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A Tale of Two Gods?

Posted on June 10, 2012 by elizabethprata

In this corner, with the wizened face and long white beard, God, also known as Ancient of Days and sometimes as simply I AM. Aged, ancient, and some say, outdated, audience, give it up for God in the white robe, the Old Testament God!

In this corner, with the scarred face and hands, smallish stature and nothing beautiful or majestic to attract us to Him, don’t underestimate this Man of Sorrows, Jesus! Give it up for the man in the crimson-stained robe, the New Testament God!

Through this playful anecdote I hoped to bring to your mind a vivid picture of what I see as a problem today in the mainline churches. They see that there are two Gods, an “Old Testament God” and a “New Testament God.” This reveals a basic misunderstanding of who God is in both testaments. He is the same God. The Old Testament God as He has revealed Himself is a holy God concerned with sin, redemption, and righteous living for the sake of His holy name. In many, many OT chapters, He reveals His profound love for His creation, man, in promising a better future and adhering to those promises again and again.

In the New Testament, God as He has revealed Himself through Jesus is a holy God concerned with sin, redemption, and righteous living for the sake of His holy name. While throughout many, many NT chapters, His Spirit reveals Jesus’s profound love for man, His creation, in promising a better future and adhering to those promises again and again by dying on the cross and resurrecting, He also promises wrath. Just read Revelation. It could be just as factually stated that the ‘OT God’ is a God of love and the ‘NT Jesus’ is a God of wrath. Think about it.

In the entire bible there is wrath and there is love. There are plagues and there is redemption. There are covenants kept by God and broken by man. There are prophesies made, fulfilled, and to come and there is a hope and a future. There is no Old Testament God and there is no New Testament God. There is just I AM.

In the New Testament we see that the wrath of God is still “being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness” (Romans 1:18). The God who came to earth and cleansed the Temple with a bullwhip (Mark 11:15-19) is the same God who in the Old Testament “abounds in love and exceeding patience” (Exodus 34:6).

Though the Jesus of the New Testament is depicted all too unfortunately as a meek and mild, politically correct good teacher holding love-ins on the hill while making daisy chains, He was not. He directly confronted evil, He pointed fingers, He spoke hard sayings, and when the people left, and they did, (John 6:66) He let them go.

God is the same God as He lovingly and compassionately reveals Himself throughout the 66 books of the bible. He is love, He is wrath, but utmost, He is HOLY. His concern for His people is of our sin, and repentance. There is no comparative religion, there is only the superlative religion (L. Ravenhill) and there is no OT God and no NT God, there is only God. He is unchanging. “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change” James 1:15. And deep down, aren’t we relieved that there is no difference in our God from one covenant to the next?

He reveals Himself to us in various ways. We know of Him through the the creation (Rom 1:18), directly person to person (Gen 3:8, Gen 5:22, Ex 33:11; Adam, Eve, Enoch, Moses), through the prophets, (Heb 1:1), through Jesus (Col 2:9), through his Spirit (2 Tim 3:16), through the Word (John 1:1-5). But though He reveals Himself in various ways, the qualities inherent in that revelation of Himself do not change from covenant to covenant, testament to testament. He remains the same.

If you find yourself saying “Old Testament God” stop for a moment and ponder the gravity of those words. He does not change. He reveals Himself to us as He does and as He will. Is it fair to say ‘OT God’ and ‘NT God’? Is it right? Does it send a good message to hearers? It doesn’t. “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.” (Hebrews 13:8). “I the Lord do not change.” (Malachi 3:6) Now go read some Old Testament!

israel, missile, prophecy, UFO

Middle East UFO or meteor sighting turns out to be Russian missile

Posted on June 8, 2012May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

Israel was in havoc last night. So was Lebanon, Iran, Syria (for a different reason), Armenia, Turkey, Georgia, Jordan and other countries. Twitter came alive with panic and wonder. Dozens of phone calls were made to police stations. Youtube videos popped up with blaring headlines and triple question marks. Why? At dusk and into dark luminous lights began appearing in the sky over Lebanon. Many thought they were UFOs, others wondered if they were missiles. Some said they were meteorites, but Israel authorities said they were not. Information was conflicting and as long as the lights remained unidentified, panic rose.

Here is one example from Twitter:
BREAKING: Luminous bodies and meteors appear over North #Lebanon, #Marjaayoun and many areas in the #Bekaa.

Twitter/Yfrog/Instagram came alive with photos, some real,

And some fake,

Syrian State News reported “An aerolite piece flickering over the sky of Damascus was observed yesterday around 8:30 P.M. Chairman of the Syrian Society of Astrology, Dr. Mohamad al-Assiri, asserted that a 20 to 30 centimeter diameter aerolite piece burnt in the troposphere near the Earth sending light flickers for about 30 seconds. Al-Assiri added that the aerolite appeared as a strong light spot observed by the inhabitants of Damascus and the sparkles stretched to Aleppo and to some parts of Lebanon. No damage from the aerolite, none of its components fell on the earth, was reported.” Aerolite is another name for meteorite.

But then they inexplicably used the following graphic to illustrate the news story!!!

Ynet News more soberly reported: “Lebanon: Unidentified objects – meteors
Lebanese media also reported that an unidentified object was observed in the sky. They quoted scientists who claimed the “explanation was scientific” and that the object was most likely a “large meteorite.”The LBCI network reported that: “Luminous objects and meteor bursts appeared over north Lebanon, Marjaayoun, the Bekaa and the Syrian-Turkish border.”

And a short while later reported this:
Israelis nationwide report seeing UFO
“Hundreds flood police with reports of UFO in nation’s skies; Astronomical Association chairman says object isn’t a meteor, flew above Lebanon. Similar sighting in Norway in 2009 turned out to be failed missile test.”

RT’s summary is excellent and is accompanied by good photos.

Today, the Kuwait State News reported this:
“Russian military announced Thursday they have successfully test-fired a new version of the TOPOL-M series, code-named RS-12M. The rocket, an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), was test fired from a Russian military base in Southeast Russia, Interfax news quoted military sources as saying. The missile hit its target in Kazakhstan in central Asia precisely…”

Meanwhile, also being Tweeted at the same time the mysterious lights were seen over half the nations in the Middle East, were reports of a white powder drifting down on Syrian citizens. Subsequent reports of people entering emergency rooms with symptoms of burning and choking appeared and it was strongly suspected that Syria officials had used a chemical weapon.

Report: Unidentified gas used in Syria
“Syrian opposition says Assad’s Air Force planes bomb towns with unfamiliar substances he unidentified gas caused suffocation among residents, the activists said.”

The overwhelming feeling as all this chaos was occurring is disorientation. People in the Mid East are living with warfare threats today that will soon be realized. Christians know they will be due to prophecy and the integrity and certainty of God’s Word. For those who do not believe in God’s word, knowing that the multiple threats will likely result in ignition of the Middle East tensions is also a no-brainer. It happened before, and today there are even more threats, more missiles, and less economic stability than ever before. It’s a catastrophe waiting to happen.

When the Mid-East lights up like that, one cannot help but say, “Is it happening now? Is this it?”

After the furor dies down and facts are sorted out, and it becomes apparent that God’s hand has stayed us fallen humans from the brink [for the moment], so the secondary thought turns to man’s hubris. At least it does for me.

As an example, the New York City Municipal Archives were recently opened online and gave access to a gallery of over 870,000 images from the 1880s to the 1980s. One hundred years of municipal photographs include stunning photos of city projects undertaken such as the Manhattan Bridge construction, highways, and subways. As I looked through the NY Municipal Archives and saw photos like this, of the Manhattan bridge under construction in 1909,

Source

Or this photo of the Holland Tunnel power station in 1925,

Source

I could not help but think, “Wow! We have accomplished so much! Man can do anything!” I do have a justifiable feeling of pride that human engineering has made our lives more smooth and transportation more feasible. It seems that man has conquered the seas, the sky, the earth. We dig tunnels and drive under rivers, we build bridges and drive over the air. We go where we want to go and we build what we want to build, the earth is being remade to our specifications. It seems as if everything will go on as before, and that man’s accomplishments will last forever.

This, of course, is untrue. The earth is the Lord’s and everything in it. (Psalm 24:1)

It was real-time events like last nights that really brings home the tension we are all living under, and the fact that one day, soon I think, the events we witness like last night’s will be the last ones we Christians will see on this side of the veil … before we are called home to glory.

Uncategorized

Freak hail in CO, freak quake in Mayo: Freaky times!

Posted on June 7, 2012May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

Updated to add a photo:

These are a sample of the hail that fell in southern Colorado Springs on June 6, 2012.

Photo by Skarlet Pike

Eastern Colorado received some heavy weather yesterday. Lots of flooding and then a prolonged period of hail battered parts of Colorado Springs and environs. The hail was so prolonged, and the size so large, that cars were buried up to their doors in some paces. There was so much it looked like snow! Then the tornadoes hit, and the thunder, and the wind.

This storm reminded me of another freaky hailstorm that happened in April in Texas, and also one in China that killed several people.

Here is the news of the Colorado storm:

Flooding, hail rough up eastern Colorado and south metro area
“A storm system that moved through Colorado yesterday brought hail, heavy winds, and even tornadoes to the Denver area. By far, the most visible damage was caused by inches of hail. It was thick cars could not drive through the streets in some neighborhoods.”

Here’s another photo, from Jim Cantore via twitter: “@JimCantore photo from astonishing colorado springs of hail and rain flooding #sad pic.twitter.com/4CmBLNid”

A reader of this blog commented that though hail is common for CO Springs, hail of that size (ping pong ball) is not common at that elevation.

This morning, snowplows were clearing hail off the Denver streets. Here is a CBS photo gallery of the tornadoes, hail, flooding, lightning and thunderstorms that rolled through last night.

They are saying that the storms were “unusual“, “wicked“, and “crazy.”

“And the LORD said to me, “Amos, what do you see?” And I said, “A plumb line.” Then the Lord said, “Behold, I am setting a plumb line in the midst of my people Israel…” (Amos 7:8a).

A plumb line is what surveyors use to ensure the straightness along a vertical plane or a horizontal plane is achieved. It is the baseline standard upon which the work proceeds. The Lord’s plumbline is His statues, and though His mercy is great as we waver, it will not last forever. There is wrath, too, for persisting in wavering from the plumbline. He judges, too, and one of the judgments is hail.

In the rest of the Amos verses, the LORD says he will not pass by His people any more. The end was near, for them at that time. But what of the wicked people all over the world, the ones who rebel against him and refuse His offer of saving grace so they may persist in their depravity now in this time? What of them? What of the church body, filled with doctrinal infection, hypocrites, paganism, and waywardness? Will He tolerate us straying from the plumbline forever? No. Sometimes He sends hail.

“I will make justice the measuring line and righteousness the plumb line; hail will sweep away your refuge, the lie, and water will overflow your hiding place.” (Isaiah 28:17)

In other news, speaking of unusual, perplexing, even, there was an earthquake at Mayo Ireland.

Mayo earthquake surprises geologists
“A leading seismologist has said yesterday’s earthquake off the west coast was “unexpected” and poses “very interesting questions for geologists”. The earthquake, which registered a magnitude of four on the Richter scale, was recorded as 60km west of Belmullet, Co Mayo, at a depth of 3km, at 8.58am. It was the largest local seismic event ever recorded, according to Tom Blake of the Irish National Seismic Network (INSN) and the Dublin Institute of Advanced Studies. It was also the second-largest local earthquake on record in either Britain or Ireland, he said – the first being of 5.4 magnitude on July 19th, 1984… However, Mr Blake said that while the earthquake was classified as “moderate”, it was “significant” in that it challenged existing information about seismic activity off the west coast.”

Remember a few weeks ago there was an earthquake at northern Italy? There was millions in damage. But scientifically, that earthquake also perplexed the scientists, because it happened in a place where earthquakes ‘should not’ happen.

This Discovery News article simply states; Why Italy’s Earthquake was weird
–The magnitude 6.0 quake was a thrust quake, yet it occurred at a depth of just 3 miles.
–The quake hit about 470 miles north of the plate boundary.
“A strong and unusually shallow earthquake struck northern Italy over the weekend, fracturing pavement, sending torrents of brick and rubble raining down from buildings, and killing seven people. The powerful shaking was a first for the region in centuries — and fairly surprising to seismologists.”

In essence, the article explains that the Italy quake was a thrust quake- which happens when two plates smash together…but it was nearly 500 miles from the place where two plates smash together! And when two plates smash together, it always happens at greater depths, but this one was shallow, nearly atop the earth’s surface! Can’t you see the scientists (UK: boffins) stroking their beards and pacing the lab? The earth is just not behaving as we expect it to … but that refrain is becoming an old piece of news these days, isn’t it? Scientists are perplexed…things happen that they don’t expect or can explain. …

The Lord said that as a sign of His near return, “For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places.”

Is there any doubt that these are part of the signs of His soon wrathful intervention into human life? The lost do not want to hear the truth, that our sinful actions anger a patient but Holy God.

“Now when these things begin to take place, straighten up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.” (Luke 21:28). [emphasis mine]

holy life, mercy, regeneration

A budding stick

Posted on June 6, 2012May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

My kitchen window won’t stay up. So I use a stick to prop it open. I got the stick from the yard a couple of years ago. LOL, I had to be fast because my landlord is diligent and he goes around and picks up all the dead sticks blown down from windstorms.

It’s been cool lately and I’ve enjoyed being able to open my windows and have the breeze go through, rather than having to live in AC air. Yesterday as I raised up the window and grabbed the stick from the well of the sill, I noticed for the first time that the stick was budding.

I thought it was strange, because I’ve had the stick for a couple of years and it has always been dead. It was dead on the ground when I got it, it languished dead in the windowsill through winters, rains, and heat, and it was dead when I used it to prop up the window all this time. Here is a photo:

Looks like a dead stick, doesn’t it? Well, it is!

But then a leaf grew!

Actually, two leaves are growing!

See?

So the stick is like us before we’re saved. We are dead in our sins. We bear no fruit, we have no life. Sure, we are walking around and living and working and marrying and stuff, but we are dead sticks walking.

“As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins,” (Ephesians 2:1)

But when we are born again, we are first justified. This means being forgiven, we are now having a right relationship with God. It is a legal term of justice, the Judge giving a pardon. Then we are regenerated.

“And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses,” (Colossians 2:13)

“…even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved” (Ephesians 2:5)

Regeneration means born again, a rebirth, having new life. The next step in His process is sanctification, which means the process of God molding us as His clay to become more Christlike in all we think, say, and do. Sanctification is a long process, a lifetime, and then an eternity. It is the process of living a holy life. We cannot do this apart from Jesus. Justification is a one time event happening in one moment, the moment God forgives you of sins.

Regeneration is the glorious moment of new birth. Paul captures it in chapter Titus 3:5:

“he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit,”

If God makes a dead stick bud, then He can make you bud too! Seek Jesus for forgiveness of sins, He will wash them away and renew you as His new creation in a holy rebirth and subsequent sanctifying growth that will last all your life, in this age and the eternal one to come.

discovery, gog magog, israel, oil, prophecy

Prophetic implications of Israel’s latest gas/oil find

Posted on June 5, 2012 by elizabethprata

ANOTHER major oil find in Israel was announced Sunday. I wrote about it briefly here. Now in this blog entry, I am giving more information.

There is an old joke that Moses took the wrong turn from Egypt, leading Israel to sand and leaving oil for the Arabs. Haven’t you ever wondered why the same geology that yields so much oil in Saudi Arabia and Iran and Iraq yields none in Israel? I have. However, the recent discoveries of oil and gas listed below have made that bad joke outdated. Israel produces 4,000 barrels per day, but has a 250,000 barrel per day demand. Therefore they must import, relying on ever-increasingly hostile neighbors and ever more vulnerable pipelines. It appears that reliance will no longer be necessary. I am sure Israel’s enemies will not be happy to contemplate her ever-growing fuel independence.

For decades, scholars and bible students have wondered what “spoil” could the Gog-Magog alliance possibly want. Israel feeds Europe with her fruit, growing oranges and figs and other fruits that are widely exported. I cannot imagine a war fought over figs, however. The verse in Ezekiel 38 says “A great spoil.” Hmmm.

“Thus says the Lord GOD: On that day, thoughts will come into your mind, and you will devise an evil scheme and 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. Sheba and Dedan and the merchants of Tarshish and all its leaders will say to you, ‘Have you come to seize spoil? Have you assembled your hosts to carry off plunder, to carry away silver and gold, to take away livestock and goods, to seize great spoil?'” (Ez 38:10-13) [emphasis mine.]

What could the great spoil be? Until now, Israel has not shown much yield in anything except what she herself can coax from the ground with hard-won irrigation and sweaty toil. And Russia is the oil monster, with an output that until recently was prodigious. “Was” being the key word.

Jan 2009:
Israel Discovers Gas!
Israel’s Delek fuel company has discovered a huge deposit of natural gas west of Haifa that could change the face of Israel’s economy.

Dec 2009:
Israeli company finds oil beneath Rosh Ha’ayin
Givot Olam Oil Exploration Limited Partnership said that more than 60 percent gas was measured in the drill, indicating the first such find in Israel.

Dec 2010:
Gas Field Confirmed Off Coast of Israel
Exploratory drilling off Israel’s northern coast this week has confirmed the existence of a major natural gas field — one of the world’s largest offshore gas finds of the past decade — leading the country’s infrastructure minister to call it “the most important energy news since the founding of the state.”

Aug 2010:
Leviathan Oil Field Could Sustain Israel For Decades
All big oil and gas fields have geopolitical significance, but we haven’t seen a big oil find in recent years that could matter more than the Leviathan field in the Mediterranean Sea off of Israel. 4.3 bn barrels.

March 2011
Oil shale reserves can turn Israel into major world producer
THE JOKE has been told by generations of Jews, most famously Golda Meir, the former prime minister of Israel: ‘Why did Moses lead us to the one place in the Middle East without oil?’ … According to Dr Vinegar, Israel has the second-biggest oil shale deposits in the world, outside the US: “We estimate that there is the equivalent of 250 billion barrels of oil here. To put that in context, there are proven reserves of 260 billion barrels of oil in Saudi Arabia.”

Nov 2011
Russia output dropping
“Lukoil, which accounts for 15 percent of Russia’s 30-stock Micex index, extended its weekly decline to 6.6 percent after reporting third-quarter results that included a 2 percent drop in gas output and a 21 percent slide in net income. Oil production declined as flows from some wells in Western Siberia abated and falling demand from customers cut gas production, the Moscow-based company said in a Nov. 25 regulatory filing.”

Feb 2012
Another Gas Discovery for Delek, Noble Energy!
Noble Energy and the Delek Group announced on Sunday another significant discovery of a natural gas field off the coast of Haifa.The field, located in the Mediterranean waters 120 kilometers (74.5 miles) northwest of Israel’s northern port city, reportedly totals about 1.2 to 1.3 trillion cubic feet.

May 2012:
Forbes: Is Russian oil output plummeting?
“According to a recent Bloomberg story Saudi Arabia displaced Russia as the world’s largest oil producer, producing just about three thousand barrels a day more in March of 2012”

June 2012:
Israel discovers more offshore oil and gas
An Israeli company announced the discovery of another sizable offshore oil and gas field on Sunday.Israel Opportunity Energy Resources LP estimated the newest field at about 1.4 billion barrels of oil and 6.7 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.”The quantity of gas discovered in the licenses — and the high probabilities — make it the third largest off-shore discovery to date,” chairman Ronny Halman told Globes.

You see how this is going. You see that the “old joke” about Moses leading the Jews to the one place in the Middle East that doesn’t have oil is actually by this point kind of a blaspheme. God said He would provide for His people and He IS providing for His people. Furthermore, it demonstrates once again how perfect the LORD’S word is, how precise.

I watch with eager wonder and with bated breath as to what will be the tipping point for the Gog Magog prophecy to come true. When will Russia, Iran, Turkey et al get tired of holding back and pounce? At this oil discovery? The next? It can’t be long now…we see prophesies of Egypt in Isaiah 19 coming to pass and the prophesies of Isaiah 17 regarding Syria ready to come to pass. It is like a drawstring purse, the strings pulling the open neck ever closer, a closing which will end up being a noose around the necks of Israel’s enemies. How much more to go until the prophetic foundations are laid? God in His timing knows, but to me, this puny human, it seems ready today.

israel, oil

Israel Discovers New Giant Off-Shore Oil and Gas Field

Posted on June 5, 2012 by elizabethprata

Ed. Note: I wrote another article exploring the prophetic implications of this discovery here. It also lists the major oil/gas discoveries in the last 3 years.
————————————
Israel has been blessed with gas and oil bounty these last three years. Several large discoveries have been made. Sunday another discovery was made, an oil field under the Red Sea off Israel. Officials say this one may surpass all the other finds in quality and in output.

Israel Discovers New Giant Off-Shore Oil and Gas Field
“An Israel energy company announced Sunday it has discovered an off-shore energy field that may even surpass previous finds in terms of the possibilities of developing commercial grade oil. Israel Opportunity Energy Resources LP announced that its Pelagic licenses indicate 6.7 trillion cubic feet (TCF) of gas and 1.4 billion barrels of oil. By comparison, the previously announced Tamar and Leviathan off-shore fields contain an estimated 9 and 17 TCF of natural gas. The amount of commercial oil, if any, has not been finalized, but estimates of possible oil in the Leviathan field have been downsized to 600 million barrels. Discoveries of oil and gas have made outdated the old joke that Moses took the wrong turn from Egypt, leading Israel to sand and leaving oil for the Arabs. … “The quantity of gas discovered in the licenses, and the high probabilities, make it the third largest offshore discovery to date,” according to Israel Opportunity chairman Ronny Halman, quoted by Globes.He added, ”This quantity guarantees Israel’s energy future for decades, and makes it possible to export Israeli gas, and boost the state’s revenues without worrying about gas reserves for domestic consumption.”

They are preparing wells now. It won’t take long to get it up and running with oil pouring out in export, officials say. Will the other exporting oil giant, the Russian Bear, get jealous? The bible has that answer.

In the Gog Magog battle of Ezekiel 38-39, Russia is one of the nations that attack Israel, for the purpose of taking a spoil, of seizing plunder. “Sheba and Dedan and the merchants of Tarshish and all its leaders will say to you, ‘Have you come to seize spoil? Have you assembled your hosts to carry off plunder, to carry away silver and gold, to take away livestock and goods, to seize great spoil?’ ” (Ez 38:13)

Things are surely lining up!

bema seat, laying up treasure

Squirrel fills antenna with acorns

Posted on June 5, 2012 by elizabethprata

I thought this short (1:21) video was amazing. Watch as the operator opens up the antenna, and all those acorns spill out, and spill out, and spill out!

They ended up believing it was a woodpecker that put all the acorns in the microwave antenna. Now for the spiritual application. Oh, there’s a spiritual application. I put this video on The Quiet Life, my secular blog, for fun and yuks, but on this blog there is always a spiritual application!

All people who ever lived will stand before the judgment seat of God. “For we will all stand before God’s judgment seat…so then, each of us will give an account of himself to God.” (Romans 14:10-12). After the 1000 year Kingdom of Jesus on earth ends, and satan is loosed from the pit to gather one final insurrection, (which is quashed by Jesus) unbelievers will be resurrected into a body and judged at the Great White Throne judgment, where everything they ever said or did will be judged by Jesus. (Revelation 20:11-15). Then they will be thrown into the Lake of Fire for their final and eternal placement.

Christians will be “judged” too, but not for sins. Those were forgiven when we repented. This is really an awards ceremony and Jesus will examine everything a believer said or did in Christ to see whether it was for Christ. Anything not deemed worthy will be burned up as hay or stubble. Any of the believer’s works deemed having brought glory to Jesus will be refined in the fire as gold or silver.

“For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. If any man builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, his work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each man’s work. If what he has built survives, he will receive his reward. If it is burned up, he will suffer loss; he himself will be saved, but only as one escaping through the flames.” (1 Corinthians 3:11-15).

We are urged in Matthew 6:20: “but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.”

As Barnes Notes says, “Do not exhaust your strength and spend your days in providing for the life here, but let your chief anxiety be to be prepared for eternity.”

As I look at the acorns spilling and spilling, my first thought was, “That’s one busy woodpecker! What a lot of work he did, flying here and there to bring acorns to the basket. He is really prepared for the future season! He must have been doing that non-stop.” My next thought was, do I do that? Work continuously for Jesus, laying up treasures for the heavenly future?

When I stand before Jesus to give an account of myself, and He opens my basket of works, will there be one tiny acorn that falls to the throne room’s floor in a pitiful ‘clink’, rolling forlornly to stop at Jesus’s foot?

Or will it be like the wonderful overflowing as the operator opened the antenna and the hard work I’ve tirelessly been undertaking spills out in a monumental mountain? I like to think that Paul’s pile is that overflowing, and Moses’s, and Charles Spurgeon’s and our other heroes of the faith… I am sure I have only a few treasures stored up. But my prayer is that as I go forward that I won’t tire of always striving to do more for Him and with the right motivations, too. I want there to be a huge pile of works that Jesus deems acceptable and remains as gold and silver – because that will have meant I lived for Him. I want to be as busy every day as the woodpecker, constantly piling up treasure for the season to come, my eternal season of glory with Jesus.

God

What is it? The Atlanticus Sea Slug

Posted on June 4, 2012 by elizabethprata

It is another of God’s amazing creatures! The Glaucus Atlanticus sea slug, says Chicago Now blog:“The Glaucus Atlanticus Sea Slug is as unusual as its appearance suggests – this thing is honestly pretty weird, but we can forgive it since it is so breath-taking.

These creatures are three centimeters long and predominantly colored with silver and blue tints. They are found in tropical waters, specifically those off of the coast of Africa and Australia. (Though they exist predominantly in these locations, they can also be found off of European coasts.)

The Glaucus Atlanticus Sea Slug floats on top of the water by using it’s gas filled sac. (Sounds gross, but floating is pretty cool.)

Surprisingly, these tiny slugs actually feed on large, dangerous, poisonous animals; namely the Portuguese Man O’ War. Yeah, those are the things that you try to avoid at all costs whenever you go snorkeling in the ocean, because their stings hurt like no other. Here’s a quote from Wikipedia that I found… disturbing.

“Consumes the entire organism.“

The Glaucus Atlanticus Sea Slug consumes the entire organism. THAT’S INSANE. This animal also steals the poison from the creature it just preyed upon, and then saves that poison as a self-defense mechanism.”

And just think, God made this creature and all creatures in 6 days.

assam, plague of beasts, spiders, village attacked

Indian villagers attacked by swarms of suddenly appearing spiders

Posted on June 4, 2012 by elizabethprata

Update at bottom.
————
I read a few days ago of this incident in an Indian village, and have waited for a bit more information, but none has been reported. It is just a strange, singular event. Apparently as a Hindu festival was going on, swarms of spiders suddenly appeared and landed on people, attacking and biting them. Chaos ensued, many people wound up at the hospital, and two people died.

There are many things to consider here.

First, was the suddenness of the spiders’ appearance. The came out of nowhere. And they are not small spiders either, not just-born spiderlings wafting their way on the wind like Charlotte’s babies. There were huge tarantula type spiders.

Secondly, they were of a species no one can identify. Meaning, that if the locals cannot identify them and this had never happened before, the spiders were not local. Times of India reported, “Whatever it is, it is definitely new to the area. Assam doesn’t have venomous spiders, it never had any throughout history, or there would have been some document, text or art that depicted this spider. People wouldn’t have panicked like this; they are scared because they have seen something like this for the first time and don’t know how to deal with it. They are used to the common house spider, which runs away when you even snap your finger close to it. But this spider attacks if you try to scare it off. Those who were bitten have said that when they tried to shoo it off, it leapt at them and buried its fangs.””

The Fox News article states:
“They say it could be a tarantula, a black wishbone or even a funnel-web spider — or it could be a whole new species. One thing they agree on is that it is not native to the area as there is no record of venomous spiders in Assam. The black wishbone and funnel-web are native to Australia.”

What?? Where did they come from?? The Times of India article states, “Yet the spider menace continued. None had any answer as to what kind of a spider it was and how it made such a sudden appearance.”

Third, they were especially aggressive. They not only landed on people, but seemed to seek them out and sink their fangs into the flesh with gusto. From the same article: “It leaps at anything that comes close. Some of the victims claimed the spider latched on to them after biting.”

Fourth, they were celebrating a Hindu Festival of Bihu. In particular, this festival is native to the Assam region, and it one of three throughout the year, all tied to agriculture. The Times of India noted that the festival recently celebrated was the Ronghali Bihu, and here is a description of it:

Rongali Bihu, the most popular Bihu celebrates the onset of the Assamese New Year and the coming of Spring. It’s a time of merriment and feasting and continues, in general, for seven days. The farmers prepare the fields for cultivation of paddy and there is a feeling of joy around. The women make pitha, larus (traditional food made of rice and coconut) and Jolpan which gives the real essence of the season. The first day of the bihu is called goru bihu or cow bihu, where the cows are washed and worshipped, which falls on the last day of the previous year, usually on April 14. This is followed by manuh (human) bihu on April 15, the New Year Day. This is the day of getting cleaned up, wearing new cloths and celebrating and getting ready for the new year with fresh vigor. The third day is Gosai (Gods) bihu; statues of Gods, worshiped in all households are cleaned and worshiped asking for a smooth new year.”

Hmmm. After the arachnid attack, Fox News noted, “All the bite patients first went to witch doctors, who cut open their wounds with razors, drained out blood and burnt it. That could have also made them sick,” Phatowali said.” It was only later that they went to hospitals.

I can’t imagine what it was like for the Indian people gathered at the festival to have this hairy thing jump on you out of nowhere. It made me think of the Egyptians who were plowing their land or kneading their bread, doing everyday things and suddenly there were swarms of frogs leaping on them from everywhere:

“The Nile shall swarm with frogs that shall come up into your house and into your bedroom and on your bed and into the houses of your servants and your people, and into your ovens and your kneading bowls.” (Ex 8:3).

It also made me think of what happens when people worship false gods:

“While Israel lived in Shittim, the people began to whore with the daughters of Moab. These invited the people to the sacrifices of their gods, and the people ate and bowed down to their gods. So Israel yoked himself to Baal of Peor. And the anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel.” (Numbers 25:1-3)

Finally, it made me think of the time during the Tribulation when the animal kingdom is released from its restraint, too, and millions are killed in a plague of beasts.

“And I looked, and behold, a pale horse! And its rider’s name was Death, and Hades followed him. And they were given authority over a fourth of the earth, to kill with sword and with famine and with pestilence and by wild beasts of the earth.” (Revelation 6:8).

Do I think the spider-biting incident in Assam was directly the hand of God? I don’t know. Only He knows. The strangeness of it, the fact that some aspects of the event so far have been inexplicable, makes me think of the aforementioned verses.

Just because it is 2012 does not mean that the Old Testament and New Testament Revelation verses are expired. We still live at the will and pleasure of the same God as from past Old Testament times. He is the same God who will judge all the world in the future Revelation events. Even though the spider event was inexplicable, God is still the same: burning with anger at false worship, in control of the animal and natural world, and promising to judge all. Perhaps the Assam spider biting incident was a preview.
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The ‘unbelievableness’ of the story is causing some to doubt whether it is true or not. CNN reports that because some of the people went to witch doctors and not qualified medical professionals, it casts doubt on the story. And that “The evidence that we gathered does not support the claim that they [two people who died after the infestation] died after being bitten by spiders,” Saikia said.”

LOL. stay tuned.

joy, psalm

Psalm 8

Posted on June 3, 2012 by elizabethprata

I’m very grateful to Jesus for all He does for me, undeserving as I am. The more I read His word, pray, and watch the Spirit’s work in me and the world, the more I am in awe of His holy Being. And David’s question is a good one. I ask it too, “what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him?” Indeed?! Who am I? Yet He saves us, provides for us, teaches us, loves us, and so much more, despite our faltering and ridiculous fumbles. O Lord, you are loving! How wonderful will be the day when all will know your majestic name in all the earth!

LORD, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!
You have set your glory above the heavens.
Out of the mouth of babies and infants,
you have established strength because of your foes,
to still the enemy and the avenger.
When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars, which you have set in place,
what is man that you are mindful of him,
and the son of man that you care for him?
Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings
and crowned him with glory and honor.
You have given him dominion over the works of your hands;
you have put all things under his feet,
all sheep and oxen,
and also the beasts of the field,
the birds of the heavens, and the fish of the sea,
whatever passes along the paths of the seas.
O LORD, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!