Posted in chernobyl, end time, fukushima, prophecy

Japanese officials finally rate Fukushima a 7 on the disaster scale

The Japanese finally capitulated to reality and rated the Fukushima nuclear disaster an official 7 on the nuclear disaster scale. 7 is the highest level of this kind of disaster. Only one nuclear plant ever experienced a rating of 7 in its disaster assessment, and that was Chernobyl. Below is a headline link to the Japanese article, in a Google translation, and the first paragraph is Google translated from Japanese.

Japanese officials finally raise level of Fukushima disaster to 7
“As an assessment based on international standards of the accident, the worst “level seven” decided to raise. “Level 7″ is the same as the evaluation occurred in the Soviet Chernobyl disaster. Nuclear Safety Agency, 12, held a press conference with the Nuclear Safety Commission has decided to publish the contents of the evaluation.”

Nuclear Engineer Arnie Gundersen demonstrates How Fukushima’s Fuel Rods Melted and Shattered

In this bit of not so good news,
Radiation risks from Fukushima ‘no longer negligible’
“The risks associated with iodine-131 contamination in Europe are no longer “negligible,” according to CRIIRAD, a French research body on radioactivity. The NGO is advising pregnant women and infants against “risky behaviour,” such as consuming fresh milk or vegetables with large leaves. In response to thousands of inquiries from citizens concerned about fallout from the Fukushima nuclear disaster in Europe, CRIIRAD has compiled an information package on the risks of radioactive iodine-131 contamination in Europe.”

But the Japanese agency also said that even though the ratings of radiation over Japan are risky for some demographic populations, “the institute underlines that there is absolutely no need to lock oneself indoors or take iodine tablets.” Hmmm.

The Environmental Protection Agency says that their network of radiation monitors (RadNet) detects negligible amounts of radiation in the US from Fukushima. But on the other hand, it is stated by the “EPA that new radiation highs are found in Little Rock Milk, Philadelphia Drinking Water.” “Milk from Little Rock and drinking water from Philadelphia contained the highest levels of Iodine-131 from Japan yet detected by the Environmental Protection Agency, according to data released by EPA Saturday.” In reading the article and doing the math, Arkansas milk was 300% above EPA’s maximum contaminant level for radioactive iodine-131 and that was 11 days ago.

That doesn’t sound negligible to me. So what the governments are saying is that radiation exists, they need to evacuate, some populations are at higher risk, and in Japan AND the US, don’t drink the water or eat the food. But it’s negligible and nothing to worry about.

I would really love to be able to trust my government again, but unfortunately I cannot. However, I offer a trade that is even better: we can trust Jesus. He will never lie. He will never hide data that is important to our well-being. He will always keep us safe (spiritually). He will always be trustworthy.

“The God of my rock; in him will I trust: he is my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my high tower, and my refuge, my saviour; thou savest me from violence.” (2 Samuel 22:3) You can’t do better than that! In these troubled times, with everything either falling down or prices going sky high, Jesus is attainable. He is within reach. As a matter of fact, He is reaching for you now. If you have let yourself become distant from Him, hasten back to His side, He will cover you with His wing and shield you from hopelessness. If you do not know Him, once you confess your sins and trust in Him, you will feel peace and understand that no matter what is happening in external circumstances, you will remain solidly under the watchful eye of our God of the universe. That is the best place to be!

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Posted in economy, end of days. prophecy, japan, jesus

Japan’s March 11 quake woke up the nation’s 20 volcanoes, says meteorological agency

This is an essay about how the 3/11 quake in Japan is affecting Japan economy and by extension, the world’s.

From International Business Times Hong Kong English edition today:

Japan warns of massive earthquake and volcanic explosion after the April 7 earthquake
“Japan’s Meteorological Agency on Friday warned the country’s 20 volcanoes has become alive due to the massive March 11 earthquake, and a study said earthquake over 9.0-magnitude might hit Japan. The number of earthquakes above 6.0 M reached 77 on March. And 74 out of them occurred in quake-hit region, were aftershock. The number is 50 times over the same period last year. The largest aftershock on April 7 hit Japan has killed 4 people, injured at least 166, and caused a power outage over 2.61 million households, according to Japan’s police officials. The Meteorological Agency warned aftershocks above 6.0 M like the April 7 earthquake probably would hit Japan again. Meanwhile, quakes of the country’s 20 volcanoes occurred more frequently after the massive March 11 earthquake, especially, the Fuji, Hakone, and Aso-San.”

Millions of people are without power…radiation is poisoning their air, water, and food, there are continuing large aftershocks, and now they’re warned of exploding volcanoes. I can’t begin to comprehend the grief they must be feeling for their country, their families, and their own lives.

In economic news … I mentioned before that the March 11 quake was a nation changing event but it was also a world changing event. Their economy may not recover, ever, and if it does, it will be years. Well, the economic impacts of that prediction are coming into sight now.

It’s all about components.  From South Korea blog “Business Area“
“Japan’s disaster affecting the worldwide automotive industry, not least in South Korea. Some manufacturers in the Country of ginseng began to reassess its production because of fear of lack of supply components from Japan.”

Toyota announced a shutdown of all North American plants (Canada/Mexico/US). GM Plants are on temporary slowdown. Toyota is shutting down UK manufacturing plants for an unknown period of time. Korea’s GM and Renault Samsung Motors Corporation (RSMC). Yena Cho, RSMC spokesman said the factory has begun to stop the activities of overtime on weekends, resulting in decreased production capacity of 2000-2500 units of this month (March 2011). There are lots more examples, but if you think about all those manufacturing plants not just in Japan & Korea, but in UK, and North America, that means no money is being exchanged over a commodity. Paychecks are not being given. It creates a huge hole. The auto industry especially, cannot get microchips, circuitry etc from Japan, and the interconnected complex global supply chain is beyond stressed.

Mike Ruppert: “Gross Domestic Product predictions for the world’s economies (such as Ireland, Greece, Portugal, Spain, etc) are made on the stance of positive growth. When large significant negative growth is shown across the board globally for a quarter, the markets have no place to go but implode.” He explained that although fancy bookwork can be done in certain areas by changing definitions, moving columns here and there, the ONE thing that cannot be hidden (according to Ruppert) is GDP quarterly earnings reports. We have one more bit of this quarter’s activity and the reports should be in by July that reflect the effect of the March-June quarter, which is the economic quarter of the Japanese quake and tsunami. “The markets still don’t appreciate the Japanese earthquake” but it seems that the chickens will come home to roost by July’s reports. And then watch out, said Ruppert.

Oil: fuel prices are spiking. How this affects the world’s economy is in obvious and not so obvious ways. Not so obviously, is a story out of Nicaragua. “The [fishing] industry is “frozen” by high operative costs, even though international shrimp prices remain high.” In the US, conventional production agriculture relies heavily on fossil fuels, particularly in its ability to provide high yields at low labor costs. However, the uncertain future of fossil fuel availability and prices means that in laymen’s terms, farmers can’t afford to put fuel in their tractors and fishermen can’t afford to fuel u their boats.

This is the American Farm Bureau Report for first quarter of 2011, with AFBF’s Cyndie Sirekis and AFBF economist John Anderson interview.
Sirekis: Farm Bureau’s quarterly marketbasket survey tracks and reports on retail prices of 16 staple foods that can be used to prepare one or more meals at home.
John Anderson (AFBF economist): The total cost of these 16 items in our marketbasket for the first quarter 2011 worked out to forty-nine dollars and seven cents that was up about two dollars and 10 cents compared to the fourth quarter of 2010 so that’s about a 4 percent increase. Pretty much a continuation of a trend that we’ve seen for the last couple of quarters and pretty well in line with what we see in broader measures like the consumer price index.
Sirekis: Cheddar cheese, ground beef and vegetable oil were among the foods that increased the most in retail price. This rise in retail food prices was not unexpected, according to American Farm Bureau Federation Economist John Anderson. He says energy prices are a key driver behind retail food prices increases.
Anderson: Everything that you buy at the retail level is affected by energy prices. Energy prices affect the cost of processing, they affect the cost of packaging, they affect the cost of transporting and storing and operations at the retail level. Really, there’s not much in the marketing system that isn’t affected by the price of energy.”

So the natural disasters affect manufacturing and manufacturing is affected by fuel prices and fuel prices affect farming and fishing and when farming and fishing is affected prices go up and when prices go up people who were put out of work by the slowdown and shutdown in manufacturing can’t afford to buy food.

Ruppert warns that by July, the wheels will come off completely. He predicts the implosion of the economic markets as the quarterly reports come out will cause a 4000 or so point in the Dow as it suffers from loss of Japanese input. He said, “I do not think we will be living in anything like the society we have known by this fall. I’m as serious as I’ve ever been.”

Is he being alarmist? He made a good case. It was obvious in March as the magnitude of the disaster on the world’s third largest economy became evident and I wrote about it on March 16 here. Throughout the 1990s as the European Union came together and the euro was introduced as currency that the new world order of interconnectedness, of globalization was to be sought and extolled, might have been fine except that when one of the largest economies tanks, they all tank. I think that is where we are now. And by the looks of Japan’s volcanoes waking up, the continual earthquakes, and the ongoing radiation problem, the issues of the loss of their economy will continue to be felt right straight through Revelation 18:10 when the entire economy collapses, for good.
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Posted in copper scroll, end time, ezekiel 38, gog and magog, prophecy

The Copper Scroll & its possible relation to Gog-Magog battle of Ezekiel 38-39

Certain conditions will be in existence at the end of days when certain other things happen. In this way, we can look at the end and work backward to the present. For example, Ezekiel tells us that when the Gog-Magog battle occurs, Israel will be dwelling securely with no walls or gates, she will be at peace, she will be seen to have an exceedingly great army, she will dwell in the midst of the land, and she will be extremely wealthy. (Ezekiel 38:11-12b). Many people believe that for this to be in place it means that the Psalm 83 battle will have already taken place, and Israel will have defeated the Palestinians, Jordanians, Sinai Egyptians, Lebanese, and Saudi Arabians. She will not need borders because she will have defeated all her neighboring enemies.

An interesting note is that the verse describing Israel dwelling in the midst of the land means they would be dwelling in land with borders that God outlined to Abraham in Genesis 15:18. It would mean that in Israel’s defeat of the enemy confederacy that Israel would reclaim all that land as originally intended for her to have. (Read Obadiah 1 for context). (Note- map below outlines the Land given to Abraham and to Abraham’s descendants, known as the Abrahamic Covenant) The map below that is the same map using modern nations as a reference. It’s almost completely aligned correctly with the borders given in Genesis, except the actual red line on the eastern border should go all the way over to the Euphrates. But otherwise it’s pretty close.)

In Ezekiel 38:12  God is talking and speaking out loud the dastardly plot that Israel’s enemies are fomenting in secret thoughts. He says they will say, “I will plunder and loot and turn my hand against the resettled ruins and the people gathered from the nations, rich in livestock and goods, living at the center of the land.” The Hebrew words in the verse for cattle and goods actually say “have acquired cattle and goods” or “which have gotten cattle and goods.” The verse speaks of spoils and plunder and booty, typically things that are acquired in war. The verse doesn’t say “Israel has goods and cattle,” it says they have acquired it. It is logical to think that after the Psalm 83 war Israel reclaims the land God originally gave her, along with all the things in and on that land, like livestock and goods.

Taking this a step further, Israel would indeed be extremely wealthy if she has not only the wealth she recently produced herself, not only has the wealth that she is soon to enjoy due to the discovery of the huge natural gas and enormous oil reserves in her land and just off shore, not only wealthy beyond imagining from having acquired all of Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Jordan’s and Egypt’s wealth, but there is another possible wealth just off the horizon.

The Copper Scroll.

“The Copper Scroll is one of the Dead Sea Scrolls found in Cave 3 near Khirbet Qumran, but differs significantly from the others. Whereas the other scrolls are written on parchment or papyrus, this scroll is written on metal: copper mixed with about 1 percent tin. Unlike the others, it is not a literary work, but a list of locations at which various items of gold and silver are buried or hidden.” [Wikipedia] It is thought that the silver and gold mentioned in the Copper Scroll ‘treasure map’ were from the Temple before the Romans came to destroy it.

“Have you come to plunder? Have you gathered your hordes to loot, to carry off silver and gold, to take away livestock and goods and to seize much plunder?”’(Ez 38:13b)

A recent CBN article reports: “In 1947, a Bedouin shepherd wandered the hills of Qumran in search of a missing sheep. He threw a stone into a cave, hoping to drive the lost animal outside. Instead, the sound of shattered pottery drew the shepherd inside the cave. There he stumbled on the greatest archaeological find of the 20th century: the Dead Sea Scrolls. In the years that followed, archaeologists found eleven caves and more than 900 documents here at Qumran. But one scroll was different from all the rest. Instead of leather or parchment, it was made entirely of copper, and it could be the greatest treasure map in history.”

Hmmm. With paper currencies declining like they are and silver and gold values reaching record highs, it wouldn’t take much for a greedy and desperate army to gather and lick their lips, salivating over all that ‘silver and gold.’ Silver and gold are finite assets. Unlike paper currency that we print more of when we need it, silver and gold can’t be manufactured. It remains steady in value or increases. The monetary value of the gold and silver mentioned in the Scroll is estimated at 3 billion dollars- and that was an estimate given years ago. Gold and silver are now reaching record highs with no end in sight.

The only problem is, since the discovery, no one has been able to understand what the Scroll says. From the Copper Scroll Project: “So begins the most intriguing and baffling of the scrolls to be found among the collection known as the Dead Sea Scrolls, the metal document called the Copper Scroll. Baffling because it has never before been understood and intriguing because of the vast amount of buried treasures listed in the incredible text.”

“Possibilities are high that the Copper Scroll could lead to a discovery that would make any other archaeological find seem insignificant in scale. If the book of II Maccabbees is considered accurate, then the odds of such an unprecedented find tilt the scales of history even further to the side of a magnificent archaeological discovery, a recognizable possibility that stirs the juices of the imagination well beyond the scope of wishful thinking into the realm of tangible possibility.”

That language, ‘stirs the imagination’ echoes the language in Ezekiel, ‘thoughts arise in your mind…I will make an evil plan”…

The bible says, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD: “On that day it shall come to pass that thoughts will arise in your mind,(Gog-Magog enemies of Israel) and you will make an evil plan: You will say, ‘I will go up against a land of unwalled villages; I will go to a peaceful people, who dwell safely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having neither bars nor gates’— to take plunder and to take booty, to stretch out your hand against the waste places that are again inhabited, and against a people gathered from the nations, who have acquired livestock and goods, who dwell in the midst of the land. Sheba, Dedan, the merchants of Tarshish, and all their young lions will say to you, ‘Have you come to take plunder? Have you gathered your army to take booty, to carry away silver and gold, to take away livestock and goods, to take great plunder?’”’(Ez 38:10-13)

Yes, having livestock is a boon but armies don’t go to war over cows, hungry as they may be. They would be interested in the oil and gas but it takes time to re-route gas lines and get refineries going to match the grade of Israel’s. But silver and gold, 3 billion-plus dollars’ worth? Now, THAT is a booty they can exploit immediately.

I can imagine the thoughts that the Gog-Magog confederacy are brought to mind. Turkey, Iran, Russia, Armenia, Libya, Northern Africa will all be gnashing their teeth at Israel’s success in the Psalm 83 war. They will be looking longingly at the gas, the oil, the livestock, the wealth of land Israel possesses in that near-future moment. Their ancient hatred of Israel will inflame their passions. IF (and I say IF, because I don’t know if it will ever be discovered) the Copper Scroll does reveal caches of gold and silver beyond description, it would be (and I say would be, because I don’t know) the last straw.

Wouldn’t it be just like the LORD to allow translation and interpretation of the Copper Scroll and recovery of the silver and gold just at a time when the other prophetic pieces for Psalm 83 and Gog-Magog are coming together in such alignment? The LORD is great. This season of watching prophecy unfold leaves me nothing but breathless at His ways.

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Posted in jim dixon, last things revealed, prophecies

Response to Jim Dixon’s "Last Things Revealed" book tackling of end time prophesies

I had a discouraging conversation with a fellow believer today. She posted a link to a Christian Post article about a megachurch pastor who is tackling the ‘confusion’ over end times eschatology. Eagerly I zoomed to the link provided, but was immediately disappointed upon reading his ‘explanations’ about prophecy. The author, Dr. Dixon of Cherry Hills Community Church wrote-

“Details of the End Times Up for Debate”: “Many details about the more popular topics regarding the end times, such as the Antichrist, the rapture, and the millennium rule of Jesus are more speculative…”

I was saddened to read that. I was going to write a point by point rebuttal of his vague, speculative, confusing and unknowable notions about the antichrist, the rapture, and the millennium rule of Jesus, but I decided not to. As with any topic about the bible it is always best to go to the bible to find truth.

“All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness,” 2 Timothy 3:16. All scripture is profitable for teaching. Not just some scripture, all scripture. Did Jesus say that all scripture is profitable for teaching… except for some scriptures that are left up for debate? No. He said ALL SCRIPTURE is useful for teaching. You can’t teach an unclear text, so if there is an issue with clarity then it falls to man’s failure, not Jesus’s deficit.

Secondly, “for God is not a God of confusion but of peace, as in all the churches of the saints.” (1 Corinthians 14:33). Why would God declare Himself not a God of confusion and then insert confusing doctrines in the bible? God cannot contradict Himself.

This scripture comes to mind, “But he answered and said, “It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.” (Matthew 4:4) He didn’t say “live by My Word except for the parts that you can’t figure out.” Every word from Jesus is filling.

Matthew 24:25, Jesus said to the disciples, “See, I have told you everything ahead of time.” Do we think that Jesus would tell us ahead of time but then make it unclear? No indeed.

2 Peter 1:19-21 “We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts.” Prophecy is a sure word, not speculative, whereupon it brings light to our hearts, not cloudiness.

Dixon wrote, “I don’t believe the Bible is clear on this issue.” The bible says “The words of the LORD are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times.” (Psalms 12:6). There are many scriptures that extol the perfection of His word as pure, and it is as clear as refined silver on every issue.

James 3:16-18 says “For where envy and self-seeking exist, confusion and every evil thing are there. The wisdom from above is pure. Where confusion exists, self-seeking and envy may be present.

In a final example, the pastor wrote, “Although scholars and pastors give definitive answers sometimes about these prophecies, the Bible is unclear about the exact details and it is not necessary to be in agreement, Dixon asserted.”

Here is a final word on the ‘not necessary to be in agreement’ stance. I listened to a John MacArthur sermon last week. He was preaching through Mark and he had gotten to Mark 13:14-23, “The future tribulation.” Many of the end time doctrines are in these verses. He ended his sermon with a real-life example of what happened to him some years ago in Kazakhstan. He was teaching at a pastor’s conference, and many pastors from Central Asia who had never had the opportunity to attend a pastor conference were there. At one point the leadership came to him asking, ‘please explain to us the good part, the future for the church.’ MacArthur said he’d replied, “I don’t know what you believe but eschatology is a diverse subject, but ok, I’ll take Friday all day, I’ll teach everything the bible says about the church’s future. I spoke for 8 hours to people I had never met and had no idea what they believed. At the end of it, they came up to me and they said “You believe exactly as we do.”

“Really? I asked, but then I realized, we have been reading the bible. That is why we believe the same thing. To believe something else you read something else. If you read the same book I am reading, there it is! It is all laid out. You see what the scriptures say.”

If you have difficulty with the end times doctrines, take heart. The bible is there for YOU and the Holy Spirit is there to educate YOU in its wisdom. See what the scriptures say, see where the Holy Spirit leads.

You decide. This is where Pastor Dixon believes Jesus left us. Is this where you think Jesus left us?

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Posted in charlie sheen, end of days, end of days. prophecy, end time

Charlie Sheen vs. integrity

Something happened with Charlie Sheen recently. I don’t know what it was, because I don’t watch celebrity news. I don’t want to discuss it at this point because whatever he did was likely stupid and continuing to discuss it would be stupid on my part. Suffice it to say that the brouhaha is winding down and I don’t want to add to it, except for one blip that remains on the radar for many people. It is that blip I want to talk about.

After Sheen’s debacle concluded, he went on tour. This is something to remark on in itself. The word “shame” seems to be absent from our vocabularies, as people who live immorally are lifted up while Jesus’ name is trampled. More people than not waste good money in support of immoral stupidity by choosing to spend time watching  terrible movies or television shows that are nothing more than debauchery. Why spend your time honoring immorality? Isaiah said “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter”. Isaiah 5:20.

Anyway, Sheen went on tour. Detroit was the first stop, and apparently there were plenty of people who chose to spend their hard-earned money to watch and listen to what Sheen had to say.

“It didn’t take long for the goodwill to fade, though, as audience members at the Fox Theatre began yelling at the former “Two and a Half Men” star for refunds and walking out in droves. Sheen quipped after an audience member booed: “I’ve already got your money, dude.“

Can you remember a time when a business deal was healthy? When a man’s word was his bond? When work was done and done right? When people cared about the product they were putting out?  If you don’t remember such a time it wasn’t all that long ago that people cared about the kind of job they did. People took pride in putting out a good product. If someone came back and said that the product was not good, there would be shame in their heart and a refund given right away.

It is not so anymore. Sheen boasted that he already had the guy’s money and there wasn’t a thing he could do about it. Not only did Sheen feel that way, not only did he comment out loud, but he boasted.

“To give real service you must add something which cannot be bought or measured with money, and that is sincerity and integrity.” –Douglas Adams. That is something the Charlie Sheens of the world lack, but they lack it because they know not Jesus.

Paul wrote to Timothy the following warning:

But mark this: There will be terrible times 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— having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with such people. (2 Timothy 3:1-5).

The timing Paul was referring to was to be all of the end time, including Paul’s day until our day. But that is not even the worst of it. Paul reminded 2 Thessalonians 2:6 about the antichrist. In the verses in 2 Thessalonians, Paul explained what the antichrist will be like. He then reminded them that the antichrist will be restrained until we are taken out of the way. Which means that after we are taken out of the way, there will be no restraint on any of the sinful conditions that plague us now. Like a fungus under cover of darkness, the sinful conditions Paul described above will mushroom exponentially.

Our blessing is that if we have confessed our sins and asked Him forgiveness of them, He is faithful to save. And in that salvation we are told we are not appointed to wrath, (1 Thessalonians 5:9) and when the wrath begins in the Seal Judgments, (Rev 6:17) we will  have been removed from the earth.

Eventually, all sin will be removed! (Dan 9:24; Rev 21:26-27). Won’t that be a relief and a glory to Jesus’ power! Praise Him in all ways!
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Posted in end time, prophecy

PE teacher and pupils left gobsmacked as it starts raining worms

This out of Scotland (ht to Anonymous)

PE teacher and pupils left gobsmacked as it starts raining worms
“STUNNED schoolkids had to run for cover as WORMS rained down on their football pitch. PE teacher David Crichton told yesterday of the bizarre shower, which happened as he led a lesson for secondyear boys. The boys heard a “soft thudding” on the artificial pitch – then looked up to see dozens of worms plummeting from the sky. David, 26, said he and other teachers at Galashiels Academy were baffled by the incident. …”I spoke with the science department here but none of them had any explanation for it. One of them thought maybe it was a freak weather thing. “But it was such a clear, calm day. And we are quite a bit away from any of the buildings so it’s not like anyone could have been throwing them.”

One explanation for the weird event was “believed to have been caused by freak weather over a nearby river lifting water and worms and dumping it over the road.” Yeah, sure. That’s what they said about the frogs falling from the sky in Japan. And the perch that fell in Australia…

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Posted in end of days, end time, pre-tribulation rapture, prophecy

Weird news

-Plant City FL: “A woman suffered minor injuries after she was walking around her backyard when the ground underneath her caved in and she fell into a sinkhole Monday morning.” Well!

I’ve been writing about the prophesied breaking up of the earth, and the likelihood that the increase in sinkholes and earth cracks being a precursor, but this seems a little excessive, if you ask me! LOL. I feel for that woman. Luckily she had her cellphone and called for help from the pit she had fallen into.

In this next article, it beings to mind the feeling we all may have: we are surrounded by the moral conditions that Paul prophesied to Timothy in 2 Timothy 1-4
“But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God,”

It gets wearisome to be amidst crime and hatred and stealing…and increasingly, we are all affected. Pockets of areas in the world where it still looks and feels like Andy Griffith’s Mayberry will soon dry up like a puddle in the desert. In this next article,  “An elderly woman with “nothing to lose” stopped a bank robber in her tracks Friday, Broward Sheriff’s Office officials said. Helen Dunsford, 66, was a customer at a Bank of America in Oakland Park when a woman reached in her purse, said she had a gun and yelled for everyone to get on the ground. As other customers listened to the orders, Dunsford tackled the would-be robber, Renee Green, and held the suspect down until authorities arrived. “She got on my last nerve,” Dunsford said.”

LOL! The FBI agent who was interviewed at the scene said that he advises never getting involved in a confrontation, but instead concentrate on being good witnesses. The Grandma said that she has stage 4 cancer, and that ‘when she dies she knows that God will call her home, and not that some robber will shoot me.’

I can understand how she feels, though. Sometimes I just get so tired of living in and around sin that my last nerve is spent, too.

The US Government has failed to come up with a budget that our representatives can agree on. A lot of news is being generated about it, and it seems a government shut-down looms. Personally I think that a shutdown government is one that would do no harm, therefore it would be beneficial, but that’s just me.

But this article from CNN-Money caught my eye. This is verbatim today from CNN-Money: “There are two kinds of federal workers right now: the essential and the non-essential. Most don’t know which group they’re in.”

Ow, that hurts. Not for the worker, but it hurts for us. On average in the US, we work until April 9th to pay for our total tax burden. According to 2010 figures, we pay almost 30% of our total income to the United States Government and we work for fully more than a quarter of the year to satisfy the governmental obligations of our tax burden. In return, the beleaguered burro that is the taxpaying citizen carrying this burden expects the government to do its diligence and spend wisely, create a budget, and refrain from excess. It doesn’t look that this is occurring at present.

Not only is it not occurring, but it won’t ever occur again. If government somewhere was ever good, it is not now, because sinful men run it. Not to say that there aren’t good individuals inside government in leadership positions, but that the conglomeration of all that government is, is bad and will only get worse from here.

By its nature, government should be occupied by selfless civil servants, intent on finding the greatest good. By the times, we see the opposite is happening. It is infested the the most base, greedy, careless pompous kings, who create fiefs for themselves.

The people are fed up that there is such a leadership vacuum that by the time the antichrist comes on the scene, people clamor for solutions and accept his on the spot. The antichrist makes it clear fairly soon that ALL other government workers are considered “non-essential.” Only antichrists need apply.
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Posted in end of days, end time, pre-tribulation rapture, prophecy

Make sure you focus on the right thing

I read the Charles Spurgeon devotional this morning and a sentence in particular got my attention. Here is the devotional and then we can look at the interesting sentence below.

One King, One Lord
And the Lord shall be king over all the earth: in that day shall there be one Lord, and his name one. (Zechariah 14:9)

“Blessed prospect! This is no dream of an enthusiast but the declaration of the infallible Word. Jehovah shall be known among all people, and His gracious sway shall be acknowledged by every tribe of man. Today, it is far from being so. Where do any bow before the great King? How much there is of rebellion! What lords many and gods many there are on the earth! Even among professed Christians what diversities of ideas there are about Him and His gospel! One day there shall be one King, one Jehovah, and one name for the living God. O Lord, hasten it! We daily cry, “Thy kingdom come.” We will not discuss the question as to when this shall be lest we lose the comfort of the certainty that it shall be. So surely as the Holy Ghost spake by His prophets, so surely shall the whole earth be filled with the glory of the Lord. Jesus did not die in vain. The Spirit of God worketh not in vain. The Father’s eternal purposes shall not be frustrated, Here, where Satan triumphed, Jesus shall be crowned, and the Lord God Omnipotent shall reign. Let us go our way to our daily work and warfare made strong in faith.”

I’m really looking forward to the time after we are raptured. We will be with brethren who in one heart and of one mind accept and worship the One true God, Jesus. In the Millennium Kingdom to come after the Tribulation, we will still be united in one mind and one heart although there will be mortal believers who enter the kingdom straight from the Tribulation who will have children, and some of those children will not believe in Jesus. We know this from the verses that state although satan is locked up for the thousand years, when he is let loose for a little time there will be one final rebellion before he is cast alive into the Lake of Fire. (Rev 20:8-9). After the 1000 year reign of Christ on earth concludes, eternity begins. The bible is silent on this next epoch but we do know that we will be with Jesus forever. (John 14:3) I am personally thrilled to think of the time, soon to be upon us, when the Lord is recognized by all as the Holy God that He is.

In the devotional, Mr Spurgeon made a comment: “We will not discuss the question as to when this shall be lest we lose the comfort of the certainty that it shall be.” Those few words have powerful wisdom in them. Think of it this way: We should focus on the certainty of His coming, and we should not focus on the uncertainty of the date of His arrival. Why focus on uncertainty over certainty? Doing that befuddles. Doing that confounds. Doing that steals joy. Joy is lost especially when one date after another comes and goes with nary a twinkling of His Glorious Personage seen. Pretty soon people allow satan to slyly enter in to their mind an attitude of defeatism.

But if we focus on the certainty of His promise, rather than the uncertainty of the date of His coming, we will never be disappointed. We will never have even a moment’s defeatist attitude. We will be all joy.
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Posted in end time, jesus, pre-tribulation rapture, prophecy

The Tribulation is no joke!

A person contacted me the other night, asking what the password is to get into the kingdom. Others mock, saying ‘gee, too bad, I missed the rapture but let’s party’, or something to that effect. Still others are simply vicious, unadvisedly vowing to spit in God’s eye and be content to be thrown in to hell.

The upcoming Tribulation will be a series of horrifying and terrifying judgments. Like the pregnancy contractions the time is likened to, those horrors will come one upon each other faster and faster. One horror will fall and then immediately another horror will fall. Lest we minimize the terror of the time, let’s look at a verse from Matthew:

For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. (Matthew 24:21)

That means it will be so bad, especially the second half of the Tribulation called the Great Tribulation, it will be worse than the Noahaic Flood. Worse than the flood. Think about it. Jesus said it will be a time worse than any time since the creation of the world, and that means the Tribulation will be worse than the flood.

I hope that thought removes any fear you have in witnessing.
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Posted in end time, Lord, pre-tribulation rapture, revelation

Guess what is, (or should be), the world’s largest mission field right now?

“Since Christianity has never survived on the basis of mild and uncommitted theism, it is certainly not likely to survive on that basis today.” D. Elton Trueblood, 1961, from “The Company of the Committed“

Trueblood, a Quaker, said that in the opening paragraphs of his book fifty years ago. A little more than a generation. We understand how much more true it is today that we have a world full of mild and uncommitted theists. But worse than a world full of mild and uncommitted theists, is the Christian church full of mild and uncommitted theists. Trueblood went on:

“In any case, when the Church is looking for a mission field it need not look beyond the nearest campus.”

When looking at the prophesies it’s always more interesting to look outward, to see the Muslims and the lost and the atheists and the other nations. But there are prophesies that are foretold about us, the Church.

Matthew 7:22-23 says, “Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ “And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; DEPART FROM ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS.’

Many. If your church is filled with 300 people today, how many do you suppose would be granted entry into the Kingdom? Jesus said MANY will not be. So out of 300, how many is many? 10? 100? 150? 200?

Elton Trueblood again. “When the Church is looking for a mission field it need not look beyond the nearest campus” Why? Because many have halted between the service of God and the service of sin. As Elijah said-

“And Elijah came unto all the people, and said, How long will ye waver between two opinions? if the LORD be God, follow him: but if Baal, then follow him.” 1 Kings 18:21.

Now is the time for decision. That gap between the two opinions is widening. People will not be able to straddle it any more, and that time is drawing close. You must decide, and if you think you have already decided, re-examine yourself. Soon there will be a showdown similar to the one that occurred between a God  and the false prophets of Baal on Mt Carmel. Soon the false notion that we can  serve two masters will be exposed, then removed. 

This is a call to re-examine our response to the Holy Word. Paul urged us to “Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves,” 2 Cor 13:5. The particular reason why Paul calls on them to examine themselves was, “that there was occasion to fear that many of them had been deceived. Such had been the irregularities and disorders in the church at Corinth; so ignorant had many of them shown themselves of the nature of the Christian religion, that it was important, in the highest degree, for them to institute a strict and impartial examination to ascertain whether they had not been altogether deceived. This examination, however, is never unimportant or useless for Christians; and an exhortation to do it is always in place.” (Barnes Notes). It is never more important than now. In any and all churches, I pray that the many will hear “well done good and faithful servant” and not “Depart from me, I never knew you.”

Serve sin or serve God, time to choose. How long will you waver between two opinions? How long will you push forward in church activity but never actually coming to know the builder of that church, Jesus? How long will you study prophecy as it applies to everyone else but not yourself? By the looks of things in the world, we won’t have long at all.

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