Posted in end of days, prophecy

Are things spinning out of control? (Answer: No)

Posted on by elizabethprata

If you read the news today it seems like everything is out of control. Politics is out of control. I mean, really:

Cost of living is out of control. Gas prices are out of control. Tell me about that last one. The price of regular gas went up ten cents last week, and two cents just today. $3.69 on the way into work, $3.71 on the way home from work. I don’t get paid for two more weeks. I wonder what the price will be then. The weather is out of control, there’s 80 degrees in Maine and twisters in Michigan and 250,000 tons of snow in Anchorage. The Middle East is out of control, with hundreds of rockets falling in Israel and at one point a million Israelis huddling in shelters. Iran is threatening the destruction of the US. You heard right, they’re not just the usual threats against Israel, but Iran issued a direct threat to destroy the US and not to rest until they have accomplished that. The economic situation is out of control. 80% of Americans say they are not better off than they were 4 years ago. UK unemployment is up more that they even figured for February.

A report is out that antibiotic overuse is so prevalent a scratched knee could be deadly. That last one reminded me of a documentary I’d seen recently in which a global epidemic occurred and within two weeks civilization collapsed. In the documentary, which was interspersed with live drama to illustrate the effects of the situations the various authorities were describing, the father, who had led his family out of LA and managed to survive gangs, disarray, hunger, thirst, loss of possessions, and all sorts of animal and human dangers, died from a scratch on his hand.

I think I have mentioned every sphere in which we live; food, transportation, government, war, medicine, peace, etc. Every sphere of our lives are unraveling, undergoing pressure, or otherwise getting worse. It sure feels like things are spinning out of control.

They’re not.

I was musing on God’s orderliness. Time and time again in the bible he shows us just how much He is in control. Everything happens in His schedule, in His timetable, in His timing, for His reasons. Nothing escapes His notice. Nothing happens unless He causes it, allows it, or oversees it and then brings it all to the Good for those who love Him.

You have to read the bible a lot to get this broad of an overview. I can put in bible verse after bible verse, but it wouldn’t broaden the scope enough to illustrate what I’m saying. The best thing to do is read Matthew 1-3. I’ll synopsize here.

For millennia, the People knew that there would come a Messiah to redeem them and bring them to sinless glory. They waited and they waited and they waited. It seemed like a long time was passing. And a long time was passing. But in God’s orderliness, this is how time was passing:

“So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations, from David until the captivity in Babylon are fourteen generations, and from the captivity in Babylon until the Christ are fourteen generations.” (Matthew 1:17).

Orderly. Precise. Jesus arrived at the fourteenth generation of the fourteenth generation of the fourteenth generation, just as planned.

When the Magi arrived, Herod was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. (Mt 2:3). So Herod called the priests and teachers and asked about this birth and where it was supposed to take place. They replied:

So they said to him, “In Bethlehem of Judea, for thus it is written by the prophet:
‘But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, Are not the least among the rulers of Judah; For out of you shall come a Ruler Who will shepherd My people Israel.’” (Matthew 2:5-6)

Jesus was born in Bethlehem, just as He planned. Orderly.

Herod was much troubled and he decided to kill the boy Jesus, this coming King he had heard of, by killing all the tots under the age of two. But God sent an angel to Joseph, advising him to flee to Egypt. And so another prophecy was fulfilled.

“When he arose, he took the young Child and His mother by night and departed for Egypt, and was there until the death of Herod, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying, “Out of Egypt I called My Son.” (Matthew 3:14-15)

Herod’s massacre then happened, and so the prophecy of Jeremiah was fulfilled–

“A voice was heard in Ramah, Lamentation, weeping, and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children, Refusing to be comforted, Because they are no more.” (Matthew 3:18).

Peter Paul Rubens Massacre of the Innocents

God sent the People their first prophet in 400 years, a man to announce the coming kingdom and to call for repentance: John the Baptist. This was to fulfill he “who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah, saying:

“The voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘ Prepare the way of the LORD; Make His paths straight.’” (Matthew 3:3).

Orderly. He was spoken of to come, and he came.

If you take the broad view you see that all had happened just as it should. You see that it is all happening now just as it should. Though daily events seem out of control, over the long term they are actually very orderly.

As an example,  you look at the Reubens painting it looks like chaos. The mothers of the slain babies sure didn’t feel like life was orderly- it felt like it was spinning out of control. As the angel shook Joseph’s shoulder and told him to flee to Egypt, it sure must have felt like things were spinning out of control. You know how you feel when you get a 2 am phone call! It is scary at best and chaotic at worst, especially if the call brings bad news, especially if you have to run out to the police station or to the hospital.

I understand how the people of Jesus’ day would be confused, the disparate verses calling for a Bethlehem-born, lamenting Rachel, out of Egypt, Nazarene presaged by a Nazrite eating locusts and honey didn’t seem to fit together. But then, just as suddenly, they did. His prophecy is perfect and perfectly orderly.

If you feel like life is getting out of control, I understand. There’s high crime, wantonness, bloated lusts. But they too are prophesied:

“Tell us, when will these things be? And what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?” And Jesus answered and said to them: “Take heed that no one deceives you. For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many. And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of sorrows.” (Matthew 24:3b-8).

All these things must come to pass. And then He will call for us, and suddenly everything we have been told for thousands of years  in the twinkling of an eye will become past history.

God has everything in control. If you are saved by His grace, your soul is secure. Everything is progressing just as it should be. Nothing is out of control.

It is happening in an orderly way, precisely, and perfectly. And no matter what happens in my life, no matter how low my bank account gets, or how many rumors of reduction in force swirl past my ears, no matter how many times I have to hide in the tub with a pillow over my head from tornadoes, no matter how empty my refrigerator gets, I know He has everything in control. That knowledge is the securest place I could possibly be, and I wouldn’t trade it. I am grateful for His grace, His perfection, His plan, His love for keeping me sheltered in this wonderful knowledge.

If you would like to partake of the sweetness of His security, knowing everything is perfect in the world according to His plan, then repent of your sins. Appeal to Jesus as your savior from the wrath of God, and fling yourself on Him in sorrow for your crimes against Him. He will forgive you. And then I would be blessed to say to you, “Welcome to the family of God.”

Posted in rapture, sky booms, sounds of the apocalypse

Strange boom heard in GA, spiritual warfare ramping up?

Posted on by elizabethprata

There has been a spate of strange sky noises lately, reported from all around the world. I reported on some of them last year, a roundup is here.

People have been asking me if I am going to address the current spate of sky rumbles/sky quakes/ mysterious booms as they are variously known. I don’t have much to say about them, and I can’t really relate them to the bible because the bible does not specifically address them as a warning sign. However, they may indicate something related to the end times.

The noises are usually a low pitched hum that veritably drives the residents crazy, or a boom from the sky that people liken to a sonic boom. Sometimes they say it sounds like a clanking or a chain in the sky. In several incidents, they were hoaxes. When they occur for real, as in the case where it was so loud it caused car alarms to go off, the authorities receive dozens to hundreds of phone calls asking if there had been an earthquake. In most cases, the boom is not related to a military activity nor aeronautic exercise, not to a quake, and not to drilling or explosives. These things are checked out and the usual explanation is usually absent, leaving residents to wonder what is the cause of the noise. That’s why they are termed mysterious. Someone dubbed them “Sounds of the Apocalypse” and I think that is the most apt thing about these noises.

At first, the sounds were being recorded and put up by citizens on Youtube. In those cases I think some were hoaxes. Then semi-credible news agencies started reporting on them, such as this one from UK Daily Mail-

“What’s causing the mysterious sounds coming from the sky that are so loud they set off car alarms?“

After this more credible news outlets reported on them, albeit local ones:

Still no explanation for mysterious booms in Madison County
 And still another one heard over several states and accompanied by a fireball

A mysterious boom was heard today near Savannah GA.

Something shakes Southeast Georgia
Reports of loud boom, earth shaking reports come from 5 counties
It wasn’t an earthquake that rattled windows and store shelves early, but residents across Southeast Georgia heard and felt something big Thursday morning. “My wife and I, we heard this loud noise — this booming noise,” said Officer Todd Rhodes of the Brunswick Police Department. “It was a noise that literally shook our home.” When Rhodes got to work, he learned his 911 center was swamped with calls of people with similar reports. “Everyone was very concerned,” Rhodes said. “There was some panic there because you know when you hear that noise as far-reaching as it was, and not only hearing it but feeling it, you want to know, ‘What is this?'”

GEMA, Air Force confirm sonic boom heard
“Several people called WTOC Thursday morning saying they heard a loud boom and some even felt their house shake around 8:30 a.m. Ray Parker, the Emergency Management Director in McIntosh County, ruled out an earthquake. The Georgia Emergency Management Agency and the Air Force both confirm that what people heard was a sonic boom. Some Air Force planes were doing training exercises off the Georgia coast Thursday morning, when one may have gotten too close to land.”

Maybe.

There is no doubt that strange booms are emanating from the sky. Enough people have heard them to make no doubt they really are happening. When hundreds of calls flood into a 911 call center, when agencies like GA Emergency Management Agency and Seismology offices and Police Authorities officials confirm it, you know they are happening. But what are they? Why are they being heard now?

I think of the veil, the veneer between us and the powers, principalities and dominions (Eph 1:21, Col 1:16; Eph 6:12) and I wonder, how thin is it? Elisha prayed to God for Him to give Elisha’s servant a glimpse of the other side, and the servant’s eyes were opened and he saw the multitudes of angels right there hovering and ready to do battle. (2 Kings 6:17). Are the two sides so close together that an occasional co-mingling occurs? Sounds leak from one to the other? I don’t know of course, but I wonder about these things.

There is an angel big and strong enough to stand on the sun and loud enough to call to all the birds flying in the air inside out atmosphere:

“Then I saw an angel standing in the sun, and he cried out with a loud voice, saying to all the birds which fly in midheaven, “Come, assemble for the great supper of God,” (Revelation 19:17).

There are angels big and strong enough to stand at the 4 compass points and hold back the wind:

“After this I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds of the earth, so that no wind would blow on the earth or on the sea or on any tree.” (Revelation 7:1).

Angels are strong and big. The fallen angels are strong and big too. They were once the good angels who served God after all, the same as the ones written about above.

Personally I believe the booms are either manifestations of spiritual warfare we happen to hear on this side of the veil, or the preparations God is making for imminent Tribulation judgments. Sort of like the bumps and shudders throughout a house when furniture is being moved around. Nothing that is happening on that side of the veil is happening accidentally or chaotically, of course, but as evil rises I picture the throes and feverish pitch of good angels fighting fallen angels, and the preparations for the climactic end season of man’s time on earth.

This means that if you are not saved that you need to be, NOW. It means that if you have read this far,that  the Spirit is working in you toward repentance, and all you need to do is realize that your sins are crimes against a Just and Holy God, who sent His Son to die to pay for the penalty required to satisfy God’s wrath over those crimes.

Jesus said of Himself,

“I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me— just as the Father knows me and I know the Father—and I lay down my life for the sheep. I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd.” (John 10:14-16)

You are welcome to the flock. The sheepfold is big enough for you. Your loving Shepherd wants to take care of you, longs to, in fact. He promises to deliver Jacob, His people:

“I will surely gather all of you, Jacob; I will surely bring together the remnant of Israel.
I will bring them together like sheep in a pen, like a flock in its pasture; the place will throng with people. (Micah 2:12)

He promises to deliver His Church people:

“Then Jesus told them this parable: “Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Doesn’t he leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.’ I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.” (Luke 15:3-7)

If you do need to repent, do so soon, please. Jesus is coming. He is a fabulous Savior, the manifestation of Love itself. Be in Him, it is the safest and warmest and best place to be in the entire universe. Blessings to you all.

Posted in end time, leonard ravenhill, prophets

Send us prophets!

Posted on by elizabethprata

Picture of a Prophet
By Leonard Ravenhill
The prophet in his day is fully accepted of God and totally rejected by men.

Years back, Dr. Gregory Mantle was right when he said, “No man can be fully accepted until he is totally rejected.” The prophet of the Lord is aware of both these experiences. They are his “brand name.”

The group, challenged by the prophet because they are smug and comfortably insulated from a perishing world in their warm but untested theology, is not likely to vote him “Man of the year” when he refers to them as habituates of the synagogue of Satan!

The prophet comes to set up that which is upset. His work is to call into line those who are out of line! He is unpopular because he opposes the popular in morality and spirituality. In a day of faceless politicians and voiceless preachers, there is not a more urgent national need than that we cry to God for a prophet! The function of the prophet, as Austin-Sparks once said, “has almost always been that of recovery.”

The prophet is God’s detective seeking for a lost treasure. The degree of his effectiveness is determined by his measure of unpopularity. Compromise is not known to him.
He has no price tags.
He is totally “otherworldly.”
He is unquestionably controversial and unpardonably hostile.
He marches to another drummer!
He breathes the rarefied air of inspiration.
He is a “seer” who comes to lead the blind.
He lives in the heights of God and comes into the valley with a “thus saith
the Lord.”
He shares some of the foreknowledge of God and so is aware of
impending judgment.
He lives in “splendid isolation.”
He is forthright and outright, but he claims no birthright.
His message is “repent, be reconciled to God or else…!”
His prophecies are parried.
His truth brings torment, but his voice is never void.
He is the villain of today and the hero of tomorrow.
He is excommunicated while alive and exalted when dead!
He is dishonored with epithets when breathing and honored with
epitaphs when dead.
He is a schoolmaster to bring us to Christ, but few “make the grade” in his class.
He is friendless while living and famous when dead.
He is against the establishment in ministry; then he is established as a saint
by posterity.
He eats daily the bread of affliction while he ministers, but he feeds the Bread of
Life to those who listen.
He walks before men for days but has walked before God for years.
He is a scourge to the nation before he is scourged by the nation.
He announces, pronounces, and denounces!
He has a heart like a volcano and his words are as fire.
He talks to men about God.
He carries the lamp of truth amongst heretics while he is lampooned by men.
He faces God before he faces men, but he is self-effacing.
He hides with God in the secret place, but he has nothing to hide in
the marketplace.
He is naturally sensitive but supernaturally spiritual.
He has passion, purpose and pugnacity.
He is ordained of God but disdained by men.

Our national need at this hour is not that the dollar recover its strength, or that we save face over the Watergate affair, or that we find the answer to the ecology problem. We need a God-sent prophet!

I am bombarded with talk or letters about the coming shortages in our national life: bread, fuel, energy. I read between the lines from people not practiced in scaring folk. They feel that the “seven years of plenty” are over for us. The “seven years of famine” are ahead. But the greatest famine of all in this nation at this given moment is a FAMINE OF THE HEARING OF THE WORDS OF GOD (Amos 8:11).

Millions have been spent on evangelism in the last twenty-five years. Hundreds of gospel messages streak through the air over the nation every day. Crusades have been held; healing meetings have made a vital contribution. “Come-outers” have “come out” and settled, too, without a nation-shaking revival. Organizers we have. Skilled preachers abound. Multi-million dollar Christian organizations straddle the nation. BUT where, oh where, is the prophet? Where are the incandescent men fresh from the holy place? Where is the Moses to plead in fasting before the holiness of the Lord for our moldy morality, our political perfidy, and sour and sick spirituality?

GOD’S MEN ARE IN HIDING UNTIL THE DAY OF THEIR SHOWING FORTH. They will come. The prophet is violated during his ministry, but he is vindicated by history.

There is a terrible vacuum in evangelical Christianity today. The missing person in our ranks is the prophet. The man with a terrible earnestness. The man totally otherworldly. The man rejected by other men, even other good men, because they consider him too austere, too severely committed, too negative and unsociable.

Let him be as plain as John the Baptist.
Let him for a season be a voice crying in the wilderness of modern theology and
stagnant “churchianity.”
Let him be as selfless as Paul the apostle.
Let him, too, say and live, “This ONE thing I do.”
Let him reject ecclesiastical favors.
Let him be self-abasing, nonself-seeking, nonself-projecting, nonself- righteous,
nonself-glorying, nonself-promoting.
Let him say nothing that will draw men to himself but only that which will move
men to God.
Let him come daily from the throne room of a holy God, the place where he has
received the order of the day.
Let him, under God, unstop the ears of the millions who are deaf through the
clatter of shekels milked from this hour of material mesmerism.
Let him cry with a voice this century has not heard because he has seen a vision
no man in this century has seen. God send us this Moses to lead us from the
wilderness of crass materialism, where the rattlesnakes of lust bite us and where
enlightened men, totally blind spiritually, lead us to an ever-nearing Armageddon.

God have mercy! Send us PROPHETS!

“Copyright (C) 1994 by Leonard Ravenhill.”

Posted in israel, UNESCO

UNESCO, the Palestinians and Israel’s holy sites

Posted on by elizabethprata

Yesterday I’d posted a story titled “Is Israel abandoning the Mount of Olives?” I used that title because that is the actual title of the opinion piece as it appeared a few days ago in Israel National News. In the article the author bemoaned the fact that the Mount of Olives cemetery “suffers from desecration of graves and violence against visitors, including stones thrown at mourners and family members.” The author also went on to explain that the UN heritage organization, UNESCO, consistently denies or restricts status and access to Jewish Holy Sites, such as Jericho Synagogue, the Mugrabi Bridge, Cave of the Patriarchs and Rachel’s Tomb.

A reader posted a question, a good one: “I wonder why Israel is giving up some of these sites??? Why did they give David’s tomb to the Catholics?” This post is the answer. First, a look at why the sites are slipping out of Israel’s hands. It revolves around UNESCO, an organization of the UN.

UNESCO is an organization of the UN “best known for designating world heritage sites, [and also] is a major global development agency whose missions include promoting literacy, science, clean water and education, including sex education and promoting equal treatment for girls and young women.”

Here is an example of how the UN restricts status and steals Jewish holy sites:

2010: UNESCO steals Holy Site, gives it to Palestinians
“The board of UNESCO (the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) has decided that Rachel’s Tomb and the Cave of the Patriarchs — both of which are ancient Jewish holy places — should be removed from Israel’s list of national sites. And that’s not all. According to UNESCO, Rachel’s Tomb isn’t Jewish after all, despite millenia of history. Its name should accordingly be changed to the Bilal ibn Rabah mosque — a demand the Palestinians manufactured, in the teeth of all historical evidence, in 1996.”

The process is that members of UNESCO list an inventory of their heritage and holy sites each year. Members produce an inventory of those properties which each State Party intends to consider for nomination. Once nominated and accepted by vote, the site gets protected status and financial aid. Non-members cannot nominate any sites, as this next story reports–

May 2011: UNESCO rejects Palestinian nominations
Unesco is considering adding 11 Middle East sites in June for inclusion on its World Heritage List, but the Palestinian nomination will not be among them. The Palestinian proposal of the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem was rejected for consideration. “The World Heritage Committee will not be able to consider the nomination until, if and when Palestine becomes a state party to the [World Heritage] Convention,” said Louise Haxthausen, the head of Unesco’s office in Ramallah. Only countries recognised by the United Nations as sovereign states and members of the world body can make nominations to Unesco.”

The Palestinians went “HMMMMMM”

On October 31, 2011, the Palestinian Authority, which had applied for membership into UNESCO organization, was voted in.

October 2011: UN accepts Palestinian Authority as members of UNESCO
“Palestine became the 195th full member of Unesco on Monday…Cheers filled the hall at Unesco’s headquarters here after the vote, with one delegate shouting, “Long live Palestine!” in French.”

It didn’t take long for the Palestinians to get in on the current round of nominations. As a matter of fact, two weeks before the UNESCO membership vote at the UN on Oct 31, this story appeared:

“Palestinians to push heritage status at UNESCO for birthplace of Jesus“
“The Palestinians will seek World Heritage status for the birthplace of Jesus once the U.N. cultural agency admits them as a full member, and will then nominate other sites on Israeli-occupied land for the same standing, an official said. … He said that after gaining full UNESCO membership, the Palestinians will revive their bid to secure World Heritage status for Bethlehem and its Church of the Nativity, revered as the birthplace of Jesus. The nomination was rejected this year because the Palestinians were not a full UNESCO member.”

‘Israeli-occupied’ land… [snort]. Well the PA did what the article said they planned to do. After the three month waiting period and the moment their membership became active, the PA came out with their list of nominations and sure enough, the birthplace of Jesus was on their list-

March 2012: Palestinians to submit 20 sites for UNESCO listing
“The Palestinians are poised to submit the names of 20 sites in Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza for addition to UNESCO’s list of World Heritage sites, an official said on Thursday. Palestine was accepted as a full member state of the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation last year, over objections from Israel and the United States, and despite not having full United Nations membership. But its tenure as a full UNESCO member came into force on Thursday, and diplomats now plan to move quickly to register Palestinian sites. “From today we are a full party as a state so now we can start all the things that states can do within the rules of the convention, one of them is that we can submit our list to the World Heritage committee,” he said. Until now, the Palestinians could not formally submit any sites in the Palestinian territories for inclusion in the list. The tentative list that will be submitted is the first step in the process of obtaining World Heritage status for the sites, and is intended as an inventory of the locations a member wishes to register, UNESCO says. The list includes sites ranging from Bethlehem’s Church of the Nativity, revered as the birthplace of Jesus Christ, to Hebron’s walled Old City in the southern West Bank.”

So that is how these sites are slipping from Israel’s hands. Now to the second question, why did the Israelis give the Vatican sovereignty over David’s tomb?

Let’s go back a few months ago, to December 2011:

“The Vatican’s former foreign minister asked to place some Israeli holy places under Vatican authority, alluding to the Cenacle on Mount Zion and the garden of Gethsemane at the foot of the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem. The first site also houses what is referred to as King David’s tomb.”

The Cenacle is the Upper Room where authorities say the Last Supper took place. The article continues:

“The Israeli government and the Vatican are deadlocked in discussions over the status of the religious sites. Vatican officials are now reiterating their demand for control over the religious sites in the ancient and holy city founded by King David as the capital of ancient Israel and now the capital of the reestablished Jewish state. Danny Ayalon, Israel’s deputy foreign minister, declared that Israel might consider giving the Vatican “a greater role” in operating the sites. In the last weeks, the Roman Catholic Church’s authorities increased their political initiatives for Catholic control over some sites in Jerusalem.’

The problem, they allege, is here encapsulated in the Archbishop of the Roman Catholic Church Fouad Twal’s speech, in which he denounced “the Israeli right wing invading more and more of Jerusalem and trying to transform it into an only Hebrew-Jewish city, excluding the other faiths”.

Sigh.

The truth is that everyone wants a piece of Israel, not just the Palestinians and not just the United Nations, not just Iran and Hamas and Hezbollah, but the Catholics too. They are all like snarling wolves fighting over an increasingly carved up Israel. So that is the story of how they are striking at the heart of Israel, not just through rockets lobbed at Israel towns and cities (summary of rocket events here), not just through the Israel-hating UN, but at a constant and subtle chipping away at Israel through its heart and holy sites.

Job 14:19a, “water wears away stones”… and feet wears away stones too.

Canterbury Cathedral: Stairs to the south ambulatory, worn down by pilgrim feet and knees.

The truth is, even stone gets worn and weary, and constant pressure and treading on it wears it away. With pressure on all sides, I can’t imagine how the Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and the Israeli people (a million of them recently sheltering in underground bunkers due to rocket barrages) withstand the pressure. But the pressure will get more intense as the jackals come for Israel.

The good news is that the promise of God to the People is that their land is actually Israel, Jordan, Iran, Lebanon, Syria, and half of Egypt. They will dwell there someday, during the Millennium.

I believe that the Tribulation events will obliterate most of Jerusalem and that the Millennial Kingdom will usher in a time where the land and the buildings will be new and different, but still, wouldn’t it be something if one of the Old Testament Patriarchs said, “Hey, let’s take a walk to the Mount of Olives Tombs to see where I used to be buried!”

Greater Israel map Source

Praise God His promises are true! I long for the day when the world will love Israel because they love God and know that it is HIS land and HIS people. Israel must be punished prior to that glorious time, though, and meanwhile, now and then, we pray. We pray the Israelites of today will have the strength to bear what is coming, and we pray in praises to God that He maintains a remnant

“It shall come to pass in that day That the Lord shall set His hand again the second time To recover the remnant of His people who are left, From Assyria and Egypt, From Pathros and Cush, From Elam and Shinar, From Hamath and the islands of the sea.” (Isaiah 11:11)

Blessed are the words, ‘It shall come to pass.’

Posted in israel, mount of olives

Is Israel abandoning the Mount of Olives?

Posted on by elizabethprata

From Israel National News Wednesday March 7:

Is Israel abandoning the Mount of Olives?
“The Mount of Olives is a real Israeli national heritage site, going back thousands of years. The situation there now is intolerable. Under pressure from Unesco, which is trying to “de-Judaize” and “Islamicize” the most holy Jewish sites, the State of Israel seems to be giving up its sovereignty on graves and sacred sites.The Cave of the Patriarchs in Hevron and Rachel’s Tomb in Bethlehem— the most important Jewish holy sites — have been just omitted from their list of Israel’s national heritage sites. A few days ago, the Palestinian Rehabilitation Committee raised the Unesco flag next to the Palestinian flag in front of Hevron’s Tomb and in all the Unesco official documents, Hevron’s Tomb is already labelled as “a Palestinian site”.

The Temple wall can be seen at the right, with the road leading down to the cemetery and then the cemetery below. Source Wikipedia

“After Unesco condemned the renovation of the Mughrabi Bridge that links the Western Wall to the Temple Mount, Israel’s government closed the structure. Under the Islamic Waqf’s intimidation, Israeli authorities are banning Jews from praying on the Mount and are not even allowed to carry any holy articles with them. Joseph’s Tomb near Nablus, which is mentioned in the Book of Genesis, can be reached by Jewish worshippers only like thieves in the night, escorted by the IDF and only once in a month. But according to the Oslo Accords, the tomb, where Unesco just financed an Arab archaeological park, should have been under Israel’s control. Palestinian policemen remain armed at the tomb, despite the killing of a Jewish pilgrim last year. Today no Jew is permitted to set foot without military escort in the Shalom al Yisrael synagogue of the “city of palms”, Jericho. Jews were denied access to it from 1948 until 1967, when Israel liberated the area and Jews returned to the site.”

“According to Annex II of the Gaza-Jericho Agreement of 1994, “Religious affairs in the ‘Shalom Al Israel’ synagogue in Jericho shall be under the auspices of the Israeli authorities”. But in fact, Israeli authorities gave up the site. A few weeks ago, Israel gave the Vatican sovereignty over David’s tomb, where some believe Jewish kings of Judea are buried. But the most unknown story is about the Mount of Olives cemetery, which has just been discussed at an emergency hearing of the Knesset.”

So let’s summarize,

Cave of the Patriarchs- Arab
Rachel’s Tomb – Arab
Temple Mount – Arab
Joseph’s Tomb – restricted
Jericho synagogue – Arab
David’s Tomb – Catholic
Mt. Olive cemetery – abandoned

The Mount of Olives cemetery is where this happened at the Resurrection: “The tombs were opened, and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised; and coming out of the tombs after His resurrection they entered the holy city and appeared to many.” (Matthew 27:52-53).

The writer of the Israel National News opinion piece wrote at length of the deplorable conditions at the cemetery and of the tombs. He ended with this: “We’re not talking about the Gaza Strip. We’re talking about the most holy Jewish cemetery, overlooking the Temple Mount. Is that area to become “Judenrein” like Joseph’s Tomb? If Israel is abdicating the Mount of Olives, then she is abdicating Jerusalem.”

Here is what will happen: Jesus will descend from heaven and land on the Mount of Olives. He will not need a military escort! He will not need to get paperwork or ask permission! He will RECLAIM WHAT IS HIS!!

“In that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, which is in front of Jerusalem on the east; and the Mount of Olives will be split in its middle from east to west by a very large valley, so that half of the mountain will move toward the north and the other half toward the south. You will flee by the valley of My mountains, for the valley of the mountains will reach to Azel; yes, you will flee just as you fled before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah. Then the LORD, my God, will come, and all the holy ones with Him!” (Zechariah 14:4-5).

Posted in japan tsunami

Tsunami anniversary: then and now

Posted on by elizabethprata

Today is the one-year anniversary of the Japan earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear disaster. The power of God was made manifest before us all on that day, and there are some photos that I’ll never forget.

Tsunami Then and Now
Here is a photo essay of  “The moment when the tsunami struck Japan and the same view today.” It is really interesting to see the before and after. God’s power and man’s industriousness…

I think of Job 9:1-10-

Then Job answered and said,
2I know it is so of a truth: but how should man be just with God?
3If he will contend with him, he cannot answer him one of a thousand.
4He is wise in heart, and mighty in strength: who hath hardened himself against him, and hath prospered?
5Which removeth the mountains, and they know not: which overturneth them in his anger.
6Which shaketh the earth out of her place, and the pillars thereof tremble.
7Which commandeth the sun, and it riseth not; and sealeth up the stars.
8Which alone spreadeth out the heavens, and treadeth upon the waves of the sea.
9Which maketh Arcturus, Orion, and Pleiades, and the chambers of the south.
10Which doeth great things past finding out; yea, and wonders without number.
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Posted in abortions, inerrancy, israel

Couple would have aborted daughter if not for botched test saying she was healthy, & other news

Posted on by elizabethprata

Some news for you this morning.

What is there to say about this first story? Except that God hates when parents pass their child though the fires to Molech, (Leviticus 18:21) and that each child is a gift from God. (Psalm 127:3). The parents say they are receiving death threats over this.

Victory for couple who said they ‘would have aborted daughter if they knew she had Down’s syndrome’ as jury forces hospital to pay $2.9million following botched test
“A couple who sued a hospital for not telling them their unborn child has Down’s syndrome has been awarded a $2.9million payout. Ariel and Deborah Levy, who say they would have had an abortion if they had known the child would be disabled, claimed they needed the money to pay for their daughter Kalanit’s lifelong care. And a jury agreed, deciding on Friday that Oregon’s Legacy Health hospital had been negligent in failing to diagnose the condition in a pre-natal scan. The hospital is considering appealing the verdict, but the Levys’ lawyer urged them to ‘let this case finally come to an end’.”

As we awaken today and prepare for congregational worship, it is a sad reality that a quarter of a million school children in Israel have had school canceled due to the number of rockets that have been shot at the southern end of the country. Worse, officials now fear an escalation that would include targeting Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. If the Military officials in Israel have good grounds to fear this, then they have good grounds to fear this. They are not Nervous Nellies over there, and so we need to use our prayer time for Israel today.

Gaza terrorists might target Tel Aviv
“Rocket fire from the Gaza Strip continued Saturday night, and police are expressing concern that the current round of fighting could escalate. Police fear that terrorist organizations in the Gaza Strip might use weapons that have not yet been seen – long-range rockets that could reach metropolitan Tel Aviv. The police and the IDF Home Front Command are not taking any chances, and are planning for the worst case scenario. A senior police official told Hebrew daily “Ma’ariv” that there are serious concerns that terrorist organizations in the Gaza Strip might use weapons not yet employed.”

One thing I’ve noticed is that churches have become overextended lately because they inadvisably hopped on the Youth culture bandwagon. Suddenly the churches around where I live are renovating or adding on so that their youth can have a space like a darkened loft where The Beat Generation used to hang out and jam to Kerouac poetry. These building additions have fancy lighting, sound stages, concert quality amplifiers, couches to hang out on etc. All some of these places need is a booth and Phil Spector creating a Wall of Sound. Here is an essay/video interview from the Gospel Coalition on “The Idolatry of Youth Culture in Worship”. In the 17 min interview they talk about the current entrapments of youth in America, whether it be fashion or music or celebrity culture etc. and how they get into a hamster wheel of always needing to be fresher or onto the next new thing. Sometimes the next new things means spending a lot of money to satisfy the wants and lusts of Youth in the church space to make it sensuous rather than worshipful.

The Idolatry of Youth Culture in Worship
“Worship leaders often talk about the tension between performance and worship. It’s easy to get drawn into the spectacle of music in the church, with our primary examples and role models being professionals—often young, beautiful, and enormously talented.”

Sunday is the Lord’s Day. He sent us a letter from heaven to read, to fill us with truth, to establish us as His own, to provide spiritual food. Once we believe in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord, we understand that He is the Word and that His word is not only authoritative, but inerrant.

“The Eternal Word: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.” (John 1:1-5).

Do you believe the bible is truly God’s word? That everything in it is authoritative and useful for our lives? (2 Timothy 3:16). Or do you pick and choose what you want to believe, saying “Well the flood surely is allegorical…well Jonah surely wasn’t swallowed by a big fish…”?

If you are not sure, here are some resources for you to read and then pray to the Spirit to help you understand that the bible is sure, perfect, and all we need for understanding of God’s ways and His Son.

Christian Research and Apologetics Ministry:
Are the Scriptures Sufficient?

GotQuestions:
Is the bible truly God’s word?

Answers in Genesis:
Is the bible authoritative and inerrant

Tim Challies:
What does inerrant mean?

John 5:24 “I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life.”
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Posted in body of believers, church

Churches being foreclosed on in increasing numbers

Posted on by elizabethprata

This is a sad story. But there is a hopeful side. 🙂

Banks foreclosing on US churches in record numbers
“Banks are foreclosing on America’s churches in record numbers as lenders increasingly lose patience with religious facilities that have defaulted on their mortgages, according to new data. The surge in church foreclosures represents a new wave of distressed property seizures triggered by the 2008 financial crash, analysts say, with many banks no longer willing to grant struggling religious organizations forbearance. Since 2010, 270 churches have been sold after defaulting on their loans, with 90 percent of those sales coming after a lender-triggered foreclosure, according to the real estate information company CoStar Group. In 2011, 138 churches were sold by banks, an annual record, with no sign that these religious foreclosures are abating, according to CoStar. That compares to just 24 sales in 2008 and only a handful in the decade before. black and white, but with small to medium size houses of worship the worst. Most of these institutions have ended up being purchased by other churches. The highest percentage have occurred in some of the states hardest hit by the home foreclosure crisis: California, Georgia, Florida and Michigan.”

This is a church in GA that has a hard time to keep going. It has been opened, closed, sold, renovated, closed again…

When I first arrived in Georgia, I was astounded to see the number of churches that seemed to adorn each corner. “There are a lot of churches,” I thought. “This must be a very religious place.”

When I traveled on the ice breaking ship Relais Nordik to Blanc Sablon on the border of Quebec and Labrador/Newfoundland, there was a church on the tundra. Its white clapboard stood out starkly against the springy green tundra moss.

To help you get a picture of where Blanc Sablon is, here is a map–

I thought, “Wow, the church is so far-reaching, even the tiniest place at the edge of the continent has a church.”

It is easy to identify the church with the buildings that we see. And for a large part, it is. We are commanded to congregate as Hebrews 10:25 tells us. It is the building where we praise Jesus, sing, minister, tithe, encourage each other and hear the Word. It is appropriate to identify the building where we do those things with the church itself. But be careful not to exclusively identify His church with the buildings we commonly see.

But the building is not the Church. His body of believers is the Church. (Romans 12:5, 1 Corinthians 10:17, 1 Corinthians 12:27, Ephesians 4:12, Hebrews 13:3).

We are told that the church will grow weaker and less effectual as we near the end, and that many who were only Christians on the outside will fall away. (Revelation 3:8; 2 Thes. 2:3). We are seeing that now. Youths are leaving the church in droves, people are falling away from regular attendance, and in general the buildings are less and less central to a community’s spiritual and moral compass. It is no wonder that in these apostate times that church buildings, with the maintenance required, cannot be maintained. You can’t pay a pastor and support a building with only 50 people tithing.

But the Church is the body of believers scattered worldwide! We will soon be gathered to Him in the rapture and the dead resurrected, and the glorified saints of the Church Age will be in heaven, finally together in Him. No matter how empty your church building is becoming, remember that His Church is spotless, full, glowing, sanctified, holy, and He is as eager to gather us as a hen is to gather her chicks. (Luke 13:34).

Yes, it is sad that churches are failing. With the power given to us by the Holy Spirit, nothing should be impossible for us in Him (Mark 9:23). Christians should be more energized as they grow, not less. But the world has caught us, and many are falling and the churches with them. But His Church will never fail! Because the Church is not the building! Yes, churches are on every corner, yes churches are all across the world. The buildings are not His Church.

“Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, He was asking His disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” And they said, “Some say John the Baptist; and others, Elijah; but still others, Jeremiah, or one of the prophets.” He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” And Jesus said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. “I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it.” (Matthew 16:13-18)

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Posted in phoenix flash

Mysterious flash caught on news cameras still mystifies

Posted on by elizabethprata

File this under things that make me go “huh”

Explosion-like flash of light over Phoenix’s skies seen during newscast remains a mystery

“A large, fleeting flash of light that appeared in the darkened skies over the northwestern edge of metropolitan Phoenix remains a mystery. The ball of light that looked like an explosion was captured by a traffic camera on Interstate 17 around 4:45 a.m. Thursday and happened to be broadcast by KSAZ-TV when the station showed footage of the roadway during a report on the morning’s commute. The two electric utilities that serve metro Phoenix say they didn’t have any reports of electric transformer explosions that might explain the flash. Damon Gross, a spokesman for Arizona Public Service, says a blown fuse on a transformer can produce a flash, but he said the utility had no such report Thursday morning. “It’s a mystery to us as well. I can’t even offer a guess,” said Doug Nintzel, a spokesman for the Arizona Department of Transportation…” more at link

Video of the flash:

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