Posted in pittsburgh, protractor

The Protractor Whimsy of Pittsburgh

Posted on by elizabethprata

Here is an urban-social mystery that has intrigue and whimsy attached to it. We all need a dose of whimsy these days.

Protractors mysteriously placed around city neighborhoods
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) — Unless you’re an architect or an engineer, it’s probably been years since you last used a protractor in geometry class. But, now the semi-circular tool is showing up in some odd places around town, from mailboxes to utility equipment. Protractors have been pasted in public places from the North Side to the East End by way of Garfield where John Perry catches his bus by the mailbox. “It might be a marker for certain cans they’re supposed to pick up and empty or the ones they’re going to remove and renew. I don’t know,” he guessed.

That just doesn’t add up. It appears a private protractor placer throwing us a curve within a three-mile radius. Each one is numbered.

Polish Hill proves to be a protractor placer’s paradise. Residents Jim Mueller and Ilona Auth have their own opinions. “It could either be a renegade math freak or someone who just loves intrigue,” Mueller said. “Maybe they’re trying to measure the angle of the hills,” Auth said. It’s a matter of degree. Mark Knobil checks out number 142 next to Lili’s Coffee Shop. “It’s clearly a protractor,” he said. “Three dimensional. It’s stuck on there really well. It’s not going anywhere. Maybe it’s just telling us we have no idea what the heck is going on.”

Vannevar Bush posted a blog about them, here. In tough times, people’s sense of humor and whimsical playful side is often the first to go. But the human spirit is irrepressible and this is downright funny. Imagine! Gluing protractors around, and numbering them is pretty funny. I hope that the Protractor Bandit is not caught (police are trying to find the ‘defacing graffiti’ man to arrest and fine him).  By the way, though I am sure this isn’t intentional, the white protractor above is glued next to the Spanish phrase for “I’m sorry.”
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Posted in end of days. prophecy, end time, famine, forgiveness, love, revelation

Looking at famine

Posted on by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

I wrote about famine as a judgment from God recently. It is truly saddening to see these things happening because although I glory in His promises coming true it also means suffering and death for many. And death for the unsaved means an eternity away from God, in hell. In that essay I quoted a news article that said, “The striking images of the landscape seem to represent a deceptively simple assessment of the drought: the dirty work of Mother Nature.”

It is the LORD who sends the rain in preparation for the crops. (Psalms 147:8). It is the LORD who sends it to the obedient. (Leviticus 26:4). He appoints seasons in His own authority. (Acts 1:7). “Nevertheless He did not leave Himself without witness, in that He did good, gave us rain from heaven and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness.” (Acts 14:17) He sends the crops, the seasons and the weather for our benefit, to His glory. He can, and will reverse the process when we fail to thank Him and refuse to acknowledge His authority. That is the spiritual fact.

On a practical level, famine is both biological and social. It occurs to a person individually while it is also happening to all others around the sufferer. And unlike pestilence, where sick people are quarantined, privately sequestered, or are too insentient to socially connect, famine leaves the individual able to share in it with others.

“When starvation becomes a mass experience, the phenomenon is no longer purely biological.” (Robert Dirks, Academia.edu).

Famine is sneaky because the population has no clue that this crop failure will lead to a continual shortage, or that this lack of monsoon rains will lead to a permanent drying-out. It is only after successive storms or failures or absence of expected weather that it become apparent that food will not be coming. By then malnourishment or early stages of starvation may have already set in.

The biological consequences of famine begin with scarcity, move to malnourishment, elevate to starvation, and finish with famine. Starvation happens when the energy demands of the biological unit exceed supply. Technically, starvation begins 4-6 hours after the last meal, when the body has broken down all that will be or is able to be used, and no new food is forthcoming. However since a person living in a healthy culture will then consume more within a reasonable time period after the last meal, the negative effects are not really felt.

After a day or so, though, dehydration, hypoglycemia, and ketosis begin. After 24 hours, there are impacts to the tissues as loss outpaces fat. As starvation continues, exhaustion sets in and there is decreased tolerance for work. People move more slowly and adopt an energy saving posture. “In mobilizing its reserves, the body progressively selects fat over muscle as fuel, allowing life to be sustained for one to three months in acute starvation.” (Dirks).

Things go rapidly downhill from there, with all sorts of nasty things happen to the individual’s biology. And that’s just starvation, not famine. But you can see, it happens quickly. Though drought and famine take a long time to set up, when it hits, the body, mind, and soul shrivel pretty quickly.

I wrote above that in the first few sentences mother nature was blamed, and in addition, war also precipitates famine. War does have a devastating connection with famine. In Revelation 6, first there is war, then there is scarcity, then there is death. Those are Seal Judgments two, three, and four. In history, famine has almost always followed war. As the Red Cross says in discussing humanitarian aid, “the fact must be faced that food aid alone will never eliminate famines nor the suffering they cause. It still falls short of meeting the victims’ needs and appears essentially inadequate to solve their problems.” That’s because there are complex reasons for it that also include war, conflict, and strife.

Famine is destructive to those societies where malnourishment is always present, and soon after initial starvation sets in, financial ruin and disease take over. For some societies, they may at first adapt to conditions that in many cases don’t affect them. There is such a thing as “class famine.” We see in Revelation 6:6 that millions starve, unable to afford more than a loaf of bread even though they worked all day, while in Revelation 18:13 we see that all the while, a hefty trade in food luxuries had been ongoing. (“and cinnamon and incense, fragrant oil and frankincense, wine and oil, fine flour and wheat, cattle and sheep…”) There are the very rich and the very poor, and you can bet the very rich will not be affected by famine. The Tribulation’s predicted scarcities will be characterized by class famine.

When famine conditions deepen, the ‘Law of Diversification and Polarization’ comes into play. As Dirks quoted Sorokin, “simply put, this means that catastrophe brings out the best and the worst in people. It exaggerates what is already there.”

Sociological studies show that at first, people share when disaster strikes. As the disaster continues, and/or as supplies run short, sharing ceases. Starvation’s biological effects are that people become exhausted and irritable. Volatile situations erupt. Populations tend to migrate, looking for better conditions. The 1901 Indian Famine Commission called it “unusual wandering.” When adding to that the prophecy that love grows cold (Matthew 24:12), people are unthankful, (2 Timothy 3:2-4) and their thoughts are only evil continuously, (Matthew 24:37, Genesis 6:5) then you can see that violence will soon become the norm just at the time when people are physiologically least able to handle it.

So let me sum up the ivory tower talk: famines have always occurred and will continue to occur, followed by the worst brought out in people who are marauding hither and yon, looking for anything they can steal so they can stay alive. Violence breaks out and a true Darwinian human ‘survival of the fittest’ is played out in front of atheists everywhere, with the starving exhausted falling where they lay in irritable convulsions, dying by degrees while no neighbor cares.

Oh, but Jesus cares. His famines may be one of His sore judgments, yes, but it is to alert rebellious people that He is still in control and He is still holy. His control includes an eternal and infinite love for all His children. He wants you to turn from your carnal thoughts and lifting up of Mother Nature and replace those with perfect thoughts and spiritual infinity in His love. As long as you have not rejected him and slammed the door shut, you can enter the door to heaven by repenting of sins. He is the door and he stands ready to allow all who would believe to enter. (John 10:9)

“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened to you (Matthew 7:7) What is beyond that door? Certainly not war or famine or exhaustion or violence. See what is there:

The Gospel is exclusive: Jesus is the only way. The Gospel is inclusive: any person can accept Jesus as their savior and forgiver of sins. I hope you enter in to His rest, escaping all the Tribulation things and choosing to partake of the Eternal things. What it takes is a prayer to Jesus that you know and understand you’re a sinner, unworthy to enter His realm, and ask Him to forgive those sins. Since He is sinless and died as the sacrifice for your sins, your debt is paid. But you have to ask. Do it soon, my beloved friend. Soon.

Posted in famine, gog magog, prophecy, sudan

Africa: Worst drought in 60 years: 12 million fight for survival

Posted on by elizabethprata

A massive drought which has swept across Kenya, Somalia and Ethiopia is causing severe famine. Twelve million people are fighting for survival at this moment, and countless wildlife and cattle are dying as the land is increasingly unable to sustain them. The linked article mentions mother nature within the first few sentences, but we know that prophecy tells us that famine will be a hallmark of the last days. (Mt 24:7). Famine is one of God’s four sore judgments. (Ezekiel 14:21). The place where the worst of the drought is occurring is the Horn of Africa, which is here:

In prophecy, the Gog Magog war is generally considered to occur at the outset of the Tribulation, or even the catalyst for the Tribulation. The prophesied nations that participate are Russia, Iran, and the nations along the northern tier of Africa, including the ones depicted at the Horn of Africa: Sudan, Ethiopia (Cush, Put, Libya, Ez 38-29). Interestingly as well, Sudan today split into a northern Sudan and a Southern Sudan. There are now 193 nations in the world. Bloomberg wrote, “After almost 50 years of rebellion against the Muslim north, independent South Sudan will assume control of about 75 percent of Sudan’s daily production of 490,000 barrels of oil, pumped mainly by China National Petroleum Corp…” Are there any takers on just which part of Sudan will take part in the Gog-Magog battle? Muslim north, or free south? (See map below)

Things are moving fast. The nations prophesied as players in the last days are increasingly in the news. One can almost see the chess pieces moved into place as the events long-prophesied begin to start their engines. I had started to write about the effects of drought and famine but I cropped the information I just spent 3 hours writing to write this instead. I’ll probably re-write it into a different essay later. I thought it was very interesting about the famine in Africa, and Sudan splitting in the face of the imminence of the Gog-Magog battle (Ezekiel 38-39.

If you go to the headline link be aware that there are disturbing images..saddening and emotionally trying. Please pray for our brothers and sisters who are missionaries in these places, and pray for the lost there, that though their bodies may be failing from famine, that their souls will find eternal refreshment at the Fount of Life.
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Posted in hope, jesus, prophecy, self-immolation

"Live Free or Die:" NH man chooses ‘die’, setting himself on fire to protest America’s decline

Posted on by elizabethprata

This is interesting…

New Hampshire man lights himself on fire to protest America’s decline
by Simon Black
Late last week, Thomas James Ball reached his breaking point. Driven to desperation by a system that bankrupted him and destroyed his family, Ball walked up to the main door of the Keene County, New Hampshire courthouse, doused himself with gasoline, and lit himself ablaze.
Hardly anyone seems to have noticed.
Conversely, when a 26-year old Tunisian man lit himself on fire a few months ago after police confiscated the fruits and vegetables he had been selling without a proper permit, it launched a wave of revolution across the Middle East.
People were shocked into taking action… protests and riots swept the region and one regime after another crumbled.
Rather than sparking an “American spring” and shocking US citizens into taking their country back, though, Mr. Ball’s act of self-immolation seems to have been largely ignored. There has been scant coverage (and scant is being extremely generous) of Mr. Ball in the mainstream media, and what little coverage there is generally discredits the man as a troublemaker.
This is how the system’s gatekeepers have been so adroit at maintaining the status quo– by suppressing dissent, marginalizing the detractors, and distracting the populace with meaningless, irrelevant drivel.

There’s a lot more at the link.

Are Americas so numbed by overindulgence, so dumbed down by the education system, so bummed by shrinking paychecks, that they don’t even react to an American MAN ON FIRE? The Tunisian who set himself alight last December sparked a revolution in his country that spread to neighboring nations that brought down rulers and is forever called The Arab Spring.

Since I was a small child, my memory remains indelibly seared with images of people who had set themselves on fire. Vietnam War, India protests, Czechoslovakians protesting Soviet invasion, Kurds during Clinton presidency, Chinese…all imprinted on my mind. What would cause a person to do such a gruesome thing to themselves, I’d wonder. What an awful way to go.

Mr Ball had reached the end of his rope. According to his suicide note, and his blog, he was depressed, sad, angry, and hoping that his act, or ANY act would spark a change in the course of what we all see happening. His act is a symbol of the great gulf that is fixed, with two paths inexorably set in stone, each with their travelers.

There are people like Mr Ball who draw on their man-made hope. They have optimism. They have the sunniness of past American experience to propel them toward what they surmise will be a continually sunny future. It won’t be, ever again. It will only get worse. When people realize that, and at some level millions are realizing that fact right this minute, they cave. They collapse, because “there’s no there there.” The center does not hold.

Those on the other path have hope too. It is not man-made. It is not generated from the recesses of a dark and corrupt spirit. It is from Above. It is endless, eternal, pure, and strong. It is the Hope of redemption in Jesus Christ, and His eternal Kingdom. THAT hope never leaves a person. It indwells us by supernatural command of the Most High. We abound in hope. (Romans 15:13). We continue in immovable hope. (Colossians 1:23). We have a better hope. (Hebrews 7:19). We have a hope that against all hope triumphs over difficulties! (Romans 4:18).

We will see more people lose hope in the coming days, though I pray they won’t commit suicide nor do an act such as Mr Ball’s self-immolation! It is my prayer that we Christians who possess the highest hope of all eternity will share it, in word and in deed. Be strong and of good faith, because our Hope is near.
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Posted in arrested taking photographs, end of days, law enforcement abuse, prophecy

Photography is not a crime. Or maybe it is

Posted on by elizabethprata

Have you noticed the increase in arrests for taking pictures? I have. These incidents are everywhere in the US now, in different venues, at different times of the day, for different reasons, and among different people, by different law enforcers. One thing remains the same: private citizens are getting arrested for merely snapping a photo of law enforcement. Here are four examples, representing different venues in which the “criminal” was arrested. These four examples are progressive, in that the place of arrest goes from public to private. Nowadays it seems it doesn’t matter where you are, if you are recording or photographing law enforcement from any distance, you could be arrested.

Reporters arrested by Park Police for taking photos at D.C. Taxicab Meeting
“At a Wednesday meeting of the D.C. Taxicab Commission (DCTC), two journalists were arrested by Park Police for taking photos at the public meeting. Pete Tucker, who writes for TheFightBack.org, showed up to the meeting, held at the Park Police headquarters, to document a proposal to implement a new medallion system. During the first hour of the meeting, a taxi inspector approached Tucker and told him that he couldn’t take photographs of commission members seated at the front of the room. Tucker snapped a photo of the inspector. According to his account, two Park Police officers approached him, and one said, “You can come with me or you can get locked up.” He responded that he was merely documenting a public meeting.”

The reporter was led from the room in handcuffs.

Woman Escorted Off US Airways Flight For Snapping Photo
Deemed a “security risk” for photographing nametag of rude employee
“A Miami photographer was escorted off a US Airways plane and deemed a “security risk” after she snapped a photo of an employee’s nametag at Philadelphia International Airport Friday. Sandy DeWitt said the employee, whose name was Tonialla G., was being rude to several passengers in the boarding area of the flight to Miami. So DeWitt snapped a photo of her nametag with her iPhone because she planned to complain about her in a letter to US Airways. But the photo didn’t come out because it was too dark. However, once DeWitt was settled in her seat, preparing for take-off, Tonialla G. entered the plane and confronted her. “She told me to delete the photo,” DeWitt said in an interview with Photography is Not a Crime Saturday morning. DeWitt, who already had her phone turned off in preparation for take-off, turned the phone back on to show her that it didn’t come out, but deleted the photo anyway. “I complied with her wishes but it’s not something I would normally do,” she said. “It just wasn’t usable.” But Tonialla G. wouldn’t let the issue go. She then walked into the cockpit to inform the pilot that DeWitt was a “security risk.” “

An update later said that the passenger was escorted off because she used profanity.

Activist stunned from video fallout
“Rochester activist Emily Good says she had no idea she would set off a firestorm when she stood on her lawn videotaping a police traffic stop on May12. She never expected to be arrested, handcuffed for nearly an hour, or taken to jail in her pajamas, either. “It was outrageous and I still kind of don’t believe it. This is still a little bit of numbing shock, this entire situation.” A video of that night’s events in front of Good’s house on Aldine Street shows Good not obeying Rochester police Officer Mario Masic’s commands to go inside her home. “I felt like that was an unreasonable order, and I stood in my yard and I said: ‘This is my yard,’ and I tried to understand what he wanted because I felt like going inside my house was unreasonable, and it just escalated very quickly.”

So she stood in her own yard, videotaping the police who were dealing with a traffic stop at a neighbor’s house. They told her to go inside, and arrested her when she didn’t and kept recording.

State police arrest homeowner for taking photos of a crash in her yard
“Massachusetts state police arrested a 65-year-old woman who was standing on her property photographing the damage after a car had come crashing through her yard and into her driveway late Sunday night. Judith Davis-Scott, the West Elm Street homeowner in whose backyard the car crashed, said she was handcuffed and arrested at her house after police took away her Nikon camera as she was taking pictures of the damage to her backyard. “I told them this is my property and I have a right to take pictures on my property,” said Davis-Scott, an optician. Her husband, Michael Scott, a disabled veteran, sat on his back porch on Monday, and shook his head when speaking of the night before and of his wife’s arrest. “This is ridiculous,” Scott said, his eyes filling with tears. “You try to live a decent life and this is what you get. It’s upsetting.”

State police arrest homeowner after car crashes into her house
“Judith Davis-Scott, the West Elm Street homeowner in whose backyard the car crashed, said she was handcuffed and arrested at her house after police took away her Nikon camera as she was taking pictures of the damage to her backyard. Davis-Scott was charged with interfering with police and disorderly conduct. She said she spent the night in a jail cell at the Brockton Police Department and was released on $40 bail. Monday morning, she showed media crews bruises on her arms that she said resulted after a state police officer grabbed her and handcuffed her. “I told them this is my property and I have a right to take pictures on my property,” said Davis-Scott, an optician. She said the state police officer “grabbed me and dragged me up the stairs and he pushed me into the house.”

In the first incident, media representatives attending a public meeting were arrested for taking pictures. In the second incident, Airline employees used their authority to detain a passenger deemed a “security risk.” The risk was never defined. In the third and fourth incidents, the events occurred on private property. The Massachusetts homeowner was on her own property taking video of an incident next door, and in the last one, the homeowner was on her OWN property taking pictures of something that happened on her OWN property.

We see that the authorities in each case varied from Government Airline officials, Park Police, State Police, and Local police. I chose these four because they are emblematic of the different places where people are increasingly denied a right to scrutinize public servants engaged in their business; meetings, security areas, and police stops. In each of the four, the kind of public servant varies. It cannot be said that it is always a belligerent citizen, or always a certain kind of law enforcement official, or always in one certain city. These happened in NY, Mass., Philly, and DC.

The fact is, as things become more authoritarian, there is less tolerance for scrutiny. There is less need to accede to citizen vigilance and more desire to shut them out. As the wheels of civil law become eroded there is more ease in abusing the power that has been delivered to it.

This fact should not surprise us. It is written in 2 Timothy 3:2-4 that in the last days, “People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God.” Do not suppose that the “unloving” and “brutal” applies only to private citizens. It applies to all people. Those in power in a world where the Holy Spirit no longer restrains will be more than ever compelled to allow their carnal brutality to unleash. If they have some power and a gun, then all the more dangerous.

In Matthew 24:12 we are warned that “Love will grow cold.” If you look up the Greek word for “cold” it means: “spiritual energy blighted or chilled by a malign or poisonous wind.” It give me chills just to read that, never mind live it!

Prior to the Flood, we were warned that there is a set time period for His longsuffering and then when the time is up, the Spirit will be removed and judgment rendered. (Gen 6:3- “My Spirit shall not strive with man forever” Greek translation of strive: administer, govern). When the Holy Spirit Restrainer is removed then the perilous times shall indeed begin. Without restraint, the conditions will shortly revert to what they were in the Days of Noah, as Jesus said in Matthew 24:37. What were those days like? “Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” (Genesis 6:5) EVERY intent was ONLY evil, CONTINUALLY. That is 100% saturation, folks!

Crime rates are up. Jails are opened to let out the ‘milder’ criminals because we cannot afford to keep them. Yet retired housewives are arrested while their disabled Military veteran husbands sit on the porch and cry for a country we no longer recognize.
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Posted in end time, phoenix dust storm, prophecy

About that Phoenix dust storm…

Posted on by elizabethprata

A dust storm occurred in Phoenix the other day. Forbes is certainly writing about it breathlessly. Get this:

Arizonans are calling it the mother of all dust storms.
“The mile-high wall of ominous, billowing dust that appeared to swallow Phoenix and its suburbs is all that locals can talk about. It moved through the state around sundown Tuesday, halting airline flights, knocking out power to nearly 10,000 people, turning swimming pools into mud pits and caking cars with dirt. The sky was still filled with a hazy shade of brown Wednesday as residents washed their cars and swept sidewalks. Because dust storms, also known by the Arabic term “haboobs,” are so hard to predict, Tuesday’s took everyone by surprise. Seemingly out of nowhere, the 100-mile-wide storm moved like a giant wave, the dust roiling as it approached at up to 60 mph. Once it hit, visibility dropped to zero in some areas, the sky turned nearly black, trees blew sideways, and even downtown Phoenix skyscrapers became invisible. “Just the height of it looked like a special-effect scene from a movie, like a dust storm out in Africa,” said Charlotte Dewey, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Phoenix. “It looked so huge, looking at the city down below, it was just specks of light and miniature buildings. She said meteorologists were still trying to get exact measures from satellite and radar to figure out how big the dust storm was and compare it with previous ones, but they estimate it was more than a mile high and more than 100 miles wide. “People who’ve lived here their whole lives, 30 or 40 years, are saying they’ve never seen a storm this large,” Dewey said.” More at link.

The question remains, however, in wondering first how common or uncommon are dust storms in Phoenix? Pretty common, according to this 1984 article in the Journal of Climatology, based on studies of storms in Arizona from 1965-1980. “In general, Yuma experiences the most dust storms per year followed closely by Phoenix, with Tucson and Winslow having very few events. Dust storms at Phoenix, on average, tend to be more severe than those experienced at the other sites. The most intense and frequent dust storms in Arizona occur during the summer months and are associated with strong downdrafts generated by intense thunderstorm activity.”

This short news article from 2009 warned about a storm that limited visibility and advised motorists to use caution. That’s all, run of the mill.

So in seeing an event like the storm this week, it is wise to stop and place it in context. The answer is that dust storms happen frequently in Phoenix. But in looking at end time signs, it is also wise to wonder about frequency and intensity. We know from Matthew 24:8 that Jesus said the Tribulation will be as labor pains. He likened the Tribulation and end time events as such because it will be a time of increasing travail, rising and rising in pain and intensity until the birth. The end of the Church age as it approaches the threshold of the Tribulation will also be a time of increasing disasters in all realms: spiritual, economic, and ‘natural.’

I find it interesting that the storm was so huge, sudden, and particularly devastating. I also think it is interesting that they likened the air quality to the ash fall from the various volcanoes erupting in different hemispheres this month. That the storm was a mile high and 100 miles wide is a very large storm that would strike fear into any person unlucky enough to be in its path.

This article says, “The massive dust storm that swept through Phoenix, Ariz., last night (July 5), reducing visibility to near zero and delaying flights, was a whopper, meteorologists said. The dust storm is what’s called a a haboob (Arabic for “strong wind”). In the United States, haboobs are common in Arizona, Texas and New Mexico. But yesterday’s haboob was more like something you’d see in the Middle East or other arid regions around the world, said Ken Waters, the warning coordination meteorologist with the National Weather Service (NWS) in Phoenix. It was mind-boggling, just absolutely amazing,” Waters told OurAmazingPlanet. “I’ve been a meteorologist for years and I’ve not seen a wall of dust like that.”

We can all agree- even atheists have to agree- that the science shows increasing meteorological disruption. Outsized storms, volcanoes erupting that never erupted before, strange sun behavior, earthquakes in diverse places…all speak to end time signs. I’ve been beating the drum long enough that people should really begin looking to Jesus if they have not repented, and be looking to Jesus if they have, as the comfort of His soon appearance.
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Posted in end times, prophecy, repent

Blessed, not oppressed, by the times

Posted on by elizabethprata

Iceland’s Most Feared Volcano Ready To Erupt
“An Icelandic stratovolcano, one the country’s most active, could erupt at any time according to a leading geophysicist. University of Iceland geophysicist Pall Einarsson said Wednesday that measurement instruments have shown “unusual” magma movements around the Hekla volcano in recent days. According to Ríkisútvarpið RUV – The Icelandic National Broadcasting Service – the GPS movements around Hekla in the past few days are real. Civil disaster authorities and local emergency authorities in the country also were notified Wednesday of the possibility of an eruption.” Irish Weather online has the story, plus more about Hekla.

Map source

You notice Eyja, Katla, and Hekla in the lower center of the country. The scale of miles shows the three volcanoes between 15 and 30 miles apart from each other, roughly.

You might remember Eyjafjallajökull, Iceland’s volcano that erupted between March-May 2010, disrupting the globe’s air commerce and causing travel chaos and revenue loss. At that time, all the airlines estimated their losses at $1.7billion. These natural disasters are costing the world billions and billions of dollars. It isn’t just the money loss, but time lost, transport of goods lost, employment lost. Time Magazine did a recent article on natural disaster sticker shock, “What extreme weather costs the US“. They wrote that “a study by the National Center for Atmospheric Research estimates that the bottom-line cost of all the meteorological craziness is a staggering $485 billion per year in the U.S. alone, as much as 3.4% of the country’s GDP.”

In May 2011, Bloomberg Business News wrote, “Lloyd’s of London, the world’s largest insurance market, has estimated net claims of $3.8 billion before tax from this year’s Japan and New Zealand earthquakes and Australian floods.” Two billion of that was the Japan quake and tsunami alone. Can the world keep paying for disaster cleanup and reconstruction? No. Especially since they will keep occurring and on consistently larger scales. Just as one day we hear of Mount Soputan in Indonesia erupting this week, with Chile’s Puyehue still erupting, Nabro in Eritrea which never erupted suddenly going off, and now a resumption of Iceland’s volcanoes showing magma on the move is too much to keep up with. And three US nuke plants in trouble simultaneously – check physicist Michio Kaku’s essay on that one. No, we cannot afford the continual shaking of the world from below, surface and above. But neither can we ignore the spiritual shaking.

That is what this is all about, shaking un-believers from their stance that this is all natural. It isn’t  of course. They are birth pangs, getting ready to ramp up into labor, which will result in a bloody mess that will finally produce a clean and pure Kingdom.

I’m sad at the process that will mean death and hell for many people caught in these disasters, but I am also thrilled at His power. He put us here at this time for a reason. Every believer has a purpose and aside from the common purpose of making disciples that applies to all of us, we each have a unique purpose to accomplish His will. Is it to ring the warning bell as a watchman? It it to exude peace in uncertain times? Is it to go on mission to Muslim nations? Is it to be a steady church-goer and encourage the body? Pray for His will to be revealed in your life. He has one and after the Apostles founding the church, this age is unique in all the church age! Feel blessed by the times, not oppressed.

How thrilling to watch the pages of the bible rip open each day as His words become alive in the world. We are living in biblical times as surely as the Israelites who saw the Red Sea parting, or who saw the Walls of Jericho fall down or who helped construct Solomon’s temple, or who saw Lazarus emerge from the tomb or who went on mission with Peter Paul and witnessed miraculous healing. I am in awe of the promises that are written coming true before my eyes. Each day brings miracles in themselves and I glory in Him who has the entire world in His hands, and in which, someone, somewhere may finally turn from their sin and say, this is not all a coincidence. Jesus, I believe.”
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Posted in end time, gog magog, ottomans, prophecy, revelation

The Ottomans are back. Are they Revelation’s 7th kingdom?

Posted on by elizabethprata

There is a difficult prophetic passage in Revelation, some say the most difficult. Revelation 17:9-11 says-

“Here is the mind which has wisdom: The seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman sits. There are also seven kings. Five have fallen, one is, and the other has not yet come. And when he comes, he must continue a short time. The beast that was, and is not, is himself also the eighth, and is of the seven, and is going to perdition.” (Revelation 17:9-11)

Oh, boy, where do you start? OK, in the first phrase, it says ‘here is wisdom.’ To me, that means that the interpretation won’t be easy or obvious. It will take deeper study, but that it will be revealed to the one who seeks wisdom. James 1:5 makes that promise.

Next, “Mountains”. In biblical symbolism, mountains represent kingdoms or strong, powerful governments. When it says THE mountain, like in Isaiah 2:2-4, it means Jesus’ government. “It shall come to pass in the last days that the mountain of the LORD’s house shall be established in the top of the mountains.”

“The seven” past kingdoms (empires) are generally accepted to be Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Greece, Media-Persia and Rome past and/or Rome to come, or perhaps someone else. “The eighth” seems to be the antichrist which is part of the seventh.

Remember that in Daniel’s interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar’s statue of the kingdoms (Dan 2:31-35), it was gold at the head, silver at the chest and arms, bronze torso and thighs, legs of iron and feet of a mixture of clay and iron. A side note, you notice two things of the statue’s metals: as they progress from head to toe, the metals become less expensive. Gold is the most precious metal, iron the least. Clay is worth nothing at all. But they also become stronger. Gold is the softest metal but iron is strongest.

The legs of iron are generally thought to be the split Roman empire. The Romans split their empire in 330AD when they allowed Constantinople to become a sister capital, and the kingdom was split east and west. (The feet of iron and clay are thought to the coming Tribulation kingdom.) So let’s look at Constantinople.

Now known as Istanbul, it is located in Turkey and is its largest city. Wikipedia says Istanbul has served as the capital of the Roman Empire (330–395), the Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire (395–1204 and 1261–1453), the Latin Empire (1204–1261), and the Ottoman Empire (1453–1922). That’s a lot of empires! It was also chosen as a joint European Capital of Culture for 2010-2011, and as such organized cultural events with a strong European dimension. Yet…Istanbul is not European, and despite its long desire to align with the west, that desire has been thwarted.

Though Turkey was one of the first countries to become a member of the Council of Europe in 1949, a predecessor to the EU, and is now an associate member of the EU, it has been denied full membership ever since its application in 1987. It seems that the two legs of the Roman empire are still split, though it is part of the body of historically precedent empires and loosely connected to the west, is not the west.

The Turks figure into end time prophecy as the nation who aligns finally with the east. They come together with Armenia, Russia, Iran, and northern Africa and others to attack Israel. Their final status as an Israel-hater is certain. The journey from  been a tumultuous one ever since Paul’s missionary days into Asia Minor, which Turkey is still known as (also Anatolia). The question is, how does Turkey get from here to there?

Ezekiel 38:6 says that Gomer and the house of beth-Togarmah join the Gog-Magog attack. I interpret Gomer to be Turkey and beth-Togarmah as Armenia. You can research the historical/biblical names here, and here, and directly from the bible here and here. Turkey reverts to her roots in the last days, no matter the Western overlay this generation has come to see Turkey outwardly present.

Now to the original verse in Revelation. The verse says that there were/are 7 kingdoms. Some say the 7th both are Rome, and some say that the 7th could be the Ottoman Empire. Note the last part of the Revelation verse, ‘the beast is the eighth AND is of the seven’ could be satisfied by a ruler from the eastern leg of the statue that was part of Roman empire but not Rome.

The Ottomans existed as an empire for 500 years, disappearing in 1922 with the cessation of the office of Caliph (Ruler of all Muslims). Jack Kelley explores the notion of the Ottomans as 7th Revelation Kingdom, here. He said in part, “There are already some who believe the 7th Kingdom of Rev. 17:10 is the Ottoman Empire, and point out that Constantinople is also a city on seven hills. If so, its loyalty to Islam would confirm the identity of the one world End Times religion, and could also support the idea of an Islamic anti-Christ, the one some call al-Mahdi. As details of Islamic eschatology become more widely known, prophecy students are discovering a striking similarity between descriptions of al Mahdi and the anti-Christ.”

John MacArthur said in his sermon “The Grim Reality of the Last Days“, “Now somebody might say, “Well, when you think about the future and what’s going to happen in the world, don’t we have a revived Roman Empire? Doesn’t that mean the west? You remember that the image in Daniel 2 of the final world empire had two legs and the Roman Empire had the west and the east? You know, of course, if you know history that the western part of the Roman Empire basically dissolved and the east survived for a thousand years or more so that at the time of the New Testament, sixty percent of the Roman Empire was land that is now under Muslim control…at least 60 percent. The vast majority of the Roman Empire in New Testament times is today under Muslim control and Islam is moving across the west rapidly in Europe, isn’t it? When you have a picture in Ezekiel 38, you have a picture of the Antichrist, Gog and you have the listing of eight nations, that will be a coalition for the Antichrist. All eight of those are Muslim nations, all eight of them. And they ring the Mediterranean to Libya. In Revelation 17:9 to 11 it says there were six kingdoms and then a seventh and finally an eighth. What is the seventh? Well there’s been a discussion about that, it well could be the Ottoman Turk Empire which lasted five hundred years and didn’t really fall until the modern era. The Turkish Empire was the last Caliphate which ended in 1923 and they’re waiting for the restoration when the Mahdi comes.”

What I’m saying is, the bible shows us that Turkey is a powerful and influential nation in the Gog-Magog battle. We saw Turkey’s influence come to the fore last year in the Gaza Flotilla attack, and we see it now in her continuing spokesmanship for Muslims in Asia Minor.

This article from a Turkish daily newspaper titled “Turkey is shaping the Arab Spring” states flatly, “the Ottomans are back”.

That the Ottomans could be the 7th kingdom mentioned in the Revelation verse is worth pondering, as we watch Turkey’s pre-eminence in the Middle East rise again.

Posted in casey anthony, redeeming the time

Can you redeem the time lost in watching Casey Anthony trial?

Posted on by elizabethprata

People are getting wound up over the verdict today of the trial of mom Casey Anthony of the death of her daughter Caylee. The verdict was not guilty. The web lit up, Facebook lit up, Twitter lit up. People are at turns outraged, aghast, angry, sorrowful…. I’m not. I’m not anything.

I didn’t watch the trial. I didn’t even know it was going on. I had to look up the names Caylee and Casey to correctly make this blog entry. I am sad that a little girl was killed and there seems to be no earthly justice on her killer. That is bad. I am sad that children are neglected, abused, murdered in the US and all over the world. This week it was reported that a father raped his 6-month-old baby son and gave him HIV. His case goes to the Grand Jury on July 11. I could recount many headlines like that one, which I won’t because they’re awful and gross, but children are murdered every day and their case is sometimes satisfied by justice and sometimes it is not.

I didn’t watch the OJ trial either. Now, people are saying things like “There goes the justice system!” Well, after OJ was pronounced not guilty there went the justice system, people said. How about the President of the United States Bill Clinton, lying within a legal proceeding and obstructing justice? In my opinion, that did much to damage the justice system.

The fact is, there are big trials all the time. There is “huge news” all the time. Each verdict seems to impact and damage the justice system irreparably, and maybe that is so- for a time.

I have a book called “Forgotten News: The Crime of the Century, and Other Forgotten Stories” by Jack Finney, author of “Time and Again. It is a book of news that was reported, tracked, trials, and intrigue and murder and justice. In the biggest case in the book, a trial of the killer of NY dentist Harvey Burdell in the mid 1800s was explained. It was said to the the most celebrated crime of the century. The NY Times discussed it here in 2007 when a book about the forgotten crime was released. Do you remember the case now? It was the crime of the century.

The other case Finney relates is the sinking of the SS Central America off the coast of Florida in i857. At the time of her sinking, the Central America carried gold then valued at approximately $2 million USD. 300 crew and passengers died, and the loss of the gold was a tremendous loss to investors and the stock market. The loss of the gold shook public confidence in the economy, and contributed to the Panic of 1857. The book “Ship of Gold, In The Deep Blue Sea”, by Gary Kinder is a compelling and un-put-downable book about the ship’s sinking and the aftermath, and of the modern day treasure hunt to find all that gold.

The point is, at the time, people thought the news of the events, either the murder or the ship’s loss, would be remembered forever. Each in their way they impacted the culture at the time but it really was a short time until the news was forgotten.

I’m not diminishing the emotions attached to the Casey Anthony trial, but really, as a Christian, it is emblematic to me of the misuse of time we spend. We squander our time in all sorts of ways. It is obvious that the legal system is set up by man and therefore is flawed. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t. All things set up by man are flawed because man is flawed. Why rail over it?

The only thing that is not flawed is Jesus. We are put on this earth to glorify Him by making disciples. Witnessing to fallen humanity is or should be the motivation for everything we do. Sitting hunched in front of a television watching a pointless trial does not uplift His name.

Ephesians 5:16 says we should be “making the most of your time, because the days are evil.” In John MacArthur’s commentary today “Redeeming the time” he expounded on that verse, saying, “God has set boundaries to our lives, and our opportunity for service exists only within those boundaries. It is significant that the Bible speaks of such times being shortened, but never of their being lengthened. A person may die or lose an opportunity before the end of God’s time, but he has no reason to expect his life or his opportunity to continue after the end of his predetermined time. … Paul pleads for us to make the most of our time immediately after he pleads for us to walk wisely rather than foolishly. Outside of purposeful disobedience of God’s Word, the most spiritually foolish thing a Christian can do is to waste time and opportunity, to fritter away his life in trivia and in half–hearted service of the Lord.

How much time did you waste watching the trial? How much time are you wasting talking about it, stewing about it, watching or reading follow-up on it? Today’s news will be forgotten news, but Jesus is forever.
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Posted in israel, prophecy

Muslim Brotherhood demands of US: "Drop Israel"

Posted on by elizabethprata

I wrote on Monday that over the weekend the Obama Administration instructed Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to reach out to the Muslim Brotherhood. The Muslim Brotherhood was banned as an illegal organization in Egypt for decades but once Mubarek fell they popped up quickly and were almost instantly acknowledged as a legitimate political party in Egypt. In another act over the weekend, no coincidence I’m sure, Obama also listed Israel on the list of ‘Specially Designated Countries’ as a terror-sponsor. Now, the Brotherhood’s sworn aim is to obliterate the ‘cancer’ that they say is Israel (and also destroy the West, namely, the US). They would also love Egypt to return to a state of war with Israel. Currently the only Arab States that have have a peace treaty with Israel are Jordan and Egypt. And do not forget, it was the Muslim Brotherhood who assassinated Former Egyptian President Anwar Sadat for making peace with Israel.

Well, the response from the Muslim Brotherhood didn’t take long. Today we learn that in an email to Clinton, quoted by Bloomberg News, the Brotherhood wants the US to stop supporting Israel. Israel Magazine Today reports, “In an email response quoted by Bloomberg, Muslim Brotherhood spokesman Mahmoud Ghozlan stated that if America wants solid relations with the group, it should “stop supporting the corrupt and tyrannical regimes, backing the Zionist occupation and using double standards.” Israel National News also has the story.

The time of Zechariah 12:2 is rapidly advancing, when Israel will be alone in the world without one friend on earth. Praise the LORD that His promises are true, and He remains a friend to the People until the end. And in the end, His friendship is all that matters. Look at Ezekiel’s vision of the Millennium Kingdom, which is ushered in after the Tribulation and battle at Armageddon: (chapter 43:1-2)

“Afterward he brought me to the gate, even the gate that looketh toward the east: And, behold, the glory of the God of Israel came from the way of the east: and his voice was like a noise of many waters: and the earth shined with his glory.”
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