Posted in earthquake colorado washington DC

(UPDATED) DC quake, Largest Colo. quake since 1973 shakes homes

Posted on by elizabethprata

One of the strongest earthquakes ever recorded on the East Coast shook buildings and rattled nerves from South Carolina to New England on Tuesday and forced the evacuations of parts of the Capitol, White House and Pentagon. A 5.9 quake rocked the eastern seaboard of the US today in a shallow quake that was felt from Atlanta to Martha’s Vineyard. Its epicenter was near our nation’s capitol in Washington DC (nearby VA). Some of the astounding Drudge headlines are:

Pentagon, Capitol evacuated…
Shakes Manhattan…
Felt from Toronto to Atlanta…
Epicenter VA…
Felt In Chicago…
Airports Closed…
CELLPHONES OUT…
Nuke Plant Shuts Down…
VIDEO: Vacant White House Shakes…
Stones fall off National Cathedral…
WASHINGTON MONUMENT ‘TILTING’?… DEVELOPING…

Quake rocks Washington area, felt on East Coast
“A 5.9 magnitude earthquake centered in Virginia forced evacuations of all the memorials and monuments on the National Mall in Washington and rattled nerves from South Carolina to Martha’s Vineyard, the Massachusetts island where President Barack Obama is vacationing. … The U.S. Geological Survey said the earthquake was half a mile deep and centered near Louisa, Va., about 40 miles northwest of Richmond. Shaking was felt at the White House and all over the East Coast, as far south as Charleston, S.C. Parts of the Pentagon, White House and Capitol were evacuated. Two nuclear reactors at the North Anna Power Station in the same county as the epicenter were automatically taken off line by safety systems around the time of the earthquake, said Roger Hannah, a spokesman for the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission.”

There was a large quake in Colorado too this morning. Where the quake was in Colorado is considered nearly aseismic. See following article. HMMMM…

Irish Weather Online explains:
“The 5.3 magnitude quake, the largest in Colorado since 1967, struck on the edge of the Rio Grande National Forest on the eastern flanks of the Rocky Mountains at 11:46 PM local time (06:46 GMT).”

“The epicentre was located 15 km (9 miles) WSW of Trinidad, Colorado; 33 km (20 miles) NW of Raton, New Mexico; 54 km (33 miles) S of Walsenburg, Colorado; and 290 km (180 miles) S of the Colorado State capital Denver. It struck about 2.5 miles (4 kilometers) deep, making it a shallow earthquake, according to the United States Geological Survey (USGS).”

“The USGS estimated that several dozen people living in the area may have felt ‘very strong’ shaking, while more than 700 people were estimated to having perceived strong shaking. In addition, the USGS estimated that some 27,000 people may have felt light to moderate shaking. A dispatcher for the Las Animas County Sheriff’s Office said a number of homes in Segundo had been damaged, but said there were no injuries. She also said there had been a rockslide on Highway 12.”

“Monday’s earthquake in Colorado was the largest in the state since a 5.3-magnitude earthquake was recorded near Denver on August 9, 1967. There was also an event in May 1973 which registered as 5.7 on the Richter scale, but the USGS said this was caused by an explosion and not an earthquake.”

“According to the USGS, Colorado is considered a region of minor earthquake activity, although there are many uncertainties because of the very short time period for which historical data is available. The northwestern and southwestern corners, and the Sangre de Cristo Mountains in the south-central section of the state, have had no activity in historic times. Eastern Colorado is nearly aseismic with respect to large earthquake.”

Successive quakes in that area have continued since the 5.3 quake-.

3.2 COLORADO
3.8 COLORADO
3.2 COLORADO
3.5 COLORADO
5.3 COLORADO
3.0 COLORADO

Is the LORD getting ready to judge the world? Yes. When will that judgment come? We don’t know. What we do know is that the church won’t be here to experience it (we are not appointed to wrath 1 Thess 5:9). However, we see the prophetic indicators forming for ready fulfillment, including one that Jesus said will happen in the Tribulation: “There will be earthquakes in diverse places.” (Mt 24:7). What should a person’s response be? Confess and repent. This goes for the lost as well as the brethren. Make sure, brothers and sisters, that you confess your sins to Jesus and stand before Him clean. Not that you can lose your salvation, but a close walk with Him without sins in your way means peace and abundant fruit bearing, something the world needs now. (Romans 13:12). It also means your prayers will be more effective. (James 5:16). If you are lost, confess your sins to Jesus and ask Him to forgive them. He will. And you shall be saved from His wrath soon to be unleashed upon the rebellious and unsaved world.
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Posted in 90 minutes in heaven, end of days. prophecy, heaven is for real

Discernment lesson: books where people are given tours of heaven and hell

Posted on by elizabethprata

There have been a spate of books lately in which the author shares his or her trip to heaven or hell, as the case may be. The three I’d like to address are the following:

Heaven is for Real, published 2010

23 minutes in Hell, in 2006

90 minutes in Heaven, 2004

The most recent is Todd Burpo’s Heaven is for Real, which was a surprise, phenomenal bestseller. The following article is from NY Times this past March:

“Colton’s father, Todd, has turned the boy’s experience into a 163-page book, “Heaven Is for Real,” which has become a sleeper paperback hit of the winter, dominating best-seller lists and selling hundreds of thousands of copies. Thomas Nelson, the book’s publisher, said it had broken company sales records. The publisher, based in Nashville, began with an initial print run of 40,000 copies. Since the book came out in November, it has gone back to press 22 times, with more than 1.5 million copies in print. On the New York Times best-seller list for paperback nonfiction last Sunday, “Heaven Is for Real” was No. 1. The book remains in the top spot this coming Sunday.”

Why is this, one wonders? The answer, for this company at least is answered later in the NY Times article:

“We all are perhaps desperate to know what is on the other side of the veil after we die,” Vice-President of the Publishing Company) Mr. Baugher said, adding that his initial skepticism about the Burpo family’s story was short-lived.”

We all wonder about the other side. We are intensely curious, I think we all need to be honest about that. When a book comes out that purports to have special information, insider stuff, a sneak peek, people flock to it … as evidenced by the statistics shared by the Nelson Publishing company about the Burpo book.

Don Piper experienced a terrible accident and it was while he was trapped in the car that he said he visited heaven. Although the title says ’90 minutes in heaven’ he never actually visited heaven. He was only ever standing on the outside of the pearly gates. He never entered. Todd Burpo is the father of the boy who said he visited heaven. Colton was just turned four years old when his appendix burst and he lay on the operating table, unconscious and under anesthetic.  As Colton recovered from his medical ordeal, over a period of months, he revealed tiny details of his trip to heaven and after 6 or 7 years, his pastor father wrote the book.

BIll Wiese was just sleeping and was inexplicably transported to hell by Jesus. Jesus gave Wiese a tour of the place and sent him back topside 23 minutes later with a message that “I am coming very, very soon.”

I don’t want to diminish anyone’s terrible medical tragedy or be insensitive if anyone has mental problems, demonic dreams, or just plain seeks attention in this bizarre manner. There is no doubt that for Piper and Wiese that whatever they experienced changed their lives. They are constantly sharing their testimony, witnessing, and evangelizing. But was what they experienced from God? Or not? And how should we as Christian readers respond?

My opinion is that what they experienced was not from God. I personally do not believe that Jesus is in the business of giving personal tours of heaven or hell. We do know that Ezekiel, Isaiah, Paul and John saw the heavenly things. But once the bible was completed, I believe that is all that Jesus has to say on the subjects. We read in the bible that we die once and then the judgment. (Hebrews 9:27). I could go point-by-point on the things in these books that are unscriptural, but I want to be more general than that. The title, for example, “Heaven is for Real.” Do we really need a book dictated by a four year old to tell us that heaven is real? The title 90 minutes in Heaven, for example, is disingenuous. He did not enter heaven. The bible says that when we are absent with the body, we are present with the Lord. (2 Cor 5:8). The bible does not say “absent from the body you will hang around the entrance to heaven for 90 minutes only to be turned back without seeing Jesus.”

I am a bible believer. I am a big fan of the bible, besides. It is the revealed word of God, generously given to us from on high, by His grace and intellect. He crafted that Word over 1500 years and the writers went through great pains to put to paper the Spirit-inspired words for future generations to be blessed by. And at that, it may be opened occasionally at a church, IF the pastor actually preaches from a bible and encourages his flock to bring one and open it during the sermon. More usually, the book gets tossed in the back of the car, to become sun-faded and ignored.

But when a four year old awakens from a drug-induced operation, and drops details of his visit to heaven, over a period of months, that his father fills in the details of, people buy the book by the millions. SAD!

The bible tells us all we need to know about heaven, AND hell. The bible. It should be all we need to have hope in the future promise of heaven. His Word is impeccable, solid, and sure. Christian Book reviewer Tim Challies has a good review of these books here. He also addresses the underlying reluctance and guilt we have to reject such books: saying, ‘who are we to dismiss another’s experience?’

Challies said: “If you struggle believing what the Bible says, but learn to find security in the testimony of a toddler, well, I feel sorry for you. And I do not mean this in a condescending way. If God’s Word is not sufficient for you, if the testimony of his Spirit, given to believers, is not enough for you, you will not find any true hope in the unproven tales of a child. This hope may last for a moment, but it will not sustain you, it will not bless you, in those times when hope is waning and times are hard. So reject this book. Do not read it. Do not believe it. And do not feel guilty doing so.”

This reviewer endured a traumatic medical trauma as well but questions the legitimacy of those who have such experiences while under the influence of medications. She wrote in part, “I wasn’t planning to read the book, because I’m skeptical about it, but maybe I should … and maybe I’ll be won over like you were. The reason I should read it is because people are asking whether my experience of almost dying matches any of it. After receiving severe injuries in an accident, I spent about 48 hours hovering between life and death. I have some foggy memories that I could wrap in Heaven language, but I don’t feel comfortable doing so. My body was in a traumatic situation and I was heavily medicated … so why would I trust anything I thought/saw/experienced at that time? While I realize the book brings comfort to the family (and many others) my biggest doubts are with the certainty placed in a 4-year old, especially while in a traumatic situation. (plus, when else do we base major beliefs on what a 4-year old says?) Also all the experiences I’ve heard he had confirmed what the family already believed. What if he had ‘come back’ with new information that would have challenged what they believe or cost them something, such as: if he had said Jesus really does want them to sell everything and give all to the poor?”

What we should feel guilty about is not rejecting another’s extra-biblical revelation of heaven or hell, but of  rejecting God’s word in favor of man-made experiences. This is all too common of a problem today, substituting a personal experience for God’s Word. We cannot make a theology out of what we experience. We are sinners and therefore flawed. We see through a glass darkly. But God sees all things perfectly, and He has told us how heaven is and what hell is like.

Pastor Reid Ferguson wrote about Burpo’s book, “So, if you have read the book, and have found your “faith” bolstered by it or your soul encouraged by it, my question to you is – Why? Why not the Bible? Why this story – and not the authoritative one? What does this say about your own attitude toward Scripture? What does it say about your understanding of Scripture? What does it say about your approach to truth – and how it is found, discerned and processed? Why does this strike a chord with you God’s own Word to you does not?”

Good questions. If you would like to read some secular books that are biblically based that illustrate heaven, I recommend Heaven by Randy Alcorn, and also Alcorn’s “We Shall See God: Charles Spurgeon’s Classic Devotional Thoughts on Heaven” which is a compilation of Charles Spurgeon’s sermons on heaven, lightly edited and with an introduction to each sermon by Alcorn.

Be discerning, people, and READ THE BIBLE!
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Posted in cowan, marriage, mayo clinic

Older couple at Mayo Clinic charms onlookers

Posted on by elizabethprata

The Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, is famous for its medical expertise and care. They installed a grand piano in the atrium of the Gonda building which is used often by people who want to share the gift of music. This older couple did just that. Fran and Marlo Cowan, married 62 years, played Old Grey Bonnet to the great joy of the people in the atrium. Some who where there were using walkers, others were in wheelchairs. The couple’s playfulness with each other and joy of life lifted the spirits of the people who were waiting there, some for cancer treatments. Fran turned 90 in February…but his energy and joy was contagious.

This is a snippet from the Mayo Clinic blog of a daughter who had brought her mom for a cancer treatment and they both watched and heard the couple play the song.

“And then we heard the piano and the laughter. From the balcony we could see an older couple sitting side by side at the piano playing together and entertaining a host of people. Some were in wheelchairs, others were sitting with canes beside them or standing. Everyone was smiling with all burdens forgotten for the moment. The joy was absolutely indescribable. When we asked them to play one more for us, Fran and Marlow Cowan, who have been married for more than 62 years, treated us to an exceptional performance that is now a “youtube” sensation.”

Turning attention to the married couple, 62 years together and counting, it is God’s way that marriage should be loving and playful and committed. He set it up that way.

“The LORD God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.”

Now the LORD God had formed out of the ground all the wild animals and all the birds in the sky. He brought them to the man to see what he would name them; and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name. So the man gave names to all the livestock, the birds in the sky and all the wild animals.

But for Adam no suitable helper was found. So the LORD God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man’s ribs and then closed up the place with flesh. Then the LORD God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man.

The man said,

“This is now bone of my bones
and flesh of my flesh;
she shall be called ‘woman,’
for she was taken out of man.”

That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh.” (Genesis 2:18-24)
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Posted in bible jesus, day of rage, peace, prophecy

Arab Spring in America?

Posted on by elizabethprata

Did you know that there is a planned “Day of Rage’ here in the US? It is planned for September 17 and targets Wall Street, but sister cities are planning their Day of Rage also. The point is supposed to be a protest against despots, dictators and cronyism in the White House, Congress, and Wall Street. Here is what the Arab Business and Banking journal Zawya wrote about it:

“Arab Spring-style protests are apparently being planned in the United States as the richest country in the world teeters on the edge of a ‘lesser depression’. Things are so bad in the U.S. that disenchanted, non-partisan citizens are planning to occupy Wall Street reportedly on September 17, according to media reports and vent their fury at Wall Street banks and policymakers.”

“The “U.S. Day Of Rage” echoes the massive protests undertaken by citizens in various Middle East countries to demonstrate against despots, dictators and cronyism in the Arab world. Similar to many Arab Spring movements, the organisers are leveraging social media website to gain some traction. Nearly 4,800 people ‘like’ the main US Day Of Rage Facebook page and it has nearly 6,000 Twitter followers. According to its social media feeds, it is planning peaceful civil disobedience across many American cities including San Francisco, Los Angeles, Idaho, Oklahoma and Hawaii, among others.”

“While the movement may well fizzle out, it does point to an extreme reaction to the complete and utter disappointment of American citizens with their governments especially as they watched in horror the debt debacle, the subsequent Standard & Poor’s downgrade and the ‘correction’ in American stock markets wiping out trillions of dollars in a matter of weeks.”

“U.S. President Barack Obama’s approval ratings have fallen to an average of 43% (including a personal low of 39% in one survey) while Congress’s collective approval rating slumped to an average of 17% (dipping to 13% in one Gallup poll, a record low).”

The website for Day of Rage says that they plan ‘civil disobedience.’ I fail to see how something called a day of rage is supposed to put enough of the brakes on so that people are only civilly disobedient and not marauding mobsters yanking people out of cars at the state fair or razing a convenience store, things which have already happened in abundance without a prompting of a Day of Rage.

Matthew 24:7 says that in the Tribulation “nation will rise against nation, kingdom against kingdom.” The word ‘nation’ in this context is the Greek word ‘ethnos’ which means people group sharing a similar culture. In other words, civil unrest. It means that there will be black against white, poor against rich, young against old performing violence against each other within the same country. These kinds of protests and violence are things the US has already experienced. The young mobs mobbing stores where older owners stand by helpless…blacks yanking whites out of cars and beating them senseless, and the poor protesting against the rich Wall Street bankster types are all things that we see already. During the Tribulation this kind of violence will get worse. Kingdom against kingdom, means for example, Lebanon fights Israel, but ethnos against ethnos is a worse kind of violence for it means your neighbor could turn on you and you may never even know why.

With food prices shooting up and unemployment rampant, the general mood in the US is tenuous at best. Michael Snyder at The Economic Collapse blog wrote a recent piece titled: “16 Statistics Which Prove That The American People Are Absolutely Seething With Anger“. He wrote another piece titled “10 Signs That Economic Riots And Civil Unrest Inside The United States Are Now More Likely Than Ever.” What I like about his pieces are that he uses credible sources and presents exactly what the title says. After reading the facts, you believe exactly that unrest is coming and that people are seething with anger. What are the chances that the Day of Rage will be peaceful, with polite folks engaging in civil disobedience with no harm done? Low. Very low.

The organizers of the Day of Rage say they will engage in civil disobedience, but the fact is that people are already at tinderbox temper. It would not take much to trip them over to mob mentality. As Bonnie Tyler sang in her song “Total Eclipse of the Heart,”, ‘We’re living in a powder keg and giving off sparks’.

I prefer the Day of Prayer to the Day of Rage. I pray that the light of Jesus will shine in the eyes of all who live in darkness. When you see the Light, you know that a perfect government is coming. It will be one filled with perfect justice, perfect peace. The government will make war no more, and all the citizens will be engaged in productive works. Their relaxation times will be saturated with harmony in worship of Jesus, songs, and pleasant conversations where there will be no gossip, agendas, or misunderstandings. In the New Jerusalem there will be no days of rage but only peace.

Proverbs 19:3 shows us that their rage comes from within their heart and it is against the Lord. “A person’s own folly leads to their ruin, yet their heart rages against the LORD.”

Proverbs 29:11 – “Fools give full vent to their rage, but the wise bring calm in the end.”

The calm in the end always leads back to peace, IF there is reconciliation with Jesus. Apart from Him a person is in rebellion, that is why they rage. It is the underlying reason. But it need not be so. A person need not have a day of rage, nor an eternity of rage:

“Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation.” (2 Corinthians 5:17-19).

“For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, by setting aside in his flesh the law with its commands and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace,” (Ephesians 2:14-15)

Now isn’t that much better than a day of rage?
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Posted in bible jesus, earthquake, tribulation

Major quake at Vanuatu, and earthquake data for you

Posted on by elizabethprata

There was an earthquake at Vanuatu on Saturday afternoon 1:00 pm local time. Its magnitude is classified as 7.5. Vanuatu is in the southern Pacific halfway between Fiji to its east and Queensland Australia to its west.

Any quake over 7.0 magnitude is considered ‘major’. On average, the USGS states that we can expect about 15 quakes of that magnitude each year. So far in 2011, the world has had 11 quakes of that magnitude. It is my estimate that due to the rate of strong and major quakes’ occurrence over these last five years (with those averages being regularly exceeded), the average will once again be exceeded this year as well.

As a matter of fact, the average amount of quakes in the 6.0-6.9 range is 134 and we have already had 140 so far this year in that magnitude, thus crushing the USGS average once again. In short, earthquakes are on the rise. Let’s take a look at the facts:
Source: USGS (United States Geological Survey) Where annual averages are met or exceeded the number is in red.
Magnitude / Average Annually
8+ = 1 (in 2011 we have had 1)
7 – 7.9 = 15 (in 2011 we have had 11)
6 – 6.9 = 134 (in 2011 we have had 140)
5 – 5.9 = 1319 (in 2011 we have had 1697)

Frequency of Occurrence of Earthquakes

¹ Based on observations since 1900.
These numbers have been recently updated, based on data from the Centennial catalog (from 1900 to 1999) and the PDE (since 2000).
² Based on observations since 1990.

So the USGS even updated the averages and STILL are they exceeded annually. Here is a chart I generated and updated today through Aug 20. Source USGS data.

Earthquakes have long been one of the ways God gets our attention. “An earthquake is a great teacher. It doesn’t make any suggestions; it’s making commands. It doesn’t ask for our attention, it demands it. It doesn’t just hope we’ll contemplate and act, it brings about almost instant obedience.” (source).

God is in complete control. The bible teaches that everything that happens is under His control. Nothing that happens, happens without His permission, knowledge, and sovereign plan. Satan cannot make an earthquake. But God can. All that He does is for the good.

For the Christian, we know that our eternal destiny is settled. If we die in an earthquake, it is to the good, for we will be with Him. If we do not die in an earthquake, than nothing that we have lost is of eternal value. Our possessions? We won’t need them in heaven. Our health (if we are injured in a quake) will be restored. Since we live on the earth, we are flesh and therefore not impervious to sin’s effects nor remain untainted by calamity. But what we lose is nothing. Enduring a disaster means we have an opportunity to become dependent on God. That is always a good thing because He is the source of all good things. We can fellowship with the afflicted. We can grow and mature through hardship.

If a person is not saved and endures an earthquake, they learn that life is fragile. They learn that the time to settle the earthly accounts and eternal destiny is now. Also, though living in a place where quakes are common means likely that there are strong codes for buildings, there are limits to how far one can go to protect one’s self from calamity. If a quake is big enough, the place will be razed, codes or no codes. Witness Japan. Life is fragile and there is nothing like an earthquake to reveal that to puny humans.

All this to say, that though earthquakes are in the rise and will continue to be so (Luke 21:11, Rev 6:12, Rev 8:5, Rev 11:13, Rev 16:18), the saved should fear not. That link is to a search result where ‘fear not’ is stated 63 times. There are many more ways He tells us not to fear, just not in that particular phrase. Therefore, we should not fear.

“Thou drewest near in the day that I called upon thee: thou saidst, Fear not.” (Lamentations 3:57)
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Posted in creator, evolution

Our wonderful Creator

Posted on by elizabethprata

Regular readers of this blog know that I love nature. I love the intricacies of how God created it all for His good and His glory. I love the macro. These are the large items in nature and the large complex systems- the sunsets and meteors and aurora borealis, the green flash, gravity, earthquakes, and black holes. I love the micro. These are the small systems- atoms and their electrons, mollusks, insect anatomy, rocks and the minerals they contain.

Regular readers also know that as a bible-believing fundamentalist, I adhere to the bible’s presentation of the creation in Genesis. It happened by the Word of God, over six days, and that’s that. And since God created the world, He created all its intricacies. The plants, insects, animals and humans and their complex interactions, whether symbiotic or parasitic.

Here are some examples of the intricacies I especially enjoy. These could not have evolved, but were made by the Ancient of Days who called them into being. In this first example of His creativity, I note that though the headline says the secret is unveiled the article actually says that ‘scientists are one step closer to unlocking the secret’:

Source Of Spider Silk’s Extreme Strength Unveiled
“The strength of spider dragline silk exceeds that of any material produced in laboratories, by far. All attempts to manufacture threads of similar strength have failed thus far,” explains Professor Horst Kessler, Carl von Linde Professor at the Institute for Advanced Study at the TU Muenchen (TUM-IAS). In collaboration with the workgroup of Prof. Thomas Scheibel, who was a researcher at the TU Muenchen until 2007 and who now holds a chair of the Institute of Biomaterials at the Universitaet Bayreuth, Professor Kessler’s team has been researching for years to unveil the secret of spider silk.” … “How do spiders manage to first store the silk proteins in the silk gland and to then assemble them in the spinning passage in a split second to form threads with these extraordinary characteristics? And what exactly gives the threads their tremendous tensile strength?”

The scientists explain what happens inside a spider when it is not spinning its web:

“Spider threads consist of long chains of thousands of repeating sequences of protein molecules. These silk proteins are stored in the silk gland in a highly concentrated form until they are needed. The long chains with their repeating sequences of protein molecules are initially unordered and must not get too close to each other as they would immediately clump up. Only in the spinning passage, just before being used, are the threads oriented parallel to each other and form so-called micro crystallites that are, in turn, assembled to stable threads with cross links.”

Right. Like that evolved. How did the spider evolve its proteins in such a way that it could tell them to order themselves into a spinning passage in perfect harmony and tensile strength that escapes anything humans can reproduce? What a great God we have to create a universe that has a perfectly ordered and functioning system in all things, in everything, including the silk spider!

Here is a snippet of the symbiosis that occurs between a moth and a moth mite:

“In one particular symbiotic relationship between mites and moths, mites of the genus Dicrocheles infest one “ear” of a moth. The moth’s ear has three chambers, one of which is separated from the other two by the eardrum. The mites crawl into the moth’s ear to lay their eggs, and in the process puncture the delicate eardrum, leaving the moth deaf in that ear. However, the mites are careful to colonize only one ear, because if they were to colonize both ears, the moth would be fully deaf and would be unable to hear approaching bats. The bat would eat the mites along with the moth.”

Dr. Asher Treat is the foremost expert on moth ear mites. He wrote in the Journal of Entomology 1957:

Good question indeed. Though the mites didn’t know of the danger of infesting both moth’s ears, they avoid it completely and universally by only infesting one ear. How did that come about? Not by evolution. God is wonderful indeed.

Consider the pesky barnacle. It adheres to a boat’s hull and when enough of them accumulate, they slow the craft to nail biting, foot stomping frenzies. When we scraped the barnacles off our sailboat, the average speed over ground increased by a knot and a half. Then again, if you ever scraped barnacles, you know how hard they are to get off. Their cement is legendary.

BARNACLE
“Barnacle cement, the substance the animals use to glue themselves to ships’ bottoms and to rocks, has attracted the interest of doctors. A layer of this cement three tenthousandths of an inch thick over one square inch will support a weight of 7000 pounds. It is even stronger than epoxy cement. At temperatures above 6000°F the glue will soften but not melt, and at 380°F the cement will not crack. It does not dissolve in most strong acids, alkalies, organic solvents, or water. If man could learn to manufacture this cement, which barnacles have been using for millions of years, it could be used to mend broken bones and hold fillings in teeth.”

The Journal of Biological Chemistry says that for the barnacle “To adhere effectively, the cement needs to accomplish several functions such as coagulation, displacement of water from the substratum, establishment of interfacial contact, and molecular attraction between dissimilar materials.”

JPK Industries in the UK writes,

Right. Like that evolved.

I always have loved the beauty of shells. They are stunning in their delicacy and colorful beauty. Did you know that when a mollusk is born, its apex part of the shell is born with it? This starter part of the shell is called the protoconch.

It is a photo of the Ass’s Ear Abalone, and this is what a mature shell looks like:

As the animal inside the shell grows the animal secretes exactly enough calcium (in beautiful patterns too) that he will need to live at the upcoming size in the chamber. Like this Turritella

So this has been an interlude of praise for a Creator of extreme intelligence, creativity, beauty, and love. he created this world for humans to populate in order that we might worship Him, and once sin is vanquished (Daniel 9:24) He will restore all to its perfect glory. And blessedly, our current state of imperfect worship and praise that I am exhibiting even now, will become perfect toward Him. As it should be.

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Posted in bible jesus, china, demons, prophecy

A Tale of Two UFOs: China and Moscow

Posted on by elizabethprata

A commenter asked me on yesterday’s blog entry if I knew about the UFO over China’s airport. I responded that I did, and that I had written about it when it occurred last year. But then another  person alerted me to the fact that this was a new UFO incident over China’s airport that happened yesterday, not last year. WOW!

I was intrigued by the last year China UFO event over the airport because air traffic controllers had spotted the ‘craft’, or the ‘thing’, whatever it was. ATC’s are trained sky spotters. They are official. They are official enough that the airport was closed, because they feared incoming airplanes would collide with the UFO. In addition, the UFO was showing up on radar.

So when Anonymous said that another incident had occurred, I read up on it. Fox News reports,

UFO Spotted Over Chinese Airport
Published August 18, 2011
“Planes were dramatically diverted away from a major Chinese airport after reports of a UFO circling a runway, the Shanghai Daily reported Thursday. The mysterious object was spotted Wednesday afternoon floating high above Jiangbei International Airport in the city of Chongqing, an important aviation hub for southwestern for southwestern China. Worried officials diverted several flights to other airports before it disappeared about 50 minutes later and air traffic was allowed to return to normal. The Chongqing government has not offered any explanation for the UFO, Shanghai Daily said. However, skeptical airport workers believe it was a sky lantern or a large balloon, the newspaper said.Wednesday’s scare mirrors an incident in July last year when Xiaoshan airport in the eastern city of Hangzhou was closed after baffled air traffic controllers spotted a UFO on their radar screens. The object vanished but footage of a strange glowing orb streaking across the night sky was posted on YouTube, sparking global interest in the supposed close encounter.”

Here is a photo that accompanied the news article:

The instant I saw that photo I remembered another incident. Get a load of this:

Mystery UFO halo over Moscow
Published: 11 Oct 2009
“THIS glowing halo in clouds over Moscow looks like an Independence Day style alien attack. The astonishing ring was spotted over the city and captured on video by stunned locals. It has been described as a “true mystery” by a UFO expert. cores of supernatural enthusiasts have been gripped by the astonishing footage and speculated it could be an ALIEN MOTHERSHIP. The sighting in the clouds is reminiscent of scenes from the 1996 Hollywood blockbuster Independence Day.”

The picture just above is a still from a Youtube video of the incident over Moscow last year. You can click on the ‘Mystery UFO’ link and see a photo of it at the UK Sun. Are the Moscow UFO and yesterday’s China UFO the same photo? Are they the same UFO? Are the demons THAT close to showing themselves? What is going on?

The world we see is not the only world there is. There is another world that is close, but hidden behind the veil that God put up. Sometimes in the bible, He lifts the veil between His world and ours and allows us to glimpse His glorious home. In one example, Elijah in 2 Kings 2:11 was taken up to heaven by a chariot of fire.

In 2 Kings 6:16, Elisha was prophesying over the war with Aram, and when Elisha’s servant admitted fear because of the enemy multitudes that had gathered around them, Elisha prayed for his servant’s eyes to be opened. The servant saw the multitudes upon multitudes from God who were gathered in chariots and horses, ready to fight for God and defeat Aram’s forces.

In Luke 2 on that cold and starry night, when the veil lifted the shepherds saw the heavenly host. As Stephen was dying from his stoning by the angry mob, he looked up and saw the heavens parted, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. (Acts 7:56).

God’s world is real, and it is so close to us. It is only as far away as a thin curtain being lifted. It would not take much more rebellion for the demons to punch through and show themselves. They follow satan who is already god of this world (2 Cor 4:4). In other words, they already roam up and down upon this world seeking whom they may devour. (Job 1:7;  1 Peter 5:8). Are they hovering even now, ready to come through the veil and show themselves?

At some point, they WILL irrupt. (Rev 9:2-3). Whether they choose to appear as angels of light (2 Cor 11:14-15) or as terrible demons screaming in the holy places (Luke 4:33), they will return. Jesus said in Matthew 24 that the times just before the end (during the Tribulation) will be as the Days of Noah, and we know from Genesis 6:5-6 that the Days of Noah were totally evil with men thinking evil thoughts continually.

Christians need not fear. Demons, or UFOs, or whatever you want to call them, are not greater than He who is in us. When they do eventually appear, when the veil is lifted and more and more supernatural things begin to take place, as Revelation 6, Matthew 24, and Daniel 2, 7, 11 show, His children will be in heaven. We will be enjoying our awards ceremony and marriage supper. You can be part of THAT supernatural event, by repenting. Please do so soon. It seems that the veil is already starting to be lifted…
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Posted in bugnado

Bugnado! Swarms of insects in swirling vortex

Posted on by elizabethprata

WJLA Washington DC reports:
“Imagine you’re tooling down the highway, maybe some Dave Dudley playing on the stereo, when you notice what seems to be black fog looming on the horizon. Getting closer, it becomes clear that the cloud is composed of hundreds of thousands of individual creatures, all buzzing crazily in the shape of a weak tornado. Too late to roll up the window! Within seconds, the whirling cloud of insects has filled the car, coating the upholstery with a fluttering mass of crawling chitin that’s trying to go all Lewis and Clark into your ear canals.”

“Congratulations: You’ve just had a brush with a “bugnado,” a rare insectoid twister somewhat like a locustcane or cicadaphoon. From the available evidence, a bugnado is spawned when heavy rain or floods and optimal temperatures cause insects to hatch en masse, conjuring dense colonies of buglife that ascend into sky-darkening breeding frenzies. These superswarms of gnats or mayflies might not have enough power to tear houses from their foundations like an EF-3 tornado, but certainly can send a vehicle to a series of costly appointment with the car wash. Some swarms are so dense they can appear on radar.”

“The gag-inducing term “bugnado” comes courtesy of one of our favorite storm photographers here at ABC7, Mike Hollingshead. On July 4, 2011, he found himself in the middle of a droning outbreak of bugnadoes in northwest Missouri.”

“Hollingshead, who’s responsible for some of the world’s coolest nighttime supercell photography as well as photos that just make you say Whoa!, was returning from a trip shooting this summer’s historic flooding of the Missouri River when something ahead brought him up short. It “looked like crazy smoke running down the interstate,” he said on his website, but in actuality it was “bugs, miles of bugs hanging out over I29 in weak tube forms.”

“The standing water left by the floods had created prime bugnado-generation conditions. Hollingshead earlier had noticed tree tops that looked like they were blackly “smoking,” the insect activity was that high. But on this night, he was in for a shocker: There was a bugnado that hovered above the pavement for nearly 15 minutes, waving gently like kelp in sea currents and splitting to form multiple vortices.”

If you go to 3:50 of the video, the scene shifts to an urban highway-bridge. If you view it until 4:29 there is a huge shower of sparks and fire on the left hand side of the bridge at the horizon. I don’t know what caused it. Nor do the videographers.

Fortunately, the bugnado is rare. For now… bwa ha ha!
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Posted in anti-semitism, end time, end time. prophecy, jews

Anti-Semitism is on the rise

Posted on by elizabethprata

The world is turning against the Jews. Here are are but a few stories which illustrate this unfortunate fact:

Facebook’s Holocaust Problem
The social-networking giant bans hate speech—but allows the proliferation of Holocaust-denial pages, saying it recognizes ‘people’s right to be factually wrong about historical events.’
For years, international organizations opposing anti-Semitism have been urging the planet’s preeminent social-networking platform to delete any content that asserts the Nazi-orchestrated extermination of 6 million Jews never took place. And for years, officials of Facebook, boasting more than 750 million active users, have refused, insisting that mere denial of the Holocaust, however “repugnant and ignorant,” doesn’t constitute “hate speech” as defined by Facebook’s Terms of Service policy prohibiting “content that: is hateful, threatening, or pornographic; incites violence; or contains nudity or graphic or gratuitous violence.”

Seven killed in series of terrorist attacks in southern Israel
“Seven people were killed and at least 26 people were wounded Thursday in a series of terrorist attacks on Israeli targets approximately 20 kilometers north of the southern city of Eilat, close to the border with Egypt.”

Gaza Under Attack Again
“Gaza is tonight under attack by Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) following a series of attacks today on Israeli military targets 20 km north of the southern city of Eilat, close to the border with Egypt. Hamas has denied responsibility for this afternoon’s attacks, which killed seven and injured at least 14, saying their strategy is to resist “the occupation of Palestinian lands from within, rather than from outside.” Despite the attacks coming from within Israeli territory and from the Egyptian border, Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu immediately stated they hold Hamas responsible, and would retaliate with “full force.” So far this evening, at least six Palestinians have been killed in the southern Gaza town of Rafah by IDF attacks on a house reportedly belonging to Popular Resistance Committees official Khaled Shaath, whose daughter was injured. IDF has been dropping leaflets over Rafah threatening Palestinians, as it did prior to launching Operation Cast Lead in December 2008.”

Things are NOT going to get better for Israel. They are getting a lot worse.

Deuteronomy 4:30 reminds the Jews that in the latter days they will experience distress, but there is hope of redemption after that:
“But from there you will seek the LORD your God, and you will find Him if you seek Him with all your heart and with all your soul. 30 When you are in distress, and all these things come upon you in the latter days, when you turn to the LORD your God and obey His voice 31 (for the LORD your God is a merciful God), He will not forsake you nor destroy you, nor forget the covenant of your fathers which He swore to them.”

Jeremiah 30:7 reminds them that they will endure a time of trouble:
“Alas! For that day is great, So that none is like it; And it is the time of Jacob’s trouble, But he shall be saved out of it.”

Zechariah 12:2-3 reminds them that Jerusalem will be the center of controversy and distress from the entire world:
“Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of drunkenness to all the surrounding peoples, when they lay siege against Judah and Jerusalem. And it shall happen in that day that I will make Jerusalem a very heavy stone for all peoples; all who would heave it away will surely be cut in pieces, though all nations of the earth are gathered against it.”

In Matthew 24:21-22, Jesus tells the disciples that the Jews will endure such Tribulation that it will not be as bad as anything that has ever happened since the beginning of the world. It sill be such a bad tie that unless Jesus cut short the days, nobody would survive. No one.

Revelation 6-19 are chapters that describe in horrific detail all the things that are promised to happen to the Jews under God’s purification program.

It is obvious that Anti-Semitism is rapidly on the rise. We know from the above verses that the hatred of the Jews by the world will only continue to increase. Please pray for the beloved People. The reason for His attention in this manner is to give them hope. Yes, hope.

The Lord is purifying His people. They (and we, the pagans and Gentiles) are stiff-necked sinners, worshiping idols and refusing the fact that Messiah has come. But He is going to work them, the clay, as He is the potter, until they are purified from unrighteousness and able to come into the promises that He has set before them since the foundation of the world. Like this promise from Isaiah:

Isaiah 55:12– “You will go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and hills will burst into song before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands.”

Psalm 105:43 He brought out his people with rejoicing, his chosen ones with shouts of joy

There will be shouts of joy. But between now and then there will be shouts of misery. However, any Jew, Pagan, or Gentile, any person at all, can avoid all that. If you repent and ask Jesus to forgive your sins against Him, He will. His work with you as clay will be of a different type, gentle, loving, not wrathful. Please consider it, and soon.
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Posted in one world government, prophecy

One step closer to One World Government?

Posted on by elizabethprata

The United States is not the only nation struggling with the economy and teetering on the edge of (or plummeting into, depending on your perspective) a depression. The European Union of nations are also struggling mightily. Spain, Ireland, Portugal, Italy are all plummeting fast, and France is teetering. Even strong Germany’s economy has slowed. This last bit of information seemed to shake the normally staid Prime Minister Angela Merkel.

As a result of currency woes, economy struggles, and unrest, the two European nations France and Germany agreed to meet. They came up with an idea. They proposed this idea. The idea is:

Sarkozy, Merkel Plan ‘Collective Govt’
“France and Germany have proposed “collective economic government” for the eurozone after European investors sought reassurance from the two countries’ leaders. Details of French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s plan remains unclear, reports Reuters. It was revealed after the pair met in Paris for talks on the issue, with markets anxious for signs they have a plan to restore stability in the region. The meeting comes as new figures show Germany’s economy has lost its “dynamism” and has all but stalled in recent months, putting further pressure on the eurozone. The quarterly GDP growth figure of only 0.1% was way below expectations and is significantly lower than the 1.3% growth recorded in the previous three months…”

France & Germany: Save euro with one EU government
“The leaders of France and Germany tonight called on Eurozone nations to form a “collective government” to save the struggling currency. French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel put forward the radical plan to balance the budgets of the 17 nations that use the crisis-hit single currency.”

The book of Daniel 2and 7 and Revelation 13 tell us that the final world government and its final evil ruler rises from a reformed European empire. We know that in the Tribulation, the antichrist will rule over ten nations. (Daniel 7:24-25; Rev 17:12-13). That the European Union has reformed is an amazing prophetic fulfillment. After all Rome collapsed in the early 400s. That the European Union leaders as it exists today is proposing an even closer relationship under one government seems to be the final movement toward the reformation of a kingdom prophesied to give rise to the world’s most evil dictator.

How close are we? Pretty durn close, if you ask me.
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