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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Posted in bible jesus, end of days, satan, true vine

Satan is such a copycat!

Posted on by elizabethprata

Remember the kid on the playground that used to bug you (or your brother/sister) by copying everything you said? Even when you said “Stop copying me!” they’d giggle and say “Stop copying me!” which at that point would usually devolve into a fistfight.

We know satan is a counterfeiter. We know he never had an original idea, except the one where he says he will exalt himself above God. (Isaiah 14:13-14). It may help to see through scripture exactly the difference in language where God IS and satan copies.

In Daniel 2:21a God changes times and seasons. Just like that. “He changes times and seasons; he sets up kings and deposes them.”

The antichrist will SEEK to change times and seasons. (Dan 7:25). In other translations it says he will think to change them, or he will try to change them. “He will speak against the Most High and oppress his saints and try to change the set times and the laws. The saints will be handed over to him for a time, times and half a time.” You notice here that Jesus HAS complete authority, and He DOES the act. The antichrist/satan is given some authority, he TRIES to do the act.

Jesus IS resurrected in Matthew 28:6, “He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay.”

Antichrist SEEMS to be resurrected- Rev 13:3, “I saw one of his heads as if it had been slain, and his fatal wound was healed. And the whole earth was amazed and followed after the beast;”

Jesus DOES miracles. Mark 1:21-28: “Then they went into Capernaum, and immediately on the Sabbath He entered the synagogue and taught. And they were astonished at His teaching, for He taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes. Now there was a man in their synagogue with an unclean spirit. And he cried out,  saying, “Let us alone! What have we to do with You, Jesus of Nazareth? Did You come to destroy us? I know who You are—the Holy One of God!” But Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be quiet, and come out of him!”  And when the unclean spirit had convulsed him and cried out with a loud voice, he came out of him. Then they were all amazed, so that they questioned among themselves, saying, “What is this? What new doctrine is this? For with authority He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey Him.” And immediately His fame spread throughout all the region around Galilee.”

Antichrist/satan seem to do miracles 2 Thess 2:9, “The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with the work of Satan displayed in all kinds of counterfeit miracles, signs and wonders,” such as this one in Revelation 13:13-14a: “He performs great signs, so that he even makes fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men. And he deceives those who dwell on the earth by those signs which he was granted to do in the sight of the beast…” so the only miracles he does are those he has been granted power to do and  in limited scope, at that, ‘within the sight of the beast.’

God gives the breath of life, Genesis 2:7- “And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.”

The antichrist/satan are only granted power to seem to give breath of life and only to an image, not a person, at that: “He was granted power to give breath to the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak and cause as many as would not worship the image of the beast to be killed.” (Rev 13:15)

Satan is of the vine of the earth (Rev. 14:19) but Jesus is the true vine from heaven. (John 15:1-2).

In summary, “For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse.” (Romans 1:20). God’s power is eternal, it has been seen to be so from the beginning. His eternal power is inside you. “You are from God, little children, and have overcome them; because greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world.” (1 John 4:4).

Vine of the earth,
illustrated manuscript 1300

Satan is false. He only copies. Anything copied is not real. Make sure you remember where the real power comes from, Jesus. Tap into His power through prayer and bible study, witness and a straight walk. Repent often, love much, and grow strong as fruit of the True Vine. The harvest is coming.

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Posted in china, end of days, end time, japan, prophecy, rare earth

Stunning rare earth deposits found off Japan, crumbling China’s monopoly

Posted on by elizabethprata

A stunning discovery has been made. Reuters reported this week that “Vast deposits of rare earth minerals, crucial in making high-tech electronics products, have been found on the floor of the Pacific Ocean and can be readily extracted, Japanese scientists said on Monday.”

Here is a great article about it with graphics that clearly show the magnitude of this discovery!

I’m continually stunned at the rolling-out of the unexpected in these end of days. Just as political supremacy has been indicated in one country or another, it suddenly falls. Just as Russia eyed oil supremacy, Israel has become the world’s potentially richest nation in natural gas, oil shale, and oil in the last 18 months, going from an importer to a self-sufficient exporter. Israel is on the cusp of an energy revolution, causing jealousy in Russia. And now this: rare earths, tumbling China from its supreme position to a mere paltry contender.

Let me explain what has been going on in rare earths since the mid 1990s.

China rare earth mine: source

China’s rise in economic power allowed that nation to corner the market in rare earth metals. They literally have a monopoly. By now, the US relies almost completely on a supply of these obscure but critical minerals from China and this fact spooked us big time. This was by China’s design: they deliberately set out to corner the market on rare earth minerals. What happens when rare-earths become scarce? The Chinese have spent the last 25 years amassing them and then in the mid 2000’s they turned the spigot down, causing scarcity.

What are rare earth metals? Most people define them as including the following 17 metals: Cerium Dysprosium Erbium Europium Gadolinium Holmium Lanthanum Lutetium Neodymium Praseodymium Promethium Samarium Scandium Terbium Thulium Ytterbium Yttrium. These rare earth metals are in just about everything that makes current civilization function.

 “Here’s why you should care about them: By the 21st century, rare earths had become essential to global commerce. Take a look around you. There are probably plenty of things that depend on them. Rare earths are used in permanent magnets, which are integral to modern electronics and green technologies. They’re in iPhones, earbuds, cell phones and hard drives. Their use is not exactly new: they were in cathode tube televisions, although they are now in flat screens too. They’re in electric automobile windows, MRI machines, and compact fluorescent bulbs. A Toyota Prius contains at least two pounds of them. Each advanced wind turbine has roughly 660 pounds of the soft silvery metal neodymium. They are also used in guided missiles and other weapons systems. As recently as the 1990s, the world had a geographically diversified supply of rare earth minerals. China produced a lot, but the United States, Brazil, India and Russia also had active mines. However, as getting rich became increasingly glorious, the Chinese smelled an opportunity. In 1992, paramount leader Deng Xiaoping reportedly pronounced China to be the Saudi Arabia of rare earths, reflecting the geologic fact that his country is unusually rich in them. Deng also noted that, given their importance, rare earths are wildly cheap. China began to close the spigot on its supply — adding tariffs and slowly tightening export quotas. As the world became increasingly dependent on rare earths, China had quietly cornered the market and created a shortage. Some analysts believe that 2010 will be the first year when global demand exceeds supply.” And China was sitting on that mountain, gloating.

Now they gloat no more.

The Reuters article about the new rare earths discoveries continues: “The deposits have a heavy concentration of rare earths. Just 0.4 square mile of deposits will be able to provide one-fifth of the current global annual consumption,” said Yasuhiro Kato, an associate professor of earth science at the University of Tokyo. [WOW!!!] The discovery was made by a team led by Kato and including researchers from the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology. They found the minerals in sea mud extracted from depths of 11,500-20,000 ft below the ocean surface at 78 locations. One-third of the sites yielded rich contents of rare earths and the metal yttrium, Kato said in a telephone interview. The deposits are in international waters in an area stretching east and west of Hawaii, as well as east of Tahiti in French Polynesia, he said. He estimated rare earths contained in the deposits amounted to 80 to 100 billion metric tons, compared to global reserves currently confirmed by the U.S. Geological Survey of just 110 million tonnes that have been found mainly in China…”

So suddenly China is out of luck, as this Japanese Business Magazine reports. The “Solution to the rare earth problem could come from the sea” “Huge quantities of rare earth elements exist on the Pacific Ocean floor, researchers say, a development that could end China’s virtual monopoly on the metals but may exacerbate legal wrangling on the high seas. In an encouraging sign for makers of high-tech products that require rare earths from the dwindling supply, the deposits appear to be in seabed conditions that will make it easy to collect and refine them, according to team, which included researchers from the University of Tokyo.”

Everything is increasingly unpredictable. Weather is going crazy. Political ups and downs are surprising. As fast as French Presidential contender Dominique Strauss-Kahn faced sexual assault charges in New York and seemed to lost his bid against Sarkozy, now he is up again. As deliberately as Russia has crafted solidity through pipelines and deals in the oil market within Russia, and in the Baltics and Asia Minor, that supremacy was toppled within 18 months as vast deposits and oil fields were discovered in Israel. Now China’s monopoly in rare earths was lost in one day as rare earth deposits were found near Japan, and easy to reach, too.

In the Tribulation, geo-political shifts and rises and falls of fortunes occur even more quickly and dramatically than they are occurring today. We know that Russia, Iran, Turkey, Armenia, and others attack Israel for “plunder and a spoil”. (Ezekiel 38:13). That great amount of riches they seek could be the treasures Israel has recently discovered under their sand and sea. The ‘Kings of the East‘ collectively march against Israel, and though the Kings are not named, logic deduces that they could be be a united Japan, China, and Korea… and let us not forget India is also east of the Euphrates.

The point is, that nothing is solid except heaven. As we get closer to the Tribulation that solidity will continue to wither. The earth that seems to strong, will crack asunder (Isaiah 24:19). The riches and supremacy one nation has, fall down in one day. (Rev 18:10). The Lord sets up Kings and he takes them down. (Daniel 2:21).

Sorry, China. It seems that Japan won this round. You won’t have long to wait, though, something else is sure to come along in these fast-changing times to change the fortunes of one over the next. As Mark Twain said, “If you don’t like the weather in New England, wait a few minutes,” and in these end of days we can safely modify that saying to: “If you don’t like the world situation, wait a few minutes.”
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Posted in end time, Obama, prophecy, un secretary general

Obama for UN Secretary General?

Posted on by elizabethprata

Throughout the 2008 Presidential campaign and after Obama was elected, there were many blogs, comments, and social media essays purporting that Obama may be the antichrist. I don’t believe he is, but that dramatic feeling swept the country among Christians and I firmly believe there was a reason so many people felt that way. Collectively, we are not often touched with a similarly strong feeling of spiritual evil- so there must be some basis for it. At the very least, he obviously has a front and center prophetic role to play in the eternal will of God at the close of this Church Age.

It is plain to see that Obama has no real interest in the job he occupies at the time – and he never occupies it for long. As community organizer he was accused of being distant and unfocused. As Law Professor (glorified adjunct, really) he was and still is accused of being distant and unfocused. As State Senator he was accused of being distant and unfocused (he voted ‘present’ 129 times.) As President he is accused of being distant and unfocused.He plays golf a lot. He vacations a lot.

The unsaved are usually restless- always seeking the next thing that will fill that hole in them (but never does). Obama seems to have a unique amount of restlessness and lust for power and adoration. Earlier this year and also last year I wrote about the signals that some thought Obama was emitting to be the Muslim Caliphate, that is, the Islamic leader of all the world’s Muslims. He might indeed be acceptable for that position. Ruling over 1.4 billion people is a nice job if you can get it, and Ayatollah Durrani seemed inclined to endow Obama with the credentials.

In 2007 when Obama was campaigning, the US was arguably still the world’s only super power, claiming hegemony in all arenas and using that clout to fulfill the vision George Bush had for promoting the Good. But what job does one seek after being the leader of the richest and most influential nation in the free world? Why, the World’s leader of course.

This is the story that won’t go away. It’s come up in several times over the years. In 2009, a blogger mused on it. In 2010, the UK Telegraph mused on it. This week in 2011, The American Thinker magazine mused on it. Will Obama’s next job be Secretary General of the United Nations?

It kind of makes sense in the deep spiritual portion of our brain, doesn’t it? The Secretary-General was envisioned by US President Franklin D. Roosevelt as a “world moderator.” The UN’s page about the position says that it is “Equal parts diplomat and advocate, civil servant and CEO, the Secretary-General is a symbol of United Nations ideals and a spokesman for the interests of the world’s peoples…”. ‘Obama: World Leader.’

We know that the Tribulation will be a time when the world’s political and geo-national boundaries will be reformed. After the Gog-Magog war prophesied in Ezekiel 37-28, Israel will wind up with four times as much land as they have now, including parts of Egypt, and Lebanon, Syria etc. We don’t know exactly how the world will be drawn together in the prophesied ten nations, (Rev 17:12-14). Some think there will be ten regions, some think the regions will be ten members of the European Union, but it is clear that global power is tightly controlled and rests with these ten kings under the evil direction of the antichrist.

The current UN Secretary Ban-Ki Moon was just re-appointed this week for another five-year term, which will begin Jan 2012 and end in 2017. Yes, he was re-appointed 6 months early to his next term. I don’t know why the rush. Obama hurriedly joined his side to echo the chorus crying out for more of Moon’s leadership and the deal was done. So the timing of an Obama UN position as Secretary General seems way off, because Obama won’t end his Presidency until 2012 or if he wins re-election, 2016. The timing doesn’t match up. But nothing is as it seems these days and anything can happen.

Obama showed his interest in world leadership early on. Remember Obama’s unprecedented and possibly unconstitutional (Section 9) taking of the Chairmanship of the UN Security Council in 2009?? Never in the history of the United Nations had a U.S. President taken the chairmanship of the powerful UN Security Council. When the rotating chairmanship of the council went to the U.S., in normal course of business U.S. Ambassador to the UN Susan Rice would take the gavel. But Obama pushed her aside, and put HIMSELF in the chairman’s seat, presiding over global nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament talks that began September 24, 2009. I was extremely discomfited by his move then, and I believed it signaled that the world will see a lot more of Obama in years to come, in whatever capacity is higher than US Presidency.

If Obama has designs on more power, being one of ten world leaders as prophecy indicates, is a lot better than being one of 192, the number of nations there are now. So it seems Obama’s future career path won’t be one that sinks gently back into retirement as President Bush did, or even one filled with humanitarian causes as Bill Clinton is revered for, but one that will likely enjoy MORE power and attention than he has now. We can all intuit we have not seen the last of Obama.
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