Posted in israel, jerusalem, Obama, rapture

Obama reportedly to call for dividing Jerusalem: Things are getting serious

Posted on by elizabethprata

A friend emailed me and mentioned that a lot of people seem to feel a burden of imminence. These are lay-people, not necessarily prophecy students or even very active Christians. I agree with her assessment, and I second it. Jesus likened the Tribulation to birth pangs. This is a timeless symbol because women from every epoch has gotten pregnant and delivered a babe in the same way. People from all cultures and ages reading the bible or hearing these words will immediately understand the process.

Working backwards, the baby being birthed here is the Millennium Kingdom. The time prior to the birth will be bloody, these would be the birth pangs. As the birth nears, the contractions will increase in intensity and pain until we know that the time of the birth is imminent. Prior to the birth pangs, signaled by contractions, the gestation is long and at first we may not even know any gestation is happening, but then it becomes increasingly evident as the mother’s stomach bulges.

When we see a very, VERY pregnant woman we all wince in sympathetic pain, We understand the time is near, and often we may even ask her, even if she is a stranger, “When’s the baby due?” The mom-to-be says something like ‘the doc said any time from May 10 to May 19, on.” Even with today’s science, we never know the exact day of the birth, only a general window that could come earlier or could come later than even the time period within the stated window. But when we see that woman waddling along slowly, sitting down carefully with bent knee and hand to her back, stomach bulging, we all know the time is near.

We are at that time.

The Tribulation is all about Israel. Matthew 24 is about what will happen during the Tribulation and it is spoken toward the Jews, not the church. Some think that verses 4-8 could overlap with the end time prior to the rapture, and I am one of those, but from verse 9 onward it is all about the Jews. It is punishment on an unbelieving world for scattering His people. It is about punishing the Pharisaical religious systems that oppressed the Jews. It is punishment toward the Jews themselves for their failure to remain with God and in God. It is retribution for dividing His land. Revelation 11:2 reports that the Gentiles will be trampling on the Holy City for 42 months. Jerusalem will be divided.

Joel 3:2 talks about the land division, and a lot of land in Israel has been parceled away over the years. It is this land now that is back in the news. Read Joel 3:2 and all the parallel verses here, for basis.

The most egregious division of all is the dividing of God’s Holy City: Jerusalem. Daniel 9:24 is thought to be one of the most important prophetic verses in the entire bible. It says “[Seventy Weeks and the Messiah ] “Seventy weeks have been decreed for your people and your holy city, to finish the transgression, to make an end of sin, to make atonement for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint the most holy place.” The Holy City of course, is Jerusalem (Is 52:1), and the Holy Place is the holy of holies, at the Temple.

The news media outlet in Israel called Ynet News says they have obtained an advance copy of Obama’s major Middle East speech he is due to deliver this week. Of course, Obama plans to deliver the speech the day Prime Minister Netanyahu leaves Israel to come to the US and make a rare visit to both houses of Congress and deliver his own major Middle East speech.

This line in the news article China’s Xinhuanet published about it is chilling:

“The president is also expected to announce his solution regarding the status of Jerusalem and call for its division. The U.S. envisions the city as the shared capital of the two states, Israel and Palestine, side by side in peace.”

This is what the LORD God Almighty has to say about Israel and His holy city, Jerusalem:

“I am going to make Jerusalem a cup that sends all the surrounding peoples reeling. Judah will be besieged as well as Jerusalem. On that day, when all the nations of the earth are gathered against her, I will make Jerusalem an immovable rock for all the nations.” Zechariah 12:2-3

“And I will punish on that day all who leap on the temple threshold, Who fill the house of their lord with violence and deceit.” Zephaniah 1:9

“While they are saying, “Peace and safety!” then destruction will come upon them suddenly like labor pains upon a woman with child, and they will not escape.” 1 Thessalonians 5:3

Woe to those who call for dividing His Holy City! Woe to those who call for dividing His land! Those who curse His people will be cursed. (Genesis 12:1-3)

Surely the time is near. The feeling of imminence is burdensome to those who seek after these things, and even many who do not seek after these things are feeling it. The world feels like it is an elastic stretched taut with no possible additional stretching to be done but then it stretches more. The feeling of being on tenterhooks is almost unbearable.

“Tenterhooks were used as far back as the fourteenth century in the process of making woollen cloth. After the cloth was woven it still contained oil from the fleece and some dirt. A fuller cleaned the woollen cloth in a fulling mill, and then had to dry it carefully or the wool would shrink. To prevent this shrinkage, the fuller would place the wet cloth on a large wooden frame, a “tenter”, and leave it to dry outside. The lengths of wet cloth were stretched on the tenter using hooks all around the perimeter of the frame to which the cloth’s edges were fixed so that as it dried the cloth would retain its shape and size.”

“By the mid-eighteenth century the phrase “on tenterhooks” came into use to mean being in a state of uneasiness, anxiety, or suspense, stretched like the cloth on the tenter.” Other synonyms for being on tenterhooks are suspense, excited, nervous, apprehensive, on edge, agitated, anxious. I say I am yes to all of the above.

We are nearing midnight. How long can this draw out? Only the Lord knows. Not the Harold Camping crowd who says by May 21 it will be all over. They do not know. The Lord’s timing is perfect, but I pray that He will release us soon from this ever growing sense of imminence. Because it WILL happen, and it will be probably be soon. Are you ready?
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Posted in end of days. prophecy, end time, may 21 rapture

Facepalm: man spends all his savings in advance of (false) May 21 rapture date

Posted on by elizabethprata

New York Man Spends Life Savings Ahead of May 21 Doomsday

“A New York man spent his entire $140,000 life savings advertising his prediction that the world will end May 21, the New York Post reported Friday. Robert Fitzpatrick, a 60-year-old Staten Island resident, said he spent at least that sum on 1,000 subway-car placards and ads on bus kiosks and subway cars. They say, “Global Earthquake: The Greatest Ever! Judgment Day May 21, 2011.” In a self-published book, “The Doomsday Code,” Fitzpatrick said the Bible offers “proof that cannot be dismissed.” “Judgment Day will surprise people. We will not be ready for it,” Fitzpatrick said in an interview with the newspaper. “A giant earthquake will render the earth uninhabitable.” If you want to set an alarm clock, the quake will happen just before 6:00pm local time, he said. “God’s people will be resurrected. It is also the day that God stops saving anyone,” he said. Fitzpatrick hopes that he is one of the chosen ones, but he could not be really certain. “There’s just a little doubt,” he said. “Most churches teach that if you just believe, you will be saved. It is not our choice. It is God’s choice.”

Let’s see… where to begin. It makes no financial sense to do this. I understand believing wholeheartedly in a biblical precept and wanting to use your earthly resources to advance that precept on behalf of the lost. That is to be commended. But Mr Fitzpatrick is so misguided in this particular decision, it’s stunning to think of the waste.

But leaving the fiscal, earthly decisions aside for a moment, let’s look at the biblical error here. Nothing in the bible tells the reader that the world will end on May 21. Nothing.

Next, he said a great earthquake renders the earth uninhabitable? I don’t see that in the bible. In Revelation 6, when the ‘mega seismos’ occurs, the Great Earthquake, people still live on earth for a period of time, perhaps several years. They engage in commerce, create governments, wage in war, and, well, what Jesus said in Mt 24:38 that the days of the end will be just like in the days of Noah, “people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.” Doesn’t sound like the earth will be uninhabitable to me if people are going about their business like that.

As for not being ready? Jesus addressed that, too: “So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.” (Mt 24:44) and in Matthew 24:42, “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come,” and also in Matthew 25:13, “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour.” So no one will be ready? No one at all? Bueller? Bueller? Except Robert Fitzpatrick…he is ready, because even though Jesus said at least four times no one knows the day or hour, Mr Fitzpatrick knows. Sigh.

Mr Fitzpatrick said that on that day God stops saving anyone. A terrible accusation! And completely false! Post rapture salvation continues in the Tribulation! This is scripturally proved by Rev. 7:14, Rev. 14:13, and Rev. 20:4.

And as for being God’s choice versus faith and belief as the mechanism for salvation, Mr Fitzpatrick makes it sound as if God was up there pointing and saying, “I’ll take you and you and you but not you or you.” God’s ‘choice’ was to send Jesus to us as our Redeemer as opposed to another choice God could have made, say, obliterating us for all time. Once Jesus’ work was complete, John 6:28-29 says, “Then they asked him, “What must we do to do the works God requires?” Jesus answered, “The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.” It means that it is OUR choice: believe or not believe. That truth is repeated in John 6:39 and Ephesians 2:8-9.

I hope the rapture comes before May 21, actually, but May 21 would be fine with me. Or May 22. Or June 22. The answer is that we simply don’t know. I wonder if Mr Fitzpatrick will be doing when he wakes up May 22 and realizes he has no money to live on. Now THAT is worth a facepalm.
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Posted in end of days. prophecy, end time, transformers

Weird: transformers in ten cities blow up (UPDATED)

Posted on by elizabethprata

Last Tuesday, lightning struck a transformer that apparently set off a chain reaction. The explosions of several transformers subsequent to the lightning strike was impressive to say the least! The amateur video that captured it soared to youtube popularity and was fodder for the conspiracy sites and chat forums.

Ft. Worth Star Telegram:
“Fire and police dispatchers were busy Tuesday night answering calls about “fireballs” in the sky and on the ground in east Fort Worth. Several transformers were struck by lightning in east Fort Worth Tuesday night, Oncor spokeswoman Jeamy Molina said. Repair crews worked through overnight Wednesday through the afternoon after the lightning strikes “destroyed” some of the transformers, Molina said. About 550 power outages were being reported in the Metroplex as of noon Wednesday, with most of them in the Fort Worth area, Molina said. The number of outages have been reduced from the 4,000 outages reported late Tuesday, Molina said. About 210 cloud-to-ground lightning strikes were reported in Tarrant County between 8 and 9 p.m., said National Weather Service meteorologist Matt Mosier, who said he couldn’t pinpoint the exact locations. Some 120 more incidents of lightning striking the ground were reported from 9 to 10 p.m., Mosier said. Mosier said he didn’t know if it had to strike the transformer directly or the ground close to it but if the lightning carries a large enough electrical charge, it can “blow” a transformer.”

I don’t know how a lighting strike can blow five of them…Anyway here is the video. It is pretty spectacular.It seemed unusual to me, and I notice repetitive arcing, which seems unusual from just one lightning strike.

Then a couple of days later, an electrical transformer blew up early Thursday morning, causing a fire on the roof of Nasco International Inc. in Fort Atkinson Wisconsin. Here again is amateur video of the event:

Hmmm, two transformer explosions in two days? Interesting but still not a pattern.

Then, today, another one in Las Vegas. UPI reports:

I-15 shut down by Vegas transformer fire

“Las Vegas police said it took about two hours to clear up a traffic mess caused by an electrical transformer explosion behind the Monte Carlo casino. The blast and resulting fire created a cloud of smoke that shut down the northbound lanes of Interstate 15. Metro Police told the Las Vegas Sun there were no injuries and Monte Carlo guests had to be evacuated. The cause of the explosion, which occurred around 12:30 a.m. MDT, was not known.”

Weird. And then I discover that one in GA blew, one in Toronto closed a highway, one in St. Louis caused the tornado sirens to go off, and one in Snelville snarled traffic and a transformer explosion in Maryland caused a massive shock wave and leveled an abandoned building. Tonight 5000 unexpectedly lost power in Detroit, reason unknown. All happened this week. NOW it’s a pattern.

[UPDATE: in addition to the transformer electrical weirdness reported below, two more reports came in tonight: a Norwegian cruise ship with 1800 passengers and 200 crew aboard is completely without electricity. They are a dead duck, no lights, no operating machinery on board, no engines. They have to be towed back to port. Secondly, the main airport at Kuala Lumpur suffered a total electrical blackout tonight. “Out of the 42 scheduled flights, a total of 13 flights were delayed and in excess of 300 bags were left behind due to the power interruption.” ]

I’ve always thought that a soft target for terrorists would be the electrical grid. The Council for Foreign Relations thinks so too. In this report from 2007, titled “America’s Vulnerable Energy Grid,” they wrote, “On August 14, 2003, fifty million people in the Northeastern United States and Canada suddenly found themselves without electricity, some for more than twenty-four hours. In addition to eight lives, the largest blackout in U.S. history cost an estimated $6 billion to $10 billion. Contrary to initial fears, the outage was not the result of a terrorist attack or some other form of sabotage. Rather, untrimmed trees in Ohio set off a chain reaction that cast 9,300 square miles into darkness.”

“Sadly, this was no isolated incident. In July 2006, a nine-day power outage in Queens, New York affected one hundred thousand people. The apparent cause of that disruption was deterioration of the thirty- to sixty-year-old cables servicing the area. The same month, a violent thunderstorm in St. Louis, Missouri knocked out power leaving some seven hundred thousand people to brave a weeklong heat wave without electricity.”

“Current stresses on the U.S. energy grid present cause for concern. With an aging infrastructure and growing energy consumption, major outages may become an increasing phenomenon. The specter of terrorism also looms large: Experts say jihadis in Iraq have proven adept at disrupting the electrical grid in that country and could easily apply that same skill set in the United States.”

I think what they are saying is that if accidental outages from overgrown trees or old cables bring this much havoc and pain to millions of people, then what could a deliberate terrorist disruption do? A lot worse.

Now, the incidents reported above could simply be looting. Copper thieves are getting very desperate these days. I seem to recall a story out of Des Moines from less than a month ago: “Bold Thieves Risk Death to Steal Copper from Energized Transformer.” A Toronto article reports, “Thieves are so brazen that they will even steal copper from live transformer stations. Hydro One loses about $1 million a year from stolen copper, said Gregory Taylor, head of copper theft prevention.”

The end of the Church Age and the soon Tribulation will bring many of these kids of worries and realities to the remaining earth population. The Day of the Lord is surely coming soon. Are you ready to meet Him? Every life conceived has an eternal destiny. The default condition is death in hell. The choice we can all make is life in heaven. Being ready means recognizing your sins, asking Jesus to forgive them, and then living for Him with the aid of the indwelling Holy Spirit.

Otherwise, sitting in hundred degree heat high in an apartment building somewhere with no electricity, toilets, elevators, and marauding copper thieves at every turn, will be your best future. The future after that will be much worse. Turn to Jesus now.
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Posted in beheaded, end of days. prophecy, end time, evil, jesus, tenerife

A terrible story out of Tenerife

Posted on by elizabethprata

A British woman was attacked and decapitated in a supermarket in Los Cristianos on the holiday island of Tenerife yesterday afternoon. Witnesses said the deranged man used a large knife or machete he picked up in the supermarket to stab and decapitate the 62-year-old grandmother, a resident on the island. He then ran out into the street covered in blood, carrying his victim’s head and telling passers-by, “This is my treasure”.

In another news story of the incident, the mayor of the popular resort town where it occurred said, “the incident was ‘the most horrific crime to hit the resort in recent years’,

See, there’s those superlatives again. Every day we read of the “worst” drought…”biggest tornado”…”epic flood”…”Most horrific crime”…yet each week the superlatives are surpassed by yet ANOTHER, more horrific crime, a worse epic flood, a more ferocious tornado… In truth, things are off the charts now. Natural disasters, crime, economics, we are entering uncharted territory, and we have no more words to describe these events.

Read these then I’ll put up some scriptures of what this attack makes me think of in the bible. These following phrases are from the news stories of the attack. The photo below of of the man’s arrest:

–had a history of violent behaviour
–the attacker spent most days sitting 50 yards from the scene of the attack ‘talking to himself and gesticulating wildly’.
–‘He was very disturbed and intimidating, the sort of person you would cross the road to avoid,’
–He was a bizarre individual who was known to police
–had a history of intimidating passers-by on the street
–He knocked a stranger’s teeth out on the street.
–the killer lived in a ‘semi-abandoned’ house
–He was not the smartest looking of guys and not well groomed,
–the man was muttering and shouting

now read these excerpts from Luke and Mark:

–And when He came out onto the land, He was met by a man from the city who was possessed with demons;
–who had not put on any clothing for a long time,
–was not living in a house, but in the tombs.
–and he was bound with chains and shackles
–kept under guard, and yet he would break his bonds and be driven by the demon into the desert.
–no man could bind him, no, not with chains: because that he had been often bound with fetters and chains, and the chains had been plucked asunder by him, and the fetters broken in pieces: neither could any man tame him.
–And always, night and day, he was in the mountains, and in the tombs, crying, and cutting himself with stones.

I do not know if this guy was demon-possessed or if he was on drugs or merely psycho. I am saying that there are similarities in the known and observed behavior of this man and the Gadarene demoniac. That the bizarre demonic or demonic-like behaviors are not relegated to the distant past when Jesus walked the earth. It happens now, too. The demon world is very real, though not usually seen. When Paul wrote to Timothy in 2 Timothy 3 that people in the end of days would be brutal, we tend to sanitize our own epoch and not really understand true brutality. Life was cheap in biblical tims: witness the robber victim that the Samaritan helped who was lying bleeding in the road as people walked on by (reminds of me of the MARTA bus driver that dragged the elderly woman 60 feet and then just drove around her), or from the bible Lazarus the poor man dying by the side of the road of the rich man’s house, dogs licking his sores. Christians were being martyred in increasingly evil ways. They knew brutality, they saw it every day.

There was real brutality then, but just because it is the new Millennium now and we can dwell in air conditioned houses in subdivisions does not mean that same kind of brutality is absent from the earth. It is not. We tend to think we live in a sanitized world because we don’t see the kind of brutality the 1st century Christians saw, or even people in violent impoverished nations do today. But Satan is still given charge of this domain and he is the most brutal. And after the Restrainer is removed, brutality will be unleashed that will make the Tenerife beheading look like a picnic. That is because the antichrist will be allowed to come to full iniquity at his appointed time.

It is hard to comprehend, I know. “And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.” (John 1:5) Just as the demons cannot comprehend the Light, we cannot comprehend this kind of darkness. But it is soon coming to that as the normal state of things, and they will get a lot worse after we are gone and the antichrist rises to full evil.

The grace to cling to is two-fold. We are saved by God’s mercy, and we will be dwelling with Him soon! We have the Light, it is in us and nothing can snatch us out of His hand, ever. And second, the people who will be here after the rapture can turn to the Light. They can appeal to Him for forgiveness, and be with Him in the Light when it is all over. “In him was life, and that life was the light of men.” Jesus said, “I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness.” (John 12:46) Jesus’ power and love reaches all of us, it could reach even that psycho man in Tenerife: as it had reached the Gadarene demoniac: “Then people came out to see what had happened, and when they came to Jesus, they found the man from whom the demons had gone sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind.” Nothing is impossible with God!! Praise Him forever!

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Posted in cross, end of days, forgiveness, prophecy, sins

Jesus did not die for you

Posted on by elizabethprata

I am working on a couple of other blog entries, plus the weekly newsletter, but this comes to mind now and I felt compelled to write it. I hear all the time, “Aww, Jesus died for me. He died for my sins. Just for me.” Actually, He didn’t.

Jesus died because God required a punishment for sin, and that punishment was a spotless sacrifice. Jesus obeyed God to become that sacrifice. He chose to become God incarnate and He chose to die. “No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again.” (John 10:18) and also John 6:37-40: “All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out. For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all … “. In this way, Jesus died for GOD. We are beneficiaries of His obedience.

I don’t know why God has it set up that a blood sacrifice is required to satisfy a sin-debt. We get a glimpse in Genesis and Leviticus, “But you shall not eat flesh with its life – its blood”. (Gen 9:4) “For the life of the flesh is in the blood…for it is the blood that makes atonement for the soul” (Lev 17:11)

Jesus kind of did die for us. I was being provocative above 😉 If Adam and Eve had not fallen from grace then Jesus never would have had to incarnate to die on the cross, shedding His blood for OUR sin. But first and foremost Jesus died to satisfy His father, in the universe’s ultimate act of obedience and love. It is why Jesus deserves all the glory and all the praise.

I find it helpful to keep this perspective, because it keeps the spotlight off me, my sins, and my decision to accept the benefit of His work on the cross. I am sinner, yes. But it was His choice to do this for us that I praise and I am eternally grateful for. It keeps the spotlight on Him. Which is as it should be!
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Posted in harold camping, may 21, rapture date

Re-Post: No, the world will likely NOT end in May 2011

Posted on by elizabethprata

Re-post from December 2010. It bears repeating as Harold Camping’s false doctrine date nears, and yes, I am referring tot he May 21 rapture crowd.

Christians like Edwin Ramos are badly misinformed, it is sad to say. I love when Christians study their bible, but this is something gone terribly awry. The New Jersey Star-Ledger article yesterday, Bridgeton billboard: World will end in May 2011, makes me cringe in sorrow. It starts:

“Edwin Ramos wants everybody to know that the world is going to end May 21, 2011. That is why he is leasing billboards across Cumberland County and printing that very message on them. There are currently three billboards, located in front of Ramos’s house on Oak Drive, in Vineland; on Delsea Drive, in Vineland, and in front of the Dollar &; Up store on Route 49 coming into Bridgeton from Millville. They bear the message, “Judgment Day, May 21, 2011, THE BIBLE GUARANTEES IT”, in addition to a crossed out “2012”.

In the past, Mr Ramos has advocated staying away from church and studying the bible on your own. Eschewing church for private study is not biblical, the Lord said we are to gather with other saints to encourage and to learn. (Hebrews 10:25; Romans 12:10 for two of many examples). Gathering with saints is a way to keep us on track, doctrinally and morally. Quiet time in study with the Holy Spirit is desirable and commended, but abandoning gathering with the saints allows incorrect  belief to settle in, and needed corrections to be unmade. Always there needs to be a balance.

The first off-track notion that Mr Ramos propounds on this billboard is the statement that God guarantees the world will end in 2011. It is a good example of a little information going a long way toward misinformation. God does declare that He will burn this world and the heavens with fire and then renew it. (2Peter 3:10; Rev 21:1). But God nor Jesus say when that will be. As a matter of fact, it is repeatedly stated that the last day will not be known to anyone on earth (Matt. 24:36; Matt. 24:42; Matt. 24:44; Matt. 24:50; Matt. 25:13…) How anyone can claim to know when the world will end to such specificity as Mr Ramos is biblically, secularly, morally, intellectually, and in all other ways, impossible.

As for the circle with the year 2012 crossed out, well, we are not competing with secular notions. Worldly culture is false and their notions of just about anything are also false. God is supreme, He needs not bend to our false thoughts, correct secular paradigms, nor scurry to prove one over another. He sent us the bible and that is all the information we need to know to establish a perfect foundation for a good life in Him.

I admire Christians who sacrifice to share the Good News of Jesus and the fact of His imminent return, as Mr Ramos is doing. But to do so on your own strength, without the humility necessary to attend a gathering of the saints and learn from each other and stand for possible correction, is dangerous. In the end, that kind of message does more to close people’s ears than open them. Therein lay the tragedy.

Thirdly, Ramos has absorbed his ideas from a false prophet named Harold Camping, who broadcasts on a cultish radio show. I can safely name Mr Camping as a false prophet because his followers continue to listen to Camping despite the fact that he was wrong in his previous prediction of the end of the world in 1994. The bible says that if one claims to know the secret things of God and to speak for God and is wrong even once, he is false (Deut 18:22). However, this same bible warns us that at the end of the age there will be many false prophets and they will be successful. (Mt 24:11; 2Peter 2:1; 1John 4:1). We are also told that many will follow these false prophets and prefer their false doctrines. True prophets are always in harmony with the scriptures and so will their doctrines be. One has to neglect, forget, abandon, or plainly ignore many bible verses in order to make a claim as to when the end of the world will come, date-specific.

It is a testament to satan’s success that he takes a truth (the world will end) and makes it into a lie (the world will end on May 21, 2011). But again, here the bible forewarns us: “They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator–who is forever praised. Amen.” (Romans 1:25).

Other famous false doctrines making the rounds are the world ending on the Blood Moon scenario promoted by Mark Biltz, the false pronouncements that Christians will go through all or part of the rapture (corrected here by bible teacher John MacArthur), and the rapture occurring on the Feast of Tabernacles. (Update: those events and dates are past and all turned out to be false, also). As prophetic interest rises among the congregations, and as pastors fumble and fail to preach this important ministry, wayward Christians go off and seek to slake their thirst for the things of the end, which is good,  but fall into snares and pits, which satan lays for them. No one knows when the rapture will be and no one knows when the last moment of earth will be. We can know the season by watching the signs he said would happen, but we will not know the date.

Christian, when you study in your private time, first remember to pray to the Holy Spirit for wisdom. “But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come.” (John 16:13; 1 Cor 2:13). “He will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you” and that is the key. Is what you are promoting really truth that brings glory unto the Father? His glory is all that matters, and our actions must shine back toward Him. As a believing Christian, I want to make sure that what I shine isn’t a dark blot on Him but a light that is from Him. I hope you do the same… Engage in prayerful study, congregate with the saints, and beware false doctrine.
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Posted in james tate, prom, punishment

James Tate and his prom

Posted on by elizabethprata

There is a story out of Ohio this week. It is about a boy, a girl, the prom…and rules.

It seems that James Tate, a student at Shelton High, asked his friend Sonali to the prom. He did it in an unusual way, by taping huge letters high on the wall of the exterior of the school.

But school officials say Tate, along with two friends who assisted him, trespassed on private property after hours. Tate also was told by school officials that his actions posed a safety risk.

His penalty for this hijinks was a suspension. The consequence of a suspension after April 1st is that the student is denied a prom entry. This rule is not a surprise. The “regulation is reinforced over the course of the spring by daily PA system reminders, posted signage in common areas of the building and classrooms, as well as informational letters and automated phone messages to parents.”

Yet despite the fact that there are rules, that they are posted prominently, and that the consequences are clear, there was an outcry when the consequences were applied and James Tate was denied going to the prom.

It actually got frenzied this week. Tate was on Today Show, Jimmy Kimmel, there was an instant hashtag created for #TeamTate, a facebook page was created set up, a website was set up, and the school received thousands of emails and calls from around the world, as far away as from Japan, no less.

Some of the comments about the situation were:
“But it also affects a larger scale,” he added. “We want to get the message out, beyond Shelton, that acts of love and kindness don’t deserve punishment. This kid was acting on emotions, and those first feelings of love are so powerful.”

One of them, Colby Nolan, 17, a junior, said he thought it was “ridiculous” that Tate “actually got his prom taken away.”

Some headlines are immediately shown to be biased toward the student and away from the rules. The AP wrote “Romantic gesture gets teen booted from prom”. NY Times wrote “Did the school overreact?” HotAir wrote “America’s newest grassroots movement: “Let James Tate go to the prom”. Do any of the headlines say “Teen breaks rules, officials levy forewarned consequences” ? No.

The Christian Science Monitor’s interview included a quote from the local state representative, who proposed legislation to allow Tate to go to the prom. “Representative Perillo says he heard from so many constituents that he felt impelled to act. What strikes him as unfair about the Shelton policy, he says, is the date cut-off. “A boy who (hypothetically) punches his girlfriend on March 31 can go to prom, but this kid who put letters up can’t go. That’s not equitable,” he says. “I wanted a solution that wouldn’t tie the school’s hands, but would provide flexibility.””

There has to be a cutoff sometime, somewhere. Jesus said that if you are alive you can repent. After you draw your last breath, the offer of repentance is closed. So one second a person could choose to be saved and the next, is forever damned. A deadline is a deadline, in the bible, anyway. In the fallen world, a deadline is “unfair.” People always try to skirt rules, make excuses, believe the rules don’t apply to them, or that consequences will follow. They are in for a shock when the Fair and Equitable King of Kings applies them uniformly, universally, and perfectly.

I mention this silly prom issue as a metaphor for the prevailing cultural attitude toward God, judgment, punishment, and hell. We are sinners. We break the law, God’s law. He told us why and what the punishment would be in His ministry on earth, in the Apostles’ ministry on earth, in today’s missionaries in earth, in Christians proclaiming the message, and in His bible. Despite that, people still say that “acts of love and kindness don’t deserve punishment.” They scream in outrage not when the rules are broken, but when biblical punishment is actually mentioned. The statement that “his prom was taken away” denies the truth of the situation. Tate gave away his own prom when he broke the rules.

Even Tate said of the repercussions, “I thought they would appreciate my sincerity and creativity,” Tate said on TODAY.” He said that he thought he would have to go on a clean-up detail or something. So he KNEW the rules but hoped that his personal charm would relieve him of the stated consequences.

It is the same today with the unsaved. They believe that their willful breaking of the rules will earn them heaven because they are really not so bad of a person. They were operating on emotions, and emotions trump all. Deep down they still hope that persuasion after-the-fact will rule the day. But there will be no persuasion. Jesus said that “Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?'” and Jesus will reply: “Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!'” (Matthew 7:22-23)

Shelton High officials stood firm on the consequences. They issued a release today. “Shelton High School is a learning community, where students are expected to meet high academic and behavioral expectations. There has been a practice at Shelton High School for many years, that any student receiving an in-school or out-of-school suspension after April 1 for any reason would not be allowed to attend the prom. This regulation is reinforced over the course of the spring by daily PA system reminders, posted signage in common areas of the building and classrooms, as well as informational letters and automated phone messages to parents. These communications are intended to remind our students and parents of the high school’s expectations and consequences. This unfortunate situation is a result of one of those consequences.”

I mention this prom thing because it is an apt metaphor for the prevailing attitude toward rules and especially toward God’s rules. We all know the drill. Heaven is through Jesus only. The broad way is the road to destruction. Yet somehow, people fail to believe the rules will actually be applied. But I am here to tell you, friend, they will. Oh, they will.
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Posted in blogger down

Blogger is back!

Posted on by elizabethprata

Blogger was down all day yesterday. The blogging platform was in read-only mode so no one was able to post anything. I was sad to see so many people exhibiting such disloyalty and rude comments about blogger. A lot of people exported their blogs to WordPress. I was sad to see that because Blogger has been a steady and reliable platform for 11 years. And it is free! Oy. Give these guys a break.

It appears that all the comments made in recent time were removed but blogger promised to be putting those back. That is why they are not appearing…hope they do get them back. I like the comments.

I remember pre-blog days. Actually, I remember pre-internet days. Pre-cell phones. Pre texting, pre CD & DVD… and I am only 50 years old. Having a platform to publish your own content to your heart’s content, as much and as often as you want, is amazing. That you can put it out there and get it read by anyone is really amazing. In the bad old days, publishing was tightly held by a few publishing houses and you had to have an agent and be one of a very small minority to catch a lucky break. Or spend a lot of money to self-publish.

Nowadays, you don’t even need an internet connection or a computer and you can publish what material you want and have it read by anyone who comes to your blog. You can just go to the library, use a publicly available internet computer, and go. And it is all for free.

Sheesh! Get a grip, blogger was down for 20 hours and so many people thought the world was ending. LOL. Maybe some people heard the sound of crickets for the first time. Anyway, that is why there was no blog entry yesterday. I am working on one now for tonight. But first, I am going to take a nap! Happy blogging, folks.

Posted in bendandi, bible, earthquake, rome

Raffaele Bendandi earthquake predictions: Rome citizens are fleeing the big one

Posted on by elizabethprata

Some guy almost 100 years ago predicts a quake will level Rome on May 11, 2011 and today the city residents are fleeing. They believe.

Italians evacuate Rome over ‘big one’ fears
Italians will on Wednesday flee Rome over fears a giant earthquake is coming following a seismologist’s 1915 prediction that “the big one” will strike on May 11, 2011.

“Businesses have reported requests from one in five people to have time off work and many are also keeping children away from school and heading to the beach or country for the day. Romans are taking it so seriously that local newspapers have even been publishing survival guides with tips of what to do – if – the ground starts to tremble. The panic has been fanned by Facebook, Twitter and text messages around a prediction by Raffaele Bendandi, a seismologist who forecast in 1915 that a “big one” would hit Rome on Wednesday. He is also said to have predicted other earthquakes which hit Italy during the last hundred years before his death in 1979. Massimo La Rocca, headmaster of a school in the Trastevere district, said: “We have had quite a few parents calling in and saying they will not be sending their children in.”

“I’ve told them the school will remain open and there is nothing to be scared about but they are adamant – although this is not a justifiable absence for a pupil.”

“A barman named Massimo said: “People have been talking about this for the last week. I know dozens who are taking the day off – I’m going to sleep in the camper van with the wife to be on the safe side.” Bendandi believed movement of plates and therefore earthquakes were the result of the combined movements of the planets, the moon and the sun and perfectly predictable. In 1923 he predicted a quake would hit central Italy on January 2 the following year – he was wrong by two days. For his work Bendandi was even given a knighthood by Fascist dictator Benito Mussolini – and ordered not to make any more predictions on pain of exile as officials feared he would create immense panic. However seismologists have been quick to step in and say his theories are without any scientific proof and despite his claims earthquakes are completely unpredictable. Seismologist Alessandro Amato, who works at the Italy’s National Geophysical and Volcanology Institute, said: “There is absolutely no evidence to say that an earthquake will hit Rome on 11th May and we have told that to the hundreds of people who have called.”

Bendandi was wrong lots of times but the world will go after a false prophet rather than the true Prophet who was NEVER wrong and has been proven over and over. O come Lord Jesus!

I fully admit that if a quake hits Rome tomorrow that it will be totally ironic but also a total coincidence. For those who insist on objective evidence and ignoring the bible because it supposedly has none, I remind you that Bendandi developed his own unscientific theory, without any objective evidence, of the nature of earthquakes and the alleged causes that determine them. His studies and his predictions are considered invalid empirical and theoretical justification from the scientific community.

The only reliable predictor for prophecy is the One who delivered it: Jesus in the bible. If the quake does not hit I challenge readers to allow the bible as the standard for prophecy. If the quake does hit tomorrow I still challenge readers to seek the bible as the only barometer of truth and only reliable predictor 100% of what is to come.

If only the world would take the bible as seriously as they do some unscientific guy who was wrong half the time!!

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Posted in cryptozoology, end time, iran, roc, weird bird

Weird bird carcass found in Iran: Roc?

Posted on by elizabethprata

File this under “weird”. Even the Iranian journalists posting this story used ‘weird’ in the headline–

“The dead body of a strange dinosaur-like bird has been reportedly found near the city of Meshginshahr in the northwestern Iranian province of Ardebil. The locals found the feathered bipedal creature, which seemed to have died a few days ago, near a remote village of Meshginshahr, IRNA reported on Sunday. A team of officials of Iran’s Environment Protection Organization (EPO) were dispatched to the region to investigate whether the reports were true. One of the villagers has reportedly hidden the carcass and the EPO team is trying to find it. The team has managed to obtain a photo of the creature taken by one of the locals. The team has also found evidence that confirmed the locals’ claims the bird lived in a cave near the village. The creature has a reptilian skull with long canine teeth and large molars. It has small wing bones like those of flightless birds. The avifauna of Iran includes a total of 527 species, none of which are similar to the found creature; however, the discovery needs ornithologists to verify the claims. Scientists believe that fossil evidence demonstrates birds and dinosaurs shared many features such as hollow bones, gastrolith in the digestive system, nest-building and brooding behaviors.”

Below is an Iranian news spot about the ‘find.’

Could be a hoax, as always, caveat emptor! But Iran certainly seems to be taking it seriously. Remember, the mythological creature the Roc was the mythological bird beast of Persia. The roc is featured in 1001 Arabian Nights and in Sinbad’s adventures. A roc or rukh (from the Arabic and Persian rokh, asserted by Louis Charles Casartellito be an abbreviated form of Persian simurgh) is an enormous legendary bird of prey, often said to be white. [Wikipedia] Roc is allegedly a gigantic winged bird like a peacock, with the head of a dog, and the claws of a lion.

In the 13th century, Marco Polo stated “It was for all the world like an eagle, but one indeed of enormous size; so big in fact that its quills were twelve paces long and thick in proportion. And it is so strong that it will seize an elephant in its talons and carry him high into the air and drop him so that he is smashed to pieces; having so killed him, the bird swoops down on him and eats him at leisure”. Marco Polo explicitly distinguishes the bird from a griffin, another mythological bird. The Roc is to the Persians a messenger and sign of the divine, fertility and purification. It alights on a person to indicate god’s approval of that person to be king and the representation of the divine on earth.

The bird in the photo if it is a roc (lol) would have to be a baby. Just food for fun thoughts tonight!
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