Posted in end of days. prophecy, israel

World hatred against Israel is rising to a frenzied pace

Posted on by elizabethprata

This is Israel National News’s actual headline:

Harvard to host Conference of Hate
Harvard University to host conference based on a “one state solution,” calling for dismantling the Jewish state of Israel.
“Harvard University is going to be hosting a conference entitled “One State Conference: Israel/Palestine and the One State Solution,” scheduled to take place March 3-4. … The conference was organized by a number of student groups including, Students for Justice in Palestine, the Palestine Caucus, the Arab Caucus, the Progressive Caucus, and the Association for Justice in the Middle East, all of which perpetrate an ideology based on the belief that Israel is an “apartheid state,” responsible for the “ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian population.”

Christ at the Checkpoint 2012
“The conference is organized by Bethlehem Bible College and will take place in Bethlehem, March 5-9, 2012. It aims is to provide an opportunity for Evangelical Christians to prayerfully seek a proper awareness of issues of peace, justice, and reconciliation in the context of the realities on the ground in the Palestinian Territories. The overall theme of the conference will be Hope in the Midst of Conflict. The conference will focus on the ministry of the Palestinian Church in the context of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. The sessions and activities will have varied formats including lectures, interviews, field visits, workshops, and small group discussions. There will also be praise and worship, gospel choirs, and a series of short videos created specifically for the conference. The conference will cover different topics including: Biblical Hope, Biblical Justice, Christian Zionism, Theology of the Land, Non-Violence, Peacemaking and the Church, and Reconciliation.”

Sounds all nicey nicey, doesn’t it? Israel Today Magazine explains the reality of this Christ at the Checkpoint Conference:

“A new brand of Replacement Theology built atop Jesus’ teachings of compassion and attacking those who would support the State of Israel on biblical grounds is permeating the Church. Known locally as Palestinian Liberation Theology, the movement got a major boost in 2010 with the release of the documentary film “With God on Our Side,” which presented a critical view of Christian Zionism, and the first Christ at the Checkpoint conference, during which some speakers attempted to equate Jesus’ suffering with Israeli mistreatment of the Palestinian Arabs. The second Christ at the Checkpoint conference at the Bethlehem Bible College in March 2012 promises to further advance the cause. And this time, Israelis are paying attention, many of them confused over how portions of an Evangelical Church that had so vigorously supported their nation’s prophetic restoration could now be championing its delegitimization.”

There is some push-back, here is “Russ Resnik, Executive Director of the Union of Messianic Jewish Congregations (UMJC), who reads a statement of concern about “Christ at the Checkpoint,” which was issued by the UMJC, Messianic Jewish Alliance of America, International Alliance of Messianic Congregations and Synagogues, and International Messianic Jewish Alliance.”

Championing Israel’s de-legitimization is coming from many quarters, fast and furious!! This is prophetic.

 “and they will fall by the edge of the sword, and will be led captive into all the nations ; and Jerusalem will be trampled under foot by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.” (Luke 21:24).

O Jerusalem! O, Israel! Hated until the end. But the Sovereign Lord is faithful. He protects her through the end. (Ezekiel 38:18). He loves her until the end, and beyond. (Ezekiel 48:35). Hang on, Israel! Better days are coming!
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Posted in about me

And now for something completely different: some stuff about me

Posted on by elizabethprata

Remember that segue phrase from Monty Python’s Flying Circus? No? Man, I’m old.

Here are a few personal things. It occurred to me that I never, ever post anything about myself. While I think that is a good thing, generally, because this blog is not about me (It’s about JESUS!) sometimes getting to know the writer could help someone make a connection.

I have two cats. Bert and Luke.

Here is my cat Bert, otherwise known as ‘football’ or the ‘ungainly meat loaf’.

He loves his string though. Not just any string, but a plaid gift bow. He drags it in his mouth, jumps on the table and drops it on the keyboard. Subtle he ain’t. I’m supposed to wave it around and he grabs for it.

Lemme position this just right…

Aha! I’ve got you right where I want you, string!

Whazzat? Something else going on? What? Where?

Just to mess with him, I said really loud, “BERT!” He’s so easy…

This is Luke. He likes to get into things too.

Here is my couch, from which I occasionally post things:

But mostly I work at the table. The bookcase adjacent to the table contains the scanner, the printer, office supplies, and some reference materials. The rest of my theological books are in the 6 foot bookcase in the living room. (not shown)

I have curtains now that there is a neighbor. She is a quiet neighbor.

So that is a bit about me. I like Monty Python, I have two cats, a small but tidy and pretty apartment, a lot of books, and, well, that’s all about me, your tireless and diligent blogger!

Posted in bible, prophecy, shepherd

Reclining at Jesus’s bosom

Posted on by elizabethprata

Growing up, I used to watch the PBS Masterpiece Theatre classic “I, Claudius”. It was about one of the least known Emperors of the Roman Empire, Claudius. Who wouldn’t overlook him, being sandwiched between Caligula and Nero, lol. I was fascinated with the Roman banquets, of which the show “I, Claudius” had many, and I used to wonder why they ate while reclining. It seemed cumbersome to me.

However, Amos mentioned reclining while eating in Amos 6:7- “Therefore they shall now go captive as the first of the captives, And those who recline at banquets shall be removed.” Amos lived in around 760 BC. As a matter of fact, the first known artistic depiction of someone reclining while eating is captured in this ‘Garden Party’ relief from the North Palace of Ashurbanipal, Nineveh, Iraq, about 645 BC, well before the Roman Empire. The relief is currently housed at the British Museum. King Ashurbanipal reigned from 669-631 BC. Here he is shown eating while reclining on his left side, with a pillow propped under his armpit and his wife upright in front of him. This custom was later shown in Greek, Etruscan, and Roman art and writings. It was picked up in Jewish traditions.

source

I was then and I am still bemused by the Roman custom of eating while reclining. The Romans said it aided digestion. It also was a cultural boast, that the upper class Romans were so wealthy they could afford to not only sit to eat, but to recline. Leisure was a mark of class and wealth.

The photo below from Wikimedia Commons shows a re-enactment of a Roman banquet. The Romans would lie on their left side with a pillow under their armpit. They would use their right hand to eat. Their feet would extend out and away from the specially designed couches upon which they would recline for many hours. Dinners took a while, interspersed as they were with conversation and entertainment. Women were allowed to participate at dinners at later stages of the Empire, and usually sat in upright chairs in front of their husbands.

This reenactment of a Roman banquet shows members of the upper class reclining on couches. The women wear their chiton and palla, while the men wear purple-bordered togas, denoting their position of senator. As women are present, this is most likely a dinner party, as opposed to a symposium, where women would only be permitted if they were entertainers.

As the custom caught on, the middle class then the lower classes copied the posture of reclining while eating.

The typical dinner would include nine guests. There were three reclining couches arranged in a semicircle, with three diners to a couch. The inside of the horseshoe was left open so slaves could pour wine and serve food. Anything not eaten, like bones or shells, were cast to the floor to be swept up by the slaves later.

The host would assume the place in the middle of the central couch and to be placed next to him was the place of honor. It is like “the head table” at a wedding. The place of honor was given to the one on his left. Jesus spoke to this when he said in Matthew 23:6, “They love the place of honor at banquets and the chief seats in the synagogues,”

As Barnes’ Notes describes, “On these the guests reclined, leaning on their left side, with their feet extended from the table, and so lying that the head of one naturally reclined on the bosom of another. To recline near to one in this manner denoted intimacy, and was what was meant by lying “in the bosom” of another, John 13:23; Luke 16:22-23.

“John 13:23– “There was reclining on Jesus’ bosom one of His disciples, whom Jesus loved.”

Embroidered altar dossal, 1633. source

Barnes continues, “As the feet were extended “from” the table, and as they reclined instead of sitting, it was easy to approach the feet behind, and even unperceived. Thus, in Luke 7:37-38, while Jesus reclined in this manner, a woman that had been a sinner came to his feet “behind him,” and washed them with her tears, and wiped them with the hair of her head. She stood on the outside of the couches. So our Saviour washed the feet of his disciples as they reclined on a couch in this manner, John 13:4-12. Whenever we read in the New Testament of “sitting” at meals, it always means reclining in this manner, and never sitting as we do. The chief seat, or the “uppermost” one, was the middle couch at the upper end of the table. This the Pharisees loved, as a post of honor or distinction.”

All one had to do if wanting to ask a private question or make a one-on-one comment was to lean back against the person next to you, and with your head at their bosom, ask it in a low voice. The Beloved Disciple, assumed to to be John, asked this of Jesus when prompted by Peter, who was going to be His betrayer?

“He, leaning back thus on Jesus’ bosom, said to Him, “Lord, who is it?” (John 13:25).

Jesus replied to the Beloved Disciple who had just asked Jesus who His betrayer was going to be by saying it is the one to whom I will dip this bread (Verse 26). Because Jesus was able to hand Judas the bread it it assumed that Judas had been reclining at the second place of honor, to the Host’s left.

Though Jesus certainly had upside down ideas about the places of honor, so the ritual usually associated with Roman & Jewish dining places can’t be dogmatically assumed, except for Jesus being at the center. “When he noticed how the guests picked the places of honor at the table, he told them this parable:  “When someone invites you to a wedding feast, do not take the place of honor, for a person more distinguished than you may have been invited. If so, the host who invited both of you will come and say to you, ‘Give this man your seat.’ Then, humiliated, you will have to take the least important place. But when you are invited, take the lowest place, so that when your host comes, he will say to you, ‘Friend, move up to a better place.’ Then you will be honored in the presence of all your fellow guests. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”” (Luke 14:7-11).

The handing of bread that had been dipped was a custom of friendship, or reconciliation. By Jesus handing Judas the bread He was giving an offer of friendship at that late stage, and still giving Judas grace to change his mind.

Judas was close to Jesus because Judas was handed the bread and he took it.

“After the morsel, Satan then entered into him.” (John 13:27).

So Judas accepted the gesture but still resolved to betray Jesus! Then Jesus said, “What you do, do quickly.”

Here are a couple of other verses referring to intimacy and closeness in proximity by being at the bosom-

Luke 16:22– “Now the poor man died and was carried away by the angels to Abraham’s bosom; and the rich man also died and was buried.”

Isaiah 40:11– “Like a shepherd He will tend His flock, In His arm He will gather the lambs And carry them in His bosom; He will gently lead the nursing ewes.”

The picture of the different people at the bosom of Abraham or Jesus shows us rest, intimacy, care. Are you reclining at Jesus’ bosom today? It is an amazing thing to know that He is holy, holy, holy; that His thunder can rend the earth into pieces, but that love of His forgiven is as gentle and accessible as being able to lay your head on His bosom. He will even gather you into His arms and carry you. He is not just the Judge of all sins, He is not only the Subduer of foes, but He is the gentle Shepherd, able to tenderly carry the feeble and the weak. Come to Him today, your Shepherd, your Companion.
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Posted in bible jesus, overcomer

Overcomers: Noah, Daniel, and Job

Posted on by elizabethprata

God speaking to Ezekiel about inescapable judgment:

“Though these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, they should deliver but their own souls by their righteousness, saith the Lord GOD.” (Ezekiel 14:14).

Why are Noah, Daniel, and Job mentioned as standout, righteous men, in this verse and in Ez 14:20?

“The principal fight of the Christian is with the world, the flesh, and the devil. These are his never-dying foes. These are the three chief enemies against whom he must wage war. Unless he gets the victory over these three, all other victories are useless and vain. If he had a nature like an angel, and were not a fallen creature, the warfare would not be so essential. But with a corrupt heart, a busy devil, and an ensnaring world, he must either “fight” or be lost.” (JC Ryle, “Holiness“)

Noah overcame the world. Daniel overcame the flesh. Job overcame the devil.
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Posted in animals, bird die off, dolphin stranding, end time. prophecy

Of bird die-offs, dolphin strandings, and animals in the bible

Posted on by elizabethprata

I think of how He caused all the animals to come to Noah in preparation for the flood. (Genesis 7:1-16). I think of the birds He sent to feed Elijah (1 Kings 17:1-6), and of the quail that He sent to the Jews during the wandering in the desert. (Exodus16:13). I think of Balaam and his donkey speaking out loud (Numbers 2). He caused the large fish to cough up Jonah on cue, and on the beach no less. (Jonah 2:10). I think of the Gadarene pigs, how after Jesus ordered the legion of demons in the Gadarene demoniac, they begged to go into the herd of pigs instead of back to the abyss, and Jesus put them into the pigs and the pigs went mad and hurtled down the hill and into the lake to drown themselves. (Mark 5:1-20; Luke 8:25-39 and Matthew 8:28-34). He is sovereign, and He controls the entire creation, including the animals. Not one jot or tittle escapes His notice, not even one sparrow falling to the ground.

“Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father.” (Matthew 10:29).

Sparrows were inconsequential birds. As David Padfield writes, “In the days of our Lord sparrows were sold for a very low price — two of them for a copper coin (Matt. 10:29). A copper coin, an asarion, was a very small Roman coin, was worth about 1/16 of a silver denarius, and was therefore worth less than a quarter in U.S. currency today. Those who were poor and could not afford to sacrifice a sheep or a goat might bring a sparrow to the Temple (cf. Lev. 14:1-7). So insignificant were these little birds that if you bought four sparrows the seller would throw in one more for free (Luke 12:4-7). It was this extra sparrow of which Jesus said, “and not one of them is forgotten before God.” His care for His creation is so great that even this extra sparrow is noted and observed by God!”

A person commented to me on the blog about the latest incident of birds hurling themselves to the pavement, in one incident a witness spoke of, to a parking lot. In the bigger incident caught on the news, birds hurled themselves to the ground over Interstate 95 in Maryland. This got me thinking.

You might remember the worldwide bird deaths in January 2011 and again in January 2012. It has happened again:

Hundreds of dead birds fall in I-95 in MD
“Hundreds of dead birds rain down on I-95, blindsiding drivers in Howard County. Now Natural Resources officials are trying to figure out what caused the mass deaths. State animal experts have an idea of what happened to the birds, but there is still some mystery here and they hope to unravel it. A strange sight on the I-95 northbound in Laurel. Hundreds of dead birds were scattered on the road. “I travel this all the time. I never seen anything like this before,” said one driver. The Maryland Department of Natural Resources says the birds are starlings. It appears they ran into traffic. While that act is unusual, authorities say starlings themselves are common in this area.”

The article, and others reporting on it, state that the birds probably flew into a truck and then fell. However, witnesses stated the birds fell over a long area and from above, presumably drivers would notice a flock of birds pelting them from windshield height…

In other weird animal news,

Unexplained dolphin strandings continue in US
“There’s no good spot on Cape Cod for dolphins to continue this winter’s massive and unexplained beachings, but a group of 11 has chosen one of the worst. The remote inlet is a place where the tides recede fast and far, and that’s left the animals mired in a grayish-brown mud. A year ago, Tuesday’s 11 stranded dolphins would have seemed remarkable. But in the last month, 177 short-beaked common dolphins have stranded on Cape Cod, and 124 have died. So far, there’s no explanation.”

A dolphin stranding happened in Chiclayo Peru this week as well. Hundreds. The article is from the BBC and has a video along with the article, with an advisory warning that the video contains disturbing images.

Over 200 dead dolphins washed ashore in Peru
“Residents of Chiclayo, on the northern coast of Peru, have found 200 hundred dead dolphins over an area 66 miles long in the last week.”

The video went on to state that Chiclayo fishermen say that they only see dolphins if they go deeper in the ocean, it is extremely rare to see them near the beach. The article also states that masses of anchovies were found floating, as well.

I’m going to get weird for a minute. But not un-biblically weird, unless you are reading this and you don’t fully believe everything in the bible is true, as I do.

–First: we know that a spiritual war is going on in the realms invisible to us. (2 Kings 6:17, Ephesians 6:12).
–Second, God is sovereign over all of creation, using animals as He wills (examples listed above).
–Third, we know that the Gadarene demoniac hosted a legion of demons inside him. Though the number varied over the course of the Roman Empire’s history, at about Jesus’s time a Legion contained between 5000-6000 men. It is horrible to think of this one Gadarene man being tormented by thousands of demons. (Luke 8:26-39)

From this set of verses and others where Jesus cast out demons, we know that demons can enter people. We see from the Luke verses that animals would rather inhabit an animal than no body at all. And from the result of them going into the pigs we see the violence and madness their indwelling creates. In the Gadarene demoniac’s case, we know that He can cause them to go into animals, too. He did it in Gadara and He has promised to do cause confusion and madness again again, during the tribulation: (though it isn’t certain that it is due to demons)

“In that day,” says the Lord, “I will strike every horse with confusion, and its rider with madness; I will open My eyes on the house of Judah, and will strike every horse of the peoples with blindness.” (Zechariah 12:4 NKJV)

We know that the animal kingdom is under God’s dominion, because He is the creator. Animals have variously been used by demons, used by God, or have simply suffered because of the sinful, demonic decay of the world.

Here is what one commenter on the blog said of the birds that fell on Route 95 this week:

“The way this bird catastrophe is described reminds me of the pigs in Gadera.”

It does, doesn’t it? Food for thought. I’m just pondering, I can’t make a doctrine out of it, but the comment did get me thinking in a new direction regarding these animal behavior anomalies.

There is more going on in the invisibles than we can see or even know. Why would animals with strong instincts for flying like birds or with strong intellect like dolphins suddenly go mad and hurl themselves to a sure death? The falling birds and the stranding dolphins may indeed have a “logical” or a “scientific” cause. Even at that, His eye is on the sparrow, and nothing happens without His Hand at the cause. All of creation groans … (Romans 8:22)

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Posted in prophecy

The Bride awaits her Groom

Posted on by elizabethprata

What a lovely and spotless bride Jesus is creating! We often look around and see the mud and grime of the world and despair. For those of us who are older, we remember innocent days when children played outside unsupervised, roamed the streets with sticks and balls and bats, safe and happy. We remember when crime was lower and people were nicer. Today is it pretty ugly out there, and that of course is because of sin. But…the Bride of Jesus is shining, spotless, and beautiful! Do not forget that! Wearing garments white as snow, standing by the crystal sea, singing praises to Jesus! His acceptance of all the wrath of God on our behalf made possible our entrance into heaven. Our ugly and putrid sins were forgiven through His sacrificial act.

This is the long betrothal period, when the bride is separated from her groom. The bride are all those people past, present and future in the Age of Grace who have believed on the atoning sacrifice of Jesus on the cross, and His resurrection. We are anxious, waiting. We are making preparations such as remaining faithful. We are looking forward to the wedding day when everything will be perfect and we will be ready! (Revelation 19:7)

All brides on her wedding day are beautiful. She is radiant, and glowing and smiling and happy. Her white garment is spotless and adorns and wraps her gracefully. All the believers are installed in New Jerusalem, the holy city, which takes on the characteristics of the bride herself, because we who are His bride are in it. (Revelation 21:2).

“I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God.”

We are finally united with our Groom!

The world is ugly and putrid and dripping with evil and poison and sin. But that is not us, thanks to Jesus our Christ. We are not of the world. Believers are spotless and beautiful in Christ’s eyes. “…Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless.” (Ephesians 25b-27)

Stand up, you believers, and make ready for the Groom. You are so pure and lovely in His eyes. We who eagerly await Him are also eagerly awaited BY Him!
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Posted in nukemap

NUKEMAP: Nuking your house online

Posted on by elizabethprata

I don’t know why Alex Wellerstein created NUKEMAP, but he did.

Nuking my house online
BY ROBERT KRULWICH
“Wellerstein works at the American Institute of Physics in College Park, Maryland. After hours, he is a mad bomber — but a careful, data-driven, history-minded mad bomber. His newest creation, which I found on his blog, is called NUKEMAP. It allows you to choose a city, any city (I chose the Upper West Side of Manhattan, where I live), an atomic or hydrogen bomb of any size (whatever kiloton level you like, or you can pick from a list of historically specific bombs). On the screen, you’ll find a Google map of your chosen neighborhood with your bomb, represented by a little bomb-shaped icon, ticking at its center. You can then take your cursor, move the bomb to the exact location you want (when you move it, it casts a dangerous looking x on the “ground” below). When you reach your designated ground zero (I chose my apartment building), you are ready for the next step. You hit “detonate.” The explosion creates a series of concentric circles, color-coded to show the zone where everything is incinerated, the space where most things get emulsified or crushed, the space where radiation is lethal, the space where people are poisoned by radiation, the space where they are badly burned — concentric circles of destruction. The effects are chilling and fascinating. When I tried out some of the more powerful bombs, I was stunned by their destructive power. I had no idea.”

I tried it. I plugged in the data for nuking Damascus, just to see how far the damage would go… You can try it here. It is very easy.

Click on the map to enlarge–

Sadly, it seems to me that all this will soon be a real event and not just an online novelty…
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Posted in danube, doom, europe

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

Posted on 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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Posted in prophecy, river turns blood red

Beirut River mysteriously runs blood red

Posted on 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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Posted in end of days. prophecy, millennium kingdom, sin

The story of Jesus

Posted on 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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