from Orange/Watch after elevated seismicity continues, albeit at a lower level.”

Hawai’i
Kilauea’s activity marches on, although now it appears that the volcano is inflating, at least at the summit. Since October 2011, the summit has been inflating at a rate of ~1 cm/month at the same time that lava flows continued from other parts of the volcano.

New Activity/Unrest, source Smithsonian Global Volcanism Program:

IJEN Eastern Java
ILIAMNA Southwestern Alaska
NEVADO DEL RUIZ Colombia
PACAYA Guatemala
SOUFRIERE HILLS Montserrat

Major Quakes this week —

6.0 NEAR THE EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
6.0 NORTHERN EAST PACIFIC RISE

Lately, there has been some push-back against the widely interpreted notion that Jesus’s answer to the disciples as to the signs of the end of the age in advance of His coming (Matthew 24:7) means that earthquakes will increase. Naysayers claim that Jesus was not saying that earthquakes will increase, just that there will be some in various places. There has also been scientific push-back against the widely observed notion that earthquakes are actually increasing in number. USGS and others say that they are not. Here is my stance:

The end times are between His first coming, beginning when He ascended, and will conclude when He returns. (Matthew 23:27-29). This is the period in which He has partially hardened the hearts of the Jews (Romans 11:25) so that He will build His church out of the Gentiles. (Mt 16:18; Acts 15:14-17). First to the Jew, then to the Gentile (Romans 2:8-10). Note that He has not set His people the Jews aside permanently but that He is working with the Gentiles for a time.

Jesus likened the time before His second coming to one that is like a woman in travail (labor). (Matthew 24:8).  Also 1 Thess 5:3; Jer 30:6; and Romans 8:22 says “We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.”

What is being birthed is the Kingdom. But the pregnant woman at first does not know she is pregnant. Then as time progresses she begins to show. Then as her time of birth nears she becomes heavy, weary, laden with the growing baby. She has pains, and then the water breaks. The real labor begins. It is painful and it is bloody (The Tribulation) but at the end of it emerges a new birth, a new life. I believe the gestation has been the Church Age, and the labor pains will begin at the rapture, it being akin to the water breaking, and the birth is the Kingdom after the bloody labor of the Tribulation.

In Matthew verse 8, Jesus says that the initial signs of His coming He describes in verses 4-7 are but the “beginning of birth pains”. Then in Luke 21:29-31 “He told them this parable: “Look at the fig tree and all the trees. When they sprout leaves, you can see for yourselves and know that summer is near. Even so, when you see these things happening, you know that the kingdom of God is near.” Israel sprouted leaves when she was made a nation again in May 1948.

In my mind, because He likened it to a woman giving birth, and to the agricultural process of budding and growing, it seems to me that the entire time between His ascension and His return are the birth pangs, and as the time gets closer to the Tribulation and to His actual return, the pains will increase in intensity and frequency (as birth pangs). That is why I believe as I do. And within that it means, to me, is that earthquakes shall increase because labor pangs increase in painful intensity at it progresses. By the numbers, the quakes worldwide have been increasing, exceeding the average annual benchmark the USGS has set before us by a wide margin every year since 2009.

Now, if my interpretation is correct, then earthquakes, famines, wars, rumors of wars, false Christs, will actually be increasing. Ever since the Jews were returned to the Land in 1948, a huge end times sign, have these things been increasing in that century and in this? Yes. For example, one sign of His coming, He said, is increase in wars.

The number of wars has increased. In 2010 I posted on my blog that John MacArthur preached on the end times signs and mentioned that the numbers of wars according to the Encyclopedia of Wars is increasing exponentially. He said that in the 1000 years prior to Christ’s coming, there were 170 recorded wars. This number excludes skirmishes, conflicts, disturbances, etc. In the 1000 years after Jesus, there were 50 wars. In the 500 years after that, 100 wars. In the 300 years after that, 250 wars. In the last 200 years, there have been 500 wars. And in the last four years (not depicted on graph) there have been 20 wars.

The USGS and others say that earthquakes are not increasing, they are. I counted them and compared them against the USGS annual average benchmark. I posted the chart here

We have been hearing of many earthquakes in diverse places. Of the earthquakes that are not in diverse places, we have been hearing of superlatives: “longest lasting“, (Oaxaca Mexico) or “bigger than might expected for that area ” (Oaxaca Mexico) or “Hasn’t been one this big in 15 years …” (Outback Australia)

An earthquake occurred in Australia last week.
“The central region of Australia was struck by the country’s largest earthquake in nearly 15 years on Friday evening, seismologists said, but there were no reports of damage or casualties.The 6.1-magnitude earthquake at 7:55 p.m. local time on Friday was centered about 17 miles northwest of Ernabella Airport, a tiny airstrip near the border with South Australia and the Northern Territory. It struck about 1.8 mile deep, making it a shallow earthquake, according to Geoscience Australia.”

In scientifically inexplicable or unusual events lately, in 2011 the volcano Nabro in Eritrea erupted suddenly. Prior to that it was believed to be extinct, never having had a historical eruption. Scientists initially disclaimed the eruption, saying it must be nearby active Dubbi. It took several days to really confirm scientifically what the spotty news and eyewitness reports had been saying all along, Nabro volcano burped lava from underground and it erupted for the first time ever.

Chile’s Volcano Chaiten erupted suddenly in 2009 after what scientists said was 9500 years of dormancy. In the 1940s, the Mexican volcano Paricutin erupted and formed under a corn field and a farmer’s feet. The African continent is unzipping (their word) in some cases a rift of 35 miles long and 20 miles wide opening up in a day. They do not know why. Until the rift began unzipping slow vs. catastrophic plate tectonics were competing theories with the slow catastrophic winning, but many current observations are incompatible with slow-and-gradual plate tectonics. New islands have formed overnight from unexpected eruptions, as this January 2012 news article shows, happened in the Red Sea.

Now I don’t want to cast doubt or aspersions against fine scientists. They are smart and they have a rigorous study, and they do well to inform us of things born from reasonable thought, testable theories and reproducible experiments. However, God is the author of science, not man. God doesn’t have to be bounded by a paradigm of scientific thought made by man. If He wants to turn off the sun (Mt 24:29; Joel 3:15), He will. If He wants to wake up a volcano that has never erupted, He will. And science is wrong about the age of the universe, the origins of the universe, global warming, and evolution, to name a few theories.

The best (only) thing to do is to be ready for Jesus whenever He comes. Being ready means that you have repented of your sins, having recognized that you DO sin and that those sins are crimes against Jesus. In a state of sinfulness you would meet Him an an enemy and your Judge. If you repent and ask Him to forgive those sins, He will, and you will meet Him as a friend and as a Father. The rapture is a signless event. It is an imminent event. It has always been imminent, since Paul first mentioned it to the Thessalonians and the Corinthians (1 Thess 4, 1 Cor 15). Nothing needs to happen to precede the rapture and nothing will announce that it is about to happen. Therefore be ready:

“Be always on the watch, and pray that you may be able to escape all that is about to happen, and that you may be able to stand before the Son of Man.” (Luke 21:36).

The irony is, that those of us who are ready and love Jesus as Lord and Savior, would not want to stand, we will want to fling ourselves at His feet, kneel as is His due, and worship Hi,. O, happy day! And it seems that it is closer than ever…

We don’t know exactly when it will occur but we can see the signs of the other prophesies coming together and we know the season. the fig tree is budding, and we know therefore that it is near, even at the door.

Posted in rapture, sky booms, sounds of the apocalypse

Strange boom heard in GA, spiritual warfare ramping up?

Posted on by elizabethprata

There has been a spate of strange sky noises lately, reported from all around the world. I reported on some of them last year, a roundup is here.

People have been asking me if I am going to address the current spate of sky rumbles/sky quakes/ mysterious booms as they are variously known. I don’t have much to say about them, and I can’t really relate them to the bible because the bible does not specifically address them as a warning sign. However, they may indicate something related to the end times.

The noises are usually a low pitched hum that veritably drives the residents crazy, or a boom from the sky that people liken to a sonic boom. Sometimes they say it sounds like a clanking or a chain in the sky. In several incidents, they were hoaxes. When they occur for real, as in the case where it was so loud it caused car alarms to go off, the authorities receive dozens to hundreds of phone calls asking if there had been an earthquake. In most cases, the boom is not related to a military activity nor aeronautic exercise, not to a quake, and not to drilling or explosives. These things are checked out and the usual explanation is usually absent, leaving residents to wonder what is the cause of the noise. That’s why they are termed mysterious. Someone dubbed them “Sounds of the Apocalypse” and I think that is the most apt thing about these noises.

At first, the sounds were being recorded and put up by citizens on Youtube. In those cases I think some were hoaxes. Then semi-credible news agencies started reporting on them, such as this one from UK Daily Mail-

“What’s causing the mysterious sounds coming from the sky that are so loud they set off car alarms?“

After this more credible news outlets reported on them, albeit local ones:

Still no explanation for mysterious booms in Madison County
 And still another one heard over several states and accompanied by a fireball

A mysterious boom was heard today near Savannah GA.

Something shakes Southeast Georgia
Reports of loud boom, earth shaking reports come from 5 counties
It wasn’t an earthquake that rattled windows and store shelves early, but residents across Southeast Georgia heard and felt something big Thursday morning. “My wife and I, we heard this loud noise — this booming noise,” said Officer Todd Rhodes of the Brunswick Police Department. “It was a noise that literally shook our home.” When Rhodes got to work, he learned his 911 center was swamped with calls of people with similar reports. “Everyone was very concerned,” Rhodes said. “There was some panic there because you know when you hear that noise as far-reaching as it was, and not only hearing it but feeling it, you want to know, ‘What is this?'”

GEMA, Air Force confirm sonic boom heard
“Several people called WTOC Thursday morning saying they heard a loud boom and some even felt their house shake around 8:30 a.m. Ray Parker, the Emergency Management Director in McIntosh County, ruled out an earthquake. The Georgia Emergency Management Agency and the Air Force both confirm that what people heard was a sonic boom. Some Air Force planes were doing training exercises off the Georgia coast Thursday morning, when one may have gotten too close to land.”

Maybe.

There is no doubt that strange booms are emanating from the sky. Enough people have heard them to make no doubt they really are happening. When hundreds of calls flood into a 911 call center, when agencies like GA Emergency Management Agency and Seismology offices and Police Authorities officials confirm it, you know they are happening. But what are they? Why are they being heard now?

I think of the veil, the veneer between us and the powers, principalities and dominions (Eph 1:21, Col 1:16; Eph 6:12) and I wonder, how thin is it? Elisha prayed to God for Him to give Elisha’s servant a glimpse of the other side, and the servant’s eyes were opened and he saw the multitudes of angels right there hovering and ready to do battle. (2 Kings 6:17). Are the two sides so close together that an occasional co-mingling occurs? Sounds leak from one to the other? I don’t know of course, but I wonder about these things.

There is an angel big and strong enough to stand on the sun and loud enough to call to all the birds flying in the air inside out atmosphere:

“Then I saw an angel standing in the sun, and he cried out with a loud voice, saying to all the birds which fly in midheaven, “Come, assemble for the great supper of God,” (Revelation 19:17).

There are angels big and strong enough to stand at the 4 compass points and hold back the wind:

“After this I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds of the earth, so that no wind would blow on the earth or on the sea or on any tree.” (Revelation 7:1).

Angels are strong and big. The fallen angels are strong and big too. They were once the good angels who served God after all, the same as the ones written about above.

Personally I believe the booms are either manifestations of spiritual warfare we happen to hear on this side of the veil, or the preparations God is making for imminent Tribulation judgments. Sort of like the bumps and shudders throughout a house when furniture is being moved around. Nothing that is happening on that side of the veil is happening accidentally or chaotically, of course, but as evil rises I picture the throes and feverish pitch of good angels fighting fallen angels, and the preparations for the climactic end season of man’s time on earth.

This means that if you are not saved that you need to be, NOW. It means that if you have read this far,that  the Spirit is working in you toward repentance, and all you need to do is realize that your sins are crimes against a Just and Holy God, who sent His Son to die to pay for the penalty required to satisfy God’s wrath over those crimes.

Jesus said of Himself,

“I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me— just as the Father knows me and I know the Father—and I lay down my life for the sheep. I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd.” (John 10:14-16)

You are welcome to the flock. The sheepfold is big enough for you. Your loving Shepherd wants to take care of you, longs to, in fact. He promises to deliver Jacob, His people:

“I will surely gather all of you, Jacob; I will surely bring together the remnant of Israel.
I will bring them together like sheep in a pen, like a flock in its pasture; the place will throng with people. (Micah 2:12)

He promises to deliver His Church people:

“Then Jesus told them this parable: “Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Doesn’t he leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.’ I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.” (Luke 15:3-7)

If you do need to repent, do so soon, please. Jesus is coming. He is a fabulous Savior, the manifestation of Love itself. Be in Him, it is the safest and warmest and best place to be in the entire universe. Blessings to you all.

Posted in rapture

It is near, even at the doors

Posted on by elizabethprata

I have been studying prophecy for five years. That is not a hugely long time, but with not working during much of that period, and with not having children or family obligations, I’ve studied it night and day, intensively, like a person at a retreat or in seminary. The supernatural understanding the Spirit has given me of the bible and of prophecy itself in such a short time is a testament to His work in me. In other words, He brought me along fast.

I believe He has used me in this way, intensively and constantly and immediately, because time is short. I’ve always had a burden for the imminence of His soon coming since my conversion in December 3, 2003. My mission is to the fellow Christian through the accurate word of His prophecy. My job has been to put the sandwichboard over my shoulders that says “the end is near!” and ring the bell to apathetic Christians. That’s my mission: watchman, bell ringer, warner-exhorter.

There are some people who say that we should not say it is near, and they cite Mark 13:32, where it says ‘no one knows the day nor hour’. Or they cite 1 Thessalonians 5:1 where Paul said the day of the Lord will be as a thief in the night, a surprise. Or they cite Acts 1:7, where we are told we will not know the times or dates God has set by His own authority.

They are right.

If you meet up with anyone who knows the time, hour, or day, run, for they are false. However, we are told we will know the season. In 1 Thess 5:4; Luke 21:28; Matthew 24:33 we are told that we will know when it is near. In  Luke 12:56 Jesus chastises those who failed to interpret the times the first time around, and didn’t know it was the time of the First Coming. He said they were good at interpreting the weather but not that it was the time of the Messiah standing in front of them.

In Luke 12 beginning in verse 35 there is a section called “Watchfulness”. Jesus says, “Be dressed ready for service and keep your lamps burning,” and later in vs. 37 He says, “It will be good for those servants whose master finds them watching when he comes.”

So when you try to relate the imminence of the times don’t let anyone brush you off with the old chestnut, “we do not know the day nor hour” (Unless you have just told them a day or an hour.)

I feel the time is very, very close. I see the geo-political platform of the pieces coming together and I want to scream WAKE UP!” “BE READY!” Last night I watched Pastor JD Farag’s prophecy update and what he said in it, I could relate to in a big way.

He said he wants to scream, too. To those of us He is using in this watchman ministry, we see so clearly what the times are and the nearness of the end of the Church Age, and the beginning of terrible times for the left-behind population.

Pastor JD said that he has been studying prophecy for 20 years and walking with the Lord for 30, and never has he seen events line up like this. He remarked that 12 years ago he was traveling with another highly respected prophecy preacher and that preacher said given the global – political landscape at that time it likely would not be sooner than 10 years before the Lord came back. Pastor JD said that back then he agreed.

Though the Lord can come back any time, could have come back in the past and could come in the far future, he did give us signs. He not only gave signs but urged us to watch for those signs. So for prophecy students, it is not like we believe the end is near without reason. Ten years ago the signs were not there, though the biggest sign of all had been fulfilled: Israel was back in the land. But the rest? Not so much. We all knew that.

When I began my own studies five years ago I felt like the Lord would not come back for five more years. In other words five years ago it felt like the beginning of the season. Now five years later  it feels like the end of the season. I could see the prophetic pieces at the end of my field of biblical vision but they were not close. Now they are. They’re excruciatingly close.

While the Lord may choose to defuse the situation and all go back to something akin to normal, that is His prerogative in His timing, would He?

Pastor JD said of the signs, the pregnant imminence, about heavy feeling, that though God could certainly pull everything back from the brink, it is not probable. Why? Think about this: Would Jesus taunt us with the rapture? Would he tantalize His bride with the nearness? Would he dangle the carrot in front of us, only to say, Nah, not now?

Pastor JD related the anecdote of when he asked his then-girlfriend to marry him. He said that after she’d said yes, he was counting the days until they would be man and wife. He loved her soooo much that the notion of being united under God was all he could think about. How much MORE, then, would Jesus feel about His bride? How much more anxious and eager would He be to take us to Himself and install us in the place He has been preparing for us? I agree with what Pastor Farag said. I think the matter is much too serious to play brinksmanship. I believe that there is only forward motion at this time, fast-forward.

Someone mentioned in another essay I’d read this week that “time is short. The spiritual electricity is in the air and we dedicated followers of Christ can feel it crackling all around us every day.” I agree!! Another prophecy preacher wrote, “The Rapture is at the door and Satan is fighting with a fury.” So true, the evilness is almost too much to bear. An anonymous commenter said on another post, “I have an incredible sense of urgency and “inner-knowing” that our time here on earth will be drawing to a close very soon.” Amen.

What this adds up to is the final decision. A person must decide if they will acknowledge their sins against Jesus and ask Him to forgive them, or not. Not doing so means they will be left behind when He comes very soon for us. He wants you! There is no sin you have committed in your life that Jesus will not forgive! The only unforgivable sin is refusing His pardon for your sins. He loves you and wants to take care of you and bless you and treasure you. Yes, YOU!

Though Jesus could settle the world and wait another 10 years, I truly think He will not. I really think this is it. Repent, for the kingdom of Jesus is at hand.

Posted in end time, rapture

Will today be the day?

Posted on by elizabethprata

Will today be the day my faith becomes sight?
Will today be the day I am reunited with my Savior and Lord to worship Him perfectly?
Will today be the day I sing praises to Him with the angels and the multitudes?
Will today be the day I am glorified and my struggle against sin ends forevermore?
Will today be the day I see the place He prepared for me?
Will today be the day I step through the veil and enter eternity?
Will today be the day I stand by the Crystal Sea?
Will today be the day I see His face?
Will today be the day I praise Him at His feet for saving me?
Will today be the day I understand fully, knowing even as I am known?
Will today be the day the tears will be wiped from my eyes?
Will today be the day I come into my inheritance?
Will today be the day I thank my ministering angels?
Will today be the day my faith becomes sight?

Do you have this fervency in your heart? Do you pray these things every day? Are you eager to put aside this tent, this life, these earthly concerns, in anticipation of His call? He rewards this eagerness:

“Now there is in store 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 longed for his appearing.” (2 Timothy 4:8)

Our home is not here. Christians tell me every day, either casually or seriously, they aren’t ready for the rapture, because they have this to do or that to do. Because they want this or need to finish that. My mouth always falls to the floor.

If you were fortunate enough to have a vacation house growing up, or rented one for the summer, you know that they are usually a more rudimentary kind of dwelling. You were “roughing it”. The furniture wasn’t as comfortable, it sagged and maybe was a bit ripped. There weren’t the amenities you were used to like a washer or dryer. You cheerfully hung the towels from swimming up to dry. It was a novelty from regular life. All your cousins crammed in to the cabin with you, sometimes you had to sleep on the floor because the family ran out of beds. You didn’t mind, it was fun, for a while.

Earth is our temporary home. It is roughing it here. We put up with what we have to put up with in the way of inconveniences because the real home awaiting us when we return to it is so fabulous. When you were at camp during the summer or on a sleepover you had a good time but weren’t you happy to get back to your Dad? Your home?

He came to earth to die, as the atoning sacrifice for sin of the world, to be resurrected by the power of God, proving He is God, and lives in heaven now, waiting for the time He will call His bride to Him. He came “To guide our feet into the way of peace.” (Luke 1:79b). We are at peace, knowing we are reconciled to Him, no longer His enemy but His children.

That is how we should feel. This is not our home. When will we see our real home? I don’t know. Will today be the day?

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Posted in rapture

Everything is gradual…except the rapture

Posted on by elizabethprata

I was thinking the other day about the suddenness of the rapture. In life, everything we do is gradual. There is a process. We grow up. That takes decades, and usually we don’t even notice the growth at first. You know what I mean if you ever saw your nephew after two months and you see how much he has grown but you don’t notice as much with your own kids.

We cook, that is gradual. We seek employment and get trained, gradual.  There is nothing that we do or see or experience in life that takes place in the blink of an eye, certainly nothing as momentous as the rapture.

Paul wrote: “Behold, I tell you a mystery; we will not all sleep, but we will all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.” (1 Corinthians 15:51-52). The word twinkling is from rhipto, meaning ‘instant.’

Do you know what the strongest muscle in the body is? The muscle that lets your eye blink. It allows you to blink up to 5 times a second.

“The human eye can blink much faster than a second, and, in fact, it’s perfectly possible to blink several times in a single second. On average, a human eye takes between 300 and 400 milliseconds to complete a single blink. That’s roughly between three-tenths and four-tenths of a second. So, logically speaking, a person may blink two and three times every second and barely notice it because the blink takes so little time.” (source)

THAT is how fast it will happen. So the generation that is raptured (I believe it will be us) will be doing normal things (yelling at husband, sleeping, commuting to work, changing the diaper) and the next blink will find us face to face with Jesus, in the air.

“Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words.” (1 Thessalonians 17-18)

I wrote about the change our bodies will go through from a scientific perspective, ‘the quantum leap’, here.

Edwin Abbott’s 1884 novella, Flatland is a true classic. There is no one more math-averse than me, but this little book is a social satire, math explanation anyone can understand, and theology. Few regard it as theology, more as math and social satire. But Abbott was a theologian and this book explores the difficulty in startling clarity and ease of understanding how hard it is for finite minds to envision and comprehend the God-dimension. It is a story of a land where everything in two-dimensional. The story is told by A. Square.

Blogger J. Max Wilson (a Latter Day Saints blog), says of the book, “Flatland is an ingenious socio political satire, an amazing treatment of the issues of faith and reason, a brilliant examination of prophets and revelation and how our limitations make it nearly impossible for us to comprehend things that are, nevertheless, true.”

I agree.

In the first part of the book the protagonist has a vision of being sent to lineland where everything is one dimensional and trying in vain to explain his own world of two dimensions to all the lines and points, who don’t get it.

Wilson explains, “In the second half of the book, the protagonist relates how he received a visit from a being from the three dimensional world (a Sphere), how he was called as a prophet to preach the gospel of three dimensions, and his rejection by the people of flatland who cannot comprehend what he means by a “third” dimension.”

The moment when the Sphere comes to Flatland is analogous to Christ coming and manifesting to us in our dimension.

You can download it as a free ebook from Project Gutenberg here.

So there is the attempt at understanding the rapture and God’s dimensions in science through the quantum leap, through math analogies in Flatland, through art as in Salvador Dali’s ‘Crucifixion’ in four dimensions, and of course we attempt to understand God’s dimension biblically/theologically.

I can’t seem to get beyond the enormity of leaving behind three dimensions (plus time) and entering the eternal, incorruptible, and the sinless in the blink of an eye. No matter the scientific, mathematical, artistic and theological attempts to explain the reality of God, nothing can adequately do so, because in this current age, we live by faith not by sight. (2 Corinthians 5:7). Yet we are told that in the blink of an eye, we will live then by sight because of our faith! It will all be reversed. Faith becomes sight. And it will happen in 1/500th of a second.

Wow.

Posted in judgment, prophecy, rapture

Back to Basics: What is the Rapture?

Posted on by elizabethprata

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Bibles online:
Bible Gateway
Online Parallel Bible

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

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

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

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

And later in the video at 13:40,

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Prophetic infrastructure almost complete, golden spike soon?

Posted on by elizabethprata

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

We are all eagerly waiting.

source

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Posted in damascus, prophecy, rapture, syria

Syria’s Permanent Arab Spring at the close of the Church Age

Posted on by elizabethprata

In the early parts of this year, actually beginning in mid-December 2010 in Tunisia, protests and violence sprang up in many Middle East nations, so much so that the the protests veered to revolutions and dictators were toppled. It has become known as the Arab Spring. Egypt and Libya’s dictators were toppled, Algeria, Iraq, Golan Heights, Jordan, Kuwait, Morocco, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Sudan’s governments were affected one way or another. But the longest-lasting violence has been in Syria. It began last March and the violence is ongoing, and is getting worse. Many nations, even the allies of Syria in the Arab League have all expressed frustration with the Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad, and called for him to stop killing his citizens. Bashad has been seemingly impervious to resolutions, diplomatic entreaties, threats of sanctions or even heavily veiled military nudges from neighbor Turkey.

Even Moscow is getting impatient now. While Russia blocked a resolution against Syria at the UN in October, they now are calling for the government to engage in talks between the government and its opposition.

As a result of all this, tensions are at a critical height. There is talk of attack. There is talk of military intervention, all-out civil war. Israel has been very busy getting Iron Dome deployed and other military preparations, some say, for a strike on Iran. I’m not so sure.

In any case, the US has now sent the Aircraft Carrier Bush to Mediterranean waters just off Syria. No explanation is given for this action. A no-fly zone is on the verge of being instituted over Syria as Syrian airspace closes. American citizens are warned to leave Syria immediately, as “while commercial flights are still available.”

Uh-oh.

It feels like the noose is tightening, doesn’t it? That all things are drawing together. And you have to suspect that these overt military actions are being accompanied by many other actions happening covertly. I’m not a military analyst but when the United States deploys an aircraft carrier to an area near the prophetic epicenter without explanation, but that area is in the bulls-eye of prophecy at the close of the church age, I pay attention. That Syria’s violence is causing the most tension of all the nations mentioned above, and that Syria (Damascus) is dead center of the most clearly unfulfilled end of days military prophecy ever, then I really pay attention.

The Isaiah 17 prophecy against Damascus, that Damascus will be destroyed, razed to the ground and removed from being a city, seems like it could occur any day. The prophecy is in the passive tense, meaning, it doesn’t declare who causes the city to be destroyed, only that it will be. It could be destroyed by Israel, the US, an accidental conflagration set off by Syrians themselves as their chemical, biological, and/or nuclear stockpile gets grabbed by the revolutionaries, by God directly, or by another way we do not suspect. But Damascus will be destroyed, and the prophecy goes on to say it will happen overnight, “Then behold, at eventide, trouble! And before the morning, he is no more.” (Isaiah 17:14)

“I observe a simmering threat in the region based on a Sunni-Shiite divide,” Turkish President Abdullah Gul said on Wednesday. “It … has the potential to move the Muslim world from the 21st century into the darkness of the Middle Ages.”

President Gul speaks truer words than he knows…war is going to come to the Middle East (Is 17, Psalm 83, Ezekiel 38, 39,) and then to all of us (Matthew 24:6, Revelation 6:3-4). And with that, comes the rapture.

We are stunningly close to the rapture. This is the long-awaited event which closes the church age and brings Jesus’s church to his bosom (2 Thessalonians 2:1). All people since the cross who have believed on Jesus as the ONLY way to heaven by repenting of their sins to the ONLY One who can forgive them, will be gathered alive and transformed, or resurrected and transformed, and brought bodily up to meet Him in the air. (1 Corinthians 15:51-54). He will lead us to the place to which He has been preparing for us. (John 14:3). This is for the purpose of removing and protecting His bride throughout the Tribulation to come. (1 Thessalonians 5:9; Isaiah 26:20).

It will happen suddenly and without warning. Jesus will interrupt the normal flow of life on earth and poke His head in. Not a representative, He isn’t sending Gabriel, He Himself is coming Literally there will be a shout, (1 Thessalonians 4:19).

About that shout…not that the Lord will shout, but in the commentaries I read, they seem to agree that the translation of that word shout means “the word here used is observed by many to signify such a noise or shout as is made either by mariners, when they pull and row together; and shout to direct and encourage one another; or to an army with the general at the head of it, when about to undertake some considerable action, to enter on a battle, and make the onset; Christ will now appear as the King of kings, and Lord of lords, as the Judge of the whole earth, attended with the host, or armies of heaven, and the shout of a king will be among them: perhaps the same is intended, as by the voice of a great multitude.”

Wow! Get ready. If you are saved, then your readiness by now should be in prayer, closely walking with the Lord, and growing daily in His ways by reading and being refreshed by the Word. If you are not saved then getting ready means repenting of your sins. He will not allow an unrighteous person into His kingdom, and since we are all unrighteous (Romans 3:10) the only way to be included is to have asked Him to clean your sins and make you righteous by His forgiveness. Repent now.
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Posted in bible, prophecy, rapture

"I go to prepare a place for you"

Posted on by elizabethprata

Jesus concluded His ministry with His death on the cross and subsequent ascension to heaven, to be seated at the right hand of the Father. The right hand is illustrative of great strength and power. “Thy right hand, O LORD, is become glorious in power: thy right hand, O LORD, hath dashed in pieces the enemy.” (Exodus 15:6). Being seated denotes a concluded work. When we sit imports honour, as a king sits and his subjects stand. Sitting denotes pleasure, rest from labour and weariness. It evokes safety and security; one who is seated no longer need be on guard. As Gill’s Exposition says, “What adds to the happiness of this is, that it is together with all the saints, and with Christ himself.”

His hands have made the world and the heavens (Isaiah 48:13). His hands have made us (Psalms 73:23). His hands smote enemies. (Exodus 15:6). His hand saves. (Psalms 17:7).

Jesus said to the Jews that they will not see Him again until they cry out to Him (Matthew 23:39). He told the Disciples, “In My Father’s house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. “If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also.” (John 14:1-2)

So when Jesus left, He said He would prepare a place. He did not say that He would tell His angels to prepare a place. He didn’t say that He would create a place. He said He would prepare a place. The Greek word for prepare in this verse is hetoimazó, meaning to make ready, to prepare.

Whenever you feel lost, small, storm-tossed, think of the John 14 verse. He goes to prepare a place for us. The God of the Universe whose hands have done so many things and will do so many things, whose hands smite enemies and create worlds, is using His hands to tenderly prepare for our arrival. He is preparing a place for us to dwell. That dwelling will be perfect, having been readied by the Perfect One. We will be partaking of the banquet of His glory forever.

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