Posted in doctrines, end of days. prophecy

Don’t be ignorant! said Paul

Posted on by elizabethprata

Paul warned his readers in three different Epistles not to be ignorant of something. In all three cases, the word is the same, agnoeó. It means ignorant of facts. In terms of comprehending the bible, there are certain things to be aware of. When imperatives are used, we need to be pay special attention. When a command is used, we should perk up to something we are being told to do, or not do. The Holy Spirit inspired all the bible writers to write these words, and the Holy Spirit is one part of the Triune God. So God is commanding something, and we have to PAY ATTENTION.

Paul said, “I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers and sisters, so that you may not be conceited: Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in,” (Romans 11:25). Barnes Notes explains the word ‘mystery’ thus:

“Ignorant of this mystery – The word “mystery” means properly what is “concealed, hidden, or unknown.” And it especially refers, in the New Testament, to the truths or doctrines which God had reserved to himself, or had not before communicated. It does not mean, as with us often, that there was anything unintelligible or inscrutable in the nature of the doctrine itself, for it was commonly perfectly plain when it was made known. Thus, the doctrine, that the division between the Jews and the Gentiles was to be broken down, is called a mystery, because it had been, to the times of the apostles, concealed, and was then revealed fully for the first time.”

Paul was explaining to the Jews that though the Gentiles were now coming in, God would not forsake the Jews totally. After all, Paul said Jesus had saved Paul, hadn’t He? It wasn’t over for the Jews, but Paul did remind them that God was now rejecting a large part of the nation because of their past rebellion. His attention and grace would be showered on the Gentiles, who were being grafted in. The Jews would remain hardened of heart – until the full number of Gentiles was met. But just as God had always done in the past, a remnant would be saved.

The Jews would receive their Kingdom as promised, but their entry into it must as always be by faith through His grace, not birthright. As for us today who have claimed salvation through Jesus – Whom we recognize as our Messiah – we will continue in the Church Age until the full number is filled and then we fly. It is why the rapture isn’t a date, it is a number. It will not be May 21, unless that is the day that God has deemed the Church quota filled.

The second thing Paul said not to be ignorant about is spiritual gifts. “Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I do not want you to be ignorant:” (1 Corinthians 12:1-3). Paul was reminding the Church of the importance of the gifts, through which we accomplish the work the Holy Spirit wants us to accomplish to build up the church. (1 Corinthians 14:12) The gifts are important, they are given (which is a grace and a blessing) to build up the church (ditto) and they grow the Christian himself as well (bonus). Bible.org explains, “a spiritual gift is the supernatural ability to carry out the work of Christ through his church.”

And yet the spiritual gifts doctrine is precisely what many people are mixed up over. ‘You must speak in tongues or you’re not a real Christian.” “What’s my spiritual gift, let me take this questionnaire.” People certainly are ignorant of the gifts, sad to say. Satan did a good job of mixing us all up on that. If we are mixed up as to the truth of the spiritual gifts, then we are not as effectively building the church, are we?

Thirdly, Paul warned the church not to be ignorant of the doctrine of Last Days and the Coming of The Lord. “But I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope.” (1 Thessalonians 4:13)

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary explains:
“The leading topic of Paul’s preaching at Thessalonica having been the coming kingdom (Acts 17:7), some perverted it into a cause for fear in respect to friends lately deceased, as if these would be excluded from the glory which those found alive alone should share. This error Paul here corrects.”

What are the exact three things the Church is ignorant of? What are most arguments over these days? The rapture doctrine and what is forecast for Israel, the spiritual gifts doctrine (speaking in tongues and healing gifts, and the Charismatics, for example) and the doctrine of the Coming of the Lord. 

Paul said do not be ignorant three times, and yet in this day and age so many people are three times as ignorant as they ever were.

A solution for ignorance is available. The Spirit. He helps interpret scripture: 1 Cor. 2:1,14;  Eph. 1:17. If your house was on fire, you would call the fire department for help, wouldn’t you? If a robber was breaking into your house, you would call the police department wouldn’t you? Both are dire circumstances, signifying events that need an authority of higher power and skill to help you. And yet we so often fail to call the Holy Spirit, our higher authority possessing more skill and knowledge to bring to the situation than we could ever hope to see anywhere! Praise Him. Here is a good page outlining the ministry of the Holy Spirit.

Ignorance leads to error. “Jesus answered and said unto them, Ye do err, not knowing the scriptures, nor the power of God.” (Matthew 22:29) Call on Him through prayer, and abide in the Spirit’s power: “But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.” (Romans 8:11)

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Posted in end time, george soros, prophecy

Is George Soros the enemy?

Posted on by elizabethprata

George Soros is not the enemy. The New World Order is not the enemy. Obama is not the enemy. Muslims are not the enemy. The declining dollar is not the enemy. The economy is not the enemy. The Fed is not the enemy.

SIN IS THE ENEMY. And satan, who is the father of sin and the father of lies. Keep it in perspective, people. Ranting and raving against the government or the International Monetary Fund or any other person or organization is misguided warfare. Oh, yes, we are in a war and there is an enemy. So make sure you confess and repent daily, walk vigorously with the Lord, and pray. These are dangerous times and the enemy is about. Polish your spiritual armor, because we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, (Ephesians 6:12) remember, “For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ,” (2 Corinthians 10: 4-5).

Sin. Everything is always about sin. And we combat sin by personal confession, strong growth in the Spirit to help us continue to resist it, and powerful prayers for salvation of others so they may enjoy the same fruits of resisting sin, for His glory!

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Posted in potter's field

Origin of Potter’s Field

Posted on by elizabethprata

Jack Kelley wrote about the Old Testament prophecies of Jesus’ death and resurrection in this week’s essay. He mentioned something about the thirty pieces of silver that Judas tried to give back to the Chief Priests. Jack wrote:

“When the chief priests made their deal with Judas they didn’t realize they would be fulfilling a prophecy from Zechariah 11 in conspicuous detail.”

“I told them, “If you think it best, give me my pay; but if not, keep it.” So they paid me thirty pieces of silver. And the LORD said to me, “Throw it to the potter”—the handsome price at which they priced me! So I took the thirty pieces of silver and threw them into the house of the LORD to the potter (Zechariah 11:12-13)”

“The price was the same, the location of the transaction was the same, even the ultimate recipient was the same. After Judas had betrayed the Lord, he was filled with remorse. He returned the money by throwing it at the chief priests in the Temple (Matt. 27:5). This caused them a problem. They couldn’t take it back into the treasury because it was tainted. Since they were responsible for burying any travelers who died in the city, they used the money to buy a field they could turn into a burial ground. The man they bought the field from was a potter by trade. Matt. 27:6-7.”

Here is the verse in full: –“Then Judas, who betrayed him, seeing that he was condemned, repenting himself, brought back the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and ancients, saying: “I have sinned in betraying innocent blood.” But they said: “What is that to us? Look thou to it.” And casting down the pieces of silver in the temple, he departed, and went and hanged himself with a halter. But the chief priests, having taken the pieces of silver, said: “It is not lawful to put them into the corbona, because it is the price of blood.” And after they had consulted together, they bought with them the potter’s field, to be a burying place for strangers. For this the field was called Haceldama, that is, the field of blood, even to this day.”

A potter’s field is a place for the burial of unknown or indigent people. So, potter’s field! Ta-DA! I love the bible, how it melds seamlessly into one story, both Old Testament and New.
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Posted in bible, end time, god particle, gravity, science

God in a particle, gravity doesn’t exist, and the world will end soon: all say … physicists?

Posted on by elizabethprata
Credit

Some interesting physics news this week, and I balance that news against the scientific word found in the bible.

TV Scotland reports two titans of Astronomy though having divergent views, both agree that it’s likely the earth won’t survive the next few years.
Top astronomers warn the world could end within 90 years
“Two leading astronomers will put forward their stark predictions for mankind at the finale of the Edinburgh International Science Festival. The end of the world is nigh. That’s what top astronomers will claim during a debate to end the 2011 Edinburgh International Science Festival. Lord Martin Rees, the Astronomer Royal, believes civilisation has only a 50 per cent chance of surviving to 2100 without suffering a man-made catastrophe. And the Astronomer Royal for Scotland, Professor John Brown, has an equally bleak outlook, fearing a random event from outer space is the most likely cause of our demise.”

In one sense, they are right, the world won’t survive; “But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up” (2 Peter 3:10). But there is nothing man can do to cause its demise. It is God who erases the earth. All one needs to do is look in the bible to see the truth of this science.

In 2 Peter the word for ‘great roar’ is roizēdon, a word that sounds like what it is. The word ‘boom!’ is a word that evokes the sound of that the verb is doing. Roizēdon is ‘whizzz’ or a ‘rushing sound’ like a balloon being quickly deflated. I am thinking that since Jesus is before all things and in Him all things hold together, (Colossians 1:17) then at His word he collapses all the forces of the universe, including thermodnynamics, and the universe along with the earth, melts. The bible is a great book of science.

In this next piece, a top theoretical physicist muses that gravity may not really exist. Is gravity there, or it is a force that we assume is there? It is not seen, only the effects are noted. What happens when gravity is not assumed? In other words, where does gravity come from?

Brilliant Physicist Explains: Guess What? Gravity Doesn’t Exist
“[H]e was also not very happy with the fact that we should just, well, assume that these things, these planets, attract each other and without even anything in between. So if there are two masses and empty space, there’s no, nothing that really happens between them, but still, they’re attracting each other. And he thought that was kind of mysterious and that it was something he would have liked to explain in a better way.”

Mysterious is a good word for it!

In this NYT article, the question is posed, “But what if it’s [gravity’s] all an illusion, a sort of cosmic frill, or a side effect of something else going on at deeper levels of reality? “For me gravity doesn’t exist,” said Dr. Verlinde, who was recently in the United States to explain himself. Not that he can’t fall down, but Dr. Verlinde is among a number of physicists who say that science has been looking at gravity the wrong way and that there is something more basic, from which gravity “emerges,” the way stock markets emerge from the collective behavior of individual investors or that elasticity emerges from the mechanics of atoms.”

This is so intuitive it’s blindingly clear. That the notion that gravity does not exist on its own but emerges FROM something else is the big ‘aha’ moment, in my opinion. And we who accept the bible as total truth know that the something from which gravity emerges is Jesus. “Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.” (John 1:3) and “In Him all things hold together.” (Colossians 1:17).

This next article has to do with the Higgs Boson particle and the Large Hadron Collider (particle smasher)  under the Alps at Switzerland and France. The Higgs boson is a hypothesised particle which, if it exists, would give the mechanism by which particles acquire mass.

World’s Largest Atom Smasher May Have Detected ‘God Particle‘
“A rumor is floating around the physics community that the world’s largest atom smasher may have detected a long-sought subatomic particle called the Higgs boson, also known as the “God particle.” … The Higgs boson is predicted to exist by prevailing particle-physics theory, which is known as the Standard Model. Physicists think the Higgs bestows mass on all the other particles — but they have yet to confirm its existence.”

Scientists have postulated the existence of the particle as a means of resolving inconsistencies in current theoretical physics, and attempts are being made to confirm the existence of the particle by experimentation, using the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN and the Tevatron at Fermilab. The Higgs boson is the only Standard Model particle that has not been observed in particle physics experiments. I’ve always been curious as to a supposed metod by which scientist can’t figure out something so they make something else up and then go looking for it, to the tune of millions of dollars. Now that’s faith! But I am even more interested in why they call it the God particle, hmmm?

“One of the most brilliant simplifications I’ve ever come across is the term “the God Particle.” Physicists think this subatomic speck of matter, if it is ever found, could explain the mysterious code at the origin of the physical world. To know this would be to “know the mind of God,” as Einstein wanted to do. The Nobel Prize winning physicist Leon Lederman wrote a book with that name 15 years ago that was so interesting that even a physics klutz like myself (I almost failed it in high school…) read and enjoyed it.”

Thus it becomes really obvious that science is its own kind of faith.

“SCIENCE IS FOUNDED ON FAITH”
“Since our perspective determines what we expect to see, our physical senses are an almost worthless guide to the ultimate realities of life. This is why a person’s philosophical perspective, or more to the point, the person’s faith, is what really shapes his view of reality. This is also why science — the study of the physical creation — is always based on our spiritual or philosophical presuppositions. In other words, science is founded on faith.”

If you want to know the mind of God, read the bible. If you want to know how the universe and the earth was created, read the bible. (Genesis 1) If you want to know why it holds together, read the bible. (John 1, Colossians 1) If you want to know why it is decaying, read the bible. (Romans 8:21). If you want to know how it will end, read the bible. (Rev 21-22). It’s all there.

Friend, the God who melts the heavens and the earth with a fervent heat is the same God who holds your soul in His hand and gently awakens you to His presence. That is power! That is love! And He revealed Himself to us, through the Holy Word. All truth is there. It is a trustworthy Word. I applaud scientists in their search for understanding of how the universe works, but their search should begin with the bible. The Holy Spirit will take it from there.
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Posted in earthquakes in diverse places, end of days. prophecy, end time, pre-tribulation rapture

Earthquakes already meet or exceed yearly averages, and it’s only April

Posted on by elizabethprata

Just some data on earthquakes. All numbers are from the United States Geological Survey to the date of April 23, 2011. The data is USGS but the chart is one I put together. There were six ‘major’ earthquakes this week, over 6.0 magnitude. Most were in Japan near the stricken Nuke plant. [6.0, 6.1, 6.0] but also in the Solomon Islands (6.9), Kermedec Islands [6.6], and Indonesia [6.2].

In the first few months of this year, to date there have been 121 quakes between 6.0 and 6.9. The annual average for this magnitude is 134. We are near that average and it isn’t even half the year gone yet. I am sure that this average will be exceeded because to date there has been an average of three or more of these size quakes PER WEEK.

There have been eight quakes in magnitude between 7.0 to 7.9. The annual average for earthquakes of this magnitude is 15, so you see we are also more than halfway to the average for this magnitude with less than half the year gone.

There has been one quake over 8.0. The annual average is 1. We have met the average already and that occurred within the first quarter of the year on March 11 with the Japan quake. I am sure that 2011 will also see an exceeding of this average.

Jesus said that the interim between when He ascended on a cloud and when He returned on a cloud IN GREAT POWER AND GLORY that there would be earthquakes in diverse places, and likened them to birth pangs. (Luke 21:11; Mt 24:7) Birth pangs increase in intensity and frequency the closer to the time of the birth.

click on the chart to enlarge

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Posted in end of days, end of days. prophecy, end time, esurrection

He lives!

Posted on by elizabethprata

I wrote yesterday about the death of Jesus and His proclamation to the demons in prison. I also wrote how Paradise was in the belly of the earth, distinct and different from heaven which is far above. On the third day, Jesus rose! He is alive, He is not in the tomb any more!

Immediately He appeared to the disciples, many times. Jesus ministered on earth after His resurrection. Acts 1:1-3 begins this way:

“The first account I composed, Theophilus, about all that Jesus began to do and teach, until the day when He was taken up to heaven, after He had by the Holy Spirit given orders to the apostles whom He had chosen. To these He also presented Himself alive after His suffering, by many convincing proofs, appearing to them over a period of forty days and speaking of the things concerning the kingdom of God.”

Then it came time for Jesus to leave earth, and He blessed the group one more time, and was lifted on a cloud to heaven —

“After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight. And as they were gazing intently into the sky while He was going, behold, two men in white clothing stood beside them. They also said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into the sky? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in just the same way as you have watched Him go into heaven.” (Acts 1:9-11)

So ended the Age of Law, and began the church age, the Age of Grace unto the all the world, including Gentiles. The Jews had rejected their Messiah, (Matthew 8:5-13 the Centurion’s Faith, Parable of the Tenants (Matt. 21:33-46) and the Wedding Banquet (Matt. 22:1-14). Because of the Jews’ unbelief, the Gospel was opened to the Gentiles. “For as ye in times past have not believed God, yet have now obtained mercy through their unbelief:” (Rom 11:30). The Jews would be restored, which we have seen beginning in 1948, and they will be admitted to the Kingdom – if they have faith- not by birthright. But because of their unbelief, Jesus sent the Spirit to found His church and intended to take a full number of people unto Himself. (Romans 11:25). When that number is completed, He will call His church up to Him (the rapture) and He will return His attention to the unfinished business with the Hebrews, descendants of Abraham. That moment will begin the last 7 years of the Age of Law, paused all this time since Jesus ascended upon the cloud.

The angels said that we shall see Jesus return the same way as He left. That prophecy is stated in Luke 21:25-27 — “The Return of Christ “There will be signs in sun and moon and stars, and on the earth dismay among nations, in perplexity at the roaring of the sea and the waves, men fainting from fear and the expectation of the things which are coming upon the world; for the powers of the heavens will be shaken. “Then they will see THE SON OF MAN COMING IN A CLOUD with power and great glory.”

Revelation 1:7 –“Behold, He is coming with clouds, and every eye will see Him, even they who pierced Him. And all the tribes of the earth will mourn because of Him. Even so, Amen.”

When Jesus left on the cloud, the disciples went their way, rejoicing. When the earth people see Him return, they will not rejoice. He is coming in wrath, to judge. In between He has gifted the world with His presence in the form of the Holy Spirit, has breathed out the Holy Word in the form of the bible, and has raised up evangelists, missionaries and Christians to bring the Word of His Resurrection.

Jesus’ triumph over death, His sacrifice of Himself as the Spotless Lamb who takes away the sins of the world, is incredible. That His majesty and power also contains such love for you and for me is even more incredible. What will you do with this information? What will you do with His gift? Will you accept it, and repent of your sins and become one of His children? Or will you reject it, being one of those who sees Him come in power and great glory, only to hide your face in shame at the squandering of His life-giving blood offered to you?

Today’s celebration marks a celebration of a fact that is unalterable and forever: He lives! Will you?
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Posted in end time, paradise, resurrection, tartarus

Jesus- where was He after death but before resurrection?

Posted on by elizabethprata

Christ was crucified, was taken off the awful cross and laid lovingly to rest in Joseph of Arimathea’s tomb. He was cleaned, wrapped, inspected, and the tomb was closed with a large rock. (Mt 27:57-61; Mark 15:47; Luke 23:55)

What happened then? The bible is clear on what the people above the earth did. Mary and the women “rested on the Sabbath in obedience to the commandment” after preparing spices and perfumes to later anoint the body. (Luke 23:56) Then they grieved.

What was Jesus doing? He wasn’t in heaven (John 20:17), He didn’t ascend until after He had shown Himself to the Ten, then later to all Eleven, to Mary, to Peter, and to the two going to Emmaus. (Luke 24:13-32; John 19:20-25; Luke 24:33-35). He told the thief on the cross that the thief would be in Paradise with Him later. (John 23:43). So Jesus was in Paradise. Where is Paradise?

Before Jesus’ resurrection, all the saved dead went to Paradise, also known as Abrahams’ Bosom, a place in the earth. Jesus Himself said He was going to be there three days as a sign. (Matthew 12:40). The story of Lazarus and the rich man also gives a glimpse. Lazarus the beggar died and was carried by angels to Abraham’s side in Paradise. (Luke 16:22). The rich man who had ignored Lazarus all his life also died but he was “In hell, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side.” (Luke 16:23). The rich man begged to have a drop of water, or to send someone to his brothers to tell them to avoid this place, but Abraham said “And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.'”

So we get a clearer picture of the belly of the earth, where there exists Paradise for the saved redeemed, hell for the unsaved lost, and between them, a chasm or a great gulf fixed. Below that there is Tartarus and then the abyss.

2 Peter offers a tantalizing clue of Tartarus, noting that after Jesus died:

“For Christ also hath once suffered for sins the just for the unjust that he might bring us to God being put to death in the flesh but quickened by the Spirit, By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison.” (1 Peter 3:18-19)

What spirits in prison? 2 Peter answers that question:

“For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but sent them to hell, putting them into gloomy dungeons to be held for judgment;” (2 Peter 2:4).

What sin did angels commit to be kept all this time in the lowest dungeon of hell?

“That the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair and they took them wives of all which they chose…here were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown.” (Genesis 6:2, 4). The Hebrew translation for ‘sons of God’ is divine being, angel.

The gloomy dungeons Peter refers to is Tartarus. The word Tartarus is actually used in several translations. You might remember Tartarus in Greek mythology. Tartarus was a place of punishment under the earth, to which, for example, the Titans were sent. In Greek mythology, the Titans were the elder gods, the first gods, who ruled until their children the Olympians led by Zeus overthrew them. When the overthrow was complete, the Titans were sent to Tartarus, the lowest underworld. Do you see the similarities in the ‘mighty men of renown’ noted in Genesis and how these first angels who sinned could be seen by the populace as giants to be worshiped and feared? The cultural memory of those giants spawned the entire Greek mythologies, and later the Roman gods. Far from Tartarus being a mythological place written about by Greek god worshipers, it is a real place that satan later mythologized when he co-opted the cultural memory of the sinning angels and perverted it to false god worship.

Anyway, Tartarus is the lowest, deepest dungeon and the angels who had sinned are chained there. In other translations, the word Tartarus is “abyss” the Greek being abusso. Tartarus is a deep section of hell, reserved for these demons.

Graphic from “Revelation” by Frank Overton, Jr.

Jude also refers to this place, calling it darkness- “And angels who did not keep their own domain, but abandoned their proper abode, He has kept in eternal bonds under darkness for the judgment of the great day” but the word darkness in Greek is zophos, meaning “murky, appalling gloom, referring to darkness so dense and foreboding it is “felt”; (figuratively) apocalyptic, gloomy darkness associated with the nether world bringing its indescribable despair (incredible gloom).”

DEMON GRAPEVINE

Mt 8:29 and Luke 8:28 shows us that the demons know Jesus, and they know the appointed time of their doom. That is shown in the behavior of the Gadarene demoniac, who was host to a thousand demons. They talk amongst each other and news travels pretty quickly. They also know that Jesus is God and they fear Him. John MacArthur says that the demons have the most orthodox and conservative theology of us all. When Jesus got off the boat and walked to Gadara, the demoniac threw himself down in front of Jesus, saying, “When he saw Jesus, he fell down before him and shouted at the top of his voice, ‘What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you, do not torment me’”

Jesus asks their name, and they answer truthfully, and then “They were imploring Him not to command them to go away into the abyss.” (Luke 8:31)

It is not likely that the sinning demons chained in prison would have been able to tap into the demon grapevine, being kept for judgment in the lowest pit, the abyss, in apocalyptic darkness. So we remember Peter’s verse where it is written that Jesus preached to the demons in the lowest abyss.

Now, just imagine how it might have been topside at the moment Jesus died on the cross. Satan thinks he has succeeded in having Jesus killed and thinks he has foiled God’s entire promise to redeem humanity through the Messiah. He and his minions must have been partying like there was no tomorrow. They must have been demonically gleeful, cackling, and swooping in hateful hilarity. It was a party.

Then Jesus shows up!

Jesus preaches to them!

Jesus heralds His victory!!!!!

Look at the word preached in Greek. It was not preaching unto salvation, that word is euaggelízō. It was not preaching the Good News. It means PROCLAIM! Strong’s 2784 kērýssō – properly, to herald; to announce a message publicly and with conviction. Jesus, showing up in the middle of the demon-party, to say “YOU LOSE”. His eye is on the sparrow, and though these demons are in the lowest dungeons, He has not forgotten them. Every creature under His sovereign eye is accountable whether they are before Him at His throne or far below Him in gloomy dungeons. When Jesus died, I believe this is the time Peter meant when he wrote that Jesus went to the spirits in prison and proclaimed. I am of the opinion that it was His victory He was heralding. Praise HIM!!

Jesus died, went to Paradise to give comfort to the patiently waiting redeemed, and to preach to the angels in the lowest dungeon. It’s thought that when Jesus ascended to heaven, He gathered the waiting redeemed from Paradise, emptying it, and brought them to to heaven, where saved people who die now enter directly. Hell is still full of the unsaved dead, awaiting judgment, as well as Tartarus below that, with the sinning angels still waiting their day of judgment as well. But at least now they all know, they LOST. Jesus saves. He is King of Kings and Lord of Lords and His victory is complete. Because of this, ours is complete as well, if we believe.

Sinning Demon, YOU LOSE!

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Posted in good friday, it's friday but sunday's coming, resurrection

Good Friday

Posted on by elizabethprata

How can I write a Good Friday message? The enormity of what Jesus did on that Friday long ago is too huge, the depth of my gratitude too great. How great the Father’s love for us! I can’t express it. I can only shake, and quake, and hang my head in shame at the part my sin played in that awful day, and then raise my head again and look toward Him in heaven rejoicing that HE LIVES!

He could have spoken us out of existence, and yet, He did not. He came down from lofty heights, “He took up our infirmities and carried our diseases.” (Mt 8:17). He taught, healed, ministered, rebuked, and drew men unto His very breast, with open arms and joy.

“And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood,” (Revelation 1:5)

For a long time I didn’t understand His love, that He knew me even when I didn’t know Him. That He sought me personally, knowing my name and having formed a plan for my life. I certainly didn’t understand the blood and His death on the cross. I refused to understand about sin.

But once I did, the floodgates opened. As each day goes by the power of our God’s sacrifice of Himself on the cross amazes me more. And the resurrection, victory over sin, death, and life is the final ending to an age-long battle. What peace there is in Jesus. What unfolding love and eternal joy. It is indescribable. And all because of Good Friday, and its finishing event, Resurrection Sunday.

“I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe.”  (Ephesians 1:18-19)

You can lay down your weary arms and conclude your battle with sin. It’s what is making you so tired, you know. The struggle against that hole in your heart where Jesus should be, to fill it with something, anything, is tiring. We fill it with sin, but that hole should be filled with His love and His purpose for you. But first comes recognition of your sins, that you think, say, and do things that displease God. Ask Him to forgive those. Confess them. And submit to Him knowing His plan for your life is wonderful and beyond anything we could ever dream up. Today He died for you, for us. He hung there in agonizing pain, to pay the penalty for sin according to God’s justice. The spotless lamb was chosen and sacrificed. Now all you need to do is join Him in His kingdom by confessing and repenting! Wouldn’t you like to experience the real meaning of Easter with the Holy Spirit dwelling inside you, prompting you to new understandings and greater wonder of our precious Jesus? Hurry! Friday’s here, but Sunday’s coming!
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Posted in end of days. prophecy, end time, middle east peace

Palestinian State push is a snowball turning into avalanche

Posted on by elizabethprata

I mentioned a week or so ago that Obama has been working on a new peace plan for resolution to the Middle East conflict between Everyone Else and Israel. I also mentioned that Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu is coming to the US to speak to a joint session of Congress in the first week of May, something that hasn’t happened since the early 1990s when Clinton was President and Netanyahu was in his first term.

I noted that both men, Obama and Netanyahu, were separately working on a framework to a revived peace plan, and conditions were unclear at that time on who would unveil whose first. Well, it’s Obama. Preempting the Israeli Prime Minister, Obama shared the framework of his new plan yesterday:

Obama’s plan
“The White House has been working on a new peace initiative for the past three months, one that revolves around a few key principles. According to the article, if Obama does, in fact, present a peace initiative, it will discuss four terms of reference: Israel’s acceptance of a Palestinian state within the 1967 borders; Palestinian acceptance that there would be no right to return to Israeli land; Jerusalem as the capital of both states; and the protection of Israel’s security needs.”

Obama said three years ago that he would like to split Jerusalem. That the notion resurfaces now should not surprise us. Really, messing with Israel and splitting Jerusalem have been the ONLY concepts Obama has stuck to unswervingly since taking office. Here are the 2008 links to Gateway Pundit and Times of London and the quote:

“Barack Obama is to pursue an ambitious peace plan in the Middle East involving the recognition of Israel by the Arab world in exchange for its withdrawal to pre-1967 borders, according to sources close to America’s president-elect.”

Pre-1967 borders means that Israel gives up the land that they won in the Six-Day war, Sinai Peninsula (which they already returned to Egypt), Gaza Strip (which they already handed to Egypt for Egypt to administer), the West Bank which is also known as Judea and Samaria and includes East Jerusalem, and the Golan Heights bordering Syria.

Even some Israelis are calling for a Palestinian State with pre-1967 borders…
“Dozens of prominent Israeli artists and intellectuals declared their support for a Palestinian state on the streets of Tel Aviv on Thursday and quickly found themselves confronted by rightist opponents calling them “traitors” and, according to one report, “Jewish Nazis.” While angry confrontations between protesters on opposite sides of Israel’s gaping ideological divide are not unknown here, this one came at a delicate time, with international pressure growing on Israel to find a way back to peace talks with the Palestinians.”

Clinton. Who will save peace process? (Photo: AFP)

Christians know the answer to that question. The antichrist will APPEAR to save the peace process by flatteries and deceit. (Daniel 7:20; Daniel 8:12; Daniel 8:23-25)… It will be a time when truth will be thrown to the ground, but he will fail, and it will not be human power that defeats him! (Daniel 8:25)

“And finally Jesus who is peace will institute His kingdom. Jesus will save the peace process! “The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling together…” (Isaiah 11:6)

“For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given: And the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of His government and peace there will be no end. Upon the throne of David and over His kingdom, to order it and establish it with judgment and justice from that time forward, ever forever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this…” (Isaiah 9:6-7)

Hallelujah!
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Posted in end of days. prophecy, end time, mark of the beast

The digital agenda for Europe includes a single European payment area. Mark of the beast infrastructure formed now

Posted on by elizabethprata

Let’s start from the end and work backward. The near future: “He causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hand or on their foreheads, and that no one may buy or sell except one who has the mark or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.” (Rev 13:16-17) This is the famous Mark of the Beast verse. Many people refer to it as the “one world currency” or the “New World Order.”

Though the verse does not explicitly say, the concept of a global economy is inherent in the verse. If the Beast has been granted power over all the people, tribes, tongues and nations (Rev 13:7b) and causes all to engage in a certain action, i.e. to worship him, (Rev 13:8) then it stands to reason that he has power over the global economy, also. If you have the Mark, you can participate in the economy. If you don’t have the mark, you can’t participate in the economy – in any way.

Let’s skip back now to the past generation. Prior to the microchip’s invention in 1960 it seemed impossible that these verses could come about. People in prior generations could not conceive of how one man could have economic power over all the people in the world. Remember, these were the days before computers, satellite television, the internet, global positioning systems, and cell phones. The world was still a big place then, and many of the globe’s nations were little known to a non-traveling public.

In 1950 Europe had just finished a devastating world war and sovereignty was rampant. People loved their countries, having come so close to losing them, thanks to Hitler. And they wanted it to stay that way. But they also wanted economic prosperity. WWII had wiped them out.

The European Union was born in 1950 when an economic partnership between 6 nations over coal and steel was formed. Coal and steel were necessary components of the continent’s re-build of the continent’s WWII bombed-out infrastructure. Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg and the Netherlands were those partners, and it went so well that  by 1957 the European Economic Community, or “Common Market” was born.

Between the birth of the microchip born 1960 and the solidification of the Common Market in the same decade, the groundwork for Revelation 13’s oppression through economic means was laid. In the 1970’s the Common Market was expanded to nine with the inclusion of Denmark, Ireland and the United Kingdom. By the end of the 1970s the European Parliament was created and member states could directly elect their representative.

In 1989 the Berlin Wall came down and the European Union bloomed as East and West Germany were unified. No more Iron Curtain separated vibrant economies of the same continent, and the EU grew in stature and membership. 1993 was the seminal year, when the Single Market was completed with the ‘four freedoms’ of: movement of goods, services, people and money.

In the millennium 2000 decade, the euro was introduced, and the EU membership swelled to 27 nations. They adopted a constitution. With the collapse of communism and its doctrine of suppression of information, the internet became widely available to the lay-person.

But wait, there’s more. Here’s where it gets closer to the end point that we saw in Revelation 13. The EU has a plan, and it has been lately debated and this week it was legislated and accepted. The next plan includes ‘pillars’ named “Single Market Act,” “Digital Single Market” and “European Stability Mechanism” – with implementation by 2012.

Thanks to some of the European nations that are not as deeply in debt as others, the EU is surviving the current fiscal crisis. However, they note that they were still impacted, notably by a large unemployed segment of the population – almost 10%. The Single Market Act was proposed and adopted by the European Commission this week. The Single Market Act proposes 12 key actions to boost European competitiveness and to unlock economic growth and jobs which, considering the crisis, we want to see adopted by the end of 2012. The 12 action items all of relate in some way to the free-flow of money, venture capital, and employees with payroll in and among member nations.

But HOW is the money, capital, and payroll to flow freely, you might wonder? The Digital Single Market, one of the founding pillars of the Digital Agenda for Europe.

“Transport, energy and electronic-communications networks are the backbone of the single market. Indeed, efficient infrastructures foster rapid free movement of people, goods and various types of energy and data (with the allocation of a sufficient radio spectrum) at a reasonable cost. Efficient economic integration relies on the integration of efficient infrastructure networks … networks need to become smarter in order to improve energy transmission. New legislation must facilitate the establishment of a unified smart network…”

The infrastructure mentioned is no longer the coal and steel, quaint commodities of the old days of the burgeoning EU in 1950, but data networks, fast internet, and single European payment area.

The problem is that a French guy’s credit card may not work in Bulgaria. A venture capitalist from Finland might want to start an annex to his business in the Czech Republic, and the data-transfer infrastructure as it stands now is too cumbersome. Hence, the ‘Digital Agenda for Europe’: in a nutshell, streamline the whole thing, NOW.

Single European Payment Area (SEPA) “will improve the efficiency of cross border payments and turn the fragmented national markets for euro payments into a single domestic one: SEPA will enable customers to make cashless euro payments to anyone located anywhere in the area using only a single bank account and a single set of payment instruments.” Wikipedia, map at link. Timetable is completion by end of 2011. 1st meeting is in June 2011.

I gave you the short history so you could see how far and how fast the economic unification has come in one generation. Fifty years ago, a Christian reading the Revelation 13 verse could not conceive, nor comprehend how it would all work. This week, the European Single Market Act was passed. The Single European Payment Area is on the horizon, and once the ‘infrastructure’ is created, it would not take much for a smooth talker who was killed and resurrected to wow the world and slyly take over the whole shebang. Which, since we know the end from the beginning, he will do. And it looks like it won’t be long.

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