Posted in end times, entitlement, handout

Three squares and health care in jail looking pretty good to some people now

Posted on by elizabethprata

When sin entered the world, it didn’t take long for all kinds of perverse thinking to follow. Almost as soon as Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit, shame was first on the sin-list after their original sin- rebellion against God. (Gen 2:25; Gen 3:7), These were followed quickly by fear of the LORD (the bad kind of fear) and then blame. (Genesis 3:10; 12). The next generation followed with disrespect of the LORD, and anger, jealousy, then murder. (Genesis 4:3-8).

I listed these to show that the progression of sin always deepens. Just when you think it can go no lower, it does. Just when you think it can get no more perverse, it does. By Genesis 6:5, the thoughts of man were only evil, continuously. That is 100% sin saturation! So the LORD sent the Flood and started over, with Noah, who found favor in the eyes of the LORD.

Until very recent times, and I’m talking the middle of the last generation, people relied on themselves and family under the auspices of a godly structure to complete their life. They didn’t go to the king for handouts as the default position. They didn’t go to the Government as the first pass when needing something.

Social Security began in 1935 as a “social insurance” program. Think about the very name: Social. Security. There is only security in God, but the government through this program, wants to supplant God and provide for all your needs and make you secure. Soon, needs turned into wants which turned into entitlements. Praying for God’s provision and living within our means He provides was out of the picture. Of course, security is in God only, but this generation has become so entrenched by now in thinking the government will provide for all our needs from birth to death that it just a given to to rely on it.

The poster child for the greedy entitlement view is Peggy The Moocher. So dubbed in 2008 by Michelle Malkin, it came about that this Obama voter thought she was all set. Peggy “exulted earlier this week at a Barack Obama rally that this was ‘the most memorable time of my life.’ Why? As she told a Florida reporter on a YouTube video that has been viewed by hundreds of thousands: “Because I never thought this day would ever happen. I won’t have to worry about putting gas in my car. I won’t have to worry about paying my mortgage. You know. If I help [Obama], he’s gonna help me.””

The government is going to pay for your car and your house?! Reasonable people know this is a ridiculous view to take. More reasonable people know this isn’t even something they should want. There was backlash among people who have some self-respect, recoiling at the low level our vaunted American initiative and independence had sunk. When we remove God from the equation, on what or who else do we rely for provision? We always substitute something. In America that substitution has been the government.

Sin always goes lower. Just as there is no limit to the heights Jesus’ love for us attains, there are no limits to the depths sin will descend to and evil will sink. When Eve tasted the fruit, she was making a statement that she wanted to rely on herself to engage with the world, and not make decisions through God. When Cain offered God grain instead of meat, he was making a statement that his choice was reliance on self rather than God. It has been that way ever since. But relying on yourself instead of God always goes awry. Always. Here are two recent examples of how much overreliance on something other than God will result in ever-deepening  perversity in thinking about how to obtain provision:

N.C. Man Allegedly Robs Bank of $1 to Get Health Care in Jail
“A 59-year-old man has been jailed in Gastonia, N.C., on charges of larceny after allegedly robbing an RBC Bank for $1 so he could get health care in prison. Richard James Verone handed a female teller a note demanding the money and claiming that he had a gun, according to the police report.”

So we go from reliance on God’s precepts for life, to reliance on self, to reliance on government (as a substitute for God’s provision), and now we’re compounding other sins to get what we need and want. Rather than the indirect pain of higher taxes to pay for social security, welfare, and food stamps, people now choose to inflict direct pain on someone so they can get three squares and health care in jail. The incident with Verone was not isolated. This is from today:

“Police say a man robbed a Minneapolis bank with the hopes of being caught.”
Minneapolis Police were called to a Wells Fargo Bank on 800 Park Ave. just before 6:30 p.m. on July 7. A bank employee said the robber, Hassan Muse Farah, had walked through the front entrance and gave one of the tellers a threatening hand written note. The teller gave him money from the register. Then Farah, 20, walked over to a chair in the business lobby and sat down to wait until police arrived and he was arrested. Police said Farah waived his Miranda rights, admitted to robbing the bank, and has been charged with second degree aggravated robbery. They say he robbed the bank and waited for them to arrive just so he could be sent to prison or deported.”

The gimme mindset leads to all sorts of things. Now, in the case of the man in NC who allegedly robbed the bank for $1, he had a desperate situation he was dealing with:

“As he pointed out to the press, he had lost his job of 17 years as a Coca Cola deliveryman and ended up taking a part-time position in a convenience store. But the work was backbreaking, compounded by the fact that he had arthritis, carpal tunnel syndrome and a painful lump on his chest. With no health insurance, he decided that his best option was to rob a bank and get health care in prison.”

Once we substitute anything else besides reliance on God for our provision, we not only start to descend into a perverted perspective of needs, wants, and expenses, but we lose hope. Even in these bad economic times, reliance on God shows faith in His ability to take care of His children. I feel so bad for that NC man who had lost his hope, thinking that his only way to get help was to steal from others and bring catastrophe on another human being by threatening her life.

God is above all money, but He takes care of even the smallest, most meager child of His. He knows the hairs on your head, the number of your days, and if He provides for the birds of the field will He not provide even more so for you?

“For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.  If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? or if he ask a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent? Or if he shall ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him? (Luke 11:10-13).

What a joy it would be if these people took the conviction they feel that government will take care of them, and replaced it with equal measures of faith in God’s providential care! They’d be all set for life, and life hereafter, too.
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Posted in garden of eden, gobekli tepe, nimrod, prophecy

The Mystery of Gobekli Tepe

Posted on by elizabethprata

After Adam and Eve were expelled from the Garden of Eden, what happened to them? We know that sin, having entered the world, spread quickly and the first murder occurred in a fit of jealousy. Adam and Eve’s son Cain killed Abel when God preferred Abel’s offering over Cain’s. (Gen 4:3-5)

People who are unsaved and therefore an enemy of God say it’s “not fair” that God didn’t accept Cain’s offering. However, Adam and Eve knew God and continued to worship Him after being expelled from the Garden. When Eve bore Cain she praised the LORD. (Gen 4:1). They taught their sons how to worship. If they hadn’t, Abel would not have known God, would not have known that he should make an offering, and not have known that offering should be a blood sacrifice. The problem was that Cain did not offer his sacrifice in faith. “By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, through which he had witness borne to him that he was righteous, God bearing witness in respect of his gifts: and through it he being dead yet speaketh” (Hebrews 11:4).” If you’re not offering to God by faith, it is by self, or by sight, and therefore is from your own presumption. That never pleases God.

After Cain killed Adam, God sent Cain away. “So Cain went out from the LORD’s presence and lived in the land of Nod, east of Eden.” (Genesis 4:16) Soon, Seth was born to Adam and Eve. So here we have a split, the believers dwelling somewhere presumably close to where Eden was, and Cain going east, marrying and having children away from the LORD’S presence. But where were they? It is believed the Garden of Eden was somewhere in Turkey. Are there any other remnants of those earliest people? Didn’t they leave anything behind?

In 1994, a Kurdish shepherd stumbled over a stone. German archaeologist Klaus Schmidt was called in and an extraordinary site was slowly uncovered over the decade. The world’s first temple, 11,000 years old. It is more enigmatic than Easter Island and more mysterious and complex than Stonehenge. It is universally agreed that it is one of the most important sites in the world. It is seven thousand years older than the Great Pyramid of Giza. “As Reading University professor Steve Mithen says: ‘Gobekli Tepe is too extraordinary for my mind to understand.’ If this place they unearthed is as old as they say, it survived the Flood.

UK Daily Mail says the temple stones at Gobekli Tepe might be the greatest archaeological discovery ever, “a site that has revolutionised the way we look at human history, the origin of religion – and perhaps even the truth behind the Garden of Eden. Nat Geo says,

“We used to think agriculture gave rise to cities and later to writing, art, and religion. Now the world’s oldest temple suggests the urge to worship sparked civilization.”

Previously every archaeological and sociological construct  was predicated on the assumption that agriculture came first, then worship. Gobekli Tempe shows that assumption to be wrong: worship came first, and a lot earlier than they thought. Then agriculture was born  in that very area. We know that wheat was the oldest and likely first domesticated grain, and it happened in that area of Turkey. “And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life;Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field;” (Genesis 3:17-18). And agriculture was born.

As for worship versus agriculture, Christians know worship came first. Our loving God created humans, who in turn worshiped Him in perfection and without sin was among the very first acts of humankind. Christians know that ‘civilization’ was created by God. He made the world, made humans and animals. He structured the world through a hierarchy of relational commands: worship of Him, hierarchy between man and woman, and of man over the animals. He gave them jobs to do. He recreated with them. Food was abundant and available. From the sixth day, all the elements of civilization existed: worship, employment, leisure, the foundational structure of the world: family unit, were all set in one day. It did not evolve and it did not progress. It simply was. (Gen 2:15-25).

Yes, but the urge to worship who? The God of Creation? Adam and Eve and their progeny worshiped God personally. Cain was away from the LORD’S presence, but perhaps he worshiped the serpent now. Were he and his people beginning to worship but worship something other than God, using advanced skills learned from the fallen angels to build a blasphemous temple?  The UK Daily Mail article says “It’s as if the gods came down from heaven and built Gobekli for themselves.” Ah! Perhaps that is a clue.

Here is another tantalizing clue: “Nat Geo: “Bewilderingly, the people at Göbekli Tepe got steadily worse at temple building. The earliest rings are the biggest and most sophisticated, technically and artistically. As time went by, the pillars became smaller, simpler, and were mounted with less and less care. Finally the effort seems to have petered out altogether by 8200 B.C.”

Just as sin corrupts steadily downward, perhaps the skills, interest, and conditions at Gobekli Tepe caused the downward spiral in the worship there, just as sin causes a downward spiral in everything.

We may never know more about why Gobekli Tepe was built, or exactly where the Garden of Eden lay. As the Nat Geo article concludes, they quote the archaeologist. “Today less than a tenth of the 22-acre site is open to the sky. Schmidt emphasizes that further research on Göbekli Tepe may change his current understanding of the site’s importance. Even its age is not clear—Schmidt is not certain he has reached the bottom layer. “We come up with two new mysteries for every one that we solve,” he says.

Around 8,000 BC, the creators of Gobekli turned on their achievement and entombed their glorious temple under thousands of tons of earth, creating the artificial hills on which that Kurdish shepherd walked in 1994. We don’t know why. Perhaps the flood buried it. Or perhaps it was because another, ‘better’ city was being built, this time, by Nimrod. Its name is Babylon.
————————————————————–

Below, stunning photos from National Geographic—

The elegant bas-reliefs of vultures, scorpions, and other creatures found on the T-shaped pillars had to have been created by skilled artisans, evidence that hunter-gatherers were capable of a complex social structure.

Pillars at the temple of Göbekli Tepe—11,600 years old and up to 18 feet tall—may represent priestly dancers at a gathering. Note the hands above the loincloth-draped belt on the figure in the foreground.

Another common icon of the world’s first organized religion was snakes. This example was found on the back of a human head from Nevalı Çori. Artifact photographed at Şanliurfa Museum, Turkey.

Images of vultures, like this stone carving, have been found at Göbekli Tepe. Because the birds are traditionally associated with mortality, these depictions suggest that Göbekli Tepe may have been a place for rituals related to the spiritual power of the ancestral dead.

Posted in jerusalem, jews, prophecy

Jews expelled from Jerusalem? Never Again!

Posted on by elizabethprata

“Never again!” ?? Oh, but the sad prophetic truth is that it will happen again. (Matthew 24: 16, 21). Pray for the peace of Jerusalem! (Psalm 122:6). In doing so, we can lend sweet fragrance to the incense of prayers in heaven where God longs to bring in His Millennium reign!

From Arutz Sheva today, in the shadow of Glenn Beck’s speech to the Israeli Knesset, the Quartet’s meeting in Washington to divide Jerusalem, and the Palestinian Authority’s push for a state at the UN. The deadline for the Palestinians to submit their resolution for statehood to the UN Security Council is this Friday. It is a busy diplomatic week and a busy prophetic week. But let’s look back now, at past history, when the Jews were expelled from their eternal city in 1936: Arutz Sheva:

“Every now and then, a treasure is unearthed not by archaeologists digging in the ground, but by historians and others seeking information among the stacks of books in a library. Writer and analyst Lenny Ben David was doing exactly that when he came across a massive Library of Congress photo archive of life in Palestine, circa early 1900s. Prior to its rebirth as a commonwealth, the lands of the State of Israel were all referred to as Palestine by the British. Ben David, a former diplomat and lobbyist, writes on his blog, “As I skimmed through the pictures, one theme caught my eye – the expulsion of Jews from Jerusalem. Time and again.”

Expulsion of Jews from Jerusalem, 1936 (Israel news photo: courtesy of Library of Congress)

“Works of art that depict the Roman destruction of the Holy Temple and the Jewish people being led from Jerusalem into captivity in 70 CE are not uncommon. But Ben David saw that the Library of Congress had carefully archived photos of Jews being evacuated during Arab pogroms in 1929 – the same year the Jews of Hevron were massacred – and in 1936. The archive also contains photos by Life Magazine photographer John Phillips, who in 1948 managed to catch on film the horror and tragedy of Jews once more being captured or expelled from their homes in the Old Jerusalem’s Jewish Quarter by Jordanian soldiers.”

“Too many times,” writes Ben David. “It led me to post a photo essay: The Jewish People Will Not Be Expelled from Jerusalem Again.” In the essay, he made sure to include shots of the Jews’ expulsion from Jerusalem in 1929, 1936 and 1948 – to remind, and to ensure that it can never happen again.”

Luke 21:24: “They will fall by the sword and will be taken as prisoners to all the nations. Jerusalem will be trampled on by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.” That time has not yet been fulfilled. Dear Jerusalem, only a little longer, our God is faithful. Hear His promise!

“Therefore fear thou not, O my servant Jacob, saith the LORD; neither be dismayed, O Israel: for, lo, I will save thee from afar, and thy seed from the land of their captivity; and Jacob shall return, and shall be in rest, and be quiet, and none shall make him afraid.” (Jer. 30:10).
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Posted in end of days, prophecy, watchmen

What a watchman’s prophetic ministry does

Posted on by elizabethprata

This is a post about what a prophetic ministry does. Watchmen on the wall (Is 62:6) don’t only tell the news. They don’t only ring the end-is-near-repent bell. The Lord uses these ministries to complete a process in hearers’ hearts. It isn’t only a cognitive absorbing of news, but a spiritual changing of hearts.

Paul uses analogies quite often and one of his favorites is the race:

“I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.” (2 Timothy 4:7).

“Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever.” (1 Corinthians 9:25).

“You were running a good race. Who cut in on you and kept you from obeying the truth?” (Galatians 5:7).

The Church Age is a marathon. A marathon is a 26-mile race. Initially there is a burst at the starting gate, runners quickly jogging away in an explosion of energy. The Church started quickly, like marathoners at the gun.

Above, Participants in the 2010 Boston Marathon in Wellesley, just after the halfway mark. Source Wikipedia

Then there is the long middle part. Runners get tired. Some stumble, but they get up. Others drop out. The pace is plodding, not a lot of energy is expended. Runners look at the crowd, the birds, their shoes, becoming unfocused. They get complacent.

But then suddenly they round a bend and they see that finish line tape up ahead. Suddenly their focus zaps back to the task at hand- fully and completely. They run full throttle, the tiredness leaving their legs and adrenaline kicking in. People are on the sidelines cheering and the crowds swell with energy. There is joy in seeing it and arms start to reach out.

Prophecy is the finish line tape. The watchmen are close to the finish line  shouting and clapping and encouraging and pleading with them to keep running the race. Meanwhile, the Holy Spirit quickens their pace, opens their eyes, gives them energy. And the Lord changes hearts.

Here is what a watchman does: “Isaiah 62:6 I have set watchmen upon thy walls, O Jerusalem, which shall never hold their peace day nor night: ye that make mention of the LORD, keep not silence,” (Isaiah 62:6)

Here is the effect of what a watchman does: See, as you begin to think about the immediacy of prophetic fulfillments, The Holy Spirit changes your thinking. It changes your heart. Suddenly your priorities are different. You feel more urgency, have more focus on your Christian walk. Watchmen who exhort put these seeds in your mind and heart and the Holy Spirit revives you by showing you that the end of the race is near. You feel a deepening sense of burden for the lost world while at the same time a lessening of hanging on to it.

What you can do: Ask the Spirit to give you discernment, an ability to distinguish truth from error. Diligent study in the Word is the mechanism for growing discernment, because the bible is All-Truth. Once you know truth more solidly the Spirit will lead you to discerning untruth when you come across it. You will then feel stronger in standing on your foundation as the rest of the world tips crazily.

“The period of man’s day is ending, the period of God’s day is coming. But in light of the fact that we are soon to be taken to be with Christ and that will initiate the day of the Lord in which the ungodly will be destroyed and damned forever. It is time to get your priorities right. It’s time to wake up. This is no time to be slumbering and sleeping. This is a time for alertness. The same Jesus who is taken up from you, the angel said, shall so come in like manner as you’ve seen Him go. In other words, you’ve got to live in the light of the return of Jesus Christ.” It’s time to wake up.”
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Posted in ahmadinejad, gog magog, iran, prophecy

Men of destiny, men of prophecy

Posted on by elizabethprata

The Gog Magog battle looms before us. This is the battle that Ezekiel prophesied in Ez 38-39. If you read Ezekiel 36-48, it is largely chronological. Book 36 begins with the New Covenant, (Ez 36:26-28). Then it skips ahead 1900 years where in the next two chapters he describes a horrendous battle of an evil alliance attacking Israel. It is such a surprise to Israel that they are caught off guard and almost succumb. At the last moment, God steps in–

“And I will plead against him with pestilence and with blood; and I will rain upon him, and upon his bands, and upon the many people that are with him, an overflowing rain, and great hailstones, fire, and brimstone. Thus will I magnify myself, and sanctify myself; and I will be known in the eyes of many nations, and they shall know that I am the LORD.” (Ezekiel 38:22-23).

Just in case we’re not sure that all will know that it is the LORD winning the battle, He repeats His promise in verse Ez 39:6-7- “And I will send a fire on Magog, and among them that dwell carelessly in the isles: and they shall know that I am the LORD. So will I make my holy name known in the midst of my people Israel; and I will not let them pollute my holy name any more: and the heathen shall know that I am the LORD, the Holy One in Israel.”

And again in Ez 39:21-22- “And I will set my glory among the heathen, and all the heathen shall see my judgment that I have executed, and my hand that I have laid upon them. So the house of Israel shall know that I am the LORD their God from that day and forward.”

The rest of Ezekiel 39 is consumed with graphic descriptions of the carnage and the cleanup. The burials will take 7 months to complete, and the fuel from downed war materiel take 7 years to burn. That is one of the major reasons scholars think the Gog-Magog battle occurs at the outset of the Tribulation, or just prior, because the Tribulation period is 7 years. There has to be seven years left in which to burn the fuel. Also, the LORD makes Himself known to the Israelites and they renew their covenant with Him. They begin clamoring for their Temple, which we know is built at some point because 3 1/2 years later the antichrist stands in the Temple and calls himself God and stops the Jews’ sacrifices.

Ezekiel goes on in books 40-48 with glorious descriptions of the Millennium Kingdom.

In this battle, Persia (Iran) is one of the lead attackers, along with Russia. America is not listed in prophecy, but the US was raised up in might and we have used that might to cause a tipping of the balance in the Muslim world through ten years of invasions. These invasions are leading to the final set-up of the players and the circumstances that will be in place when the Gog-Magog battle begins.

That said, I found it interesting that recently a top aide of Russia’s President Putin said that he thinks Putin was sent by God at this moment in time to fulfill a pre-ordained prophetic destiny. Secondly, in March of this year, an inside documentary was made by the closest associates of Iran’s Ayatollah but smuggled out from the East. The documentary revealed that both the Ayatollah of Iran and President Ahmadinejad personally feel that they are specific players in the prophetic destiny of Iran. And finally, it has long been known that President George Bush felt strongly that his invasion of Iraq was an order from God that would directly lead to impacts on Israel. In a sense, they are all correct. Read the quotes:

PUTIN
“Prime Minister Vladimir Putin was sent to Russia by God to help his country during one of its most turbulent times, the Kremlin’s chief political strategist said on Friday in rare public remarks. “I honestly believe that Putin is a person who was sent to Russia by fate and by the Lord at a difficult time for Russia,” Vladislav Surkov, a staunch Putin supporter and one of Russia’s most powerful men, was quoted by Interfax news agency as telling state-run Chechen TV. “(Putin was) preordained by fate to preserve our peoples,” said Surkov, who is also the Kremlin’s first deputy chief of staff.”

AHMADINEJAD
“The purpose of the film is to make the case that Iran is prophetically destined to lead the war against Islam’s enemies, which is as a prelude to the appearance of the Hidden Imam, also called the Mahdi, who brings the final victory for Islam and reigns over the whole world. It uses current events to argue that “the final chapter has begun” and the Mahdi’s arrival is imminent. Most disturbingly, it teaches that Khamenei, Ahmadinejad and Nasrallah are the individuals prophesied to make this happen. President Ahmadinejad is an End Times character named Shoeib-Ebne Saleh, the film states. He is appointed as the commander-in-chief by Seyed Khorasani (Ayatollah Khamenei). The speaker in the film says that this individual will “move” 72 months [6 years] prior to the arrival of the Mahdi and will lead the recapturing of Jerusalem on “the threshold of the Coming.”

In Muslim end time theology, the Mahdi is strikingly similar to the Christian antichrist. So it makes sense that Iran’s leaders feel not only prophetically destined but the timing is also nearly a mirror match for the timing of the Gog-Magog battle.

BUSH
“George Bush has claimed he was on a mission from God when he launched the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, according to a senior Palestinian politician in an interview to be broadcast by the BBC later this month. Bush revealed the extent of his religious fervour when he met a Palestinian delegation during the Israeli-Palestinian summit at the Egpytian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, four months after the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003. One of the delegates, Nabil Shaath, who was Palestinian foreign minister at the time, said: “President Bush said to all of us: ‘I am driven with a mission from God’. God would tell me, ‘George go and fight these terrorists in Afghanistan’. And I did. And then God would tell me ‘George, go and end the tyranny in Iraq’. And I did.” Mr Bush went on: “And now, again, I feel God’s words coming to me, ‘Go get the Palestinians their state and get the Israelis their security, and get peace in the Middle East’. And, by God, I’m gonna do it.”

The LORD sets up kings and he takes down kings. (Dan 2:21). He uses all men for His purposes, whether they are saved or not. He uses people for His global purpose, and He uses people individually to prepare us. God uses negative circumstances for His outcomes. He doesn’t need to make a positive circumstance every time. There are many examples of this in the bible. God has been actively working in the lives of all people on the planet to prepare for the culmination of His promises to Israel and the end of the age. I believe we can see it in hindsight over the last ten years with the rise of Russia, Iran, and the invasions of the US into the Middle east. What do you think?

Note: Terry James has a good essay this week about one of the other major Gog-Magog players, and their drawing-in toward prophetic destiny: Turkey.
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Posted in daniel, Nebuchadnezzar

A little tidbit for you

Posted on by elizabethprata

I have some things that are really interesting I’m working on, but today’s Sunday School and worship were stupendous but tiring, and tonight’s small faith group went long, so I’m saving them for tomorrow. Meanwhile, here is something short:

A La Andy Rooney, “Didja ever notice…” Nebuchadnezzar’s statue…
Daniel 2:31-33: “Thou, O king, sawest, and behold a great image. This great image, whose brightness was excellent, stood before thee; and the form thereof was terrible. This image’s head was of fine gold, his breast and his arms of silver, his belly and his thighs of brass, His legs of iron, his feet part of iron and part of clay.’ “

The metals represent kingdoms current to Daniel’s time and in the future. The metals go from top to bottom in order of worth. Gold is the most precious metal on earth, then silver, then brass and then iron which is not worth anything on the precious metals market. As time goes on, all the kingdoms decrease in worth and value. Inversely, the metals, though they decrease in value, increase in strength. Gold is the softest metal, iron is pretty strong.

The metals are symbols of kingdoms. Daniel’s interpretation is here: (Dan 2:36-43)

Posted in end time, katla, prophecy, volcano

Volcanoes going off everywhere: Katla, Etna, and… Oz?

Posted on by elizabethprata

Just a short entry today. I spent all day putting together the prophecy newsletter and between the heat and the humidity I’m tapped out. Two volcano stories for you–

Warnings of volcanic eruption in Australia
“Scientists are now warning that volcanoes in Western Victoria and South Australia are due to erupt. The prediction comes just hours after two earthquakes hit the state this morning. Using new dating techniques, University of Melbourne scientists have found that the volcanoes usually erupt every 2000 years, with the last eruption at Mt Gambier, South Australia, 5000 years ago. Earth sciences Professor Bernie Joyce says Australia needs a plan in case of an eruption. It comes as Victorians are warned to brace themselves for more tremors after a shallow magnitude quake hit at 11.32am, sending shockwaves through towns and suburbs more than 100 kilometres away. A series of tremors lasting up to 15 seconds have been felt across Melbourne’s CBD and southeastern suburbs. A second, smaller quake shook Korumburra, with reports it was again felt in Melbourne, at 12.37pm. Senior seismologist Clive Collins said people should prepare for aftershocks in the coming hours. “There will be aftershocks, that’s a certainty,” he told the Herald Sun. “We still expect lots of smaller ones. “After the last significant quake in Victoria there were more than 200 aftershocks.” The tremors shook Melbourne office buildings and many homes across the state, including Warragul, Ferntree Gully, Sunbury and as far north as Melbourne Airport.”

I had written three days ago that scientists were warning that Hekla in Iceland may erupt. I put up a map showing Eyja, Hekla and Katla were in close proximity and noted that when one of the three erupts then one of the others  usually does as well. Today this is being reported:

Possibly Small Eruption in South Iceland Volcano Katla

There was sudden flooding and melting of a glacier and the thought is that a small eruption caused it.

“A glacial flood, probably, from the volcano Katla in Mýrdalsjökull has disrupted the Ring Road (highway no.1), by the river Múlakvísl on Mýrdalssandur in south Iceland, tearing the bridge across Múlakvísl. The road is closed between Höfdabrekka, east of Vík, and the river Skálm, near Álftaver. The flood is thought be the result of a small eruption underneath the icecap of Mýrdalsjökull, probably in the Katla crater, ruv.is reports. “At least this is not a large eruption, the Katla eruption people have been waiting for,“ geophysicist Freysteinn Sigmundsson told ruv.is “If it is a volcanic eruption, it is a small event and possibly only geothermal water.“ The Civil Protection Department has issued a warning to people in the area, to beware of sulphurate smell near the river, as it might be poisonous sulphurate gas.”

In this news article, they write, “Small eruption at Katla“
“For the people of Iceland, the past few years must feel like the old saying “when it rains, it pours’: we’ve seen two significant eruptions, one at Eyjafjallajökull and one at Grimsvötn, in less than a year. Earlier this week, there was news that another Icelandic volcano, Hekla, was showing signs of unrest, although it was unclear whether they pointed towards an eruption. Then, the switcheroo, where instead of anything at Hekla, we get a surprise jokulhlaup (glacial outburst flood) at Katla on the southern end of the island.”

His description reminds me of the people at a tennis match when their heads swing this way then that way then this way…just as we look to one p art of the world for an expected event, another one pops up over there where we least expected it. In 2008 the Chilean volcano Chaiten erupted suddenly and is still erupting. Volcanologists say that Chaiten volcano had not erupted in 9500 years. Last month, the Eritrean volcano Nabro suddenly erupted for the first time ever. In Java, a new volcano was formed within two days. Fisherman were stunned. Three weeks ago I reported that there were 35 earthquakes at the Cuidad Juarez/El Paso border of the US that have geologists and seismologists thinking a new volcano may be born there soon, and a joint team of scientists from US/Mexico went to investigate. Volcanic eruptions from existing volcanoes have increased. Two days ago, “Palermo – An uncountable series of quakes have been recorded in Sicily. The strongest one had a magnitude of 3.1 and was recorded in the province of Messina, along the northern coast of Sicily that has been subjected to a persisting series of seismic events in the last few weeks. The quake was detected 3:01 am at a depth of a little more than 8 km. In the same area, a lighter 2.3 magnitude quake was recorded at 1:58 at approximately the same depth. . .” Today, ash from Mt. Etna closed an Italian airport. What next?!

Stay tuned, and be glad you chose to repent of your sins and accept the free pardon Jesus offers. If you have not repented, heed these wonderful words:

“Seek the LORD while he may be found;
call on him while he is near.
Let the wicked forsake his way
and the evil man his thoughts.
Let him turn to the LORD, and he will have mercy on him,
and to our God, for he will freely pardon.” (Isaiah 55:6-7)

“For thy name’s sake, O LORD, pardon mine iniquity; for it is great.” (Psalm 25:11)
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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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