Posted in drying up, mississippi, st. louis

Mississippi drying up. Food riot in St. Louis

Posted on by elizabethprata

Food can become unavailable in many ways. It can be unavailable due to extended drought or heat. (Deuteronomy 28:22; Jeremiah 14:1-3; Haggai 1:11). It can be available but too expensive for most people to acquire. (Rev 6:6). Food can be eaten by locusts, worms, crickets. (Deuteronomy 28:38-29, 42). It can become unavailable due to difficulties of hostile armies surrounding the people and destroying the crops (Deut 28:48-51). Maybe the rivers dried up. “A drought on her waters! They will dry up. For it is a land of idols, idols that will go mad with terror.’ (Jer 50:38). There are lots of ways that food is kept from the people. But there is only one reason:

“All these curses will come upon you. They will pursue you and overtake you until you are destroyed, because you did not obey the Lord your God and observe the commands and decrees He gave you.” (Deuteronomy 28:45)

That was the curse the LORD gave to His people Israel, and there is no reason to think that the by now grafted-in peoples would not be held to the same account. He is, after all, the LORD our God. He also gave promises to to His people, that if they did follow Him and obey Him, they would be blessed.

Founded on a principle of freedom to worship our God, America has been blessed since the inception of the nation with bounty. However, of late we have failed to keep His commands and follow in His ways. Is it a coincidence that the blessings we have received over several hundred years of following Him have now dried up when we are not following Him? That our nation seems cursed? Personally, I do not think so. I do not think it is a coincidence that the richest nation on earth is slipping quickly down the economic ladder and closing in on Third World territory, that our lands are deformed by fire, drought, heat, insects, fungus, violence and infrastructure collapse, and that many of us are going hungry, is a coincidence that at the same time we have shaken our fist at God in so many ways. No, siree.

The Mississippi is drying up.
“The Mississippi river is drying up and some shipping companies are worried that the drought of 1988 may be repeated, a time when the river dried up so much that barge traffic came to a standstill. In 1988 the shipping industry lost $1 billion, a number that would be far higher in 2012 and could be reached in as little as three days. Almost all of the rivers 2,500 miles are experiencing some type of low water level. Just outside of Memphis the river is 13 feet below normal depth while the National Weather Service says Vicksburg, Mississippi is 20 feet below normal levels. Overall the Mississippi is 13 feet below normal averages for this time of year.”

Not only is most of the nation under drought conditions, but where there IS food growing, is seems that it becoming more and more impossible to deliver it to distribution centers via our seaways. I’ve lived on a boat for two years, traveling up and down the eastern seaboard’s Intracoastal Waterway. Our vessel crawled along the entire length of America from Yarmouth Maine to Key West Florida via river, canal, sea, ocean, lake, and river at a speed of three miles per hour. I’ve seen it. I’ve followed barges, passed barges, seen cargo ships dock and unload at Norfolk, Chsarleston, Savannah, Baltimore, New York … I know exactly how many goods are delivered via water and it is a tremendous artery. If the Mississippi is drying and causing goods to be slowed in their delivery or delivered not at all, this is a significant, significant development. The article above continues-

“The drying up river is forcing barge, tugboat and towboat operators to navigate narrower and more shallow spots in the river, slowing their speeds as they pass dangerously close to one another. In some parts of the Mississippi the river is so narrow that one-way traffic is being utilized.”

Where there is food, it can’t get to the people. Or they are too poor to buy it. People are getting frantic about this. Witness the scenes below-

St. Louis police respond after crowd swarms church for rumored food vouchers

Can we just call this for what it is? American’s first food riot since the Great Depression, when in Feb. 1931, this happened:

“Food riots begin to break out in parts of the U.S. In Minneapolis, several hundred men and women smash the windows of a grocery market and make off with fruit, canned goods, bacon, and ham. One of the store’s owners pulls out a gun to stop the looters, but is leapt upon and has his arm broken. The “riot” is brought under control by 100 policemen. Seven people are arrested.”

In St. Louis today, police were called as streets were overwhelmed with people hoping for even a chance at a food voucher. “Howard Walker, an administrator at St. Louis Powerhouse Church, and also a representative for Advanced Marketing Promotions, LLC, said the hundreds of people gathered for the event at the church, were tempted by the chance at the vouchers. Traffic was snarled in the area of the church, in the 4000 block of West Florissant Avenue for most of the morning, but appeared to be under control by about 11 a.m. “I’ve been working on the northside for five years, and I’ve never seen anything like this,” said Officer Michael Owens, who was pushing back the crowd along with other officers. Several attendees said they had been waiting in line for their chance at the voucher since last night and as early as 4 a.m. Once the church doors opened, the crowd rushed in.”

“They rushed the building so hard, that (organizers) had to shut it down,” she said. “Word of mouth got around and it got out of proportion.”

America is being choked from all sides and in all ways. Food is becoming the number one issue.

If people are lining up a day ahead at even a rumor of a chance of a food voucher, if people rushed a church so hard they had to call police….and the Holy Spirit is still working in His restraining ministry, what do you think people will do to get actual food when the Spirit releases humans to their base passions?

You don’t have to be around to wonder. You can be released from those base passions when Jesus calls for His bride, and resurrects the dead, gathers us together and offers us eternal joy and peace in heaven with Him. Never another hunger pang. Never another policeman. Never another siren. Never a need for an ambulance. Never a worry or fear that the store will be out of the weekly special, and not being able to afford what’s left. Never another embarrassing moment when, at the checkout, your card is declined.

Never.

How?

Repent.

“The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.” (Mark 1:15)

Posted in renew the mind, transformation

Updated: How can I guard my thoughts and renew my mind so it’s like Christ?

Posted on by elizabethprata

This morning John MacArthur published a devotional impressing on us the importance of the thought life. The essay recommends essentially the same things I’d presented below, but more concisely, lol. If you would like to read about guarding our thoughts and how sin begins in the thought-life, from a male elder’s point of view, I invite you to go to “Discipline Yourself‘” He opens the devotional this way:

“Do you realize that the difference between a sincere, Spirit‑controlled, devoted, godly, obedient Christian and a defeated, weak, struggling Christian is what takes place in the mind? They may be attending the same church, active in the same ministries, and externally doing the same things, but one is defeated and the other lives a spiritually fruitful life. The difference is the thought life.”

———end update————–

On Tuesday I wrote about the Sikh Temple shooting, and how the sins we see performed in the world are only the tip of the iceberg as far as what is in a man. If we see an enormous volume of sin in the world then that means the volume of sin in the world is exponentially greater, because being inside a man it is unseen but it is still there. Thoughts are sins, too. The seat of sin is in the thoughts and the heart. Verses from Mark 7:21-22, James 1:14-15, Matthew 5:27‑28, Genesis 6:5; and Jeremiah 17:9 confirm that our heart and our mind are deceitful and cannot be trusted. That is where sin begins.

It is why the world says “Follow your heart.” “Satisfy the desires of your heart.” Satan is the god of this world and he tells us constantly that the heart is the most important aspect of our engagement with ourselves and with the world. It isn’t.

This is why it is important to guard your thought life. The bible reminds us of the importance of our interior life:

“We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ,” (2 Corinthians 10:5).

“Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” (Romans 12:2)

When a law student goes to Harvard or some such law university, they learn that the educational approach to teaching new information is completely different than what they had been exposed to before. The Socratic method of teaching and learning is used.

Wikipedia defines the Socratic Method–

“The Socratic method, named after the classical Greek philosopher Socrates, is a form of inquiry and debate between individuals with opposing viewpoints based on asking and answering questions to stimulate critical thinking and to illuminate ideas. It is a dialectical method, often involving an oppositional discussion in which the defense of one point of view is pitted against the defense of another; one participant may lead another to contradict himself in some way, thus strengthening the inquirer’s own point.”

Instead of the students asking questions of the teacher, the teacher asks questions of the student. In this way, the Socratic method is a negative method of hypothesis elimination. It is a unique way of training the mind to think differently.

When a student enrolls in Police Academy, the educational emphasis particular to that career will train the cadet to think differently and thus see the world in a new way. He is transformed from civilian to law enforcement officer. As the NYC Police Academy description explains, cadets will be “equipped with the necessary academic and tactical knowledge to protect the life, rights, property, and dignity of all the residents.” Their minds are trained to see and remember details of every scene they come across that escape most civilians. They are trained to be restrained in emotions and clear thinkers in situations where most people would erupt in anger or allow natural adrenaline to carry them away.

You can see those examples are ways that those with higher knowledge engage in a process in which the person seeking that same knowledge is transformed by the renewal of their mind.

The difference between career training of the mind and spiritual renewal of the mind is the Holy Spirit. Our minds without the Holy Spirit can be re-trained within its own box, because we can go from one man’s kind of thinking to another man’s kind of thinking. But the Spirit’s renewal is from fleshly and corruptible to spiritual and incorruptible, a totally different box. Man cannot and will not ever be able to think of God in the way He wants to reveal Himself to us as long as we do not have the Spirit. When we repent, we receive Him into our flesh (brain) and we can have no better teacher in this renewal process! (John 16:13).

John Piper explains our natural state: “When we speak of man’s depravity we mean man’s natural condition apart from any grace exerted by God to restrain or transform man.”

God says that whatever we do apart from Him is sin. “Whatever does not proceed from faith is sin.” (Romans 14:23b).

And so Piper says, “The terrible condition of man’s heart will never be recognized by people who assess it only in relation to other men.”

That is why those who are not saved can renew their mind into other ways men think, for example going from Transmissive method to Socratic as in the case of a Lawyer, or Emotional response versus Logical deduction in the case of a Detective. But renewing our mind from Sinful to Pure is impossible without the Spirit’s help. That is a box we in which we do not dwell until we repent. Everything we do in the flesh is a total offense to God and everything we do in the Spirit is a total pleasure to God. Once we’re saved, His ministry is to help us:

“to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.” (Ephesians 4:24).

This is called regeneration. He makes us into a new man, day by day, year by year, decade by decade. But remember, it’s not like when He dwells in us He takes over. We have to put in effort. We have to read the bible so we know what He is like, understand by prayer and His confirmation back to us what His expectations of us are, and how to apply what we’ve learned about Him into the world for His glory.

We want the mind of Christ. So…HOW do we get it?

1. First, after we’re saved we continually submit to Him:

“And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.” The NLT says, “And do not bring sorrow to God’s Holy Spirit by the way you live. Remember, he has identified you as his own, guaranteeing that you will be saved on the day of redemption.” (Ephesians 4:30).

2. Read the bible. There are no shortcuts. We must replace our thoughts with God’s thoughts. His thoughts are recorded for us and on the pages of any good, standard bible. Our dreams, our intuitions, our desires, books about the bible are not God’s thoughts. His mind is on the pages of the bible. So, read it.

3. Pray. Ask the Spirit to help you develop discipline to read the word, to study it, to memorize it.

4. Be aware of what you think. If you’re saved, you are not a slave to your brain and the thoughts it produces. YOU have control over it. You just have to develop the discipline to be aware of what’s crawling around at the bottom of your brain that is sinfully distracting you.

Let’s say that you’re having lustful thoughts about your boss, or a person you’ve met and are attracted to. But those thoughts are unwanted because the bible says those thoughts are a sin. (Matthew 5:28). Or let’s say that you really want a new set of golf clubs, (or a dress), but your family budget prohibits you from purchasing them at this time. However, you keep thinking about that which you want. The bible calls this lust if it’s a person, greed if it’s in a store and covetousness if it’s owned by your neighbor. These thoughts are sins. (Exodus 20:7; or James 4:1-3, below)

“What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? You want something but don’t get it. You kill and covet, but you cannot have what you want. You quarrel and fight. You do not have, because you do not ask God. When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.”

These sinful thoughts are like the news tickers that crawl along at the bottom of the TV screen.

Look at the amount of information on the screen, which we can say is your brain. From the flag at top, to the ‘Live’ notification, to the split screen photos that your brain decodes is the location of the picture, (Washington DC) to the channel identification, to the descriptor of RNC headquarters, to the stock exchange information, to the ticker. That is a LOT of information! The ticker is your sinful nature. All the information in your brain that you see, identify and absorb into interpretation are your daily thoughts. The ticker is the sin nature underneath it all. It runs constantly. The bigger it is on the screen, the more annoying, it is, right? It is really distracting to keep focusing on what the rest of the screen is showing us when the news ticker crawls fast or is too large.

But it is there, all the time, saying, “I want that dress/golf club…I wonder if I just swing by the store to see if it is still there…I could wear that dress to church, that’s a good thing, right?…I could use the clubs for clients, and get more business, right? That’s a good thing… gee, I wonder if they reduced the price…”

Be aware that it is there, and be aware of what it is saying. When you find your thoughts drifting toward the sinful ones you don’t want because they dishonor God, tell those thoughts to S-T-O-P.

Yes, just like that. STOP. You are not a slave to them. When you’re thinking about the things you ought not, stop it, and then pray to the Spirit for help. I yell ‘stop’ in my head. I ask Him to forgive those thoughts. I put those thoughts in a balloon and make them go away. Pervasive unwanted thoughts I lay at Jesus’s feet. You can use any mental imagery you want to help you stop them. Tell Him you don’t want those thoughts, and why. Yes, at first this is constant. You might pray a thousand times a day to stop unwanted thoughts. Jesus never said it was easy.

Remember, you want to replace sinful thoughts with Godly thoughts so that you can undergo the renewing of your mind. Stopping sinful thoughts isn’t enough. It has to be replaced with something. Where are the Godly thoughts? The bible. Ask Him to help you identify when you’re having them, and develop a habit to become aware of these thoughts, and say or pray ‘stop’. Then, ask for Him to help you resist them by substituting Godly thoughts. Say a memory verse instead. Ponder the main point of last Sunday’s sermon. Review your Sunday School lesson. Read your bible for five minutes. Sing a hymn.

Like this: “I wonder what that new gal will be wearing today. She looked really good in that green sweater the oth— STOP. Amazing grace, how sweet the sound…”

Or this: “I really do need those golf clubs. They’re titanium and — STOP. The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters….”

Jesus said, “When the unclean spirit has gone out of a person, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, but finds none. Then it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ And when it comes, it finds the house empty, swept, and put in order. Then it goes and brings with it seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they enter and dwell there, and the last state of that person is worse than the first. So also will it be with this evil generation.” (Matthew 12:43-45).

Sinful thoughts will always come back. If you have not allowed the Spirit to replace them with Himself, satan will come back in force worse than before and pretty soon all you can think about is your neighbor’s wife, that dress, those golf clubs…

5. Action. Take action if you have a problem with sinful thoughts.
–5a. Take negative action: If you lust, have lusty thoughts, put your computer in your living room. Move your furniture in your cubicle so you’re not in line of sight with that pretty girl or handsome man. Or ask for a transfer. If you have a problem with consumerism and greed, cut up your credit cards.
5b. Take positive action: Do the actions that the bible says, engage in action of ministry and helps and concern for others. Helping others and thinking about them instead of yourself is another way to replace the sinful ticker’s information and allow the Spirit to renew your mind.

We can never do away with our sinful thoughts ticker crawling along the bottom of our brain, not until we are glorified and have no sin-nature anymore. But you can slow it down, make it smaller and replace what is on it with Godly thoughts that occur in an increasing basis.

Now two warnings,

1. This process takes a long time to adopt efficiently. Don’t expect miracles overnight.
2. Once you’ve banished thoughts about your neighbor’s wife or that dress or those golf clubs, satan will try to make you adopt another whole set of sinful thoughts. So thoughts about covetousness don’t bother you much anymore, but now you criticize people in your mind. Doh! It is a battle, and we haven’t won the war until we are in heaven and we can thank Jesus for the victory. That is why Christianity is hard. It takes work.

But now hopefully I’ve given some strategies to help you understand the renewing of your mind and How the Spirit delights in transforming it into His likeness.

You control your brain. Though you cannot control your sin nature, that is what the Holy Spirit does! He vanquished sin that is why He and only He has the control over it. The more you submit, pray, read the bible and put practice into action, the more He will renew your mind and with His help, gain increasing mastery over how you think.

Posted in camp david, morsi, peace treaty, prophecy, sinai

Morsi wants changes to Israel-Egypt peace treaty; 1,300 year old olive oil factory unearthed in Tel Aviv

Posted on by elizabethprata

From the Times of Israel
“An exceptional 1,300-year-old olive oil factory was unearthed Tuesday during excavations in the Tel Aviv suburb of Hod Hasharon. The Israel Antiquities Authority’s find, dated to the late Byzantine or early Muslim period, narrowly escaped being paved over by a planned roadway.”

“Excavators found a pressing floor for olives, a piping system, trenches, and cisterns that drained and stored the fresh olive oil. Stone weights used for pressing sacks of olives were found beside the ruins. By the archaeologists’ estimations, the site was an industrial concern and not private.”

“Archaeologist Amit Ram with the Israel Antiquities Authority told Maariv that the olive press was carved out of older building stones that were sunk into the earth. The Hod Hasharon olive press is an exceptional find because most olive presses are typically hewn out of the living rock already in the place, he said. In this case, however, the soft, red earth demanded that a solid foundation be constructed, so mason-worked blocks were imported to build the press. City authorities were investigating the possibility of diverting the planned roadway to make room for a small archaeological park centered around the site.”

Really cool! The bible says-

“For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and springs, flowing out in the valleys and hills, 8a land of wheat and barley, of vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive trees and honey,” (Deuteronomy 8:7-8)

In other news from the Times of Israel,

Morsi reportedly mulls amending peace treaty with Israel
Egypt president may move to extend full sovereignty over Sinai in wake of attack on border police, his adviser says
“Eyptian President Mohammed Morsi is considering amending the Camp David Accords to expand Egypt’s control over the Sinai, Egyptian media reported Monday. Morsi legal adviser Mohamed Gadallah told newspaper al Masry al Youm that Morsi was looking into the possibility of changing the accord to give Egypt full sovereignty and control of the entire peninsula.”

Egypt is in Prophecy. It’s in  Isaiah 19, “A prophecy against Egypt”. A very unpleasant near-future is prophesied for her but a glorious, GLORIOUS slightly further away future is prophesied.

And here is a short but very interesting interpretation of chapter 19 in Isaiah, explaining which verses were past, which may be occurring now, and which are to come. A theologian-expert on Old Testament named Dr. Walter C. Kaiser Jr. wrote it. His bio is at the bottom of the page, so be a Berean and compare what he is saying about the verses to actual scripture. Personally, I think it is interesting and credible.

If Egypt claims land in the Sinai that is Israel’s in God’s sight, He will not be happy!!!

Posted in Louisiana sinkhole

Assumption Parish, Louisiana sinkhole growing larger, evacuations and Parish state of emergency declared

Posted on by elizabethprata

Two days ago I posted a news excerpt about a large and sudden sinkhole mysteriously appearing in Louisiana–
“A nearly 400-foot deep sinkhole in Louisiana has swallowed all of the trees in its area and enacted a mandatory evacuation order for about 150 residences for fear of potential radiation and explosions. The 400-square-foot gaping hole is in Assumption Parish, La., about 50 miles south of Baton Rouge. The sinkhole sits in the middle of a heavily wooded space where it has consumed all of the soaring cypress trees that had been there. Flyover photos show some of the treetops still visible through the mud.”‘

“While officials are not certain what caused the massive sinkhole, they believe it may have been caused by a nearby salt cavern owned by the Texas Brine Company. After being used for nearly 30 years, the cavern was plugged in 2011 and officials believe the integrity of the cavern may have somehow been compromised, leading to the sinkhole. ‘

Now, a serious concern has emerged. Serious. Actually, the officials are saying potentially catastrophic. The sinkhole may be happening because a salt cavern that had been used to store butane and then plugged might have structural integrity problems. First, look at what a salt cavern is:

Salt Caverns

“Underground salt formations offer another option for natural gas storage. These formations are well suited to natural gas storage in that salt caverns, once formed, allow little injected natural gas to escape from the formation unless specifically extracted. The walls of a salt cavern also have the structural strength of steel, which makes it very resilient against reservoir degradation over the life of the storage facility.”

“Once a suitable salt dome or salt bed deposit is discovered, and deemed suitable for natural gas storage, it is necessary to develop a ‘salt cavern’ within the formation. Essentially, this consists of using water to dissolve and extract a certain amount of salt from the deposit, leaving a large empty space in the formation. This is done by drilling a well down into the formation, and cycling large amounts of water through the completed well. This water will dissolve some of the salt in the deposit, and be cycled back up the well, leaving a large empty space that the salt used to occupy. This process is known as ‘salt cavern leaching’.”

It is all perfectly normal and legitimate. However, it is a disaster if something happens to the cavern, as has potentially happened to one in Assumption Parish in Louisiana–

Fox News reports,
“The situation is made all the worrisome because the sinkhole is believed to be close to a well containing 1.5 million barrels of liquid butane, a highly volatile liquid that turns into a highly flammable vapor upon release. A breach of that well, Assumption Parish Sheriff Mike Waguespack has said, could be catastrophic.”

“The sinkhole appeared August 3, more than two months after local residents started noticing bubbles in the water. The bubbles grew in number and frequency, and in some spots they made the bayou look like a boiling crawfish pot, said Dennis Landry, who owns guest cabins about half a mile from the hole.”

A Declaration of Emergency for that Parish has been issued. If ignited, “the butane well would release as much explosive energy as 100 Hiroshima bombs, Deborah Dupré’s scientist sources told her Sunday.”

Just an hour ago, the State approved a permit for a relief well. All this is depressingly familiar. It was just  two years ago, in April 2010, that the Deepwater Horizon well exploded and the relief well for the Macondo blowout happened. In that disaster, oil gushed into the Gulf Of Mexico unabated for three months before it was capped.

In the Sinkhole-butane-salt cavern problem, the natural gas officials are saying it will be at least 40 days until they get a relief well going and some answers surface. Meanwhile, residents are watching the hole grow larger and crumble inexorably toward their homes. Residents who have already been evacuated are told it will be at least a month before they can return…

Posted in glory, jesus, sacrifice

The glory that is Jesus

Posted on by elizabethprata

Jesus prayed for us, “When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you, since you have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do. And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed.” (John 17:1-5).

While on earth, Jesus sought the mind of Christ every moment and lived a perfect, sinless life. He did this out of love for His Father, obedience to Him, and to be prepared as the sacrifice for sin. When He was glorified, He would send the Holy Spirit to us so that we could be act  in a manner bringing glory to Jesus, who by then was in heaven. When we reach heaven and the rapture happens we will be glorified too, with a sinless body and the mind of Christ. (1 Corinthians 15:53-54; 1 Corinthians 13:12).

Jesus continued, “For I have given them the words that you gave me, and they have received them and have come to know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me.” (John 17:9).

He has given us His words, straight from heaven, lived out in perfect truth from a sinless life, and verified as truth through His resurrection. His word, now our bible, is absolutely true from Genesis 1 to Revelation 22.

It always starts and ends with Jesus, who is the Word.

“I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth.” (John 17:14-18).

If you are going through trouble due to the world hating you because Jesus is in you, take heart! He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world! (1 John 4:4). Jesus is praying to God as our High Priest even though His trial, death, and resurrection was still in the near future. He was headed to the garden of Gethsemane, and His entire body would be wracked with tension so great that drops of His precious, heavenly blood would fall on the dirty ground as He prepared himself for the torture. He pleaded with the Father for us! He is still interceding. (Romans 8:34).

Look what He gave us! His mind, His life, His sacrifice, His body, His blood, Himself.

Jesus prays, Johann Christoph Weigel, 1695

“The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one.” (John 17:22.)

I find this entire chapter so moving. Submit your mind to the Spirit so that we can be ever closer as one to Jesus, and that even more glory can be given to Him! Perform honorable actions in the world so He may be glorified by others seeing His light in us. Honor Him on this Lord’s day, and every day. He is worthy to be praised!

Posted in pumice raft, volcano

Mysterious pumice raft in NZ source identified

Posted on by elizabethprata

I noted a few days ago the mysterious pumice raft discovered floating around the southern sea. A volcano had erupted. But where? Which volcano? Well, the scientists think they have discovered the source of the pumice raft. And when I day ‘raft’ that is the term the scientists are using. It sounds dinky, but the size of the floating pumice was over an area of 25,000 square km. They think the pumice came from a previously unknown volcano.

Scientists rock theory on pumice raft
“A large pumice raft spotted floating in the Pacific Ocean was formed nearly a month ago when an unknown volcano erupted, scientists have determined. An Air force Orion spotted the huge raft, measuring 463 kilometres by 55 kilometres, on Thursday, and samples were collected later in the evening by the navy’s HMNZS Canterbury. Vulcanologists had thought it might have been produced by New Zealand’s third erupting volcano, the undersea mountain Monowai, but that theory has now been put to rest. … GNS vulcanologist Brad Scott said he was unaware of any volcano in the specific location where the raft was believed to have originated from. “At this time I don’t know if we could identify a sub-marine volcano at that location,” Scott said. It could have been emitted from a previously-unknown volcano, or it could be that others have knowledge of a volcano in the area while he doesn’t, he said.”

In other words, global volcanoes are going off left and right, and some that have never erupted are erupting, others that have been long dormant are erupting, and now there are just eruptions they don’t know how or where they happen, but evidence that they have is scattered over 25,000 km and thus pretty hard to ignore.  The earth sure is active.

Posted in disasters, iran earthquake, weather

Two major earthquakes strike Iran, felt in Armenia; global weather disasters are continuous

Posted on by elizabethprata

Hindustan Times:

40-50 dead, 400 injured in northwest Iran quakes
“Up to 50 250 people were killed and 400 injured as two strong earthquakes jolted northwest Iran on Saturday, the head of the country’s emergency services told ISNA news agency. “According to the latest reports, about 40 to 50 people have been killed in the quakes today … About 400 have also been injured and were transported to Tabriz and Ardebil,” Gholamreza Masoumi said, quoted by ISNA. Masoumi was referring to the biggest cities in the region and a neighbouring province. The two temblors, registering 6.2 and 6.0 on the moment magnitude scale according to Tehran University’s Seismological Centre, struck within minutes of each other, damaging scores of villages northeast of Tabriz. The US Geological Survey, which monitors quakes worldwide, ranked them as more powerful than that, at 6.4 and 6.3, respectively.”

Meanwhile, on the volcano front, Erik Klemetti had to eat his words-

Submarine Eruption Makes It Three for New Zealand
“Just think, one week ago I was saying that 2012 was a relatively quiet year for volcanic eruptions. We haven’t made up all the ground of the more active years like 2010-11, however New Zealand had one of its more exciting volcanic weeks in a century — White Island and Tongariro both had eruptions and yesterday a large pumice raft was spotted north of the island nation.”

Lotta lightning goin’ on…

Lightning kills 13 outside Bangladesh mosque
“At least 13 devotees have been killed by lightning outside a mosque in northeastern Bangladesh. Local police chief Bayes Ahmed says 20 other people were injured by the lightning late Friday in Sylhet district. The victims were struck by the lightning as they were exiting the mosque following special prayers tied to the holy month of Ramadan.”

Lightning strike creates 25-foot trench, damage to Massachusetts home

“Strong to severe thunderstorms that hit parts of Massachusetts on Friday produced a lightning strike that created a 25-foot trench to a Foxboro home, leaving a elderly woman hospitalized. Firefighters said around 4 p.m. EDT, lightning hit a tree and it imploded, which sent chunks of wood that ripped down parts of a large fence and impaled a portion of the deck.”

Fan killed; nine injured by lightning after Pocono race
“Pocono officials indicated that several of the fans were treated and released from the infield care center, but that five were transported directly to local hospitals.”

And there was (apparently) a tornado in Connecticut-

Weather Service Checks Storm Damage In Glastonbury To Determine If Tornado Hit
“A tornado may have touched down in Glastonbury as a violent storm surged through the state Friday afternoon, knocking down trees and power lines and causing flash flooding.”

The Philippines are swamped with monsoons and flooding. Yes, I know it’s monsoon season, but this is more, extra, over and above, and there’s more on the way—

No respite from rain, floods in Philippines
“The death toll from five days of heavy rains and floods in the Philippines jumped to 60 on Friday, disaster officials said, with the forecast calling for even more showers across the main island of Luzon. Most of the deaths were from drowning, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council said. Others died from electrocution or in landslides associated with the rain and floods. While it is the summer monsoon season in the Philippines, the rain and flooding were exacerbated by recent Tropical Storm Haikui, the Philippines weather service said. Haikui made landfall on the east coast of China early Wednesday.”

CNN asks, “What’s behind major flood disasters throughout Asia?
“Monsoonal rainfall and a tropical storm cause major flooding in the Philippines. A third typhoon in five days hits China. Weeks of rains and floods have wreaked havoc on parts of Korea.”

This is ironic…the news article lede says “a rash of bad weather”. It isn’t a rash and it’s not going to get better. (link is to a Wall Street journal video).

Bad weather causes surge in food prices
“A rash of bad weather is straining the global food chain and pushing up prices around the world.”

So we wonder, of this weird and getting weirder weather, the disasters upon disasters, “Does God control the weather?  Does he use it as judgment? Is it a sign of the end? Will he protect the righteous?” More here– a study on weather and the bible, below is a preview–

“The Scriptures are far from silent on the origin of weather disasters, including drought, earthquakes, famines, floods, hailstones, storms, thunder, tornadoes, wind storms, etc. God is fully in control of creation, at all times. God does use weather catastrophes — even resulting in deaths, or the destruction of beasts or property — but with a purpose: to unsettle the apathetic, to punish and judge, to alter our course of action, or to instill the fear of God. However, God also responds to His people’s pleas for deliverance from destruction.”

Therefore, pray for the people affected by these disasters. I deliberately chose news about the Iran quakes, Philippines flooding, China rains, New Zealand volcanoes, CT tornadoes, and US drought which has worldwide impact, to show that these things are happening north, south, east, and west. Pray for repentance to come sweep the world, and for a desire for a closer walk with Jesus to penetrate the hearts of the born-again.

Posted in drought, jordan, middle east, prophecy

Raining seaweed, Jordan and Syria troops clash, Iran’s nuke progress, and 2/3 of US in drought

Posted on by elizabethprata

Here is some news for you. I’m working on that promised essay about how to guard your thoughts, and another promised essay about satan’s symbols.

Meanwhile, the world situation is pretty interesting. Globally, it is just a mess. I’ve never seen the world in this much disarray, and I thought 1968 was pretty bad. That was a picnic compared to the 2012. Spiritually, the world is in a worse mess. Apostasy, hatred, and Fundamentalist Christians as the bad guys. Prophecy nearing fulfillment and the evil thoughts of men’s hearts only evil continually. (Genesis 6:5; Matthew 24:37). The LORD is ever-drawing the Church Age to a close while giving the rebellious time to repent. Here is a map to orient yourself, and then the news

MIDDLE EAST

I don’t think many Americans realize what a threat Iran is, not just to Israel, but to the US, and the world. Their single-mindedness in creating nukes is startling, and woefully underestimated. Just look at the progress they have made–

KAHLILI: Iran’s radical rulers close in on the bomb
“Iran continues unabated with its illicit nuclear and missile programs despite a decade of negotiations, being targeted by cyberwarfare and recent harsh sanctions on the Iranian Central Bank and oil industry piled on top of earlier, crippling sanctions. … When President Obama took office, the Iranians had barely enough enriched uranium for one nuclear bomb and were limited to an enrichment level of 3.5 percent. Today, Iran has mastered the enrichment to the 20 percent level, a critical step to weaponization, and has announced that it soon will enrich to more than 50 percent in order to provide nuclear fuel for future nuclear-powered vessels. More than 11,000 centrifuges are currently spinning at the Natanz nuclear facility, an increase of 3,000 from just months ago. Hundreds of centrifuges are enriching uranium to the 20 percent level at the previously secret Fordow facility deep in a mountain. The latest IAEA report as of May verified that Iran has enough enriched uranium for six nuclear bombs, should it advance enrichment to weaponization grade.”

Saudi Arabia is not a nation we hear too much about, the focus in the Middle East is always Iran, Iraq, Israel, Lebanon, Syria…but Saudi is having its own troubles too. Saudi is one of the nations mentioned in the Psalm 83 confederacy which attacks Israel in the last days- they’re the Ishamelites. (Psalm 83:5-6)

Is Saudi Kingdom on the edge?
“By appointing Prince Bandar bin Sultan as its new intelligence chief, Saudi Arabia has installed what looks like a war cabinet at a time of rising tensions with Iran and growing internal dissent from its Shiite minority.  The Saudis have also heightened their alert level in other ways to prepare for possible regional conflict. Some Saudi military and security personnel were mobilized last month — called back from summer leave or told to cancel planned vacations.”

Jordan is the only nation during the Tribulation  not to fall under the domination and control of the antichrist. (Dan 11:41). No one for sure knows why. It should be noted that Jordan is where Jesus tells the Jews to run to when they see the abomination of desolation spoken of by the prophet Daniel. (Matthew 24:15-16). He actually says ‘to the mountains’ but the only mountains nearby Jerusalem are in Jordan, not coincidentally, also where Petra is. Jesus plans to use that enclosed city as His sheepfold during the Tribulation to protect the remnant. (Isaiah 63:1). Now, even fairly peaceful Jordan is clashing with a neighbor:

“Syrian and Jordanian troops have clashed in the Tel Shihab-Turra area
“Fighting involving armored vehicles broke out Friday night between Jordanian and Syrian troops in a border region. Reuters cited Jordanian sources and an unnamed Syrian opposition activist who witnessed the incident. The Tel Shihab-Turra border area has been used as a passage by Syrian refugees fleeing the violence. The clashes reportedly occurred after a number of refugees attempted to cross into Jordan. There appear to be no Jordanian casualties.”

I think no one in their right mind thinks a clash between Israel and someone, likely Iran, won’t happen in the near future. France announces they have made provisions to get their people out of there if it should come to war:

France Prepares For An Evacuation Of Its Nationals Living In Israel
“France has prepared a contingency plan to evacuate its citizens from Israel, La Tribune has learned. According to diplomatic sources, a plan to evacuate the 200,000 French nationals living in Israel has been drafted to prepare for the eventuality of conflict between Iran and Israel. The objective, says the French financial newspaper, is not to be caught off guard should a barrage of missiles equipped with conventional or non-conventional weapons be fired by Iran or Hezbollah on Israeli territory.”

There is violence again in the southern part of the hot zone: Israel’s Sinai border with Egypt

Egypt Sends Armored Units to Sinai After Security Revamp
“Egypt’s military deployed additional armored units to Sinai and closed smuggling tunnels into Gaza as it stepped up efforts to rout militants following a bloody border attack that afforded President Mohamed Mursi a chance to revamp the country’s security apparatus. The military sent several dozen more tanks and armored vehicles into north Sinai, the state-run Ahram Gate reported, citing witnesses in the area. The operation, now in its third day, is the largest offensive by Egypt in the Sinai in decades. The military also used Apache attack helicopters during operations, state media reported.”

WEATHER

Drought covers TWO-THIRDS of the United States.

July is hottest month on record; drought expands to 63 percent of United States
It may come as little surprise with this summer’s sweaty nights and blistering days across much of the country, but July marked the hottest month on record for the contiguous United States, according to government scientists. Furthermore, drought now covers nearly 63 percent of the Lower 48 states, where average precipitation is 0.19 inch below average.”

This drought is having and will continue to have devastating effects on food and prices. Remember, one of God’s judgments is drought and another is famine. They are intertwined. Both are predicted for the Tribulation.

US drought threatens food prices
“The worst drought in the US in at least half a century has destroyed one-sixth of the country’s expected corn crop in a month threatening a surge in global food price inflation. The US government estimated corn farmers had abandoned fields greater in area than Belgium and Luxembourg after the hottest July in US history irreparably damaged their crops. The harvest for soyabeans, largely crushed into animal feed and vegetable oil, would be the lowest in five years.”

WEIRD

Weird weather rains seaweed over Gloucestershire village
“They were stunned to find their homes, gardens and cars littered with the smelly marine algae after a stormy weather spout swept up the debris from a beach 20 miles away. Weather experts believe the seaweed was picked up from Clevedon Beach in North Somerset by a twister during freak weather conditions on the coast. It was then carried through the air – before being deposited on the quiet street in Berkeley, near Cheltenham, Glos. Stunned engineer Dr Richard Overton, 55, and his wife Kay, collected an entire bucket full of the green slime from their front garden. He said: “I looked out of the window after a very big storm finished and to my amazement there were lots of flakes of seaweed scattered over the garden.”

Doesn’t anyone have any self-control anymore? Oh, wait… (2 Timothy 3:3)

Drunk tourist falls asleep on airport baggage belt and passes through powerful X-ray machine
“Letting go of your all important luggage at airports can often be a stressful experience for many travellers. Stories about holidaymakers losing their bags can lead to anxiety for many passengers. But for one drunk Norwegian tourist recently this wasn’t an issue – he simply decided to join his bag. The 36-year-old man fell asleep on the baggage belt at Rome’s Fiumicino airport and travelled 160 feet before he was identified by an X-ray scanner. … It is believed he travelled for 15 minutes before his body was spotted by shocked officials in an X-ray image on their screens. The Norwegian was curled up in the foetal position. The man, who has not been named, slept through the entire incident.”

Well, this is weird.

Mysterious Louisiana Sinkhole Raises Concerns of Explosions and Radiation
“A nearly 400-foot deep sinkhole in Louisiana has swallowed all of the trees in its area and enacted a mandatory evacuation order for about 150 residences for fear of potential radiation and explosions. The 400-square-foot gaping hole is in Assumption Parish, La., about 50 miles south of Baton Rouge. The sinkhole sits in the middle of a heavily wooded space where it has consumed all of the soaring cypress trees that had been there. Flyover photos show some of the treetops still visible through the mud.”

I have no idea even how to classify “pumice raft” except weird. Apparently the Royal Australian Navy has no other way to classify it, either.

25,000 sq km sea of pumice floats off New Zealand
“A navy ship heading to the Kermadec Islands has sailed into a huge 25,000 square kilometre area of pumice pieces north of Auckland. It is believed to be from New Zealand’s third erupting volcano – the undersea mount Monowai. In the past week both Mt Tongariro and White Island have erupted. The navy said the raft – 463 kilometres by 55 kilometres – was spotted by an RNZAF Orion returning on patrol from Samoa. Lieutenant Tim Oscar, a Royal Australian Navy officer on an exchange with the NZ Navy, saw what he described as “the weirdest thing I’ve seen in 18 years at sea. … Rebecca Priestley said it was “an event” which caused the Canterbury’s Commanding Officer, Commander Sean Stewart to give the order to change course. “Up to 250 nautical miles long by 30 nautical miles wide, it stood out against the blue-grey of the ocean as a great white froth on the surface of the sea,” Priestley wrote.”

There is a lot going on, but remember there is a lot going on, too. Like this:

“And I give to them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.” (John 10:28)

and this:

“He that overcomes, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels.” (Revelation 3:5)

Eternal glory with the Savior is worth living through the death knells of a sinful world. Pray for each other and love one another well. He is coming soon for His beloved Bride. I hope if you are reading this you are part of the bride too. If you’re not, all you need to do is repent of your sins. Are you sorry for the wrong things you do? Tell it to Jesus. Believe on HIM. You cannot see Him, but He is there, listening. And waiting….for YOU!

Posted in jesus, lloyd-jones, rick warren

Seeker driven churches know how to draw a crowd…but is it church?

Posted on by elizabethprata

You decide which man has the better approach:

Martyn Lloyd-Jones, 30 years’ minister of Westminster Chapel in London, fervent opposer of liberal Christianity, sound expositor of biblical doctrine with fire and passion in his delivery:

“When the church is absolutely different from the world, she invariably attracts it. It is then that the world is made to listen to her message.”

Or, Rick Warren, Purpose Driven Church: Founder of Saddleback Church, currently the eighth-largest church in the US, father of the manual of how to redesign both churches and services in an effort to bring more “seekers” through their doors, using worldly allurements to attract the multitudes:

“Figure out what mood you want your service to project, and then create it. (p. 264); We start positive and end positive. (p. 271); We use humor in our services … it is not a sin to help people feel good. (p. 272); Cultivate an informal, relaxed, and friendly atmosphere. (p. 272); We made a strategic decision to stop singing hymns in our seeker services. (p. 285); We have attracted thousands more because of our music. (p. 285); Saddleback now has a complete pop/rock orchestra. (p. 290); Use more performed music than congregational singing … (p. 291) (emphasis on entertainment); The ground we have in common with unbelievers is not the Bible, but our common needs, hurts, and interests as human beings. You cannot start with a text … (p. 295); Make your members feel special … they need to feel special. (p. 320,323)”

And this:

“The goal of The Purpose Driven Life is to help people develop a heart for the world.”

As poet Robert Frost wrote so famously, “two roads diverged in a yellow wood” … In this case, the road that Lloyd-Jones was on, the one that walks closely with Jesus, is measured and sober, one that is straight and leads to wisdom and understanding of His word.

Lloyd-Jones & Westminster Chapel

The other road leads to…well…none of the above. This is what happens “when a pastor chooses to entertain goats rather than feed Christ’s sheep.” (quote source). It leads to this:


HT Closet Calvinist via DoNotBeSurprised

John MacArthur said of the seeker driven movement of Rick Warren and his ilk, “They have figured out how to get a crowd and call it church. There’s a big difference between a crowd and a church…big difference.”

You decide which of the above is church…and which is a crowd. Then decide where you want to be when Jesus returns, with the crowd? Or with the church?

Posted in earthquake, prophecy, quake swarm

Scientists studying unusual quake swarm in SoCal

Posted on by elizabethprata

Here is the news about a quake cluster currently afflicting Southern California.

About 30 earthquakes strike in Southern California ‘sequence’
“A cluster of earthquakes that began Tuesday night continued Wednesday in northern Orange County, keeping residents on edge but causing little significant damage. … This is all part of the same earthquake sequence; they’re all in the same area,” Hutton told reporters at the briefing, which was televised by several TV stations. Experts said more aftershocks are likely. “It shook us pretty good. We’ve felt earthquakes before so it came as no surprise,” said Chris Nordyke, director of marketing at the Richard Nixon Library and Birthplace in Yorba Linda.”

Southern Calif. shakes from small earthquakes
“Southern California was shaken Wednesday by the second moderate but widely felt earthquake in less than 11 hours, but no harm was reported. … It was a decent sized shake and it’s a reminder for everyone to have a plan for the Big One,” said Stone. “How would you and your family survive for 72 hours with no water, no food and no amenities? Think about it. It’s a reminder to go home and say, ‘What if?’ and make that plan.”

Making Sense of Earthquake Clusters

“In some cases, one earthquake reduces the probability of subsequent earthquakes; while in other cases, one earthquake might trigger other earthquakes, causing earthquake clusters. The difficulty for scientists, insurers and catastrophe modelers is in understanding the patterns. It is known that a big earthquake releases stress on the fault segment where the rupture occurs. Therefore, on the same fault, the probability of another  earthquake has reduced greatly. In contrast, if a fault has not ruptured for a long time, the stress will  accumulate and thus increase the probability of a quake. This phenomenon is known as earthquake time dependency, which means that the probability of the next earthquake is dependent on the time and magnitude of the last earthquake on the same fault. On the surface, earthquake clusters seem to be contrary to the theory of earthquake time dependency. If the stress is released, why would an earthquake trigger another? In fact, although the stress is released in the segment near the rupture, it can actually increase in other areas. In addition, if the precedent earthquake is small and unable to release the majority of stress on the fault, a subsequent earthquake can happen.” (source .pdf)

The scientists are studying this swarm. While they insist the swarm/cluster is far from extraordinary, they admit that a cluster like this has not happened for a few years.

Seismologists studying swarm of earthquakes in Southern California
“At a news conference Wednesday morning, Kate Hutton of the U.S. Geological Survey at Caltech said there had been at least 30 quakes since Tuesday night, but only three could be felt by residents. She said officials are studying the quakes to understand whether it was a swarm or some other type of pattern. “This is all part of the same earthquake sequence; they’re all in the same area,” Hutton told reporters at the briefing. “We haven’t had anything in the L.A. Basin in the last few years, but that doesn’t mean we’re totally quiet, and we certainly have been active in the southern part of the state,” she added.’

The scientists always minimize the potential or the situation or the effects…I suppose it is their job so as not to cause panic. But if they are studying it so swiftly then that’s something to note.

In the Tribulation, earthquakes will happen that no man has ever seen before. There will be the usual kind, just more of them that cause damage, and like birth pangs, one after another until there is overlap and one long bout of pain.

But then there will be other quakes, ‘mega quakes’ that destroy mountains, divide cities. The Greek word really is megas, meaning mega, or very large in the widest sense. It is used in the verse below to describe the last earthquake:

In Revelation 16:18-12 we read,

“And there were flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder, and a great earthquake (megas seismos) such as there had never been since man was on the earth, so great was that earthquake. The great city was split into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell, and God remembered Babylon the great, to make her drain the cup of the wine of the fury of his wrath. And every island fled away, and no mountains were to be found.”

That verse recounts the final judgment, when the angel pours out this one he says “It is done!” It is the seventh bowl, the last of the series of promised judgments. (7 Seals, 7 Trumpets, 7 Bowls).

Between the quakes of today to that last mega-quake of Revelation 16, earthquakes will only increase in frequency and intensity. Scientists can study them all they want, but by that last quake of human history, the only data that will matter is, are you saved by the blood of Jesus? Is your soul redeemed by the precious one who shed His blood for you?

As a matter of fact, it is the only data that matters now. Quakes aren’t going to subside, go away, or be only minor in intensity. They will increase until the Lord returns. The unnerving thing is not to know when the next quake will occur, but as a Christian, you know they will and more often, too. Non-Christians will wonder what’s going on but be just as surprised by the arrival of the earth-shattering commotion that we know as earthquakes as they will be by the earth and heaven shattering event and commotion that Jesus’s Second Coming will entail. Don’t be surprised. Accept Jesus as savior now, read the bible to see what’s ahead. What’s ahead for the Christian are blessings untold, the primary one being Jesus Himself.