(no title)

gog magog, iran, israel, military strategy, psalm 83 war

Was Israel’s Latest ‘Air’ Attack on Syria from a Submarine? This would be a game changer

Posted on July 21, 2013May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

Was Israel’s Latest ‘Air’ Attack on Syria from a Submarine?
“An attack two weeks ago that destroyed an advanced Russian missile shipment delivered to Syria’s Assad regime should also serve as a warning to Iran – and to those complacent Western diplomats who have (dangerously in my view) reconciled themselves to the idea of allowing Iran to go nuclear and then trying to contain it. For it seems that the July 5 attack on an arms depot near the Syrian naval base of Latakia, which has been attributed to Israel, came not from the air (as CNN and the New York Times reported last weekend) but from under the water.”

“Many Western officials who have apparently concluded that Israel could only destroy Iran’s nuclear program from the air – and that Israel does not have the capability to carry out such long-range air strikes in a decisive way – should take note. In recent years, Israel has greatly advanced its sea-based capabilities, and the geographical range of operations that Israel can mount from the sea, I am reliably told, now spans the entire globe. Israeli submarines are no longer confining themselves to the Mediterranean.”

———————–

Hmmm. If that is true, then look at this.

Iran’s nuclear program has several locations as seen on the map below. I added Qom to the map below. Since the map below was formulated in 2009, it has been discovered that an underground secret facility exists in Qom. Bushehr is a main facility. Look where it is. Easily reachable by sea, if Israel can get a sub around the Strait of Hormuz. Bushehr is ON the sea.

Source

You see how Bushehr is right ON the water. Click to enlarge.

Bushehr to Qom is 700 miles, reachable by sub missile. Every Submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) has intercontinental range. The Russian Navy patrols the Black sea by sub and surface ships but I suppose if Israel wanted to they may be able to get a sub in the Black Sea and attack Iran from the North. The Black Sea is the body of water yo see on the above map north of Tehran.

Either way, it was a big AHA! moment when the news reported that the Syrian attack on the Russian missile cache was performed by sea. Stay tuned…

eschatology, israel, jews, replacement theology, temple

Messianic return from Jewish point of view

Posted on July 20, 2013 by elizabethprata

A Haaretz (Israel daily newspaper) article today. It is interesting to read of Messianic prophecy from the point of view of a person who does not believe the New Testament, but should have a better grasp of eschatology than is evidenced in this article. It is rife with errors but also contains some truth.

Why do many Christians believe Jesus will appear after Jews rebuild the temple?
“These are the same Zionist evangelicals who oppose any peace agreement in which Israel will cede parts of the homeland, and who customarily make donations to various right-wing associations in Israel. For them, Israeli sovereignty over the Holy Land is fraught with redemptive meaning. Only the continuing and eternal covenant between the Jewish people and its God in heaven can lend a messianic significance to its deeds on earth.”

“It was such a frame of mind that prompted the well-known evangelical preacher Jerry Falwell to assert, back in 1988, that “the most important date we should remember [since the Ascension] is May 14, 1948.” The reason is because, in his view, the creation of the State of Israel “is the greatest single sign indicating the imminent return of Jesus Christ.”

“But there’s a snag. Two months ago we celebrated the 65th anniversary of Israel’s creation, and for some reason Jesus has not yet appeared.”

Oh, but He will. They should know better than anyone about the Lord’s plans mean nothing in man’s scale of time. He sent the Jews into a 70 year exile. They wandered 40 years in the desert. A Jubilee Year comes around once every 50. They spent 400 years waiting for a prophet to speak (Malachi to John the Baptist). The Egyptian captivity was 400 years. And they scoff at 65?

Yes, they scoff.

The article calls the 15-million seller book The Late great Planet Earth by Hal Lindsey (an eschatological view of the run up to the Tribulation and the last 7 years of punishment upon the Jews) as a “mythical best seller.” The article repeats the old chestnut that John Darby started the notion of the rapture, even though Paul taught it and the earliest church fathers believed it.

The article goes on,

“The relationship between Christian evangelicals and Temple activists is warmer today than ever. It is a strange alliance, in which each side is using the other to further its own redemptive goals, knowing full well that the other has a completely alternative, indeed opposite, picture of the way redemption will look.”

Why can’t they see the clear and plain truth in the bible? That the rapture will sweep the church from the earth and that those who remain will be left to deal with God’s anger on His unbelieving people, the Jews? Because they can’t. Paul explained it all in Romans 11. Opening that wonderful chapter, Paul said,

“I ask, then, has God rejected his people? By no means! For I myself am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, a member of the tribe of Benjamin. God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew.” (Romans 11:1-2)

That should silence the replacement theologians who said that the Jews are done and the church is all that God cares about now. Paul goes on to explain the program and plan of God in the Age of Grace that we are in now:

“What then? Israel failed to obtain what it was seeking. The elect obtained it, but the rest were hardened, as it is written,
“God gave them a spirit of stupor,
eyes that would not see
and ears that would not hear,
down to this very day.”” (Romans 11:7-8).

The Jews rejected Jesus when He appeared. Originally the Jews were supposed to be the Light to the world and instruct the Gentiles about God. But they clung to the law, turned insular, and then used the law for their own gain, coasting on the covenant promise and failing to share the Light with the pagans.

Jesus charged them: “You that make your boast of the law, through breaking the law dishonor you God? For the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles through you.” (Romans 2:23-24).

“But when the Jews saw the multitudes, they were filled with envy, and spoke against those things which were spoken by Paul, contradicting and blaspheming. Then Paul and Barnabas waxed bold, and said, It was necessary that the word of God should first have been spoken to you: but seeing you put it from you, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, see, we turn to the Gentiles. For so has the Lord commanded us, saying, I have set you to be a light of the Gentiles, that you should be for salvation to the ends of the earth.” (Acts 13:45-47)

Paul explains that the Gentiles are grafted in so as to make Israel jealous.

“So I ask, did they stumble in order that they might fall? By no means! Rather through their trespass salvation has come to the Gentiles, so as to make Israel jealous.” (Romans 11:11).

Paul says it again, explaining the ‘mystery of Israel’s salvation’.

“Lest you be wise in your own sight, I want you to understand this mystery, brothers:d a partial hardening has come upon Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in” Romans 11:25).

They have been partially hardened. The most difficult mission group to reach is the Jew, because they have been made hard of heart and blind so that they cannot see. That is why we wind up with articles that state the redemption plan between the Jew and the Christian are opposite. They aren’t , but the hardened Jew see it that way.

All Israel will be saved. Jesus preserves a remnant throughout the Tribulation. He uses the Jew once again as His light to bring salvation, supernaturally sealing 144,000 Jews to witness for Him, 12,000 from each tribe. (Revelation 7:6-8).

He will punish His people, that is what the Tribulation is all about. It is called the Time of Jacob’s Trouble. Yet in the end, all Israel will be saved! (Isaiah 53)

“I will no longer hide my face from them, for I will pour out my Spirit on the people of Israel, declares the Sovereign LORD.” (Ezekiel 39:29)

“And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and pleas for mercy, so that, when they look on me, on him whom they have pierced, they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for an only child, and weep bitterly over him, as one weeps over a firstborn” (Zechariah 12:10)

The LORD is grace and mercy. He loves His people. Punishes for idolatry, yes. He does this because He is holy. Even though punishment tough, He will not break His promise to His covenant people the Israelites. He will be as overjoyed as anyone on earth or in heaven when His people cry out to Him as Messiah.

“And the Lord will be king over all the earth. On that day the Lord will be one and his name one.” (Zechariah 14:9)

produce healthy food

Bountiful Baskets offers affordable produce in expensive times

Posted on July 20, 2013May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

My friend brought me a Bountiful Basket two weeks ago. In our town a local co-op opened up that is a site for the nationwide co-op known as Bountiful Baskets. The baskets are loaded with fruit and vegetables, and they are overflowing with bounty indeed. The produce is spectacular also, very fresh and tasty. The fruit TASTES like something. Here is what I got this week.

Great basket today. Cantaloupe, 2 heads Kale, large and fresh head Romaine lettuce, blueberries, 6 bananas, 2 lb grapes, huge head cauliflower, head of cabbage, 6 kiwis, 8 plums 3 mangoes. Wow. Just wow. The head of cauliflower is very large, so is the head of romaine.

In every case it costs less to receive all this for $15.00 (plus $1.50 to process so $16.50 in all) than to try and duplicate it at the store. In less time, too. And the quality is much higher than the store. The food is good. You’re talking to an ex-crunchy granola, New England VW camper van hippie. I’ve had many decades of dealing with co-ops and always, I’ve been disappointed every time. I would not have joined this one unless my friend had bought and delivered a basket into my hands, lol.

I plan to grill the cabbage, bake the kale into chips, and roast the cauliflower. Mango smoothie, cantaloupe smoothie, blueberry muffins, and corn flakes with bananas (and banana pancakes). Romaine salads with seasonally ripe garden tomatoes. Yum. Tomorrow a friend is giving me green tomatoes. I’ll bread and bake them at the same time I do the kale chips and cauliflower. We need each other now. Sharing what we have is the way to go, more than ever. (Acts 4:32)

How much did it all cost? $15 and ten minutes of time. WOOT!

I mentioned yesterday that the Depression-era mindset kicks in when paychecks decrease and food gets scarce. Of course, it is nothing like it is in Third World nations now and absolutely nothing like it will be in the Tribulation, but at present, even in wealthier America, people even with jobs find it hard to provide healthy food to their families. Money is depreciated and it buys less. Food costs are increasing. The goal of Bountiful Baskets is to get healthy produce into the hands of families. I think the size of the produce offered at stores is decreasing too. Heads of cauliflower are smaller, plums and kiwis are miniscule now. I don’t think it’s my imagination, particularly since dry goods packaging is undergoing severe shrinkage, also. That IS a fact. That blog entry demonstrated visually the smaller cracker box issue.

I’d noted here in 2011,
“I was sad to see that the downward spiral of groceries in general is accelerating. Since last week milk went up 50 cents along with many other items, though not all of them went up in price as drastically as milk. In addition to prices going up, sizes are going down. The bagels that I look at each week, longing for but sadly decline to buy at a prohibitive cost of $3.59, suddenly were 1/3 smaller this week. Size of items are getting smaller and package sizes are getting smaller. 13 oz powdered creamer is now 11 ounces. And so on.”

The co-op is something I believe we will see more of in coming weeks and months. A volunteer-run, no middleman, neighborly sharing and cooperative kind of thing. Creative ways to make our food and money stretch. I go with a friend and we trade stuff. Last time I got a baby watermelon in my basket and I don’t eat watermelons so I gave her mine. This week she gave me a dozen eggs from her chickens when we got to the basket pick-up place. Sadly, the economic times means we often have to cut back. We have to do what we can to stay healthy and to make sure we are getting the kind of food that will keep our families healthy. But in pooling our money we can do the food co-op and still receive good quality produce without having to cut back where it counts. The saving also means I can use the money I’d use for produce to make an offering, or use he savings in other ways. The Baskets are affordable enough that I can buy two and give one to a family in need, also. If you have GMO concerns, it only costs $10 extra to order a 100% certified organic Bountiful Basket.

I rent so I can’t put in a garden. Other people don’t have the strength to garden. In some cases, town or city ordinances make it illegal to own chickens- like in Chattanooga this week. In other places, it is not allowed to garden on your land, like in condos with Homeowner’s Associations. In Oak park MI, a front yard container gardener who owned her own detached home was threatened with 93 days in jail. Same for keeping goats or cows, or meat processing. (I know people who do pig roasts). Some don’t even have even the money to start a garden (it costs to buy manure, mulch, seeds and never mind the tractor or machine to bust sod). Have you noticed that it is expensive to be poor?

Gas is cost-prohibitive so often that means getting to the ‘good’ store farther away is off limits. I noticed two years ago that though I used to buy OJ a lot, I hadn’t been. I said out loud to myself, “When did orange juice become a luxury item?”

Anyway go to the website Bountiful Baskets to see if a site is near you. If not, there are directions on how to start one. It is a good way to be neighborly and help each other in Depression-times.

———————–

Further reading
Bountiful Baskets, what was in the first basket I got?

Economic Downturn, depression; tomato, tomato

chickens

Chickens in my yard

Posted on July 20, 2013May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

A cute surprise in my yard this morning

I had a few visitors this morning. I’ve had turkey vultures, doves, eagles, hawks, and geese. But never chickens. They contentedly pecked around under the apple tree until they heard my door open. Then they lined up and trotted off at the hay field border.

Wait, was that a worm? Gotta check it out…

“Are you coming? Hurry up!” She’s got a camera, she can ID us!”

OK, OK, wait for me…

israel, kerry, peace talks, prophecy, tribulation

After four years, the Israel-Palestinian peace talks resume. How does this fit in prophecy?

Posted on July 19, 2013 by elizabethprata

Here is some news just out-

Kerry: Direct Israeli-Palestinian peace talks to resume next week in Washington
“U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry announced Friday in a press conference in Amman that direct Israeli-Palestinian talks are due to begin next week in Washington. The announcement comes after Kerry had traveled to the region six times within four months and spent countless hours in talks with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. “We have reached an agreement that establishes a basis for resuming direct final status negotiations between the Palestinians and the Israelis,” he told reporters in Jordan. “The agreement is still in the process of being formalized.”

According to Wikipedia, there are numerous issues to resolve before a lasting peace can be reached, including the following:

Borders and division of the land;
Strong emotions relating to the conflict on both sides;
Palestinian concerns over Israeli settlements in the West Bank;
Status of Jerusalem;
Israeli security concerns over terrorism, safe borders, incitements, violence;
Right of return of Palestinian refugees living in the Palestinian diaspora.

Prophetically we know several things. Overall, we know that there will be no lasting peace until Messiah comes. (Isaiah 2:3-5).

The world will be against Israel in the final days. (Zechariah 12:2-3)
The LORD will allow the nations to invade and (mostly) defeat Israel (Zechariah 14:2, Rev 11:2)
They have divided His land, angering the LORD (Joel 3:2)
He will save a remnant, all Israel will be saved (Romans 11:25-26)
While they are saying peace and safety sudden destruction will come upon them (1 Thessalonians 5:3)

Here is the biggie:

A covenant will be confirmed. A pact. A treaty.

“And he shall make a strong covenant with many for one week, and for half of the week he shall put an end to sacrifice and offering. And on the wing of abominations shall come one who makes desolate, until the decreed end is poured out on the desolator.” (Daniel 9:27)

Othe translations say-

“And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week” (KJV)
“He will make a firm covenant with many for one week” (Holman Standard)
“He will confirm a covenant with many for one ‘seven.'” (NIV)

This indicates that some kind of treaty or pact is already in existence and will be confirmed among the many, rather than a new one being created or formulated at the time.

This covenant satisfies Israel. We know this because firstly, they participate in its confirming, and secondly, they are allowed to begin sacrificing at the temple again. All seems well for three and a half years, until the antichrist reveals himself by stepping into the temple. He declares himself God and commands all worship must focus on him. Until then, we do not know who the antichrist is, although he does participate in the original confirming of the covenant three and a half years earlier. (2 Thessalonians 3:6).

It is this moment which Jesus spoke of in Matthew 24:15-17, “So when you see standing in the holy place ‘the abomination that causes desolation,’ spoken of through the prophet Daniel–let the reader understand-Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains: Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take any thing out of his house: …”

Any time many nations are involved in forming a treaty or pact with Israel, it is time to heighten attention to the prophetic words of His prophets. It is time to pray for Israel even more fervently. It is time to pray for the pagans and Gentiles who live in that region with vigor. It is time to pray for the Christians witnessing to Messiah in the Land that they would be the Light so many will be saved and thus escape the horrors to soon come. It is time to strengthen our own faith and straighten our own walk, so that we may be ready for the trumpet call to stand unashamed before Him in glory.

Seeing the scaffolding having been erected for the Tribulation we know that soon the rapture call will occur, because the Bride will be called home before the judgments begin. So look to the Middle East with the political doings, and look up. Is our Redemption drawing nigh? I believe so, every day brings us closer. With the resumption of peace talks, the inching forward just took a giant leap.
____________________

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Mary Owlsey recalled life during the First Great Depression:

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

Las Vegas hole dwellers, Source

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

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

David Blankenhorn wrote in his book, Fatherless America,

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

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

source

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

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

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

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

Bread line during First Great Depression, NYC

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

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

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

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

———————–

Art

Posted on July 18, 2013May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

I express myself in words, the written word, not spoken so much.

Some talented Christians express themselves in art. Some honor God with their photography. Some, with their poetic imagery.

I go through bouts of wanting and needing to make an image, an art piece, but I am not talented and usually fail. But I still try sometimes.

This one is called “Above and Below”. The bottom half is a photograph of my apartment reversed into a negative.

“For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.” (1 Corinthians 13:12).

The lace in the middle represents the veil, through which Jesus has broken but as long as we are individually in fleshly bodies, we cannot go beyond until rapture or death (unless by prayer :).

“And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. And the earth shook, and the rocks were split.” (Matthew 27:52)

The upper portion is the heavenly realm.

“I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven—whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows” (2 Corinthians 12:2)

Just a page out of my art journal. It was Barbara who inspired me to go back and take a look at my art journal. You should check out her art. It is very good.

bible, charismatic, dreams

What the bible says about dreamers

Posted on July 18, 2013May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

Elizaeth Prata, Dreams, 2003

Everyone is dreaming a dream now. Everyone is having a vision now. It’s practically the ticket of entry into a church and almost required for faith…among the Charismatics and false teachers, that is.

Until about about 100 years ago when the charismatic and experience-driven Azusa Street Revival broke out, these kind of ecstatic experiences never were part of a normal Christian working faith. Since 33 AD or certainly since 94 AD, the normal Christian did the ‘boring things’ of prayer, service, congregational worship, study, ministry, work, and family building. But why do all that when you can have an experience, hear God personally, and have His ‘truth’ plopped right down on your head and become famous over it?

The truth is, for 1900 years, dreams were not a part of the normal Christian expectation, and the following verses denounce, diminish and dismiss the experience of having a dream as important at all.

“Likewise also these filthy dreamers defile the flesh, despise dominion, and speak evil of dignities.” (Jude 1:8)

MacArthur explains this verse:

“So what we have here then at best is that false teachers, now follow this, false teachers inevitably have to have a source for their deception. And they have to have a source that’s believable. They have to have a source that has some authority, or that is convincing. So they can’t just say, “I think…” They can’t just say, “I feel…” They can’t just say, “We’ve got a committee in our group and we came up with this deal.” The really effective false teachers and apostates will inevitably tell you God communicates to them in secret ways, in their dreams, in their visions. These are revelatory experiences. Apostate false teachers from Joseph Smith to Benny Hinn and everybody in between claim that God speaks to them in their dreams, in their visions. And this, of course, transcends the necessity to be submissive to the Word of God which is not in their hearts anyway. And it gives them the illusion of authority and God gets blamed for all their aberrations. They reject the Word of God.“

MacArthur calls those the ‘terrorists of the church‘.

“[ Paul’s Visions and His Thorn ] I must go on boasting. Though there is nothing to be gained by it, I will go on to visions and revelations of the Lord.” (2 Corinthians 12:1)

Paul is telling the Corinthians of his troubles, and had just listed his persecutions. It was an incredible list, so incredible that it had all happened to one person, Paul said that God Himself is witness to it. And though it does no good, Paul said, he must go on telling them of his visions though it was not profitable, because it could tempt him to pride. However, the Corinthians’ fascination with the false teachers’ false visions and revelations left him little choice to tell what a real apostle who had real dreams and real revelations is all about. The point here is, there is nothing to be gained by telling of visions and dreams.

“Let no one disqualify you, insisting on asceticism and worship of angels, going on in detail about

Gustav Klimt: Music, 1895

visions, puffed up without reason by his sensuous mind,” (Colossians 2:18).

This tells us that visions puff up and that going on about them would disqualify you! All that going on about dreams and visions do is spiritually intimidate the brethren! Don’t fall for it!

“And we have something more sure, the prophetic word, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts,” (2 Peter 1:19)

What Peter is saying here is that despite having seen the transfigured Jesus Himself prior to even the resurrection (!) Peter says there is something more sure than a powerful experience like that: the WORD.

MacArthur explains:
“Literally the Greek order is this, “And we have more sure the prophetic word.” More sure than what? More sure than experience, even the valid, genuine experience of the Apostles. Peter’s reply to anyone who wants to question his experience is that there is a more reliable source, that is the Word of God. … God Himself has repeatedly emphasized that the Word is a sufficient source of truth, the Word is in inerrant, the Word is in infallible, truth never to be questioned, and never to be helped along or validated, as it were, by experience.”

Just because an experience may be credibly supernatural does not mean it came from God.

Fazzini sculpture “Resurrection” @ Vatican

“For false christs and false prophets will arise and perform great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect.” (Matthew 24:24).

Please do not listen to dreamers and people’s retelling of visions. Please do not seek after dreams and visions. Do not undergo a trance in order to induce a dream or a vision. If you think you have had a supernatural dream, keep it to yourself, consult the bible to see if it is consistent with the more sure word. If it is, praise the Lord and go on about your business. If it is not, pray to be protected from satanic invasions such as that and then examine yourself to see if you are in the faith. (2 Corinthians 13:5).

false doctrine, false teachers

20 Characteristics of false teachers

Posted on July 18, 2013 by elizabethprata

In Brannon House’s this week’s Worldview Weekend Hour TV Program Topic he covered 20 Characteristics of False Teachers. The teaching was one hour. I wrote down the points and their attendant verses which support the point he was making. Here is the link to the video but the WVW videos are only live for a few days and then they go behind a paywall. He put up half the teaching to the public, and that’s why if you count them, there are only 13 and not 20.

The bible says, “I appeal to you, brothers, to watch out for those who cause divisions and create obstacles contrary to the doctrine that you have been taught; avoid them.” (Romans 16:17). The KJV says to “mark them.” To those who claim we are unloving to point out false teachers, or that a true Christian is not supposed to do that, I refer you to the Romans verse. Also we read another instruction from the Apostle John, found in 2 John 1:10-11, “If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house or give him any greeting, for whoever greets him takes part in his wicked works.” And again, Paul instructs in Ephesians 5:11, “Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them.”

20 characteristics of false teachers, Here are Mr Howse’s points:

–False teachers are insincere and use the Word for personal gain. 2 Corinthians 2:17 says, “For we are not, like so many, peddlers of God’s word, but as men of sincerity, as commissioned by God, in the sight of God we speak in Christ.”

–False teachers appeal to the flesh and the sin-nature of people in order to build their following. 2 Peter 2:18 says, “For, speaking loud boasts of folly, they entice by sensual passions of the flesh those who are barely escaping from those who live in error.” Acts 20:30 says “and from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things, to draw away the disciples after them.”

–False teachers deliberately take verses out of context to attract a following.

–False teachers have a form of Godliness but deny God. 2 Timothy 3:5 says, “having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people.”

–False teachers openly reject truth. 2 Timothy 4:4 says, “and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.”

–False teachers willingly embrace unbiblical philosophies. 2 Timothy 4:4 says, “and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths (philosophies).” Colossians 2:8 says “See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ.”

–False teachers are arrogant and self-righteous. 2 Timothy 3:2-5, “For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people.

–False teachers embrace mysticism. (Mysticism is the pursuit of communion with, identity with, or conscious awareness of an ultimate reality, divinity, spiritual truth, or God through direct experience, intuition, instinct or insight. Mysticism usually centers on practices intended to nurture those experiences. The seek after experiences by Contemplative Prayer, soaking prayer, visions, dreams, labyrinth, yoga etc…) Colossians 2:18, “Let no one disqualify you, insisting on asceticism and worship of angels, going on in detail about visions, puffed up without reason by his sensuous mind.”

Note that the people promoting mysticism often speak of their regular angel visits (Todd Bentley’s ‘Angel Emma’, Rick Joyner & his ‘talking eagle of wisdom’, William Branham and his supposed visit from an ‘angel of the lord’…). Angel visits figure very prominently in many false visions/dreams. This attachment to angels easily veers to worship of angels. Satan is satisfied whenever our object of worship becomes anything except Jesus.

–False teachers sound educated and speak with persuasive words. Colossians 2:4 says “I say this in order that no one may delude you with plausible arguments.”

–False teachers are flippant in their attitude and dealings with demons. 2 Peter 2:9-12 says “then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment, and especially those who indulge in the lust of defiling passion and despise authority.”

“Bold and willful, they do not tremble as they blaspheme the glorious ones, whereas angels, though greater in might and power, do not pronounce a blasphemous judgment against them before the Lord. But these, like irrational animals, creatures of instinct, born to be caught and destroyed, blaspheming about matters of which they are ignorant, will also be destroyed in their destruction.”

Jude 1:8 says “Yet in like manner these people also, relying on their dreams, defile the flesh, reject authority, and blaspheme the glorious ones.”

These false teachers go on about how they have power to capture or bind satan and his demons, crowing about how they are going to banish demons, or re-take territory from them, or make rants against them. Yet Archangel Michael only said to his foe, “The Lord rebuke you.” (Jude 1:9) and dared not make an accusation against him.

–False teachers promise liberty and freedom from spiritual bondage but they are themselves in bondage as children and servants of satan. 2 Peter 2:19 says, “They promise them freedom, but they themselves are slaves.” There are only two camps, the children whose Father is Jesus (John 8:42) and the children of corruption whose father is satan (John 8:44).

–False teachers have heard the Gospel, but reject it. 2 Peter 2:21 says “For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first.”

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I hope that this list will be a starting point for you to delve further into the Word. Compare what is said here through Mr Howse and see if these things are so. False teaching can be powerful, plausible, smooth, and easily ensnaring. Please be wise and always cling to Him who has prevailed against every lie (Colossians 2:15), in whom deceit was not found in His mouth! (1 Peter 2:22).

continuationism, miracles, spiritual gifts

The spiritual gift of miracles given to Christians in the first century is not for today

Posted on July 18, 2013 by elizabethprata

Men are not endowed with the power today to heal miraculously, like they were in the time of Moses/Joshua, Elijah/Elisha & Jesus/Apostles. Those miracles were for a sign to authenticate the message and the messenger, in the building of the foundation of the church. Today we have the messenger whom we authenticate if he preaches the same Jesus and if his message is consistent with the one delivered once for all to the saints. (Jude 1:3).

In the time of the Apostles, the miracles were authenticated, undeniable, and sufficient. Lazarus was dead. Then he wasn’t dead. There was no ambiguity. Jesus healed a man born blind. He could not see. Then he could see. (John 9:1-7).

The one I always got a kick out of was Peter’s mother-in-law.

“And when Jesus entered Peter’s house, he saw his mother-in-law lying sick with a fever. He touched her hand, and the fever left her, and she rose and began to serve him.” (Matthew 8:14-15).

Jesus’s touch healed her completely. When you have a fever, you’re usually sick for a period of time, days even. You get weak. You cannot keep food down. You body deteriorates and after the fever breaks, you need time to recuperate to get back to 100%. Not so with the miracle of Jesus and His healing touch.

Her healing was authenticated, because there were witnesses. It was undeniable, it is in the bible. It is sufficient, because she was healed and restored to 100% perfect health.

What does one do when they are delivered from a bad situation? You’re grateful. Imagine the gratitude of Peter’s mother-in-law being delivered from an illness of a person in advanced age. Gratitude, unto service. Her gratitude was so great, she served the Lord. It was so complete, she could serve the Lord.

God can and does still perform miracles today if He chooses. He does not give people that ability any more, those gifts have ceased.

I’m listening to a Phil Johnson lecture in the series Drive By Pneumatology. He defined cessationism and continuationism. Here is Pastor Phil Johnson on the miracle gifts:

“The Holy Spirit is at work in us in the ordinary things of life. A lot of people have an idea that the Holy Spirit is only working if He is doing miraculous or phenomenal things. If it not something that takes your breath away, or amazes you, that if He is not doing things like that, He is not at work at all. But I believe that scripture teaches that the Holy Spirit is at work in all the ordinary aspects of life. He orders every minute detail of our lives. It is He who actually gives us life. That’s what it says in Romans 8- He gives life to our mortal bodies… . Most of what he does seems ordinary but it is really extraordinary because He is the Holy Spirit.”

He went on to explain the difference between revelatory gifts and ministry related gifts, revelatory ones (the Charismata) are utterance of wisdom, utterance of knowledge, faith (a supernatural measure of faith, not saving faith we all have) prophecy, miracles, healing, tongues and interpretation of tongues (1 Corinthians) compared to the gifts in Romans 12; preaching, service, exhortation, generosity, leadership, mercy, and teaching. In comparing the two lists of gifts, the Romans 12 one is ministry related, and is neither supernatural in character nor revelatory.

Phil said, “The distinctive claim of the Charismatic movement is that these revelatory gifts of healing, miracles, tongues knowledge/wisdom and prophecy are continuing today just as they were in Apostolic times. The Charismatic person says they continued since then and never ceased. That these gifts are available and operational just as they were since Pentecost. This is the continuationist view.”

The opposing view is cessationism. The belief that these revelatory gifts, these sign gifts, have ceased. That they pertained uniquely to the Apostolic age and that those gifts ceased sometime at the end of the first century upon the death of the last apostle.

(Phil is a cessationist).

So the question is, is the Holy Spirit doing everything exactly as He was doing as He did in the book of Acts? Has that stopped, or has that continued? And is there a proof text that shows it has stopped?

The miraculous gifts of the apostolic era had a specific and clearly defined purpose. I contend that it I also clear in scripture that they did diminish in frequency and importance and in fact, faded from use after the era in the Book of Acts ended.

Cessationism is today a minority opinion. It was practically standard evangelical theology for many centuries until about 60 years ago. Prior to the 20th century, it would have been hard at any time to find any protestant who believed that the charismata, the miraculous gifts, continued uninterrupted from the time of the apostles thru all of church history. It is a fact that the most theologically orthodox church theologians all believed the miracle gifts ceased.

In summarizing the next part of Pastor Johnson’s lecture, the reason they say this today, that the charismatic gifts continue, he explained, is that they cannot find a proof text or a verse that would support the view that the spiritual gifts of this nature have ceased. Specifically there is no one verse in scripture that says the miracle gifts have stopped at a particular date or time. Bottom line there is no proof text that states that the miracle gifts would end at the conclusion of the Apostolic era.

There is no proof text to show the Jehovah’s Witness to show their flawed view of the Trinity, either. You compare scripture with scripture to show the Trinity and I would say the same method applies to cessationism.

Those of us who are cessationists base our conviction not on a single proof test but is a theological conclusion that is drawn from a number of biblical, historical, and doctrinal arguments.

Scripture does teach that the charismata had a specific, foundational and temporary purpose. They are part of a hierarchy of supernatural signs and wonders that were associated with the founding of the church. That hierarchy is listed in 1 Cor 12. It specifically states not all the miracle gifts were given to all in the church. (He goes on to explains some verses here). Scripture does not have a specific proof text that shows the Apostolic age ended, that there are no more apostles. There is no specific proof text that the canon of scripture is closed. Those arguments are the same exegetical arguments used to also say that the miraculous gifts ended too.