russia

crimea, ezekiel 38, gog, prophecy, russia, ukraine

Donetsk leaflet: Jews must register or face deportation; Russia, Ukraine, and prophecy

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

This is a summary of what has been going on in the Crimea and Ukraine with Russia this past month. Russia and the Baltics have some prophetic significance in the upcoming Ezekiel 38/Gog Magog war and the Tribulation wars. I don’t know much about that area of the world so I haven’t been covering it from the geo-political angle. But something came to light today that must be addressed, because it is of high and clear prophetic significance.

[UPDATE: flier accepted as authentic now seen as a possible fake. But still, even that someone would think to do this as a prank, OR as a real incident, bespeaks prophecy. Like Putin joking he won’t annex Alaska because it’s too cold…]

[UPDATE 2, Joel Rosenberg weighs in: Leaflets ordering Jews to register in east Ukraine city or be deported creating fear. Threat evocative of 1930s. Pro-Russian separatists say order isn’t real. But someone is trying to scare Ukrainian Jews. The question is: Who?

First, the news,

April 15, 2014: First deaths in Ukraine; Putin admits Crimea invaded
A clash outside a military base ended with the first deaths so far in a Ukraine anti-militant operation as Russian President Vladimir Putin admitted Thursday in a radio interview that Russian soldiers did secretly invade Crimea to help pro-Russian Ukrainians take over the province by force. Meanwhile, high-level talks aimed at calming soaring tensions over the crisis in Ukraine were being held in Geneva between representatives of the United States, European Union and Russia. Three pro-Russian militants were killed in a skirmish outside a Ukrainian National Guard base in the Black Sea port of Mariupol in an attack Ukraine’s interior ministry called the bloodiest to date by militants who want the entire East Ukraine to go the way of Crimea. Crimea was annexed by Putin after Ukraine militants took over the province with the help of mysterious well-armed squads of masked soldiers who sealed off the province to prevent Ukraine from bringing in troops. Ukraine said Putin is doing the same thing in East Ukraine, but he denied it.

April 15, 2014: The UK Telegraph reports that the Ukraine is “on the brink” of civil war as the government launched an “antiterrorist operation” against pro-Russian separatists in the east of the country.

The Washington Post editorialized about Russian President Vladimir Putin’s ambitions. Keep in mind that by the time the antichrist comes to the fore and he is revealed, the world will have been divided into ten geo-political regions led by ten kings. (Dan 2:31-35, 40-45; 7:7-8, 19-24 ; Rev 13:1-2; 17:3, 7, 12-16.) These kings will be the most ambitious of the most ambitious, and the most ruthlessly successful, if they end up as one of only ten leaders of the entire globe. The Gog Magog war is sparked by a Russian leader who invades Israel under the influence of demonic Gog. The leaders of the last of the last days will have huge ambitions and will not be afraid to put their tanks where their mouths are.

Of geo-political realignments:
Al Arabiya.net has recently described the current standoff between the West and Moscow concerning Ukraine as potentially the gravest instance of tension in the post-Cold War era. The tensions between Russia and the West seem to be causing some significant geopolitical re-alignments following Russia’s recent political aggressions in relation to Ukraine and Crimea. (Source)

Of dictatorship ambitions:
The Obama administration is underestimating Putin’s ambitions
President Obama has dismissed Russia as a “regional” power that “leads no bloc of nations, no global ideology.” But the Obama administration has consistently underestimated Vladimir Putin and continues to do so by asserting that Russia is isolated. Putin has laid the groundwork to assemble a powerful alternative to the transatlantic alliance.

Russia stands at the center of dozens of nations uncomfortable with or unsuited to the Western principles that President Obama described as “self-evident.” They chafe at Western control of global institutions and norms. Putin aims to offer them alternatives and is strengthening key relationships that will allow him to do so — with disgruntled mid-powers such as India, with regimes that have been kept at arm’s length for their behavior and with certain European political elites. t is wrong to think that Crimea is Moscow’s only strategic objective. As Putin’s stock at home soars, he is likely to methodically challenge the European Union and, especially, NATO. Russia’s willingness to use overwhelming force and the West’s inability to effectively respond give him two key advantages.

I believe those news excerpts bring us up to general speed on the Russian involvement in Ukraine and Crimea. Here is a map of Russia and the Baltics. The ‘A’ Pin is on Crimea with Ukraine just to the north. Click to enlarge.

There are two main reasons God will enact the Tribulation. The Tribulation is a hellish 7 years on earth that precede Jesus’ bodily return. One reason is to deliver His long-promised stored-up wrath on an unbelieving world. The other main reason is to punish the Israelites, today’s Jews. He never finished His punishment of them and paused His prophetic plan 7 years short of the decree. The Tribulation is the resumption of the prophetic clock of the Jews in God’s timetable.

What has He been doing since the pause, you might ask? He has been building His church. (Matthew 16:18). When the Jews rejected Jesus, and refused to share Him with the world through the Good News, He founded His church and allowed the Gentile nations to be His light. (Acts 13:44-47; Romans 11:11-12).

When the church is complete in quota containing all the names He set down since before the beginning of time, (Revelation 13:8) He will rapture us and resume His plan with the Jews. (Romans 11:25). This link explains the prophetic clock and God’s ever unfolding but differing plans for His different peoples (Jews, Church, unsaved).

One of the events prophesied to take place during this time is a Holocaust of Jews. The Tribulation holocaust will take 2/3 of Israel’s Jews, demonic hatred of them will be so fervent and evil. (Revelation 12:13, Zechariah 13:8-9).

The German Holocaust of WWII began seemingly innocently enough. Jews were told to register. In 1937 and 1938, Jews in Germany were told to register all property. All Jews were obliged to carry identity cards that indicated their Jewish heritage, and, in the autumn of 1938, all Jewish passports were stamped with an identifying letter “J.” In January 1940, Polish Jews were ordered to register all property. The Holocaust Encyclopedia explains that of the order to register, it was “a prelude to the gradual expropriation of their material wealth by the state.”

Well, it’s happening again.

Donetsk leaflet: Jews must register or face deportation
Fear replaced communal atmosphere in Donetsk’s Jewish community as armed men handed out a leaflet Passover eve calling on Jews register their religion and property with the interim pro-Russian government or face deportation and loss of citizenship. A leaflet distributed in Donetsk, Ukraine calling for all Jews over 16 years old to register as Jews marred the Jewish community’s Passover festivities Monday (Passover eve), replacing them with feelings of concern. The leaflet demanded the city’s Jews supply a detailed list of all the property they own, or else have their citizenship revoked, face deportation and see their assets confiscated. Donetsk, a Ukraine province with 4.3 million people – 10 percent of Ukraine’s population – and 17,000 Jews, is home to much of the country’s heavy industry, and is thus the biggest prize of the eastern regions where pro-Russian separatists have captured government buildings in the past week.” [HT to The Sovereign]

These events I’ve related to you may or may not have direct prophetic implications. In my opinion, they do. Jan Markell of Olive Tree Views listed 16 converging end of days signs, and my goodness, seeing them listed out like that does give one pause for thought of the times in which we are living.

Christian persecution is rising exponentially. This headline from the Christin Post mentions China, but it’s emblematic of worldwide persecution of Christians. “Gov’t Persecution of Christians in China Worsens Significantly: Persecution rose by 38.82 percent since 2012. It’s the same in most places for Christians, and Jews are experiencing it too. Attacks on synagogues are up, and the Kansas City Jewish Center shootings this week are just one example of similar attacks and killings worldwide against Jews. And now the order for Jews to register their religion in the Ukraine city…is another highly significant sign of converging prophecy.

Tomorrow I’ll write about the horrific rise in food prices. That is another sign.

Please understand the Good News. When Adam sinned, he separated humankind from intimate fellowship with God, and this barred our unholy selves from entering heaven. God had a plan though, and that was to send Jesus, His Son, to earth to preach reconciliation, repentance, and holiness to first the Jews and the world. He died as the sinless lamb upon the cross as bloody sacrifice for us with God unleashing His wrath upon Jesus’ broken body. Jesus was sinless and thus lived the perfectly holy life God requires for entry to heaven. Satisfied, and with His wrath exhausted, He raised Jesus from the dead and brought Him to heaven and sat Him at His right hand.

Now, any person believing in Jesus as resurrected Messiah and having repented of their sins can enter heaven through Jesus as the door. Any person rejecting Jesus will have to endure God’s wrath for their sins for all eternity.

Death seals the choice. If you die in your sins it is too late. Please don’t leave resolving these questions until it is too late. As it is written in Dante Alighieri’s famous medieval Italian literary masterpiece, The Inferno, here is hell’s gate, and the plaque above it says, “Abandon all hope, ye who enter here.”

Jesus is all hope. He is the only hope. Apart from Him, there is none.

Illustration by Gustave Dore, wikimedia commons

And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire (Revelation 20:15)

I pray your name be found in the Lamb’s Book of Life, and then you have this hope to look forward to:

“But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city.” (Hebrews 11:16)

Putin with dictator ambitions desires a better country, but he will find that his country won’t last. Please be reconciled to Jesus and live in a better country, the eternal one. The city is New Jerusalem, and Jesus is there.

gog magog, oil, prophecy, russia, syria

Pakistanis hoard food, Australia stikes big oil, Syria crumbles, US mulls military intervention

Posted on July 25, 2013 by elizabethprata

I think this is a big deal- Netanyahu pondering a massive withdrawal from West Bank.
(Joel 3:2, And I will enter into judgment with them there, on behalf of my people and my heritage Israel, because they have scattered them among the nations and have divided up my land,)

Netanyahu to bring referendum bill up for cabinet vote on Sunday
“Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu intends to bring in the referendum bill for a cabinet vote on Sunday, and then submit it to the Knesset for a preliminary vote on Wednesday before the parliament disbands for summer recess. The bill stipulates that if an agreement that is reached with the Palestinians calls for Israeli withdrawal from territory, the public would have to approve it in a referendum for it to take effect. Netanyahu is expediting the bill in response to pressure from the right wing, spearheaded by Economy Minister Naftali Bennett.”

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If the Aussies become self-sufficient, or a global oil power, that might make Russia more jealous for the remaining oil in their neck of the woods. Remember the Gog Magog war begins because they come to take a spoil. (Ezekiel 38:12).

Oil find ‘can fuel Australia’
“SOUTH Australia is sitting on oil worth more than $20 trillion, enough for Australia to become a self-sufficient fuel producer. The Advertiser reports Brisbane company Linc Energy yesterday released two reports, based on drilling and seismic exploration, estimating the amount of oil in the as yet untapped Arckaringa Basin surrounding Coober Pedy ranging from 3.5 billion to 233 billion barrels of oil. At the higher end, this would be “several times bigger than all of the oil in Australia”, Linc managing director Peter Bond said. This has the potential to turn Australia from an oil importer to an oil exporter.”

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I feel terrible about people who don’t have enough to eat! Imagine the hoarding and fighting when famine is in the land, and a loaf of bread costs a day’s pay! (Revelation 6:6, Revelation 6:8, Matthew 24:7).

Hoarding drives up food prices in Pakistan
“Prices of food usually rise during the month of Ramadan. But in Pakistan, it is not so much supply shortages that are causing the inflation, but hoarding by criminal gangs. Prices of food usually rise during the month of Ramadan. But in Pakistan, it is not so much supply shortages that are causing the inflation, but hoarding by criminal gangs. With the onset of Ramadan in Pakistan, the Nawaz Sharif government has set up special food markets across the country to provide affordable food items to all. However not all are satisfied with what is on sale, with some complaining about the quality of products and the range of items on sale.”

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Oh, Syria! Syria! What is to be done? (Isaiah 17:1-3a), “Damascus will be destroyed, The cities of Aroer are deserted; they will be for flocks, which will lie down, and none will make them afraid. The fortress will disappear from Ephraim, and the kingdom from Damascus”)

Syrian rebels capture key village near Aleppo city
“Syrian rebels seized a strategic village on the edge of the northern city of Aleppo on Monday, activists said, just a day after opposition fighters sustained some of their heaviest losses in months in battles to the south near Damascus. Government troops killed at least 75 rebels in and around the Syrian capital on Sunday, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Monday. It was one of the deadliest single-day tolls for opposition fighters recently.”

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Who do we root for?? No one! Joel Rosenberg’s analysis:

“Who exactly would we arm and assist? We’re talking about a civil war that is pitting Shia radicals (Assad’s regime, Iran and Hezbollah) against “the rebels,” most of whom are Sunni radicals (including al Qaeda and Muslim Brotherhood forces). I don’t want any of them to win. Are there small numbers of rebels who might be better if they could really come to power? Perhaps. But the fact is they have very limited chances of getting to the top of the greasy pole. Indeed, if the wrong people seize control of Syria, the situation for the Israel, Jordan, Lebanon and the West could actually become much worse.”

Joel Rosenberg again from a different article,

Iran, Hezbollah are actively moving to take over Syria, says new Israeli report.
“A new analysis by an Israeli national security think tank argues that Iran not only sees Syria as strategically vital to the mission of the Islamic Revolution in the Middle East, and is determined not to let it fall into enemy hands, but is thus actively planning to take over the nation of Syria and effectively make it part of sovereign Iranian territory. The report, “Iran’s Plans To Take Over Syria,” suggests upwards of 150,000 troops from Iran, the Hezbollah terrorist movement in Lebanon, and some Shia forces from the Gulf states, are involved in the take over. The report was written by retired IDF Brigadier General Dr. Shimon Shapira and was recently published by the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs.”

And yet, there is still talk of military intervention.

General outlines options for U.S. intervention in Syria
“As the U.S. begins to wind down the war in Afghanistan, some members of Congress are trying to pressure President Obama to take more direct action to stop the bloodbath in Syria. More than 100,000 people — mostly civilians — are believed to have died in the civil war. In a letter to the Senate Armed Services committee, America’s top military officer outlined several possible plans for U.S. intervention. But each plan comes with a heavy price.”

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I can’t remember a time when the headlines were so sick, depraved, atrocious. I know there has always been bad news, but not to this level. And no, these aren’t the worst. I choose not to read or publish the worst.

SHOCK VIDEO: Students sign petition to legalize abortion AFTER childbirth…
Neuroscientists plant ‘false memories’ in brain…
FEDS demand firms turn over passwords…
Small plane crashes into house in Indiana…
Dead body falls from plane preparing to land in Niger…
Train derailment kills 77 in Spain…worst disaster in 40 years…
North Korea floods leave 23,000 homeless, crisis worsens…

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I don’t have any prophetic insight, all that is contained in the bible, so you know what I know and I know what you know. But the spiritual pregnant pause is excruciating. The pressure is intense, it seems to me. Does it feel like something big is about to happen, or what?

Jesus has it all in hand. He is on His throne. Blessedly, we were given a glimpse of it! Truly, I can’t stop thinking about this scene

The Throne in Heaven

“After this I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven! And the first voice, which I had heard speaking to me like a trumpet, said, “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this.” At once I was in the Spirit, and behold, a throne stood in heaven, with one seated on the throne. And he who sat there had the appearance of jasper and carnelian, and around the throne was a rainbow that had the appearance of an emerald.”

You know, WE WILL SEE THAT! If you are in Christ, born again and thus saved from the wrath of God, you will be in front of that throne, and Jesus will smile at you and say, “well done good and faithful servant, welcome home.”

baltic dry index, economic depression, economy, israel, russia

Economic downturn, depression, tomato, tomato. Developing a Depression mindset

Posted on July 19, 2013May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

I haven’t done an essay on the economy in a while. I’ve been watching…observing….mulling. What is happening to us in America (and all over the world) is really interesting.

For those of us who know the world is not our home, we are told many times in scripture not to cling to it. (Galatians 6:14, 1 Timothy 6:7) and not to conform to it (Romans 12:2). After all, satan rules it, (2 Corinthians 4:4) the world is enemy territory, (Ephesians 6:10-18) and our vaporous life will soon leave it. (James 4:14).

However, we still have to live here until the rapture or death. So we are of the world but we are not in it. (John 17:14–19). No we are not holograms, lol, but we are islands of holiness dwelling in the midst of a pool of sin.

I know my treasure is in heaven but I still make great efforts to be a good steward of what the Lord has given me in terms of goods and money. (2 Thessalonians 3:10, Philippians 2:4). And as long as I am being faithful to manage the goods and money then I will have more time and money and blessings to enable me to be a good steward also of the gifts of grace He gave. (1 Peter 4:10).

I’ve always been frugal, it is in my nature. Excessive spending is not in me. Buying things that are not practical is not in me. Even if someone gave me $30 to spend on anything I wanted, I’d use it to pay a bill or groceries. About the only spending I engage in that doesn’t directly go to keeping me alive, clothed and in a home with 4 walls are books. I have little money but what I have I like to use for other people.

Because of reading the bible, I know that as time goes on the economy will get worse and worse. Oh, sure, any economy has cycles of ups and downs, but over the long haul the general trend is down. How do I know this? The world is dying. It is cursed. All relationships, projects, economies, and governments are drenched with this curse. None are righteous. (Romans 5:12-21, 1 John 2:17; Matthew 24:35).

This downward trend accelerated dramatically after the presidential election of 2008, a process that began right before the November election in Sept-Oct. In effect, the global economy crashed on or about October 1, 2008, and has never recovered. Though economists continue to call what is happening a ‘recession’ or even insultingly, a ‘recovery,’ I call it what it is, a Depression.

I always thought that with my natural tendency to frugality and a long life of having done without that I’d transition to any economic depression rather easily. I was wrong.

There is a huge difference between frugality as a choice and developing a Depression mindset due to necessity.

What happens to a person who dwells in a long-term state of want, need, constriction, frustration, and fear? To the unsaved, it causes a severely de-stabilizing effect. They want and need something but know not what it is (what they are looking for is peace with God through reconciliation with His Son). That is why they had previously sought to fill that hole where peace goes with the things of this world. When the things of this world are no longer available to them because of drought-like economic conditions, they panic because even the false, temporary pseudo-peace they gained from the things of this world are now unattainable. There are two responses to that panic: turning to God and find that peace, or turning to self and go deeper into the dark hole of unfulfillment. They wonder, is this life just a long, heartbreaking quest for the unattainable? An economic depression brings that hidden question closer to the surface.

The psyche changes during prolonged periods of want and scarcity. This means that societal structure changes too, because the family structure changes. From “Digital History: The Depression” we read:

The Depression had a powerful impact on families. It forced couples to delay marriage and drove the birthrate below the replacement level for the first time in American history. The divorce rate fell, for the simple fact that many couples could not afford to maintain separate households or to pay legal fees. Still, rates of desertion soared. By 1940, there were 1.5 million married women living apart from their husbands. More than 200,000 vagrant children wandered the country as a result of the break-up of their families.

The Depression inflicted a heavy psychological toll on jobless men. With no wages to punctuate their ability, many men lost power as primary decision makers. Large numbers of men lost self-respect, became immobilized and stopped looking for work, while others turned to alcohol or became self-destructive or abusive to their families.

In contrast to men, many women saw their status rise during the Depression. To supplement the family income, married women entered the work force in large numbers. Although most women worked in menial occupations, the fact that they were employed and bringing home paychecks elevated their position within the family and gave them a say in family decisions.

That aforementioned ‘say in the family decisions’ plays into satan’s hands. Men and women were cursed in Genesis 3:16 at the Fall. “Your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you.” Women’s tendency from that time on will was to usurp the headship of the husband (Ephesians 5:23) and the tendency of the husband has been either be to capitulate, or to become a dictator.

Last week, the NY Times reported that a similar gender gap in jobs during this ‘downturn’ is occurring and I noticed a similarity to the changes in family structure in the First Great Depression. One year after it began in 2008, women held 49.99 percent of all jobs. Even today, women are getting jobs at a much faster rate than men, though jobs overall are still scarce. Economists insist that the “start of the recovery” was June 2009. This statistic notes: “Women gained back nearly 90 percent of the jobs they lost in the recession and men gained back 64 percent, from the start of the recovery to June 2013.” So over the last four years women have gained back an economic power and men have remained stagnant.

As we saw in the first Great Depression, when men don’t have a job for a long time it changes the mental mindset, it changes the family dynamic, and this changes the societal structure. (Because the family, based on marriage, is the basic unit of society).

That is the second major cultural shift when a society enters long period of want. Marital roles are upended. The first was the stress on a person who wonders where the next meal is coming from and begins to panic.

For the Christian who truly relies on Jesus for all things to be added to them, hopefully you are not panicking. He said in Matthew 6:33, “But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” The ‘these things’ are mentioned in previous verses: food, water/beverages, and clothes. In other words, the necessities of life. The passage says ‘do not worry.’

I admit that is easier said than done. I rely on the Lord a great deal and worry only minimally. This is because He has never failed to provide for me. But also I do not have children. I know that if I did, my worries over providing for them would make relying peacefully on the provision of Jesus a challenge.

However the mindset of properly stewarding my resources does take effort, if not stress. I plan, think, budget, and look ahead constantly to ensure that what I have goes a long way. I put pout of my mind the things I don’t have and can’t afford. I constantly review my week to see that I am attaining a good balance between stewardship of the things the Lord has provided for myself and making sure that I am cheerfully ministering in love, whether I tithe, give, spend time, or work for someone else.

Mary Owlsey recalled life during the First Great Depression:

“I knew one family there in Oklahoma City, a man and woman and seven children lived in a hole in the ground. You’d be surprised how nice it was, how nice they kept it. They had chairs and tables and beds back in that hole. And they had the dirt all braced upon there, just like a cave”

Las Vegas hole dwellers, Source

Pauline Kael a well-known film critic, was a college student at the University of California at Berkeley during the Depression.

“When I attended Berkeley in 1936, so many of the kids had actually lost their fathers. They had wandered off in disgrace because they couldn’t support their families. Other fathers had killed themselves so the family could have the insurance. Families had totally broken down. Each father took it as his personal failure. These middle class men apparently had no social sense of what was going on, so they killed themselves.It was still the Depression. There were kids who didn’t have a place to sleep, huddling under bridges on the campus, I had a scholarship, but there were times when I didn’t have food.” (Source)”

David Blankenhorn wrote in his book, Fatherless America,

“The United States is becoming an increasingly fatherless society. A generation ago, an American child could reasonably expect to grow up with his or her father. Today, an American child can reasonably expect not to. Fatherlessness is now approaching a rough parity with fatherhood as a defining feature of American childhood.”

The Washington Times reported in their article from a few months ago, “Fathers Disappear from households across America,” that 1 in 3 kids in America live in a household without a father.

source

Psychology Today published an article in 2010 called “The Psychic Toll of the Great Recession“.
“There is little doubt that financial struggles and uncertainty take a significant toll on people. They must confront the daily stress that comes from being unable to make ends meet with few prospects for the immediate future. This stress isn’t just psychological, but can also exact real physical costs in terms of poor sleep and diet, increased illness and injury, and, even worse, alcohol and drug abuse as a means of coping with the stress.”

“With each day of unemployment, people’s belief in themselves atrophies, causing them to question how capable they are of surmounting this immense hurdle. Their faith in the ability of the economy to recover is also shaken. And, of course, their trust in our government is lost as well. The result is a crisis of confidence.”

And there you have it. The LORD shakes them so that the only place they have to go is looking up. And as for us believers, we must, I repeat, must display the confidence we possess in the Lord. Faith in Jesus means knowing He will take care of His own, in every way. As people increasingly develop a Depression mindset, and it wears on them and they begin to panic, how much of a balm can we be to them in our placid trust of a wondrous Jesus who provides for His children?e The purpose, I am convinced, for this current, and last, time of sever restriction and privation before the rapture is to strip people away from their comforts. They are of the world, but let us give them a glimpse of the better world, the world of Jesus and His kingdom.

After the rapture the constrictions and privation in place now will blossom into pure hell. People will work all day just to procure a loaf of bread.

Bread line during First Great Depression, NYC

They will be so desperate for faith in something, anyone, that they will believe the lie of the antichrist when the LORD sends the delusion. Oh, please develop your Depression mindset now, and fast. It is one of trust in the Lord for His provision, reliance on the Holy Spirit to enable us to properly shepherd the provisions He does send, and an attitude of peace and calm in the midst of economic turmoil. How that will stand out to the lost person will be like a floodlight into the eyes of an alligator hiding in the muddy waters.

Lo, the lilies of the field!
Reginald Heber, hymn

Lo, the lilies of the field!
How their leaves instruction yield!
Hark to nature’s lesson given
By the blessed birds of heaven!
Every bush and tufted tree
Warbles trust and piety:—
Mortals, banish doubt and sorrow,
God provideth for the morrow.

One there lives, whose guardian eye
Guides our earthly destiny;
One there lives, who, Lord of all,
Keeps His children lest they fall:
Pass we, then, in love and praise,
Trusting Him through all our days,
Free from doubt and faithless sorrow,—
God provideth for the morrow.

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Russia plans to go ahead with Syrian missile transfer, ignoring Israel’s warnings

Posted on May 17, 2013 by elizabethprata

Russia and Syria are in the midst of completing a deal for Syria to receive a ‘new shipment of anti-ship missiles are equipped with advanced radar that makes them more potent’ reports Haaretz. Obviously this does not make Israel happy. Israel’s Prime Minister Netanyahu met in an emergency meeting with Russia’s President Putin, and Netanyahu urged Russia to abandon the deal with Syria. He said that continuing it might just trigger a larger regional war.

Israel does not make idle threats.

The missiles that Russia is sending to Syria “Unlike the long-range surface-to-surface missiles that stand at the Assad regime’s disposal, the Yakhont anti-ship missile system allows the Syrian military to stand against potential efforts by international forces to impose a naval embargo or a no-fly zone on the country, or to carry out limited airstrikes in support of the Syrian opposition,” according to the report in Haaretz.

This is a significant increase in military capability, and seriously hinders Israel’s ability to carry out strikes in and around Syria, such as taking out forays that Hezbollah make or destroy supply convoys of Hamas.

Russia is unswayed by Netanyahu’s exhortations, and is continuing to send the anti-ship missiles to Assad. This signals a commitment to Assad. The NY Times says “Russia has sent advanced antiship cruise missiles to Syria, a move that illustrates the depth of its support for the Syrian government led by President Bashar al-Assad, American officials said Thursday. “

Interestingly this is exactly what the bible says the alignments wold be in the last days. We also know from the bible that there will be regional wars, such as the one described in Psalm 83 where all of Israel’s abutting neighbors and the terrorist groups existing in those nations attack Israel. Or the Gog Magog war described in Ezekiel 37-38 where Russia, Turkey, Iran and others also attack Israel. Or the one in Isaiah 17 where Damascus is destroyed and Syria’s environs are made a waste. Or the LORD’S promise to Israel/Judah that they will finally possess Jordan in the last days just before He comes back to establish His kingdom. (Obadiah 15–21).

But back to today. Times of Israel reports, “Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly warned Russian President Vladimir Putin in an emergency face-to-face meeting on Tuesday that Moscow’s sale of the S-300 missile defense system to Assad could push the Middle East into war. But Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, evidently unmoved by the dramatic Israeli warning, declared on Thursday that while Moscow was “not signing any new deals,” it would honor existing contracts with Syria, including for the air-defense systems. “We’ve already carried out some of the deal,” Lavrov said, “and we will carry the rest of it out in full.””

This antiship missile, with its described impacts on widening a military capability of chaotic Syria, does seem to be a tipping point.The Times of Israel article explains,

“An Israeli source was quoted as saying that Netanyahu had told Putin the S-300s represent a weapons system that “shatters [Israel’s] qualitative edge,” presumably since it would greatly constrain the Israeli air force’s freedom of movement above Syria and neighboring Lebanon.”

“An Israeli source was quoted as saying that Netanyahu had told Putin the S-300s represent a weapons system that “shatters [Israel’s] qualitative edge,” presumably since it would greatly constrain the Israeli air force’s freedom of movement above Syria and neighboring Lebanon.”

We will wait to see what Israel does. Perhaps the final destruction of Damascus is on the horizon, (Isaiah 17) not that I’m happy about that. Please pray for the millions of Muslims in these areas who do not know Christ and are unaware, or who disbelieve, the eternally final plans that the Lord has for them unless thay beleive on the precious name of Christ.

bolide, meteor, peru temple, rock art, russia, signs

(UPDATED) Meteor in Russia astounds. Incredible video!

Posted on February 15, 2013May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

You might be interested in knowing of all FOUR astronomical events that occurred yesterday. Turns out, the Russia meteor was not the only one. I wrote about them here, and posted video too.

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Hundreds injured by meteor explosion in Russia
“MOSCOW — A meteor streaked over the city of Chelyabinsk in Russia’s Ural Mountains on Friday morning, producing a blast that injured hundreds, caused minor damage to buildings and temporarily disrupted Internet communication, officials said. Yelena Smirnykh, deputy information chief of the Emergency Situations Ministry said 474 people sought medical assistance after the explosion. “Five of them were hospitalized, most of the injuries being cuts by shattered window glass,” she said. Roskosmos, the Russian space agency, said it had not launched any objects on Thursday or Friday, Smirnykh said. “At this point we are confident that we are dealing with a meteor rain resulting from the explosion of a large meteor causing flashes and sound shock waves in the Chelyabinsk region and observed in three other regions of Russia too.”

Nature reports some interesting facts:
“A meteor that exploded over Russia this morning was the largest recorded object to strike the Earth in more than a century, scientists say. Infrasound data collected by a network designed to watch for nuclear weapons testing suggests that today’s blast released hundreds of kilotonnes of energy. That would make it far more powerful than the nuclear weapon tested by North Korea just days ago and the largest rock crashing on the planet since a meteor broke up over Siberia’s Tunguska river in 1908. “It was a very, very powerful event,” says Margaret Campbell-Brown, an astronomer at the University of Western Ontario in London, Canada…”

UPDATE: the injuries reported in the area affected have risen to 1,200. There are thousands of windows blown out, which is a serious thing in Russian severe winter frigidity. Some of the impact sites have been discovered. One of them formed a crater almost 20 feet in diameter. Chelyabinsk administration’s website said nearly 3,000 buildings were damaged to varying extents by the meteor shower in the city, including 34 medical facilities and 361 schools and kindergartens. The total amount of window glass shattered amounts to 100,000 square meters, the site said, citing city administration head Sergey Davydov. Russia Today has much more

The following video is a composite of amateur and police video of the meteor posted on the newspaper Russia Today. It is incredible. The lowness of the meteor and the brightness, it is really, truly amazing, and one of he most astounding videos of a meteor I’ve seen. No wonder it produced panic among the people of the Urals!

“And I will show wonders in the heavens above, and signs on the earth below, blood, and fire, and vapor of smoke; (Acts 2:19)

Peter preached that at Pentecost about the Day of the Lord. That will be the time when God personally intervenes on earth to deal with sin and sinners through His wrath. That “Day” has not begun, but with signs like this meteor, it certainly seems near.

The meteor was not caused by the near fly-by of the coming asteroid, either, in case you were wondering, said NASA. The incoming asteroid 2012 DA14, which will fly a record-setting close encounter of 17,200 miles of Earth when it passes safely by our planet today, had nothing to do with the meteor.

In archaeology news, The Scotsman reports that a retired silversmith has uncovered the largest collection of ancient rock art ever found in the Highlands on a remote hill overlooking the Cromarty Firth. The carved rocks – some almost 10ft across – have been discovered scattered across a hillside near Evanton, in Ross-shire. Douglas Scott, the amateur archaeologist who has recorded the remarkable find, believes the “cup-marked” rocks – dating from up to 5,000 years ago to the Neolithic or Bronze Age – form part of a “ritual centre of some significance” where ancient people worshipped the sun and performed rites connected to the underworld.

Here is another story about it too. Fascinating!

Still covering archaeological news, in Peru an ancient temple was discovered.
“Archaeologists in Peru have uncovered what they believe is a temple, estimated to be up to 5,000 years old, at the site of El Paraiso, north of Lima. Inside the ruins of the ancient room, which measures about 23 feet by 26 feet, there’s evidence of a ceremonial hearth, where offerings may have been burned, archaeologists say. The temple also had a narrow entrance and stone walls covered with yellow clay, on which traces of red paint were found, according to a statement from Peru’s Ministry of Culture.”

Isn’t it interesting that for 5,000 years, almost the length of time that the bible says man has been upon the earth, we find in the secular and archaeological record that humans have worshiped? They worship false gods, but the inclination to worship has always been within us.

I often used to wonder about that as I mused about God and faith, before I was saved by the grace of Jesus. I’d wonder that there had to be a God, because there is evidence that the urge to worship is inside every man, in every culture, across epochs. It stood to reason that if worship was a cultural thing, some cultures would be absent evidence that worship took place. Yet all cultures worship and always have. I concluded that if men worshiped in all cultures across all times, the source had to be external to man, not internal to men or inherent in a changeable culture. Worship was the one constant. I decided there had to be a God, but it took many years to sort out which God. Fortunately God took care of showing me the right way because I would never have found Him in my depravity. The right way is Jesus, Who is the only way: Jesus.

“Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6)

That meteor sure was incredible. Imagine when the people who dwell on the earth see Jesus at the rapture! (1 Thessalonians 4:17). Imagine when sinners in the Tribulation see Him return to earth! (Matthew 24:27). It will be amazing!!!!!

end time, russia, snowpocalypse

Snowpocalypse Russia: Snow ‘tsunami’ swallows streets, cars, buildings

Posted on January 19, 2013May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

Another example of extreme weather gone wild in the last days. Yes, I know it’s winter. Yes I know it’s snowy Russia. But take note of the word in the lede- ‘unprecedented.”

From Russia Today:
“Unrelenting snowfalls have caused unprecedented travel chaos in Russia. Over the past week the country has seen scores of traffic accidents, flight delays, and in some cases, the complete isolation of some remote settlements and towns.”

“As more than 10 inches of snow fell in Moscow – more than half of the average snowfall for the whole of January – the already congested city is on the verge of a traffic collapse. Traffic measuring portal Yandex reported Grade 10 (out of 10) jams on Friday, as strong winds created blizzard conditions and built imposing snow drifts. More than 12,000 de-icers and snow sweepers are out on the streets, working around the clock.”

More photos and the rest of the story at link above. It’s really an incredible amount of snow! Amazing photos!

CNN reports, “Survey: One in three Americans see extreme weather as a sign of biblical end times”
“Thirty-six percent of Americans say that the severity of recent natural disasters indicate that we are at the precipice of Jesus’ second coming and the end of the world, according to the survey, released by Public Religion Research Institute.”

God is in charge, all ways, all the time.

“For he saith to the snow, Be thou on the earth…” (Job 37:6)

“Praise the Lord from the earth, you great sea creatures and all deeps, fire and hail, snow and mist, stormy wind fulfilling his word!” (Psalm 148:7-8)

My opinion is that this snow in Russia is a demonstration of both His power and His restraint. God is in charge of the world, He is powerful. God could inundate the world with snow if he wanted to (as He did in the flood with water.) But that He doesn’t yet is a demonstration of His restraint.

His restraint will come to an end, and at some point after the rapture, He will release His wrath and fury. Please repent now, repent, ask Him to forgive your sins and believe on Him as resurrected Savior. And then to you O saved one, when the wrath comes, He would say–

“Come, my people, enter your chambers, and shut your doors behind you; hide yourselves for a little while until the fury has passed by.” (Isaiah 26:20)

attack, iran, russia, submarine

Netanyahu: ‘by the time my term is over, Iran will not have a nuclear weapons program.

Posted on November 6, 2012 by elizabethprata

Netanyahu: I Will Attack Iran Alone if Necessary
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu promises that by the time his term is over, Iran will not have a nuclear weapons program.

“Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu promised on Monday that by the time his term as Prime Minister is over, Iran will not have a nuclear weapons program.

Speaking to Channel 2, Netanyahu said that if it is necessary, he will lead an independent Israeli attack against Iran, even without the support of the United States.

“When former Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion declared the establishment of the State of Israel, was it with the consent of the Americans? When former Prime Minister Menachem Begin bombed the Iraqi nuclear reactor, was that with the consent of the Americans?” asked Netanyahu.

“If there someone here who, as Prime Minister of Israel, cannot act on things that are fundamental to the State, to its future and to its security and depends only on approval of others, he does not deserve to lead,” said Netanyahu.

“When we didn’t have a state, when we didn’t have an army, and when someone threatened to destroy us and then actually annihilated us, we went and pleaded with others,” he said. “Today we don’t plead, we prepare.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Mr Netanyahu does not strike me as a Prime Minister who makes idle threats. Those were strong and sobering words, especially in light of the conflagration prophesied to occur in the last days involving most every middle Eastern nation. And Russia. (Zech 12-14, Isaiah 17 and 19; Psalm 83, Obadiah 3)

Speaking of Russia, I’d mentioned before that a Russian sub had been discovered patrolling for quite a period of time in the Gulf of Mexico, off Louisiana. Now they were discovered 200 miles off Kings Bay GA. Kings Bay is a US submarine base. Here is the story–

Russian attack sub detected near East Coast
A Russian nuclear-powered attack submarine cruised within 200 miles of the East Coast recently in the latest sign Russia is continuing to flex its naval and aerial power against the United States, defense officials said.

The submarine was identified by its NATO designation as a Russian Sierra-2 class submarine believed to be based with Russia’s Northern Fleet. It was the first time that class of Russian submarine had been detected near a U.S. coast, said officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of anti-submarine warfare efforts.

One defense official said the submarine was believed to have been conducting anti-submarine warfare efforts against U.S. ballistic and cruise missile submarines based at Kings Bay, Georgia.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

If it feels like the jackals are surrounding the wounded gazelle, it is because they are.

iran, prophecy, russia, tb, tuberculosis, vortex

Update: Current news and current prophecy

Posted on July 12, 2012May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

UPDATED:

Regarding the mention made below of the possibility of X-flares due to the large sunspot turning into view: it has occurred. Spaceweather.com reports:

X-FLARE! Big sunspot AR1520 unleashed an X1.4-class solar flare on July 12th at 1653 UT. Because this sunspot is directly facing Earth, everything about the blast was geoeffective. For one thing, it hurled a coronal mass ejection (CME) directly toward our planet. According to a forecast track prepared by analysts at the Goddard Space Weather Lab, the CME will hit Earth on July 14th around 10:20 UT (+/- 7 hours) and could spark strong geomagnetic storms. Sky watchers should be alert for auroras this weekend.

————–end update————–

Here are some news excerpts for you today which I thought were interesting and had a prophetic tinge, if not outright seriously end of days kind of interesting.

The Lord said in His response to the disciples as to when the end of days will come and what shall be the signs, (Luke 21:11) that at the end of days one of the signs would be pestilence. Pestilence is an epidemic disease with a high death rate.

With that in mind, here is a story in the Palm Beach (FL) Post from yesterday-

The Palm Beach Post exposes a hidden menace
Government cutbacks and the worst TB epidemic in 20 years
“Reporting on tuberculosis is not most reporters’ idea of a glamor assignment. It’s an ancient disease, drug companies aren’t keen to develop blockbuster medicines, and, anyway, few people get it, right? Wrong. A powerful expose by Stacey Singer, the health reporter for The Palm Beach Post, has revealed a serious outbreak of TB in Jacksonville—the worst the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has investigated in 20 years. Thirteen deaths and 99 illnesses are linked to the outbreak so far, which Singer reports, “was, and is far from contained.”

I’ve been worried about TB for a long time, even writing about it as long as three years ago, here. In that blog essay, a news article documented the first case of highly resistant TB in the US. It mentions something I think is an equal menace to the increase of TB itself: secrecy.

“this country’s first case of a contagious, aggressive, especially drug-resistant form of tuberculosis. The Associated Press learned of his case, which until now has not been made public, as part of a six-month look at the soaring global challenge of drug resistance.”

In this week’s article about TB, again mention is made of how the outbreak was hidden. In an unfortunate series of events, the CDC report of a dangerous outbreak in Jacksonville FL was issued at the same time the Governor signed a bill that cutbacks in Florida’s health programs were to be implemented, including closing a Jacksonville hospital 6-months ahead of schedule. None of the right people saw the report that a dangerous TB outbreak was underway. Even today, three months after the CDC report was issued, they still have not circulated it widely.

Keeping important news from the people can happen by collusion, as what happened in the 2007-2008 Obama campaign. Or it can happen through incompetence or too many bureaucratic layers, inhibiting efficiency, as the FL TB case shows us. Either way, this is a dangerous time of history, when the truth can and is suppressed so often and in so many ways.

Not coincidentally, Gallup Poll Finds Confidence In TV News Has Hit A New Low. Really? And this is news? It’s like saying, “Scientists discover we need air to breathe”.

At least this news of a TB issue in Denver was reported widely. It’s from February 2012: 40% of Longmont students test positive for latent TB. Though man believes he has “advanced” beyond such mundane diseases as tuberculosis, he has not. As Jesus said, pestilence will visit man, and that will likely include all the old diseases we thought we stamped out, or could manage, like TB, influenza, bubonic plague or malaria. It will likely include some new diseases from mutations we haven’t thought of…but God has.

In Roanoke VA, a School Board is being sued for posting the Ten Commandments. The judge handling the case said in an attempt at mediation, could the top four commandments be cut, leaving the bottom six. After all, the thinking went, the first 4 commandments are religious but the bottom 6 are ‘just’ secular and should appease the atheists.

Beware appeasing the false idols.

Remember in March, the push in the UK to re-rewrite the Ten Commandments? They updated them in modern language. I wrote about it here.

God does become angry. Messing with His word will result in curses. (Revelation 22:18-19; Deuteronomy 4:2). Hebrews 10:26-27 says: “For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and fiery indignation which will devour the adversaries.

In China, an entire herd of pigs was electrocuted during a thunderstorm. Reminds me a little of the Herd of pigs in Gadara… (Mark 5:1-20). I don’t think there is a prophetic link, but it just reminded me of the same.

“A livestock farmer in southern China recently received a shock when her entire pen of pigs was electrocuted by a bolt of lightning. Austrian Times reports that Chen Lin, a farmer from Loucun in Guangong province, watched her herd of more than 50 pigs die after being shocked with 300,000 volts of electricity. “I saw them all shaking and screaming terribly but there was nothing I could do,” she told the paper. “I was only a few feet away from being electrocuted too. “The incident occurred during a thunderstorm that shattered the roof of the pigs’ enclosure. It’s believe that the lightning struck the sty’s metal frame and a deadly current was carried across the wet floor.”

Iran has continued making her usual belligerent threats, but they are darkening in their pointedness and causing consternation because it seems like they really plan to carry them out. It was revealed that there are 40,000 Iranian agents in the Western Hemisphere waiting to be deployed into terrorism.

Russia is also bringing more and more war ships and marines and weapons to the area, recently docking in Syria. It seems that Russia is seriously intentional about protecting Syria.

—Is The Russian Navy Really Going To Syria – And Why?
—From Iran, new threats to close key oil route
—Russia: Khamenei urges Iran to prepare for the End of the World

Not to be left out, North Korea makes a new, unusually specific threat.

So the US ramps up too.

—U.S. deploys sea drones to Persian Gulf to clear Iranian mines
—USS Stennis going right back to Mideast

And what’s up with the weird vortex on Saturn’s moon? The Lord also said that there would be signs in the sun, moon, and stars. (Luke 21:25). Perhaps this is one.

Stunning vortex appears on Saturn’s moon, puzzles scientists

The article says in part, [Cassini], “the high-powered orbiter captured images of a massive vortex forming at its pole, and scientists can only guess as to why it’s suddenly appeared. The massive collection of swirling gas has gathered at Titan’s south pole, which measures approximately 3,200 miles across. The whirlwind has never before been spotted, and it remains unclear how long it has been forming. Cassini — which first arrived near Saturn in 2004 (and shot the stunning images below) — had been orbiting the moon too far north to have captured it, until now.”

Sunspot AR 1520 is a monster. In size that is. You can see it without a telescope! But it could turn into a rampaging monster, having lots of potential for earth-effective impacts through either flares or Coronal Mass Ejections or aurora.

Spaceweather.com asks, “Calm before the storm? Big sunspot AR1520 has been relatively quiet for the past 48 hours, but this could be the calm before the storm. The sunspot has a delta-class magnetic field that harbors energy for X-class solar flares.” Also auroras, On July 10 Spaceweather reported, “For the second day in a row, Earth’s polar magnetic field is unsettled and glowing with auroras. Paul Zizka sends this picture from Banff National Park in Alberta, Canada:

Pretty! The Lord is so creative. How about this shot from Cassini of Saturn, her rings and a moon?

The Lord is great!

bulgaria, israel, jordan, positive tweeters, prophecy, russia, wildfires

Being negative about positive tweeters is not a negative thing, I’m positive

Posted on July 7, 2012May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

Some news today for you. Bible thoughts at the end.

103 Dead in Southern Russia Floods
“Intense flooding in the Black Sea region of southern Russia killed 103 people after torrential rains dropped nearly a foot of water, forcing many to scramble out of their beds for refuge in trees and on roofs, officials said Saturday.” (Photo BBC)

UK hit with torrential rain, floods

Sky News, Pic: Graham Ross

“Torrential rain sweeping across much of Britain is bringing widespread flooding to homes and businesses in its wake. Some areas are expected to receive up to one month’s rainfall in 24 hours. Farmers have been urged to move livestock from low-lying fields, summer concerts have been canceled and the British Grand Prix at Silverstone is facing a washout.”

6.3 earthquake in Vanuatu yesterday. Some of the volcanoes have calmed down. Here is a volcano report:

“A sedate day in volcano land. The on-going volcano-seismic crisis at El Hierro (Canary Islands) while not over, appears to be on the wane. Bursts of spasmodic tremor have become less frequent and are of lower amplitude than when the crisis began last month. Tremor has dropped to even lower levels at Nevado Del Ruiz volcano (Colombia) and the once robust plume of SO2 emitted by the volcano has dwindled. A strong plume of SO2 over the Virunga volcanoes (DR Congo) which became visible (through satellite imagery) during the past few days is not evident on the most recent satellite pass. The plume was the only evidence of increased activity there. There have been no reports of an eruption in the region so far and no earthquakes associated with the plume (unlike that which accompanied plume activity there last month).”

Geologist/volcanologist Erik Klemetti has absconded to MA due to the storms in OH having knocked out his power. He writes that he is out of touch this week with volcano news but is on the way home tomorrow and hopes to get back to it this week, if power has been restored that is. Amazing how much we depend on electricity. I wonder if Edison had any clue?!

As of yesterday, officials are still scrambling to determine what the mystery disease is that is killing Cambodian children. The death toll is up to 64, and has only affected kids under the age of 7. It’s been reported in 14 Provinces.

Source

A Golden Algae bloom has killed thousands of fish in Arizona for 20 miles along the Salt River. Experts say this is a first. It is such a shame when algae blooms and environment disasters like this happen. It really makes me long for the beauty that is coming, a perfect world with untold and unimaginable wonders! (1 Corinthians 2:9).

There is a bad wildfire in Bulgaria, and Israel has offered technology and help to quell it. The temps in Bulgaria are predicted to be very high over the next few days- at least 98 degrees F. But there is now a wildfire in Israel too, that has spread into Jordan.

Speaking of Jordan, King Abdullah has summoned the Parliament to “meet in an extraordinary session for an unspecified period for the purpose of deciding matters to be specified in the Royal Decree when the summons are issued. An extraordinary session shall be prorogued by a Royal Decree”.

What a relief, the Presbyterians voted not to ditch Israel. “By a razor-thin margin, the largest Presbyterian group in the United States rejected a proposal Thursday to divest from three companies that do business with Israel. Pro-Palestinian advocates vowed to try again.” It is clear we are losing the church. But not the bride! She is spotless and contains exactly the number of souls the Savior has determined since the foundation of the world. (Rev 13:8).

Call me a curmudgeon but I am tired of the “positive tweeters.” I’m not talking about people who aren’t sarcastic or mean or who work hard at minding their tongue. All those are good things and we all need to work on them, including me. I’m not talking of either secular people who are happy to make conversation and spread cheer. Relentlessly happy people. I am talking of believers who think they are doing the world a service by ONLY tweeting positive about Jesus, the bible, and faith. Like this one:

“Spread love everywhere you go. Let no one ever come to you without leaving happier. Mother Teresa”

Aside from the fact that Mother Teresa was an enemy of God rebelling against Him her whole, long life, and likely residing in hell at this very moment, I am going to be blunt here, this is a ridiculous tweet. I tweeted back,

“What if we share the Gospel in love, and tell them of sin, they get convicted, and leave UNhappier?”

A believer’s language and life is not only a joyride on It’s A Small World or sitting in the Friends fountain clapping happy things.

Positive tweeting is a good thing if it is tempered with the notion that not everything we say or do in Jesus makes people happy. And that we have joy, but life is not always “positive.” As a matter of fact, there is a woe about people who constantly think well of you. “Woe to you, when all people speak well of you, for so their fathers did to the false prophets.” (Luke 6:26).

Expressing only what sinful man thinks is “positive” usually leaves out the talk of sin, conviction, and judgment. But those things are part of the Gospel. Our lives in Jesus are full of pain, mourning, lament, grief, and sorrow over our sins, others’ sins, the end of the world, and the persecution of our brethren. That is a fact. Whitewashing it by being relentlessly and exclusively “positive” doesn’t do justice to Jesus. I wonder if positive tweeters ever tweet John 11:35. Or Genesis 6:6.

We do love our enemies (Luke 6:25) but we are to be salt as well. Salt has a medicinal quality that stings when applied. Speaking only positive things and not the whole counsel of God leaves us unbalanced as only Light and not Salt AND Light. Positive tweeters want to give lemonade without the lemons. Anyway, it is a Twitter thing that bugs me. Oh, and I never got a reply to my question.

Don’t forget to read the bible. Not just to listen to good preachers, or read good commentaries, or sing good hymns. All those are edifying but don’t let them substitute for reading the bible straight up for yourself.

I am going through Judges. I re-read chapter 3 & 4 today before going on to chapter 5. Deborah was amazing, wasn’t she! So was Jael. Here is How Judges 5 ends. It is the last line in Deborah’s song:

“Thus let all Your enemies perish, O LORD!
But let those who love Him be like the sun
When it comes out in full strength.”

His wrath will be full strength (Rev 14:10) but His glory is full strength too! Believers will not have to endure the former and will cry with joy when we experience the latter in full strength. He is most worthy to be praised.

damascus, jesus, prophecy, russia, syria

UPDATED 2X–Rumors: Russia to escort Assad out of Syria?

Posted on June 18, 2012May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

UPDATE #2
IDF: Iran Realizing Assad is Finished
DF Spokesperson Brigadier General Yoav (Poly) Mordechai said Friday that Syria’s allies Iran and Hizbullah are coming to realize that Bashar Assad’s regime has “reached its end.”“Another week is almost over, during which the desperate effort by Iran and Hizbullah to help the Assad regime survive was evident,

UPDATE #1
A story below mentioned that the US had enlisted UK’s aid in stopping the alleged shipment by Russia of helicopters to war-torn Syria. Today the UK Telegraph reports “A Russian ship believed to be carrying helicopters and missiles for Syria has been effectively stopped in its tracks off the coast of Scotland after its insurance was cancelled at the behest of the British government.’ More here
——————–
During the fog of war there is by definition a clash of truth and rumor. It becomes very hard to know what is true and what’s a feint. What is propaganda and what is accurate. With that in mind I bring you some news of the events in the fast-unfolding arena of imminent prophecy fulfillment: Syria, Israel, Egypt.

Syria, which Isaiah 17 prophesies its capital city of Damascus and environs will be totally destroyed, has been in the news since winter of 2011. The citizens rose up against its dictator, much like the citizens in Tunisia, Egypt, Bahrain, Algeria, Libya etc did. Except the Syrian uprising is still going on. The feeling of imminent fulfillment deepened last week when Secretary of State Hillary Clinton reported that Russia was planning to deliver attack helicopters to Syria’s leader, Bashar al-Assad. The two nations have been allies for 40 years, and Syria is Russia’s biggest customer for war weapons.

Egypt has also been in the news, with the uprising, capture of dictator Mubarek, and Muslim Brotherhood ascension to power, and now their elections. Isaiah 19 is an unfulfilled prophecy regarding Egypt in the last days.

It is also no coincidence that Russia began expanding Syria’s port of Tartus last year so that it can host Russian warships. Tartus is the only port on the Mediterranean that Russia has access to. For Russia, having an ally and thus a presence in Syria is critical. Russia is in prophecy in Ezekiel 38-39 as a participant in the Gog-Magog war.

That was the background. Several news stories caught my eye this morning.

EGYPT-ISRAEL

Amid presidential elections, al-Qaida leader urges Egypt to cancel treaty with Israel
“Al-Qaida’s leader has urged Egypt to cancel its peace treaty with Israel and to establish Islamic rule, according to an audio message released Sunday. He said the goal was to stop Israel from turning Jerusalem into a Jewish city.”

IDF moves tanks closer to Egypt
“The IDF has deployed Armored forces near the Israel-Egypt border, moving tanks closer to the fence, Ynet has learned. The unusual move followed Monday’s terror attack on defense contractor crews building the new security fence”

RUSSIA-SYRIA

US enlists Britain’s help to stop ship ‘carrying Russian attack helicopters’ to Syria
“The US government has enlisted Britain’s help in a bid to stop a ship suspected of carrying Russian attack helicopters and missiles to conflict-riven Syria, The Sunday Telegraph can reveal.”

Stop the presses! Forget the helicopters, that was so yesterday. Today Russia just upped the ante from helicopters, to warships and troops.

Russia to send ships and marines to Syria
“Two Russian navy ships are completing preparations to sail to Syria with a unit of marines on a mission to protect Russian citizens and the nation’s base there, a news report said Monday. The deployment appears to reflect Moscow’s growing concern about Syrian President Bashar Assad’s future.”

Ahhh, now here comes the rumor:

Russian Commandos ‘to Escort Assad Out of Syria’
“Ships carrying Russian commandos may soon sail to Syria to escort strongman Bashar Assad to safety from the country where a rebellion against him is growing fiercer.Reports to this effect were cited by Voice of Israel radio’s veteran “listener” Miki Gurdus, who specializes in listening to radio broadcasts on various frequencies worldwide.”

Of course Israel is in prophecy, everywhere. Most applicable today is the prophecy in Zechariah 12:1-2.

“The burden of the word of the LORD concerning Israel: Thus declares the LORD, who stretched out the heavens and founded the earth and formed the spirit of man within him: 2“Behold, I am about to make Jerusalem a cup of staggering to all the surrounding peoples.”

While Isaiah 19 foretells a time of strife and wrath from the Lord upon Egypt, it is hopeful to know that God has a glorious future in store for Egypt (and Assyria and Israel as well!!) Egypt turns to the Lord! Assyria is blessed! (What IS Assyria? Here is a map)

Isaiah 19 ends with the following promise that will be fulfilled in the Millennium:

“In that day there will be an altar to the LORD in the midst of the land of Egypt, and a pillar to the LORD at its border. It will be a sign and a witness to the LORD of hosts in the land of Egypt. When they cry to the LORD because of oppressors, he will send them a savior and defender, and deliver them. And the LORD will make himself known to the Egyptians, and the Egyptians will know the LORD in that day and worship with sacrifice and offering, and they will make vows to the LORD and perform them.

“And the LORD will strike Egypt, striking and healing, and they will return to the LORD, and he will listen to their pleas for mercy and heal them. In that day there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria, and Assyria will come into Egypt, and Egypt into Assyria, and the Egyptians will worship with the Assyrians. In that day Israel will be the third with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing in the midst of the earth, whom the LORD of hosts has blessed, saying, “Blessed be Egypt my people, and Assyria the work of my hands, and Israel my inheritance.”’ (Is 19:19-25)

The LORD is good!

It is my opinion that with events moving into place so quickly and the probable fulfillment of these prophecies coming into view, nay, landing on our laps, that the rapture is even closer. The rapture is an event that has no sign, and could happen at any moment. It is dependent upon Jesus taking the full number of believers that he has set aside, (Romans 11:25) and we don’t know what that number is or how close we are to it. That is why the rapture has always been imminent, meaning, could occur at any time. It is not dependent upon one certain thing occurring before it could take place.

In listening to Pastor JD Farag’s weekly prophecy update last night, he said he is changing his message from “get ready” to “BE ready.” He said it is too late to get ready. Make preparations now for being snatched up to the Lord. No more waiting, no more dithering, no more researching, no more wondering. This is it. The rapture seems so close, he said, in his opinion, it is closer than any of us can imagine.

I agree.

He referenced the rapidly moving events that coincide with what the Lord said to look for and what the Lord promised would happen. Things are moving at a day-by-day clip now, with each dawn unfolding new developments that seem to be ripped out of the pages of the bible. Now is the time to know the Lord through repentance of your sins and acceptance of Him as Savior and Lord.

WHAT MUST I DO TO BE SAVED??

“Because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.” (Romans 10:9-10)

Believe upon the Gospel. WHAT IS THE GOSPEL?

The basic ingredients of the gospel message are the death, burial, resurrection, and appearances of the resurrected Christ. “Now I want to make clear for you, brothers and sisters, the gospel that I preached to you, that you received and on which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold firmly to the message I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. For I passed on to you as of first importance what I also received—that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day according to the scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve… (1Corinthians 15:1-5)

He was buried, so His death became an established fact. He was resurrected which witnesses verified, therefore His claims of being God were verified. He is who He says He is: God in the flesh, come to seek and save the lost in their sins by becoming the sacrifice upon which God poured out all His wrath for sin, so we would not have to bear it. He took the penalty for it. However, His though His death and resurrection provided the way, it is the ONLY way to heaven and thus of escaping God’s wrath. Any other way is not the pardon, it is the death sentence.

Do we have to work our way into heaven? Even if we accept Jesus?

No. His grace is sufficient. “For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.” (Romans 6:14)

“Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.” (John 6:29)

Repent and believe! The end is nigh.