Category: wildfires

Posted in bible, drought, heat, oklahoma, wildfires

What happens when the earth’s people refuse God’s Living Water?

Posted on by elizabethprata

“It’s raining ashes in Tulsa.”

That was the tweet from a Christian sister who lives in Oklahoma. Wildfires have struck that state the last few days and there is much damage.

We’re scorched from one end of the nation to the other. We are experiencing heat, drought, fires, ash, dust, dryness and thirst…

Why is this? Because our hearts are hot for satan, we’re drought-ridden from not being in the Word, and our consciences are seared as if with a hot iron. So it is no wonder, my glorious God, that You manifest on the outside what is on the inside of your people. You are the Living Water, but we refuse it. You are the refreshing dew but we don’t want it. You give to us that is athirst the fountain of the water of life freely but we turn away. (Revelation 21:6).

“but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” ( John 4:14 ).

But your people say NO!

“Therefore the heavens above you have withheld the dew, and the earth has withheld its produce.”
(Haggai 1:10)

Corn plants damaged by extreme heat and drought conditions
in Carmi, Illinois. Photographer: Daniel Acker/Bloomberg. source
I will make it a wasteland, neither pruned nor cultivated, and briers and thorns will grow there. I will command the clouds not to rain on it.” (Isaiah 5:6)
Marion Kujawa looks over a pond he uses to water the cattle on his farm
on in Ashley, Ill. Kujawa has been digging the pond deeper after it
began to dry up during the current drought.
“The LORD will turn the rain of your country into dust and powder; it will come down from the skies until you are destroyed.” (Deuteronomy 28:24)
In Luther, Okla., at least two dozen homes, a day care center and
other businesses have been destroyed by a wind-driven fire. source

Surely wickedness burns like a fire; it consumes briers and thorns, it sets the forest thickets ablaze, so that it rolls upward in a column of smoke. (Isaiah 9:18)
A horse, which was eventually rescued, tries to escape
a wildfire Friday in central Oklahoma. Photo: Jerry Laizure, AP. source

“My people have committed two sins: They have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water. (Jeremiah 2:13).
Medina County: cisterns drying up in drought. source

I like to see the metaphors in how the LORD presents Himself to us. One of those ways is as the Living water, refreshing rain, a fountain of truth. Water, water, water. I also like to see His promises. We often focus on the ‘good’ promises, of eternal life, treasure in heaven, unconditional love. But He made other promises too. Like this one that He promises His people the Jews-

“If ye walk in my statutes, and keep my commandments…Then I will give you rain in due season, and the land shall yield her increase.”  (Leviticus 26:3,4)

Although our covenant with Him as the grafted-in Gentiles is not the same as the covenant above, the principles are the same. We are still to walk in His ways and follow His statutes. If we do, then another of His promises will be fulfilled:

“And the LORD will guide you continually and satisfy your desire in scorched places and make your bones strong; and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail.” (Isaiah 58:11).

Barnes’ Notes closes beautifully with an explanation of the Isaiah verse above. Man, those 1800’s writers could write:

“But in the supplies which God makes for his people there is no such deception. The fountains of pardon, peace, and joy are ever open and ever full. The streams of salvation are always flowing. The weary pilgrim may go there at any season of the year, and from any part of a desolate world, and find them always full, refreshing, and free. However far may be the pilgrimage to them from amidst the waste and burning climes of sin, however many come to slake their thirst, and however frequently they come, they find them always the same. They never fail; and they will continue to flow on to the end of time.”

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

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

Posted on 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.

Posted in damascus, el hierro, wildfires

El Hierro island bulges, plus other news

Posted on by elizabethprata

The following is from a still of a Youtube video made of the storm in Ireland today. They happened to be videotaping when one of the many lightning strikes hit the bridge.

Sferic map showing a lot of lightning strikes over many parts of the north and northwest at the moment. Irish Weather Online

brwwx.jpg

Irish Weather Online– Flooding in Douglas, Cork. Image Eddie OHare
dyzzl.jpg

Waldo Canyon Wildfire, CO, described as ‘epic’, ‘catastrophic’, vicious’ (photo source). In my opinion disasters of this scale will only increase, but what’s epic is my heartbreak for so many people’s losses.

Does it seem like wildfires are increasing? If it seems that way to you, it is because they are. “Thousands of wildfires raged across the United States last year, 2011, burning a record amount of land, especially in the southern U.S. In fact, 2011 the third-most-active fire season since 1960 (when this record-keeping began) with respect to acres burned”

A late-June heat wave continues to rewrite the record books in the Rockies and Plains.

The heat is headed east, and we in GA and other areas up to the northern Mid Atlantic States will receive this dangerous heat tomorrow.

We need the rain here in GA and other parts of the south, but poor old Florida got way too much from Tropical Storm Debby. Here, a Nassau County FL bridge has been washed away. The cleanup begins.

Betty Crocker endorses homosexual marriage

source

So Betty, (above) endorses this, (below)

You note that the above promotional poster is a deviant take on the Last Supper of Christ. The illustration depicts a homosexual, naked Jesus presiding over a table filled not with bread and wine, but sex toys.

Oh, Betty. Our clean and wholesome American Icons are continually being deluded and increasingly accepting that which is abominable to God.

Oreo fell to satan’s deception, too:
Kraft Foods has posted a beautiful gleaming color picture of an Oreo stacked with six different layers of brilliantly colored filling. They form a rainbow, which in this case is a symbolic statement of Oreo’s solidarity with the Gay Pride movement, covering gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgendered persons.

Newly elected president Morsi says the “Koran is our constitution, Prophet Mohammed is our leader, and jihad is our path, in this chilling speech

A Turkish military truck transports a mobile missile launcher to the Syrian border, near Kilis, Turkey, Thursday, June 28, 2012. (AP Photo). Turkey is furious with Syria’s downing of their jet.

turkey

In addition to looming retaliation from Turkey, Damascus has its own internal problems. A duo of powerful bombs went off today in Syria’s capital city, in front of the Palace of Justice.

Volcanic activity continues. El Hierro in the Canary Islands was again raised to Yellow.
“The most interesting volcano-related event at the moment is certainly the seismic crisis on El Hierro where the high-intensity earthquake swarm accompanied by tremor episodes continues. The quakes, still at “safe” 20 km depth, have now migrated to the El Julan coast where magma could be accumulating. This Spanish media reports the island has elevated itself 2 inches in 4 days-

With even more spectacular undersea eruptions continuing apace also, El Mundo reports.

“Mt Siple volcano in Antarctica might have become active and produced a steam plume recently detected on satellite imagery.” ‘Might have become active…’ aren’t we hearing that more often these days? 


So that is a news roundup for you.It is only a slight bit, there is so much more going on int he world than one can possibly show even a representative window into. But the most important news is…


Jesus is in TOTAL CONTROL of it all, and He coming soon! Are you looking for Him? Do you know Him? Here is what it is all about if you don’t know: The simple, concise explanation of the Gospel.


Posted in doksuri, heat wave, the word, wildfires

Let the Word refresh you in troublous times

Posted on by elizabethprata

Today already has been a crazy day. Joel Rosenberg simply said, “SUPREME COURT UPHOLDS SOCIALIZED MEDICINE: Implosion more likely.” America took a treasonous blow, thanks to SCOTUS and the failure to see the Obamacare bill for what it is, Colorado is charred in catastrophic fires, dangerous heat waves are affecting millions, and in the Philippines tropical storm Doksuri, AKA the Giant Eyeball of Death, is blowing up to a deep convection never before seen by trackers.

America is scorched and burning. America’s President welcomes the Egyptian Jihadist, caliphate-seeking enemy of Israel to power. Are the two related? I believe indisputably! Things are only going to get worse from here.

Sometimes when the world is going crazy, the best thing to do is simply read some scripture. Feed on it, be bathed in its refreshing waters of truth, let it wash over you and calm your spirit. On days like this, when there is so much calamity, I just read. It is different than studying, or searching, or listening, or skimming. I just read His word and He restores me to equilibrium.

“As cold waters to a thirsty soul, so is good news from a far country.” (Proverbs 25:25) Let His word wash over you as cold water, refreshing you in good news!

I found John 15:1-11 and its parallel passages in Isaiah 5 to be my refreshment. How about you?

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples. As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.”

Posted in egypt, jerusalem, prophecy, wildfires

Editorials in Major Newspapers increasingly point to prophecy

Posted on by elizabethprata

Israel National News: Jerusalem the Immovable Rock
“The call of the world at this time then, is the attempt to lift this ‘Immovable rock’, but in return, to only find that the word of G-d is the unshakeable truth. All who burden themselves with pressuring Israel in changing what G-d has said in His word concerning Jerusalem, will find themselves facing nothing less than G-d’s judgment. Jerusalem will be a cup of trembling to the surrounding nations attempting to take it over from Israel; the June,1967 ‘Six Day War is an example of the supernatural protection around this Holy Land. His word is faithful and true.’

Uganda The Observer: Are we seeing a prophecy on Damascus?
“Around 720 BC Isaiah prophesied that in the fullness of time (end times), Damascus, the Syrian capital, would cease to be a city and become a ruinous and useless heap of rubble. In the wake of the wider Arab Spring – a wave of upheaval throughout the Arab world – are we really going to see the fulfilment of this damning prophecy in our lifetime?”

” In Isaiah 17:1–3 the Bible declares: “Behold, Damascus will cease from being a city. And it will be a ruinous heap. The cities of Aroer are forsaken. They will be for flocks which lie down and no one will make them afraid. The fortress also will cease from Ephraim, the kingdom from Damascus, and the remnant of Syria. They will be as the glory of the children of Israel.” Whether in our lifetime or not, these words will surely come to pass because they were declared by God Almighty’. … What is the key message in all this? In Matthew 24, our Lord Jesus said that during the end times, there would be famines (brought about by economic hardships), wars and rumours of wars, earthquakes, etc.”

“Exactly what is happening now. He also said that nobody would know the day or hour (Matthew 24:36), but we would see the signs. For those with casual relationships with God Almighty, it is high time you repented (Acts 3:19, Jeremiah 2:13), asked for God’s forgiveness and began living a Christ-centred life. Time is really short and all of us will stand before God to give an account of our deeds, words and thoughts.”

EPIC FIRES IN COLORADO: Is God using natural disasters to get our attention?
‘Catastrophic. Epic. Historic. Apocalyptic. Is it possible God is using natural disasters to get our attention? As I write in Implosion, “Natural disasters continue unfolding one after another here in the at home and around the world as they always have. But have you stopped to notice that so many recently are described as ‘historic’ and ‘unprecedented?’

“Thousands of years ago, God told the Hebrew prophet Haggai to write down these words: “For thus says the Lord of hosts, ‘Once more in a little while, I am going to shake the heavens and the earth, the sea also and the dry land. I will shake all the nations. . . . I am going to shake the heavens and the earth. I will overthrow the thrones of kingdoms and destroy the power of the kingdoms of the nations’” (Haggai 2:6-7, 21-22). This is Bible prophecy. This is an intercept from the mind of the all-knowing, all-seeing God of the universe. It is a weather report from the future, if you will, a storm warning. It was given to us so that we would be awake and ready and faithful and walking close to Jesus when the tempests come. God told us well in advance that he was going to “shake all the nations.” That certainly includes the United States.”

Assyrian International News Agency (AINA) The Fight for Egypt’s Future
“To see how Egypt’s revolution has changed the lives of its 8 million Copts (Egyptian Christians), walk one block from its epicenter: Tahrir Square. Pass between the effigies hanging from street lamps, past the ramshackle tents of demonstrators, and turn right at the graffiti-covered concrete blocks barricading the newly elected parliament and loathed police headquarters. Here sits the largest evangelical Arabic-speaking church in the world–6,000-member Kasr El Dobara (KDEC).”

“The sturdy white sanctuary, lined with tall stained-glass windows depicting New Testament stories of Jesus, is half full on the Sunday evening before the first anniversary of military dictator Hosni Mubarak’s February 11 downfall. Attendance is low. Four days earlier, more than 70 soccer fans were massacred in the coastal city of Port Said. A short distance away, angry demonstrators clash with police. … Are Christians fleeing Egypt? Some, yes. Nearly every church can name a family that has emigrated. Many more families desire to follow suit but cannot. But the closer one looks, an irony emerges. Coptic leaders report that a significant number of Christians, especially in rural or poor communities, do fear the future. But many of the most ardently Christian–former Muslims who now follow Christ and have the most to lose under an Islamist government–are the most eager to stay. They hold to their love of country–and to their belief in God’s promise in Isaiah 19: “Blessed be Egypt my people.” But rather than seeking the first opportunity to leave Egypt, he and others like him choose to stay and exert influence behind the scenes. “Doctors stay in medicine; politicians stay in politics; advocates stay in advocacy,” he said. “The salt put in warehouses will just go stale. The salt needs to be in the food.”

1. God’s word is true and more people are noticing the news lining up with the prophecies because of it
2. We’re members of a local church (hopefully) but we are also members of a global church body that extends back to the 3000 saved at Pentecost and into the future when the Church Age ends. There are millions of Christians all over the world right now in pain, jail, torture or loss because of their witness for Christ. Please continue to remember our brethren, and that we are the member of the most glorious Bride of the Lamb, and we should each bear each other’s burdens as members of that worldwide, and soon to be heaven-wide, church.