Posted in christian persecution

How do I stand up for Jesus?

Posted on by elizabethprata

Carlene Davis sings a reggae version of “Stand up, Stand up for Jesus”. I like that song a lot. Here is the story of its writing.

Stand Up, Stand Up for Jesus, the Song and the Story
Composer George Duffield Writes Stand Up, Stand Up for Jesus

Episcopalian Reverend Dudley A. Tyng (1825-1858) was a dynamic preacher known for taking strong stands against evil, no matter what the cost. His sermon regarding the evils of slavery in America is still in print today. This sermon resulted in him being removed from one of his pastorates.

On Tuesday, March 30, 1858, Tyng preached a sermon on Exodus 10:11, “Go now ye that are men and serve the Lord”, at a YMCA noon mass meeting. Tyng delivered his message to 5,000 men that day. More than 1,000 of those men responded to the altar call, to receive Jesus as their Savior. Just over a week later, Tyng lay dying as a result of a tragic accident. His final statement, whispered to friends and family, was “Let us all stand up for Jesus.”

The Sunday following Tyng’s death, Presbyterian Pastor George Duffield (1818-1888) preached a sermon on Ephesians 6:14, as a tribute to the final words of his friend Tyng. He concluded his sermon with a six-stanza poem. Duffield’s Sunday School superintendent printed copies of the poem and distributed them to all the congregation.

One of the pamphlets fell into the hands of the editor of a Baptist periodical. The editor was so impressed with the verses that he printed them in his widely read publication. The poem Stand Up, Stand Up for Jesus, has since become one of the most recognized hymns in all English-speaking Christendom.

Several melodies have been written for Stand Up, Stand Up for Jesus. The one used in most hymnals today was written by George J. Webb (1803-1907), founder of the Boston Academy of Music.

This devotional gives more specifics of Tyng’s life. It is a very great story.

Do we stand up for Jesus today? I am sure there are many times throughout a day, or a month, or a life, where we are called to make a stand for Jesus and stand up for His truth. Do we heed them? Even at a personal cost to ourselves? What does it mean to stand up for Him anyway?

First, remember that there is only One Person who matters. I know you love your husband or your wife, your children, your family, your beloved friend. Love is good. But the One who matters most is Jesus. In the end, perfect love of our friends and family on earth is made possible only through His love for us. We love Him first, and all the rest follows. (1 John 4:19, Revelation 2:4, Luke 14:26).

Stand Up for Jesus!
by Walter Martin

When we see idolatry, we are supposed to be provoked. When we see evil, we are supposed to get exercised about it. If you can calmly walk through this upholstered cesspool of earth; if you can see evil, filth, degeneracy, and hear vile language; if you can see the corruption of the media and the perversion of the gospel; if you can see the multiple forms of idolatry-the worship of things and of the creation more than the Creator; if you can see this today and you are not provoked about it, then you are not in touch with God the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is provoked by evil, and he stirs up the Church so that we may do something about it. (More at link.)

So when called, do we make a stand? If we are a pastor, do we make a stand even if it means risking loss of pastorate, as Pastor Tyng did? In this economy? Even if it means loss of family? (Mark 13:12). Even if it means being kicked out of your church and shunned by those with whom you used to break bread, worship, and take holy communion? Even if it means the world hates you? (John 15:18).  Even if it means loss of your own life? (Luke 21:12).

Persecution of Christians in the world is up, and coverage of it and attention to it is down. But there are Christians taking a stand every day, at peril of their lives.

Yet most of us will never be called to make that ultimate sacrifice for Jesus. Most of us can take a stand in ‘small’ ways every day. We can live for His glory through humble service- and give credit to Him. We can be teachable. We can repent publicly. We can witness gently to a co-worker. We can sharpen iron by helping a loved one see sin. We can read the word and take it into our heart. We can speak His name in public. All these things and more are taking a stand for Jesus.

What a privilege to stand for Him! He died on the cross in an excruciating death, taking a stand against sin and becoming sin for us (2 Corinthians 5:21). Please stand up for Jesus. He has all the glory, all of it. Let’s point to Him in all we think, say, and do!

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

Stand Up, Stand Up for Jesus

Stand up, stand up for Jesus, ye soldiers of the cross;
Lift high His royal banner, it must not suffer loss.
From victory unto victory His army shall He lead,
Till every foe is vanquished, and Christ is Lord indeed.

Stand up, stand up for Jesus, the solemn watchword hear;
If while ye sleep He suffers, away with shame and fear;
Where’er ye meet with evil, within you or without,
Charge for the God of battles, and put the foe to rout.

Stand up, stand up for Jesus, the trumpet call obey;
Forth to the mighty conflict, in this His glorious day.
Ye that are brave now serve Him against unnumbered foes;
Let courage rise with danger, and strength to strength oppose.

Stand up, stand up for Jesus, stand in His strength alone;
The arm of flesh will fail you, ye dare not trust your own.
Put on the Gospel armor, each piece put on with prayer;
Where duty calls or danger, be never wanting there.

Stand up, stand up for Jesus, each soldier to his post,
Close up the broken column, and shout through all the host:
Make good the loss so heavy, in those that still remain,
And prove to all around you that death itself is gain.

Stand up, stand up for Jesus, the strife will not be long;
This day the noise of battle, the next the victor’s song.
To him who overcometh a crown of life shall be;
They with the King of Glory shall reign eternally.

“Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness.” ( Ephesians 6:14)

Posted in days of lot, end time, gay, homosexual, marriage equality, prophecy

Days of Lot: in one generation, homosexuality went from being viewed as a vile practice to societally accepted

Posted on by elizabethprata

I wrote the other day about the prophecy in the Olivet Discourse where Jesus referred to His second coming and said the conditions on earth will be as the Days of Noah. That essay is here. In Luke, Jesus made a different reference. It was to the situation at Sodom, when He said that the conditions prior to His second coming will also be like they were in the Days of Lot. Lot loved at Sodom, that infamous city of homosexual sin. He said,

“Likewise, just as it was in the days of Lot—they were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building, but on the day when Lot went out from Sodom, fire and sulfur rained from heaven and destroyed them all— so will it be on the day when the Son of Man is revealed.” (Luke 17:28-30).

Lot and the story of Sodom is in Genesis 19.

Jesus is emphasizing that mankind will be deep in sin, unaware of the looming catastrophe their sins have wrought upon them. In referring to the days of Noah, the specific sins were not mentioned, except to say that man was evil all the time, and that the Nephilim were on earth in those days. (Genesis 6:1-8).

In the case of Lot, we know that he was living in Sodom at the time of the judgment upon that city and the four other cities ruined that day. (Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, Zeboiim, Deuteronomy 29:23). Jude 1:7 mentions Sodom,

“Just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities, which likewise indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural desire, serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire…”

And Peter mentions Sodom-

“if he condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah by burning them to ashes, and made them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly; (2 Peter 2:6 )

And Revelation mentions Sodom, comparing its great sins to end time Jerusalem:

“And when they have finished their testimony, the beast that rises from the bottomless pit will make war on them and conquer them and kill them, and their dead bodies will lie in the street of the great city that symbolically is called Sodom and Egypt, where their Lord was crucified.” (Revelation 11:7-8)

There is no doubt that Sodom stands as an example of judgment upon ungodly behavior- and the ungodly behavior at issue here is homosexuality, carnality of the most perverse kind.

Jesus said that the end of days would be like the days of Lot. So….has the sin of Sodom permeated many cultures, as homosexuals party unaware of the looming judgment upon them? Yes.

This week, New Zealand politicians have voted in the gay marriage bill, making New Zealand the 13th country to allow same-sex couples to marry. It wasn’t even close. The “Marriage Equality Bill” passed 77- 44.

Right, François Elluin, “Sodomites provoking the wrath of God, from Le pot pourri de Loth, 1781”

New Zealand is not the only nation dealing at a Parliamentary level with the homosexual agenda. Ireland also made some movement toward ‘marriage equality’ this week. This article from the Christian Science Monitor states,

“Ireland, a famously conservative country with a government dominated by the center-right, has taken a step toward legalizing same-sex marriage, following several other Catholic nations into what some say is belated equality – and others claim is murky legal and moral territory. Ireland’s Constitutional Convention, a body set up by the government to propose wide-ranging changes to Ireland’s Constitution, voted Sunday, with 79 percent in favor of extending marriage rights to same sex couples.”

South Africa recently held its first “traditional” gay wedding
“Two 27-year-old South African men, Tshepo Cameron Modisane (pictured left) and Thoba Calvin Sithole (pictured right), tied the knot Saturday in a ceremony that is being heralded as the nation’s first gay wedding, according to the Huffington Post. The couple was married in the town of KwaDukuza and stood before 200 guests as they exchanged their vows. On a continent that views homosexuality as vile lifestyle, both men were brave enough to proudly proclaim their love for one another in a public setting.”

Vile indeed. Yet the vileness is wearing off and the lifestyle is becoming accepted.

Did you notice the change in language about homosexuality? I’ve written about ‘softening’ language before, and in this case note that we have gone from saying–

sodomy/sodomites,
to homosexual,
to gay.

We have gone from-
Sodomy
to homosexual union,
to civil union,
to gay marriage,
to marriage equality.

Interestingly, it always favors the proponent to be the first to claim the language they want, because they can then frame the argument on both the pro and the con side. And the Lesbian, Gay, Transgender and Queers does have such a stylebook on ‘recommended language’ to use when referring to them in the public spheres. Therefore, someone saying “I’m for marriage equality” sounds nice. If you are against sodomites marrying, then you’re against “equality” and you sound mean-spirited.

From Wikipedia, we learn,

“The Jewish historian Josephus used the term “Sodomites” in summarizing the Genesis narrative: “About this time the Sodomites grew proud, on account of their riches and great wealth; they became unjust towards men, and impious towards God, in so much that they did not call to mind the advantages they received from him: they hated strangers, and abused themselves with Sodomitical practices” “Now when the Sodomites saw the young men to be of beautiful countenances, and this to an extraordinary degree, and that they took up their lodgings with Lot, they resolved themselves to enjoy these beautiful boys by force and violence; and when Lot exhorted them to sobriety, and not to offer any thing immodest to the strangers, but to have regard to their lodging in his house; and promised that if their inclinations could not be governed, he would expose his daughters to their lust, instead of these strangers; neither thus were they made ashamed.” (Antiquities 1.11.1,3[18] — circa AD 96).

There is a REALLY interesting 46-year-old video of a “CBS Reports” documentary, a precursor to 60 Minutes. The same Mike Wallace who had appeared in 60 Minutes, did an investigation of “The Homosexuals.” The hour-long program ran in 1967 and according to Yahoo! News today, “took on the then-taboo topic of homosexuality in America. …[NOTE: the article remains at the link but the video no longer exists. A different, presently working, link to the documentary is below]

 The report is “now impossible to watch without cringing,” The Atlantic’s Conor Friedersdorf wrote.”

What they meant about cringing was, that the Days of Lot are here, because what America once thought of homosexuality as a lifestyle 46 years ago (vile, promiscuous, disgusting, and unacceptable, as well as more damaging to the societal fabric of America than adultery, prostitution, and abortion- and these are quotes) are attitudes America ‘cringes’ at now because America thinks homosexuality is just terrific. That happened in the space of just one generation.

In the documentary, the prevailing psychiatric position of the day was that homosexuality is a mental disorder, and a pathology. Now it’s gay to be gay. Back then, the prevailing attitude was that homosexuals were to be rejected and shunned. Today they are embraced and honored. Days of Lot.

This was Wallace’s conclusion to the report:

“The dilemma of the homosexual: told by the medical profession he is sick; by the law that he’s a criminal; shunned by employers; rejected by heterosexual society. Incapable of a fulfilling relationship with a woman, or for that matter with a man. At the center of his life he remains anonymous. A displaced person. An outsider.”

But today there are whole nations endorsing the lifestyle as normal by allowing marriage and other benefits that the bible states clearly should be denied people who engage in the behavior. The CBS Reports documentary is very interesting in using as a benchmark to see how far we have gone in ungodliness.

The documentary is below. And the Days of Lot are here.
//player.vimeo.com/video/61123970
“The Homosexuals”: Mike Wallace’s controversial 1967 CBS report from TRUTH Exposed and Revealed on Vimeo.

Posted in earthquakes

7.2 Earthquake at Kuril Islands, Oklahoma fault line discovered

Posted on by elizabethprata

There was another major earthquake overnight. It was located at Russia’s Kuril Islands, 155 miles ENE of Kuril’sk, Russia and 323 miles NE of Nemuro, Japan.

The average number per year for occurrence of quakes in the 7.0-7.9 magnitude range is 15. Three of the quakes in the 7-point range have occurred during this month of April.

So with the year less than half over we are halfway to the yearly average of quakes in that range. It is hard to make statements on data that has more than half the year still to be gathered, and earthquakes seem not to occur on a steady trajectory so making projections is useless, however it is still interesting to look at the numbers.

In other earthquake news, I’ve been reporting on the number of quakes at Oklahoma. For several years there have been occurring clusters of quake swarms. Initially the scientists and officials thought they were due to fracking, a method of extracting oil from shale underground.

However this news article reveals the answer:

Oklahoma earthquake surge reveals previously unknown fault line, state agency trying to connect dots
A day after 10 mid-scale earthquakes rocked central Oklahoma, a series of smaller quakes shook the area Wednesday, with more likely to come. Five earthquakes ranging from magnitudes 2.5 to 4.4 occurred in a concentrated region of the state, just northwest of Oklahoma City. In the past 72 hours, 14 earthquakes of 2.5 or greater have originated in the town of Luther. The largest quake, registering a magnitude 4.4, was “felt throughout large portions of Oklahoma and into Kansas and Missouri,” according to the Oklahoma Geological Survey. Austin Holland, with the agency, says there have likely been many more that were small enough to go largely undetected. According to the survey, the swarm of earthquakes that have occurred since Monday is in the “few hundreds.” The survey reports the earthquakes have occurred along a previously unknown fault. The agency also predicts the quakes aren’t over.”

More at link.

The one thing the officials and scientists got right is that the quakes are not over.

I have written a series called The Language of God. In it, I explore ways that God used to speak to the population in various “natural disaster’ ways, such as hail, earthquakes, fire, brimstone, etc. The writer of Hebrews wrote in verses 1:1-2, “Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world.”

The bible shows that God has done mighty things through earthquakes. He has promised to speak to us again via earthquakes. The article below explores the ways the LORD shakes us when He wants our attention-

The language of God: earthquakes

It is worth a look-see, in my opinion.

Posted in answers in genesis, big bang, creation, physics, stephen hawking

Stephen Hawking and blessed are the cheesemakers

Posted on by elizabethprata

In Monty Python’s movie The Life of Brian, which was a spoof on the Life of Jesus, Jesus was giving the Sermon on the Mount. The rabble at the bottom of the mount and at the back of the crowd had a hard time hearing what Jesus was saying. Jesus had just said Blessed are the peacemakers. The spectators misheard the quote.

“Spectator I: I think it was “Blessed are the cheesemakers”.
Mrs. Gregory: Aha, what’s so special about the cheesemakers?
Gregory: Well, obviously it’s not meant to be taken literally; it refers to any manufacturers of dairy products.”

This actually illustrates two biblical points. They are related to the real-life news that famous physicist Stephen Hawking has found a way to account for the Big Bang theory without God. “The Big Bang was strange — and we still don’t understand it, said Professor Stephen Hawking in his latest speech. But whatever happened in the first seconds of creation, it didn’t take God’s help. Our universe did not require the intervention of any divine being, he said.”

The Hawking headline –

Stephen Hawking lays out case for Big Bang without God
“Our universe didn’t need any divine help to burst into being, famed cosmologist Stephen Hawking told a packed house here at the California Institute of Technology Tuesday night. Many people had begun queuing up for free tickets to Hawking’s 8:00 p.m lecture, titled “The Origin of the Universe,” 12 hours earlier. By 6:00 p.m. local time, the line was about a quarter-mile long. Stephen Hawking began the event by reciting an African creation myth, and rapidly moved on to big questions such as, Why are we here?”

“He noted that many people still seek a divine solution to counter the theories of curious physicists, and at one point, he quipped, “What was God doing before the divine creation? Was he preparing hell for people who asked such questions?”

Yes. Yes, He was. Well, actually He was preparing hell for the devil and his angels who rebelled against His authority, (Matthew 25:41), not for those who ponder Him and His ways. And speaking of pondering God, the creation, and hell, why does Mr hawking need to mention all three if he does not believe in them? Hmm? The article continues,

“Therefore, time began at the moment of singularity, [Big Bang] and this has likely occurred only once, Hawking said.”

Again, correct. God made the universe “in the beginning.” (Genesis 1:1). Until creation, time did not exist, and God’s existence is completely separate from the creation of the universe. Answers in Genesis covers this in their essay

What Was God Doing Before Creation?

In addition, Answers In Genesis explains the universe’s creation from an evolutionary point of view–
“The big bang is the model that a majority of evolutionary scientists believe best explains the origin of the universe. This is why the textbooks present the big bang model as the history of the universe. The big bang suggests that the universe came into existence 13.7 billion years ago. The entire universe was contained in an infinitely small point known as a singularity. This singularity began to expand slowly, then extremely rapidly, and then slowly again, though there is no reason that such changes in rate had to happen. Over time, stars and galaxies began to form through natural processes. These galaxies continue to move away from one another. It is claimed that the biblical time span of 6,000 years cannot explain how light could reach earth from the distant parts of the universe.”

That, of course, reflects Mr Hawking’s point of view. Now what does this have to do with Monty Python and cheese? Easy. You can see that despite Hawking’s great intellect in understanding the deep mechanisms of the universe, he has entirely missed the boat on understanding its origins, its creation, and its sustainer.

The two comments made by the actors in the Life of Brian movie perfectly mirror the errors the bible says the unsaved will make, and indeed, Hawking is making. (I know Life of Brian is a movie, stay with me here. Besides, secular actors write the script, so the analogy still applies to examining things the unsaved say). The first comment in Life of Brian I’d mentioned is —

“Blessed are the cheesemakers.”

Of course Jesus had said “Blessed are the peacemakers.” (Matthew 5:9). The scene in the movie where the spectators turn to each other and talk about the cheesemakers is indicative of how people misunderstand God’s word. Get this though- they deliberately misunderstand! They purposefully misunderstand what He has said and they go no further in delving into what it may mean. Any idiot knows the cheesemakers won’t inherit the earth (to use the movie example of a scriptural misunderstanding) but the secular, unsaved person doesn’t try to figure out what He really said no matter how obviously wrong they are in interpreting it.

Romans 1:18 says “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.”

2 Peter 3:4-5 reminds us also that the unsaved know the truth but they deliberately suppress it–

“They will say, “Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation.” For they deliberately overlook this fact, that the heavens existed long ago, and the earth was formed out of water and through water by the word of God,

In other words, they KNOW the cheesemakers shall not inherit the earth.

The second part of the comment that well illustrates the attitude of the unsaved is the petulance, jealousy, and covetousness of the unsaved person reflected in the second part of the movie comment: “Why should they get it?” What’s so special about them?

Rather than rise to the occasion and ask, “What do I need to do to be blessed?” the unsaved person, who is low, tries to bring others down to their level. No one tries to go higher, take the high road. They always think, well I’m down here in the muck, why should they get anything better or different?

Hawking’s endeavor to try and explain the universe without God is a sad example of how those with blinded minds act. If he doesn’t believe in God, why spend time and lecture energy explaining the universe’s existence without God?

Paul warned us in Colossians 2:8 of the kind of vain philosophies such as those Mr Hawking is making:

“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.”

And the worst part is, people lined up 12 hours in advance and for a quarter mile to hear what they knew would be false notions, suppressing the truth in unrighteousness.The Lord God is amazing, and His word is true and forever right.

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

Below, a document I made from Answers In Genesis and quotes from the Space.com explanation of Mr Hawking’s stance on the big bang.

Posted in days of Noah, end time, prophecy

The Days of Noah

Posted on by elizabethprata

This is part one of a two-part series on the Days of Noah and the Days of Lot.

Students of prophecy often refer to the prediction Jesus made in the Olivet Discourse called “Days of Noah”. The Olivet Discourse is the lengthy answer Jesus gave to the Disciples who had asked what will be the signs of the end of the age and of His coming. (Matthew 24:3). Often misinterpreted as a treatise of the signs presaging the rapture of the church, it is in fact a discussion of God’s plan for the Jews/Nation Israel and His judgment on the unbelieving world. The Church will have been raptured before the events that the Olivet Discourse discusses begin.

Anyway, Jesus said that the Tribulation will be like it was in the Days of Noah.

“As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. For in the days before the
flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away.” (Matthew 24:37-39).

Even though the condition of the world as Jesus described there won’t be present in full for Christians, it is still helpful to take a look. Anyone over the age of 50 can see the change over the last 30 years in society. It is much more godless, more brutal, violent and rebellious. We are not in the Days of Noah but we can certainly see the days coming.

Genesis 6:5-8 describes the Days of Noah more specifically.

“The LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the LORD was sorry that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart. So the LORD said, “I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens, for I am sorry that I have made them.” But Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD.”

Look closely and ponder the phrases used in the verse to describe the days of Noah.
–The wickedness of man was ‘great’
–‘Every’ intention of the thoughts of his heart was ‘only’ evil ‘continually’
–Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD

In Old Testament times, the Holy Spirit did not dwell inside a person for life after salvation like He does with us now in the Church Age. (Ephesians 1:13-14, 2 Corinthians 1:22). There were a few exceptions. John the Baptist had the Spirit in him since before birth (Luke 1:15). 1 Samuel 16:13 shows how He came upon David ‘from that day on’.

But more usually in Old Testament times, the Spirit was given for a specific period of time for a specific task. Some examples of this are the Spirit the workmen for building the temple (Ex. 28:3, Ex. 31:3) and given to the Judges for wisdom (Numbers 27:18; Judges 3:10).

So, think about how it was on earth when the earth was populated by men without the Spirit. Every man did and thought evil, completely, all the time. Humans were SO evil that God determined to wipe them out! Noah was the only one who did right. Wow.

We are so fortunate to be living in the Church Age with the Spirit actually inside us post-salvation for all our lives. He grows us in sanctification and helps us resist sin. Can you imagine what it will be like when He, the Restrainer (of sin) is removed? (2 Thessalonians 2:6-7). Wow again. It will be just like the Days of Noah!

Posted in Uncategorized

Eclipse and meteor shower this month

Posted on by elizabethprata

Get ready for 2013’s first lunar eclipse. This year there are two upcoming solar eclipses and three lunar eclipses for the year 2013.

Meteor shower, partial lunar eclipse visible this April

A meteor shower and a partial lunar eclipse will highlight the treats for stargazers this April, the Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) said Wednesday. PAGASA OIC Vicente Malano said the Lyrids meteor shower will peak on April 22, and a partial lunar eclipse will be visible in the Philippines on April 26. He said the umbral eclipse magnitude will be 1.47 percent and will also be visible primarily in Australia, most of Asia, Africa, Europe and Antarctica. “The shower typically generates a dozen meteors per hour under optimal conditions with a brief maximum that lasts for less than a day,” Malano said. “The Lyrids meteor shower has been observed for more than 2,600 years. Chinese records show that ‘stars fell like rain’ during the meteor shower of 687 B.C. However, in recent times, the Lyrids have generally been weak,” he noted. An article on EarthSky.org recommended that the “hour before dawn is best” to view the shower.

Here is NASA’s graphic as to how much of the moon will be covered and where on earth you can see it:

Meanwhile NASA tells us that the Lyrid meteor shower peaks this weekend

Lyrid Meteor Shower Peaks this Weekend
“An annual meteor shower is set to peak this weekend, but the showing likely won’t be as strong as it has been in years past. The Lyrid meteor shower should give skywatchers in darkened parts of the world a decent show late Sunday night (April 21) and early Monday morning (April 22), but the glare from a nearly full moon will probably impede the view for many stargazers.”

I’d still go out and look up if I were you.

Posted in evil, jesus, love

The rapidity with which the world is descending into chaos is amazing

Posted on by elizabethprata

I’m dizzy. Literally dizzy- physically, emotionally and spiritually.

Just in the last 24 hours there has been a terrible terrorist bombing in Boston, a meteor that swooped across Spain and was seen from the north to the south, a series of quakes at Oklahoma and a major quake at the Iran-Pakistan border.

I wrote about the meteor, and a few minutes after that I saw the quakes at OK, so I wrote about them too. Then I went to dress for work and when I checked the news again just 10 minutes later, the quake at Iran had occurred.

Is there any doubt by now that the signs are not coming year upon year, or month upon month, but minute upon minute?

When people say, ‘it isn’t the end because there have always been earthquakes and meteors and signs as described’ they are right AND they are wrong. There always have been these things, to be sure.

The only question that Christians who understand prophecy have, is how long these will be signs and not

Credit: Courtesy Dan Lampariello

judgments. Because the rapture is a sign-less event, not presaged by anything in particular. The birth pangs of Matthew 24 relate to the Tribulation. However, if we can see the solidity of the groundwork being laid for those signs, how much closer is the rapture?

The Christians are not under judgment, we are not appointed to wrath. (1 Thessalonians 5:9). The wrath upon unbelievers will begin in Revelation 6 as stated by those who are left on the earth after the rapture, in Rev 6:16-17. The seal judgments will have been opened, thus signaling the beginning of the wrath. The earth’s population cries out and mourns because of it. (Revelation 6:15-17). The Church will be gone by then.

At some point the Church Age will end, the rapture will occur and the wrath will begin.

Bystanders in Karachi Pakistan after today’s 7.8 mag quake

Until then, remember what Jesus said–

I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33).

And this–

“and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already. Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.” (1 John 4:3-4).

Notice the tense, not that you will overcome the spirits of antichrist who hate. But that you ALREADY HAVE.

Posted in iran, pakistan

Earthquake at Iran/Pakistan border, prelim 8.0-7.8

Posted on by elizabethprata

The quake just occurred so details are coming in now. The initial magnitude was placed at 8.0 but rated as 7.8 after that by US Geological Survey (USGS). The quake was felt over the entire Middle East region. News from Breaking News BNO now-

–Iran’s seismological agency says quake struck only 18 kms deep, though some other agencies say it appears more deep. USGS: 7.8-magnitude quake struck 53 miles of Khash, Iran at depth of just 9 miles

(the shallower the quake the more damage and the wider it is felt).

–Iran’s seismological agency says 7.5 quake struck 81 kms from Saravan in Sistan and Baluchestan Province

RadioPakistan reports, The quake was also felt in Islamabad, Peshawar, Multan and other cities and in Gulf states

Large earthquake felt in India’s capital New Delhi; quake also felt in Pakistan, across Gulf states – according to AlArabiya English, Reuters

Haggai 2:6 “This is what the LORD Almighty says: ‘In a little while I will once more shake the heavens and the earth, the sea and the dry land.

Posted in earthquake, oklahoma

Earthquake in Oklahoma, 4.3 mag

Posted on by elizabethprata

USGS has it here
http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/recenteqsww/Quakes/usb000g7s8.php

A 4.3 is fairly large for the area. Oklahoma newspaper has the story

Another earthquake hits Oklahoma early Tuesday
Update– A fifth earthquake has been felt in central Oklahoma Tuesday. The latest was felt about 5:17 a.m.

Main story– At least four earthquakes shook parts of Oklahoma early Tuesday. A 4.3 magnitude earthquake occurred at 1:56 a.m. with an epicenter about 7 miles east, northeast of Luther and 22 miles east of Edmond, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. Rumblings were felt across a wide portion of central Oklahoma, but there were no immediate reports of damage. Austin Holland, a geophysicist at the Oklahoma Geological Survey in Norman, said he is gathering data about the quakes Tuesday. He said it is possible there were more than four quakes early Tuesday. “At this point it looks like a main shock, aftershock sequence. There are even a bunch of smaller ones,” Holland said.”

More at link…