(no title)

The real headline: "Dead birds plummet from sky over I-95; latest harbinger of doom?" Plus, Europe’s intense cold

Posted on February 17, 2012 by elizabethprata

And it was in The Washington Post yesterday. The opening line of the news article states,

“In case you needed more evidence of an impending apocalypse: Hundreds of dead birds dropped from the sky over I-95 during the Wednesday evening commute, according to WJLA.”

Though this next section states that fireworks were identified as the cause of the January 2011 cause of bird die-off, well, it wasn’t.

“The deceased starlings scrambled traffic in the northbound travel lanes in Laurel and startled commuters, some of them no doubt familiar with similar events in Arkansas in early 2011 — and again this January — in which thousands of otherwise healthy birds dropped from the sky. But don’t get excited, Doomsday theorists: Loud noises (possibly fireworks) were identified as the culprit in the January 2011 dropping, and bad weather can also send frenzied birds into stationary objects. Maryland Department of Natural Resources biologist Peter Bedel said the I-95 birds probably just flew into a truck.”

The WJLA link has video. In that article they stated, “Hundreds of birds just dropped from the sky and landed onto I-95 Wednesday, bringing afternoon rush hour traffic to a crawl”.

The birds fell from the sky, they didn’t fall from truck-height, nor did they fly into anyone’s windshield, which they would have if they had been knocked senseless by flying into a truck. They also fell over a wide area, and there were many more birds than would have flown into a truck. Sigh.

In other strange news, Romania and Europe in general is freezing. It is not a “cold snap.” It is a human and industrial tragedy of unimaginable proportions. This is from Scripps News printed in a Cleveland Ohio news outlet three days ago.

“Europe freezes: Death toll rises to 550; 140,000 people trapped by snow
“This is no mere cold snap. There is tragedy unfolding in Europe daily since January, thanks to extreme cold and snow. Heavy snow and record cold continue to slam countries from the UK to Italy, Bulgaria and Russia. Even Northern Africa is shoveling snow. Across Europe, snow drifts reaching above the rooftops have kept tens of thousands of villagers prisoners in their own homes. They are desperate in Montenegro, where the heaviest snow in 63 years has sealed off hundreds of villages, literally trapping thousands of residents in their homes. The snow and cold there has shut down railroads and roads and even closed the main airport. Montenegro’s capital of Podgorica was brought to a standstill by snow 20 inches deep, a 50-year record, closing the city’s airport and halting rail services to Serbia because of an avalanche. Officials said this is the most amount of snow they’ve seen here since 1949.”

Records smashed. Drifts higher than houses. Desperation.

“In Turkey, more than 2,000 roads are blocked by heavy snows. Authorities said an estimated 30,000 villagers were still cut off in Romania, and more than 110,000 in the Balkan countries, including 60,000 in Montenegro, nearly 10 percent of the population. Meteorologists in Belgium said the country had recorded its longest cold snap in 70 years, with temperatures in Brussels’ suburbs remaining below zero for 13 consecutive days. In neighboring Kosovo, an avalanche killed people in a southern mountain village and left nine others trapped in several houses under 30 feet of snow. Eight more people were reported to have died in Romania, taking the toll for the country to 65, three in Serbia, one in the Czech Republic and one in Austria. Many of the dead across Europe are homeless. Others are elderly, who have shut off their heat to help combat rising electric bills.”

What would the US media be printing if 2000 roads were blocked?? If 110,000 people were cut off from civilization?

“One of Europe’s busiest waterways is shut down. The Danube River runs through Germany, Austria, Hungary and Romania, among other countries. It is completely frozen. Boat traffic has been unable to move for several weeks now. The part of the Danube that flows through Bulgaria froze over for the first time in 27 years. The Sea of Azov, a large offshoot of the Black Sea, separates Russia from the Ukraine. It, too, is frozen over thanks to frequent temperatures below zero. More than 100 shipping vessels are trapped in the icy waters, unable to move.”

An enormous amount of ship traffic flows over the Danube and other rivers in Europe. When ships don’t come in, goods don’t arrive. When goods don’t arrive, food supply stops. Regular life suspends.

“Hundreds of barns in Italy have collapsed due to the heavy weight of snow. Thousands of farm animals have perished as a result. Serbia is cutting power in desperate bid to prevent a collapse of national electricity grid. In Turkey, survivors of last year’s major earthquakes must walk several blocks in the blinding snow and cold to reach toilet facilities.”

When farm animals perish, beef prices go up. Pork prices. Milk prices. Supplies get short. Food insecurity increases.

The scientists are trying to come up with reasons why this happened in Europe. They have scientific models and fancy language:

“Keeping Europe frozen is a climate pattern called a “Russian Winter.” In this pattern, a strong Siberian anticyclone hovers over northern Russia and triggers intense cold and snow, according to a NASA statement. That cold has lingered long enough to freeze stretches of the Danube, the second longest river in Europe.”

Yawn. When the angel pours out his bowl and the people on earth are seared with intense heat, (Revelation 16:8-9) the scientists will likely come up with yet another computer model and another explanation using fancy language as to why it is’t cold but heat happening. However, the current situation is all too real and all too heartbreaking:

“The Danube’s freezing is just one of many severe winter events in the continent this year. Heavy snowfall has blocked roads and stranded towns in central Italy. A train in Montenegro was stranded on the tracks for three days due to heavy snow. Even Venice’s famous canals froze, a rare feat. At least four Balkan nations suspended shipping on the Danube today (Feb. 14) because of heavy ice on the river, according to news reports.”

Man still thinks he has control over these things. An article today with this headline is an example of this misconception- “Europe’s winter deaths reveal ‘drastic policy failure”’

It’s natural to wonder if this will happen to us in North America, as this PhysOrg headline asks

“Europe hammered by winter, is North America next?“
“For the first half of this year’s winter, the big news was warm temperatures and lack of snow. Ski resorts were covered in bare dirt, while January temperatures in southern California topped July highs. Then, out of the blue, Europe got clobbered: Over the past two weeks, temperatures in Eastern Europe have nose-dived to -22 degrees Fahrenheit. Blizzards and the bone-chilling cold have resulted in the deaths of over 550 people so far, with rooftop-high snow drifts trapping tens of thousands of villagers in their homes and cutting off access to entire towns. It has even snowed as far south as North Africa.”

The article goes on to quote a NASA scientists saying that it was because Mother Nature did an about face…

I wish that people would do an about face, and repent. That is what repent means. “To repent means to turn, to have a change of mind. In the New Testament repentance means to turn from sin. All men everywhere are commanded by God to repent of their sins (Acts 17:30). God’s longsuffering leads us to repentance (2 Pet. 3:9) as does his kindness (Rom. 2:4). Repentance is properly understood to mean a change of mind, a change of the intention from wanting to sin to not wanting to sin, that results in a change in action. It involves the decision to make a change of behavior and/or attitude about something. Biblically, repentance means to turn from sin with a heartfelt desire to change and not do it again. Of course, desiring to never sin again and actually not sinning again aren’t always the same thing. We Christians often fail in our war with our sin (Rom. 7:19). We may have remorse over it and honestly desire to not commit sin again, but sometimes because of our fallen nature and our profound weakness, we often fail to completely carry out our repentance. Nevertheless, by the grace of God we are able to turn to him yet again and receive the cleansing that is guaranteed through Christ.”

More on repentance here at Christian Apologetics and Research Ministry.

Heed these words from Psalm 147:15-17–

He sends forth His command to the earth;
His word runs very swiftly.
He gives snow like wool;
He scatters the frost like ashes.
He casts forth His ice as fragments;
Who can stand before His cold?
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prophecy, river turns blood red

Beirut River mysteriously runs blood red

Posted on February 16, 2012 by elizabethprata

UPDATE: The Yangtze River is running red, no one knows why. See my blog entry about that issue, here.

—————————-
The Lebanon Star newspaper is reporting that the Beirut River ran blood red today. I’ll post the excerpt from the article, then speak to a negative and a positive.

“BEIRUT: The Beirut River mysteriously turned blood red Wednesday after a stream of unidentified red liquid began pouring from the southern bank of the river in Furn al-Shubbak. The source of the liquid had yet to be determined Wednesday evening, as the river continued to empty the red-colored water into the Mediterranean Sea. Government and local officials rushed to the scene at the Chevrolet crossing of Furn al-Shubbak Wednesday morning in an attempt to locate the sewage canal that was dumping the red-colored water but they were unable to locate the source.”

Authorities have yet to determine the source of the substance causing the red color.

I do not know why they used the word “mysteriously” in the headline and lede, because later in the article it says this happens every two months or so.

“Several business owners around the Chevrolet crossing said that colored water pours into the river roughly every two months but no one pays attention to it. It was the quantity and brightness of the red liquid that grabbed the attention of many passersby and commuters on different bridges in the city Wednesday.”

OK, so granted, it is strange to see the river turn blood red with that depth of color. In all the other times, perhaps, it maybe ran green or yellow but never red.

“First we thought it was blood, but it seems like it is a kind of coloring dumped by a factory,” said Sabbagh, who also said that the test to determine the type of the chemical would take a week.”

Now that initial testing has taken place, The Star reported in a subsequent article that it is NOT blood. “BEIRUT: Laboratory tests of samples from Beirut River that mysteriously turned red Wednesday have discounted blood as the source of the coloration of the major waterway.”

It is obviously some industrial or organic runoff. The source will be found soon, I’m sure.

But I want to talk for a moment about the reaction to the first story as it unfolded online. This is the negative. People thought it was prophecy coming true. They believed that it was a direct fulfillment of Revelation 16:4, the Bowl Judgment where “The third angel poured out his bowl on the rivers and springs of water, and they became blood.”

The incident at the Beirut River cannot be a a fulfillment of Revelation 16 because all that is prophesied to happen before Rev. 16 is fulfilled has not occurred yet. God is orderly, and He said that His wrath in judgment would unfold after the church is taken up to heaven (1 Thess 5:9, Is 26:20). He said that the Third Bowl judgment would happen after the First and the Second Bowl judgments, and they haven’t occurred yet. He said that the Bowl Judgments would take place after the Trumpet Judgments (Rev 8-9) which take place after the Seal Judgments (Rev 6). None of this has taken place. Read Revelation 6-16 to see the order of what I just described.

A little biblical learning is a dangerous thing. Prophecy is meant to be God’s word to us foretelling the future, so that we may act accordingly, and so that we may believe. Only God knows the future, so when we see it coming true, we know He is sovereign and omniscient- knowing all things. We know He is omnipotent, because only He can cause the things to come true in the manner in which He has said. Thoughtlessly flinging around prophetic verses and casually and incorrectly saying they are fulfilled, is dangerous at worst and stupid at best.

This article in the Florida Baptist Witness is about Joel C. Rosenberg, a Christian and an expert on both geo-politics at the top levels and also is familiar with prophecy. In the article, Joel said war in the Middle East is coming soon. He also said of prophecy in general,

“Prophecy is an intercept from the mind of an all-knowing and all-seeing and all powerful God,” he said. It is meant to inspire, motivate and encourage. It will lead to repentance, holiness, and prayer and fasting, Rosenberg said, adding that prophecy is about the “preaching of the Gospel, making of disciples, planting churches, reaching young people with the Gospel, [and] reaching all people with the Gospel.””

Pastors today resist preaching prophecy. Rosenberg said, “For some it’s because prophecy has been “sensationalized” in the past and they resist the “cheapening of God’s Word,” he said. Others might feel unprepared. Some have simply forgotten its power.”

Amen to all the above. Prophecy, as is all of God’s word, is the truth of GOD delivered at great cost to the messenger and carried on the backs of martyrs who died for the faith. I feel particularly aggrieved when people cheapen prophecy by studying it casually and applying it liberally, and incorrectly. Don’t do that.

On the positive side, I was glad to see that when people saw the river turn red the first thing they thought of was God. For many, biblical prophecy in the end times was the first thing that came to mind, not an industrial accident or an organic event. That is good.

But now the question comes, what are you going to do about it? Because God’s word is sure. When it turns out to have been an industrial runoff, people will shake off their prophetic thought and think themselves a silly person. Not so. That premonition, that inkling, is real. Revelation 16 will come, and the rivers will turn to blood, for real. And then what will you drink? I hope by then you will be drinking the Living Water. (John 4:1-26). Jesus is the answer.
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end of days. prophecy, millennium kingdom, sin

The story of Jesus

Posted on February 15, 2012 by elizabethprata

This is a blog entry about the big picture. In reading a verse last night and studying about it, it kind of put a punctuation on the last bit of the picture that was unfinished in my mind.

We know that God has a plan. We know it involves sin and redeeming humanity after the Fall from Grace that occurred in the garden. We know that He is alive and working in our lives and on earth. But what is the summary of the plan? Here it is.

God made the universe and He made the earth. He made the creatures and He made man and woman. (Genesis 1-2). He joined them together in marriage and He walked with them in the Garden. (Genesis 3:8).

Adam and Eve had no sin in them and our Holy God had a personal relationship with them up close, because they were holy too.

Then sin was found in them and God cursed them. He cursed the earth, He cursed childbirth and He cursed labor. He cursed satan, who brought the sin. (Genesis 3:14-24).

But God was not finished with man. He maintained His relationship with them, and further, He promised to redeem them by sending a Savior. God said to the serpent that the promised savior will crush the serpent under His heel. (Genesis3:15).

Man’s evil grew worse and worse, until the only righteous man left in the world was Noah, and Noah’s sons and wives. God had promised to redeem man, and though He was grieved He had made man, (Genesis 6:6) He planned to save Noah and his family through the coming judgment.

After the Flood God selected Abraham to begin the process of redemption by building a nation through Abraham. (Genesis 12). The God selected Moses to begin the process of delivering the Law and then He sent the Prophets. The Law stated that a Messiah would come, (Psalm 2:7) and the Prophets were used by God to remind people of that, so they would have faith unto their God and live righteously. (Romans 7:12)

Until the time of Jesus’s physical presence on earth, the Old Testament faithful looked forward to the Messiah, and had faith that He would come. (Isaiah 11:2, Isaiah 61:1)

Then Jesus was born on earth from a virgin (Isaiah 7:14) and lived a sinless life on earth. He fulfilled the Law and He fulfilled the wrath of God regarding the sin in the world. (Romans 1:18).

Jesus preached the New Covenant, the one of Grace through faith in Messiah who has come. Jesus overcame sin, healed the sick, made the blind to see, raised the dead, and triumphed over the demons.

When He ascended into heaven after His resurrection, Jesus was still active, just not on earth. The Holy Spirit is on earth, He points to Jesus. Every person who responds to the drawing of the Spirit by repenting is forgiven by Jesus and enters the Kingdom an overcomer (Revelation 3:21, 1 John 5:5). One by one, He redeems humanity and one by one the kingdom enlarges. The believers in this present age of Grace have the bible as their guide for righteous living instead of the Law. But sin is still present on earth.

In Revelation 1-3 we see final warnings had been sent out to the churches, and in Revelation 4 we hear the call to the raptured believers to come up hither, (modeled in Jesus’s call to John) and in Revelation 5 the believers are singing about their salvation through His redeemed blood. (No other group can say that about their salvation). In Revelation 5:2-5 John records, “And I saw a mighty angel proclaiming in a loud voice, “Who is worthy to break the seals and open the scroll?” But no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth could open the scroll or even look inside it. I wept and wept because no one was found who was worthy to open the scroll or look inside. Then one of the elders said to me, “Do not weep! See, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has triumphed. He is able to open the scroll and its seven seals.”

In verse 1 it says the scroll has writing on both sides. This meant it was a legal document. The next moment in Revelation is one of the most momentous in all of the bible. “Then He came and took the scroll out of the right hand of Him who sat on the throne.” (Rev 5:7).

It is this moment that Jesus takes the scroll, which is a title deed to the earth, and He begins His next and most active phase of taking earth and all its contents back from sin. He begins the process of crushing the rebellion. He starts judging earth and opposing satan through those judgments. He starts the wheels turning to an even greater degree of putting down the last enemies. (which are sin and death.)

Revelation 6 opens with the unleashing of the first Four Horseemen. The rest of Revelation through chapter 19 shows Jesus taking it back through His successive judgments. He is putting down the rebellions, one after another. Then the 1000 year Kingdom comes, known as the Millennial Kingdom, and even then, Jesus is still in process of taking earth back and putting down rebellions. He takes back kingdoms. He establishes His authority on earth. He rules with an iron rod. If all was perfectly peaceful He would not need to rule with an iron rod. (Psalm 2:8-12). Rebellion still exists.

At the end of the 1000 years, satan is let out of the abyss where he has been locked up. He deceives the nations once again, and a great army marches against Jerusalem. But fire comes down and smites them all. Satan is thrown into the lake of fire.

In Revelation 20 a final judgment takes place. When that is concluded, in verse 14 we see death and Hades are thrown into the lake of fire. That is the last enemy! Sin has been put down! Sinners have been judged!. Death and hell are in the lake of fire with the antichrist, false prophet and satan!

Jesus has accomplished His mission for the Father! All sin, all governments, all kingdoms, any and all other authority except the authority of Jesus Christ the Holy Messiah are gone. Jesus reigns supreme!!

And then do you know what happens? Jesus gives it all back to the Father.

“Then comes the end, when He delivers the kingdom to God the Father, when He puts an end to all rule and all authority and power. For He must reign till He has put all enemies under His feet. The last enemy that will be destroyed is death. For “He has put all things under His feet.” But when He says “all things are put under Him,” it is evident that He who put all things under Him is excepted. Now when all things are made subject to Him, then the Son Himself will also be subject to Him who put all things under Him, that God may be all in all.” (1 Corinthians 15:24-28).

Jesus had been given charge of redeeming humanity and redeeming the earth. He was given charge to make an end to sin. He was given charge to take the earth back under His authority. ALL authority had been given to Jesus throughout all this time. (Matthew 28:18). And He accomplishes that, and in a holy act of humility He bows down and gives it all back to God.

God once again is all in all. God once again presides over a pure and holy creation.

“In the beginning…”
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end of days. prophecy, end time

Valentine’s Day Massacre

Posted on February 15, 2012 by elizabethprata

The ‘Saint Valentine’s Day massacre’ in reality refers to a 1929 murder of 7 mob associates in Chicago during Prohibition. But last night it referred to me! Working in a kindergarten during Valentine’s Day means noise, cupcakes, washing icing off hair and earlobes (they eat messy) and generally being busy and then tired. When I got home last night I fell asleep on the couch from 6 to 9pm! That was unprecedented for me.

At home, of course I had six or seven drafts waiting be fleshed out and published. There is so much going on in the prophetic world, and I was looking forward to coming home and studying, and writing. I love my evenings because of that. I truly love this blog and writing about Jesus and the things happening in the world that show how active He is in it. But the blessing is that when I woke up and studied my bible, and I got fascinated for an hour, because I came across a verse that changed my perspective on end time activity.

We often skip to the part where everything goes under Jesus’ feet, but look at the first part. Jesus gives it all back to God. This verse put a punctuation on the end that now allows other things to fall into place, for me. Tonight when I get home, God willing and a nap doesn’t happen, lol, and if I get it done before church, I’ll flesh this out.
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facebook rant, shoot the computer

This is the story of Tommy Jordan, a daughter’s Facebook complaint, shooting the computer, and the police

Posted on February 13, 2012 by elizabethprata

I’ve been following the saga of Tommy Jordan and his daughter since it broke viral on YouTube. For those just tuning in, ex-Marine Mr Jordan of North Carolina, discovered a Facebook rant his daughter had made on her page. It was profane and disrespectful to both her mother and her father, not to mention selfish and just plain wrong. It was the second such rant his 15-year-old daughter had made and she had been sternly warned by her father after the first time not to do it again.

His daughter had cloaked her page and gone private on her settings, but her dad found it anyway. He had warned her and she had disobeyed. Now the hammer came down. First, Mr Jordan made a video reply to her rant. In it, he read the rant she had posted, he replied to it, he rebutted her contentions and complaints with the truth, and then he explained why he was now going to inflict the punishment. With that, Mr Jordan set her laptop on the grass and shot it up with hollow point bullets from a 45 caliber gun. That is the summary, but the entire story is so much better.

His Youtube video went viral and got more than 21 million views in five days. News outlets that reported on it got hundreds of thousands of comments. The Jordan family got media blitzed. Their phone was practically smoking off the hook.

I am going to post the video, Mr Jordan’s written responses to the media responses, a news article stating that the Department of Children Services AND the police paid a visit to his home, and Mr Jordan’s reply to THAT. It will be long but you really will want to read the whole thing from start to finish. Then please comment below your thoughts.

THE VIDEO

JORDAN RESPONSE TO MEDIA
Attention Media Outlets
While we appreciate the interest you’re all putting forth to get in touch with us regarding the video, we’re not going to go on your talk show, not going to call in to your radio show, and not going to be in your TV mini-series.

Some of you think I made an acceptable parenting decision and others think I didn’t. However, I can’t think of any way myself or my daughter can …respond to a media outlet that won’t be twisted out of context. The Dallas news TV news already showed that in their brief 5 minute interview with the psychologist.

Additionally, there’s absolutely NO way I’m going to send my child the message that it’s OK to gain from something like this. It would send her a message that it’s OK to profit at the expense of someone else’s embarrassment or misfortune and that’s now how I was raised, nor how she has been raised.
So I say thank you from all of us. If we have anything to say, we’ll say it here on Facebook, and we’ll say it publicly, but we won’t say it to a microphone or a camera. There are too many other REAL issues out there that could use this attention you’re giving us. My daughter isn’t hurt, emotionally scarred, or otherwise damaged, but that kind of publicity has never seemed to be to have a positive effect on any child or family.

If you’re a news outlet that wants to ask us a question, feel free to so via email. I’m sure by now my email address is easy enough to find. It might take me awhile to get to a response because I’d have to sort through the “Die you bastard” emails to find it, but we will respond if its something that we feel merits it. Otherwise, sorry… no interviews, no talk shows, no call-ins.

If we respond to anything, it will be on here, and it will be in a way that our words can’t be misconstrued or edited for appeal to specific audience or shock value.

Now, I’m going to try to get to work for the day.
Best of luck to all of you out there… and PLEASE give my phone a break.

HOW HANNAH GOT CAUGHT

The Dog Did It.. no, really.

I finally came out and told her this today, partly because it was too funny NOT to share.

When my daughter made her post, she used Facebook’s privacy settings to block “Family” and “Church” friend’s lists. All her other friends could see it. We, of course could not.

One of our dogs is always getting in photos and therefore has her own Facebook pa…ge. It’s just a cute dumb thing we did for fun. Well, the dog’s profile is rarely used except when funny pictures of her are posted. Since that’s not too often, and she has very few friends on Facebook, her wall is kind of bare, with relatively few posts showing up on it.

The other night we gave the dog a bath and there was a funny photo we uploaded to Facebook and tagged her in. I logged in as the dog the next morning to comment on the photo. However when I logged into the dog’s profile, my daughter had forgotten to add her to the “family” list…. so our family dog’s profile showed her post right there on the front page.

It wasn’t any parent-hacking, computer spying, or monitoring of any kind.. the dog actually ratted her out completely by accident. She hasn’t petted that dog all day today…

HANNAH’S REACTION

For those that wondered, commented, criticized, and just in general wanted to know: My daughter came through it fine.

Yes, she’s in trouble, and yes she’s grounded, but that doesn’t mean every moment of her life has to be miserable. She’s going to come to terms with the changes that will be present for a while; no TV privileges, no Internet, etc.

In the meantime, once the initial anger passed,… she sat with me reviewing some of the comments that have come in via Facebook and YouTube. One person even suggested collecting the shell casings and auctioning them on eBay. I said I’d do it if it would help contribute to her college fund! When I told her about it, she thought a minute, got a funny calculating expression on her face and said, “in that case you should shoot my phone too. We can use more bullets and I’ll go half-sies with ya on it! It’s not like I’m going to need it any time soon. And I can use the money we get to buy a new one.”

While the whole point of this story isn’t funny, what is funny to me is how weak some people out there think kids are. Our kids are as strong as we help them to be. My daughter took a horrible day in her life, had her crying fit, then got over it, accepted her punishment, and hasn’t let it (or people’s comments) destroy her strength. I don’t get any credit for that. She’s strong and able to overcome almost anything life throws at her.

Since this unsuspectingly threw her into the limelight much more strongly than either of us intended, I asked her if she wanted to make her own response video, and told her I’d let her do it if she wanted to. She doesn’t like being in front of the camera, so she declined, but I’ve told her if she wants to write a response or post a video response, I’d be OK with it. It’s only fair considering the viral nature of the whole thing. So far she’s not really interested. Quite frankly it seems she’s gotten bored of it much faster than the general public has. If that changes I’ll post it here.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS:

Media Response to Anita Li, from the Toronto Star

Since you took the time to email us with your requests like we asked, I’ll take the time to give you an honest follow-up response. You’ll have to forgive me for doing so publicly though; again I want to be sure my words are portrayed the way I actually say them, not cut together to make entirely different points.

Your questions were:
Q: Why did you decide to reprimand your daughter over a public medium like YouTube?

A: Well, I actually just had to load the video file itself on YouTube because it’s a better upload process than Facebook, but the intended audience was her Facebook friends and the parents of those friends who saw her post and would naturally assume we let our children get away with something like that. So, to answer “Why did you reprimand her over a public medium like Facebook” my answer is this: Because that’s how I was raised. If I did something embarrassing to my parents in public (such as a grocery store) I got my tail tore up right there in front of God and everyone, right there in the store. I put the reprisal in exactly the same medium she did, in the exact same manner. Her post went out to about 452 people. Mine went out to about 550 people… originally. I had no idea it would become what it did.

Q: How effective do you think your punishment was (i.e. shooting her laptop and reading her letter online)?

A: I think it was very effective on one front. She apparently didn’t remember being talked to about previous incidents, nor did she seem to remember the effects of having it taken away, nor did the eventual long-term grounding seem to get through to her. I think she thought “Well, I’ll just wait it out and I’ll get it back eventually.” Her behavior corrected for a short time, and then it went back to what it was before and worse. This time, she won’t ever forget and it’ll be a long time before she has an opportunity to post on Facebook again. I feel pretty certain that every day from then to now, whenever one of her friends mentions Facebook, she’ll remember it and wish she hadn’t done what she did.

The second lesson I want her to learn is the value of a dollar. We don’t give her everything she asks for, but you can all imagine what it’s like being the only grandchild and the first child. Presents and money come from all sides when you’re young. Most of the things she has that are “cool” were bought or gifted that way. She’s always asked for very few things, but they’re always high-dollar things (iPod, laptop, smartphone, etc). Eventually she gets given enough money to get them. That’s not learning the value of a dollar. Its knowing how to save money, which I greatly applaud in her, but it’s not enough. She wants a digital SLR camera. She wants a 22 rifle like mine. She wants a car. She wants a smart phone with a data package and unlimited texting. (I have to hear about that one every week!)

She thinks all these things are supposed to be given to her because she’s got parents. It’s not going to happen, at least not in our house. She can get a job and work for money just like everyone else. Then she can spend it on anything she wants (within reason). If she wants to work for two months to save enough to purchase a $1000 SLR camera with an $800 lens, then I can guarantee she’ll NEVER leave it outside at night. She’ll be careful when she puts it away and carries it around. She’ll value it much more because she worked so hard to get it. Instead, with the current way things have been given to her, she’s on about her fourth phone and just expects another one when she breaks the one she has. She’s not sorry about breaking it, or losing it, she’s sorry only because she can’t text her friends. I firmly believe she’ll be a LOT more careful when she has to buy her own $299.00 Motorola Razr smartphone.

Until then, she can do chores, and lots and lots of them, so the people who ARE feeding her, clothing her, paying for all her school trips, paying for her musical instruments, can have some time to relax after they finish working to support her and the rest of the family. She can either work to make money on her own, or she will do chores to contribute around the house. She’s known all along that all she has to do is get a job and a lot of these chores will go away. But if you’re too lazy to work even to get things you want for yourself, I’m certainly not going to let you sit idly on your rear-end with your face glued to both the TV and Facebook for 5 to 6 hours per night. Those days are over.

Q: How did your daughter respond to the video and to what happened to her laptop?

A: She responded to the video with “I can’t believe you shot my computer!” That was the first thing she said when she found out about it. Then we sat and we talked for quite a long while on the back patio about the things she did, the things I did in response, etc.

Later after she’d had time to process it and I’d had time to process her thoughts on the matters we discussed, we were back to a semi-truce… you know that uncomfortable moment when you’re in the kitchen with your child after an argument and you’re both waiting to see which one’s going to cave in and resume normal conversation first? Yeah, that moment. I told her about the video response and about it going viral and about the consequences it could have on our family for the next couple of days and asked if she wanted to see some of the comments people had made. After the first few hundred comments, she was astounded with the responses.

People were telling her she was going to commit suicide, commit a gun-related crime, become a drug addict, drop out of school, get pregnant on purpose, and become a stripper because she’s too emotionally damaged now to be a productive member of society. Apparently stripper was the job-choice of most of the commenters. Her response was “Dude… it’s only a computer. I mean, yeah I’m mad but pfft.” She actually asked me to post a comment on one of the threads (and I did) asking what other job fields the victims of laptop-homicide were eligible for because she wasn’t too keen on the stripping thing.

We agreed we learned two collective lessons from this so far:

First: As her father, I’ll definitely do what I say I will, both positive and negative and she can depend on that. She no longer has any doubt about that.

Second: We have always told her what you put online can affect you forever. Years later a single Facebook/MySpace/Twitter comment can affect her eligibility for a good job and can even get her fired from a job she already has. She’s seen first-hand through this video the worst possible scenario that can happen. One post, made by her Dad, will probably follow him the rest of his life; just like those mean things she said on Facebook will stick with the people her words hurt for a long time to come. Once you put it out there, you can’t take it back, so think carefully before you use the internet to broadcast your thoughts and feelings.

———30————–

Since then the Jordan family has responded to more media questions They put up their answers on Mr Jordan’s Facebook page because he refuses to be interviewed. He said that he has been offered a television show. To that, Mr. Jordan said “the ceiling of absurdity has just been reached”. Below there is news of a visit from the officials, and again Mr Jordan’s response, lol.

YouTube dad says authorities pay visit; Daughter gets job offer
STANLY CO., N.C. — A local father who captured worldwide attention after posting a YouTube rant about his daughter is now responding to all the attention.

Tommy Jordan, from Stanly County, got mad after his daughter complained about doing chores on her Facebook page. In the video, titled “Facebook Parenting for the troubled teen” shows Jordan pull out a gun and shoots his daughter’s laptop.

“Pay you for chores?” Jordan said in the video. “Are you out of your mind?” The former Marine wrote on his Facebook page that Child Protective Services officials came to his home in Stanly Co. on Saturday and interviewed him and his daughter — separately — after viewers of the video called with concerns about his actions. He said the police also stopped by.

“The police by the way said ‘Kudos, sir,’ ” Jordan wrote. “I actually had a “thank you” from an entire detectives squad. And another police officer is using it in a positive manner in his presentation for the school system. How’s about those apples? Didn’t expect THAT when you called the cops did you?”

Police officials in Albemarle told Channel 9 they have received dozens of calls and emails asking why they haven’t done anything about the video. Officials said Jordan lives outside of city limits, so his actions are outside of their jurisdiction. Officials at the Stanly County Sheriff’s Office said there are no laws against what Jordan did, so they will not be investigating the matter.

In the Saturday Facebook post, Jordan said he does not regret making the video and stands by his decision to post it. Jordan’s post also said if he had to do it again he would, “Not be smoking a cigarette … not have used the word “ass” in my comment directed at my daughter … would have worn my Silverbelly Stetson, not my Tilley hat if I’d known that image was going to follow me the rest of my life and I’d probably have cleaned my boots.” If there is a bright spot for Jordan’s daughter, it appears she has at least one job offer from an ice cream shop in the town of Stanley. The offer was posted on YouTube Friday after Jordan’s video went viral.
——————30——————-

There is a lot to say about the prophetic here. Just the fact that 21 million people watched it and it caused such a media attention says a lot to the prophecy in 2 Timothy 3:2, that “People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy,” I think many parents have gotten frustrated to the max with ungrateful and disobedient children, and with other parents who cede all parental authority to the children and become the children themselves, enabling their entitlement mentality and indulging their every whim. It has had a detrimental effect on society. It says a lot about people’s views that think Mr Jordan was doing something wrong by what he did, or that punishment of the children is somehow damaging or psychosis inducing. Nobody likes authority any more, and it shows.

Please let me know what you think, but first watch the video and read through the responses before you do. Thanks. Oh and by the way, the Jordan family is donating money they receive to their chosen charity. Muscular Dystrophy Association.
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faith, Lord

Back to Basics: How do I know I’m saved? Examine yourself!

Posted on February 12, 2012 by elizabethprata

Apostle Paul told the Corinthians to test themselves. Since Paul said it, we should do this as well. It is important to always be mindful of our faith, test it, examine ourselves, and see if we are straying. First, let’s look at the verse to see what it says, then let’s look at the context to see what was happening then and why Paul said it, and last let’s see how to take this test, or make this examination. For some who make an examination, it will reveal a lack of salvation in the first place.

“Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you–unless, of course, you fail the test?” (2 Corinthians 13:5).

We know in our day at this point in the timeline that there is prophesied to be much deception in the church body. False doctrines will enter. Wolves in sheep’s clothing. Man-made doctrines which is the same as saying doctrines of demons. People will not stand for sound doctrine, and will like to have their ears tickled instead. (Luke 21:8, 1 Tim 4:1, Acts 20:29, 2 Tim 4:3, Eph 4:14). But the church body was always plagued with falsity. It began almost immediately with the believers at Corinth.

The Corinthians had made a good start. They all converted at about the same time, when Paul came as missionary and preached the Gospel. But Corinth was a severely pagan place, and after Paul left, they had started to slide back to pagan ways, even allowing pagan practices into the church. They were acting selfishly and even gorging and drinking to drunkenness at the Lord’s Supper, bringing shame to the church. (1 Corinthians 11:21).

Paul was urging them to look at themselves individually and see if they were selfless, pious, modest, and humble. But not to muse about it intellectually, but to go forth and live the Gospel selflessly, piously, modestly, humbly. He wanted them to conduct themselves according to the standards to which a mature Christian should behave. It is walking with the Lord and being active in our faith daily that brings us strength and as we grow stronger in Him (the Holy Spirit regenerates us more and more) then when trials come, we can withstand.

As it stood then, Paul knew that when the trials would come, and then when the persecution came, the Corinthians would not be able to withstand. In 1 Corinthians 3:2 he complained then about them still not being able to have meat, and still being babes in Christ and on milk. He is trying to wean them so they could stand on their own two feet, strong and brave, ready to withstand satan’s buffeting, of which Paul knew only too well.

So it is well with us if we examine ourselves from time to time to see if we are growing, or even if we are in the faith at all.

How do we know if we are saved, if we pass or if we “fail the test”? First, ask yourselves,

Am I sensitive to sin? My own and others’ sin, such as on television or movies? A growing Christian will look back at the early days of their conversion and see the sins they tolerated back then are no longer tolerable. Swearing bothers you. Entertainment depicting adultery piques your anger. Blasphemy hurts your ears. Obviously demonic novels and movies will no longer appeal. If they still appeal, then examine yourself further to see if you pass the test. A growing Christian grows away from sin and when we do sin, it breaks our heart.

Here is a Paul Washer sermon that examines sensitivity to sin in the saved or unsaved Christian. Hunker down for the long haul because it is an hour and 13 minutes. Audio only. But if you have gotten this far, finding the blog, reading this essay, getting down to this point, you need to hear him preach on sin. Sin is the foundational differential between being saved and unsaved. Do you recognize you are a sinner, and have you repented? If repented, are you sensitive to the effect sin has on your life and what a blight it is on Jesus’ name?

Secondly, does your faith grow stronger through trials and not weaker? In this essay by John MacArthur, he answers the question about why it is bad to appeal to people’s emotions at an altar call. He said that the church is filled with tares, flooded with them. They have no firm root (Mark 4:17) so when a strong wind comes they are uprooted and blow away. If your faith is firm, nothing can prevail against it because the root is Jesus. The essay is not long and it will help understand how your response through trials and even persecution can illustrate if we are passing or failing the test. If trials make you hate God and you stop going to church and doing good works, you are failing the test. If trials make you love Him all the more, then you are passing the test.

Does your walk bear fruit? 2 Corinthians 5:17 says if anyone is saved, he is a new creation. As a new creation, one made in His image, we want to glorify Him and do things that expand His kingdom. Those things are works. Matthew 7:16 says people will be known by their fruits. An apple tree isn’t named because of distinctive bark or a certain shaped leaf. It is named an apple tree because it bears apples. It is the apples that are useful. When the Spirit prompts us to do a work, we do it. Doing this work in the Spirit’s strength bears fruit. Ephesians 2:10 says we are created in order to do good works, which He has prepared for us beforehand. Being holy, growing in righteousness, doing things in His name for His name is showing the world that the Light is in us. Anyone who is not doing good works for His name is likely not saved. James 2:17 says faith by itself without works, is dead. Clarke’s Commentary explains, “The faith that does not produce works of charity and mercy is without the living principle which animates all true faith, that is, love to God and love to man.” Here is a Charles Spurgeon devotional that explains bearing fruit.

So there are three quick but not exclusive criteria for examining yourself to see if you pass the test: sensitivity to sin, strength through trials, and bearing fruit of good works.

In the verse Paul warns us not to fail the test. You might be thinking, ‘big deal. I’ve gotten a F on a test before and just made it up later. Or went to summer school…” How big of a deal is it if you fail the faith test? VERY BIG. Here is what happens:

““Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’” (Matthew 7:21-23).

In verse 22 you see the surprised cry of those who had deceived themselves. They had done works, but had not had faith. They had not done the will of our Father who is in heaven. The will of the Father is to believe on the One He has sent. (John 6:29, 6:40). But many people in churches are busy, busy doing this and doing that and feeling pretty spiritual about it, too. They deceived themselves that it counted for something. None of it counted. All that they did had looked like spiritual work, but it was not. Why? It was absent a saving faith. They never knew Jesus.

The penalty or failing the faith test is not an F, it is being cast away for all eternity. THAT is the penalty for failing the test. You must do the will of the Father, which is to believe. Do you believe? Not sure? Here is a short essay on “How to detect a false conversion” from GotQuestions.org.

It’s hard. The Christian life is hard. It goes against our nature to be good, loving, humble…Life doles out hard knocks and our faith is tested and then it is tested again. It is a struggle. Paul said it was and it is. But it is so worth it! Life on this earth is temporary. It is a temporary location, and heaven, soon New Jerusalem, will be our home forever. Examine yourself, live for the faith He died to give us! And then, “He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son.” (Revelation 21:7). Examine yourself today. Don’t wait.
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earthquakes, prophecy

Are there more earthquakes? YES

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

How to find earthquake data. I go to the United States Geological Survey and I click on Global Earthquake Search. I enter the parameters for the date, which is always 1-1- YYYY to 12-31-YYYY. I plug in the magnitude, which is 5.0 to 5.9 or 6.0 to 6.9 etc. Here is a screen shot:

Then the search presents me with data in sum.

I compare the search results with USGS annual averages, here.

I make a chart in Word by using “table” and plugging in the data I get from USGS search. When I’m done I paste the Word chart into Photoshop. I do it in Word (or Excel) so I can update it more easily. Today I updated the chart I’d last published as of Nov 2011. Click on it to make it bigger.

The number of earthquakes per year is increasing.
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damascus, Isaiah, prophecy, syria

Western Syria is aflame, violence spills over to Lebanon

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

This information is from UK Telegraph’s live blogging tweets of the Syrian Uprising. They have stopped for the day, but you need to see this map they linked to.

They wrote: “Syrian uprising live. Live coverage of developments in Syria, as the violence escalates in the Syrian flashpoint city of Homs with soldiers loyal to Bashar al-Assad’s regime attempting to crush opponents. Join us for DAILY updates: http://www.facebook.com/syrianuprising, twitter: @SyriaUprising”

This was their last tweet for the day:

“21.05 All eyes are on Homs and the battle for Damascus but the uprising against Assad is actually far more widespread. Check out this Google map to see how almost all of western Syria is aflame.” [emphasis mine]

Syria – Friday 10/02/2012
“Videos and updates from around Syria. Towns with reported protests or on strike are marked in blue. Towns with updates alone are marked in green. Red markers show places which are under attack or where martyrs fell today.”

You see that there is violence at the borders. Indeed, the violence spilled over to Lebanon today.

“Syrian forces continued to bombard Homs on Saturday as Iraq claimed jihadists are crossing into Syria and weapons are being sent to opponents of President Bashar Al Assad’s regime. The bloodshed showed no signs of abating, even spilling over into Lebanon. Activists said 25 people were killed across the country, including a 55-year-old woman among seven who were killed in the latest attacks in many districts of Homs which also saw house-to-house raids. Food and medical supplies are running low in blockaded areas and many people are trapped in their houses. “We have intelligence information that a number of Iraqi jihadists went to Syria,” Adnan Al Assadi told AFP, adding that “weapons smuggling is still ongoing” from Iraq to Syria. In Damascus, Brigadier General Eisa Al Kholi was killed by three gunmen outside his home as part of a “framework of targeting Syrian intellectuals and the medical and technical cadres,” the official Syrian Arab News Service said. Al Kholi was the director of the Hamish Hospital in Damascus, it said.””

There is no way you can be a student of prophecy and know the prophecy of Damascus, and not see that map and get shivers. Damascus is 150 miles from Jerusalem. Now here is another shiver-worthy article–

Assad mulls use of chemical weapons (translated from Hebrew)
“According to dissident elements, the Syrian army had concentrated cluster of chemical weapons at a school in the city, Prime Minister of Britain: a horrible situation, very difficult”
“Homs opposition warned today (Thursday) from the Syrian army can use chemical weapons against the protesters. Forum social network today who told activists that received reports that the Syrian army gas masks distributed to his soldiers at checkpoints and cluster grenades and mortar shells containing chemical weapons were assembled one of the schools in Homs. Whether the Syrian military will use chemical weapons against civilians is thus sufficient grounds for outside military intervention.”

If they use chemical weapons, will they also use nuclear? The destruction of Damascus from being a city is a given because it is a prophecy, but how it is destroyed is not given.

Dr. Jill Dekker is a consultant to the NATO Defense Establishment in bio-warfare and counter terrorism. Dr. Dekker is also a member of the board of advisors of the Intelligence Summit. She gave an interview to the New English Review in December 2007. In it, she said,

“Contrary to how the US State Department and other agencies tend to downplay the sophistication of the Syrian biological and nuclear programs, they are very advanced. Syria has always had the most advanced chemical weapons program in the Middle East. The US and other western agencies have in a sense been distracted by this, but their biological programs and the “concept of use” are robust. Syria’s biological weapons capability today is closely tied to the former and current Soviet and Russian programs respectively, the DPRK, Iran and the former Iraq regime. A major concern is their strategic concept of use – which has gone from one of ‘special weapons’ to incorporation into their ‘conventional arsenal.’ That is a significant shift and one that seems to have eluded the US. The Syrians run their biological programs out of the Syrian Scientific Research Council (SSRC) in Damascus.””

In a 2011 article I’d commented on, the unrest that had begun in Syria those many months ago immediately sparked fears and the question was asked “what will happen to its chemical weapons?”

The 2007 Dekker interview summarized the situation like this:

“Dr. Dekker’s answers give a foreboding picture of how large and refined the Syrian bio-warfare programs are and how little Western Intelligence knows about how the programs were developed. The potential exists for a significant WMD threat in the Middle East and the West, especially, against America. Syria is a proxy ally of Iran, North Korea (DPRK) and terror groups such as Hezbollah, Islamic Jihad and Hamas. Thus, the supply of bio-weapons and delivery platforms that could results in mass casualties makes it a real and present danger.”

So Syria has the weapons (means), the motive (‘concept of use’ doctrine) and the opportunity (revolution). That danger is even more present now, and combined with the prophecy about Damascus’s destruction…well, shivers once again. The battle for Damascus goes on overnight.

“Behold, Damascus will cease from being a city, And it will be a ruinous heap. (verse 1)
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joy, praise

Three praises to the Lord Jesus

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

It’s been a really good week for me, spiritually. The news in the world is not so good, but we are not of the world. If you walk closely with Jesus the news of the world will affect you only in that it helps you see and understand God is sovereign and everything He does is good. Actually, it is awe-inspiring because the closer I walk with Him and the more news I read that lines up with what He said would happen, it makes me feel more humble and grateful that a God such as He wants to interact on a personal basis with His people.

Some of the ways I could see Him with us during the week ran from the most High to the smallest things. There are some great praises to share. First, a teenage boy people have been praying for repented and accepted the Lord as His savior. That is the one thing in this world that will reduce me to tears of gratitude and awe. Eternity began for that boy on Wednesday and he will never be the same. It is a Holy God who cares about sin, and a Holy God who redeems fallen and sinful humanity to His bosom.

“Bless the LORD, O my soul; And all that is within me, bless His holy name! Bless the LORD, O my soul, And forget not all His benefits: Who forgives all your iniquities, Who heals all your diseases, Who redeems your life from destruction, Who crowns you with lovingkindness and tender mercies, Who satisfies your mouth with good things, So that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.” (Psalm 103:1-5)

Another praise was the rainbow that appeared in the non-rainy morning pre-dawn over our school. It began from a point on the left of the school, arched high and went over the right side. It feels truly like God was speaking to us. And He IS speaking to us when He sets His bow in the sky:

“I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth. Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life. Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth.” (Genesis 9:13-16).

It is so great to know that when you see a rainbow you know what God is thinking at that exact moment. Thank you for this heavenly beauty, LORD:

“The heavens declare the glory of God; And the firmament shows His handiwork. Day unto day utters speech, And night unto night reveals knowledge. There is no speech nor language Where their voice is not heard. Their line has gone out through all the earth, And their words to the end of the world. In them He has set a tabernacle for the sun, Which is like a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, And rejoices like a strong man to run its race. Its rising is from one end of heaven, And its circuit to the other end; And there is nothing hidden from its heat.” (Psalm 19:1-6)

Also, here is a small thing. It may not seem like much to you guys. It may just be a coincidence, but it meant a lot to me. I drive a Ford SUV that is 18 years old. It has 213,800 miles on it. There are a lot of things in the car that do not work any more, such as the gas gauge, the right-hand blinker, three of the window motors, and the driver door doesn’t shut properly unless I slam hard and push up just right when I close it because the inside door handle is also broken. To close it from the inside I have to roll the window down and put my hand outside and slam it that way. The blessing is that all the turns I need to make are left-hand turns, the one window that still motors up and down is the driver’s side, and until now, the door has always shut without too much trouble. And the things that do work are the ones that matter.

Friday morning, the door didn’t shut. No matter how I pushed hard and up, it would not latch. I drove to school praying and praying. You see, there is also an alarm system in the car that I have not yet figured out how to disable. If the driver door does not shut within a certain amount of time, the car alarm goes off and keeps going off. If the door doesn’t shut, it would be a problem at the elementary school at which I work. You can’t have a car alarm going off all day in the parking lot. The only other alternative would be to leave it unlatched with the key in the door, which is the only thing that stops the alarm. But that exposes me to car theft and also drawing the battery down. A small thing like the door not shutting could end up being a major disaster.

So the whole 6 miles to work I prayed. I asked the Lord to take care of this small thing. You see, He is a personal God, this same Jesus who walked the earth and now resides at the right hand of the Father and Who will come again. He loves us and wants us to have life abundantly. From holy things like a person’s salvation, to displays in creation like setting the bow in the sky, to tiny things like what to wear and food to eat, He is involved. That is how great He is. When I arrived at school and got out to shut the door, it shut properly. Thank you Lord. He cares for His sheep, even to the minor things of life.

“Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?” (Matthew 6:25-26)

I know I’m blessed. I have clothes and food and a place to live and a church to worship in and a good job and so much more. But even if it wasn’t good, I’d praise Him. If you feel your life is too hard, too desperate, to praise the Lord, then I ask you to start looking for ways to praise Him. Even at the lowest point of Job’s life, and I daresay no person on earth could get as low as Job, Job yet praised the Lord. Seek reasons to thank Him. Soon it will become a habit to see His blessings unfolding one miracle at a time.

“Make a joyful noise unto the LORD, all ye lands. Serve the LORD with gladness: come before his presence with singing. Know ye that the LORD he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name. For the LORD is good; his mercy is everlasting; and his truth endureth to all generations.” (Psalm 100:1-5)

In my life this week, He displayed His holiness, His sovereignty over creation, and His involvement in my life. My hope for you this week is that you also seek opportunities to praise Him. He is working in your life. Do you see it?
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whale shark

Pakistani fishermen reel in largest shark in the sea

Posted on February 11, 2012 by elizabethprata

A whale shark, found dead in the Arabian Sea. Notice the caption calls it a “leviathan” which of course is a descriptor, but it reminded me of Job 41. MSNBC photoblog here and video too.

““Can you pull in Leviathan with a fishhook
or tie down its tongue with a rope?
Can you put a cord through its nose
or pierce its jaw with a hook?

“I will not fail to speak of Leviathan’s limbs,
its strength and its graceful form.
Job 41:1-2, 12

God certainly has made a tremendous variety of animals to populate His earth.
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