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bible jesus, end time, freak storms, hailstorm

Freak hailstorm amazes, hard to believe

Posted on April 13, 2012 by elizabethprata

Have you ever heard of people getting killed by hail? I haven’t so much, either. I’ve heard of lightning strikes, and deaths by tornadoes, hurricanes, and windstorms. But not hail. Until yesterday:

“Hailstones the size of golf balls have reportedly killed three people and injured 25 others in China. The giant pieces of ice pelted several rural areas in east China’s Jiangxi province overnight and on Wednesday morning, resulting in the deaths of three people, the Xinhua news agency said. The hailstones were said to be as large as 3.5cm in diameter and weighed 18g on average. The storms forced the evacuation of more than 700 people, destroyed about 2,700 hectares of crops and damaged more than 900 houses, a spokesman with the Jiangxi provincial department of civil affairs said. Around 170,000 Jiangxi residents have been affected by the freak weather, the spokesman added.”

So let’s take a look at whether the impression I have of the rarity of death by hailstones is legitimate or not:

The folks at American Association for the Advancement of Science; ScienceNet Links were asked the same thing.

“Every year, tornadoes, hurricanes, and snowstorms claim lives and cause injuries. But strangely, hailstorms, which pelt the ground with hard balls of ice, never seem to hit human targets. A listener called Science Update to ask why. We’ve all heard stories about golf ball- and baseball-size hail denting cars and damaging houses. So that prompted Lee Greenfield of Washington, D.C., to ask why we never hear about people getting hurt by hail. We checked with Harold Brooks, a research meteorologist at The National Severe Storm Lab in Norman, Oklahoma. He says hail stones have to be a couple inches in diameter to cause injury. But hail of that size is pretty rare. And hail that could really seriously hurt you—getting to be baseball-size and larger—there aren’t very many storms each year that do that. And even within a storm that does produce hail that size, not very many of the stones are that big. Most of the stones are much smaller than that. … the listener’s perception—that relatively few people get killed or injured by hail—is correct.”

So just as I was mulling all that over, today I read of another hailstorm that was freak to say the least.

4 feet of hail? Massive hail storm hits Texas panhandle

“DALLAS–Maintenance crews worked Thursday to clear roads after a storm dumped several inches of hail on parts of the Texas Panhandle, trapping motorists in muddy drifts that were waist-to-shoulder high. The storm left so much hail in its wake that workers had to use snow plows to clear the piles from the road.”It was crazy,” National Weather Service Meteorologist Justyn Jackson said about the strange storm, which hit Wednesday afternoon. The hail was “real small” but there was a lot of it in a concentrated area, accumulating 2- to 4-feet deep, he said. The rural area where the storm struck was mainly ranch land, about 25 miles north of Amarillo and south of Dumas. Rainwater gushed across the parched land, washing dirt and then mud into the hail, pushing it all onto U.S. 287, Potter County Sheriff Brian Thomas said. “There were just piles of hail,” said Maribel Martinez with the Amarillo/Potter/Randall Office of Emergency Management. “Some of the cars were just buried in hail and people were trapped in their cars.”

This story from the UK Daily Mail is pretty interesting. Apparently even though the US Weather Service confirmed the freak weather event, people were dubious. So they posted photos on the US Weather Service Facebook page and people were still dubious. Skeptics derided the unlikelihood of the event as actually having occurred, it was so outside the scope of understanding and expectation as a weather happening. The Daily Mail focused on the skepticism part, and titled their article, “Hail No!“

“A small town in Texas was hit with a whopper of a storm Wednesday morning that left four feet of hail in its wake.Officials from the National Weather Service in Amarillo said that the storm was so severe and the hail so unrelenting that a major highway in Potter County was completely covered. But the photos of the one-off event are so unbelievable that an army of online sceptics have cast doubt on their authenticity, suggesting that instead they may simply show large rocks. When the weather service posted a photograph to Facebook of a firefighter next to the ice — which reached all the way up to his chest — commenters couldn’t believe their eyes. That just doesn’t even look real! Dang!’ Bridget Hefner said on the site. Commenters turned their disbelief into hypotheses, offering alternative explanations to the unbelievable reality. ‘Looks like a bunch of rocks/stones,’ suggested Tiffany Baugh Berry. Another cynical poster wrote: ‘It’s a lite dusting of hail on some damn rocks.’ ‘I can assure you we do not have big rocks like that in West Texas,’ Scotten retorted to MSNBC.com. ‘That was four feet of ice,’ she insisted, adding that the hail was compacted by rain and floodwater across a wide area. She blamed the ice’s rock-like appearance on drought.’We’re very dusty around here,’ she said.”

Here is a raw video from an eyewitness. At about 51 seconds in, one guy says to another, Have you ever seen anything like THIS?” The other guy answers, “No! No I have not.”

Yesterday I noted that the Lord said in His Olivet Discourse of the signs in advance of His coming that “you will hear…” and the word for hear means to listen, with an attendant figurative meaning of “to hear God’s voice which prompts Him to birth faith within.”

THESE ARE SIGNS FROM GOD, people! Wake UPPPPP.

As far as the localized nature of the Texas hailstorm goes, He has done that before:

“And also I have withholden the rain from you, when there were yet three months to the harvest: and I caused it to rain upon one city, and caused it not to rain upon another ….” (Amos 4:7)

In the past He has used hail to wake up the population to turn to Him, as well:
“I smote you with blasting and with mildew and with hail in all the labours of your hands; yet ye turned not to me, saith the Lord.” (Haggai 2:17)

And He will use hail in the future. Now, if golf ball sized hail can kill, weighing mere ounces, what will a global deluge of 100 pound hail do to people? It will be massive death:

“And huge hailstones, about one hundred pounds each, came down from heaven upon men; and men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail, because its plague was extremely severe. (Revelation 16:21).

See, by then they know it is God who sends the hail, and for judgment, too, but they are so far gone that they simply blaspheme Him. Don’t let that be you. Repent NOW.

end time, signs

End time warnings are sent to spark faith

Posted on April 13, 2012 by elizabethprata

On the Mount of Olives, Jesus sat with his disciples and answered their questions about the end of the age and the signs of His second coming. He answered in specific detail in Matthew 24 and 25, also Mark 13 and Luke 21. It is the longest answer He gave to any question the disciples asked.

The verses in Mt 24:3-6 read: ” Now as He sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, “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.”

Verse 6 begins with ‘to hear’. I looked up the Greek word to hear, listen is from: akoúō – properly, to hear (listen); (figuratively) to hear God’s voice which prompts Him to birth faith within

These signs are warnings to allow the Spirit to give birth to the faith within. A parallel reference to Matthew 24:6 is given as Romans 10:17: “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.”

He speaks through His word (the bible) and He speaks through the creation.

Of those who won’t listen and won’t allow the birth of faith inside them by heeding the end times signs, I am reminded of Paul’s warning in Romans 1:18, “The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness,’

They suppress the nascent flame of faith that the signs are meant to kindle!

Please listen to what Jesus is telling us in these days. He loves you and wants for your sins to be forgiven so He may embrace you as friend on Judgment Day (1 Timothy 2:4), and not cast you alive into the Lake of Fire as an enemy. The difference between friend and enemy is a personal recognition of our own sins, and asking Jesus to forgive them, making Him the Lord and Savior of your life- this life AND the next one.

doctrine, magi

Pharisees & Magi, a tale of two intellectuals

Posted on April 13, 2012 by elizabethprata

Here is the text I’m considering today:

Wise Men from the East
“Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, saying, “Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we have seen His star in the East and have come to worship Him.” When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. And when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born. 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.’”

“Then Herod, when he had secretly called the wise men, determined from them what time the star appeared. And he sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and search carefully for the young Child, and when you have found Him, bring back word to me, that I may come and worship Him also.” When they heard the king, they departed; and behold, the star which they had seen in the East went before them, till it came and stood over where the young Child was. When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceedingly great joy. And when they had come into the house, they saw the young Child with Mary His mother, and fell down and worshiped Him. And when they had opened their treasures, they presented gifts to Him: gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Then, being divinely warned in a dream that they should not return to Herod, they departed for their own country another way.” (Matthew 2:1-12).

This was the beginning of the long journey of hate between Jesus and the Sadducces, Pharisees, and scribes. Today we will be comparing them against the Wise Men, and look to the lesson we can learn from both of the groups’ different responses to learning doctrine.

The chief priests of the day were from the highest class. They were the most learned men, the most advantaged, the richest, and the most powerful. Their role was to perform sacrifices, serve at the altar, and of course bless and teach the people.

The scribes were also higher class and powerful. They were learned men whose main job was the transmit the holy writings and to interpret them. Because of the intensive proximity to the holy writings, they became thoroughly familiar with them. They were held in esteem and they held authority of leadership.

The ancient writings contained information about the promised Messiah’s coming. Christ is all throughout the Old Testament. There are ancient scriptures that describe what the Messiah will come to do, will be like, even when He was coming. The specific timetable is found in Daniel 9:24-27.

I mentioned that the relationship between the Sadducees, Pharisees, and scribes was a journey of hate because they hated Jesus from the moment his birth was announced in the above scriptures and really ramped up during His adult ministry, culminating in their plot to kill Him.

That was a thumbnail sketch of the chief priests and scribes. Now let’s turn to the Magi.

The Magi, or wise men as they are known, were a sect of men in Persia, history indicating were a priestly tribe of people from among the Medes. Their main point of existence was to study astronomy (the heavens and the bodies within it) and astronomy (divination by those celestial bodies). They were such an ancient people and so learned that they became part of the highest classes and were powerful and well-respected. They had the king’s ear. Their priestly line, like the Jewish Priests, was hereditary.

Now it came to pass that the Jews were taken into captivity to Babylon and the rising star among those taken captive so to speak was Daniel. Eventually, Daniel attained a very high place. When Daniel interpreted the King’s dream, Nebuchadnezzar made Daniel master over all the Magi (Dan 2:48). There never was a more Godly man influencing a pagan people than Daniel.

Daniel’s influence was so great that the Magi kept alive the knowledge of the future coming Messiah-King from generation to generation. They kept this information alive for 600 hundred years! The Magi went on, learning and learning, but always holding that important information from Daniel foremost, until the signs came to pass, and the star appeared. When the Magi saw it, they knew.

Let’s contrast the pagan Magi with the “holy” chief priests and scribes. What you have are two groups of intellectuals. They both have kept information about the coming Messiah intact for hundreds of years. However, that is where the similarity ends.

The chief priests and scribes were caught flat-footed. When the Magi showed up, there is no scripture saying that the scribes or chief priests had been celebrating the Messiah’s birth.

When the Magi saw the sign, what did they do? They put their knowledge into action. They packed up, assembled gifts, and set off across 900 miles of desert.

When the chief priests and scribes heard the news, what did they do? They were troubled. Later, they conspired against Jesus. (Matthew 27:1; John 11:57).

The Magi’s response to the news of His arrival was proper: giving gifts, prayer, worship and adulation. (Mt 2:11). The took the knowledge they had protected through generations, and put it into action.

The chief priests and scribes were more interested in heaping up their treasures for themselves, retaining honor, and taking. The knowledge they protected through generations they used to feed their egos, pocketbooks, and through their inaction, ultimately squashed their faith into a dead, putrid thing.

Learning is good. We need to know doctrine, theology and proper principles for interpreting His word. But what will we DO with the information? Will we put it into action? Or will it rule us, and we become haughty with the knowledge but never reaching the heart? The faith the knowledge is supposed to inspire having become cold?

The lesson is clear: knowledge can be used for good or for ill. It can stiffen into something as hard and brittle as bones. It could be said that the chief priests and scribes were coprolites, petrified dung. It can be said that the Magi, the pagan diviners of a foreign culture, were a caravan of torches, marching across the pages of the bible from beyond the Euphrates to the little house in Bethlehem where the Messiah child lived- in search of the worthy King and object of worship.

Doctrine is all about the motivation for which you learn it and whether one uses that knowledge to exalt Him or to exalt the self. Do we take the knowledge we’ve gained and say “He’s so wonderful?” Or do we say, “I’m so smart!” The chief priests and scribes took knowledge of God and made a fortress out of it, eventually preventing themselves from being able scale their self-imposed walls and meet the Messiah. The chief priests and scribes are good examples of the warning Paul gave to Timothy: always learning and never able to come to knowledge of the truth.’ (2 Tim 3:7). The Magi were motivated to learn about the coming Messiah and took that knowledge and were led to worship.

My prayer for you is that what you learn about Jesus today inspires you to put the knowledge of Him into action, to exalt Him, worship Him, to give to Him, and to praise Him. We must be ever learning, coming to the knowledge that He IS truth.

earthquake, end time, indonesia

Is God speaking through the Indonesian earthquakes?

Posted on April 11, 2012May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

Today there have been two mega-quakes in Indonesia, with major aftershocks. They occurred in the same place the terrible 2004 quake occurred, near Banda Aceh, which sparked a tsunami that killed almost a quarter million people. Thankfully today, no one has yet been reported killed (a miracle in itself!) but tsunami warnings went up in over a dozen nations almost immediately. Later it was discovered that the were not the kind of quakes that cause tsunamis. By this afternoon, the warnings had been lifted.

Three weeks ago, after a large earthquake in Mexico, I posted information about the Mexican quake and also looked at the bigger picture by asking ‘are there more quakes?’ Jesus said in Matthew 24:7 that as a sign of His soon coming there would be earthquakes in diverse places, and He also said in the next verse that the time would be like birth pangs. It is generally understood that because birthpangs increase in intensity and frequency as the birth gets closer that the signs He listed would also increase in the same manner. In that essay I posted a chart. I searched the USGS database for quakes in each of the large quake magnitudes, year by year. I plotted the results. I compared them against the annual average the USGS uses as a benchmark. Voila, here is the result:

Given that the number of earthquakes are rising, what is the percentage change? Here is the percentage change in 2011 over the annual average number of quakes USGS says we can expect:

5.0-5.9 mag: 72% UP
6.0-6.9 mag: 38% UP
7.0-7.9 mag: 36% UP
8.0-9.0 mag: 0% change

Percentage change in 2012 so far:
8.0-9.0 mag: 100% UP

People are curious about the connection to the end times and earthquakes. Many people wonder, is there a connection? Is there a Godly purpose to earthquakes? Yes. Yes there is.

God has used earthquakes for several reasons. Here are just a few. In the Old Testament, Mount Sinai ‘trembled violently’ before God spoke to Moses. (Exodus 19:18).

God used an earthquake to demonstrate the outcome of rebellion against Him. The ground opened, swallowing Korah and his men. (Numbers 16:31-32).

God used an earthquake to show that despite His power to create an earthquake, Elijah could also hear Him in the still, small voice. (I Kings 19:11).

The great earthquake at the time of King Uzziah was spoken of by Amos. Uzziah had grown insolent and haughty. The LORD used the earthquake to remind the king of the LORD’S power. That one was a judgment quake.

In Matthew 24:7 Jesus told His disciples (and us) that in the last days there would be earthquakes in various places as one of the signs of His coming. (Mt 24:7).

In Matthew 27:51-54 when Jesus died on the cross a great earthquake occurred, splitting the Temple veil in two and resurrecting many saints from their graves. This was a vivid demonstration of His power, and as a witness to the truth that Jesus is His Son.

In Revelation, quakes are mentioned 7 times. In Revelation 11, when the Two Witnesses are resurrected, “In the same hour there was a great earthquake, and a tenth of the city fell. In the earthquake seven thousand people were killed, and the rest were afraid and gave glory to the God of heaven.” (Rev 11:13). He will use that future quake to show His glory and many will respond.

In today’s twin 8.0-plus quakes, The UK Daily Mail reports, “In the Indonesian city of Banda Aceh, terrified residents screamed ‘God is great!’ as they jumped into cars and the backs of motorcycles, clogging streets as they fled to high ground.” I hope that of those who yelled God is great that they were speaking of the One True God and that they repented of their sins and sought Jesus as Savior.

An anonymous commenter posted on the previous blog essay about earthquakes, the following wisdom:

“God uses these things to calls us back to him…the Lord continues to come after us. He will keep reaching toward us all, to save us all. It will become more and more clear, and the choice will become very clear. Recently I had a young man who found out how evil music has become. He went away from it, and then made the clear decision to stay with it, evil or not. He made a clear decision. I think that the Lord will use things and people, so we make a clear choice. No more waffling, no more half-measures…either you are with the Lord, or you are not…”

As the LORD said to Ezekiel about His messages, “As for them, whether they listen or not– for they are a rebellious house– they will know that a prophet has been among them.” (Ez 2:5). By the end of time at the Judgment Seat, no one will be able to say that God didn’t use use various means to warn them. However, not all will make the choice to respond to His messages, whether they are bible verses, a sermon, an earthquake, or the still small voice of the Spirit. I believe the commenter is right. We are rapidly approaching the time when the entire world will have made the choice yea or nay. By the time Revelation 13 arrives, all the world will have either taken the mark of the beast and thus are condemned, (Rev 14:9) or will have chosen Christ – and be martyred in this life (Rev 20:4). By Revelation 13 it will be one, or the other. No middle ground. In the Tribulation, a person must declare for one or the other. There will be no atheism. No person saying ‘I believe what I believe, it’s private’. There will be no Islam. No Catholics. No Pope. There will only be people who are forced to take the mark to worship the beast and its image, bowing down to it (Rev 13:15-16), and people who refuse because they love Jesus. At the very end, there will be a clear choice.

The middle ground is rapidly shrinking even now, prior to the Tribulation. People are becoming entrenched in their views, for or against Jesus. Are you with the One True God, the God who shakes the world? Or are you not? Time is drawing to a close, possibly through death with the choice taken away from you and your final fate sealed forever. Or you may live on a while longer, waffling until after the rapture, when coming to the Lord will be hard and nearly impossible, only to end up facing the most evil beast there ever was. Please heed to the signs now. “Now learn this lesson from the fig tree: As soon as its twigs get tender and its leaves come out, you know that summer is near. Even so, when you see all these things, you know that it is near, right at the door.” (Matthew 24:32-33).

THIS A VIDEO TAKEN BY A STATE TROOPER DASH CAM. SEE HOW QUICKLY YOUR LIFE COULD CHANGE BY TAKING YOUR EYES OFF THE ROAD FOR A SPLIT SECOND.

Horrific crash on Russian Highway

Posted on April 10, 2012 by elizabethprata

The following video is making the rounds on Facebook now. Many times the things making the rounds on Facebook are hoaxes. I looked this one up and it seems that it really IS an actual crash that occurred in February in Russia. Snopes the hoax investigation website says, “According to an article in the Russian newspaper /Komsomolskaya Pravda (as best we can make out through translation software), the accident shown in the video clip linked above took place on 24 February 2012 on the M-7 Highway in Russia. As described by the news account, a 32-year-old Moscow resident named Alexander (no last name given) lost control of his Nissan Navara, collided with another vehicle, and then drifted into an oncoming traffic lane where he was hit head-on by a Freightliner big rig. The driver of the Nissan was killed, and the driver of the big rig suffered moderate injuries.”

“The particular stretch of road where this collision took place has apparently been site of several deadly accidents in recent years, including a 2009 bus crash that killed 12 passengers and a 2007 automobile accident that took the life of Russian actor Aleksandr Dedjushko, his wife, and his son. “No available information documents the suggestions that the car that taped the accident was a police vehicle, or that the driver of the Nissan was texting or reading at the time he lost control of his car.”

The 34 second video is not graphic but it is disturbing.

The Christian response is to remind one and all of the following truth, as if the glaring truth didn’t come through in the video:

“Man’s days are determined; you have decreed the number of his months and have set limits he cannot exceed.” (Job 14:5)

“Your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be…” (Psalm 139:16)

“a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot,” (Ecclesiastes 3:2)

“Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.” (James 4:14).

We need to be ready to meet the Maker at any moment! “For he says, “In the time of my favor I heard you, and in the day of salvation I helped you.” I tell you, now is the time of God’s favor, now is the day of salvation.” (2 Corinthians 6:2)

Are you ready? Is today the day of your salvation? It may be your day of death. We never know.

robe of righteousness, salvation

Are you clothed in Jesus?

Posted on April 10, 2012May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

This past Saturday, I wrote an essay titled Getting Dressed for Easter. That essay explored the topic of the difference between spiffing ourselves up with nice clothes on the outside, and the Spirit spiffing us up from the inside. Jesus can tell the difference between a genuinely adorned person and falsely adorned person, and I cited several verses and parables. One of the verses I used for the platform to launch my topic was Zephaniah 1:8, which says,

“And it shall come to pass in the day of the LORD’S sacrifice, that I will punish the princes, and the king’s children, and all such as are clothed with strange apparel.”

The background for that verse is literal, and I explained what it meant in a longer essay than this will be. Jews really used to wear apparel that distinguished them as God’s children, having a blue band around the edges of their clothes. It is also metaphorical, in that nowadays, draping ourselves in strange apparel won’t cover the unforgiven sins inside is, if there are any. You can wear clean, shiny new clothes to the church service but that won’t hide from Jesus the wretched sins inside you.

But the Holy Spirit still has that verse and that phrase on my mind. He won’t let go. So…looking at the verse in an additional metaphorical way, let’s go back to how God uses metaphors for clothing as a wrapping for us in righteousness. As Job said in chapter/book 29:14 “I put on righteousness as my clothing; justice was my robe and my turban.”

As Paul said, metaphorically, “for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.” (Galatians 3:27).

Source

In Revelation, the martyrs during the Tribulation begin to arrive in multitudinous numbers, and we read, “When the Lamb broke the fifth seal, I saw underneath the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God, and because of the testimony which they had maintained; and they cried out with a loud voice, saying, “How long, O Lord, holy and true, will You refrain from judging and avenging our blood on those who dwell on the earth?” And there was given to each of them a white robe; and they were told that they should rest for a little while longer, until the number of their fellow servants and their brethren who were to be killed even as they had been, would be completed also.” (Rev 6:11).

Revelation 7:13-14: “Then one of the elders answered, saying to me, “These who are clothed in the white robes, who are they, and where have they come from?” 14I said to him, “My lord, you know.” And he said to me, “These are the ones who come out of the great tribulation, and they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.”

White robes are the emblems of purity, innocence, and triumph. I don’t know if the white robes given to the Tribulation martyrs are symbolic or literal. We do know that Paul was speaking of clothing ourselves in Christ both literally and figuratively. Literally in that the Holy Spirit does come to dwell inside us, but no one can see the literal Jesus on us, except in our demeanor as the fruits we bear.

However, I strenuously note that the robes of righteousness, the cloak of justice, are not strange apparel to Jesus! These garments are familiar to Jesus because HE gives them to us.

Strange apparel are clothes God does not recognize. On His day, He will not recognize those who are cloaked in sins. Anyone wearing strange apparel, cloaked in sin that is, will not be familiar to Jesus and “Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!'” (Matthew 7:23)

If you are interested in putting on Christ’s robes of righteousness, then please follow this link to learn how to become one who is familiar to Him, wearing His robes and being clothed in love and forgiveness:

HOW CAN I BE SAVED?

coup, gog magog, tuareg

The Arab Spring continues: Mali and the Tuaregs

Posted on April 9, 2012May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

“Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be earthquakes in various places, and famines. These are the beginning of birth pains.” (Mark 13:8).

In the Greek, the words for kingdom against kingdom is ethnos against ethnos. Ethnos in the Greek means a race of people and usually refers to the Gentile world.

Such an example of people against people is occurring now.

We know that over the last year, the face of the Mid East and northern Africa changed dramatically, With the self-immolation of one Tunisian fruit vendor in January 2011, revolution broke out in that country. Then the revolutions spread among the Arab world to Lebanon, Syria, Morocco, Bahrain, Egypt, Libya, Eritrea, Yemen, Algeria, Sudan (which split into North Sudan and South Sudan S. Sudan being recognized by the UN as the globe’s 193rd nation) and other places. It became known as the Arab Spring. Dictators toppled. Governments fell. Kings became worried. The political face of the nations around the Mediterranean and near environs swept the world as a shock wave.

In the book of Ezekiel, chapters 38-39 we read of a future war known as the Gog-Magog war. A coalition of nations surprise attack Israel and almost win. God shows Himself holy among the nations and supernaturally saves Israel. “Then they will know I am the LORD” He says numerous times in the two chapters. Eschatology scholars believe that another future war, the Psalm 83 battle, will occur just prior to the Ezekiel war, because the Psalm 83 war lists Israel’s attackers and they are all Israel’s nearer neighbors than are the ones listed in Ezekiel 38-39. It is surmised that the victory Israel gains in the Psalm 83 war leads to a fulfillment of prophecy because when those Psalm 83 nations are defeated, Israel re-inhabits all the lands given to her by God. If those nations were to attack, they think, they would do so in the Ezekiel battle. That they don’t is seen as an indicator that they are defeated prior to that battle’s start, and might well be the catalyst for it. Indeed, that once Israel soundly defeats the enemies in Psalm 83, and inhabits the lands of her enemies, she relaxes her guard and lives as a peaceful and unsuspecting people, (Ez 38:11) one of the conditions that will be in place when Ezekiel 38-39 comes around. Note that these are interpretations, because no one knows the exact timing of the Psalm 83 and Gog Magog wars in reference to each other or to the Tribulation.

The wars and rumors of wars have not stopped because the Arab Spring stopped. As a matter of fact, the Arab Spring is still going, because the revolution started in Syria last April is turning one year old by now. And let’s take a look at another nation that fell this week, and its prophetic implications: Mali. First take a look at where Mali is:

Also note that the nations just to Mali’s north, that African northern tier, are both Arab Spring nations, and also Gog-Magog nations, meaning, nations that are prophesied to ally with Russia and Turkey and Iran to attack Israel in the last days. Here is the news:

There was a coup in Mali last month. Yesterday, “A parliamentary official in Mali says the democratically elected leader of Mali, who has been in hiding ever since a coup last month, has turned in his resignation.”

Meanwhile the military junta that toppled the President, has been wrangling about how to hold onto power, or if they should hold on to power. This past weekend, “Under intense international pressure, the soldiers who seized power on March 21 agreed over the weekend to begin the process of returning Mali to constitutional order.”

Phew. Good news, that’s over, right? Wrong.

While The governments of West Africa were still trying to decide how to deal with the military junta in the country that toppled the country’s president in March, and before the President had handed in his resignation, the Tuareg rebels took advantage of the governmental, diplomatic, and military confusion, crept in and took over the entire northern part of Mali and declared it the independent state of Azawad.

“Within the span of two weeks Mali experienced a military coup followed by a declaration of independence by the Tuareg in the north, leaving regional and international powers divided over who to support. Tuareg revolutionaries claimed they had complete control of north Mali from Kidal to Gao last week, including the capital of their historical homeland Azawad and Timbuktu. The general secretary of the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA), Bilal Ag Acherif, announced the creation of the “independent state of Azawad” yesterday. The president of its politburo Mahmoud Ag Ali spoke to Al-Akhbar after they had captured the lands populated by a majority of Tuareg and Arabs in the north on Thursday. He said that “the announcement of the independent state of Azawad is ready. Its capital will be the historical city of Timbuktu that celebrated its third millennium two years ago.”

Basically, Tuareg rebels claim the entire triangular part you see on the map. So who are these Tuareg people and why have they claimed half of Mali? They “are a Berber people with a traditionally nomadic pastoralist lifestyle. They are the principal inhabitants of the Saharan interior of North Africa” says Wikipedia. The Tuareg people are nomadic, mix Islam with animism (a belief that God is in everything), engage in the caravan trade, and descend from the ancient Berber tribes from the very northern tier of Africa. And they are fiercely independent, claiming it and the land. (Photos from Wikipedia Commons).

I just wanted to present this fresh news of another African nation going from order to chaos in the space of three weeks. Also I want to remind us all that as prophecy says nation is against nation and kingdom against kingdom, we see once again that prophecy is being fulfilled rapidly. This major change in Mali’s governance (democratically elected President, to military junta to Tuareg rebels) taking place in so fast and unexpectedly is an example of how fast things are changing. Anything could happen at any time. Governments that look solid and stable, may not be. The President that is here today may be gone tomorrow in the prophetic “epicenter”. As North and South Sudan split along religious lines last year (northern being Islam and southern being Christian) and the northern tier of Africa is prophesied to ally with the other Arab states and attack Israel in the last days in the Gog Magog war. The Mali situation is another indicator of rapid prophetic shifts in preparation for the end-game seismic shift we know as The Tribulation.

apparel, hypocrisy, pharisees

Getting dressed for Easter

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

Happy Easter! He is risen! He is risen indeed!!

I’ve been thinking today about apparel. I have been putting off doing laundry because, well, I hate doing laundry. But on the other hand I know that I have to because the things I want to wear to the Easter Service tomorrow at church are included in the overflowing laundry bag on my bedroom floor. I have long planned what would be nice to wear: something different from the usual skirts or dresses I wear every Sunday, to mark the distinction that this Sunday is a special day of services. Something that would also be seasonally appropriate, and not the least of all, something that fits. Or fits long enough to wear for a couple of hours, lol.

I decided on a spring skirt I haven’t worn to church yet, with a green shirt, and a yellow cardigan. Aren’t you glad to know this? Stay with me, I have a point…

All that got me thinking about dressing for church.

I remember that Easter outfit: I must have been three or four. I loved Mary Janes, the black patent leather cutie pie shoe that were popular for girls in the 1960s. I wore Mary Janes well into elementary school, second or third grade, I think. Then it was Keds. I loved the dress and I really loved the coat. When we went to Easter Dinner (I don’t think we were headed to church services) my mother gave me white gloves to wear that had three pearl buttons on the wrist. I loved the gloves too.

I think it is a good thing to present one’s self for worship in clothing that shows a distinction from what we wear from say, cutting grass or cleaning the toilet. I think it is good to take thought and care when preparing our bodies as a living sacrifice at the service. The Old Testament priests had specially constructed priestly garments they must wear. You can read a description of them here.

The Pharisees were obsessed with clothing. They not only wore the required garments to show their ordained position, but they deliberately altered their clothes to show how holy they were and then by definition get stuff, like adulation and honors. They were accused by Jesus of enlarging the borders of their garments (Matthew 23:5-6) – This refers to the loose threads which were attached to the borders of the outer garment as a fringe. This fringe was commanded in order to distinguish them from other nations, specifically as God’s people, and that they might remember to keep the commandments of God, (Numbers 15:38-40; Deuteronomy 22:12). The Pharisees made them broader than other people wore them, so people would see them, and notice them when they stopped on the corners to pray aloud.

But they do all their deeds to be noticed by men; for they broaden their phylacteries and lengthen the tassels of their garments they love the place of honor at banquets and the most important seats in the synagogues; they love to be greeted in the marketplaces and to have men call them ‘Rabbi.’” (Matthew 23:5-7) They loved the trappings, and their apparel became a trapping to them and later when Jesus came, a trap.

Though I thought about what I would wear tomorrow, I do not think it is too good to overly dwell on our apparel, church wear, work wear, or casual wear. The bible is replete with admonitions about outer wear, believe it or not. It’s also replete with metaphorical warnings instructing us on the comparison of the outer garment and the inner man.

In Zephaniah 1:8 God warns that He will strike down those wearing ‘foreign garments’, or ‘strange apparel’ (depending on your translation). The pagans wore strange apparel, often an indicator of degeneracy, especially in the old days when it signified allegiance to pagan gods. When times get prosperous, people have time to lift their heads from grinding toil and look around to what other people have, and then import with intent to copy their extravagances, including apparel and then mores, customs, and religion.

Paul said with a sigh of relief that he never coveted other apparel: “I have not coveted anyone’s silver or gold or clothing.” (Acts 20:33). It may seem strange to us today that the list of things that were often coveted in Paul’s day were not only the expected items like gold and silver, but also apparel. But clothing bespoke wealth. Remember Lazarus and the rich man. (Luke 16:19-31). In Luke 16:19 the rich man’s name is forever forgotten but his wealth is what is listed, among the riches mentioned are clothing. “There was a certain rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and fared sumptuously every day.”

Yet on the Day of the Lord, their wealth and clothing will not save them. “Neither their silver nor their gold Will be able to deliver them On the day of the LORD’S wrath; And all the earth will be devoured In the fire of His jealousy, For He will make a complete end,Indeed a terrifying one, Of all the inhabitants of the earth. (Zeph 1:18) Their silver and gold will not save them, a reminder AGAIN of how prosperity promotes self-sufficiency, as then and so now. And in self-sufficiency, we forget God. It is easy to do, and it happens in every generation.

“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead men’s bones and everything unclean.” (Matthew 23:27)

As we dress tomorrow for the sacred services celebrating His resurrection, pray starting today that His Spirit would work in us to remind us that it is what is inside that counts. Are our motivations good? Do we love Him purely? Are we in right standing with Jesus having confessed our sins?

I’m not saying that dressing up is a bad thing. I’m not saying nice clothes are bad, either. But if dressing up is the only thing we worry about for tomorrow’s service, then it is a bad thing. He knew the Pharisees and scribes were hypocrites, even though they were splendidly attired, because He could see their hearts were far from God. He knew the Rich Man was far from God too, despite the fine linens He wore to all his banquets.

Let’s think about tomorrow as a time prior to which we can prepare ourselves inside and come to Him clean tomorrow. Are we willing to examine ourselves? Or are we just a whitewashed tomb that looks good?

“For if the willingness is there, the gift is acceptable according to what one has, not according to what he does not have”. (2 Cor 8:12)

“Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness.” (Romans 6:13)

“Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth.” (2 Tim 2:15).

He doesn’t care if we have a new dress or are wearing a tie, but sees the effort we make to ready ourselves to celebrate the universe’s greatest achievement, resurrecting Jesus from the dead as the slain lamb, for our sins.

If our heart is in right standing to Jesus (repentant and humble, a servant desiring change from the inside out) He will clothe us. He will give us garments of righteousness —

“I delight greatly in the LORD; my soul rejoices in my God. For he has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom adorns his head like a priest, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.” (Isaiah 61:10)

palm sunday, passover

Sermon: "The False Coronation of the True King"

Posted on April 7, 2012 by elizabethprata

Sermon by John MacArthur, January 2011. Video here. Transcript here. Excerpted introduction below:

“The week begins with His arrival in Jerusalem. The year is 30 A.D. by the best chronology. The month is the first Jewish month, Nisan, and the arrival is on the tenth and the crucifixion is on the fourteenth and that all matters because God has established a very firm time table.”

“Importantly, it is the Passover week of that year and Friday will be the day when tens of thousands of Passover lambs will be slain, none of which can take away any one’s sin. However, on this Passover, there will be one sacrifice made for sin that will take away the sins of all who have ever believed through all of human history and it will be the sacrifice of the true Lamb.”

“The week begins with a very strange event. It begins with what would have to be considered a bizarre event. We call it the triumphal entry, but that is really not an appropriate title to capture what’s going on. I don’t want you to think that this is anything really official. It isn’t official in a Jewish sense, it isn’t official in an earthly sense, and it isn’t official in a heavenly sense. That is why I’ve titled the message, “The False Coronation of the True King.” There really is no question about Christ, that He is the Messiah, that He is the promised King, that He is the Son of David, that He is the one with a right to reign. His lineage checks out, His mother and father both in the line of David. He has all the qualifications. He is the Son of Man. He is the Son of God. He has demonstrated His deity and His full humanity throughout His ministry. He is the true King, but this is a false coronation.”

Please take some time to watch. Blessings,
Elizabeth
http://player.ooyala.com/player.js?deepLinkEmbedCode=twb25nMjqPhsMjs6b5E5ih-NQ55OLomt&height=371&embedCode=twb25nMjqPhsMjs6b5E5ih-NQ55OLomt&width=560

easter, gethsemane, resurrection

Sacrifice, agony, ultimate love: Good Friday

Posted on April 6, 2012 by elizabethprata

Sunday’s a-coming!

I can’t imagine how it felt for our precious Savior or for our Loving God, after eons of intra-Trinitarian delight, of giving and submitting, loving, planning, and creating, sweetly delighting in each other’s presence, then for Jesus to be apart from God or for how it felt for God to be separated from His Son. It is painful to even think about…that moment in the Garden when Jesus was praying to be released from the agony of the cup, or the moment on the cross when He felt God’s presence depart from Him (Luke 22:42) … Oh! Oh! Oh!

But Sunday’s comin’!!

S.M. Lockridge’s sermon combines with footage from The Passion Of The Christ for this powerful video.