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God is setting the stage to bring Himself glory.
Hallelujah!
Here is the story:
In Ezekiel 38 and 39 a battle occurs. It is the most lengthy and detailed prophetic battle in the entire bible, even more than Armageddon. This future battle is a coalition which has never formed before in quite the configuration described. For this reason, bible scholars believe the battle to be yet future. I use the term battle and not war deliberately, because this seems to be a very short military foray. As a matter of fact, hardly any weapons are loosed, it is over so quick. It is a battle, and God wins it decisively.
In addition, the battle is not between nations. It is between this coalition of nations and God Himself. The coalition of nations doesn’t know it, because they think they are marching against Israel. But it is God who intervenes and protects Israel by smiting the advancing army.
He does this in demonstrable and vivid ways. He wins the battle for Israel so clearly that the nations know it is God who is doing the fighting. More on those details below.
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The coalition which is prophesied to come against Israel includes Iran, Turkey, Russia, Armenia, Libya, Ethiopia, Sudan (i.e. northern tier of North Africa). Also Sheba and Dedan (Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Yemen? most likely). The merchants of Tarshish (no one quite knows who those people are) and all its leaders stand by. They don’t participate in the evil coalition, but they don’t help Israel either. They are interested sidelines quarterbacks. (Ezekiel 38:13).
The LORD said that He will plan this and execute it. He said in Ezekiel 38:4- “And I will turn you about and put hooks into your jaws, and I will bring you out, and all your army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed in full armor, a great host, all of them with buckler and shield, wielding swords”.
He will do this to show the world that HE IS ISRAEL’S PROTECTOR! And to bring himself glory!!
“And I will set my glory among the nations, and all the nations shall see my judgment that I have executed, and my hand that I have laid on them. The house of Israel shall know that I am the Lord their God, from that day forward. And the nations shall know that the house of Israel went into captivity for their iniquity, because they dealt so treacherously with me that I hid my face from them and gave them into the hand of their adversaries, and they all fell by the sword. I dealt with them according to their uncleanness and their transgressions, and hid my face from them.” (Ezekiel 39:22-24)
He shows His protection of Israel and His glory by doing things that only God does:
“In my zeal and fiery wrath I declare that at that time there shall be a great earthquake in the land of Israel. The fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, the beasts of the field, every creature that moves along the ground, and all the people on the face of the earth will tremble at my presence. The mountains will be overturned, the cliffs will crumble and every wall will fall to the ground. I will summon a sword against Gog on all my mountains, declares the Sovereign Lord. Every man’s sword will be against his brother. I will execute judgment on him with plague and bloodshed; I will pour down torrents of rain, hailstones and burning sulfur on him and on his troops and on the many nations with him. And so I will show my greatness and my holiness, and I will make myself known in the sight of many nations. Then they will know that I am the Lord.” (Ezekiel 38:19-22)
All the people on the face of the earth tremble at His presence??!?! Even the birds?! He rains brimstone down! Turns over mountains! He sends plague! Some estimate the number of dead invaders at three quarters of a million up to a billion dead. All the earth will know God is on the scene. It will be a momentous day. His wrath is a fearful thing.
Remember when the Japan 9.0 quake happened in March 2011? It was a powerful enough quake that it jolted the earth off its axis 8 feet. The quake in Ezekiel’s Gog-Magog battle will be ten times worse. A hundred times worse. I can’t quantify it because my brain can’t comprehend all the mountains on earth turning over and every cliff and every wall falling down.
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I am so thrilled when the LORD receives Glory and He magnifies Himself. He has been doing that in the Church Age the last 2000 years by redeeming lost sinners, cleansing them with His Son’s blood. In the future Gog-Magog battle Ezekiel describes, He will give Himself glory by demonstrating both His raw power and His seriousness about keeping His covenant promise with Israel.
When does this Gog-Magog battle happen? No one is sure where it falls on the schedule of prophesied events, and there are a lot of opinions on this topic. The only collective thought is that it happens at or after the tribulation. All the stances have some biblical credibility, but some stances are weaker than others and some are stronger. Personally, I used to think it will happen at or just after the rapture. But in reading the verse about every mountain falling down, I am not so sure. In Revelation 6:14 we read that:
“The sky vanished like a scroll that is being rolled up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place.”
So the Ezekiel earthquake removes every mountain by overturning them but then the Revelation earthquake crumbles them … again?
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If the Ezekiel battle happens at the outset of the Tribulation, then the verse where God says in Ezekiel 39:7 that “I will not let my Holy name be profaned any more” would not be true, since His holy name is continually profaned throughout the Tribulation. The antichrist is especially blasphemous. The verse mentions blasphemy three times in succession:
“And the beast was given a mouth uttering haughty and blasphemous words, and it was allowed to exercise authority for forty-two months. It opened its mouth to utter blasphemies against God, blaspheming his name and his dwelling,a that is, those who dwell in heaven.” (Revelation 13:5-6).
Many have said that since the Ezekiel battle mentions in chapter 39 a special crew of buriers burying the dead over the course of 7 months, marking bones with a flag to identify another part of another body from the army God vanquished. And the people of Israel shall use the weapons for fuel for 7 years, so people believe the 7 years means the battle occurs at the outset of the Tribulation and Israel burns fuel for the duration of it, which is 7 years. However, there is no reason the 7 years could not refer to a battle toward the end of the Tribulation, and the fuel burning overlapping into the Millennium. Or it could occur at the end of the Millennium, a more likely prospect since during that 1000 years God’s name is not profaned, AND Israel is dwelling peacefully and securely without walls (Ezekiel 38:11, Ezekiel 39:25).
In other words, the timing of this prophesied battle cannot be clearly and dogmatically stated.
In any case, it seems that the world stage is active and lively right now with prophetic implications of these battles to come. We see a potential Gog in Putin, and Russia rising. We see an isolated Israel, bemoaning they only have God and their military to rely on. God is stripping Israel of all, and when Israel finally says, ‘we have ONLY God’, He will bring them back to His bosom.
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Since the chapters of Ezekiel 38-39 show the LORD bringing His people back into personal dealing again, the Gog-Magog battle cannot occur while the church is on earth. Since His program for the church and the nation Israel are separate, it seems the church will be gone when He resumes dealing with the nation of Jews.
During this Church Age, God is dealing with people via His Spirit and through Resurrected Jesus who is in heaven. It is an age of grace, not of wrath. During the Tribulation He parts the veil and personally intervenes on earth again- in wrath and not in grace.
Here are several progressive essays which examine the timing of the Gog-Magog battle. They are from Nathan Jones of Lamb and Lion Ministries, and one is from John MacArthur, who believes the Ezekiel battle will occur at the Millennium’s close. As always, check out these things for yourself, pray, and think.
1. The Gog-Magog Battle – Search For Timing
2. The Gog-Magog Battle – Before the Tribulation?
3. The Gog-Magog Battle – During the Tribulation?
4. The Gog-Magog Battle – During the Millennium?
5. The Gog-Magog Battle – Unfolding; (their stance on the timing)
6. Twelve attributes of God the study of the Ezekiel Battle yields
John MacArthur: The Gog Magog battle timing- at the end of the Millennium
I hope that when you read those essays and especially when you read the bible, do so with a notion that God is great, and His purpose for all of it is to bring glory to Himself, and to bring people to holiness. End time studies are meant to revive our hearts in love and awe for a great and holy God, to make us aware of the temporal and fleeting time and body in which we live, and the eternal importance of souls.
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Further reading:
Joel C Rosenberg: What Netanyahu Is Learning from President Obama’s Vacillations on Syria
Joel C Rosenberg: Does Jeremiah 49 prophesy the destruction of Damascus?
Joel C Rosenberg: Do Isaiah 17 & Jeremiah 49 foretell Damascus destruction? 23 pages of notes on this subject
Israel National News/Op-Ed: Obama has tripped over his own red line
Mother Jones: Oh Magog! Why End-Times Buffs Are Freaking Out About Syria
This article from two days ago from CBS notes that Russia’s Putin threatens nuclear war of Syria is touched. It was that article that made me think of the Ezekiel battle in the first place, with the chapter 39 detailed explanation of the buriers burying for 7 months via a special clean up crew with flags marking bones and bodies. this is the protocol for nuclear cleanup. Also for biological clean up after plague.
Jesus said that one way we will be able to tell it is the end times is that false teachers will come. It has been the end time since He ascended and the latter days will end when He returns, but nonetheless, He also said that the end will come like a flood, and will be like birth pains. In other words, from the beginning of the period to the end, things will get worse and worse:
“Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, while evil people and impostors will go on from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.” (2 Timothy 3:13)
Actually, when the disciples asked about the signs of the end of the age, the first sign Jesus gave was that there will be deception:
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“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?” And Jesus answered them, “See that no one leads you astray. For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and they will lead many astray.” (Matthew 24:3-5).
When Paul wrote to Timothy in 2 Timothy 3:1, Paul said that ‘dangerous times will come’. That was a prophecy. John MacArthur expounds on the verses:
“The word “times” is the word “seasons” or epochs. And the picture here is the idea that during the period of the church age there will be seasons when the church is under great danger in perilous perilous condition. This is primarily due to the encroachment on the church of false teachers and false doctrine. Verse 13 says, “Evil men and impostors will proceed from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.”
Evil men, impostors who come into the church rising from within become a tremendous danger to the church. False teachers and their product, false doctrine, and their converts, false Christians, are inevitable in the life of the church and exceedingly dangerous. We look at the church today and we know we’re in dangerous times. The church as we speak of it in the largest sense, Christianity or Christendom, is mixed up with all kinds of things. It is literally filled with false teachers propagating false doctrine being believed by false converts or false Christians. The church is filled with men and women who deny Scripture in their theology, who deny Scripture in their living.
The church tolerates that false teaching, tolerates that ungodly living. Even in some cases justifies it quite as it did in Ephesus where Timothy was when he received this letter from Paul. Only today it’s far worse than it was then because evil men and impostors will grow worse and worse and worse as you come closer to the coming of Christ.
We are 2,000 years nearer the coming of our Lord than the church at Ephesus and we then have to suffer the accumulation of deceit and false teaching through all of those centuries that is now encroaching upon the church today.”
The word ‘accumulation’ is a great way to put it. Not only has false teaching accumulated, more is coming in every day, in greater force and in greater number.
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Therefore, we know by the word of God that we are living in dangerous times and what is causing the danger is false doctrine. It is causing persecution from without and contentions from within. We usually think of danger as things like machine guns or unbalanced madmen, but in reality false teaching is a machine gun that kills just as surely as bullets do, and it is brought by unbalanced madmen who can’t think straight (Ephesians 4:17 and Romans 1:21).
With the fact of coming flood of false doctrine established, let’s turn to Jude for a moment. Jude 1:3 says says what to do about it,
“Beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints” (Jude 1:3)
Jude wrote that though he had other plans for his letter’s content, something had arisen which changed his mind. He used very strong language to indicate that his intent had been changed and he must now address a different topic. Various translations use the word
–necessary
–compelled
–must
–needful
When Jude uses the word compelled or necessary, or must, he is using the Greek word anankēn, a root of anagke. This word means literally to “compress or to press tight. In human terms it indicates a compelling need requiring immediate action, i.e. in a pressing situation. The definition also means it calls for timely help, i.e. strong force needed to accomplish something compulsory or absolutely required.” (Strong’s)
Gills Exposition says of the verse, “by the “faith” is meant the doctrine of faith, in which sense it is used whenever faith is said to be preached, obeyed, departed, or erred from, or denied, or made shipwreck of, or when exhortations are made to stand fast, and continue in it
Jude found it necessary to warn the brethren to take action regarding the existing evils in the Church. Jude used the strongest terms possible to urge them to fight for the faith. By faith, Jude means doctrine.
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Yet we are living in strange times. Just as false doctrine is permeating everywhere, we are told to tolerate it. Just as people of the faith are littering the sea of the church in shipwrecks, we are told to step over them as they lay gasping and dying, so as not to offend them.
Jude did not say, “I planned to write to you about our common salvation but I see that false doctrine is coming in. If you think of it, would you address this? If you get a chance? Either way. But if someone makes a charge of intolerance or says that you are not loving by doing this, back off immediately and pray for forgiveness for your offense.”
Jude did not say, “There may be a false thing we need to take care of, but that’s for later. First, witness to the people by your actions, not your words, so they will see you’re not a hypocrite. Then after a few years when you’ve established a relationship based on common interests and mutual trust, mention to them delicately, without naming names! that sometimes false doctrine comes in. If you feel led. Or not.”
Brethren, it is obvious that addressing false doctrine is a must. Jude said to contend. Contending is contentious. That’s a fact. I’m not saying to BE contentious. But there is emotional and spiritual turmoil associated with combating false doctrine.
This is because people who gravitate to false doctrine are deceived, and no one likes to be told they are being deceived. There is intellectual pride there which must be dealt with by the person, and sometimes they get angry at you for exposing this to them. People who follow false teachers do so because the teacher’s teaching is comforting them in their flesh, and excising the flesh is always painful. (2 Timothy 2:17, Mark 9:47). People cling to false teaching because they like it. No one enjoys being told that something they like is bad for them. They have already invested too much, and their pride, comfort, personal reputation etc. is now tied into it.
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What does contending look like in practical terms? If you have a conversation with someone and they mention they enjoy watching Joyce Meyer, the person should be told that Joyce Meyer is a false teacher preaching heresy. If you have all the facts at your disposal, perhaps you can tell them this immediately. But more likely it is better to draw back, pray, gather the facts of why she is false and also why it is important to tell the person she is false, and take her aside at another time. This is what Priscilla and Aquila did for Apollos. (Acts 18:24-28). He was a brother, he just had some facts wrong.
John Ed Mathison writes,
They took him aside!
“How do you deal with people when they have made a mistake and obviously you know how to help them? Knowing what to do is sometimes not as important as how we do it. In Acts 18:24 there was an interesting man by the name of Apollos who had become a convert to the Christian faith. He became a fervent disciple. He desired to teach and share his faith. His enthusiasm seemed to outrun the grounding of his intellectual understanding of God’s truth. He began to make a few errors. How do you handle somebody who is in error? It is easy to confront the person in front of a lot of people and make yourself look good by showing them their faults. Sometimes the practice is to go to somebody and tell them what someone else is doing wrong, without confronting the person who is actually making the mistake. Some people simply “pray about it.” Some people criticize the errors in an indirect manner. Priscilla and Aquila did the right thing. The Bible says “They took him aside and explained the way of God more accurately.” (Acts 18:26) They didn’t embarrass him. They didn’t pull rank on him. They took him aside in order to be helpful to him.”
Paul took another tack. When Peter was engaged in false doctrine and had done nothing to refute it, Paul opposed Peter to his face. (Galatians 2:11-14). Paul waded into the fray, willing to take the pain of conflict in contending with Peter, in order to defend the truth of the gospel. You see the emergency portion of the verse, “even Barnabas was led astray.” (Galatians 2:13). Failure to confront false doctrine means others get hurt! In the Galatians situation, Jews and Gentiles were split! Peter was passive, not leading in the authority of his office! Confusion, not unity, reined! And poor Barnabas was being led away by satan.
Roger R. Nicole said of contending for the faith in his article “How to deal with those who differ from me” (.pdf here), “We are called upon by the Lord to contend earnestly for the faith (Jude 3). That does not necessarily involve being contentious; but it does involve avoiding compromise, standing forth for what we believe, standing forth for the truth of God—without welching at any particular moment.”
Ultimately, it is up to you to do your part. This means:
–reading the bible so you know when false doctrine comes in the first place
–staying prayed up so your relationship with Jesus is fresh and alive
–loving others enough to risk emotional turmoil when contending for the faith
–honoring Jesus by being a good soldier and fighting the good fight
It’s up to you also to decide whether to confront privately or publicly. I’ve done both as different cases arose. The bible shows us several ways to contend and therefore all are correct, but not all are equally applicable to each situation. How you contend is between you and the Holy Spirit, but it must be done. Paul and Jude made no bones about that.
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| Dan Rocha photo |
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Further reading:
How to contend for the faith (2-min video)
The Berean Call: What does it mean to earnestly contend for the faith?
The Christian Courier advises in their article, “Contend Earnestly for the Faith“
“Contending Is Not Contentiousness. There are some who have yet to learn the difference between contending for the faith and being contentious for the faith. Contending for the faith is a balanced proclamation and defense of the fundamental elements of gospel truth, whereas contentiousness is a wrangling disposition that generates ill will over inconsequential matters.” More at the link
One of the kindergarten teachers plays a welcome song every morning and on Fridays it is the Friday Song with the refrain of “It’s Friday! It’s Friday! We love it!” The kids dance. It’s really cute.
I do believe there is nothing like the feeling of driving home on Friday after a ___________ workweek. Insert your own descriptor.
1. a stressful work week
2. a fruitful work week
3. a productive work week
4. a tiring work week.
5. A dull work week.
This week I choose work week descriptor… #1 and #2!
When I get home on Fridays I put the car in the garage. It’s my signal of the boundaries between home and work being set. If I had a moat, at this time I’d be filling it with water and alligators.
I gather my things from the back seat of the car and go in. This is a momentous occasion. Crossing the threshold of my home
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from the outside on a Friday night is a tremendous feeling of relief and release. As I step inside, there actually should be a mariachi band playing.
I close the door and lock it. The ‘tick’ the lock makes cements the feeling that I have now separated from the world.
I’m IN!!
I make sure to have cleaned up the apartment Thursday evening or Friday morning so that when I come in the place looks orderly and nothing stands out as needing attention or to be done. I close the windows, fire up the AC, and unpack. I change into comfy clothes, currently a stretched white Hanes tee shirt and very soft blue stretch pants. The world is now dead to me.
I fire up the laptop and pour a chilled green tea, warm up piece of pita bread to enjoy dipped in hummus.
Weekend has begun.
The above was what I posted tonight on my secular blog. But the work week also presented some opportunities to be a good witness for Christ- or not. In this one short work-week, we had a death, a funeral, training for a new task we’ll be performing, a job loss in our ever-shrinking staff numbers, and an influx of visitors to our Grandparents Breakfast. Phew.
When these things happen, they cause emotions to run at high gear, everyone has an opinion, it’s 90+ degrees out, and I haven’t even added to these the stresses people are feeling in their home lives.
Phew again.
A natural inclination for people, especially me, is to talk and talk and gossip and gossip and to have an opinion about what’s happening. I say this is ‘natural’ because events affect us and we have feelings about them. And again it is natural to talk and hash it all over because the flesh wants to do what is wrong and not what is right.
At a time when emotions are running high, it’s tempting to want to weigh in, especially if the topics are what everyone is talking about. But this is the exact time to stop and take to heart the warnings so often given:
Was I a poor witness and stirred up strife and anger with my tongue? Was I a good witness and was calm and gentle and a help to people in building them up? I don’t know the answer to that fully. The Lord knows.
I know I failed in some areas this week. Did I do better this week than last week? Probably. Did I do better than I would have done last year? Definitely.
And that is sanctification. Day by day I feel the struggle, the ups and downs and victories in Christ and sins of the flesh. But the long term back-look is good. Sanctification may be slow, it may not be visible day by day, but it’s there. If you look back across your life over the year, years, decades, you should definitely see growth. CARM.org puts it this way:
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“Sanctification is the process of being set apart for God’s work and being conformed to the image of Christ. This conforming to Christ involves the work of the person, but it is still God working in the believer to produce more of a godly character and life in the person who has already been justified (Phil. 2:13). Sanctification is not instantaneous because it is not the work of God alone. The justified person is actively involved in submitting to God’s will, resisting sin, seeking holiness, and working to be more godly (Gal. 5:22-23). Significantly, sanctification has no bearing on justification. That is, even if we don’t live a perfect life, we are still justified.
Where justification is a legal declaration that is instantaneous, sanctification is a process. Where justification comes from outside of us, from God, sanctification comes from God within us by the work of the Holy Spirit in accordance with the Bible. In other words, we contribute to sanctification through our efforts. In contrast, we do not contribute to our justification through our efforts.”
It’s a process. As with any process, there are bumps and progress, hesitations, fallbacks, and strides.
“Sanctification isn’t easy—it takes faithfulness, hard work, and self-discipline. And even then, it’s not purely a function of your will, but the work of the Holy Spirit in you. It’s not manufactured overnight. I can tell you that faithful Bible study, prayer, and self-discipline play a vital role in your sanctification. As we’ve seen over the last several weeks, we can’t manufacture spiritual growth on our own, but we can certainly hinder it through unchecked sin and spiritual laziness.”
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It is impossible to detect how much of our growth is God (likely MOST) and how much we of what we do contributes to it, but the point is, growth is a must for the Christian. Picture the pencil lines on a doorway of measuring a child’s height over his lifetime. They should be going up.
So I’m sitting here at the end of a workweek behind my moat with floating alligators, privately assessing my behavior during the week. How did I do? Well, my goal this week was to honor Christ in all I said and did, and to be a model to the younger employees. Of course I failed. Of course I repented. Of course He forgave me. Of course I try again. Of course it is He who enables me to grow. This is all normal. I’m glad I’m a normal Christian and not a radical Christian.
The only problem comes if, when looking back over weeks of years, I don’t see growth. If there is no growth and no fruit, then I am not being sanctified. That could mean two things. One is that it could mean I’m justified but lazy:
“I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot! So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth. For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked.” (Revelation 3:15-17)
Gill’s Exposition: I know thy works … Which were far from being perfect, and not so good as those of the former church: that thou art neither cold nor hot; she was not “cold”, or without spiritual life, at least in many of her members, as all men by nature are, and carnal professors be; she was alive, but not lively: nor was she wholly without spiritual affections and love; to God, and Christ, to his people, ways, truths, and ordinances; she had love, but the fervency of it was abated. … so uses this phrase [lukewarm] to show his detestation of lukewarmness, and that it is better to be ignorant, and not a professor of religion, than to be a vain and carnal one; Christ desires not simply that she might be cold, but that she might be sensible of her need of spiritual heat and fervency.“
Or a lack of growth could mean that I’m not justified at all.
“I know your works. You have the reputation of being alive, but you are dead. Wake up, and strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your works complete in the sight of my God.” (Revelation 3:1b-2).
Gill’s exposition again: “but art dead”; for, the most part, or greater part of the members of these churches, are dead in trespasses and sins; and as for the rest, they are very dead and lifeless in their frames, in the exercise of grace, and in the discharge of duties; and under great spiritual declensions and decays
Did I exercise His grace this week? I think so. All in all it was a good week, despite my failings and despite my successes, because ultimately God brings glory to Himself no matter what I do. He grows me in His likeness, despite my own fleshly, stumbling self. And next week is another week to do it all over again.
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Further reading:
I just worked four hours on a blog entry about Gog-Magog from Ezekiel 38-39 and in re-reading the passages and praying and thinking, I have paused my thought on it, so I am going to study it some more before I say anything. I’m not posting it yet.
I had also come across this passage from Malachi, and it also weighs heavily on me. This is because someone I knew had performed a great and grievous blasphemy against Jesus. He was chastised and punished. I had hoped that the punishment and trauma of the discovery of his blasphemy and wickedness against Jesus which he had done in the name of Jesus purportedly on behalf of Jesus, no less, would chasten him unto repentance and shake his black and stony heart. I see tonight that it has not. Therefore I mourn for those who persist in their blindness because I know they are storing up great wrath for themselves.
Nevertheless, God is great, and he said to Ezekiel, “And whether they hear or refuse to hear (for they are a rebellious house) they will know that a prophet has been among them.” This is a comfort, because I know God has spoken in the situation. On the Day when we all stand before Him, the person will remember the chastening and the words and the fact that God had given opportunity to repent. If the completely ignorant are beneficiaries of general revelation of Himself so they are without excuse, (Romans 1:20), when an unsaved person inside the church who has heard the Gospel so often, and has been beneficiary of being immersed in special revelation, still rejects it, how much more are they truly and eternally without excuse?
So here is my thought for the night, short and sweet:
“For behold, the day is coming, burning like a furnace; and all the arrogant and every evildoer will be chaff; and the day that is coming will set them ablaze,” says the LORD of hosts, “so that it will leave them neither root nor branch.” “But for you who fear My name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings; and you will go forth and skip about like calves from the stall. “You will tread down the wicked, for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet on the day which I am preparing,” says the LORD of hosts.… (Malachi 4:1-3)
The just will have their day. Hang on to righteousness. Cling to Him and stand on the rock. We will escape the fire and skip on the high places
Wow. Just wow. Those beasts are freakishly large and definitely scary. I wonder what Job’s Leviathan looked like!
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http://www.buzzfeed.com/ellievhall/two-700lb-alligators-were-killed-in-mississippi-also-dinosau
This 13-foot-and-5.5-inch, 723.5-pound male alligator held the record for the heaviest alligator ever to be killed in Mississippi… for about one hour.
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| Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries, and Parks Via usnews.nbcnews.com |
t took Beth Trammell and her team of six people an hour and a half to bring down the 723-pound beast after it became hooked on their lines. Trammell told the Clarion-Ledger that when the alligator finally surfaced beside the boat, she screamed, “Oh, my gosh. It’s the Loch Ness monster.” After another two hours, and the assistance of a few extra hunters, the alligator was hoisted into their boat and taken back to shore to be weighed and measured, and a new, albeit short-lived, state record was set.
The previous weight record was 697.5-pounds, according to the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries, and Parks. The state’s alligator hunting season, sponsored by the department, ends on Sept. 9. Hunters must apply for permits and attend alligator hunting training courses if they are selected through the department’s lottery.
While Trammell and her team were subduing their behemoth, another gator, weighing 727 pounds and measuring 13 feet, 4.5 inches had been killed by a group of hunters a few miles away.
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| Via Facebook: dustin.bockman.7 |
“We chased him for about two hours,” Dustin Bockman told NBC News. “Then we got a shot on him.” After the first crossbow shot hit the alligator, it took an additional two hours before Bockman and his team could take down the reptile with a shotgun. They were unable to get the gator into their boat, so they waited until sunrise and called a few fellow hunters to help them load their record-breaking catch.
Job 41:1
“Can you draw out Leviathan with a fishhook
or press down his tongue with a cord?
2 Can you put a rope in his nose
or pierce his jaw with a hook?
Everyone knows Solomon asked God for wisdom. However people forget that he actually asked God for two things. The second thing was discernment. Here is the verse:
“Give your servant therefore an understanding mind to govern your people, that I may discern between good and evil, for who is able to govern this your great people?” (1 Kings 3:9)
So Solomon asked for an understanding mind to govern and discernment to distinguish between good and evil, or right and wrong as some translations go.
Solomon’s request was not only spiritual, for he already had a measure of discernment given his relationship with God and having learned from David, his father. But Solomon’s request also related to civil and governing capacities. A total package- he was to be able to judge people rightly in matters, to solve controversies, and to be fair to one and all.
Solomon didn’t consider himself and ask for a long life or wealth or health. He asked God for the tools to help him help God’s people.
The LORD was greatly pleased with Solomon’s request.
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| Rodin, The Thinker, Wikipedia photo |
James says that if anyone lacks wisdom, he should ask God and He will give it without reproach. (James 1:5). God was pleased with Solomon’s request, because at root, it honored God and served His people. The Spirit breathed inspiration to James that anyone could and should ask for wisdom. The Lord is not stingy with handing out wisdom or discernment. If you do not have the particular gift from the Spirit of discernment, you can simply ask for more discernment/wisdom in your daily life, and He will increase you. The intent is, you’ll use it for God’s glory and to help His people.
There is a flip side to this also. Solomon dissipated. When it was time for Solomon to build the Temple, the LORD had told Solomon in 1 Kings 6:12 that IF Solomon “will walk in my statutes and obey my rules and keep all my commandments and walk in them, then I will establish my word with you, which I spoke to David your father.”
The glory that was Israel’s military might, wealth, protection, and increase were onerously placed on Solomon’s shoulders. As Matthew Henry said, “None employ themselves for God, without having his eye upon them. But God plainly let Solomon know that all the charge for building this temple, would neither excuse from obedience to the law of God, nor shelter from his judgments, in case of disobedience.”
Luke 12:48b says, “Everyone to whom much was given, of him much will be required,”
Gill’s Exposition says, “For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall, much be required: the more knowledge a man has, the more practice is expected from him; and the greater his gifts are, the more useful he ought to be, and diligent in the improvement of them”
The LORD reiterated the condition when Solomon prayed the dedication prayer at the newly built temple.
“But if you turn aside from following me, you or your children, and do not keep my commandments and my statutes that I have set before you, but go and serve other gods and worship them, then I will cut off Israel from the land that I have given them, and the house that I have consecrated for my name I will cast out of my sight, and Israel will become a proverb and a byword among all peoples. And this house will become a heap of ruins.” (1 Kings 9:6-9)
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| photo credit: jinterwas via photopin cc |
So with all Solomon’s wisdom, he still backslid. With all his discernment, he allowed paganism into his heart in marrying over 700 women and having over 300 concubines. They were from foreign lands and they persuaded him to turn away from God and commit spiritual fornication with false gods.
Having wisdom and discernment is no guarantee that without all due purity in public and private life, you won’t be turned away from God.
But do ask God for wisdom. If you dare! Wisdom is knowing how to apply your knowledge. Discernment is detecting not just right from wrong or good from evil, “but right from almost right” (Charles Spurgeon).
It goes without saying the discernment and wisdom that we yearn for and live by are God’s truths, not man’s. Live by His statutes and His paths, and ask for the wisdom and discernment to always remain there, walking uprightly in His wise ways. Discernment is a bestowal from the Lord which honors Him and serves the brethren. And it greatly pleases the Lord when we ask for it.
6.1 magnitude earthquake strikes off B.C. coast
“A 6.1 magnitude earthquake struck off the northwest coast of Vancouver Island at 1:19 p.m. PT Tuesday, followed by a series of at least three aftershocks, but officials say no tsunami is expected. The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Weather Service was the first to report the quake’s epicentre was approximately 150 kilometres northwest of Port Alice, on Vancouver Island, but said a tsunami was not expected.”
There was a 5.9 aftershock, also.
Off Japan tonight, Japan’s seismology institute puts a quake occurring at 8:30PM EST off the Izu Islands at 6.9 preliminary magnitude. It was felt 400 miles away in Tokyo, where it rocked buildings. USGS puts preliminary magnitude at 6.5. Tepco says no irregularities at Fukushima nuclear plant following Japan earthquake.
UPDATE
There was a 6.5, a 6.2 at Alaska last night as well as a 5.9. That particular Aleutian Island has been shaken quite a bit this week, with several large quakes and many small quakes continually.
Quakes this week between 6.0-8.0 magnitude
I have no sense of smell. I never could smell and I have never smelled one thing and I never expect to smell anything.
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| photo credit: fikirbaz via photopin cc |
I don’t think much about it. I never had it so I don’t truly know what I’ve missed. Though when my baby sister was little and I’d give her a bath, and the baby skin became soft and pink and her hair was freshly shampooed, she looked so cute and cuddly. I understand that a freshly clean baby is a good smell. Mown grass. Strawberries. Flowers. Baking bread. Sometimes I’d wonder what those things smelled like, and occasionally lamented the lack.
Sometimes I’d be sad at having this handicap. I worry about not being able to smell my gas heat, or food burning, or an electrical fire. I was not allowed to babysit when I was a teen because of the safety factor of not being able to detect gas leaks or smoke or fire. Never mind not being able to smell if the diaper was dirty. But I don’t dwell on it, I just push the thought out of my head and go on.
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| photo credit: ~jjjohn~ via photopin cc |
The bible speaks of fragrances and smells. The woman Mary poured out an expensive perfume and washed the feet of Jesus with it. The whole house smelled of the fragrance. (John 12:2-4).
The LORD smelled the pleasing aroma of Noah’s burnt offering, and He “said in his heart, “I will never again curse the ground because of man, for the intention of man’s heart is evil from his youth. Neither will I ever again strike down every living creature as I have done.” (Genesis 8:20-21).
Exodus 30:23 talks of a sweet smelling cinnamon. Psalm 45:8 mentions “All thy garments smell of myrrh, and aloes, and cassia…”
It sure would be good to smell spices, or at least have first hand knowledge of these odors to which the bible refers.
But then I decided…no.
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| photo credit: Prabhu B Doss via photopin cc |
I decided this because it is a better blessing to wait. I am anticipating my first smell…and it will be heaven. I’m speaking literally. When I’m glorified at the rapture, the very first thing I’ll ever smell is heaven. And in heaven, there will be no malodorous things to smell. I’ll never have smelled pollution, or septic, or waste, or rot.
I’ll only ever smell the sweet fragrance of the knowledge of Jesus. (2 Corinthians 2:14).
Thank you, Jesus, for this blessing.
There is a lot going on in the world. Here is a news round up for you.
Something that had been feared for a while happening in the Strait of Hormuz has in fact happened in the Suez Canal. Both locations feature an important shipping area which are constricted to extremely narrow boundaries due to landmass.
At the Strait of Hormuz, on the north coast is Iran, and on the south coast is the United Arab Emirates and Oman. At its narrowest, the strait is 21 nautical miles. Yet is an extremely important shipping area, and not incidentally, inside the Strait where the Persian Gulf opens a bit, is Bahrain, where the US docks the Firth Fleet.
It would be very easy to disrupt the world by either mining or terrorizing shipping in the Strait. Wikipedia says “It is the only sea passage from the Persian Gulf to the open ocean and is one of the world’s most strategically important choke points. About 20% of the world’s petroleum, and about 35% of the petroleum traded by sea, passes through the strait making it a highly important strategic location for international trade.”
If anyone got it into their head to do so (and I’m talking to you, Iran) to stop oil traffic, gas prices would spike to the point where no one would be able to afford it. The Marketplace reports, Blocking the Strait of Hormuz would affect gas prices immediately.
This same scenario exists in the Suez Canal. Wikipedia again, “The Suez Canal is an artificial sea-level waterway in Egypt, connecting the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea. Opened in November 1869 after 10 years of construction work, it allows ship transport between Europe and Asia without navigation around Africa.”
The Suez Canal is about 675 feet wide as of 2010. Seeing that the Suezmax width of a ship passing through is 164 feet, it stands to reason that anyone standing on the shoreline could easily reach a ship with any kind of artillery. And this weekend, that is just what someone did.
Egypt arrests three who machine-gunned ship in Suez Canal
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| AP archive photo of Suez Canal |
“Egypt has arrested three people who opened machine gun fire on a ship passing through the Suez Canal, an army source said on Sunday, playing down what the waterway’s chief described as a terrorist attack. …During Saturday’s unsuccessful attack, the Panamanian-registered container ship COSCO ASIA came under fire in a northern section of the Suez Canal, a major global trade artery which is secured by the Egyptian armed forces. “There was an attempt to disrupt security in an area called el-Qantara as they fired at a ship in an attempt to halt (traffic on) the waterway,” said the army source.”
My best advice is with the extreme brinksmanship and military threats igniting in the Middle East these days, to make sure your car is gassed up, not to let it go below half tank.
The situation in Syria and the Obama’s reaction to it has been nothing short of embarrassing. Kurt Schlichter tweeted, “It’s like we gave control of foreign policy to a pony-tailed gender studies seminar TA.” Exactly.
Syria crisis: Obama turns decision on military action over to Congress
“Pulling back from the brink, a lonely President Barack Obama indicated last night that he would not order military strikes over Syria until he has received authorisation from the United States Congress – putting an unexpected brake on what had seemed like impending action.”
The French Government says it has evidence that the Syrian President’s regime (Bashar al Assad) perpetrated the attack, and will present that evidence to French lawmakers. Yet the rebels say that perpetrated the attack, in an oops moment when they ‘mishandled’ the weapons. Yeah. And the link goes to an Iranian paper. If you remember, Iran is propping up the Assad government so it is in their best interest to thrown suspicion on the people trying to bring down their puppet. The fog of war…
Lebanon’s terrorist organization, Hezbollah is mobilizing ahead of potential US strike. The Arab League is pushing for intervention, and behind the scenes, Israel is too.
It must be said that gassing and killing thousands of your own citizens cannot go unpunished. Yet, there are indications that the rebels may be the ones behind the attack, doing this to incite the West into the fray. And if it was President Assad, then coming to the aid of the opposing forces means that we side with the Muslim Brotherhood and al Qaeda. None of these are palatable options.
And if we did strike Syria, could Syria strike back? This CNN analysis goes through the potential scenarios.
How vulnerable would Israel be if the West strikes Syria? Watching the Us uncertainty, Israel says,
‘We Can Only Rely on God and Our Troops’
“As Israeli leaders continue to react to American prevarication on Syria, one former IDF commander has summed up the general mood. “We have no one to rely upon except for God and our veteran troops,” said former IDF General Uzi Dayan, attacking US President Barack Obama’s decision to postpone action on Syria until an official approval from Congress. Dayan’s comments were featured on his Facebook page on Sunday, opening with a statement saying that the Israeli government should “continue with its sensible policies” of refraining from a Syrian intervention unless the conflict were to spill in Israel’s direction.”
The closing circle of Israel’s loneliness is becoming ever more apparent. And can Israel rely on God as long as Israel is out of right relationship with Him? He will not allow Israel to be obliterated (Zechariah 12:9) but He will allow punishment to rain upon Israel. Ezekiel 39:24-25 has the story-
“And the nations shall know that the house of Israel went into captivity for their iniquity, because they dealt so treacherously with me that I hid my face from them and gave them into the hand of their adversaries, and they all fell by the sword. I dealt with them according to their uncleanness and their transgressions, and hid my face from them.”
Yet the LORD will rescue Israel and blessedly, “The house of Israel shall know that I am the Lord their God, from that day forward.” (Ezekiel 29:22)
But that has not happened yet. Israel has a few things to go through until that day.
EARTH CHANGES
Freak tornado ploughs through Tokyo suburb
http://player.ooyala.com/player.js?embedCode=F2djg0ZTrNKGzNk_yWW2kyk_prlE8fo3&video_pcode=RvbGU6Z74XE_a3bj4QwRGByhq9h2&width=560&height=315&deepLinkEmbedCode=F2djg0ZTrNKGzNk_yWW2kyk_prlE8fo3
“Several dozen people were injured when a tornado ripped through parts of eastern Japan on Monday, tearing off roofs and uprooting trees. Footage shot by public broadcaster NHK shows a number of homes destroyed, upturned cars, schools with shattered windows and a warehouse that had been lifted from its foundations and hurled into other buildings in Koshigaya, north of Tokyo.”
Reportedly, 66 people have been injured, as the news is still coming in. I wrote when the volcanic geyser broke through the ground at the end of a runway at Rome’s Fiumicino Airport, that just because man has built a city does not mean it is then and forever immune to disasters. And here another example of this come today, with the tornado in Tokyo.
Here is a map showing worldwide distribution of tornadoes. Japan does have recurring tornadoes annually, but usually they are weak and short lasting.
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| Source, NOAA |
There was a 6.5 earthquake this weekend in Indonesia. A 6.1 quake in Papua New Guinea. A damaging quake in China, though the magnitude was not so high (5.8) there was a lot of damage and three deaths.
Here is a Youtube with an Iranian scientist explaining that Tehran is smack dab in the middle of an active seismic zone and is at risk for a major quake.
In searching for confirmation that Guatemala’s volcano Fuego had erupted, I came across this news article from August 19, 2013 which I had missed. Japan’s Sakurajima erupted.
“Residents in a southern Japanese city were busy washing ash off the streets Monday after a nearby volcano spewed a record-high smoke plume into the sky. Sakurajima, one of Japan’s most active volcanoes, experienced one of its most powerful eruptions in decades Sunday, sending an ash plume as high as three miles into the air. Visibility in the city of Kagoshima, where the volcano sits, deteriorated quickly as ash spread into populated portions of the city of 600,000 residents, according to the English-language NHK World website. NHK World said a pyroclastic flow, a fast-moving current of gas and rock, was observed along a one-kilometer (0.6-mile) swath on the southeast flank of the mountain.”
Volcano Fuego in Guatemala did indeed erupt today. This scientific article reports,
“A phase of increased lava flow activity occurred this morning at Fuego volcano, Guatemala, generating a series of pyroclastic flows that descended several ravines on different, but mostly the southwestern side of the volcano. An ash plume rising as a by-product of the pyroclastic flows was reported to about 12,000 ft (3.6 km) altitude.”
Impressive looking. I hope everyone was safe.
CULTURE
It’s inevitable. Once the tapeworm of homosexuality is loosed from its bowel constraint, it will loose all other immoralities which had heretofore been relegated to the darkest of closets. (We have Doug Wills to thank for the vivid picture.) Here is proof: a call in opinion section of the Washington Post to legalize sex between teachers and students. I am not making this up.
This week we mourned the loss of innocence among America’s youth who viewed the lewd performance of formerly sweet Miley Cyrus and mourned more when America’s youth didn’t seem to know or understand what was so lewd about Miley Cyrus’s performance.
We have scandals at mega-churches, and lewdness at a school bus stop. I’m heartbroken over the lewdness to children. I’ve said many time I can’t wait for children to be in the Millennium kingdom so they can run and be free and safe and loved.
The 50 Shades of Gray (soft porn) movie has been cast . Gay marriages have been recognized by the IRS. As if the IRS needed any further reasons for us to dislike them. One town clerk in Pennsylvania has been handing out marriage licenses to seeking gay couples, despite the fact that gay marriage is illegal in PA. Now a court must decide if “the clerk has singlehandedly added Pennsylvania to the growing list of states that formally sanction same-sex marriages or whether he has been acting illegally and must be stopped.” How about firing the guy? He violated his oath, for goodness sakes. Meanwhile, The Atlantic offers a guide to gay wedded bliss.
In Asia, though, it seems that social media commentary has been squelched, so many on the peninsula wont’ even know of the cultural items happening nor can comment on them if they did.
SE Asia Governments Appear to Squelch Social Media Commentary
“Warnings from authorities and new regulations in countries such as Thailand and Vietnam may have some users of social media thinking twice about what they post or even click “Like” on the popular Facebook site. Thailand has 15 million Facebook users, more than one-fifth of the country’s population. And an estimated 40 percent of Vietnamese are now on the internet, with the surge in smartphones. Social media sites such as Facebook and Zing Me each have an estimated 12 million users in Vietnam. Amid the surge in commentary on social media, governments in the region, according to Shawn Crispin, Southeast Asia representative for the Committee to Protect Journalists, are seeking to emulate China’s success with controlling online discourse.”
FUN
Here are 9 pictures of wonderfully vibrant paintings of artist, by finger…
“When artist Iris Scott was finishing a painting one time, she saw a spot that needed to be touched up with yellow, but all her brushes were wet with different blues. She didn’t feel like cleaning any of them, so she just did the adjustment with her finger…and she discovered a new passion. Now, wearing latex gloves, she works exclusively with her fingers. Here are several of her vibrant paintings…”
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| IRIS SCOTT |
Here is short and nice article about the Commemoration of Dorcas, Lydia, and Phoebe: Faithful Women
Mrs. Reformation is a blog entry about a book review on the wife of Martin Luther, Katherine Luther, who was a pretty neat person, too.
Nobody does guilt trips like Grandma
