(no title)

The coronation of Jesus

Posted on December 13, 2013 by elizabethprata

I read Daniel 7 the other day and I still can’t get the spiritual-awesome out of my mind. I’m still mulling the scenes and pondering them in my heart.

I think of this scene with much joy:

The Son of Man Is Given Dominion

“I saw in the night visions,

and behold, with the clouds of heaven
there came one like a son of man,
and he came to the Ancient of Days
and was presented before him.
And to him was given dominion
and glory and a kingdom,
that all peoples, nations, and languages
should serve him;
his dominion is an everlasting dominion,
which shall not pass away,
and his kingdom one
that shall not be destroyed.
Daniel 7:13-14

The Lord is presented to the LORD! His coronation is seen! He comes into His kingdom! O, what long years and epochs the Son of Man has waited. What patience, what obedience, what submission!

Yet at the moment the Ancient of Days enters the heavenly throne room (Daniel 7:9), and the Son of Man is presented to Him, it is glorious all-joy! Jesus comes into His kingship. This is just before He calls His bride Home, and then returns with us. By then he is King of Kings and Lord of Lords. But now, as in Revelation 4, we see the moment He is given all absolute authority.

I long for when Jesus will come into His kingdom! I long for when the honor due Him will be expressed fully. He is due ALL, and this moment in the scripture shows the honor that is gloriously given Him.

Don’t you long for the day when Jesus is absolute King? When no man dare to sully His name on sinful lips? This scene in Daniel is uplifting in the extreme. I hope it blesses you as well.

His grace that saved us sinners is infinite. It was showered on us, and we will be privileged to dwell with the coronated King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

O, come soon, Lord Jesus. Come into Your Kingdom!

christmas hymns, eternity, salvation

Favorite Christmas Hymns: O Come All Ye Faithful

Posted on December 13, 2013 by elizabethprata

We all have our favorite religious Christmas hymns. I mean the ones about the true meaning of Christmas and not the ‘Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree’ kind.

I’ve always loved O Come All Ye Faithful. It moves me, and the words just seem to lift my spirit. Here is the first verse.

O come all ye faithful joyful and triumphant
Oh come ye O come ye to Bethlehem;
come and behold him born the King of angels;
O come let us adore him Christ the Lord.

When it would come on the radio, I’d sing with feeling and fervor. The song just gave me a good feeling and I would always perk up when that seasonal song came on.

Now for the funny part: I felt this before I was saved.

I wonder now, post-salvation, who I thought I was singing about, back then. Why the good feelings of joy and peace when singing it? I was a depraved enemy of God, apart from Him and unreconciled. Strange.

Here is the second verse.

O Sing, choirs of angels, Sing in exultation,
Sing all that hear in heaven God’s holy word.
Give to our Father glory in the Highest;
O come, let us adore Him, O come, let us adore Him,
O come, let us adore Him, Christ the Lord.

How was I singing about the Lord? Why were they adoring Him so much? I didn’t know, but I sang it with feeling. Normally in everyday life if I came across someone who was talking about the Lord I’d become angry and shut down the conversation. I mocked the notion of a virgin birth. In everyday life I’d reject every aspect of Jesus and the whole Gospel, every element of it. Especially the part about me being a sinner.

Yet every 12th month, Christmas would come around and I’d sing “O come let us adore Him” with the best of them.

I always thought that strange.

After a person is saved, if they look back over the landscape of their lives, they can see little markers of salvation future. Bread crumbs in the dark evil forest showing the way. I remember being fascinated when a long-lost aunt told me about the rapture when I was ten years old. I didn’t see her again much but the one time I stayed there she took advantage and told me. I remember bursting into tears when reading “Footprints in the sand” a sappy poem about Jesus carrying a person during their times of trouble. I wondered, even through my tears, why I’d been moved so much when I didn’t even believe in Jesus.

Romans 1:18-32 describes the fact that all humans have knowledge of God, no matter when they lived and no matter where they lived. Romans 1:19-20 explains,

“For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.”

Then the verses go on to say what happens. Though His eternal attributes can plainly be seen in in creation, they deliberately suppress this truth (Romans 1:18) and they choose not to honor Him (Romans 1:21). The rest of the verses show what happens to a person the longer they deliberately suppress the truth.

I am an example of salvation by this method. Though I was raised in an atheist home, I traveled a lot and plainly saw the complexity and beauty of the earth, the precision of the tides, the movement of the planets and the change of seasons. It was all so orderly, eventually I decided there must be a God. It seemed pretty clear.

Salvation does not come until one repents and believed the Gospel, but the key here is that I did not deliberately suppress the truth, I saw plainly that through creation God existed. Also, I felt deeply that there must be an eternity (Ecc 3:11) and since there is an eternity, someone must run it. The door was kept open in my mind, I never suppressed nor rejected, and at the right time the Spirit worked on my soul and then I claimed the name of Jesus and was saved.

Though I don’t like to write about myself, I share this to offer any person reading this…hope. Don’t give up! I spent years in the wilderness, yet the eternity set in every person’s heart, in my heart, flickered weakly. The conscience, the creation, the Spirit, all working on me until the moment of salvation. Your brother, sister, friend, mother, child may also be feeling these perplexing spiritual feelings and not know why. By God’s grace, someday, they will.

elijah, enoch, prophecy, two witnesses

"Where is Elijah’s body?"

Posted on December 11, 2013May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

Elisha Succeeds Elijah

An icon of Elijah
from Saint Catherine’s Monastery,
Mount Sinai

Now when the sons of the prophets who were at Jericho saw him opposite them, they said, “The spirit of Elijah rests on Elisha.” And they came to meet him and bowed to the ground before him. And they said to him, “Behold now, there are with your servants fifty strong men. Please let them go and seek your master. It may be that the Spirit of the Lord has caught him up and cast him upon some mountain or into some valley.” And he said, “You shall not send.” But when they urged him till he was ashamed, he said, “Send.” They sent therefore fifty men. And for three days they sought him but did not find him. And they came back to him while he was staying at Jericho, and he said to them, “Did I not say to you, ‘Do not go’?” (2 Kings 2:15-18)

Elijah had been taken up to heaven bodily in a chariot of fire, while his successor, Elisha, looked on. Elisha then took Elijah’s left-behind mantle and doffed it. When the other prophets saw Elisha return wearing it, they knew what had happened, and you see in the verse, they bowed in respect to the new premier Prophet of Israel.

They were also concerned about proper burial of Elijah’s body. They kept asking and asking and asking until they were ashamed to ask any more. Elisha kept saying No, and No, and No, until he was ashamed to say no anymore. He relented and said, Go. He knew they would not find Elijah. Elisha had seen Elijah be taken to heaven alive.

When the prophets returned unsuccessful, Elisha said, ‘Well? Didn’t I tell you not to go?’

Though Elijah’s body was not found in the deserts of Israel long ago, some time in the future, will it be seen by not just the concerned prophets, but all the world?

There will be Two Witnesses in the Tribulation who will come to tell the world of God’s truth. They will prophesy for 1,260 days.

The two witnesses, as depicted
in the Bamberg Apocalypse, an 11th-century
illuminated manuscript.

“Now when they have finished their testimony, the beast that comes up from the Abyss will attack them, and overpower and kill them. Their bodies will lie in the public square of the great city—which is figuratively called Sodom and Egypt—where also their Lord was crucified. For three and a half days some from every people, tribe, language and nation will gaze on their bodies and refuse them burial. The inhabitants of the earth will gloat over them and will celebrate by sending each other gifts, because these two prophets had tormented those who live on the earth.

“But after the three and a half days the breath of life from God entered them, and they stood on their feet, and terror struck those who saw them. Then they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, “Come up here.” And they went up to heaven in a cloud, while their enemies looked on.” (Revelation 11:7-11)

The Two Witnesses are not named. I believe they will be Enoch and Elijah, because these are the only two men in the world who have not died. (Genesis 5:23). Hebrews 9:27 says it is appointed for man to die once, and then the judgment. Only Enoch and Elijah have been taken to heaven alive, and never died once.

“By faith Enoch was taken up so that he should not see death, and he was not found, because God had taken him. Now before he was taken he was commended as having pleased God.” (Hebrews 11:5)

“It was also about these that Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied, saying, “Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of his holy ones, to execute judgment on all and to convict all the ungodly of all their deeds of ungodliness that they have committed in such an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things that ungodly sinners have spoken against him.” (Jude 1:14-15)

Elijah and Enoch – seventeenth-century icon,
Historic Museum in Sanok, Poland

IF the witness who lays in the streets of metaphorical Sodom is Elijah, and I have no certain information that it is, then the little detail in 2 Kings 2 about where Elijah’s body is becomes even more poignant. The prophets were searching and searching for a body that will not be found … until the far future, in the streets of a city that had become so unholy it is called Sodom, and to be seen by millions upon millions, not just fifty men.

The prophets wanted to honor his body, but instead, it will be desecrated and lay unburied, spit upon, and mocked by all the world.

However, the witnesses’ bodies will become the vehicle whereupon God will show His power. He will call them up to heaven, and their bodies will reconstitute before all the eyes of the world, and be translated to heaven for their eternal rest.

Praise our Holy LORD for His plan, His mind, His perfection. The bible is fascinating.

billy graham, jesus, universalism

Universalism, Billy Graham, and the precision of God

Posted on December 11, 2013May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

The false notion that we all end up in heaven is an old one, but in these days, it is called Universal Reconciliation. Wikipedia explains it, “In Christianity, universal reconciliation [ ed note: universalism for short] is the doctrine that all sinful and alienated human souls—because of divine love and mercy—will ultimately be reconciled to God.“

[ Video: Christ the Only Way (RC Sproul) ]

We know that God is love and mercy, but we also know that He is Holy and Just. He will not allow unreconciled sinners into heaven. (John 14:6).

Number 1, 1950 (Lavender Mist) Pollock, 1950,
National Gallery of Art

Universalism is actually a terrible blasphemy against the Spirit, the unforgivable sin. It is also a heinous reproach unto the incarnated Jesus, who died a horrible death to make a way for sinners to be reconciled.

Do universalists think it was all a big joke? That Jesus says, ‘oops, just kidding about that cross thing, come on in anyway!’ Do they believe entry into heaven is like a Jackson Pollock painting? Splats and drips winding up where they did due to gravity and haphazard placement? That once any sinner dies they slide down the white tunnel and plop into some part of heaven like a splatting tomato bouncing off a vegetable truck? “Come on in, whoever you are and wherever you came from.”

Do they not suppose that God is precise as He was in Genesis, creating the earth just so far from the sun and the moon just so far from the earth and each petal of each flower just so. He does not throw open the doors of heaven and say, “Aw , you’re all just so adorable, come on in!”

The transition from earth to heaven is extremely orderly. Once there, the proceedings are orderly too. Everything is moment upon moment, exact, and completed with a precision that astounds the mind. The scene from Daniel 7 is one such example about what happens in heaven is precise, including the people who are there.

A stream of fire issued
and came out from before him;
a thousand thousands served him,
and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him;
the court sat in judgment,
and the books were opened. (Daniel 7:10)

If you read the entire chapter, it’s not long, your mind will be blown. Daniel’s certainly was. (Daniel 7:15, 28).

Bible Study Outlines

Please bring your attention to the phrase, “Books were opened.” It has an ominous sound. In heaven, they keep records. They write down names. They keep track. Revelation 20:12 repeats the phrase in a similar scene given to John. “Books were opened.”

“And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done.” (Revelation 20:12)

In this verse, we are given an additional detail, the things we do are in the books as well. The book of life is singular and the books in general is plural. It stands to reason that the book of life is singular because Jesus said few find the way. (Matthew 7:14). The book of life is the roll of the names of the saved. Heaven has a precision, and those who are elected to salvation are in the book. Actually, there are two sets of books, one is the book of life and the other is the book which the unsaved will be judged.

People hate it when I say that we will be judged.

People reject the notion of standards today. They reject the concept that some people are qualified for things and other people aren’t. For example, women are not qualified for ministry. Unrepentant, active homosexuals are not qualified for marriage. Unrepentant sinners are not qualified for heaven.

God has standards. He has expectations. No set of standards worth the paper they’re printed on is a standard which accepts all comers. There are learning standards. When a student achieves them, they graduate. If they don’t achieve them, they don’t graduate. There is a standard of care, “the degree of prudence and caution required of an individual who is under a duty of care.” There is a breed standard, in which in animal fancy and animal husbandry is a set of guidelines which is used to ensure that the animals produced by a breeder or breeding facility conform to the specifics of the breed.”

Does a person think that a farmer has a standard for breeding of cows, but our Holy God doesn’t have

Wikimedia commons free to use

standards for entry into His kingdom? Foolish notion!

The standard for entry is a single item. Just one. “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.” (Mark 1:15). That’s it. No works, no study, no tradition, no payment. Jesus did the work, He studied the Father’s will, and He paid the price. He did it for us. Believe on His gospel and you will be saved.

There are so-called Christians who believe that all people will go to heaven. They are Universalists. This violates not only the one standard that God set forth (Belief in Jesus’ atoning work on the cross for forgiveness of sins) but it violates logic. It belies the orderliness of the heavenly scenes we see in scripture. It makes God out to be a patsy and a liar.

Billy Graham is one who believes that all peoples, ‘if they lived a sincere life” will go to heaven. He has believed this since 1960. He said in part,

“They may not even know the name of Jesus but they know in their hearts that they need something that they don’t have and they turn to the only light they have and I think they’re saved and they’re going to be with us in heaven.“

Wikimedia Commons free to use

There are essential doctrines that one must believe in order to be considered a Christian. The exclusiveness of the Gospel is one. If a person doesn’t believe the exclusivity of Christ as the sole entry to heaven, he cannot be considered a Christian.

Acts 4:12 says “And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.””

Now, Mr Graham is going to die soon. He has said so himself. His son has said so. When Mr Graham dies, there will be many accolades and an outpouring. I want you to know the truth: not all who claim the name of Jesus are in Him. The scriptures say that many will plead with Jesus on His day.

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ 23And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’” (Matthew 7:21-23)

It is the most heartbreaking scripture in the bible. It tears my heart apart every time I read it. My mother will be one of these pleading with Jesus. So will my sister. And so will Billy Graham.

The precision of God is ultimate. It is laser-point. It is Jesus.

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

The myth of Myths: God wrote the true bible, satan writes the myths

Posted on December 10, 2013May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

Dionysus with satyrs. Interior of a cup painted
by the Brygos Painter, Cabinet des Médailles.
Wikipedia commons photo

It’s so interesting to study the myths of the world when one has a Christian perspective. The other myths then make sense. We can understand their origin, their point of view, their characters … because if a person is a Christian one knows that all other religions and all myths are written by satan.

The Greek and Roman myths in particular are interesting and have many parallels in opposite to the Christian bible. Allow me to offer a few verses which allude to this fascinating story. I say allude, because aside from a few specific bible verses, we don’t know any more. However since all scripture is God breathed and profitable, and the verses are in there, it is good to study them. God wants us to know. He just didn’t happen to reveal it all.

In Genesis 6:1-4, we read that the world had become totally corrupt. One item that God mentioned in aiding and abetting this corruption was the fallen angels, who left their first estate as Jude says, and came down and messed with women. These unholy angels were the worst of the worst, the vilest.

“When man began to multiply on the face of the land and daughters were born to them, the sons of God saw that the daughters of man were attractive. And they took as their wives any they chose. Then the Lord said, “My Spirit shall not abide in man forever, for he is flesh: his days shall be 120 years.” The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of man and they bore children to them. These were the mighty men who were of old, the men of renown.”

Some people reject this, saying that angels can’t/don’t mate, however the plain language in Genesis says they did. The angels who came to inspect Sodom stayed overnight, slept, and ate. The verse in Hebrews says that holy angels minister to us, unawares, obviously taking on human form and can do so incognito so that we remain unaware. Both the holy angels and the unholy angels have or can adopt a biology when they enter this dimension. (Gen. 18:1–2, 8; 19:1, 5; Heb. 13:2). (If interested there is more here)

Artist: Peter Paul Rubens, c.1630

In primeval times (pre-flood) vicious and perverse angels came down and sinned with women and spawned a race of fierce and mighty men of old. I believe that this is where we get the myth of the demigods. Homer and Hesiod use the term, hemitheoi, meaning the person had one parent who was a ‘god’ and one who was a mortal. I personally believe that the secular/mythological cultural memory of these half-breeds, such as the mighty men of old mentioned in Genesis 6, were men like Hercules and Aeneas, and were the product of such matings. They really overstepped, and these particular unholy angels who did the deeds were locked up in Tartarus, as Peter explains in 2 Peter 2:4, Holman Standard Christian Bible,

“For if God didn’t spare the angels who sinned but threw them down into Tartarus and delivered them to be kept in chains of darkness until judgment;”

Tartarus is the lowest, darkest, worst dungeon.

It is here where the Lord Jesus went after He died, in order to proclaim His success over sin to these forever-lost spirits in chains-

Wilhelm Kotarbinski: The Spirit of the Abyss

“For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit, in which he went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison, because they formerly did not obey, when God’s patience waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through water.” (1 Peter 3:18-20)

MacArthur explains, “Those wicked spirits were sent to the abyss because they overstepped the boundaries of God’s tolerance. They filled the earth with their wretchedness to such an extent that not even 120 years of Noah’s preaching convinced anyone beyond his family to repent, believe in God, and escape His judgment. Since that time, the demons who committed such heinous sins had been bound and imprisoned when Jesus died at Calvary. Perhaps by then they thought He had lost the upper hand over them, but such was not the case. Instead He appeared in their midst and proclaimed His triumph. Colossians 2:15 declares, “When [God] had disarmed the rulers and authorities, He made a public display of them, having triumphed over them through [Christ].” (source)

Jude mentions these chained up spirits also,

“And the angels who did not stay within their own position of authority, but left their proper dwelling, he has kept in eternal chains under gloomy darkness until the judgment of the great day” (Jude 1:6)

Wiki photo, commons

And although it doesn’t say Tartarus, it is there in my opinion that the demons at Gadara pled with Jesus not to be sent to the abyss,

“And they begged him not to command them to depart into the abyss.” (Luke 8:31)

Abyss, or abussos in Greek means unfathomable depth, the home of the dead and of evil spirits. “Noooo, anything but Tartarus!! Let us go into the pigs!!

The angels are called the ‘sons of God.’ In the bible version, satan, a son of God, wanted to overthrow the Father,

“How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! 13 For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High. Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit.” (Isaiah 14:12-15)

Photo of statue of The Jupiter de Smyrne, discovered in Smyrna in 1680

But he was and will be unsuccessful. In satan’s version of the Greek mythology, the Olympians, the sons, incited a war in heaven and were successful in overthrowing the fathers.

Revelation 12:7-9 has the real story of the war in heaven, and the ending,

“Now war arose in heaven, Michael and his angels fighting against the dragon. And the dragon and his angels fought back, but he was defeated, and there was no longer any place for them in heaven. And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world—he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him“

In a postscript to this, frighteningly, these worst of the worst angel criminals will be let out of the abyss on the great day of judgment,

The Abyss of Hell, Sandro Botticelli 1480

“And the fifth angel blew his trumpet, and I saw a star fallen from heaven to earth, and he was given the key to the shaft of the bottomless pit. He opened the shaft of the bottomless pit, and from the shaft rose smoke like the smoke of a great furnace, and the sun and the air were darkened with the smoke from the shaft.” (Revelation 9:1-2)

Which brings us back to Genesis- if there are so many they blotted out the sun upon their release there were a LOT of those sinning angels,…and Tartarus must be pretty big to hold them all!

Fortunately, true Christians will be lifted up to heaven bodily, either dead & resurrected or alive, we will be glorified, and spend eternity with Jesus in New Jerusalem, before the terrible demons are let out of the abyss..

All other religions are written by satan, and so are the myths. What are myths? Why do they originate?

Robert Graves said in the “Introduction,” to his New Larousse Encyclopedia of Mythology

“Mythology is the study of whatever religious or heroic legends are so foreign to a student’s experience that he cannot believe them to be true. . . . Myth has two main functions. The first is to answer the sort of awkward questions that children ask, such as: ‘Who made the world? How will it end? Who was the first man? Where do souls go after death?’. . . . The second function of myth is to justify an existing social system and account for traditional rites and customs.“

Lawrence J. Hatab said it simply. In his book Myth and Philosophy he wrote, “A myth is a narrative which discloses a sacred world.“

If you don’t have Jesus, who is the Truth, then you are only too willing to insert into your spiritual vacuum a myth which will attempt disclose a sacred world. It will be a false world, but it will have germs of ancient truth, but will be wrapped in a lie. I’m so grateful satan cannot re-write the truth, it will be as God ordains. Satan will lose his place and be cast down, and eventually be incarcerated in the Lake of Fire forever. (Revelation 20:10). If you don’t have Jesus as Truth though, you will be open to any supposed “sacred” mythology. See how deeply these people were deceived by the myth when the real God’s representatives were standing in front of them!

“And when the crowds saw what Paul had done, they lifted up their voices, saying in Lycaonian, “The gods have come down to us in the likeness of men!” Barnabas they called Zeus, and Paul, Hermes, because he was the chief speaker. And the priest of Zeus, whose temple was at the entrance to the city, brought oxen and garlands to the gates and wanted to offer sacrifice with the crowds. But when the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard of it, they tore their garments and rushed out into the crowd, crying out, “Men, why are you doing these things? We also are men, of like nature with you, and we bring you good news, that you should turn from these vain things to a living God, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and all that is in them.” (Acts 14:11-15)

christmas, Piano Guys

Piano Guys: Angels We Have Heard on High

Posted on December 8, 2013 by elizabethprata

So, soo pretty….

The Shepherds and the Angels

And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with fear. And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.” And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying,

“Glory to God in the highest,

and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”

Luke 2:8-14

creation, God, wise men, worship

Sunday Creation Grace: Wise Men

Posted on December 8, 2013May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

“And going into the house they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him. Then, opening their treasures, they offered him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh.” (Matthew 2:11)

Worship the risen King!

America in prophecy, revelation, United States

This is why the United States has to disappear as world leader

Posted on December 7, 2013May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

Wikipedia commons

I was born in 1960. I grew up seeing the United States respond to President Kennedy’s exhortation to put a man on the moon and bring him back safely to earth, which was accomplished in 1969. I saw rockets lift off and wondered at their power, and marveled at a country that could make it happen. I watched the ticker tape parade for the returning astronauts. I watched interstates be built and cars and more cars emerge from Detroit. I saw President Nixon resign, and while that was a sad moment four our country, I was filled with pride as Gerald Ford took the Oath of Office and loved how our nation was orderly in transition. I saw the space shuttle take off and set down, cradling space travelers inside. I saw The US Olympic Hockey team beat the Russians, a truly heroic athletic feat. The US was always by Israel’s side. I was proud that we, as a nation, would stand by our friends and that they knew it and took strength in that fact. We were no France.

This was the food of my youth and early adulthood. My country was a shining city upon a hill. I mean it was literally a shining city, the full name of the statue is “Liberty Enlightening the World”. Liberty’s torch glowed out over New York Harbor and to the Atlantic Ocean, beckoning millions to our shores in search of a better life, including both my paternal great-grandparents and my maternal grandparents. America’s might was known throughout the world. Our generosity in humanitarian aid was known too. It was a given that our diplomats would be at the table, no matter what the issue was. After 1991 when the old Soviet Union collapsed, the United States of America was the only remaining world superpower.

USS Nimitz, Wiki photo, public domain

A world without the United States continuing the same as it had been was incomprehensible.

That was why, in 2006 and 2007 and even 2008 as I studied prophecy, it was strange to read in Zechariah that in the last times, Israel would have no friends? WHAT?!?! No United States with arm around her side? Impossible, said many. America is an exceptional nation!

The last days prophecies show that multitudes are famished and lack even enough money for a loaf of bread on every border, including America’s. WHAT?!?! Not the incredibly wealthy United States, many said. They pooh-poohed the notion that the US could be anything than it was- in the thick of things, even in prophecy.

How often in the last few years so we see on forums and Q&As the question. “Where is the US in prophecy?”

People forget that God is so powerful nations are as nothing to Him except a tool to bring about His will. Moab had Petra, the ‘impregnable’ rose red city. And yet He brought it down. Obadiah told them:

Petra, Commons photo by Bernard Gagnon

“The pride of your heart has deceived you, you who live in the clefts of the rocks and make your home on the heights, you who say to yourself, ‘Who can bring me down to the ground?’ Though you soar aloft like the eagle, though your nest is set among the stars, from there I will bring you down, declares the Lord.” (Obadiah 1:3-4)

As Warren W. Wiersbe says in his book Bible Exposition Commentary: Old Testament, the Prophets,

“The Moabites were a very proud people because they thought their nation was impregnable. (Isaiah 16:6). Moab was located in the high moutnains, with the Dead Sea to their west and the desert on the east. God told them He would bring invaders through their “inaccessible” northwest border, (‘flank’, Ezekiel 25:9 NIV) even though it was made up of sheer cliffs; and He did. It was the Assyrians who invaded and destroyed Moab. Today Moab is no longer remembered as a nation.”

America was exceptional. So was Assyria. So was Moab. So was Egypt; all in their times, for a time. However, there is only one Exceptional nation (capital E)- Israel

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

For many years the United States has acted as the world’s police force. This is appropriate. The world needs a police force.

In John MacArthur’s sermon War in the Gulf: A Biblical Perspective” he explained that there are three components to war. One is evil aggression. A second is protection. He explains Romans 13:3,

USAF aircraft of the 4th Fighter Wing
(F-16, F-15C and F-15E) fly over Kuwaiti oil fires, set by
the retreating Iraqi army during Operation Desert Storm in 1991.
USAF photo

“And then in verse 3 he puts some leverage in the hand of authority, and some power, “For rulers are not a cause of fear for good behavior, but for evil.” In other words, the government exists to make people who do wrong afraid. And if government can’t make them afraid, then they’re going to continue to do wrong. Very simple.”

In my opinion this is the role the US has taken over the last century. I believe it has been God-given. Dr MacArthur continues,

“Government is not symbolic. Government is not a pageant. Government has real power, and its power is in its sword. Now, what do you do with a sword? Rap people’s knuckles? No. Spank them? No. You kill them. That’s what you do with it. You take their life away. What restrains ultimately the evil aggressor is the power of the sword, the deadly force that government can bring against ultimate acts of evil. That’s God-ordained. In fact, he says, “not only does it not bear the sword for nothing, it is a minister of God, an avenger who brings wrath on the one who practices evil.”

BTW according to the sermon, the third component to war is Divine judgment.

Now, the US has acted as world policeman for at least 100 years. Yet lately since 2009 we have seen a serious and sudden decline in the power and might of the United States. Financially, diplomatically, militarily and economically, we are failing. The Washington Examiner notes this in an article from this past Wednesday:

Poof: Public says America’s world leadership has tumbled to 40-year low
“For the first time in nearly 40 years, a majority of Americans believe the United States is less important around the world and that it should mind its own business, a stunning rejection of President Obama’s foreign policy just four years after he received the Nobel Prize. A new Pew Research Center poll found that 53 percent of people believe that the U.S. is playing a less important role as a world leader than a decade ago, the highest figure since 1974.”

Note that 1974 is the year President Nixon resigned the United States Presidency in disgrace.

Photo National Park Service, public.

The United States HAS to disappear as world leader so that we will not protect the nations from evil aggressors when prophesied wars erupt. (Revelation 6:4). The United States HAS to crumble and leave a leadership vacuum so that the antichrist will emerge as the clear candidate for that role. The US should decline because ultimately all war is about divine judgment in some way, and we are no less judgment-worthy than any other nation, exceptional for a short time or not.

Ultimately, America must be made as nothing so that the true Exceptional Nation of all time will rise up in glory, Israel. (Zechariah 14:10). There can be no competition.

Therefore don’t ask, ‘where is the US in prophecy?’ Exult that the US was used by God to protect the nations from evil aggressors. Exult that He is finished with us and will lay us low in our sins, for He is glory itself. Exult that this formerly wonderful and respected nation has done good work but that it’s now over; we are being laid down in our sins. Prophecy is coming to pass. Do not cling to artificial borders of artificially created nations on earth, for our citizenship is in heaven.

The rapidity with which the LORD is removing the height from America is astonishing. It’s stunning. Think of where we were before 2008, and where we are now. But not so astonishing when you think how quickly other nations suddenly collapsed. The going out of America leaves a leadership vacuum. It is my opinion that the next person to step into that vacuum will be the antichrist. Christians won’t be on earth to witness that however. Our next stop on the prophetic timeline is rapture. Goodbye America, hello New Jerusalem. It’s a good trade.

God, miracle, power

Feeding the 5000 is an incredible miracle

Posted on December 7, 2013May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

John 6:1-14,

After this Jesus went away to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, which is the Sea of Tiberias. And a large crowd was following him, because they saw the signs that he was doing on the sick. Jesus went up on the mountain, and there he sat down with his disciples. Now the Passover, the feast of the Jews, was at hand. Lifting up his eyes, then, and seeing that a large crowd was coming toward him, Jesus said to Philip, “Where are we to buy bread, so that these people may eat?” He said this to test him, for he himself knew what he would do. Philip answered him, “Two hundred denarii would not buy enough bread for each of them to get a little.” One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to him, “There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what are they for so many?” Jesus said, “Have the people sit down.” Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, about five thousand in number. Jesus then took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated. So also the fish, as much as they wanted. And when they had eaten their fill, he told his disciples, “Gather up the leftover fragments, that nothing may be lost.” So they gathered them up and filled twelve baskets with fragments from the five barley loaves left by those who had eaten. When the people saw the sign that he had done, they said, “This is indeed the Prophet who is to come into the world!”

Annie Vallotton drawings _Good news bible

I listened to John MacArthur’s latest sermon, True and False Disciples, which is an expounding on part of the above verses (and also part this sermon, from Nov 24th).

He said that the feeding the multitudes is an incredible, incredible miracle. 5,000 men were there which means women were there and children, heightening the tally to about 20,000 to 2,000 people on the hillside. Jesus brought food out of thin air, created it on the spot. It was not cursed b the ground nor by man. It was heavenly food, literally, which is probably the reason for the little detail they got as much food as they anted. It was probably so good they ate and ate until they were filled to busting.

It was incredible for another reason- every person participated in it. They didn’t just see it, or hear about it but took part in the miracle by eating of the food.

Here is a little scientific fact. In the sermon, Dr MacArthur quoted a scientist (sorry, I didn’t catch the name even though I listened several times, transcript will be up soon.) The science question is, if 20,000-25,000 people each ate half a pound of food, how much energy would it take to convert that into mass?

It’s Einstein’s famous equation, E = mc².

Answer: It’d take all the electrical power on earth working at 100% output, 100% of the time, for 4 years, to create the energy to create that meal.

Jesus did it without breaking a sweat. Do you see why it’s such an incredible miracle? Now, get this:

He created the sun by His voice (John 1:3, Genesis 1:14). The sun consumes 600 millions of matter per second, generating enough energy in 1 sec to supply all US energy needs for 13 BILLION years. And God simply said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night.” And there was.

Jews for Jesus, messiah, messianic jews, savior, Yeshua

Messianic Yeshua campaign causes buzz in Israel

Posted on December 5, 2013May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

And the toughest missionary field in the world is…Israel.

This is because God has partially hardened their hearts to His truth until the full number of the Gentiles has come in. (Romans 11:7-8, 25).

Nonetheless, God weeps over His rejecting people. Through Isaiah, He drenched Moab with His tears. In Luke 19:41-42, Jesus wept over His people Israel as He approached Jerusalem.

“When He approached Jerusalem, He saw the city and wept over it, saying, “If you had known in this day, even you, the things which make for peace!“

They rejected the Messiah of peace, and to this day they are at enmity with God, in a hostile war between souls of sin and the Soul of holiness.

In that day, the people cursed His name! (Matthew 12:24, Matthew 27:23, 25). The very people whom He had healed and personally fed, wanted Him dead. The Pharisees sought to kill Him! (John 8:58-59; John 10:30-33).

Not much has changed since then, as evidenced by this interesting news article I read. It is from the publication Israel Today. The article in its entirety is extremely interesting as you read the flow and its context. Please read the full essay to get the full effect.

Radio Darom broadcasts in Israel and as usual with other radio stations, there are radio hosts and there are radio guests. On one such program, super conservative member of the Shas party, Ofer Karadi was appearing along with the deputy mayor of Beersheva and a local Jew for Jesus, AKA Messianic Jew. (who was not named in the article). Things, shall we say, got heated.

I’ll post a few quotes here:

Yeshua Campaign Causes Buzz in Southern Israel
“While the gospel campaign by Jews for Jesus created a lot of buzz among local residents, not everyone was as sympathetic toward the Messianics as the general. “May his name be cut off forever,” screamed Ofer Karadi“

His fervency and hatred is striking isn’t it? That is because it is demonic. (Genesis 3:15, Revelation 12:12, Revelation 12:17).

“How can you give a platform for these empty-headed people,” cut in Karadi. “They are extremists. They are causing a civil war here in Israel!” (what this really means is that if Messianic Jews keep preaching the gospel in Israel, the orthodox will rise up with violent resistance).

Source

Have things changed? Not one bit. The LORD’S plan was set from the foundation of the world and He is enacting it in His sovereign timing and His sovereign will. Though the missionary field of Israel is a hard, stony place for His seed to grow, never forget He has left behind a remnant, elected by grace. (Romans 11:5). By His grace there are Messianic Jews proclaiming His name in His land! What a beautiful sight, even if is it met with spittle spewing Orthodox Jesus haters. This is not a surprise.

“If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you… John 15:18-20a)

I praise the Lord for His remnant, for His people on a hard and rocky mission field. I praise the Lord for His tears, His love for the lost people, and for His future plan to bring them to His bosom. It is written,

“And in this way all Israel will be saved, as it is written,

“The Deliverer will come from Zion,

he will banish ungodliness from Jacob”;

“and this will be my covenant with them

when I take away their sins.”

~Romans 11:26-27

By Yoav Dothan. All rights released (Public domain)