Yesterday I wrote about the technology that is coming together that will support the rapid co-opting by the antichrist. The surveillance society in which we are currently living (no matter where you are) is one that extends its tentacles into most aspects of private citizens’ lives. When the tentacles close up, the world will be strangled by the antichrist, who will gleefully oppress its remaining citizenry into a hellish submission. Most will be subdued by their own sinful wills, tragically.
The piece was an honest look at the bloody apocalyptic world that is rapidly approaching.
Tomorrow I am planning a piece that shows how quickly society is crumbling.
Though I included in yesterday’s blog essay and will include in tomorrow’s blog essay the Gospel and the beauty of Jesus amid all that darkness, it’s still sobering to think of what is going to happen to the billions of people left behind in the Tribulation.
To lighten things up, today I was thinking about the promises of Jesus. We love to think about Him for Who he is and His attributes. But it is also comforting to think of the things He has said in scripture that He is doing on behalf of His bride: us. What is He doing now?
When He said on the cross, “It is finished!” (John 19:30) it meant that, well, it is finished. When Jesus ascended to heaven, His work completed, He sat on His throne. Jesus is performing priestly duties, and as King, He is reigning.
“Now the point in what we are saying is this: we have such a High Priest, one Who is seated at the right hand
“The Lamb is on His throne”, Flickr CC, by LawrenceOP
of the Throne of the Majesty in heaven, a Minister in the Sanctuary and the true tent which is set up not by man but by the Lord.” (Hebrews 8:1-2) .
We know from John 14:2 that “In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?“
How wonderful! Just to think Jesus is personally preparing a place for us! And even better to know that “And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.” (John 14:3). So, Jesus is preparing.
In heaven He is making intercession for us. Romans 8:34 says,
“Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.“
Therefore, Jesus is praying.
Jesus is welcoming the souls who have left their earthly tent and are arriving in heaven. Upon death, Christians are immediately translated to heaven!
“We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.” (2 Corinthians 5:8). Jesus is welcoming.
Jesus said to Peter that He shall build His church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. Jesus is building. (Matthew 16:18).
Jesus is sovereign and orchestrating each and every minute detail of His universe. He knits together in the womb, He calls to salvation, He receives prayers and praise. There is so much He is doing and is powerfully able to do. So it is all the sweeter and humbling to think of the things He is doing for His bride. We surely have a holy and just and powerful and wise Groom. But we also have a caring and loving and an eager Groom, too!
It is very easy for me to see how the antichrist will control the world. He is prophesied to be a man who will come in peace uttering flatteries, (Daniel 8:25, Daniel 11:32) but instead will reveal his evil at the Abomination of Desolation. He is called the man of sin (2 Thessalonians 2:3) because he will be the embodiment of all that is most thoroughly evil.
EPrata photo
We are born depraved. Every person is born with evil in them as our sin nature controls us. But not all of us do the worst evil that can be done. There are some nice people who try to do good in philanthropy or by religious works. Rocker Bono is known as the former and ‘Mother’ Theresa was known as the latter. This is not to say that they don’t or didn’t have a heart of evil, only that unconverted people with a sin nature CAN do good, it’s just not the kind of good that Jesus accepts as good. (Romans 3:10-12; Psalm 14:1-3; Psalm 53:1-3). Hitler was an example of how far along the ‘evil spectrum’ a man can go, but even Hitler didn’t come near to plumbing to the bottom of the evil that a man can do. The antichrist will be that man. This surprises many to think there can be a worse man than Hitler, but it is no surprise to Jesus, for He knows what is in a man. (John 2:25)
The coming antichrist will rule every aspect of the left behind people’s lives. In the geo-political realm, he will
rule the whole world, all peoples, nations, tongues, tribes.(Daniel 2:40, Revelation 13:7-8). The only nation that is prophesied to escape the antichrist’s hand will be Jordan. (Daniel 11:41). It is no coincidence that this is where Jesus urged the people to run when the Abomination of Desolation occurs and where the remnant will be personally protected during the Tribulation. It will be the location of the conversion of Israel. (Matthew 24:16, Isaiah 63:1, Revelation 12:6, Zechariah 12:10).
The antichrist will perform evil upon evil. His second in command in this unholy trinity will be the false prophet, who will cause all to have a mark on their hand or forehead which will be a mark of worship to the antichrist, identifying the person as allied with him (allied with evil). Without this mark no one may buy or sell. In other words, worship the antichrist or you may not participate in any way in the economy. It will be worship or die.
In the economic realm, by his henchman the False Prophet, antichrist will rule all people’s buying and selling, as mentioned previously. (Revelation 13:16-17). They will control the economy.
In the religious realm, he will rule also. He wants to be worshiped and his goal is to exalt himself. After the six-day creation was completed, Satan influenced the holy angels to come to his side. A third of them did. (Hebrews 12:22). Then after God made man, satan came right down and turned their eyes away from God and Adam and Eve disobeyed. They were cursed and ejected from the garden. This has been satan’s desire for a long time- to oppose God and to corrupt man. (Isaiah 14:13-14).
For millennia, people have wondered HOW the antichrist could possibly control the entire world. It seemed well-nigh impossible for one man to be able to keep track of the entire population’s economic purchases, religious worship, and political movements. It was the cause for marveling and many discussions, I am sure.
Even in my lifetime it seemed impossible to us with finite minds and no understanding of God’s plan. I was born in 1960 and by 1983 I was married. That was back before video machines replayed movies in your home. Before widespread Cable TV. Even at that, cable tv wasn’t 24 hours. Before GPS. It was prior to cell phones, webcams, the internet. Even the simple bar code was fairly new. I wasn’t saved then but if I had been I’d be one of those wondering heartily just how all that is prophesied will come together.
God is always working. Even long ago, He was causing inventions to be made that would inexorably bring the unbelieving human race under subjection of one man at the end of time, and who would employ the technology of the era to continue that subjection until his appointed days came about.
In 1991 my husband and I bought a sailboat and we moved onto it and determined to sail the east coast of theUS, and cross the Gulf Stream to the Bahamas. There, we planned to laze about, see the sights, and live intimately connected with the earth. My anticipation was the latter but my husband’s overarching goal was to escape government intrusion.
Intracoastal , Hollywood, FL, by kimb0lene flickr CC
Even in the early ’90s, the rules and regulations for daily living via zoning, vehicular laws, taxes etc tortured his libertarian heart. So we decided to get away from it all and cut loose from regular living and craft a lifestyle that would be apart from government rules and prying as much as possible.
Ha ha.
Little did we know in our innocent and naive hearts that government tentacles had been busy extending invisibly into areas we knew not. For example, we didn’t know that the Atlantic coastal waters and the inside Intracoastal Waterway were heavily trafficked and monitored. We expected the Coast Guard. We did not expect that the Coast Guard could approach and board without probable cause and with impunity. Unlike motorists where law enforcement needs a valid reason and/or permission to search your vehicle, it is not the case with Coast Guard. (At least, at that time.) They come aboard, inspect for safety gear, and can and did search for drugs (Ah, that old War on Drugs was going full force in the post Miami Vice ’90s).
Also, we did not expect that every bridge tender to record the name and home port of each vessel traveling under its spans.
For example, here is the Bridge of Lions at the port of St. Augustine. When a sailboat wants to go under the bridge and if the span is lower than the boat’s mast, you call the bridge tender and request he lifts the span to allow passage. This, of course, halts car traffic on the bridge. When you pass under the tender’s booth, much like a highway tollbooth, he writes down the name of your boat and the port identified on the stern.
Kristee Booth, Wiki CC photo
If we had thought about it at all, we would have understood from the get-go that the coastal waters and Intracoastal Waterway has to have separation of traffic much like roadways. There are cargo ships, Navy ships, pleasure craft, fishing fleets, Coast Guard, marina harbormasters, yacht races, locks, bridges, canals, rules of the road, and much more. Because it is so busy, of course it would all be managed.
Another trip we took was in a VW camper van across the country. This was in 1994. We were interested in exploring the desert. Neither of us had been west of the Mississippi and we were specifically looking forward to exploring the desert. We had a vague notion of finding a warm place to buy a small plot of land and build a desert shack. The expanses of West Texas entranced us. It was so empty! Maybe this would be the place we could set up a home apart from so much spying, from government and neighbors, my husband said. He was truly born in the wrong time. I believe in former days he would have made a great schooner captain or an inventive Mountain Man.
Anyway, we kept seeing this weird dirigible hovering over the desert byways. We learned that its name was Fat Albert and it was a government spy craft.
EPrata photo
This is the official write up on it: “The Tethered Aerostat Radar System is a balloon-borne radar. The primary aerostat mission is to provide radar data in support of other federal agencies involved in the nation’s drug interdiction program. One aerostat, located at Cudjoe Key, Fla., transmits TV Marti, which sends American television signals into Cuba for the U.S. Information Agency. The air drug interdiction program consists of land-based aerostat radar detection balloons along the U.S. southern border and in the Carribbean…“
What happened was the balloons went up in FL first to monitor drug traffic by air and sea, but the smugglers simply shifted their air routes west and flew over Mexico and then landed in the United States Southwest. So the program shifted west to follow them. The write-up states plainly that the Marti transmissions were a failure and the balloons were a semi-failure, due to expense, necessity to remain tethered, and bad weather. But the government kept trying and spying, bless their hearts.
Of course we are into the second decade of the new millennium now and we know that the government spying that used to look outward for enemies and drug traffickers now looks inward to track friendly, unsuspecting citizens and their activities, not just enemies.
The National Security Agency collects over 2 million private citizens’ messages a day in ‘untargeted sweeps’. Highway webcameras are ubiquitous. There is a street cam on every ATM and bank, and on traffic lights and most businesses. The government can track a person with a cell phone and the phone need not be on an active call, or even turned on for that matter. As this story below illustrates, continuing societal immorality extends to citizens using technology to spy on citizens more frequently than not.
Marcus Thomas, former assistant director of the FBI’s Operational Technology Division in Quantico, said in a recent story in The Washington Post that the FBI has been able to covertly activate a computer’s camera — without triggering the light that lets users know it is recording — for several years. (source). Thsi same story reported how a teen aged classmate had been spying on Miss Teen USA by using her webcam. The activation of the unsuspecting girl’s webcam hadn’t triggered the light that alerted her that the camera was in use.
We can see how Jesus’s prophecy in Matthew 10:21 will easily come true, if laptop spying can occur between citizen-to-citizen. Even family members will spy and tell. “Brother will deliver brother over to death, and the father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death.“
All this to say that in my lifetime, visible technology has leaped forward to such a degree that envisioning the antichrist’s stranglehold on all peoples at end of the end is now easy to do. That the people using technology have been revealed to have regularly used it for nefarious purposes shows us how easily a depraved man’s heart can and does turn what was meant for citizen good will be used instead to oppress them.
As for the antichrist’s and false prophet’s stranglehold on religion, in looking at this one picture it is easy to see how the world’s religions will cave easily and be absorbed into one. Most is it is false now anyway.
As Pastor JD Hall said of this photo as he tweeted it, “Photo of a female Methodist pastor anointing a Catholic Cardinal. So much #fail in one photo.”
The Huffington Post reports, “Boston’s Cardinal Sean O’Malley surprised many people when he asked Rev. Robertson, a pastor in the United Methodist Church, to anoint his forehead with consecrated water in an ecumenical baptism reaffirmation ritual at Sudbury United Methodist Church, reports The Patriot Ledger.“
To see where we are headed, read the bible. It contains already-ordained future history. To see how close we are to that future, look back. In my case, I didn’t have to look back too distantly to see how far we have come in being subject to technological and governmental strangleholds and how the tares have flooded the faith. Only 30 years. What does the next 30 years portend? The next 5years? The next one year? I shudder to think.
However, the grace and promise of Jesus is that His Bride is not appointed to wrath. We who are already in the Bride will not be here to be forcibly subjugated to the antichrist, nor forced to starve when we are forbidden to participate in the economy. We will be in heaven dining with our Groom at the Marriage Supper of the Lamb! That is a sure thing.
If you do not know Jesus and are worried about the way the world is going, you are right to be afraid. It will end in a horror that Jesus Himself shuddered to relate to the disciples. (Matthew 24:21-22). It will be Hitler’s Holocaust on steroids, a never-ending shop of horrors and literally hell on earth. (Revelation 9:2-3). Billions will die. And then after the Great White Throne Judgment they will die again, forever, in hell, where the worm does not die and the fire is not quenched. (Mark 9:38).
Flickr CC by stonehouse_ “jayme and i wrote this in the wet pavement. apparently it had been cleaned when jayme when back later though. the heathens will never be…”
You can avoid all that by repenting of your sins and appealing to Jesus for forgiveness. Because He absorbed God’s wrath on the cross for our sins, died, and rose again, He is able to forgive, and your wrath will be transferred from your account to His. He paid your sin-debt! He is magnificent and holy, loving and gracious. He is waiting for you to recognize you are a sinner and fall to His feet. He will forgive you, lift you, conform you to His likeness (holy and good) and welcome you to blessed heaven when it is your turn to be called home. All this awaits the repentant sinner!
“…Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God, 15and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.” (Mark 14b-15).
Foxe’s Book of Martyrs. According to this summary from Christian Book Summaries,
Writing in the mid-1500s, John Foxe was living in the midst of intense religious persecution at the hands of the dominant Roman Catholic Church. In graphic detail, he offers accounts of Christians being martyred for their belief in Jesus Christ, describing how God gave them extraordinary courage and stamina to endure unthinkable torture.
From the same link, the book’s purpose was fourfold:
Showcase the courage of true believers who have willingly taken a stand for Jesus Christ throughout the ages, even if it meant death,
Demonstrate the grace of God in the lives of those martyred for their faith,
Expose the ruthlessness of religious and political leaders as they sought to suppress those with differing beliefs,
Celebrate the courage of those who risked their lives to translate the Bible into the common language of the people.
Last week we continued looking at the Ninth Persecution Under Aurelian, A.D. 274. It was a brief look, Emperor Aurelian was killed by his own brothers a short while after taking the throne. This week begins a look at The Tenth Persecution, Under Diocletian, A.D. 303. All the previous persecutions were the warm-up for persecution under Diocletian. It was the worst of all. His desire to revive the old pagan religions led to what was to be a massive persecution of Christians, but the last major persecution in the Roman Empire.
Foxe continues the story-
Under the Roman emperors, commonly called the Era of the Martyrs, was occasioned partly by the increasing number and luxury of the Christians, and the hatred of Galerius, the adopted son of Diocletian, who, being stimulated by his mother, a bigoted pagan, never ceased persuading the emperor to enter upon the persecution, until he had accomplished his purpose.
The fatal day fixed upon to commence the bloody work, was the twenty-third of February, A.D. 303, that being the day in which the Terminalia were celebrated, and on which, as the cruel pagans boasted, they hoped to put a termination to Christianity. On the appointed day, the persecution began in Nicomedia, on the morning of which the prefect of that city repaired, with a great number of officers and assistants, to the church of the Christians, where, having forced open the doors, they seized upon all the sacred books, and committed them to the flames.
The whole of this transaction was in the presence of Diocletian and Galerius, who, not contented with burning the books, had the church levelled with the ground. This was followed by a severe edict, commanding the destruction of all other Christian churches and books; and an order soon succeeded, to render Christians of all denomination outlaws.
The publication of this edict occasioned an immediate martyrdom, for a bold Christian [name currently unknown] not only tore it down from the place to which it was affixed, but execrated the name of the emperor for his injustice. A provocation like this was sufficient to call down pagan vengeance upon his head; he was accordingly seized, severely tortured, and then burned alive.
All the Christians were apprehended and imprisoned; and Galerius privately ordered the imperial palace to be set on fire, that the Christians might be charged as the incendiaries, and a plausible pretence given for carrying on the persecution with the greater severities. A general sacrifice was commenced, which occasioned various martyrdoms. No distinction was made of age or sex; the name of Christian was so obnoxious to the pagans that all who bore that name received no mercy from them. Many houses were set on fire, and whole Christian families perished in the flames; and others had stones fastened about their necks, and being tied together were driven into the sea. The persecution became general in all the Roman provinces, but more particularly in the east; and as it lasted ten years, it is impossible to ascertain the numbers martyred, or to enumerate the various modes of martyrdom.
Racks, scourges, swords, daggers, crosses, poison, and famine, were made use of in various parts to dispatch the Christians; and invention was exhausted to devise tortures against such as had no crime, but thinking differently from the votaries of superstition.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Romans 1:30 says that the angry unsaved are inventors of evil, and the persecutions certainly bear witness to the truth of this verse from God’s word.
We owe such a great debt to the ones who passed before us. Their reliance on the Holy Spirit for boldness sets such a wonderful example. Would I be so bold as to refuse to bow to the Emperor and tear down the edict, knowing tortures await? No. But in Him, I can do all things. (Philippians 4:13). The martyrs actually did.
Praise the Lord for raising up martyrs whose momentary affliction cannot be compared to the joy set before them. (2 Corinthians 4:17). I want to know the name of the Bold Christian who face the wrath of the Roman Empire, knowing the eternal love of God outweighs man’s momentary anger. Such faith!
“and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.” (Romans 5:5)
With a HT to Do Not Be Surprised, I pass along this link to a great article explaining the biblical doctrine of election. It is easy to understand and clearly makes the case that God chooses us for salvation Pick me, pick me, Unconditional Election, Pt. 2. By the time the author gets to the end he has explained it so biblically that his conclusion makes logical sense:
“Your objection might be this: I don’t believe that God would chose some and not all. That’s fine, but don’t say “I don’t believe in election,” say” I don’t believe the Bible.”
Jeremiah lamented that Jerusalem refused to repent. His lament was one that is of a striking parallel today. This is what we see too:
“Run to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, look and take note! Search her squares to see if you can find a man, one who does justice and seeks truth, that I may pardon her. Though they say, “As the Lord lives,” yet they swear falsely.“
Though this is what we see on the ground, it is not what God sees from above. Through Jesus, His Son, He sees a glorious future for His Son’s Bride and a coronation for His Son. This future is so sure that in heaven it it of the now. Soon, on the ground we will come into our future!
“And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.” (Isaiah 40:5)
May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope. (Romans 15:13)
You know, the times are so bad so many places, we all just need to remember the HOPE. Not just any hope, “THE Hope.” All of God’s promises and works poured into and poured through the Amen, Jesus Christ. Look at the Romans verse, Paul used hope twice. Once to describe God as the God of Hope and once to pray we abound in hope.
Octavius Winslow wrote in 1870, “The present title of God, the “God of hope,” is peculiarly expressive and endearing to the believing mind. His title as the God of love, has especially to do with our present. His title, as the “God of hope,” has to do with our future life. … Extinguish hope in the human heart, and you have enthroned grim despair, like a demon of darkness, upon the soul. Life has lost its sweetness, the creature its attraction, the world its charm, and all the future of the soul is shrouded in midnight gloom. My reader, are your circumstances trying? are your resources lessening? are clouds gathering? and do you find yourself tempted to succumb to despondency and despair? There is hope for you in God! All other sources and gleams of hope may have expired, but God is the “God of hope,” and in His power and love, in His word and faithfulness, you may hope, even against hope. Take heart, then, and look up.”
This verse earlier in the book of Romans, chapter 8:24-25, made me smile: Paul was saying we eagerly await our adoption as sons of God, the redemption of our bodies, and-
“For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.“
With incredible logic the Spirit formed the thought into Paul’s mind and with impeccable recall Paul wrote the wonderful truism, ‘who hopes for what he sees?’ Matthew Henry lived in the 1600s, he wrote of this verse,
“The sufferings of the saints strike no deeper than the things of time, last no longer than the present time, are light afflictions, and but for a moment. How vastly different are the sentence of the word and the sentiment of the world, concerning the sufferings of this present time!” “Yet this deplorable state of the creation is in hope. God will deliver it from thus being held in
bondage to man’s depravity. The miseries of the human race, through their own and each other’s wickedness, declare that the world is not always to continue as it is. Our having received the first-fruits of the Spirit, quickens our desires, encourages our hopes, and raises our expectations.” “Believers have been brought into a state of safety; but their comfort consists rather in hope than in enjoyment. From this hope they cannot be turned by the vain expectation of finding satisfaction in the things of time and sense. We need patience, our way is rough and long; but He that shall come, will come, though he seems to tarry.“
There’s lots of different kinds of heartbreak with children. There’s the loss of a child because he is a prodigal. There is heartbreak when a child is abused or abandoned. There is the grief for a child through death.
Jesus loves His children. His actual, little baby children.
Here is a story about children. The original story didn’t have the scriptures interspersed. I put those in. Though the children in this article died, there are children every day who are abused, neglected, sold, or aborted. Children are precious, precious. Love them. Love them well.
“Now, don’t scream,” he said in measured tones. “One. Two. Three…Triplets!”
Jason and Marie Taylor, both in their 30s, had married only four months ago, in May 2012. They were eager to start a family from the moment they fell in love, but they decided to do their relationship “God’s way”, saving sex till both had promised the other ‘I do’.
It was an ongoing joke in the extended family that if Marie was going to “catch up” with the number of children her married sisters had, then she and Jason would have to have twins and triplets.
“For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.” (Psalm 139:13-16)”
One month after wedding bells, the couple was delighted to discover that they were pregnant. Now at 11 weeks, they were excited to see their ‘little one’ – or little ones, as it turned out – through the medical magic of ultrasound.
Jason and Marie were ecstatic at the news of triplets. Jason ‘high-fived’ Marie, who was lying on the observation bed.
“We were just really, really excited,” Jason told LifeSiteNews in an exclusive interview from their home last week.
The couple’s next immediate thought was: “Oh my goodness, what are we going to do with so many babies…we only have a limited number of arms.”
The ultrasound revealed that there were two girls and a boy. The proud parents named them Bernadette, Christine, and Adam.
Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb a reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior are the children of one’s youth. Blessed is the man who fills his quiver with them! He shall not be put to shame when he speaks with his enemies in the gate.” (Psalm 127:3-5)
At a subsequent visit, doctors spoke to the parents about “selective reduction,” but the couple would hear none of it. Even though Marie was a trained nurse and knew that doctors would ask this question, it stung her to hear someone so unconcernedly offer to “kill one or two of my children.”
“That was really upsetting to us both since we so eagerly anticipated our children,” said Jason.
The couple began to prepare themselves and their house for the new arrivals, expected in February 2013. Three little cribs were purchased and tenderly placed in the upstairs bedroom.
Marie’s belly grew, and grew, and grew some more.
Every night before falling asleep beside his wife, Jason would lean over and talk to his unborn children. “Hey Adam, hey Bernadette, hey Christina, I’m looking forward to meeting you. I love you guys!” Before leaving for work he would say to them: “Look after your mommy!”
The unthinkable
But Marie’s body was beginning to have trouble adapting to the demands of the three thriving lives inside of her. She experienced massive headaches as well as heart palpitations and chest pains if she overexerted herself. She was troubled with severe acid reflux. One day, while in the midst of writing wedding thank-you cards at the kitchen table, she suddenly blacked-out. When she came to, she managed to phone Jason for help.
Despite Marie’s health struggles, a November 13 ultrasound revealed that Marie and her babies were doing quite well. At 22 weeks, Marie was measuring more like a pregnant woman at 35 weeks.
But the day after the ultrasound, Marie started experiencing “sharp little pains” across her abdomen that became increasingly regular. That evening, the couple decided to head for the hospital to see what was going on.
Arriving at the hospital, the couple was incredulous when doctors told Marie that she was four centimeters dilated and that labour had begun. The young couple clung to the hope that doctors could do something to prevent labour from developing further while still keeping the babies safe.
But labour progressed further. Doctors broke the news that the babies were on their way.
At 22 weeks, the tiny triplets didn’t have much of a chance. Not only was their gestational development delayed because they were triplets, but their little lungs hadn’t developed enough for them to breathe. As a nurse, Marie knew that ventilation efforts on underdeveloped lungs could explode the lungs, causing immediate death. Doctors told the parents that when born, the babies would not benefit from medical intervention.
As Jason stood by his wife’s side, witnessing the unthinkable nightmare that was unfolding before his eyes, he suddenly realized that he had been giving all his attention to Marie. He realized that his unborn children were probably just as frightened by what was happening as he and Marie were. The young father leaned over and chokingly comforted his children with the loving words he had spoken so often. “Hey, I love you guys…I’m looking forward to meeting you…”
The parents prepared to greet their children and spend as much time with them as they could.
The triplets were born in the early hours of November 15, each weighing between 360 to 450 grams, less than a pound each.
“When a woman is giving birth, she has sorrow because her hour has come, but when she has delivered the baby, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a human being has been born into the world.” (John 16:21)
“They came out, full of life, and moving around,” said Jason. “I kept on hoping that they might be the only triplets born at 22 weeks to ever survive, but they faded quickly.”
Despite the deep sorrow of having to let their children go, the parents were nonetheless taken aback by how perfectly formed their little children were, with perfect little noses, tiny toes, dainty fingers and finger nails, and most of all, beautifully lovable faces.
“We held them. We had time to study them, and we really felt like we got to know them a bit,” Jason said.
By now, extended family had arrived at the hospital to support Jason and Marie and to help bid farewell to the three children. A nurse took the babies’ footprints. The children were fitted with little hats and wrapped in coloured garments.
For Marie, it was an impossible mix of emotions: “We just held the babies. We cried. We looked at them. We studied them. We talked to them. We baptized them. And…we loved them.”
Bernadette, Adam, and Christine were loved, respected, and cherished for every moment of their short four-hour lives.
“He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.” (Psalm 147:3)
Searching for meaning
Immediately after their children’s passing, Jason and Marie wondered what should be done with the remains. They wondered if the hospital would let them have the bodies.
“On you was I cast from my birth, and from my mother’s womb you have been my God.” (Psalm 22:10)
Marie’s father came to the rescue: “Of course we must give them a proper funeral,” he said. “They lived a life, just like anybody else. They were born, they were baptized, they lived, and they died.”
Marie’s brother built a little wooden casket with three crosses on the top. The children who had grown, lived, and died together, would now be laid in their final resting place together.
Jeff Gunnarson of Campaign Life Coalition attended the funeral service. He told LifeSiteNews that he was “deeply moved” to hear Jason’s graveside testimony about the life of his children, adding that there was hardly a dry eye in the crowd.
“Jason explained to the people gathered that his children’s lives were precious,” he said. “He mentioned his daughters’ dainty fingernails and the beautiful curve of his boy’s tiny chin. He said that even at such a young age, each child already showed distinct personality traits. He conveyed that each had its own unique unrepeatable life.”
“Then Job arose and tore his robe and shaved his head and fell on the ground and worshiped. And he said, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.” In all this Job did not sin or charge God with wrong.” (Job 1:20-22)
“Believe me, anyone in that crowd with a hint of indifference to the value of a baby’s life at 22-weeks would have left that service re-thinking a pro-choice position. Jason conveyed just how wonderfully-made are these little human children of God. He was able to see in this serious, sad, yet profound moment of burying his beloved children a pro-life ray of hope that brought tears to our eyes and made us grateful to have witnessed so great a love.”
A Testimony to Life
Like any parents who have had to bury their children, Jason and Marie find themselves asking “why”. On blacker days, they find themselves prayerfully wrestling with God, asking him why he allowed this pain, this grief, this suffering, this loss.
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.” (Proverbs 3:5)
Marie’s worst moment was waking up in the middle of the night directly after her loss. As the preceding nightmarish events crashed heavily upon her, she suddenly realized that she no longer was pregnant. “I really felt the despair when I asked myself how could anything good possibly come out of this,” she said.
The parents found themselves turning to their faith, seeking answers to difficult questions.
“We don’t know why we didn’t get to keep them,” said Marie, “but for whatever reason, God allowed them to be taken from us. We have faith that they are now in heaven reaching down trying to pull the two of us to heaven to be with them. We believe that we have three little angels up there who are interceding for us, so that we will get there someday too.”
Instead of focusing on their loss, the parents decided to focus on their blessings. “If anything, these babies are a testament to life. That’s what they have to be. That’s what we have to make this,” said Marie.
Despite their pain and loss, the parents would never wish their children’s lives away. They know that pain and loss do not have the final word.
The triplets have already made a difference in the lives of all who knew about them. Neighbors came together to support Jason and Marie. Family members saw through their petty differences and found common ground. Faith in God and family ties were strengthened. Cold hearts were thawed.
“Somehow it changes a heart just to see their lives,” said Jason.
Jason and Marie’s “hope and prayer” is that sharing their experience might “encourage” others who face difficult life choices.
They have put together a moving video tribute in memory of their triplets. The parents wrote and recorded an uplifting and heartfelt song that accompanies their story, which is told through photos and texts. The YouTube video has already received close to 3500 views.
“Hopefully our babies lives can make a difference somehow, even if it’s just giving strength and affirmation to people currently in the pro-life movement,” said Jason.
“Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him.” (James 1:12 )
Gunnarson called the Taylor’s testimony “courageous and amazing,” saying that they showed the world that bringing 22-week babies into the world, even if they are not able to live for more than a few hours, is the “natural, healthy, and loving thing to do”.
“They named them, they baptized them, and most importantly,” he said, “they loved them.”
For Jason and Marie, their children will forever remain a treasured memory. Anyone who listens to their story will hear them say: “We were blessed to have met them.”
“Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.” (James 1:17)
Does the kind of music we worship in church matter? Yes, it does.
In researching the state of the contemporary music bands for a blog essay I wrote a month ago, I came across a winsome new band from Northern Ireland called Rend Collective Experiment. Actually, they remind me of In Tua Nua (kudos if you know who they were ;). Rend Collective Experiment (RCE) deliberately used the word rend purposely to point to God who rent the heavens and sent His Son. The word collective is used to emphasize, well, I’ll let the band member explain,
“We are a collective of people like a family and not just a band. We want our music to be what we call Organic worship, an honest and natural connection with God, something which is authentic and not artificial. We want to create an environment for people to have genuine encounters with Him and to find themselves singing to Him in ways that they find real.” (source)
So. Whatever that means.
I watched a video in which I enjoyed the song, but for the wrong reasons. This is an example of how and why contemporary praise bands, with all clean eagerness and winsome smiles can be detrimental to the faith.
RCE video “Come On (My Soul)”. She’s looking up.
The song I’d listened to is called “Come on (My Soul).” It is a three-minute song. I enjoyed the video, it was very well done cinematically and stylistically. Attractive youths in a variety of funky garb, nose earrings, and cool haircuts dance around an evening bonfire. Embers fly to the sky. A man displays skill using a flame thrower. The youths dance on the sand around the fire, and they make Chinese Sky Lanterns and light them and launch them aloft as they look up in wonder and ecstatic joy. They twirl. They look sincere. They are having a unique, organic worship experience.
The first thirty seconds are a simple hypnotic percussion beat. Then the singing kicks in. Here are the lyrics. They are sung repetitiously.
Come on my soul
Come on my soul
Let down the walls
And sing my soul
Come on, come on, come on, come on
It’s time to look up
That’s it, there is no more. I searched several other sites to try and find lyrics that would expand the song and give it spiritual meaning and depth, but these are the only words for two-and-a-half minutes. The song is repetitive, hypnotic, and throbbing. It is exactly the kind of music used to enter an altered state, not to prepare the heart for worship. I’m the first to admit that it sounds good and it looks good. But it’s empty!
Cool pagan balloons going aloft!!
As for the content of the lyrics, they are sung about one’s self, to one’s self, urging one’s self to do something (nebulously). It is not about Jesus and does not prepare the mind to think of Him. This is the kind of music I am talking about in a previous blog I wrote a month ago exploring this issue of vacuousness of today’s contemporary music in general.
I’ve mentioned the form and the content. Let’s look at the images. There is nothing wrong with standing around a bonfire singing. Kumbaya is almost a cliche nowadays, the quintessential campfire song. However look at what the youths are doing. They are lighting sky lanterns, a pagan activity done at pagan festivals. The people look aloft just as the lyrics are sung that ‘it’s time to look up’. Are we looking up to see if Jesus is returning? Or to send prayers to a false god on a pagan lantern? That is precisely the problem with “organic” & “authentic” worship. Everyone does what is right in their own eyes. They do what feels good for them. The scene has no meaning because it could be anything.
Because, what’s a praise song without a flame thrower?
“During the Yi Peng festival, a multitude of lanterns are launched into the air where they resemble large flocks of giant fluorescent jellyfish gracefully floating by through the sky. The most elaborate Yi Peng celebrations can be seen in Chiang Mai, the ancient capital of the former Lanna kingdom. The festival is meant as a time to obtain Buddhist merit.” (source)
The activity seen in a “Christian” band’s video is pagan, and is no different than the Asherah pole Ahab set up which they all danced around. The LORD’S anger was roused at this. (1 Kings 16:33).
Worship is not organic. It has rules and a structure. In the OT Nadab and Abihu discovered the penalty for breaking those rules was instant death. So did Uzzah. So did Korah. In the NT Ananias and Sapphira lied to the Holy Spirit and also died instantly. The Corinthians were rebuked for their “organic” worship, which all too easily turned into a drunken fest similar in behavior to what the pagans were doing, and this is always to the derision of God’s enemies (Exodus 32:25).
The spiritual seeker wants to be free and worship naturally but natural worship always winds up like the dance around the Golden Calf (or a pagan bonfire with Buddhist prayer balloons). God sent a plague to the people who had made the calf (Exodus 32:35) and further promised to visit their sins upon them in the Day of His visit. Some of the Corinthians who had abused the Lord’s table with drunken, gorging behavior had become sick because of it and died. (1 Corinthians 11:30). The Lord is serious about His worship!
As in everything regarding Jesus, in music, watch the small things. Also watch the language. The ethereal language RCE uses is another example of poor worship. God is declarative. He is clear. He is definite. In spiritual realms, there is pressure to offer vague ideals, so that no one will be turned off and all can come and participate. Inclusivity is tantamount, not exclusivity. This is from the RCE song “Second Chance“
“When sin and ugliness Collide with redemption’s kiss Beauty awakens by romance“
It sounds good and it can mean whatever you want it to mean. That’s fine, for politics. But not for worship. And romance? People, Jesus is not our boyfriend.
Or this from Shining Star,
The angels watched in mystery As You bore all our misery
NO! He bore all our SIN. Spell it, S. I. N. Sin sin sin.
In fact, there is no ‘second chance’ that the cross brought. It is the only chance. We are depraved individuals and our default condition from birth is sinner, and at age of accountability, hell upon our death. The cross brought the only chance. And ‘redemption’s kiss’? More like God’s wrath that Jesus feared so greatly He sweat blood.
And this lyric from Christ Has Set Me Free, is just ridiculously stupid:
“Christ has set me free From negativity … You’ve given my soul the space to breathe, And discover what it is to simply be.”
Did Joel Osteen write that lyric? Imagine your pastor saying that.Uttering words like that and thinking they are worshipful is just wrong. NO, Christ did not set me free from negativity. He absorbed all of God’s wrath on the cross as the punishment for my and the world’s sin.
If you are a parent looking into who your kids are listening to, look at the band’s videos and see if the images being presented are appropriate. And the lyrics, are the lyrics about self, or about God? Is there a lot of talk about what “I” will do? Is the band’s bio full of post-modern, vague talk, like this from Rend Collective’s Bio?
“Their heart is to bring not only a fresh approach to congregational worship, but also a heart and message through the spoken word. Their partnerships and tours with church leaders like Francis Chan, Louie Giglio and Shane Claiborne certainly shows this.”
Any time you hear of a “fresh approach” watch out. If God is the same yesterday today and forever, so is His approach. And since the Word is living and active, He is still fresh. He is not stale. There is no expiration date on Him.
“An inherent desire for something spiritually substantive in our increasingly artificial world is exactly what brought the movement of friends together. United by a common purpose, these twenty-somethings began exploring the intersection between God, life and community.”
I still can’t figure out their purpose. That is an indicator also. “Something spiritually substantive” sounds good but is just vague enough not to offend.
I don’t mean to pick on RCE band. Some of their lyrics are good. Some of their songs are good. I liked their song Alabaster. Keep Me Near is also good. As church worship music though, no. Absolutely not. And just because some of their songs are good doesn’t mean that all their songs are. But they are packaged on a CD and if your child is listening to Alabaster then they are listening to Second Chance.
Here is the point of what I’m saying–
1. Don’t underestimate the powerful effect of how today’s praise band lyrics dilute the essential doctrines. Propositional and definite words we’ve used for centuries are substituted for nebulous words, used to a softening effect. Words like sin are deleted for negativity, wrath is deleted for redemption’s kiss, submission is deleted for romance,guide our hearts is included instead of the concept ‘make us holy‘. 2. Don’t underestimate the power of the absence of the essential doctrines. I looked at lyrics of 15 songs and never read the word holy. Not even in “You Bled.”
If Rend Collective Experiment is not in your church yet during ‘worship time’ (AKA contemporary praise music time AKA Organic and authentic worship, unlike the artificial and fake worship everybody else has been doing) then they probably will be soon. It is a sure bet they are on your teenager’s iPod. They’re touring heavily Jan-March 2014 though the central US and south. They are appearing at Billy Graham Training Center at the Cove in May.
Too many contemporary music bands are like shark’s teeth. “Shark teeth are attached to the jaw by soft tissue, and they fall out all the time. This is crucial to the shark’s effectiveness — worn or broken teeth are continually replaced by new, sharper teeth. In some sharks, such as the great white, these teeth are arranged in several rows.” For every Petra that disbands, another one like RCE is pushed forward into the spotlight.
Yes it’s tiring to always monitor your child’s iPod, iPad, computer, CD collection, friends, and social life. “Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.”(Ephesians 6:4). Training up your child in the way they should go is a moment-by-moment, daily, lifetime commitment. (Proverbs 22:6). Keep alert with all perseverance! (Ephesians 6:18).
Foxe’s Book of Martyrs. According to this summary from Christian Book Summaries,
Writing in the mid-1500s, John Foxe was living in the midst of intense religious persecution at the hands of the dominant Roman Catholic Church. In graphic detail, he offers accounts of Christians being martyred for their belief in Jesus Christ, describing how God gave them extraordinary courage and stamina to endure unthinkable torture.
From the same link, the book’s purpose was fourfold:
Showcase the courage of true believers who have willingly taken a stand for Jesus Christ throughout the ages, even if it meant death,
Demonstrate the grace of God in the lives of those martyred for their faith,
Expose the ruthlessness of religious and political leaders as they sought to suppress those with differing beliefs,
Celebrate the courage of those who risked their lives to translate the Bible into the common language of the people.
Last week we began we began looking at the Ninth Persecution Under Aurelian, A.D. 274. It was a brief look, Emperor Aurelian was killed by his own brothers a short while after taking the throne.
“Aurelian was succeeded by Tacitus, who was followed by Probus, as the latter was by Carus: this emperor being killed by a thunder storm, his sons, Carnious and Numerian, succeeded him, and during all these reigns the Church had peace. Marcus and Marcellianus were twins, natives of Rome, and of noble descent. Their parents were heathens, but the tutors, to whom the education of the children was intrusted, brought them up as Christians. Their constancy at length subdued those who wished them to become pagans, and their parents and whole family became converts to a faith they had before reprobated. They were martyred by being tied to posts, and having their feet pierced with nails. After remaining in this situation for a day and a night, their sufferings were put an end to by thrusting lances through their bodies.” (photo source)
“There is no such thing as a hopeless situation. Every single circumstances of your life can change! ” ― Rhonda Byrne, The Secret
“Zoe, the wife of the jailer, who had the care of the before-mentioned martyrs, was also converted by them, and hung upon a tree, with a fire of straw lighted under her. When her body was taken down, it was thrown into a river, with a large stone tied to it, in order to sink it.”
“I declare God’s dream for my life is coming to pass.” ~Joel Osteen
“Quintin was a Christian, and a native of Rome, but determined to attempt the propagation of the Gospel in Gaul, with one Lucian, they preached together in Amiens; after which Lucian went to Beaumaris, where he was martyred. Quintin remained in Picardy, and was very zealous in his ministry. Being seized upon as a Christian, he was stretched with pullies until his joints were dislocated; his body was then torn with wire scourges, and boiling oil and pitch poured on his naked flesh; lighted torches were applied to his sides and armpits; and after he had been thus tortured, he was remanded back to prison, and died of the barbarities he had suffered, October 31, A.D. 287. His body was sunk in the Somme.”
“When we use the spiritual laws that God has set up, God must obey what we request.” ~Kenneth Copeland
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I interspersed the quotes from several noted Prosperity/Word of Faith false preachers to highlight the contrast between the ridiculousness of what they preach compared to the reality of the persecution of the Christian. Jesus said,
“I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33)
You WILL have tribulation. However, the true Christian who is truly at peace believes Jesus’s words. Our trouble is here on this world but we have peace within knowing He has overcome the world. Our peace is eternal- being reconciled to Him. Anyone who says that our troubles won’t exist on this earth is a liar, and the truth is not in him. (1 John 2:4)
Zoe was converted because of the steadfast faith of the twins Marcus and Marcellianus. The twins exhibited the peace of Jesus which resided in them, and Zoe believed. In listening to false prophets like Osteen, Copeland, Byrne and others, if you grasp the things of the world, when the world comes against you the things you’ve grasped will fall away. Grasp instead Jesus, who never fails.
Lest one think that such horrors existed only in the fourth century, Christians are being persecuted in exactly the same manner and intensity today. Their persecutors invent evil cruelties to perpetrate upon them, and many who die under them still exhibit the faith of the fourth century martyrs. Below is from the Christian Post, reporting on the new watch list for countries that persecute Christians, compiled by Open Doors.
On January 8, “Open Doors launched its 2014 World Watch List (WWL) ranking of countries where persecution of Christians is most prevalent. And it is, indeed, very prevalent these days, with more than two thirds of the countries on the World Watch List experiencing an increase in the persecution of Christians in 2013…Christians remain the most persecuted religious minority on the planet. … North Korea ranks first on the WWL for an unprecedented 12th year in a row.” (source)
Because of Foxe’s Book, voices like Zoe and Marcus and Marcellianus and Quintin’s are heard today. It is important that they be heard, because they speak of Jesus and by their lives Jesus speaks through them. The Martyrs and the persecuted speak today. Over at Voice of the Martyrs, a North Korean Christian who was imprisoned for many years on a gulag says,
“I could not tell you what the worst thing was I experienced. Every day in the camp was like torture. I often had to think about God’s plagues for Egypt. Being in this concentration camp felt like undergoing all those 10 plagues at the same time. People were dying and their corpses were burnt. The guards scattered the ashes over the road. We walked that road every day and each time I thought: one day the other prisoners will walk over me.” (source)
This is certainly not the life of ease and prosperous blessings that the above-mentioned false prophets teach.
Yet, like Zoe, Quintin and the others, when today’s martyrs and persecuted Christians rely on God, HE enables them to persevere, and even thrive, spiritually. Here is that North Korean Christian again,
“Despite everything, I remained faithful to God. I remained faithful and God helped me survive. Not only that, He gave me a heart to evangelize other prisoners. Frankly, I was too scared to do it. I wanted to live. How could God ask me to tell the other prisoners about Jesus? I would die if they caught me. God persisted. He showed me which prisoners I should approach. He gave me a feeling: ‘That person. Tell him.’ So I went to the person and told him or her what is in Acts 16:3, that people have to believe in Jesus and that they and their households will be saved. It was an encouraging message for those prisoners, who walked on the edge of death each day. They were easily converted. Not only because of what I said. They saw the Spirit working in me…” (source)
For those of us who are living a life of ease and comfort through no “declaration” or works of our own but by the grace of God, let the Spirit shine in you. Pray that the mercy and love of Jesus will stream forth. Can people see the Spirit working in you?
And pray for today’s persecuted brethren of our Body.
“A rare but moderate earthquake off the Cuban coast shook buildings and rattled residents from the Keys to Orlando on Thursday afternoon. The 5.1 magnitude quake occurred just before 4 p.m. in the ocean about 24 miles north of the Cuban city of Corralillo, more than 100 miles east of Havana. … Becky Herrin, spokeswoman for the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office, felt her building shake. It was the only quake she’s experienced in 28 years in the Keys. “It’s certainly unusual,” she said. “I haven’t heard any reports of damage or injuries so that’s really fortunate.” Still, the ground shook as far north as Central Florida, nearly 400 miles from Cuba. … Thursday’s temblor happened in a region not known for earthquakes. “It is an uncommon area for a quake,” he said. But in 30 years, in a 150-mile radius of Thursday’s quake, only two other weak ones have occurred, Abreu said. In 1982, a 4.5 magnitude quake struck, and in 2005, there was a magnitude 4.1 in the area. Florida, far from the margins of the earth’s tectonic plates, is traditionally not subject to quakes.“
Jesus said that in advance of His second coming there would be signs. This was in answer to the Disciples’ question in Matthew 24:3, “As he sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the close of the age?””
Verse 24:4 begins, “And Jesus answered them…
One of the signs He said would occur is that there will be earthquakes in various places. (Matthew 24:7b).
It is important to know that the “last days”, the “last times”, the “end time” is now, and it has been since Jesus ascended. Paul warned Timothy of the last days in 2 Timothy 3:1, Peter did in 2 Peter 3:3, Paul again in 1 Timothy 4:1, and Jude did in 1:18 for example. They all repeat the warning of the last days. These were not warnings of some far-off time, they were warnings for the Church at that time until Jesus returned. What they didn’t know was that there would be a 2000 year gap.
In my opinion, the warning of the last days in Jesus’s Discourse in Matthew 24 (AKA The Olivet Discourse, because He delivered it atop the Mount of Olives) can be sectioned off into parts. When Jesus begins to answer, He offers some warning signs from Matthew 24:4-8. Even twice within that short time frame, He said that the end is not yet. Then He launched into a section from verse 9-14 of a kind of overview of the entire Tribulation. Then Jesus backtracks and gives specifics of the Great Tribulation from verse 15-28. This part is aimed mostly at Jewish believers living during those days who will have converted by that time. At the passage’s end He speaks of the signs of His actual, physical return. (Vv. 29-31.)
“Luke’s account says great earthquakes, seismos megalos, mega quakes, like the 9-point quake 80 miles off the shore of Japan. Through history, millions and millions, countless millions have died in earthquakes. I read this week that there are one-half million earthquakes a year every year. You are on a shaky place. A hundred thousand of them are felt. But half a million register on Richter scales. … And the worst is yet to come. …[O]ur Lord says, “Those things…in verse 7…must take place but that’s not yet the end.” It’s the nature of living in a cursed planet. It’s not yet the end. In fact, if you will look at the end of verse 8 it says they’re merely the beginning of birth pangs.
That’s an analogy of a woman’s contractions. They are separated, they are mild, and they intensify and intensify and intensify to a great degree just before birth. What we’re seeing in human history is just the beginning, is just the mild contractions. Wait till you see what’s going to happen just before the very end. Two thousand years of these milder contractions will explode in the end, in the time of Tribulation described starting in verse 14.“
The verse is clear when it says earthquakes will be in various places. Other translations say diverse places. In my opinion the quake near Cuba the other day qualifies for being in a diverse place. It did to the USGS. They highlight quakes on their list that are significant. Though the 5.1 magnitude quake wasn’t a mega-quake like the March 2011 9.0 magnitude off Japan, it was listed as significant anyway. USGS explains,
“List items with a red background have been identified as “significant”, based on a combination of magnitude, PAGER alert level, and the number of Did You Feel It? responses.“
The location of the quake surprised officials. As we saw in the data Dr MacArthur provided, there are a great many quakes occurring each year on this planet. As the time draws nearer to the return of Jesus, scientists, officials, and humankind will discover that there is no place that is earthquake-free. There will be more and more frequent quakes and they will occur any place at all. Just as the Cuban quake did.
Pray for the return of Jesus.
“Look, I am coming soon! Blessed is the one who keeps the words of the prophecy written in this scroll.” (Revelation 22:7)
the-end-time.org 