Posted in idolatry, jamie foxx, jesus

Jamie Foxx proclaims Obama as Lord and Savior

Posted on by elizabethprata

I am sure by now that you have heard the comedian and actor Jamie Foxx has claimed Obama as Lord and Savior. Much is being made of this, as well it should be. First, the context.

At the Soul Train Awards today Mr Foxx said the following:

“It’s like church over here. It’s like church in here. First of all, give an honor to God and our Lord and Savior Barack Obama. Barack Obama,” to a cheering audience.”

He said this idolatrous statement in a church context, while mentioning honor to God, and made Barak Obama into an idol. Mr Foxx’s intent was clear. His remark is not a mistake. It is not a misunderstanding. It was not hyperbole. It is not a “joke,” which Salon.com already is posturing. He was clearly stating that he believes Obama is a Jesus-like savior, and not just in a political context but a spiritual one as well. More on this below.

This is not the first time allusions were made between Obama and a messiah or savior. I wrote about the increase in this blasphemy earlier in November when, after the presidential election, many people revived the messianic message. I wrote about it in June of this year too. And when Obama was first running for President in 2008 many comparisons were made about Obama being a deliverer. At that time, the messianic photography and allusions just abounded.

My opinion is that this has several different prophetic meanings. First, it shows how at some level, we all know we need a savior. Instinctively, we look for someone to come riding in on a white horse (sound familiar? Rev 19:11) and make everything perfect. Women who read romance novels feel the inexorable pull of the ‘rightness’ of the man in his natural role as leader and problem solver coming to protect and/or save the woman.

In addition to culturally feeling we need a savior, spiritually we feel eternity set in our hearts. (Ecclesiastes 3:11). We look for something bigger than us to look up to and exalt, something or someone who will make things right and clear out the craziness of the world. Mr Foxx is to be pitied and prayed for. He is seeking salvation from the world and he will never find it there. Salvation, deliverance, even comfort is to be found in Jesus only.

Secondly, his blasphemous statement shows how bad things have gotten in the world and how primed they all are for a deliverer. The world’s problems are unsolvable. Only God can and will solve them. In the past He has been generous to send men He raised up set up in governments and kingdoms who have solved their nation’s seemingly unsolvable issues. Joseph, Daniel, the Judges … Washington, Lincoln, Reagan, Churchill …  Hitler, Muhammad, Mao … all men he gave kingdoms to for a time and all who seemed to solve the problems of war, the economy, culture. Some really solved them for a time. God is gracious, He delivered wisdom to these leaders. But the ones like Hitler, Muhammad, Mao, Stalin, Xerxes…even Solomon and Saul squandered their gift and left their kingdoms the greater for it in some cases, but with different problems than when they began.

Yet the nations still clamor for The One. In 2007 Oprah thought Obama was The One for the US. She still does. They all want someone to tell them a bedtime story, tuck them into bed, and they wake up the next day to a perfect world. That is what they want. But the day after election day is always just the same as the day before: cloudy with chance of economic depression and advancing cultural decay.

Third, statements like Mr Foxx’s are not just idolatrous but are high blasphemy. But their mind is so blinded they don’t know what they do. They are in darkness. (Matthew 6:23). The Holy God of Glory would forgive them and bring light into their mind and heart if they repent. He is that good. (Matthew 12:31).

The Tribulation will bring on problems that are piled so high the world cannot solve them. Men will have gone about in perplexity for quite a while. Luke 21:25 speaks to this:

“And there will be signs in sun and moon and stars, and on the earth distress of nations in perplexity because of the roaring of the sea and the waves,”

“in perplexity’ here in the Greek is interpreted thus by Barnes Notes:

“Upon the earth distress of nations – The word translated “distress” denotes anxiety of mind – such an anxiety as people have when they do not know what to do to free themselves from calamities; and it means here that the calamities would be so great and overwhelming that they would not know what to do to escape. There would be a want of counsel, and deep anxiety at the impending evils.”

The deeper the anxiety the more they will cling to the one who brings relief from it. That will be the antichrist.

He will be fierce and mighty and have power. (Daniel 8:23-25). He will speak great things- but the great things will be slanders and blasphemies against God. (Revelation 13:5). The world will love this. They already do.

Joel Rosenberg said in an interview at CNN in 2008 that “the antichrist will be “somebody who understands the economy and the global sphere and wins people, a winsome character. Rosenberg went on to say, “No commerce can be done without his approval. He will be … seen as an economic genius, a foreign policy genius.”

The world will be so weary that when antichrist comes along with a seemingly great solution, they will accept him.

“I have come in my Father’s name, and you do not receive me. If another comes in his own name, you will receive him.” (John 5:43)

So no, Obama is not the Lord and Savior. But is is certainly the time of blasphemy, idolatry, and deceit.

“For the Lord your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God. (Deut 4:24; Exodus 34:14).

This means God is jealous of his honour in matters of worship, and will not suffer his glory to be given to another, nor his praise to graven images, without resenting it or punishing for it. (Gills’ Exposition).

Jamie Foxx’s remark will not be left untouched. God will not allow it to pass.

“The peaceful meadows will be laid waste because of the fierce anger of the LORD” (Jeremiah 25:37)

How then, shall we react?

“Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade others. But what we are is known to God, and I hope it is known also to your conscience.” (2 Corinthians 5:11)

Only Jesus is Lord and Savior. Don’t be shy about saying that in the public square. Mr Foxx certainly wasn’t afraid to proclaim his god.

Posted in iron dome, israel, jesus, prophecy

Israel successfully tests ‘David’s Sling’, another missile deterrent system

Posted on by elizabethprata

Israel demonstrated about an 83% 90% success in stopping rockets that were launched at them in the week-long Gaza battle named Pillar of Cloud. This success was due to a new technology, a missile deterrent system they named Iron Dome. It stopped many of the rockets launched by Hamas from the southern part of Israel in the Gaza Strip.

But Israel still has the northern enemy to worry about- Hezbollah. Hezbollah is a terrorist group, a Shi’a Islamic militant group and political party based in Lebanon. It receives financial and political support from Iran and Syria, and its paramilitary wing is regarded as a resistance movement throughout much of the Arab and Muslim worlds. The Western world calls it a terrorist group.

Well, Israel is one of the most sophisticated and advanced military nations in the world. They are alone in the middle of a hostile sea of angry Muslims. So they made a missile deterrent system called David’s Sling.

New air defense system shoots down missile in first test
David’s Sling weapon system, with range of 70-200 kilometers, complements Iron Dome and will provide shield against Hezbollah’s arsenal
… “The Iron Dome system became the darling of Israel last week as it shot down hundreds of rockets, often in quick succession, during the country’s eight-day engagement with the Gaza Strip. The David’s Sling system, designed by Rafael Advanced Defense Systems and Raytheon, is to be capable of taking down missiles with warheads of up to half a ton.”

These technological and military advances will aid Israel to be successful in the upcoming wars and battles which will likely take place in rapid succession. After each sin, Israel will gain land … and confidence. However, The Holy God is Israel is and always will be her protector and there will come a point at which Israel’s confidence in herself as a stand-alone nation will be misplaced. The Gog Magog war of Ezekiel 38-39 will show her that. After one of these wars, Israel will feel secure enough to let down her guard, and then BOOM, she gets slammed as Ezekiel prophesies. He wrote-

“Thus says the Lord God: On that day, thoughts will come into your mind, and you will devise an evil scheme 11and say, ‘I will go up against the land of unwalled villages. I will fall upon the quiet people who dwell securely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having no bars or gates,’ to seize spoil and carry off plunder, to turn your hand against the waste places that are now inhabited, and the people who were gathered from the nations, who have acquired livestock and goods, who dwell at the center of the earth.” (Ezekiel 38:11-13).

This will be the Gog Magog war. It will consist of Russia, Turkey, Armenia, Iran, Libya, Sudan, etc surprise attacking Israel. Something had to have happened to make Israel feel like she could dwell securely and take down her famous security walls. Scholars believe that will be because she has been successful in the Psalm 83 battle, Isaiah 17 and 19 have been fulfilled, and she signed the covenant with the antichrist and others (“And he shall make a strong covenant with many for one week” Daniel 9:27a) and begun her sacrifices in the Temple, that she is relaxed. When the enemy comes like a cloud, she is completely taken by surprise when these further-away neighbors attack her. God supernaturally protects Israel by earthquake and pestilence and brimstone and rain and hail.

It will be a dramatic moment in the history of humankind. God will part the veil between this dimension and His, and He will personally protect Israel. And everyone on earth will KNOW it will have been Him. Read Ezekiel 38 and 39, they are short but very clear.  God says at least five times,

“And the nations shall know that I am the Lord, the Holy One in Israel.” (Ezekiel 39:7b)

So it is with some amount of conflict inside my spirit when at the one hand I applaud Israel for being so technologically advanced that she would set about protecting herself from her enemies so well while at the same time mourn that she does not rely or even acknowledge on the Holy God who has never left her.

But God’s glory is that she will. Oh, she will.

“The Lord Will Restore Israel”

“Therefore thus says the Lord God: Now I will restore the fortunes of Jacob and have mercy on the whole house of Israel, and I will be jealous for my holy name. They shall forget their shame and all the treachery they have practiced against me, when they dwell securely in their land with none to make them afraid, when I have brought them back from the peoples and gathered them from their enemies’ lands, and through them have vindicated my holiness in the sight of many nations. Then they shall know that I am the Lord their God, because I sent them into exile among the nations and then assembled them into their own land. I will leave none of them remaining among the nations anymore. And I will not hide my face anymore from them, when I pour out my Spirit upon the house of Israel, declares the Lord God.”” (Ezekiel 39:25-29)

Posted in crank radio, doomsday preppers, emp

Preppers: Give the gift that keeps on cranking

Posted on by elizabethprata

A half page ad in the New York Times today seems to capture the sign of the times. Forget the bunkers of the 1950s, forget the gas hoarding rationing of the 1970s, never mind the 1990s Rambo life knife. Now it’s all about EMP, or what to do when the electricity goes out.

Get your Eton Crank radio!

HT Reuters’ Anthony DeRosa, @AntDeRosa

What I think is funny is that the ad was in the NYT and not Ducks Unlimited or Field & Stream or Pioneer Living. But such is the sign of the times that Superstorms like Sandy can wipe out your normal existence in NY City just as easily as a storm can wipe out Joplin MO or Homestead FL. We ALL need to be prepared for what God is doing in nature.

This past September 2012 I wrote a post on prepping. Here is the link.  You need to be prepped for what is coming, the stuff that is coming before the rapture while Christians are still on earth. But the preparations are not what you think.

Meanwhile, as a matter of fact, a crank radio is not such a bad idea…

Posted in 2012 prophecy, jesus, maya

The 2012 Mayan Apocalypse ate my Twinkie

Posted on by elizabethprata

This year opened with a bang. The long known and feared doomsday prophecy which the Mayans had carved in stone way back in 669 sparked a frenzy of movies, television commercials, articles, and discussions about the precision of their ‘prophecy’ that the world would end on December 21, 2012.

Though last January was 11 months away from the prophecy, the world had finally entered the threshold of the year in which the prophecy was due to occur. So, we endured silliness like this Hollywood movie:

As an aside, I think that no matter how much the US proclaims that “We Love LA“, we nevertheless gleefully insert a clip of LA sliding into the sea at every chance possible. I think we secretly hate LA 🙂

And this commercial from the Superbowl:

In which only the men owning a Chevy Silverado survived the Mayan Apocalypse.
“Where’s Dave?”
“He drove a Ford…”
[moment of respectful silence for the poor car shopper Dave]
“Want a Twinkie?”

Who would have thought 11 months ago that Twinkies would be no more?? The Mayans certainly didn’t. I mean, if they couldn’t predict the end of the Twinkie, I think that destroys their credibility for making other predictions, like, say, the end of the world. Just sayin’.

I drive a 20 year old Ford by the way. Super truck! I say BAH! to Chevy.

But the specter of the Mayan Apocalypse still survives to frighten another day. Or not…

Tourists are flocking to Mexico’s Maya Riviera and Guatemalan resorts ahead of next month’s fateful date, as this article reports. The funny thing is, the Mayans did not prophecy the end of the world. Their stone merely marks one cycle ending and another one beginning. “So no need to build giant arks, because the terrible floods, earthquakes and volcanic eruptions depicted in the Hollywood blockbuster 2012 were not prophesied by the Mayas,” say the experts. The title of the article in the Sydney Morning Herald is certain in its comfort:

Relax, the world won’t end next month: expert
“The final date represents the end of a cycle in the Mayan long count calendar that began in the year 3114 before Christ. It is the completion of 13 baak t’uunes, a unit of time equivalent to 144,000 days. “It is not the end of the Mayan long count calendar, which is endless. It’s the beginning of a new cycle, that’s all,” said Mexican historian Erick Velasquez.”

Well, that’s a relief. All that joshing about the end of the world and the vicarious adrenaline pumping thrills they got from watching movies and ads about the ultimate disaster are hitting a little close to home now that it isn’t 11 months away – but mere weeks.

Well, the Mayans may have had a good handle on the new math and zodiacal astronomy but only God gives prophecies. Only HE declares things. (Despite what Joel Osteen says)

“Tell ye, and bring them near; yea, let them take counsel together: who hath declared this from ancient time? who hath told it from that time? have not I the LORD? and there is no God else beside me; a just God and a Saviour; there is none beside me.” (Isaiah 45:21)

Now that the world is approaching the Mayan deadline for doom, people aren’t so pumped up about it. Weird, you’d think they would be even more excited than they were at the beginning of the year now that we are so close to the Mayans’ date. Huh.

The ‘reassuring’ articles are coming out. But don’t be reassured by “experts.” They don’t know what they are talking about.

The world will end. We just don’t know when. (Matthew24:36). If you want end of the world prophecies, just look to the bible. Christ’s Second Coming and His uncreation of the world at that time is mentioned over 200 times. His Second Coming is the most prominent theme in the NT after faith/salvation. There are 1,845 verses in the bible referring to His Second Coming. Every NT author mentions the Second Coming. We are repeatedly told to study all of scripture, and this does not exclude the prophetic passages. (source: “Christ’s Prophetic Plans” pp 14-15, MacArthur& Mayhue)

Genesis records an orderly creation and Revelation 6 records an orderly UNcreation. In the seven-year Tribulation, Jesus strips away all man’s infrastructures, all of man’s institutions, and all of the landforms and changes the face of the earth to prepare for His 1000-year ‘Millennial’ Kingdom. The earth at the end of the Tribulation will be renewed but sin will still be present.

After the 1000 years is over, He will melt the earth in a fervent heat and a great WHOOSH and create a new one, and this time there will be no sin forever. (2 Peter 3:13, Isaiah 65:17, Revelation 21:1-4)

The way to escape the end of the world (as we know it according to Revelation 6) is to appeal to Jesus as Savior to forgive you of your sins and accept Him as Lord of your life. Jesus as Savior and Lord over you will declare you righteous and accept you as a citizen of heaven. The only entry ticket you need is Jesus. He paid your entry fee, by dying on the cross as God’s substitute sacrifice for sins and He poured out His wrath upon Him. The debt is paid and anyone who wants to claim a seat on the rapture flight can do so, without fee. All you need to do is repent.

This is the promise of the Holy God:

“He will render to each one according to his works: to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life; but for those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury. There will be tribulation and distress for every human being who does evil, the Jew first and also the Greek, but glory and honor and peace for everyone who does good, the Jew first and also the Greek. For God shows no partiality.” (Romans 2:6-11).

So seek Him and not self.

The doom is not anticipating a Mayan end of the world. It is not enduring the uncreation of the world via Jesus’s wrath at the end of the age as revelation reveals. The doom is your glorified body and soul enduring God’s wrath forever in the Lake of Fire. I daresay that no Mayan prophecy could imagine the agony of that doom as well as the bible records it. Jonathan Edwards preached it:

“Your wickedness makes you as it were heavy as lead, and to tend downwards with great weight and pressure towards hell; and if God should let you go, you would immediately sink and swiftly descend and plunge into the bottomless gulf, and your healthy constitution, and your own care and prudence, and best contrivance, and all your righteousness, would have no more influence to uphold you and keep you out of hell, than a spider’s web would have to stop a falling rock. Were it not for the sovereign pleasure of God, the earth would not bear you one moment; for you are a burden to it…”

Now that is doom. But in Jesus is life. Here is 12 minutes that may change your life.

The Gospel: The most terrifying truth of scripture

Posted in israel, prophecy, zechariah

The Spectator: Israel Under Siege, Zechariah 12 coming to life

Posted on by elizabethprata

This is an excellent summation of the new geo-political situation in the Middle East regarding Israel and its neighbors. It is easy to read and detailed. Read it with Zechariah in your mind as a backdrop to provide prophetic context.

“The burden of the word of the Lord concerning Israel: Thus declares the Lord, who stretched out the heavens and founded the earth and formed the spirit of man within him: 2“Behold, I am about to make Jerusalem a cup of staggering to all the surrounding peoples. The siege of Jerusalem will also be against Judah. 3On that day I will make Jerusalem a heavy stone for all the peoples. All who lift it will surely hurt themselves. And all the nations of the earth will gather against it. 4On that day, declares the Lord, I will strike every horse with panic, and its rider with madness. But for the sake of the house of Judah I will keep my eyes open, when I strike every horse of the peoples with blindness. 5Then the clans of Judah shall say to themselves, ‘The inhabitants of Jerusalem have strength through the Lord of hosts, their God.’ “

“6“On that day I will make the clans of Judah like a blazing pot in the midst of wood, like a flaming torch among sheaves. And they shall devour to the right and to the left all the surrounding peoples, while Jerusalem shall again be inhabited in its place, in Jerusalem.”

7“And the Lord will give salvation to the tents of Judah first, that the glory of the house of David and the glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem may not surpass that of Judah. 8On that day the Lord will protect the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that the feeblest among them on that day shall be like David, and the house of David shall be like God, like the angel of the Lord, going before them. 9And on that day I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem.” (Zechariah 12:1-9)

The Spectator: Israel Under Siege: The Jewish state faces an ever-increasing threat from Islamist neighbours

Israel_SE

“When Israel last entered Gaza, in Operation Cast Lead three years ago, the Arab World was stuck in the stasis it had been in for a century. Since their last defeat against Israel in 1973, the dictators had stuck to their old borders. Unpleasant, certainly, but not eager for conflict or any other variety of change. Their stance may have included populist denunciations of Israel, but they rarely took any genuine interest in the subject, any more than they took any interest in the welfare of their own people. But Israel’s new neighbours are more than racketeers: they are ideologues…”

“It is obvious why this matters to Israel. The country is surrounded. All its efforts at normalisation in the region have come to nothing. To the north, Lebanon remains dominated by Iran’s proxies of Hezbollah. Egypt and Gaza are under the control of the Brotherhood. Syria is a redoubtable enemy and ally of Iran. But when the opposition have toppled Assad, they will be just as hostile and almost certainly head in the same Islamist direction. In recent days even the majority Palestinian Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan has begun to look vulnerable. The situation is now so unstable that the King has had to cancel his visit to Britain after thousands have come out on to the Jordanian streets demanding his downfall.”

In my opinion, Turkey and Jordan are the next nations to watch. I’ve written about Jordan recently, and Turkey is admirably covered in The Spectator’s article.

Please continue to pray to the Holy Spirit for wisdom and understanding of the times. Pray that those with an unregenerate heart would respond to the touch of the Lord and that He would give them salvation. Pray for Christians and missionaries in this region. Whatever you feel led to pray for, please continue praying. Prayer is powerful. See John Piper’s exposition of the Revelation verse about prayer in his sermon “The Prayers of the Saints and the End of the World“!

Revelation 8:1–5

“And when he broke the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour. And I saw the seven angels who stand before God; and seven trumpets were given to them. And another angel came and stood at the altar, holding a golden censer; and much incense was given to him, that he might add it to the prayers of all the saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne. And the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, went up before God out of the angel’s hand. And the angel took the censer; and he filled it with the fire of the altar and threw it to the earth; and there followed peals of thunder and sounds and flashes of lightning and an earthquake.”

John Piper– Prayer and the Consummation of History

The utterly astonishing thing about this text is that it portrays the prayers of the saints as the instrument God uses to usher in the end of the world with great divine judgments. It pictures the prayers of the saints accumulating on the altar before the throne of God until the appointed time when they are taken up like fire from the altar and thrown upon the earth to bring about the consummation of God’s kingdom.

In other words, what we have in this text is an explanation of what has happened to the millions upon millions of prayers over the last 2,000 years as the saints have cried out again and again, “Thy kingdom come . . . Thy kingdom come.” Not one of these prayers, prayed in faith, has been ignored. Not one is lost or forgotten. Not one has been ineffectual or pointless. They have all been gathering on the altar before the throne of God.

“Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.” (Philippians 4:6)

Posted in cease fire, egypt, israel, mursi, pillar of cloud, pillar of defense, prophecy, truce

UPDATED-So what was the prophetic meaning of the Gaza-Israel operation ‘Pillar of Cloud’? Isaiah 19:4 comes to mind

Posted on by elizabethprata

UPDATE
A news story just out purports that the actual reason for the Gaza offensive was to train Israeli troops for a battle with Iran. There is always much more going on politically and prophetically than we can see.

Officials: Israel’s Gaza Offensive Was Training For A Possible Fight With Iran
“Israel’s eight-day Gaza offensive was a dry run for any future armed confrontation with Iran, U.S. and Israeli officials told The New York Times.  “In Operation Pillar of Defense, Israel was not confronting Gaza, but Iran,” Israeli ambassador to the U.S. States and military historian Michael B. Oren told the Times.”

The news that Egypt’s President Mursi has grabbed powers is making more and more headlines now. I had posted it 2/3 of the way down a bit earlier today. By now more and more they are calling him Pharaoh. Remember the Isaiah 19:4 prophecy that Egypt will be delivered to a cruel master.  Here is a news update with the prophecy below that.

Reuters: “Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi’s decree exempting all his decisions from legal challenge until a new parliament was elected caused fury amongst his opponents on Friday who accused him of being the new Hosni Mubarak and hijacking the revolution.”

Al-Arabiya: “With Mursi’s absolute powers, will Egypt be corrupted absolutely? Words and expressions such as pharaoh, god, despot and assassin of democracy filled Egyptian media coverage on Friday to brand President Mohammed Mursi following his sudden snatch of sweeping powers.”

Isaiah 19:4: and I will give over the Egyptians into the hand of a hard master, and a fierce king will rule over them, declares the Lord GOD of hosts.

~~~~~~~~~~
I don’t know what the prophetic implication is. But God never does anything that doesn’t accomplish His ultimate purpose- to bring Himself glory and to bring an end to sin. As we hurtle toward the ultimate end of the end, past the end of Armageddon and past the Millennial kingdom, we can rest assured that the operation Pillar of Cloud was at root a spiritual battle that accomplished something God wanted to accomplish.

What we can see so far in this short term are several things.

1. Egypt

“President Mohammed Mursi (Morsi) became president after the Arab Spring revolution when previous president Hosni Mubarak was ousted. Morsi is part of the Muslim Brotherhood group. Morsi was a Member of Parliament in the People’s Assembly of Egypt from 2000 to 2005 and a leading figure in the Muslim Brotherhood. He became Chairman of the Freedom and Justice Party (FJP) when it was founded by the Muslim Brotherhood in the wake of the 2011 Egyptian revolution. He stood as the FJP’s candidate for the May–June 2012 presidential election.”

“The Brotherhood’s stated goal is to instill the Qur’an and Sunnah as the “sole reference point for …ordering the life of the Muslim family, individual, community … and state”. The Brotherhood’s credo was and is, “Allah is our objective; the Quran is our law, the Prophet is our leader; Jihad is our way; and death for the sake of Allah is the highest of our aspirations.”

The Muslim Brotherhood’s candidate for Egypt’s 2012 presidential election was Mohamed Morsi. The Egyptian cleric Safwat Higazi spoke at the announcement rally for the Muslim Brotherhood’s candidate Morsi and expressed his hope and belief that Morsi would liberate Gaza, restore the Caliphate of the “United States of the Arabs” with Jerusalem as its capital, and that “our cry shall be: ‘Millions of martyrs march towards Jerusalem.'” [sources, Wikipedia]

I think only a few people recognized the irony that Egyptian President Morsi was the chief negotiator between Hamas in Gaza and Israel. So effectively it was the Muslim Brotherhood negotiating on behalf of the Muslim Brotherhood. The Muslims had high hopes for an obliteration of Jerusalem and the pushing forward of the above stated goals.

When Morsi negotiated a peaceful cease fire with Israel, the People of Egypt became enraged. Thereupon, Morsi granted himself sweeping new powers, effectively becoming a new Mubarak. Thereupon, the people are protesting. Here are some links to that news:

Egyptian President assumes sweeping powers, dubbed new pharaoh
“Egyptian President Mohammed Mursi has assumed sweeping powers, drawing flak that he is acting like a “new pharaoh” and is endangering the gains of the popular uprising which ousted Hosni Mubarak’s dictatorial regime. Mursi made the constitutional declaration yesterday that granted him far-reaching powers and also ordered retrials of officials involved in the killing of protesters during the 2011 mass uprising against the Mubarak regime. The decision came a day after the President was praised by world leaders for brokering a truce between Hamas and Israel. Yesterday’s constitutional declaration has sparked a fierce debate in the country, with supporters calling it “revolutionary” and detractors slamming the sweeping powers it grants Egypt’s presidency as a “coup”.

Egypt braces for mass rallies after Mursi grabs sweeping powers

Protesters throw stones towards riot police during clashes after a rally to mark the one-year anniversary of fatal clashes at Mohamed Mahmoud street, in the vicinity of the Interior Ministry, in Cairo November 22, 2012. (Reuters)

“Egypt’s health and interior ministries were put on high alert on Friday as the country braced for mass rallies to protest against or support President Mohammed Mursi’s latest decrees that grant him sweeping powers. Political parties and citizens, who deemed Mursi’s new decree as flagrant violation of the constitution, vowed to take on the street in what they called “Eyes of Freedom” one-million protest on Friday.”

Isaiah 19:4 declares prophetically that God will deliver the Egyptian people in the last days into the hands of a harsh master. It is not clear whether this is the antichrist himself or simply a cruel man to oppress the people until the antichrist eventually takes over the ten-toed kingdom. (Revelation 13:1, Revelation 17:12-13, Daniel 2:32-33). Maybe Mursi is that harsh master. Maybe not. Keep watching.

In sum, far from the cease fire settling things and calming them down, the cease fire and Mursi’s behavior has only inflamed it. All is not well in Egypt.

2. Israel

Many people are vehemently upset with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Millions of Israelis thought the decision to cease fire was made too soon. They wanted Israel to dismantle Hamas entirely, conquer Hamas in total and reclaim Gaza. The ceasefire stopped short of that, in fact giving Hamas impetus to think they had won. Netanyahu defended himself publicly and also on his Facebook page, writing:

“I realize that there are citizens who expect a harsher military action and we may very well need to do that. But at present, the right thing for the State of Israel is to exhaust this possibility of reaching a long-term cease-fire. As Prime Minister, I have the responsibility, and it is the highest responsibility, to make the right steps to ensure our security. That is what I have done and it is what I will continue to do.”

One benefit to the cease-fire is that although Netanyahu “has long vowed to safeguard Israel from terrorism, Gaza was never his battle. If the cease-fire holds — a major if — Netanyahu has several weeks to turn domestic and international focus back to his signature security issue: Iran. … A lingering, bloodier war probably would have distracted the international attention Netanyahu has worked to center on Iran’s nuclear program” as the Washington Post reports.

In October, Netanyahu called for early elections. The election will ideally happen in three months’ time, he said, rather than in October 2013, as originally scheduled. They will take place on January 22.

As Dan Ephron writes in The Daily Beast,
“Israel’s prime minister avoided a ground invasion and strengthened his reelection prospects, Hamas won itself some glory, and Israelis and Palestinians ended up right where they started. … By taking on Hamas without launching a ground invasion, the Israeli prime minister managed to drive up his approval rating, a significant political achievement ahead of Israel’s general election on Jan. 22. Along the way, he broke the ice with Egypt’s Islamic government.”

Although the truce hit Netanyahu’s support hard he is still ahead in the polls.

3. Hamas

Dan Ephron sums up his opinion of the post-cease fire fallout on the Hamas side–

“A political outcast since grabbing power in Gaza five years ago, the Islamic group suddenly has champions across the region, including Turkey, Egypt, and Qatar. It also has the dubious glory that, in parts of the Arab world at least, comes with inflicting pain on Israel. So it didn’t down an Israeli plane or hit the parliament building with rockets, as its silly propaganda campaign maintained. But it did force residents of Tel Aviv into bomb shelters and even fired rockets on Jerusalem. “Hamas wanted legitimacy and got it big time,” said Giora Eiland, a retired major-general and Israel’s formal national security adviser.”

The battle is a spiritual one. Whatever is going on is no doubt furthering God’s agenda.

“The Lord of Heaven’s Armies has sworn this oath:  “It will all happen as I have planned.  It will be as I have decided.” (Isaiah 14:24)

“for truly in this city there were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place.” (Acts 4:27-28).

We look to the end, to Isaiah 17, Isaiah 19, Ezekiel 37-38, Zechariah 12 and 14, Matthew 24, and Revelation, among many other books and chapters, and we know that satanic hatred of Israel will only grow, the end will come when they are saying peace and safety, and His purposes are holy and will take place as He wills.

Stay tuned, and keep looking up!

Posted in creation under attack, enoch, genesis

Religion professor attacks Christians in class, plus Cain and Enoch

Posted on by elizabethprata

I love going back to Genesis when I do my daily reading of the bible. Everyone has their favorites, and I love beginnings. Genesis was graciously given to us as a way to see where we came from and what happened to set us on this course, now that we are so near the end. Each chapter drips with mercy- God’s mercy to Adam and Eve after they sinned, God’s mercy to Cain after He murdered his brother…

I made some observations in reading Genesis 4 last night. Some things resonate with the end time, as if they were bookmarks.

After Cain killed Abel, Cain worried that in his wanderings apart from his home tribe and apart from the presence of the LORD, that those who found him would kill him. To me, this says that Cain well knew that apart from the LORD, people could be murderous. As early as it was in man’s history, Cain knew that by himself he was a sitting duck. He understood what sin could do and what people were capable of.

He asked the LORD to protect him. What chutzpah! He had just killed his own brother, after being reprimanded by God Himself for failing to give the right offering in proper heart-manner. God had told him that unless Cain appeals to the LORD to hold back his sin, sin would rule over him. It was crouching at the door even then. (Genesis 4:7). But Cain disobeyed and gave a false offering, allowed sin to rule him and killed his brother, was cursed by God and exiled, was worried that others would in turn kill him. Cain did not repent but still had the guts to ask for mercy. God gave it.

“Then the LORD said to him, “Not so! If anyone kills Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold.” And the LORD put a mark on Cain, lest any who found him should attack him.” (Genesis 4:15).

We don’t know what this mark looked like, but God has put a mark on those whom He will put a mark ever since Genesis and He will do so until Revelation. See these verses:

“and said to him, “Go throughout the city of Jerusalem and put a mark on the foreheads of those who grieve and lament over all the detestable things that are done in it.” (Ezekiel 9:4)

“set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.” (2 Corinthians 1:22)

He seals the 144,000– “Then I saw another angel coming up from the east, having the seal of the living God. He called out in a loud voice to the four angels who had been given power to harm the land and the sea: “Do not harm the land or the sea or the trees until we put a seal on the foreheads of the servants of our God.” (Revelation 7:2-3)

“They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads.” (Revelation 22:4)

Of course, satan is a counterfeiter and will incite the Beast (antichrist) to force a mark on all those who must worship him. (Revelation 13:16)

So Cain’s line went on and was ungodly.

“Then Cain went away from the presence of the LORD and settled in the land of Nod, east of Eden” (Genesis 4:16) and there is no record he ever went back to the LORD.

Cain married and had a son named Enoch. This name means initiation and was the beginning of the descendants of those who were against God. (Though Cain’s line was wiped out in the Flood of Genesis 7). This is not THE Enoch who walked with God and was taken alive to heaven. That Enoch was seventh from Adam and another, different man who came along a bit later.

Cain built a city and named the city after his son Enoch. Again, Cain sinned, because God has said go forth and multiply, and Cain did the opposite. Cain had failed to honor God, failed to repent when God chastised him, murdered, lied, disobeyed…sin had indeed overtaken Cain.

Four generations later, Cain’s line had birthed Lamech. For no reason that is recorded, Lamech disobeyed the marriage law and took two wives. And here we see in Lamech the entrenchment of sin and how it twists thinking.

Lamech killed a man in self-defense. He knew Cain’s story because he recounts it to his wives. And he assumes that because God had promised vengeance on anyone who killed Cain, seven-fold, that God would do the same to Lamech, and even 77-fold! Lamech’s inflated sense of self is amazing isn’t it?! At once sense he knew he had sinned, but repentance was not in him. Instead, he rested on a twisted version of a previous promise God had made to someone else. That is what unrepentant sin does to you.

And that is how people twist the bible today. Without faith and repentance, without a seeking to know His nature and character by studying His written word, they twist something that God had previously said and either spiritualize it or personalize it and it ends up being far from the intended meaning- and usually not even applicable.

Praise the Lord that there were some who stayed close to the LORD.

“And Adam knew his wife again, and she bore a son and called his name Seth, for she said, “God has appointed for me another offspring instead of Abel, for Cain killed him.” To Seth also a son was born, and he called his name Enosh. At that time people began to call upon the name of the Lord.” (Genesis 4:25-26).

It is now 240 years after the creation of man. We don’t know how long Adam and Eve were in the Garden so we don’t know how long it was between creation and sin, therefore we don’t know how long it was after the first sin when Cain killed Abel. However Cain was an adult with a profession when he gave the false offering (Genesis 4:2) to God and there were ‘others’ out and about Cain was worried might kill him, so we can assume a hundred or two hundred years for sin to begin to express itself regularly in human behavior. We can see how quickly sin does crouch at the door, desiring to rule over us.

But just so, we read that they called on the name of the LORD. Knowing that without God there is no help for sin, they began to call out. The phrase call upon seems to mean a corporate worship. And the name they called upon was Yahweh.

He reveals Himself to us, desiring proper worship and a relationship with His people. Though the story of Cain is an evil one of sin and disobedience and death, alternately, those who call upon the Lord in worship receive relationship and life.

I post this not only to share observations, but to urge one and all to read the Old Testament. I’ve noticed that today’s Christian rarely reads the OT and fewer read Genesis. Genesis is under attack. Unless we read it we cannot defend it. Read about this recent attack at the University level. This Professor teaches at Florida International University (FIU).

“A university dean [of religious studies] in Florida, who moonlights as an Episcopal priest and is an admitted lesbian, recently caused controversy after a video surfaced on the web that provided snippets of a lecture she delivered to her Epistemology class, in which she discusses religion and evolution. “This is a book of myth, and that’s going to offend some of you,” stated professor Lesley Northup of Florida International University’s Honor College in the video. “And I don’t really care.” “I know that some of you out there are creationists. You really don’t believe in evolution,” another clip reveals. “I personally don’t think you should be allowed to leave this university with that belief.”

Here is a video of the Professor saying it the bible is a “book of myth” and anyone who believes it should not be allowed to graduate (implicit insult is that Christians are too stupid to hold a degree)–

So go back to Genesis. Read of God’s incredible mercy and care of His people. Read of blessings and sin and worship and struggle and praise of the early peoples. Eve was the mother of all the living (Genesis 3:20) so she is your mother, my mother. We want to know our family tree, don’t we?! Genesis 1-12 records the beginning of the beginning. We’re a generation that is so near the end that we have a unique perspective to see the entire history of man unfolding from Genesis to (nearly) Revelation.

Jude wrote,

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

Prior to the flood, Enoch prophesied that the Lord would come again. From the earliest moments (Genesis 3, for example, and Jude’s mention) God promised redemption and release from sin. If Jude knew of Enoch’s prophecy, and by extension us, and the Flood killed everyone alive except 8 people, that means Enoch’s prophecy was carried through the flood and that Noah taught it to all his sons, who taught it to their sons, and so on, so that all generations would know and be comforted that holiness will be victorious at last!

Go back to the beginning. Because it is almost the end.