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Mysterious illness in Alabama stumps CDC

Posted on May 22, 2013May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

The church will not be on earth during the Tribulation period, formally known as the Time of Jacob’s Trouble. (Jeremiah 30:7, more here on what that means). I am comfortable and certain of this interpretation and therefore can concentrate all my energies on this present time before the imminent rapture without having to worry about how to survive the Day of the LORD. (The rapture has always been imminent). Left, Bride of Christ, Johann Thorn Prikker

The Tribulation is a short period. It will be 7 years long, with the Great Tribulation being half of that. So much occurs during this very brief time. The antichrist forces a mark on all humans, he hunts down almost all the Christians who refuse the mark, 144,000 people evangelize the world, most of the world dies in various plagues and wars, the geography changes utterly, and politically & economically the entire global structure shifts to one world government and one world economy. Phew.

That is why I believe that the set-up to these things, though long in coming, is being laid prior to the actual beginning of the Tribulation. A bonfire is prepared before the match is struck. You clear a ring, gather stones, pile firewood, and ready the kindling. Once the match is struck the fire begins. It will take only the LORD’S command to begin that conflagration. It will get going with force as soon as the first seal is broken and the antichrist rides. (Revelation 6:1-2).

One of the spookiest things to me is the prediction of plague during the Tribulation. There is a lot to be concerned about for the people left behind to endure this period. There will be Hades on earth as demons are unleashed from the abyss (Revelation 9:1-3). 100 lb hailstones will fall from heaven, squashing people (Revelation 16:21). Beasts will attack and kill many. (Revelation 6:8). Worst of all, spiritually, God will be harder to find, worship will become almost non-existent. The light of God’s revelation will be almost entirely snuffed out. (Amos 8:11; Luke 18:8).

Of course even thinking about how God will cause a famine for the Word once again to come onto the land like He did in Amos’s day makes me tear up. But in the physical realm, the notion of runaway plague strikes fear in my heart. I am even afraid of it now. Stephen King’s The Stand, an apocalyptic novel where King imagined 99.8% of the world’s population killed by a shifting antigen superflu, struck a chord with me even thirty-five years ago when the book was was published.

The bubonic plague in the middle ages was horrific, particularly the outbreak in the 1300s. Wikipedia states that “The Black Death was one of the most devastating pandemics in human history, peaking in Europe between 1348 and 1350, and killing between 75 million and 200 million people.” The plague at that time killed 30 to 60 percent of Europe’s population.

In 1918, the Spanish flu epidemic was considered worse than that. Wikipedia again, “was an unusually deadly influenza pandemic, the first of the two pandemics involving H1N1 influenza virus (the second being 2009 flu pandemic). It infected 500 million people across the world, including remote Pacific islands and the Arctic, and killed 50 to 100 million of them—3 to 5 percent of the world’s population at the time—making it one of the deadliest natural disasters in human history.”

With all the human manipulation of genetic strains of diseases, it is only a matter of time until one of them escapes its petri dish and slays the world. We have sought to weaponize bacteria, we’ve genetically manipulated God’s creation by cloning animals, altering their DNA, and doing other unholy scientific things. All this genetic manipulation will at some point escape man and unleash a deadly plague.

We know that there already is an increasing resistance to antibiotics. “Antibiotic resistance is a serious and growing phenomenon in contemporary medicine and has emerged as one of the pre-eminent public health concerns of the 21st century, particularly as it … is relevant to organisms which cause disease in humans.” (source). We know that there are diseases rising up again that we thought we had put away for good. This is a fact, there will be plague. We know that plague will kill a fourth of the world and be a major factor throughout the Tribulation. (Revelation 6:8, Luke 21:11). Is the bonfire for it being laid now? I believe so.

The combination of the prediction of last days rampant pestilence, the past history of epidemic’s deadly force, the ease of travel these days and spreading infection globally in a heartbeat, and the present indicators of diseases on the verge of being out of control, do give me pause.

For example, here is an article out of Dothan, Alabama. Dothan is at the SE corner of Alabama near where it meets with GA and FL. An unknown respiratory illness has hospitalized 7 people from that area, and two of those patients have died.

“Seven people have been admitted to area hospitals, and two of them have died, in what health officials described Tuesday as a “cluster” of respiratory illnesses with flulike symptoms. … Peggy Williams, a state Department of Health investigator, said of the five people who remained hospitalized Tuesday, one was in an intensive care unit at a local hospital. Lesa C. Smith, a registered nurse with the state Department of Public Health, said the three symptoms to watch for include fever, coughing and shortness of breath.

Smith also said they don’t have a general common denominator among the seven people admitted to the hospital. She said they’ve had several young people and an elderly person among the cases, so it’s been difficult to determine who might specifically be at risk.” (source)

This illness has emerged within the last month, since April 19, 2013. The current mortality rate in this cluster is 28%. The Alabama Department of Public Health has released a news brief on it and held a news conference. (source)

Getting a grasp on the illness is currently eluding the Center for Disease Control. They’re stumped.

A similar disease is stumping officials in Texas. “Mystery illness claims the life of 2 area teens, a third is critical“

“Like fever, cough, like respiratory failure, pneumonia, seizures,” said Dr. Syed Ibrahim, MD, MPH. “In the child who’s admitted at Texas Children’s Hospital now, he’s having liver enlargment and spleen enlargment.” The hospital confirmed that the teen is in critical condition. Two teenagers, one from Montgomery County and one from Liberty County, have died from an illness health experts have not been able to diagnose.”

Coronavirus is a threat in Saudi Arabia. Here is news for that new (“novel”) disease that is related to respiratory disease.

“Worldwide, there have now been 41 laboratory-confirmed infections, including 20 deaths, since the new coronavirus was identified by scientists in September 2012. The novel coronavirus, which had been known as by the acronym nCoV but which some scientific journals now refer to as Middle East Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus, or MERS, belongs to the same family as viruses that cause common colds and the one that caused a deadly outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) in 2003. MERS cases have so far been reported in Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Qatar, Britain, Germany and France, but Saudi Arabia has had the vast majority of cases. (source)

Now that‘s a 50% mortality rate. Though mostly contained to Saudi Arabia, there is some consternation today because a Tunisian man has died from it.

“A 66-year-old Tunisian man has died from the new coronavirus following a visit to Saudi Arabia and two of his adult children were infected with it, the Tunisian Health Ministry reported. … The cases are the first for Tunisia and indicate that the virus is slowly trickling out of Saudi Arabia, where more than 30 coronavirus cases have been reported. There have been at least 20 deaths worldwide out of 40 cases.”

I wonder if anyone else out there is as spooked by the knowledge of how easy it would be for a disease exactly like the Dothan AL illness to widen its grip, and become runaway like the Spanish Flu did in 1918. Or coronoavirus. Or avian flu. Or SARS. Or…

At some point, the final pestilences will emerge exactly like horror writer Stephen King laid out. The difference is that this time when it does, it won’t be a fiction book. It will be real.

You can escape all these things by believing on the name of Jesus as your Lord and Savior now. Do you recognize that you are a sinner? That each wrong thing you’ve ever done or even thought causes you to fail the standard of perfect holiness that God requires for a person to enter heaven? Impossible, you say? It is! The GOOD NEWS is that God sent His perfect Son to live a perfectly holy life, be the sacrifice for all our sins, and die on the cross, taking all of God’s wrath for sin upon Himself. God was satisfied with His son and raised Him to life on the third day.

Now, if you believe this, you will not have to live a perfectly holy life, an impossibility anyway. You won’t have to take eternal punishment for your sins, enduring God’s wrath in the lake of fire. Jesus took it for you already. If you believe, Jesus’s righteousness will be imputed to your account, and you will be adopted in the family of God. Repent soon. Now is the day of salvation.

bad things, disaster, evil, tornado

If God is good, why didn’t He stop the tornado?

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

It is admittedly hard to read of news where children are killed or harmed. The shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary school in Newton CT this past December 2012 was surely horrific. Reading about the 20 children who died in the Plaza Tower Elementary school yesterday in Moore OK via a EF-5 tornado is also heart-rending.

At times like these, people often ask, “Where is God?” “How could He allow this to happen?” “Is God good?”

I can put it this way. When a serial killer is placed on death row and eventually executed, we say that justice was done. If a person breaking and entering a home is shot by the homeowner, we often say ‘good! He got what he deserved.’

When Korah rebelled against Moses and Aaron, he was rebelling against God. (Numbers 16:3). The LORD told Moses to tell the congregation to separate from Korah, and Korah, Dathan and Abiram and their household and the goods in the household were swallowed up as the earth opened up and took them alive to Sheol. When this happened, we say “God is just and right to do this thing. Korah was performing a moral evil in rebelling against God trough Moses and Aaron.”

When the tornado came and the earth swallowed the children in the bottom of the Plaza Towers Elementary School,” do we say, “God is unjust and bad to do this thing?” No! God is the same yesterday, today, and forever. (Hebrews 13:8).

What we cannot fathom, we must trust that the Lord is good and His purposes are good. On the one hand, He directly put down a rebellion by performing a supernatural disaster as He did in the Old Testament.

On the other hand, what of the children in the elementary schools which were razed by the tornado? If they are declared innocent by a righteous God, as Deuteronomy 1:39 and Isaiah 7:16 and also explained here, then why did they have to die? Why did God allow a natural disaster to take them?

And that is where I stopped my essay, many hours ago. I was stuck on the answer myself because I was unsatisfied with saying that sin is a blanket cause for all evil, including natural disasters. Though the sin done n the Garden of Eden was indirectly the cause of the weather patterns turning deadly, how and what are we to think of a deadly tornado such as the one yesterday, more specifically? My theology brought me to an understanding of sin as a reason for the general evil in the world, including disasters such as the Oklahoma tornado. But it wasn’t a deep enough answer.

But later today, Dr. Al Mohler wrote today of this exact subject. He said, “But Jesus rejected this as a blanket explanation for suffering, instructing His disciples in John 9 and Luke 13 that they could not always trace suffering back to sin.”

What are we to think, then? As I read the rest of Dr. Mohler’s essay, that more thorough explanation became clear through his precise and mature understanding of theology. He wrote,

However as Dr. Mohler explains that passages in Luke 13 and John 9 show us that “the problem of evil and suffering, the theological issue of theodicy, is customarily divided into evil of two kinds, moral and natural.” [emphasis mine]

The moral problem of evil was exemplified in Korah. Korah’s pride and ambition was his undoing. He committed a moral sin and ended up rebelling against God. Suffering ensued for him and his family.

He says that a discussion of both kinds of evil are included in the Luke 13 passage.

“In Luke 13, the murder of the Galileans is clearly moral evil, a premeditated crime–just like the terrorist acts in New York and Washington. In John 9, a man is blind from birth, and Jesus tells the Twelve that this blindness cannot be traced back to this man’s sin, or that of his parents. Natural evil comes without a moral agent. A tower falls, an earthquake shakes, a tornado destroys, a hurricane ravages, a spider bites, a disease debilitates and kills. The world is filled with wonders mixed with dangers. Gravity can save you or gravity can kill you. When a tower falls, it kills.”

Further, Mohler wrote,

A venerable confession of faith states it rightly: “God from eternity, decrees or permits all things that come to pass, and perpetually upholds, directs, and governs all creatures and all events; yet so as not in any way to be the author or approver of sin nor to destroy the free will and responsibility of intelligent creatures.”

But if God is sovereign, doesn’t He allow the tornado to occur? How do we reconcile God’s sovereignty and our responsibility? We can’t really. Not with our finite minds. Mohler answers,

God is God, and God is good. As Paul affirms for the church, God’s sovereignty is the ground of our hope, the assurance of God’s justice as the last word, and God’s loving rule in the very events of our lives: “And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, who are the called according to His purpose.” [Romans 8:28]

We dare not speak on God’s behalf to explain why He allowed these particular acts of evil to happen at this time to these persons and in this manner. Yet, at the same time, we dare not be silent when we should testify to the God of righteousness and love and justice who rules over all in omnipotence. Humility requires that we affirm all that the Bible teaches, and go no further. There is much we do not understand. As Charles Spurgeon explained, when we cannot trace God’s hand, we must simply trust His heart.

What we do understand is that God is good in having sent His son to die for us. Jesus took upon Himself all sin and exhausted God’s wrath for it, and then died, to be accepted by God as the eternal sacrifice for that sin and raised on the third day. He now imputes His righteousness to His saints who believe this Gospel by faith, and it is by that vehicle we declare His righteousness to those who are afflicted and suffering.

He allows us to be His witnesses, the indwelling Holy Spirit glowing and bringing God glory. If we were to see a visible manifestation of His Goodness, would it be in Christians’ Spirit lovingly racing TO the place of terror, danger, and devastation, to help their neighbor? Like this photo from the Baltimore Sun, with the lens flares I inserted?

As my friend Pastor Phil wrote yesterday, “May our suffering Oklahoma neighbors and friends see the manifest presence of God in the midst of their suffering, especially through the ministries of Christians.”

This is where God is good, and all that Goodness stems back to the only One who is Good, God, who sent His Son. (Mark 10:18).

If we could part the curtain and see His goodness visibly, would it be that we’d see the myriads of ministering angels? Especially at the flattened school? As I try to show with this photo from the Chicago Tribune containing lens flares I put in? (Those aren’t floodlights)

Dr. Mohler said,

“The second great error is to ascribe evil to God. But the Bible does not allow this argument. God is absolute righteousness, love, goodness, and justice. Most errors related to this issue occur because of our human tendency to impose an external standard–a human construction of goodness–upon God. But good does not so much define God as God defines good.”

Yes, we mourn and we cry when we see the terrible calamity of children killed, neighbors dead, homes lost, and businesses smashed. The heart of the matter is not whether God is good or God is bad, the heart of the matter is repentance. A calamity could happen any day. Like in Luke 13, the tower of Siloam fell on 18 workers constructing it and they died. Jesus said, “Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them: do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.”” (Luke 13:4-5). Your eternal destiny awaits, are you ready? A tornado could take your life, it is a natural evil that is blind and thoughtless, taking with it into its deadly vortex a child or a sinner or a repented one. Any day, any time. If you do not repent, you shall likewise perish, not just body, but soul

God’s goodness is that He made a way for you to escape eternal destruction, no matter the manner of death. That way is Jesus. (John 14:6). Talk about good! It doesn’t get any better than the Savior.

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A sad day with devastating tornadoes (What God Ordains Is Always Good) Updated

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

Update– You might be interested in this essay I wrote a day later, looking at the situation a bit more deeply and theologically, called If God is Good, why Didn’t He Stop the Tornado?

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I am recovering from a traumatic spiritual battle as I alluded to earlier in the month. It sapped my strength almost completely.

Our elementary school’s last day is this Friday at noon. So three and a half days left. Most of the kindergarteners thought today was the last day, more than one thought so. Holding these kids down for 7 hours a few days away from summer break saps your strength.

We are having an unusual heat all of a sudden. The temps are in the upper-80s but real-feel temps are in the mid-90s. It saps your strength.

I went grocery shopping after work, the Dollar Store and Grocery store share a parking lot. Walking the buggy back and forth from one side to the other to load the car with heavy groceries saps your strength.

I got home at a low strength point. Kind of weary.

Then I read about the tornadoes in Oklahoma. My strength sapped even further, pooling at the ground around my feet.

A KFOR-TV weather man said the winds from this worst tornado were over 300mph and it was an F5. It was wider than Oklahoma’s worst historic tornado which occurred in 1999. It is at least 3X as worse as the May 1999 historic tornado. It went from nothing, not a cloud, to an F5 inside of one hour, which is the fastest the atmosphere will allow, he said. It caused catastrophic devastation. He said it is the most devastation from a tornado in the history of the world. There are many dead, including 24 children, at least, have died.

When I read about the elementary schools being in the path of a direct hit from this devastating tornado, my strength waned quickly…tears come to my eyes for this old sinful world. Watching anything die is hard, watching the world die is harder.

What to do?

Praise the Lord. It gives you strength. (Psalm 68:35).

Trust the Lord. It gives you strength. (Isaiah 12:2).

Obey the Lord. It gives you strength. (Revelation 14:12).

Hope in the Lord. It gives you strength. (Lamentations 3:25).

What God ordains is always good. I posted this yesterday, I post it again. Because we need it.

God, hymn, worship

"What God Ordains Is Always Good"

Posted on May 19, 2013 by elizabethprata

This blew me away.

A new setting of the hymn text “What God Ordains Is Always Good” by Samuel Rodigast (1649-1708). Music composed by Josh Bauder.

Performed by the St. Thomas Alumni Choir, April 17, 2013; Casey Johnson, director and soloist; Josh Bauder, accompanist; recorded by Chris Muggli-Miller. Special thanks to Brittney Larson and Jon Tschiggfrie.

divine will, God, providence

More on God’s Providence

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

This past Thursday, I wrote a bit about the providence of God. I am still studying this great doctrine. I love it when the Holy Spirit grabs me by the heart and keeps me wrestling with a topic for a little while. Not that anyone can ever exhaust the great riches of studying the Providence of God…but I enjoy both kinds of study- minutely examining one verse for a while, and also studying the entire biblical expanse of a topic. It’s good to study doctrines as well as verses, and I hope you think so too.

Like the word “Trinity”, the word “Providence” is not in the bible. As it is clear that the LORD our God is one God in three persons (Trinity), it is also true that His Providence also extends throughout the universe, throughout creation, and throughout the affairs of men, even if the word itself is not explicitly stated.

After I studied the bible for passages that exhibit the fact of His of providence, I studied several books which demonstrate it. Providence cannot really be completely demonstrated in one verse, like God’s love is (1 John 4:16), or Jesus’s compassion, (John 11:35). We know that God is holy, (Isaiah 6:3), and He is eternal, (Psalm 90:2, Deuteronomy 32:40). God’s Providence is expansive, for example, providence is shown as what God did throughout the entirety of Joseph’s life.

Did you ever stop to think of how He sustains His divine will throughout each and every event that occurs on earth at each and every moment? For example, Mary was chosen as the biological vessel to conceive, carry, and birth the savior. She was a virgin, and God kept her so. Not that she would have sinned in that way, but she wasn’t waylaid by bandits and raped either. And He brought her mother and father together, they of the exact lineage He wanted, and kept them alive and betrothed them and saw them married and the father not died in war and the mother not dead in childbirth before Mary could be born. And Mary’s grandparents, born of the right tribe, and lived to bring their children into the world not having died of infection from a cut or food poisoning or falling down a cliff or eaten by a bear or lion, and so on back and back all the way to Adam and Eve. God ordered those circumstances so that His chosen vessel would emerge on the world stage at exactly the time and place He ordained. And so He does this for each person on earth.

However, one cannot read one verse and see His providence, because it is not one event. Providence is a series of events which you may not understand at the time but in looking back it all connects together. As I said in the other blog essay, it takes time to see His providence emerge. “Looking forward what we have is trust, and looking back we can see the results of that trust- His divine will accomplished providentially.”

The books that demonstrate His providence that come to mind are Esther, Ruth, and of course Joseph. Each of those books are examples of how God manages all affairs, large and small, to perform His divine will. Charles Spurgeon says, “Just look at the case of Joseph. God has it in his mind that Joseph shall be governor over all the land of Egypt: how is that to be done? The first thing to be done is that Joseph’s brethren must hate him. O, say you, that is a step backward. Next, Joseph’s brethren must put him in the pit. That is another step backward, say you. No, it is not: wait a little. Joseph’s brethren must sell him; that is another step backward, is it not? Providence is one, and you must not look at its separate parts. He is sold; he becomes a favorite: so far, so good. That is a step onward. Anon, he is put in a dungeon. Wait and see the end; all the different parts of the machinery are one. They appear to clash; but they never do. Put them all together. If Joseph had not been put in the pit, he never would have been the servant of Potiphar: if he never had been put in the round-house, he never would have interpreted the jailer’s dream; and if the king had never dreamed, he would not have been sent for. There were a thousand chances, as the world has it, working together to produce the exaltation of Joseph. Providence is one: it never clashes.”

I was reading Ecclesiastes the other day, the entire book, and it occurred to me that Ecclesiastes is also a book which speaks of God’s Providence without using the word. In Ecclesiastes 3:10, Solomon says, “I have seen the business that God has given to the children of man to be busy with.” Barnes Notes explains,

“To bring ourselves to our state in life, is our duty and wisdom in this world. God’s whole plan for the government of the world will be found altogether wise, just, and good. Then let us seize the favourable opportunity for every good purpose and work.”

Every good purpose and work is God’s providence because it brings about His will, which of course, is good!

Charles Spurgeon preached on the doctrine of Providence in a most interesting way. He begins his sermon practically enough,

“While reading the scriptures, we tried to hint at the practical benefits of the doctrine of Providence. We attempted to explain that portion of Scripture which teaches us to “take no thought for the morrow, for the morrow will take thought for the things of itself.” Our blessed Lord had there uttered very precious words to drive away our fears, to keep us from distrust and from distress, and to enable us so to rely upon Providence that we may say, he that feeds the ravens, and clothes the lilies, will never suffer me to famish nor to be naked. Having shown you from our Lord’s own words the practical benefits of the doctrine of Providence, I thought I would endeavor to explain that doctrine more fully this morning. I am constantly talking about providence in my preaching, and I thought it quite as well to devote a whole sermon to explain what I believe are God’s great wonder-working processes which we call Providence.”

Spurgeon then goes on brilliantly to propose his interpretation of Ezekiel’s wheels within wheels (Ezekiel 1:15-19) as a visual representation of God’s providence. Wow!

Now as I looked at the living creatures, I saw a wheel on the earth beside the living creatures, one for each of the four of them. As for the appearance of the wheels and their construction: their appearance was like the gleaming of beryl. And the four had the same likeness, their appearance and construction being as it were a wheel within a wheel. When they went, they went in any of their four directions without turning as they went. And their rims were tall and awesome, and the rims of all four were full of eyes all around. And when the living creatures went, the wheels went beside them; and when the living creatures rose from the earth, the wheels rose.

He makes his outline of points this way and then goes on to explain each one.

Providence is Here Compared To A “Wheel.”
The Providence Of God is in some Mysterious Way Connected With Angels.
Providence is Universal.
Providence is Uniform.
Providence is Compared to the Sea.
God’s Providence is Intricate.
Providence is Always Correct.
Providence is Amazing.
Providence is Full Of Wisdom.

I recommend reading the entire sermon, it’s great. Whether you agree or disagree with all his points, Spurgeon certainly was excited about the doctrine of God’s Providence!!

If you want some further concrete examples of God’s providence in the bible, look up in context:
–Genesis 45:8, He shows that all was done by God’s providence.
–Exodus 1:12, The providence of God toward the Jews in captivity under Pharaoh
–Psalm 8:1
–Psalm 33:1 urges the righteous to praise Him because of His providence
–Psalm 40:1-3, David sings of His providence

It is good to think on these things. In Psalm 107, David sings of the amazing things the LORD has done all over the earth. He concludes in verse 43, saying:

“Whoever is wise, let him attend to these things;

let them consider the steadfast love of the Lord.”

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Make a quantum leap with me

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

I published this almost two years ago to the day. I have been thinking about quantum leaps again, a lot, so I thought I’d re-post this.

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I love learning how the bible is a book of science. If true and honest science were to be considered, scientists would accept that the earth is a young earth. Science shows it, but they “believed the lie” – the lie being (in my opinion) that God didn’t create the universe. And if He is not Creator, therefore maybe He is not Redeemer either. Hey, that lie works for satan.

In any case, I learned about quantum leaps this week.

The heavens and the earth (Hebrew phraseology for the universe) will disappear. That is a fact. But how? And where will we be? My question regarding the first was answered to my satisfaction this week. It involves quantum physics. LOL, stay with me!

If you make a fist and bump your fist from below with your other hand, your fist moves up from the bump. Keep that in mind as I explain. A quantum leap happens when a photon strikes an atom, it boosts an electron into a higher orbit. And when that occurs the electron moves from the lower to the upper orbit simultaneously without having traversed the intervening space. That’s a quantum leap. (Definition from John MacArthur). Or this, “A quantum leap is a leap from A to B, without passing through any of the points between A and B. Imagine that you enter a train in A-ville. You sit in your seat, and the train is instantly transported to your destination of B-ville. You just made a quantum leap.”

Amazing! The electron blinks out and then blinks back into a higher state of being – instantaneously! This makes sense to me when thinking of two biblical events prophesied to come: the Rapture and the New Heavens/New Earth.

Rapture: “in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. (1 Corinthians 15:52). When Jesus calls us with the last trump and the voice of an archangel, we will be translated instantaneously from fleshly human with sin nature to glorified eternal person with no sin nature. This will happen in the blink of an eye, which is said to be 150 milliseconds. The how of it seems to me to be a good definition of a quantum leap. We are translated from a lower state of being to a higher state of being, instantly.

At the end of time when Jesus makes a new heavens and a new earth, it appears to me also that it could happen as in the definition of a quantum leap. The earth is translated from a lower state of being to a higher state of being, instantly.

“But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up. (2 Peter 3:10) … “looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be destroyed by burning, and the elements will melt with intense heat! But according to His promise we are looking for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells.” (Verse 12-13)

“Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and there is no longer any sea.” (Revelation 21:1)

When I read things like this and I ponder the enormity of the unified system that is the universe, (yes I believe string theory is correct) it makes me feel a great sense of awe for Him and I love the Creator all the more. That we polluted his perfect creation with sin and He redeems us anyway makes me feel humbled and I love Him all the more. It’s all good!
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last days, missile, prophecy, russia, syria

Russia plans to go ahead with Syrian missile transfer, ignoring Israel’s warnings

Posted on May 17, 2013 by elizabethprata

Russia and Syria are in the midst of completing a deal for Syria to receive a ‘new shipment of anti-ship missiles are equipped with advanced radar that makes them more potent’ reports Haaretz. Obviously this does not make Israel happy. Israel’s Prime Minister Netanyahu met in an emergency meeting with Russia’s President Putin, and Netanyahu urged Russia to abandon the deal with Syria. He said that continuing it might just trigger a larger regional war.

Israel does not make idle threats.

The missiles that Russia is sending to Syria “Unlike the long-range surface-to-surface missiles that stand at the Assad regime’s disposal, the Yakhont anti-ship missile system allows the Syrian military to stand against potential efforts by international forces to impose a naval embargo or a no-fly zone on the country, or to carry out limited airstrikes in support of the Syrian opposition,” according to the report in Haaretz.

This is a significant increase in military capability, and seriously hinders Israel’s ability to carry out strikes in and around Syria, such as taking out forays that Hezbollah make or destroy supply convoys of Hamas.

Russia is unswayed by Netanyahu’s exhortations, and is continuing to send the anti-ship missiles to Assad. This signals a commitment to Assad. The NY Times says “Russia has sent advanced antiship cruise missiles to Syria, a move that illustrates the depth of its support for the Syrian government led by President Bashar al-Assad, American officials said Thursday. “

Interestingly this is exactly what the bible says the alignments wold be in the last days. We also know from the bible that there will be regional wars, such as the one described in Psalm 83 where all of Israel’s abutting neighbors and the terrorist groups existing in those nations attack Israel. Or the Gog Magog war described in Ezekiel 37-38 where Russia, Turkey, Iran and others also attack Israel. Or the one in Isaiah 17 where Damascus is destroyed and Syria’s environs are made a waste. Or the LORD’S promise to Israel/Judah that they will finally possess Jordan in the last days just before He comes back to establish His kingdom. (Obadiah 15–21).

But back to today. Times of Israel reports, “Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly warned Russian President Vladimir Putin in an emergency face-to-face meeting on Tuesday that Moscow’s sale of the S-300 missile defense system to Assad could push the Middle East into war. But Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, evidently unmoved by the dramatic Israeli warning, declared on Thursday that while Moscow was “not signing any new deals,” it would honor existing contracts with Syria, including for the air-defense systems. “We’ve already carried out some of the deal,” Lavrov said, “and we will carry the rest of it out in full.””

This antiship missile, with its described impacts on widening a military capability of chaotic Syria, does seem to be a tipping point.The Times of Israel article explains,

“An Israeli source was quoted as saying that Netanyahu had told Putin the S-300s represent a weapons system that “shatters [Israel’s] qualitative edge,” presumably since it would greatly constrain the Israeli air force’s freedom of movement above Syria and neighboring Lebanon.”

“An Israeli source was quoted as saying that Netanyahu had told Putin the S-300s represent a weapons system that “shatters [Israel’s] qualitative edge,” presumably since it would greatly constrain the Israeli air force’s freedom of movement above Syria and neighboring Lebanon.”

We will wait to see what Israel does. Perhaps the final destruction of Damascus is on the horizon, (Isaiah 17) not that I’m happy about that. Please pray for the millions of Muslims in these areas who do not know Christ and are unaware, or who disbelieve, the eternally final plans that the Lord has for them unless thay beleive on the precious name of Christ.

providence, sovereignty

The providence of God

Posted on May 16, 2013May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

I’ve been praising God a lot lately for His Providence. I am studying the biblical doctrine of Providence. Funny, I was born in Providence, lol. God’s Providence is neat.

One of the mysterious things to me about Providence is that when you look back you can see it clearly. Looking forward what we have is trust, and looking back we can see the results of that trust- His divine will accomplished providentially.

Here are two ways God intervenes in the world, and one of them is providence. It is from a sermon titled “Secrets of Contentment“.

“There are two ways God can act in the world: by miracle and by providence. A miracle has no natural explanation. In the flow of normal life, God suddenly stems the tide and injects a miracle. Then He sets the flow back in motion, just like parting the Red Sea until His people could walk across and closing it up again. Do you think it would be easier to do that—to say, “Hold it, I want to do this miracle” and do it—or to say, “Let’s see, I’ve got 50 billion circumstances to orchestrate to accomplish this one thing”? The latter is providence. Think, for example, of how God providentially ordered the lives of Joseph, Ruth, and Esther. Today He does the same for us.”

I find it incredibly restful to dwell in the knowledge of His sovereignty and His providence. It doesn’t mean I kick back and drift like a twig down a river, doing nothing. I still pray, study, and diligently perform all the things the bible says we are to do. But I know that He is directing my steps. His providential care of me is in the best hands. What a great and glorious God we serve who providentially orders all events simultaneously to come together at every given moment to ensure His works come to pass!! How can I NOT worship a God who, from the moment He breathed life into Adam, has superintended every event at every moment to accomplish His divine will?

More importantly in terms of our worship, no one is self-sufficient, and everyone is answerable to God. Nebuchadnezzar praised God, saying,

“all the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing, and he does according to his will among the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth;” (Daniel 4:35)

The sermon I linked to above concludes,

Contentment comes from learning that God is sovereign not only by supernatural intervention, but also by natural orchestration. And what an incredible orchestra it is! Appreciate the complexity of what God is doing every moment just to keep us alive. When we look at things from that perspective, we see what folly it is to think we can control our lives. When we give up that vain pursuit, we give up a major source of anxiety.

In your gratitude and prayers and praise, consider the providence of God. He preserves His own, down to the minutest detail.

“Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father.” (Matthew 10:29)

His care extends to the grand plan and the smallest detail. He is benevolent and all things will work to the good of those who love him and are called to His purpose. (Romans 8:28).

I think if we were allowed to see God’s providence in real form and in real time, how He connects everything to be consistent with His will and His glory, it might look like this photo by Steve Irvine for NatGeo, called Moth Trails at Night

Puritan Thomas Manton wrote of providences as one portion of our heritage. Here again we shout in gratitude-

“It is a full heritage, and nothing can be added to the completeness of our portion; for in the promises here is God, heaven, earth, providences, ordinances, all made ours, and all inward comforts and graces they are a part of our portion; and what can a soul desire more? Here is God made over to us; the great blessing of the covenant is, I am thy God. Other men say (and they will think it a great matter when they can say), This kingdom is mine, this lordship is mine, this house, these fields are mine; but a believer can say, this God, this Christ, this Holy Spirit is mine.”

God is great.

cme, creation, sunspot

The sun is a very special star…

Posted on May 15, 2013 by elizabethprata

I work in a kindergarten class as a teacher’s aide. The teacher was teaching nursery rhymes, and we were reading “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.” The kids were directed to draw a picture of the scene, and the teacher emphasized that the sky should be black because the stars only come out at night.

One little girl piped up, saying, “Except for one very special star, and that’s the sun, which comes out in the day.” Very true, little girl! Good for you.

Our ‘very special star’ has had indigestion lately. It is an active star and not immune to blurps and belches. When these happen they are called CME’s or Coronal Mass Ejections. The sun pitches a filament of plasma off itself and it hurls out into space. If the sunspot from which it emanates is pointed into the blackness of space (where all the other not-so-special stars are, lol) then it floats harmlessly away. That is good. If the sunspot is pointing in a direction of the earth, when the CME ejects and travels through space, it will hit the earth. That could be bad.

The force with which the CME ejects is on a rating system. Just as earthquakes are rated on a Richter scale, and tornadoes are rated on a Fujita scale, (F-scale) so are CME’s. Here is spaceweather.com’s explanation of the rating system for solar flares;

The Classification of X-ray Solar Flares or “Solar Flare Alphabet Soup”

A solar flare is an explosion on the Sun that happens when energy stored in twisted magnetic fields (usually above sunspots) is suddenly released. Flares produce a burst of radiation across the electromagnetic spectrum, from radio waves to x-rays and gamma-rays.

Scientists classify solar flares according to their x-ray brightness in the wavelength range 1 to 8 Angstroms. There are 3 categories: X-class flares are big; they are major events that can trigger planet-wide radio blackouts and long-lasting radiation storms. M-class flares are medium-sized; they can cause brief radio blackouts that affect Earth’s polar regions. Minor radiation storms sometimes follow an M-class flare. Compared to X- and M-class events, C-class flares are small with few noticeable consequences here on Earth.

There is a difference between a solar flare and a coronal mass ejection, but let’s not get too technical. You can read about the difference here. Suffice it to say that if a flare or a CME knocks out your power, you won’t care which is which.

All this to say that the sun has been extremely active this week. Spaceweather’s report today says,

“CHANCE OF FLARES: NOAA forecasters estimate a 50% chance of X-class solar flares and an 80% chance of M-class solar flares today. The source would be active sunspot AR1748, which is turning toward Earth.

ANOTHER X-FLARE ON MAY 15: When the week began, the sun hadn’t unleashed an X-flare all year long. In only two days, sunspot AR1748 has produced four. The latest X-flare from this active sunspot occured on May 15th at 0152 UT.

In summary, AR1748 has produced an X1.7-class flare (on May 13), an X2.8-class flare (on May 13), an X3.2-class flare (on May 14), and an X1-class flare (on May 15). These are the strongest flares of the year, and they signal a significant increase in solar activity.”

Pretty, isn’t it?! The LORD does good work!

horoscope, occult, swaziland, witch

Swaziland Aviation Authority bans broomstick flying witches

Posted on May 15, 2013May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

Even the article’s author says he doesn’t know how serious the Civil Aviation Authority marketing and corporate affairs director was, and he MAY have been kidding, but the fact is, in an official report, they have limited broomstick flying witches to flights below the new 150 meter limit.

Broomstick-flying witches to be brought down in Swaziland
“Witches flying broomsticks in Swaziland above 150 metres will be subject to arrest and a hefty fine of R500 000, civil aviation authorities said, according to a report. Witches’ broomsticks are considered similar to any heavier-than-air transportation device that is airborne, reports The Star. “A witch on a broomstick should not fly above the [150-metre] limit,” Civil Aviation Authority marketing and corporate affairs director Sabelo Dlamini told the newspaper. No penalties exist for witches flying below 150 metres. The report said it was hard to say how serious he was, but witchcraft isn’t a joking matter in Swaziland, where the people believe in it. The statute also forbids toy helicopters and children’s kites from ascending too high into the country’s airspace.” More at link.

Source

We read that article and we think, ‘oh my, how could they believe in such things?!’ Here is how…and it is a lesson for all of us to take to heart.

Witches, demons, evil spirits etc. have been with us since almost the beginning. After the fall, the earth became satan’s domain. (2 Corinthians 4:4, Matthew 4:1, 1 John 5:19). It is his spiritual influence that we fight against. Though Jesus is sovereign, He has allowed satan to dominate as prince of this world for the present time. (John 12:31).

Satan is a supernatural being, and his demons are supernatural beings. God is a supernatural being. We Christians engage in supernatural activity every day. We live by the Spirit, who is a supernatural Being and has supernatural powers. We pray- which is a supernatural activity. We read the living word, which was delivered supernaturally. Miracles occur (not performed by people in these days, but by God) and those are supernatural. The bible informs us of the existence of the supernatural. To pretend the supernatural does not exist is silly. Here are a few verses that tell us about the darkness of satan’s supernatural activity (as opposed to God’s GOOD supernatural activity)

“You shall not permit a sorceress to live”. (Exodus 22:18.)

Barnes notes explains why the severity: “This is the earliest denunciation of witchcraft in the law. In every form of witchcraft there is an appeal to a power not acting in subordination to the divine law. From all such notions and tendencies true worship is designed to deliver us. The practice of witchcraft was therefore an act of rebellion against Yahweh, and, as such, was a capital crime.”

In that verse, we are told of several things. Witches were a problem since the writing of Exodus, sometime around the 15th century BC. Witches routinely pretended to have information about persons, dead or alive, cast spells, and did amazing feats. The fact that they were fake and knew they were fakers is evidenced by the Witch of Endor’s surprise at actually conversing with someone who was dead- Samuel. (1 Samuel 28). Samuel’s appearance scared her and shocked her. If she had been routinely able to perform the things witches said they could perform, it would not have been such a shock when Samuel appeared, eh?

Deuteronomy 18:10 is another verse addressing the dark arts. It expands the definition of prohibited activity related to the dark arts. It is not only witchcraft that the LORD is against. There is other activity satan will try to use to get over on you, “here shall not be found among you anyone who burns his son or his daughter as an offering, anyone who practices divination or tells fortunes or interprets omens, or a sorcerer.”

The New Testament also references sorcerers and diviners, indicating that such activity was still a problem 1500 years after God’s Moses’s first denunciation of it through Moses. In New Testament times it was still against God’s law to engage in it or commune with people who do it. (Acts 16:16, Galatians 5:19, Revelation 21:8).

It should not surprise us that the first mention of witchcraft 3500 years ago, and reiterating its evilness 2000 years ago, that its practice is still ongoing today. Witches still abound. It is an old problem that is still with us in these “modern times.” People who perform the dark arts still exist. People who believe others can accomplish the dark arts still exist- as testified to the official Swazi ban on witches flying at high altitudes!

Satan will corrupt anything he can. He is the thief who comes to steal, kill, and destroy. (John 10:10). That he corrupts the name and work of Jesus is not surprising. That he corrupts the supernatural, turning it away from Jesus and toward witchcraft, divination, omens, and sorcery (like Tarot) is also not surprising. If you are of Jesus you will not (or should not engage in these dark arts. I mean even reading horoscopes! Here is a short article about horoscopes. It is not the harmless activity some think it is.

GotQuestions says of horoscopes, “The purpose of a horoscope is to gain insight into a person’s character and foretell the future. The basic belief of astrology is that planets and stars exert an influence upon our lives. Those with special knowledge—astrologers—can predict events in a person’s life. It is distressing that most major newspapers have a horoscope column, and even more distressing that many Christians read their horoscopes.”

“The Bible expressly forbids divination, sorcery, and hidden arts (Deuteronomy 18:10-14). God’s people

are to heed God only (Deuteronomy 18:15). Any other source of guidance, information, or revelation is to be rejected outright. (See also Acts 16:16-18.) The Bible points to Jesus Christ as the only proper focus of faith (Acts 4:12;Hebrews 12:2). Our trust is in God alone, and we know that He will direct our paths (Proverbs 3:5-6). Faith in anything besides God is misplaced.

Astrology, then, opposes biblical teaching in at least two ways: it advocates faith in something other than God, and it is a form of divination. We cannot determine God’s will for our lives through horoscopes. As Christians, we are to read the Bible and pray to God in order to gain wisdom and guidance. Consulting a horoscope is a violation of God’s means of communicating with His children. We strongly believe that horoscopes should be rejected by Christians.”

We read even today that Pope Francis was elected after the conclave considering his nomination to the Papacy were witness to several supernatural signs! “He [A Cardinal] added: “I received at least two strong signs: one I can tell, the other was in the Conclave I can’t speak about – but real signs of the Lord giving me indication ‘he is the one’.”

Catholics are not saved by grace of Jesus. They are pagans. Therefore He is not managing the papal election in any way, shape, or form. One of the signs the cardinal spoke of was a ridiculously interpreted thing, mis-attributed to the Holy Spirit. The cardinal said that after he had asked advice on the papal election, his friend whom he had run into whispered into his ear “Bergoglio”. Since when is a friend whispering a name a supernatural sign and not simply influence peddling? Oh well, the other sign was just as ‘astounding and miraculous’, but he refused to disclose it due to its occurrence in the conclave, which is a secret proceeding. If it was as ridiculous as the first sign, I can pass. However, that’s the problem with the dark arts, satan will attribute to the Spirit the things of satan, and to the things of satan he will say it is the spirit. (Matthew 9:34; Matthew 12:24).

“How do they do it? By attributing to the Holy Spirit words that He didn’t say, deeds that He didn’t do, and experiences that He didn’t produce, attributing to the Holy Spirit that which is not the work of the Holy Spirit. Endless human experiences, emotional experiences, bizarre experiences and demonic experiences are said to come from the Holy Spirit…visions, revelations, voices from heaven, messages from the Spirit through transcendental means, dreams, speaking in tongues, prophecies, out of body experiences, trips to heaven, anointings, miracles. All false, all lies, all deceptions attributed falsely to the Holy Spirit.”

If you are not of Jesus, you are already under satan’s sway and while you are blinded to the supernatural goodness of Jesus, satan will turn you toward the supernatural evilness of the dark arts, including witchcraft. Count on it.