Posted in end time, eu recognize palestinian State, prophecy

Slouching toward Gomorrah: Palestinian state now recognized by 13 nations

I’ve been writing about a troubling notion taking root in the discussions revolving around the Middle East morass known as “peace talks.” In July 2009, then- EU top diplomat Javier Solana cut through all the hyperbole with a simple but devastating statement. Solana-

“called for the United Nations Security Council to recognize a Palestinian State and the two-State solution by a certain deadline even if Israel and others did not. After a fixed deadline, a United Nations Security Council resolution should proclaim the adoption of the two-State solution.”

Since then, Obama has picked up the banner of “just declare it.” A few months after Solana’s proposition to the UN in October 2009, The Asia Times reported in April 2010, “Obama imposing a Palestinian state.” It was reported: “US President Barack Obama’s demands during his meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last Tuesday point to an intention to impose permanent settlement on Israel and the Palestinians in less than two years,” the Israeli daily, Ha’aretz, wrote on Monday. We may draw a similar conclusion from analyses such as the one by Tony Karon in Asia Times Online.”

How about that. Just do it. After all, the European powers created an Israeli state by unilateral decision, so why not do the same for “Palestine”? Never mind the fact that initially the Israeli state contained land that was taken away to be given to the original Palestinian state: Jordan. THAT was supposed to satisfy the peoples calling themselves Palestinians as described in the Balfour Declaration. Jordan IS the Palestinian State. How soon they forget. Since 1917, more land has been taken away from Israel on the false basis that the Palestinians must have their state. Over time, Israel has given the Arabs Sinai Peninsula, Gaza Strip, the southern zone of Lebanon, and partial control of West Bank. The Arabs always ask for more. And it appears that Solana’s dastardly idea may soon come to pass and Israel will be carved up once again.

Sadly, we can say with authority that we know that will happen. It is prophesied. “Jerusalem will be trampled on by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.” (Luke 21:24). “But exclude the outer court; do not measure it, because it has been given to the Gentiles. They will trample on the holy city for 42 months.” (Rev 11:2). I will gather all nations and bring them down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat there I will enter into judgment against them concerning my inheritance, my people Israel, for they scattered my people among the nations and divided up my land.” (Joel 3:2)

So therefore we know that dividing Israel into small bits will occur and all or part of Jerusalem will be given over. What we, as the terminal generation are watching, is the prophecy being prepared for fulfillment right before our eyes. There are extremely troubling developments  occurring this week:

On December 13: Erakat Asks EU to Recognize Palestinian State Alongside Israel. Now, Saeb Muhammad Salih Erekat (his surname is spelled both ways) is the Palestinian chief of the Palestinian Liberation Organization Steering and Monitoring Committee. The PLO is a political and paramilitary organization founded in 1964. It is recognized as the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people. In the above linked article, “Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat formally asked the European Union in a letter to recognize an independent Palestinian state.”

On that same day it was reported in South America that “Brazil and Argentina recognize Palestinian State“
“Many in Latin America and around the world were asking one question following the news that Brazil and Argentina had recognized the state of Palestine in the West Bank: Why now? Among the answers, PLO envoy to Washington Maen Areikat told JTA, was the frustration with the stops and starts in the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, which he said created the atmospherics ripe for recognition.”

On December 17 Norway formally moved toward recognition of a Palestinian State. Norway is not part of the European Union. Norway upgrades Palestinian mission
“Oslo says upgrade from ‘general delegation’ to ‘diplomatic mission’ in recognition of Palestinian Authority’s efforts to establish independent state.” From my understanding, an upgrade means that it is a step closer for the representations to enjoy the status of embassies of a sovereign country.

And on December 19: apparently in response to Erekat’s letter, or Obama’s push, or Solana’s idea, that “10 EU states will upgrade their PLO missions”
“Chief PA negotiator says Palestinian missions abroad are step closer to becoming embassies of an “occupied state with defined borders.”

The formalized, diplomatic steps to recognizing a Palestinian State apparently include recognizing diplomats to deploy to any upcoming new State. And that has happened from Southern Hemisphere to Northern, from West to East. Thirteen nations are prepared to recognize a Palestinian State by fiat.

Brazil has even gone a step further today, and donated land for Palestinian embassy: “Palestinian ambassador to Brazil Ibrahim Az-Zein received the title to a piece of land Monday, where the Palestinian embassy in Brazil will stand following that country’s recognition of a Palestinian state earlier in the month.”

In response, “Israel asks its embassies to thwart PA unilateralism” but you can see how this tide is flowing. It is flowing against God’s people, and toward Armageddon, where these nations will be severely judged for their disgraceful rebellion against Him and their intrusion upon His land.
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Posted in end time, end time. prophecy, revelation, snow in Australia

Crazy weather updated- Australia gets snow- in summer!

Yesterday I posted a blurb about the scientists’ note that 2010 was a seriously wacky weather year. It was noted, “This was the year the Earth struck back. Earthquakes, heat waves, floods, volcanoes, super typhoons, blizzards, landslides and droughts killed at least a quarter million people in 2010 – the deadliest year in more than a generation.” Well, on the heels of that article, I see today that Australia received snow. In summer. It’s summer in Oz, and the height of the wildflower season.

source

Wintry weather brings snow to Australia in midsummer
Australia normally experiences temperatures of 86F (30C) at this time of year, but the chances of a rare white Christmas have increased after plunging temperatures and snow swept across the east of the country. “It’s white, everything is white,” Michelle Lovius, the general manager of the Kosciuszko Chalet Hotel at Charlotte Pass, said. “First thing this morning everything was just very still, very peaceful and every single thing was just blanketed in a thick cover of white.” At the ski fields, children in Father Christmas hats, who would usually be sunning themselves on the grassy slopes, made snowballs and rode on sleds. Miss Lovius said such a large amount of snow was unusual for early December, normally the peak of the wild flower season in the mountainous region. “We’re hoping that it (the cold) stays in for five days and we get a white Christmas,” she said. In one part of the state temperatures dropped as low 39.2F, the coldest December morning in 54 years, according to the Weather Channel.”

As I have been saying, weather anomalies are a sometimes, mostly rare, occurrence. Spot weird weather happens across the globe from time to time. But no one can seem to explain why anomalies are occurring as a regular pattern, in many places at once, so demonstrably. Superlatives are constantly being used, “coldest in a generation”, “most snow in 50 years”, “Heaviest winds ever recorded…” Record-breaking is the norm now. Actually, what is happening is opposite of what man thought would and should be happening. To give a taste of how flawed our understanding is of the complicated workings of God-driven weather patterns, just ten years ago, it was reported in the UK Independent,

‘Snowfalls Are Now Just a Thing of the Past’
“Britain’s winter ends tomorrow with further indications of a striking environmental change: snow is starting to disappear from our lives. Sledges, snowmen, snowballs and the excitement of waking to find that the stuff has settled outside are all a rapidly diminishing part of Britain’s culture, as warmer winters – which scientists are attributing to global climate change – produce not only fewer white Christmases, but fewer white Januaries and Februaries.”

OOPS! This winter, the UK has experienced tremendous winter chaos as the heaviest snowfalls ever and the coldest temperatures ever cause everything from simple travel woes, to accidents, lost revenue, chaos, and even deaths.

Eventually, the weather will be completely upended from anything man has known. The last days of the end days, which are now, God is warning us through weather, among other methods. The Scriptures are far from silent on the source of weather disasters, including drought, earthquakes, famines, floods, hailstones, storms, thunder, tornadoes, wind storms, etc. Weather disasters such as the ones mentioned in the article “2010’s world gone wild: Quakes, floods, blizzards” can originate from satan at the permission of God, or they can originate with God. However, God is always fully in control of all that happens on the earth, and if the weather is crazy this winter, well, just turn to Psalm 78:47 and read “He destroyed …their sycamore trees with frost…”  or Job 37:6 “For he saith to the snow, Be thou on the earth…” How anyone can say that man is knowledgeable of weather patterns with within one decade we went from “there will be no more snow” to “Forecasters warned the worst was still to come over the next 24 hours as the heaviest December snowfall for 30 years tightened its grip on the nation once more.” (source)

Unusual and inexplicable weather will only get worse. After the rapture when millions of Christians are removed from the earth, the Time of Jacob’s Trouble will begin for the rebellious Jews and unbelieving world. The Seal Judgments are the very first set of judgments, and by the time the sixth seal is opened, no weather will be normal. Even the hardest-hearted will acknowledge that God is in control of it all. It is prophesied:

“I looked when He broke the sixth seal, and there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth made of hair, and the whole moon became like blood; and the stars of the sky fell to the earth, as a fig tree casts its unripe figs when shaken by a great wind. The sky was split apart like a scroll when it is rolled up, and every mountain and island were moved out of their places. Then the kings of the earth and the great men and the commanders and the rich and the strong and every slave and free man hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains; and they said to the mountains and to the rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the presence of Him who sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb;  for the great day of their wrath has come, and who is able to stand?”(Rev 6:12-17)

Beloved, if you are unsaved and reading this and are prepared to mock His words, be assured that you will be one of those hiding in caves crying out to God, understanding that His day has arrived, and because of the burden of your sin, you cannot stand. The prophecy says every slave and every free man and since the bible is literally true, then that means every, and thus, it means YOU.

You do not have to wait until that day, however. In His mercy He warns us and those warnings are happening now. The crazy weather and unusual things happening in the world are part of His plan to shake us from the complacency of sin. You can acknowledge your sins, and ask Him to forgive the wrongs you have committed against Him and He WILL forgive you. It’s that, or nursing your pride in a cave when the world goes dark and the earth shakes open. Your call.
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Posted in earthquake, ethiopia

Crazy weather, Ethiopia earthquake, & Africa splitting apart

[NOTE: I updated this entry with one that contains new information about Australia getting snow in summer, click here. Thank you!]

2010’s world gone wild: Quakes, floods, blizzards
This was the year the Earth struck back. Earthquakes, heat waves, floods, volcanoes, super typhoons, blizzards, landslides and droughts killed at least a quarter million people in 2010 – the deadliest year in more than a generation. More people were killed worldwide by natural disasters this year than have been killed in terrorism attacks in the past 40 years combined. “It just seemed like it was back-to-back and it came in waves,” said Craig Fugate, who heads the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency. It handled a record number of disasters in 2010. “The term ‘100-year event’ really lost its meaning this year.”

In 2005, the continent of Africa began unzipping. In just days, a 35-mile-long rift opened up, which was 20 miles wide at spots. It happened quickly and initially, scientists surmised that a new sea was growing. However, this assessment as controversial, because their understanding of plate tectonics holds a longer and a slower view. In other words, continents don’t move and split apart in days, it takes millions of years. Or so they thought. In November of 2009, scientists concluded that indeed, the continent of Africa is birthing a new sea, and that was when they used the word “unzipped.”

Here is an excerpt from that article: “The new study, published in the latest issue of Geophysical Research Letters, suggests that the highly active volcanic boundaries along the edges of tectonic ocean plates may suddenly break apart in large sections, instead of little by little as has been predominantly believed. In addition, such sudden large-scale events on land pose a much more serious hazard to populations living near the rift than would several smaller events, says Cindy Ebinger, professor of earth and environmental sciences at the University of Rochester and co-author of the study.”

Man’s understanding is in some cases wise, and in other cases miraculous, but in other cases poor and meager. The earth is not millions of years old and plates can shift apart in a matter of days, or even in a moment. How do I know this to the point of contradicting decades of general scientific understanding? Because in the Tribulation, massive geophysical changes will occur in moments, and the world will indeed split apart quickly. “The earth is broken up, the earth is split asunder, the earth is thoroughly shaken.” (Isaiah 24:19). “The sky receded like a scroll, rolling up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place.” (Rev 6:19). Jesus controls all judgments and He will judge the earth, and He won’t take millions of years to do it.

At the Horn of Africa last month, an earthquake swarm at Yemen caused alarm. The swarm was situated at the opening to the Red Sea at the Gulf of Aden, and seemed to be an unusual place for seismic activity. According to the history of the area, at USGS, the Yemen-Gulf of Aden-Djibouti area IS seismic, but in a minor way. Between 1950 through yesterday this area had 56 earthquakes ranging between mag 4.0-5.9. There were no quakes greater than mag 5.9 during that date range. Now there have been 31 (as of 1:00pm), which is 2/3 as many as in the last sixty years. This is statistically significant, as well as prophetically interesting. (Mark 13:8)

And in a third piece of interesting news from that area, not only have there been unusual geophysical changes occurring in rifts suddenly opening, and unusual earthquake activity that has never been replicated historically, but today at the other end of the rift, a 5.1 mag earthquake occurred in Ethiopia.

 How secular man, atheists, and lukewarm “believers” can NOT see the signs is beyond me. God has always used weather to claim man’s attention, ” ‘I will make a violent wind break out in My wrath … flooding rain and hailstones …’ “(Ez 13:13) and ”    ‘There will be … dismay among nations, in perplexity at the roaring of the sea and the waves’ (Lk 21.25)” are just two of many examples of how He uses weather and earth changes to warn us out of complacency. Today in this millennium, the weather is acknowledged to have been crazy-unusual, the geo-physical changes in many areas of the world are upending scientists’ understanding, yet they all claim that it is man causing these changes. It is not man causing these changes, or if he is, it is man’s sin causing the world to stumble. Isaiah 24 is the chapter that describes the destruction of the world by God, “The LORD’s Devastation of the Earth” and the reason is explained: “so heavy upon it is the guilt of its rebellion that it falls—never to rise again.” (Is 24:20). Once again, the LORD is using weather and earth changes (as prophesied) to warn us of His impending wrath.

The Lord is just, and He will not allow sin to languish forever. Sin’s day is soon coming to an end, which means the LORD’S Day is about to begin!
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Posted in chris matthews, end time, prophecy

Chris Matthews’ man-crush on Obama just keeps getting more embarrassing

Remember, he is a NEWS media person, he is supposed to be objective.

http://www.eyeblast.tv/public/eyeblast.swf?v=hd6U8zuzkU

Here is a transcript of the comment:
CHRIS MATTHEWS, HOST: You know, whatever you say, I want to talk about the subjective president, Gene, your reaction to this. Subjectively, in his heart, he’s a happy man this weekend. That smile, that cute smile we all love in that guy. That wonderful, boyish smile of his he gave us there after he made his little crack about the holiday spirit. I haven’t seen that in months.

What was even more delicious about this snippet was the look on Robinson’s face when Matthews was swooning:

All the above is courtesy of Newsbusters, a site I HIGHLY recommend.

Can you picture Chet Huntley saying Ike had a ‘boyish smile we all love’? Or Walter Cronkite saying JFK’s  smile was cute? On national television? No. Not a chance.

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Posted in end time, prophecy

Eleven-year-old defends home with a pink rifle

It’s come to this: 11 year olds girls defending their home from armed gunmen.

I think this is just heartbreaking, for all the reasons. That the intruders were young themselves, is terrible. I read of three thirteen year old boys setting an abandoned home on fire in New Gloucester, Maine recently, and it astonishes me that kids so young are committing these high crimes. Only 40 years ago the worst thing my peers did was steal a gumball, or make a prank phone call. Now they stalk fortified homes and burn property. Forty years is considered a generation in the bible, so look how far and how fast we have fallen. And how utterly we have abandoned our children to satan.

The article says that the family knows one of the boys who were subsequently arrested. Imagine, a trust betrayal of that magnitude, knowing the people you are prepared to steal from and perhaps kill.

I feel so heartbroken for that little girl, terrified and hiding behind a couch, then getting up the nerve to lock and load a gun, point it at intruders and be prepared to fire. You never feel the same after you have been on the receiving end of a gun barrel, and I believe you never are the same after looking through a sight at a human being, either. She’ll never feel safe in her home again, knowing that the boldness of criminals means the law isn’t enough to stay them, and her locks are not enough to keep them out.

Our children are at risk from womb to adulthood. In the womb, they are killed by quartering through abortion. For everyone who studies medieval torture and execution methods, you know that they used to tie each limb to a horse and then smack the 4 horses to speed off in 4 directions, tearing the body apart. You say to yourself, “Oh, how horrible! How barbaric!” Abortion is the same. A baby is torn apart, alive. Yet this generation does not say “Oh how terrible! How barbaric!” But the Lord will say it, and to your face. It is a terrible thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

Children are aborted, sold, neglected, traded, tortured, prostituted, tossed, tossed some more, and killed.  Yet they are the most precious thing to Jesus. He loves them so very much, and warned us that there will be woes to those who harm them, in Luke 17:1-2. They would be better off having a millstone put round their neck and drowned than causing harm to even one of His little ones.

So I do pray for the rapture because I want to be away from this sinful world. I pray for it because want to be with Jesus. I pray for it because Paul told us to look for Him and be eager for His appearing. But mostly, I pray for it because I want safety and permanent love for the children. I thank Him that He loves us so much and that He takes special care for the children. It will be a glorious reunion for me, but I am eagerly awaiting the children’s reaction to seeing Him. Won’t that be glorious!

Source

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Posted in end time, israel, prophecy

Israel Air Force shoots down UFO

Israel Defense Force reports today: “IAF Intercepted a Suspicious Flying Object“
“An Israel Air Force fighter jet shot down a suspicious object flying near the southern Red Sea on Thursday (Dec. 16), after it was determined that the object posed a threat to buildings in the area including the nearby Dimona (southern Israel) plant. Army Radio stated in a later report that only after the IAF’s southern air-control unit determined the flying object was in a closed airspace, was unmanned and had no reason to be hovering where it was the IAF shot it down.”

Dimona is reputed to be the nuclear plant for Israel, though Israel has in place a firm plan of nuclear ambiguity, neither confirming nor denying the plant’s function. It was only the second time since the Second Lebanon War that the Air Force used interception and comes at a time of heightened tensions between Israel and her neighbors.

We are all on tenterhooks as to when the last battles before the rapture will take place. We know that there will be in the form of Damascus destroyed (Isaiah 17:1) Neighbors of Israel warring (Psalm 83), and Ezekiel 38-39 (Iran, Turkey and Russia et al attack Israel). We just don’t know for sure when, or in what order. But it will happen.

Since Israel is in the forefront of God’s work in the last days before the rapture and all throughout the tribulation, we always look out for that blessed nation and see what is happening. A drone, unmanned balloon, or any flying object over Israel’s nuke plant is something to take note of.  So what is the state of things militarily and otherwise in Israel with her neighbors? We turn to Joel C. Rosenberg, a Christian insider who knows quite a bit of what is going on. He recently attended a conference on “Confronting The Iran Threat,” organized by the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank and there, Rosenberg gave his year end threat analysis:

“As we end 2010, my sense is that the Stuxnet computer virus which has infected more than 30,000 Iranian computers and brought Iranian enrichment of uranium almost to a standstill for the time being, the recent assassination of a top Iranian nuclear scientist, the near assassination of another top Iranian nuclear scientist, and the effect of new economic sanctions are all having a significant impact. Anything is possible, of course, but some experts I’m talking to believe that there is a little more breathing room, and an Israeli strike would be generally unlikely before the fall of 2011, at the earliest. That is speculation, to be sure. The threat is very real.”

Iran is chomping at the bit to attack Israel, especially after losing face with the damage done by the Stuxnet computer virus. Hezbollah and Hamas are being armed continually by Iran and Syria continues her chemical warfare experiments.  The Syrian Presidential adviser blames the Iranian nuke scientists’ deaths on Mossad assassinations, we learn that without preconditions, “France to send Lebanon 100 anti-tank missiles” while  Israel’s Haaretz newspaper editors simply wonder “Is the Middle East on the threshold of collapse?“

Why yes, yes it is on the verge of collapse. As a matter of fact the Middle East will collapse- EXCEPT for Israel. It is a near thing, but in the very end of the Tribulation, the LORD saves His nation. The countries and federations listed in Psalm 83 which attack Israel in the last days are her persistent enemies from all time. Richard Ritenbaugh of Bible Tools wrote: “all of these different peoples [listed as attacking Israel in Psalm 83]—Edom, Ishmael, Amalek, Moab, Ammon, Philistia, Tyre, and Assyria—are among the major players in the Middle East today. These are peoples from whom the Jihadists and the Islamic fundamentalists hail, making up what is known as the “Arab” or “Muslim world.” Today, these people inhabit the nations of Lebanon, Syria, Turkey, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Egypt, Libya, Sudan, Morocco, Tunisia, etc., and the pseudo-nation of Palestine.”

It was into this tense atmosphere that an unmanned drone, balloon, or unidentified flying object flew. The Israel Air Force has not found remnants yet, but they sure are looking. They want to know what it was and from that, why it was flying over restricted airspace. The tensions, hatreds, and uncertainties in the Middle East will only worsen, until there will be no doubt to the answer to Haaretz’s question, “Is the Middle East on the threshold of collapse?”
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Posted in edwin ramos, end of the world, end time, harold camping, prophecy

No, the end of the world will likely not be May 2011

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. 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 end time, end time. prophecy, portugal, shortages, sugar

JP Morgan corners the market on copper

Portugal ran out of sugar this week. I am not making this up. No, it is not because everyone is baking for Christmas, although the seasonal baking spike did hasten the predicted shortage. On December 12, Portuguese media reported, “There is no sugar on the shelves of most supermarkets across the country.  A surveillance done by the ‘Journal News’ in Porto, Lisbon, Braga, Aveiro, Viana and Tras-os-Montes brought confirmation: the shelves are empty and nobody knows when it will be replenished the supply. Since Thursday that some supermarkets have not received sugar and rationing does not appear to have been enough to prevent the collapse of stocks.”

Today, it is reported, “Portugal Tries to Prevent Sugar Hoarding Amid Shortage, FT Says”
“Portugal faces a sugar shortage, the first European country to find itself in this position in more than three decades, the Financial Times reported. Agriculture Minister Antonio Serrano asked people not to hoard the commodity after a breakdown in imports to refineries led to a run on supplies in the shops, the newspaper said. Global sugar prices have reached a 30-year high.”

I’ve been noting in my prophecy newsletter (sent by email) of the impact the adverse weather is taking on worldwide basic commodities. Wheat stocks globally have taken a hit as the last two years have seen a dramatic increase in drought and also UG99, a virulent wheat rust pestilence ruining 99% of crops it infects. Prices are derived from what is called a “basket” of basic commodities. The basket contains everyday products such as food, clothing, furniture and financial services. Prices on some of the basics are spiking dramatically, as anyone who has recently purchased milk, bread, eggs, cooking oil, or salt and sugar knows. But now the issue is not only of climbing prices, but a perfect storm (long in the making) of weather, price, unemployment, and shortages coming together to create a new climate of scarcity that has not been seen in First World countries for over 30 or 40 years.

Coffee is in a shortage, and that article asks the question as to whether it is time to start hoarding coffee beans. Cooking oil prices are spiking and there are reports of shortages (palm oil, too). Portugal’s sugar shortage was mentioned above, milk in in shortage in Serbia and Israel, among other places. Israel Faces Worst Butter Shortage In Country’s History. Britain’s egg production has declined by 50% and are in a shortage now. In India’s major rice production area, Bihar, production has declined  50% and spot shortages have appeared.

It’s not just food that is beginning to show strains of short supply. JP Morgan either knows or suspects something. This month it was revealed that the large global financial services firm was revealed as the secret buyer of 1 Billion dollars worth of copper, more than half of the entire copper on the London Metals Exchange. Things that make you go hmmm, for sure. The International Business Times wrote, that there is a “bullish scenario for copper: rising demand, tightening supply.” “Although it might lack the glamour of more heralded commodities like oil and gold, copper is a crucial component of industry and technology and its price typically reflects the health of the underlying global economy. To underscore the concern that the markets have about copper scarcity, consider that last week the British newspaper Daily Telegraph reported that a “mystery buyer” had acquired more than $1 billion of physical copper, representing more than 50 percent of all the metal stored in official London warehouses. It was subsequently reported that the mysterious buyer was none other than U.S. banking giant J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. While this action does not quite constitute “cornering the market,” it suggests how a handful of major players taking aggressive positions in the copper market (as well as certain other commodities like nickel and aluminum alloy). The Wall Street Journal reported that J.P. Morgan said it purchased the copper mostly on behalf of clients. Incidentally, the London Metal Exchange said that its warehouses currently hold about 350,000 tons of copper, down from 555,000 in February. Copper stockpiles have been in sharp decline all year, on schedule for the first annual drop since 2004.”

Edward Yardeni, Chief investment strategist at Yardeni Research, said on Bloomberg TV that copper prices can double in 2011. He thinks there will be a shortage of copper. He calls copper a ‘rare earth metal’ because there are no substitutes for it in products like cars and home appliances. Speaking of rare earth metals, “In 1997, Deng Xiaoping, the former general secretary of the Communist Party in China, announced that China would be, for rare earth metals, what the Middle East was for oil. At the time, it seemed too distant a reality to draw much concern. A draft report form China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology released late last month, however, could set off the alarm bells in boardrooms around the world.” China has in fact, cornered the rare earth metals market. The US Energy Department said in a report released today, that it “will Take 15 Years to Break Dependence on Chinese Metals“. We will have to rely on China for the majority of supplies. Since Xiaoping declared China’s intention all those years ago, they now in fact manufacture 93% of all rare earth metals, and can essentially hold the rest of the world hostage to a myriad of daily necessities.

So as you can see, the basic things we need to sustain our lives on earth are becoming scarce, hoarded, or cornered. There will still be wealth on the earth during the Tribulation, but it will be in the hands of the few. Revelation 18 is the judgment chapter, where the world’s false economy finally crumbles. It shows clearly that there had been a vigorous trade in luxury items, but only the wealthy could afford them. As for the poor, they scramble for bread while the oil and wine are not touched. (Rev 6:6)

In Revelation 18:3, we learn that “merchants of the earth grew rich from her excessive luxuries.” In Revelation 18:11, sales are gone. Rev 8:12a, trade in valuable items are gone. Rev 18:12b, furniture trade is gone. In Revelation 18:13-14,  agriculture of wine, olive oil and other luxury spices and fruit finally goes kaput. And so the rest of the chapter continues in like manner.

So you read of scarcity and shortages and indeed the weather and the Lord’s hand are certainly taking a toll. Death by famine will come for many millions (Rev 6:8). The rich won’t care. (Amos 5:11; James 5:4). Far from the supposed equitable shift in wealth that today’s socialists claim to want to make, in reality, there will be a massive shift in wealth but it will be from most of the world to a few in the world. The poor will die. The rich will laugh. The money transfer has begun. The wealth skew has begun. Shortages have begun. Are you ready?

The wealth of the world will be present during the tribulation but even the rich will weep in the end, for their wealth will have turned to rust (Mt 6:19; James 5:3; Rev 18:14). As for the poor, shortages and pathetic lives spent scrambling for a crumb awaits them. Born-again believers will have wealth unimaginable forever. We will have food and warmth and friendship and a banquet with the King.The grace of Jesus is that He allows you to choose your destiny.The high standard of living of the Church Age is declining. The wealth and luxury of the Tribulation age will be oh-so-fleeting. True wealth: JESUS, lasts forever. Decide soon!
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Posted in end time, if you see something, prophecy, say something

Loose lips SAVE ships?

“Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child; and children will rise up against parents and cause them to be put to death.” (Matthew 10:21)

“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 natural affection, 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 them.” (2Tim 3:1-5)

The climate in the tribulation will be of suspicion, brutality, and guiltiness before innocence. The two verses above indicate that without a doubt, no relationship will be immune to betrayal of the grossest kind. Not only will strangers not care for each other, not only friends will lack compassion for each other, but even the closest familial bonds of parent and child will break down, with finger pointing that will result in death.

Ever since satan approached Eve and not Adam, he has attacked and tried to split the family. His special evils of abortion (Moloch-worship in the Old Testament days) and of homosexuality were attacks against the family unit and of God’s special commandment to be fruitful and multiply. Once the nuclear family unit is broken then society’s most important bond, the glue in its foundation, is fractured beyond repair.

The verses above tell us that such a fracture beyond repair is coming.

Since the Patriot Act’s passage in America after the terrorist event of September 11, 2001, the inexorable slide from the default standard innocent until proven guilty has shifted to a default position of suspicion reigns and you are probably guilty. Even the legitimate act of profiling has fallen by the wayside as a method of identifying likely criminals. (Profiling: “the extrapolation of information about something, based on known qualities.”) The outcome of suspending profiling changes our mentality into thinking of everyone as a possible criminal. After all, if only some are not suspicious, then we all must be suspicious.

One example of the eventual outcome of this is the recent anger toward the Transportation Safety Administration’s (TSA) practice of subjecting all Americans to a naked body scan and/or and enhanced pat down (read: physical molestation). Every American that passes through the airport is now under suspicion, even children, though to my knowledge no child in America has ever been used as a suicide bomber.

Another extension of the new suspicion mentality is the Department of Homeland Security’s new ‘spy on your neighbor’ program. That is not its real name, of course, its real name is “If you see something, say something.” Its aim is to partner with Wal-Mart “to engage the public and key frontline employees to identify and report indicators of terrorism, crime and other threats to the proper transportation and law enforcement authorities.” We are not allowed to profile but we are allowed to be suspicious of anyone and everyone who may indicate that are possibly doing something suspicious. Right.

The civic results of the Patriot Act, the Big Brother Government, Google Street View, The Information Age, and the Surveillance Nation mentality are well-documented. The law enforcement results are also well-documented (tasers). But the mental results of a heightened climate of increased suspicion, pitting neighbor against neighbor and expecting terror at any moment are not well-documented. But today’s climate of suspicion, over-reliance on government and terror before justice are coming home to roost, and the public that is left behind will live those results. Silence used to mean security. Now it means you become a target. We have come a long way from “Loose lips sink ships” to “If you see something, say something.”

This inexorable slide away from civic restraint and individual responsibility leads to mutual and complete suspicion. It is what the Tribulation is all about, the pendulum swinging its full course. The Tribulation a time when the Lord is giving unbelievers their desire: a godless society, free from any restraint. It will be a total moral breakdown, a total societal breakdown and a total familial breakdown. Can you imagine a society where the norm will be what Jesus described in Matthew 10, with son, father, parents betraying each other unto death? Unfortunately, those who do not believe will not have long left to imagine. They will soon live it.

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Posted in christmas, end time, entertain angels unaware, prophecy

Angels we have heard on high

You know this Christmas hymn, I’m sure:

“Angels we have heard on high”
Angels we have heard on high
Sweetly singing o’er the plains,
And the mountains in reply
Echoing their joyous strains.
Gloria, in excelsis Deo!
Gloria, in excelsis Deo!

Now the bible isn’t saturated with information about angels but there is a good bit of information about them. They are created beings whose created purpose was to minister to humans. (Hebrews 1:14). When they were created, we do not know. They also serve the Lord at His throne, so they could have been created billions of years ago as we count our time, or they could have been created just before He made humans. We do know that at the three critical junctures of God’s revealed plan for the world, they burst into song, proclamation, and exhortation, in jubilation of the work that God is doing. They burst through the veil between earth and highest heaven, to make His work known.

They sang as God laid the foundation of the world, referred to here as they often were, as the “sons of God”:

“Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell Me, if you have understanding, Who set its measurements? Since you know. Or who stretched the line on it? On what were its bases sunk? Or who laid its cornerstone when the morning stars sang together And all the sons of God shouted for joy?” (Job 38:4-7)

They proclaimed when Jesus was born: 

“In the same region there were some shepherds staying out in the fields and keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord suddenly stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them; and they were terribly frightened. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of great joy which will be for all the people; for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. “This will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.” And suddenly there appeared with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying,  “Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace among men with whom He is pleased.” (Luke 2:8-14)

And finally, angels will exhort during the Tribulation. Three of them will fly around the earth  preaching and exhorting and warning:

“Then I saw another angel flying in midair, and he had the eternal gospel to proclaim to those who live on the earth–to every nation, tribe, language and people. A second angel followed and said, “Fallen! Fallen is Babylon the Great,’which made all the nations drink the maddening wine of her adulteries.” A third angel followed them and said in a loud voice: “If anyone worships the beast and its image and receives its mark on their forehead or on their hand, they, too, will drink the wine of God’s fury, which has been poured full strength into the cup of his wrath. ” (Revelation 14:6-10a)

Three times they burst in, at the beginning, the middle and the end of this age. God cares for us SO much, He created angels to minister to us before He even made us, or the world. He cares for us so much that He sent His son to satisfy the sin debt and make a way for us to be with Him. He cares for us so much He sends angels to warn and proclaim the gospel to every creature on earth. He is a mighty God and a Loving God.

I hope that your eternal destination to be with Him is secure. I hope that you have recognized His holiness and our sinfulness, and asked Him forgiveness for your sins. Otherwise, the default destination for you is to receive your wish: permanent separation from him in hell. Hell was originally designed for Lucifer and the fallen angels, (Mt 25:41) but he widened its mouth to receive those humans who would also rebel against Him in refusing the remedy of Jesus’ forgiveness. (Is 5:14). Instead, because of Jesus’ birth as a babe, His sinless life on earth, His obedient death, and miraculous resurrection- we can sing in exultation that we are saved! We are His!

Gloria in Excelsis Deo! Glory to God in the highest!

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