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Jentezen Franklin, and his false teachings on fasting

Posted on November 21, 2011 by elizabethprata

“PART 1: The Daniel Fast, here

If you partake of this fast, other benefits mentioned on The Daniel Fast website are winning the battle over the flesh (hard to do when we are still flesh when the fast is done), losing weight and healings from diabetes, allergies, arthritis and cancer. Another benefit is said to be putting our spirit in charge of the other two parts of us, the soul and the body. It must be news to the Holy Spirit that we can put Him in charge of things. (source). Here is what others have experienced by fasting along with Jentezen Franklin: healed relationships, spiritual growth, physical healings, financial breakthroughs, and other blessings. Wow.

“If that is the case, you have to wonder what blessings aren’t being released, Franklin writes, what answers to prayer are not getting through…what bondages are not being broken…because we fail to fast.” The Word-Faith crowd always makes a point to say that we will lose out on something if we don’t do it their way. This is an example. Fasting is a voluntary activity we engage in at the prompting of the Spirit or when we feel we need to humble ourselves in grief or repentance, or to focus on Jesus in a more pointed way. More on fasting in previous post.

Jentezen Franklin is the guru of fasting. He has written two books on it and is the one who championed The Daniel Fast. His statements about why we fast include fasting to get a blessing, to earn God’s favor, to get a public reward, to get our greatest breakthrough, to “release” a hundredfold return. (source).

So the lesson from The Daniel Fast and Jentezen Franklin is that we fast to get something. I do not believe we fast to get something, and I do not believe we should expect something and I do not believe we have the power to cause God to do something if we fast. More on what fasting is all about in the previous post.

Secondly, if we fast, Franklin says, it causes God to “release” these things into our lives. My understanding is that fasting is a private expression of a deeply felt spiritual need and a way to humble myself before Almighty God.

All this elevates fasting to an importance the bible does not give it nor did Jesus give it. So who is this Jentezen Franklin?

Franklin is pastor of a Holiness church in GA but he is also pastor of a Holiness church in CA. How does he do it? This article from Charisma Magazine explains:

“Every Sunday, Franklin arrives at Free Chapel in Gainesville (GA) by 5 a.m. for prayer, preaches two sermons and shakes hundreds of hands before boarding a private jet at 2 p.m. with his family and two staff members. They arrive at John Wayne Airport, located five minutes from Free Chapel Orange County (OC), and by 6 p.m. Franklin is in the pulpit. The next day is filled with Orange County staff meetings, and the group returns to Gainesville on Tuesday. “This may sound like a crazy schedule, but it is actually exhilarating,” Franklin says. … “My family comes first, and what shows me that this is of God is the way they can be with me more now than ever,” Franklin says. “The school systems have actually worked it out that my children can be off the two days so they can be with me.”

Is this a biblical model of pastoring? Pastor means shepherd. How can he shepherd his flock if he has one pasture in Judah and one in Persia? He can’t. It is not a biblical model of shepherding. As for his family, is taking his children out of school for two days a week the best, most stable life for them? Is his ambition so great he plunks his children in the middle of his “crazy schedule” so he can enjoy the ‘exhilaration’? And a private jet??? He had a choice to stay in GA. He chose the jet set lifestyle. Is this the proper Christian pastoring and fathering model we want to buy into? It isn’t for me, and I refuse to spend money buying his book.

His friends tell us a lot about who Franklin is. This weekend he is preaching from the pulpit of false preacher Joel Osteen’s stage at Lakewood Church! (source here and here). There is no worse false church in America than Lakewood. There is no worse false preacher than Osteen! Osteen denies the Gospel in favor of becoming a motivational guru to have “your best life now”. The only way you’re having your best life now is if you’re going to hell. (that was John MacArthur’s wit). This Jentezen Franklin will be preaching from Osteen’s stage for two days. That should tell us a lot.

FALSE PASTOR ALERT.

If that is not enough, after this weekend Franklin will be hosting the “Praise the Lord” show with Jan and Paul Crouch on TBN. There is no deeper of a snake pit of false doctrine than Praise the Lord show on TBN and Franklin will be promoting it. (source)

Franklin should be excised from any bible-believing church on these bases ALONE.

But wait, there’s more.

As for his teachings, they are false doctrine too. He said in one sermon as he appealed for money, lots of it for over ten minutes, over sentimental music blared from loudspeakers, “I’ve never come to Hillsong Conference where I haven’t sown at least a $1000 seed…”

Yet the bible says, “So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full.” Mt 6:2

and Franklin goes on, “$1000 seed…into this place, because if I sow now, the rain of now will fall on my life.” NAME IT CLAIM IT! Tithe big, you get big. And what is “the rain of now” for heaven’s sakes? His hands were fluttering down as rain, and the audience looked up as if expecting manna or Armani suits or money to fall from the sky right then.

He is a Word-Faith preacher and we know those are false. The Word-Faith crowd is big on “if you do this, you get this.” “If you do this it will cause God to move.” They talk about ‘releasing’ power into your life, but in fact the only thing we have the power to release is a fart after dinner. He elevates to us more power than we have and diminishes Jesus in the process.

“It is so easy to get caught up in the busyness of ministry,” he says. “It’s dangerous to have a growing ministry and a shrinking passion for God; something gets out of whack. When I find myself becoming mechanical in my preaching, even a one-day fast fine-tunes me and makes my heart sensitive. For me, fasting is the key.”

Fasting is not Jiffy Lube. It is the Word fine-tunes you. Sigh.

But most telling, is the following:

He said, “When I feel myself growing dry spiritually, when I don’t sense that cutting-edge anointing, or when I need a fresh encounter with God, fasting is the secret key that unlocks heaven’s door and slams shut the gates of hell. The discipline of fasting releases the anointing, the favor, and the blessing of God in the life of a Christian.”

Don’t gloss over this.

It is the most abhorrent statement imaginable. It is sacrilege. Jesus has the key to heaven and hell. Nothing we do unlocks it. How sacrilegious to say that any activity we do unlocks heaven or shuts hell. This is wrong! On just that statement, he should be booted from every bible-believing pulpit, our churches, and our bookshelves!

And why is fasting characterized as a “secret”? It is not, at least not to anyone who reads the bible. And what is a ‘cutting edge anointing’? Is it different from a regular anointing? Franklin distinguished the “normal seed” from the “precious seed” in one ‘name it claim it’ sermon I’d listened to. I guess I am missing out on the “cutting edge” anointing and I just have to settle for the regular anointing we get when we’re saved. (1 John 2:20).

See, that is the dangerous heresy in Word-Faith preachers like Franklin, they subtly elevate themselves and their teachings above what the bible says, making everything else seem humdrum by comparison by using sexy words like cutting edge, fine-tune, heart sensitive, breakthroughs, hundredfold return, precious seeds…. it is all very exciting in Franklin’s world, exhilarating, even. By comparison, the staid old faith, prayer, service, obedience seems dry as yesterday’s toast.

The Word-Faith doctrine “puts confidence in the nature of faith rather then in the object of faith. It assumes that there’s something inherent in believing that enacts [or “releases”] something when it isn’t true at all. It is not the nature of faith that is effective, it is the object of faith. It is my faith in God that gets results not my faith in my faith.” (source: A biblical answer to the prosperity Gospel)

Franklin Jentezen is a jet setting, TBN hosting, Osteen partnering Word-Faith prosperity preacher who has no business being in any biblical church. He is a wolf. Avoid Jentezen Franklin and The Daniel Fast. Rely on the Holy Spirit to direct your steps. Pray, fast when the Spirit prompts you, read your bible so you will have the discernment to spot a false teaching when you come across one. Go have a good lunch, and don’t forget to thank the Lord for it!
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The Daniel Fast and Jentezen Franklin

Posted on November 21, 2011 by elizabethprata

Part 2: Jentezen Franklin and his false teachings, here

It is with heavy heart I write this today. I have been called by our gracious and Holy Spirit to write this. Out of sincere duty to Him who reveals truth and obedience to Him who saves, I must say some things about the Daniel Fast and about Jentezen Franklin of the Fasting books. This is part 1, about fasting and the Daniel Fast

First, a parable. Picture a large house, in which you and I live with a family. We are all busy, doing things, and happily dwelling there. In November I awoke one morning and went into the baby’s room, and as I opened the door I saw with horror that there was a wolf curled up with the baby, snarling and drooling. There are two things I could do. I could close the door and go downstairs to make breakfast, not saying anything about the wolf in the house. Or I could flip on the burglar alarm, call 911, and get my shotgun. Of course I opt for the latter. I am going to make a warning that there is a wolf in the house, I am going to make a ruckus about it, because wolves are dangerous and there are babes to protect.

The house is Your Church. The wolf is The Daniel Fast and/or Jentezen Franklin, the promoter of the current fasting fad. We make a ruckus to let everyone know that there is a wolf ready to pounce on the babes of our faith.

FASTING

There are many churches today participating in the current fad known as The Daniel Fast. This is a man-made so-called spiritual activity that is supposed to automatically draw you closer to God by eating things that are on a list and not eating things that are not on a list. Other benefits touted if you partake of this fast are winning the battle over the flesh (hard to do when we are still flesh when the fast is done), losing weight and healings from diabetes, allergies, arthritis and cancer. Another benefit from doing the fast is said to be putting our spirit in charge of the other two parts of us, the soul and the body. It must be news to the Holy Spirit that we can put Him in charge of things. (source)

Fasting is in the bible, but the way it is being taught in the Daniel Fasting plan and in Franklin’s book it is off center. That is the genius of false teaching, take a biblical thing and twist it.

Let me say that I know good pastors have a heart for their people. I can’t imagine the stress and difficulty of being a pastor in the last days, and the mourning they do for the sheep who are sleeping and at such risk! I want to shake them myself, out of complacency, laziness, or apathy, and get them to see that every moment for Christ counts. I know they want the best for us. But the Daniel Fast and the Jentezen Franklin books are not the way to wake them up and this isn’t the best for the congregants of a church.

About fasting: it is good. I fast. Fasting is biblical. However the only New Testament direction we are given is from Jesus’ sermon on the Mount, and in that, the only specifics we are given about fasting is as a voluntary activity prompted by the Holy Spirit TO DO IT IN SECRET. Jentezen Franklin’s model calls for the opposite. Otherwise, Jesus said, the temptation to lean toward pride and hypocrisy is too great. We are told in Romans 14 that the kingdom of God is not what we eat or drink, but the Daniel Plan contains a long list of what we may eat or drink.

If a person engages in it for the wrong motivations, such as it being a promoted activity from their church leadership, or as a weight loss plan, or as a healthy lifestyle, then it is a fad of no worth!

“Fasting in and of itself is unknown in Scripture as an end in itself. All of the benefits of fasting in the Scripture are indirect, not direct. Fasting is never isolated to create some virtue in and of itself. You don’t just say well, I’m going to be spiritual, I will not eat. You are no more spiritual because you don’t eat than because you do eat.” (source)

“Fasting is to deny self, but it is not done in a vacuum. You don’t just say well, I’m going to deny myself. I’m going to say no to myself and stop eating for no good reason. There is a reason to humble yourself in that manner. There is a reason to deny yourself in that manner. There is a reason to inflict yourself in that manner and the reason is a consuming one. [F]asting never occurs in a vacuum. It never occurs biblically without a corollary. So, fasting is almost not something you choose to do, but something you cannot avoid.” (source)

What is the reason people would go on a Daniel Fast, which strictly is not the definition of fasting, because fasting is avoidance of food? Is it just to do it? Because it will make you grow spiritually? It won’t, if that is your sole reason. It’s not an activity that causes growth, it is an outward expression of an interior spiritual need or circumstance.

Here is an excerpt on the Daniel Fast and fasting in the New Testament from John MacArthur’s site, Grace To You:

“What’s sad is the effect these self-appointed authorities have on those who follow them. They bind consciences with false guilt. Setting themselves up as judges of what goes into your mouth, they oppose our Lord Jesus Christ, who declared all foods clean and said that nothing should be rejected if it is received with gratitude (Mark 7:19; 1 Timothy 4:1-5).

“The New Testament leaves the details of fasting to the discretion of the believer and even de-emphasizes fasting in the progress of revelation. When Jesus taught against hypocrisy in Matthew 6:1-18, he taught us to give, pray, and fast privately. If you do, your Father who sees in secret will reward you.”

[As opposed to praying, fasting is a] “Different approach altogether. Yes, he tells those who fast to fast in secret (Matthew 6:18). But he does not say, “Fast, then, in this way.” He does not give any instruction on fasting. He does not address frequency. He does not address diet. He does not address drinking liquids while fasting. He most certainly does not address whether the starchy endosperm in semolina vitiates the purpose of the fast!”

“His silence shows that Jesus de-emphasized fasting in comparison to prayer. If you needed such details to live your Christian life, He would have given them (cf. 2 Timothy 3:16-17). His silence shows you shouldn’t preoccupy yourself with the matter. Teachers today should not regulate fasting or elevate it to prominence when Jesus left it in the shadows.”

Fasting is a private, Holy Spirit inspired activity usually and traditionally associated with grief, repentance, or for a specific purpose that Jesus Himself relegates to a private matter between a believer and God, vertically. The Daniel Fast promoters and Franklin have made it an activity on some name it-claim it spiritual check-off list, a horizontal display of public piety laden with potentials for hypocrisy and pride, exactly what Jesus said not to do. I’m sorry to be harsh, but someone has to say it.

A short series of essays on the proper approach to fasting can be found on John MacArthur’s blog below, and in part 3 he deals with the Daniel Fast specifically. It is not long, each part is only 2 pages. I encourage you to read this four part series from a senior pastor of our faith to get an understanding of the theology behind fasting from which any discerning person can go forward on making good decisions on determining if their urge for fasting is a spiritual need or a church activity, and whether or not to take part in any program or plan set before them.

The Heart of Christian Fasting, Part 1. The Old Testament.
The Heart of Christian Fasting, Part 2: Sermon on the Mount
The Heart of Christian Fasting, Part 3: The New Testament (it is this part he deals with the Daniel Fast)
The Heart of Christian Fasting, Part 4: Fasting Today

If someone wants to listen to or read a good sermon series on fasting, again I direct them to the Grace to You website and the series entitled Fasting Without Hypocrisy, Part 1

I condemn this Daniel Fast as a fad, a gimmick based on flawed teachings, and man-made motivations and well apart from proper biblical moorings.

I exhort with all possible urgency that any church practicing it is dangerously adrift!

Part, 2, Jentezen Franklin next
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bible jesus, salt and light

Salt & Light

Posted on November 19, 2011May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

“You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.” (Matthew 5:13-16).

We know how to be light. We let our Christian lives shine brightly, the fruits of the Spirit evident (Galatians 5:22-23) as a sweet perfume. (2 Corinthians 2:15). The darker the evil, the brighter the light.

Don’t be a match. Don’t be a lighter. Don’t be a candle. Don’t be a flashlight. Be a Fresnel lens! A fresnel lens is a fixed lens of circular disk of stepped prisms. “A Fresnel lens is a type of lens originally developed by French physicist Augustin-Jean Fresnel for lighthouses. The design allows the construction of lenses of large aperture and short focal length without the mass and volume of material that would be required by a lens of conventional design. It is a thinner, lighter lens made with separate sections mounted in a frame. Compared to conventional bulky lenses, the Fresnel lens is much thinner, larger, and flatter, and captures more oblique light from a light source, thus allowing lighthouses to be visible over much greater distances.” (source).

Science makes a better lighthouse lens: “State of the art, one of the seven wonders of the Ancient World, the great lighthouse of Alexandria, built around 280 B.C., towered some 450 feet above Egypt’s greatest harbor. At that height, it was the second tallest structure in the world, after another of the seven — the Great Pyramid of Giza. The light within, also state of the art, was an open flame. From that time until the 18th century, the lights that warned ships that they were approaching land improved hardly at all. Some burned coal. Others stuck with wood. Oil lamps backed by mirrors eventually offered a bit more candlepower. Still, every coastline in the world remained littered with the ribs of broken ships whose captains didn’t see the lighthouse until it was too late. Then, in 1822, a frail scientist with a passion for optics made a revolutionary breakthrough. His name was Augustin Jean Fresnel. An example of his greatest creation, a large object that looks like a crystalline beehive, is his lens.”

It was the most important breakthrough in light magnification in 2000 years. (Aside from Jesus Himself, that is!). All prior systems paled by comparison with the Fresnel lens.

So even light has different qualities and magnification levels. I hope you strive to be big and bold and shine with the bright, refracted light of a Fresnel lens!

But salt? How does one be salt? We know that salt is a preservative. With no refrigeration in past days and lands, salt is the medium used which preserved the meat from decay. I read that in the Old Testament times that covenants were sealed with salt, salt was exchanged. Roman soldiers were paid in salt, that is where we get the phrase “not worth your salt” from.

If you really wanted to wreck your neighbor, before we had cars into which we put sugar in the tank, disputing neighbors used to salt the land and no crops would grow there. The area at the southern end of the Dead Sea is salt bed after salt bed, nothing grows there. And the Sea itself is so salty nothing lives in it (except recently discovered bacteria!)

If we put too much salt down, it will kill the thing we are trying to preserve. If we use too little it has no sting, no flavor, and is useless.

“You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.” (Matthew 5:13-16).

Being salt is not as appealing as being light. Everybody breathes a sigh of relief when the lights are turned on, especially after a long night hiding in the tornado closet with the power out, or after a lengthy period of darkness of any kind. Light is welcome. Salt is necessary, and often it is unwelcome, because as mentioned earlier, it stings. But this cultural climate of tolerance and love and false humility and meekness is simply a means to lull the Christian that they don’t need to be salt, too. Well, we do. You’ve heard “pouring salt in the wound” and that means causing someone pain by applying stinging salt to where there is a wound. But sometimes we do have to cause pain or upset if we have to rebuke or exhort, saying biblical truths to people who have forgotten them, or who don’t want to hear them. You know what? Pouring salt on a wound does sting but it controls infection.

Christian, don’t abandon your duty to be light AND salt. It is all for His glory.
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bible jesus, eu, one world economy, prophecy

Ann Barnhardt closes brokerage, citing financial investment as Russian roulette, run by godless, criminal political cronyism

Posted on November 18, 2011 by elizabethprata

Glenn Beck’s The Blaze website as well as the guys from Zerohedge are reporting on the first casualty of the MF Global bankruptcy, which is also part of an accelerating momentum toward total economic collapse.

MF Global was one of the ten biggest bankruptcies ever, according to the Wall Street Journal last week when the news came out. The effect was that it became a purgatory for MF Global Customers, and about 33,000 Account-Holders couldn’t get to their cash. ‘My Entire Business Has Come to a Halt’ said one, and this is true for thousands of the little people. Even the big people were affected. Gerald Celente of Trends Research said that his account was emptied and all his positions on gold were closed. The ultimate effect was on us all, as all big bankruptcies are wont to be.

Today a broker closed her business and sent a letter to her customers explaining why. She is Ann Barnhardt, of Barnhardt Capital Management, Inc. and her letter is making huge waves. Rush read it on today’s program, The Blaze posted it, and Zerohedge published it too. Ms. Barnhardt is commercial hedge broker specializing in cattle and grain, representing Farmers, ranchers, etc:

“The Entire System Has Been Utterly Destroyed By The MF Global Collapse” – Presenting The First MF Global Casualty
“Dear Clients, Industry Colleagues and Friends of Barnhardt Capital Management,”

“It is with regret and unflinching moral certainty that I announce that Barnhardt Capital Management has ceased operations. After six years of operating as an independent introducing brokerage, and eight years of employment as a broker before that, I found myself, this morning, for the first time since I was 20 years old, watching the futures and options markets open not as a participant, but as a mere spectator.”

“The reason for my decision to pull the plug was excruciatingly simple: I could no longer tell my clients that their monies and positions were safe in the futures and options markets – because they are not. And this goes not just for my clients, but for every futures and options account in the United States. The entire system has been utterly destroyed by the MF Global collapse. Given this sad reality, I could not in good conscience take one more step as a commodity broker, soliciting trades that I knew were unsafe or holding funds that I knew to be in jeopardy.”

“Specifically, they froze customers out of their accounts WHILE THE MARKETS CONTINUED TO TRADE, refusing to even allow them to liquidate. This is unfathomable. The risk exposure precedent that has been set is completely intolerable and has destroyed the entire industry paradigm. No informed person can continue to engage these markets, and no moral person can continue to broker or facilitate customer engagement in what is now a massive game of Russian Roulette.”

“I have learned over the last week that MF Global is almost certainly the mere tip of the iceberg. There is massive industry-wide exposure to European sovereign junk debt. While other firms may not be as heavily leveraged as Corzine had MFG leveraged, and it is now thought that MFG’s leverage may have been in excess of 100:1, they are still suicidally leveraged and will likely stand massive, unmeetable collateral calls in the coming days and weeks as Europe inevitably collapses. I now suspect that the reason the Chicago Mercantile Exchange did not immediately step in to backstop the MFG implosion was because they knew and know that if they backstopped MFG, they would then be expected to backstop all of the other firms in the system when the failures began to cascade – and there simply isn’t that much money in the entire system. In short, the problem is a SYSTEMIC problem, not merely isolated to one firm.”

“And so, to the very unpleasant crux of the matter. The futures and options markets are no longer viable. It is my recommendation that ALL customers withdraw from all of the markets as soon as possible so that they have the best chance of protecting themselves and their equity. The system is no longer functioning with integrity and is suicidally risk-laden. The rule of law is non-existent, instead replaced with godless, criminal political cronyism.”

A tale of two shepherds

Posted on November 18, 2011May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

Prophecy of the Shepherds

The LORD said to me, “Take again for yourself the equipment of a foolish shepherd. For indeed I will raise up a shepherd in the land who will not care for those who are cut off, nor seek the young, nor heal those that are broken, nor feed those that still stand. But he will eat the flesh of the fat and tear their hooves in pieces.
“Woe to the worthless shepherd,
Who leaves the flock!
A sword shall be against his arm
And against his right eye;
His arm shall completely wither,
And his right eye shall be totally blinded.” (Zechariah 11:17).

That is the Antichrist. In Daniel 11:36 we see more about this foolish, worthless shepherd. “Then the king [the foolish shepherd] will do as he pleases, and he will exalt and magnify himself above every god and will speak monstrous things against the God of gods; and he will prosper until the indignation is finished, for that which is decreed will be done.”

“Jesus said of this worthless shepherd, “I have come in my Father’s name, and you do not receive me; if another comes in his own name, him you will receive.” (John 5:43)

O, such blindness to reject the True Shepherd for a man of character so evil, so foolish, so worthless! What they gave up:

“He will feed His flock like a shepherd; He will gather the lambs with His arm, And carry them in His bosom, And gently lead those who are with young.” (Isaiah 40:11).

Look what He does for His sheep! “For you were like sheep going astray, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.” (1 Peter 2:25)

He is the Good Shepherd!

“Then Jesus said to them again, “Most assuredly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. All who ever came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them. I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture. The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly. “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep. But a hireling, he who is not the shepherd, one who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees; and the wolf catches the sheep and scatters them. The hireling flees because he is a hireling and does not care about the sheep. I am the good shepherd; and I know My sheep, and am known by My own. As the Father knows Me, even so I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep. And other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they will hear My voice; and there will be one flock and one shepherd.” (John 10:1-18)

You can be in the flock, cared for by the Overseer of Souls! You can be carried in the bosom of the One who lives in glory! If you repent of your sins and submit to the Shepherd, you will be. “I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father’s hand. I and My Father are one.” Follow Him!

Glory to Jesus, the Highest!
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theology

Murmuration…breathtaking

Posted on November 15, 2011 by elizabethprata

MSNBC: “A chance encounter on Ireland’s Shannon River creates a magical moment for a pair of filmmakers to capture one of nature’s greatest phenomena, a murmuration. TODAY.com’s Dara Brown reports.
Dara Brown writes: “Sophie Windsor Clive and Liberty Smith experience one of nature’s greatest and most fleeting phenomena, a murmuration on Ireland’s Shannon River. The pair created a short film about their amazing row and submitted it for the World Wildlife Fund competition ‘Life, Nature and You. Make the Connection.’

Now, as you watch this, imagine these birds are in the Millennium Kingdom after the Tribulation the earth is renewed, and they are singing God’s praises (Romans 8:19) instead of groaning in His creation as they are now. (Romans 8:22)

Psalms 8:3-4 When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained; What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?

Psalms 104:24 O LORD, how manifold are thy works! in wisdom hast thou made them all: the earth is full of thy riches.

Enjoy!

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bible jesus, damascus, end of days. prophecy, end times

Damascus will be destroyed: A prophecy getting closer to fulfillment with each day

Posted on November 15, 2011 by elizabethprata

The Arab Spring finally burst into full bloom for Syria in April 2011, in Clock Tower Square. Protesters were fired upon with live ammunition, leaving about 50 people dead. The protests never stopped, and have turned into a full blown revolution against President Bashar al-Assad. He brutally squashes any uprisings with bloody crackdowns, yet they continued. The death toll rose throughout the spring and summer. Ally Turkey, alarmed at hosting a growing influx of refugees across the border, tried to bring diplomatic pressure to bear on Assad, to no avail. The UN sent an assessment team to the country in August and also Obama said Assad must go in that same month. Still Syria ignored the world’s consternation. In September the bloodshed showed no signs of abating, and in early October a resolution condemning Syria’s response to the uprising was presented to the UN Security Council. It was vetoed by China and Russia. Finally in early November, the Arab League, of which Syria is a member, denounced Assad’s handling of the uprising and suspended Syria’s membership in the Muslim organization.

Finally even the Arab League’s brotherhood had had enough. After Syria defied the US, the UN, and fellow allies, and the Arab Brotherhood called Syria on the carpet. The Arab League knows that if Syria keeps this up, the West WILL militarily intervene, likely using NATO, and the Arab brothers do not want that. They are more than aggravated with Assad. The kicked Syria out of the Arab League.

Arab League suspension of Syria brings military intervention closer
Syria brutal regime at tipping point

So, stunded by even his brothers’ defection from his camp, Assad said he had a change of heart. Unfortunately that change of heart didn’t stick because the next day, we awoke to news that an additional 70 people had been killed in the protests. And this time, Syria hopes they will have sheltering wing under which to take refuge: Russia.

“The latest carnage included 12 suspected army deserters as mass demonstrations spread throughout the country, testing how much more blood Assad can shed. He is in a do-or-die battle, vowing not to be the next Qaddafi or Mubarak but crowding himself into a tight corner as the Arab League turns against him by suspending Damascus from the organization … Syrian officials are in Moscow to try to shore up support from Moscow after Jordan’s King Abdullah said Monday, “If I were in his [Assad’s] shoes, I would step down.” He later denied that he was calling for Assad to quit.”

Russia plays prominently in the last days prophecies, allying with Iran and Turkey to attack Israel in the prophesied battle of Gog-Magog that Ezekiel 38-39 depicts. Syria also plays a prominent role in unfulfilled prophecy. Isaiah 17:1 says that, “The burden against Damascus.“ Behold, Damascus will cease from being a city, And it will be a ruinous heap.”

Notice the language in that prophecy. It is passive tense. It does not say that Israel wipes out the city. It does not say which enemy destroys the city. It does not say that God destroys the city. We do not know who or how the city ceases. We don’t know how it will happen or from whom. Only that it will. We only know the result. In other prophecies God says who will do what, and how. Not this time.

We all assume Israel will do the deed but it really could be anyone, even God as He smote Sodom and Gomorrah. It could be NATO. It could be Turkey. It could happen as rebels get a hold of chemical weapons of mass destruction and unleash – accidentally or on purpose – a holocaust that destroys the city. The Syrian bio-weapon threat is huge and growing and quite worrisome now that stability has vanished from the region. It could be that rebels with Libyan weapons that had gone missing from Libya make an attack and things get out of hand. No matter, the fact is, as Damascus becomes increasingly belligerent and the Middle East hotbed that is the epicenter of last days prophecies climbs over the horizon and hurtles toward us, we are closer than ever to that final obliteration of the city of 6 million Isaiah prophesied 2700 years ago. Keep one eye on the news, and the other eye looking UP!
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bella, edward cullen, nephilim, twilight, vampire baby

Are vampire babies even possible?

Posted on November 14, 2011May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

That is the trending question today on Yahoo!. Apparently the success of the Twilight series on books and film is continuing unabated. Twilight is the saga of a ‘nice’ vampire- Edward- and the human woman he loves – Bella. They married and now she is pregnant with an undead vampire-human hybrid. A werewolf is the point of view from which the series is told.

This saga is very popular in many levels. Young women, and not a few men, think that it is romantic. It is romantic, they swoon, that Edward doesn’t bite Bella to make her be undead, too. He has been instilled with a sense of morality by his father, a real human, and thus Edward refuses to consider humans as food. (This is what passes for morality these days?). So readers love Edward’s restraint. They love the series’ romanticism because of Edward’s gallantry, even though he needs to subsist on blood and that means killing things and drinking blood.

The latest iteration of the series focuses on Bella and her baby. The trending question is an interesting one. We passed go when we accepted that vampires could be nice. We apparently cruised by the point of accepting or not accepting that there could be the undead walking around. We long hurtled beyond the horizon of incredulity over marriage and sexual relationships between human and otherworldly bloodthirsty creatures who usually only want to destroy humans. Now we’re onto inter-species baby-making. The opening of the latest movie is said to bring in 140 million dollars. No small change, and Breaking Dawn is the fourth installment! This series is a moneymaker, its popularity and ability to rake in the money never seem to wane.

This acceptance, curiosity,and romanticism of otherworldly creatures has a biblical precedent. As Solomon said in Ecclesiastes, there is nothing new under the sun. (Ecc 1:9). In Genesis 6 we read the following:

“So when men began to be multiplied upon the earth, and there were daughters born unto them, Then the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair, and they took them wives of all that they liked. (Gen 6:1-2). There were giants on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of men and they bore children to them. Those were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown. (Gen 6:4).”

The sons of God are the angels. The angels being mentioned in the Genesis verse are the fallen angels, the ones who are rebuked for having left their first estate and are now incarcerated in gloomy dungeons. (June 1:6; 2 Peter 2:4). Angels are referred to as the sons of God in Job 1:6, and in Job 38:7, it is a common term for them. Some have been shown in the bible to manifest as humans, even though they are spirit men. (Hebrews 13:2). We know that Jesus said that the angels do not marry, (Mark 12:25) but not that they cannot marry, and by extension, have intercourse with human women. In any case, the bible tells us that they did. They saw the women, took all they wanted, and mated. Their offspring were giants, and they were the mighty men of old. (This is the origin of the Greek myths of the ancient heroes of Hercules etc, who were offspring of ‘gods’ who came down and mated with women. I wrote about that here). However, these tribes of giant hybrid offspring were upon the earth in those days before the flood, and it was them along with wicked man who pulled the world to the brink of an evil so great that there was only one righteous man left: Noah.

Genesis 6:5 states: “Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” And in Genesis 6:3 the LORD said, “Then the LORD said, “My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, because he also is flesh; nevertheless his days shall be one hundred and twenty years.” God sent the Flood.

There is precedent for the Lord taking His Spirit from the earth prior to major judgment, as Gen 6:3 says and Paul revealed will also happen prior to the future Tribulation judgments. (2 Thessalonians 2:6). The Lord also said that the last days will be like the Days of Noah, indicating that evil will be almost at a 100% saturation level with evil in men’s hearts, the Spirit being removed from His restraining ministry, and also, possibly, the Nephilim coming back.

Are vampire babies even possible, the article’s author wondered. Yes, the bible shows us that the old vampires, the fallen angels who beguiled women and hypnotized them into frenzies of lust (as folklore says vampires are wont to do) are likely coming back. The Hollywood and Publishing House preparation and desensitization of the populace to these concepts are going gangbusters. So can you even make a vampire baby? If Genesis 6:4 is to be believed, and it IS, then the answer is yes. My opinion is that there will be plenty of vampiric type shenanigans in the Tribulation. For Twilight fans, I have one message: be careful what you romanticize!

“Sons of God and the daughters of men”, Artist: CAROLSFELD, Julius Schnorr von

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filament, NASA, sun

NASA dispels fears that the monster filament will fry us

Posted on November 14, 2011 by elizabethprata

In my previous post, I reported on what spaceweather.com is reporting: a monster filament and potential for X-class flare, impacting earth. Solar observers say it is the biggest one they have ever seen, which is interesting in and of itself. This, of course, has gotten the populace riled up, because a Coronal Mass Ejection (CME) if it is big enough and if it is earth directed, could fry the electrical grid. NASA responds to fears of monster filament. In fairness, we have been subjected to many warnings from NASA and other space-oriented agencies that a Coronal Mass Ejection could fry us. Now that it really could happen, NASA puts out this article saying, “Don’t worry, be happy.”

NASA: ‘The world is not about to end. No, really’
“Don’t worry, this flaming tongue of hellfire will get nowhere near you or your loved ones. We promise. Really. (Credit: NASA video. Screenshot by Edward Moyer/CNET)”

“We’re getting so many reassurances from NASA these days that the world is not about to be destroyed by some space-borne phenomenon that I’m starting to wonder if there’s something the space agency isn’t telling us. Aside from falling satellites–one of which apparently threatened to rain space junk down perhaps a little too close to a couple of heavily populated Chinese cities–there was that aircraft-carrier-size asteroid that didn’t, repeat didn’t, sideswipe the Earth this past week (though it got closer than the moon). Now there’s the specter of a giant solar flare turning the Earth into a crispy critter sometime next year. But don’t worry, our friends at NASA cheerfully assure us in a recent post on the agency’s Web site, this version of the apocalypse isn’t likely to occur either. The timing of the post (which appeared earlier this week) is tied to the coming expiration of the current year and the arrival of 2012, which, thanks in part to Hollywood, has apparently entered our collective psyches as a strong candidate for the year that will mark the end of the world as we know it.” …

“Given a legitimate need to protect Earth from the most intense forms of space weather–great bursts of electromagnetic energy and particles that can sometimes stream from the sun–some people worry that a gigantic ‘killer solar flare’ could hurl enough energy to destroy Earth,” NASA said in its recent post. “Citing the accurate fact that solar activity is currently ramping up in its standard 11-year cycle, there are those who believe that 2012 could be coincident with such a flare.” But, the agency continues, though solar explosions and other sun-related phenomena could conceivably affect satellite control mechanisms, airplane navigation systems, and electronic time-keeping devices that govern global financial transactions, “there simply isn’t enough energy in the sun to send a killer fireball 93 million miles to destroy Earth.” …

“Now I’m waiting on the NASA release that will reassure me that NASA releases about the nonimminent end of the world are not in fact signs of imminent oblivion. I’m sure we’ll see that one soon. And I’ll be happy to report on it, once I’ve grabbed my sunscreen and my raincoat, sealed up the house, turned off the electronics, and gotten out of the way.” In the meantime, here’s a nicely produced NASA video that should help you lay your 2012 fears to rest: VIDEO AT LINK“

It is not movies like 2012 that illustrate impending planetary doom that causes panic to the people, settling in the collective psyches. It settles in the psyche for a reason, the reason is that the world really will end. Jesus set eternity in our hearts and we sense the planet’s distress and the impending signs that Jesus said He would send.
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filament, sun

Spaceweather reports "remarkable solar activity"

Posted on November 14, 2011 by elizabethprata

There is another amazing sign in the sun. The largest filament to date is snaking around the sun, and there are fears that if it launches off the sun, and if it is earth-directed, becoming a Coronal Mass Ejection (CME), it could seriously damage the electrical grid on earth. From Spaceweathercom:

“REMARKABLE SOLAR ACTIVITY: There haven’t been any strong solar flares in days. Nevertheless, some impressive activity is underway on the sun. For one thing, an enormous wall of plasma is towering over the sun’s southeastern horizon. Stephen Ramsden of Atlanta, Georgia, took this picture on Nov. 11th:”

“Solar forums all over the world are buzzing with Sun-stronomers proclaiming this to be the biggest prominence that many of them had ever witnessed,” he says.” [emphasis mine]

“Remarkably, though, this is not the biggest thing–not by a long shot. A dark filament of magnetism is snaking more than halfway around the entire sun: SDO image. From end to end, it stretches more than a million km or about three times the distance between Earth and the Moon. If the filament becomes unstable, as solar filaments are prone to do, it could collapse and hit the stellar surface below, triggering a Hyder flare. No one can say if the eruption of such a sprawling structure would be Earth directed.”

“I can’t help but wonder what could possibly come next since we are still over a year away from the forecasted Solar Maximum,” adds Ramsden.”

Me too! What will come next? Well, in the Tribulation this will happen to the sun:

“There will be signs in the sun, moon, and stars.” (Luke 21:25)

“The fourth angel sounded his trumpet, and a third of the sun was struck, a third of the moon, and a third of the stars, so that a third of them turned dark. A third of the day was without light, and also a third of the night.” (Revelation 8:12)

“And I saw an angel standing in the sun, who cried in a loud voice to all the birds flying in midair, “Come, gather together for the great supper of God, 18 so that you may eat the flesh of kings, generals, and the mighty, of horses and their riders, and the flesh of all people, free and slave, great and small.” (Revelation 19:17-21)

“The stars of heaven and their constellations will not show their light. The rising sun will be darkened and the moon will not give its light.” (Isaiah 13:10)

“When I snuff you out, I will cover the heavens and darken their stars; I will cover the sun with a cloud, and the moon will not give its light. (Ezekiel 32:7)

“All the shining lights in the heavens I will darken over you; I will bring darkness over your land, declares the Sovereign LORD.” (Ezekiel 32:8)

“Before them the earth shakes, the heavens tremble, the sun and moon are darkened, and the stars no longer shine.” (Joel 2:10)

“The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD.” (Joel 2:31)

“In that day,” declares the Sovereign LORD, “I will make the sun go down at noon and darken the earth in broad daylight.” (Amos 8:9)

So as to the scientists’ interest in the upcoming “solar maximum” activity, they ain’t seen nothing yet! And in the next blog posting, NASA puts out a story to dispel mounting fears of the monster filament…”Men will faint from terror, apprehensive of what is coming on the world, for the heavenly bodies will be shaken.” (Luke 21:26)
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