I had a question from Matt. He was curious to know which prophecies I saw happening now or coming soon. In the next few posts, I'd like to focus on 3 main prophecies which are in the "building stages". This kind of means that while it's not showing that these will come to pass immediately, things which are happening show the ground work beginning which will bring these prophecies to fruition.
I'd like to talk about Babylon, Israel and Jerusalem. Now for folks who I talk to who want to know what to look for, I have always said, we need to keep our eyes especially, on Israel, the Temple (which will be rebuilt) and now on Babylon. I will go deeper in each post to the things that have been happening for years to bring things into focus and bring about the circumstances, people and events which will bring the prophecies to pass.
First, I'd like to talk about the place called Babylon. Now, why is talking about Babylon so important, and where exactly is this place anyway? First things first. The Bible talks about Babylon in both the Old and New Testaments. If you remember anything about the Tower of Babel, this is the first mention of not only the place, but also of the second place where men decided they wanted to be as a god (the first being in the garden of Eden). There was a guy by the name of Nimrod, who was a grandson of Ham (one of Noah's sons). He was a warrior, he was proud and arrogant. He was actually the first Antichrist- that is, he was all for himself, and he gathered people around himself who despised God. Nimrod and his wife organized the first idolatrous religion at Babel. She was the first new ager- that is, she practiced magic, astrology and spiritism. She proclaimed herself a queen of the heavens, the queen of god. She started the first astrological society, a cult based on the alignment of the stars and planets which were claimed to foretell the events which would happen on the earth. Through her and her husband Nimrod, they built this superstitious religion based on everything under the sun, except for God. When they, and the ungodly people around them, proclaimed that they should build a tower to reach the heavens, they were making themselves equal to god. When God "came down" and saw what they were doing, He mixed their languages and scattered them so they couldn't understand one another anymore, and they gave up on the tower.
Later in History, we see Babylon again a seat of great power through Nebuchadnezzar. Again, this great city was steeped in the "mystery" religions, astrology, psychic activities and idolatry. This empire enslaved the Israelites, and allowed them to forget God. They eventually were overthrown and other more powerful empires rose behind them. Since the days of the end of Nebuchednezzar, Babylon has been desolate, nothing but ruins. Someday, in the time of the final Antichrist, Babylon will be a great city again. In fact, it will become the new capital of all the world's financial, military, cultural and religious societies . It will be the home of the Antichrist.
Back in History, the hanging gardens of Babylon were considered one of the greatest wonders of the ancient world. Someday soon, Babylon will make every man made wonder seem like a child's sandbox castle. This place is going to be the most futuristic, expensive, technologically updated architectural wonder in all the world. There will be no expense too big when it is built. Every country will gladly contribute to the finances and resources that it will take to make it a reality, as everyone will want some recognition for contributing to it. It will be the richest man made city in all of history, and everyone will want to be a part of it.So, where is this place? It is in Iraq and it is a real place. Saddam Hussein started to have it rebuilt during his regime. He poured millions of dollars into the rebuilding of part of the walls, the Ishtar Gate and part of the palace. I think though, that when the Antichrist claims the city as his own, he will perhaps leave some of the original work and some of Saddam's rebuilt areas, but he will, as above, spare no expense to make it unique and his very own.
Now, as it stands right now, there is still not much of the original city left, but between now and when the Antichrist enters the world stage, the city will become a popular and great city- something that will catch the eye of the future world dictator. It will have to be up there with some of the popular cities of the world today, and some of the fantastic places they are building in some of the riches middle eastern countries today.
When I first wrote about the rebuilding and how it would come about, I said that we, along with Iraq would win this war- mainly because of Babylon and future prophecy. I said that, and still do, believe that once the war is over and the Iraqis have a stable government in place, when they get all their infrastructure back up and running, they will need to find ways to bring in much needed dollars. They will continue the rebuilding of Babylon in order to make it a major tourist destination. Other countries will lend support, perhaps to "make up" for their part in this war. With all of the happenings going on in the world these days, much of it is Bible prophecy coming to pass, it won't be long before everything is in place, and the Antichrist and his puppets are all ready to rule.
I am not a prophet, and I will never claim to be. All I do is interpret what is going on in the world and compare the happenings with what the Bible has shown in prophecies.There are more happenings now with the rebuilding of Babylon, which suggests my earlier post from 3 years ago was correct in that the US and other countries would aid the Iraqi government in rebuilding.
I just read an interesting article at Stripes.com Which the headline reads: U.S., Iraqi experts developing plan to preserve Babylon, build local tourism industry
The article describes -Soldiers with the 172nd Infantry Brigade are exploring the ruins as part of a U.S.-Iraqi effort to preserve the ancient city and plan for the return of Western tourists.Members of the brigade’s 2nd Battalion, 28th Infantry Regiment escorted a group of U.S. heritage tourism experts to the ruins last week for the first of several visits to develop a preservation and tourism plan for the area.
Now the rapidly improving security situation in surrounding Babil province has persuaded the U.S. State Department and the Iraqi State Board of Antiquities and Heritage to embark on the preservation project, dubbed the Future of Babylon Project.
The State Department and the World Monuments Fund have committed $700,000 to the project, which will see U.S. and Iraqi experts develop a plan to preserve the site and develop a local tourism industry, said Diane Siebrandt, the U.S. embassy’s cultural heritage officer.
The Babylon project is one of several that the State Department is involved in to conserve ancient sites in partnership with the Iraqi government, she said.
Foreign money and investors will be pouring into Iraq when the city is built. Iraq will become one of the wealthiest nations on earth, and, according to end time prophecy, it will be the "Wall Street" of the world- The place the Antichrist will call home, and where his financial headquarters will be. During the times of God's wrath, Babylon will fall- it will be destroyed for once and for all. The prophecies tell us that Babylon will be a real place in order to be a great city in the near future, and one which will be destroyed by God.
While things like these seem like small things to people, and a bit of a stretch, those of us who know and trust in the prophecies written in the Bible, know that these are the first steps towards the whole of the end time Prophecies coming to pass. The building and plans for the city of Babylon are showing that the prophecies will happen. Jesus said that the generation who witnesses the beginning of these events would not perish. We know that by the signs He told us to watch for, the beginning has been happening since His Ascension, and will be fulfilled within our life time. How do I know this is the generation? In the next post, I'll get to that!
Sunday, June 28, 2009
Friday, June 19, 2009
Some from Matthew 24
From Matthew Chapter 24
There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of birth pains. "Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me.
One thing I will never claim is that I'm a prophet. Unless God gives me the gift of prophecy, any opinions that I give, remains just that- opinions. That said, as I was thinking about the above verses, I was thinking about the first, famine, in that it is not only physical famine, or lack of food, but also spiritual famine- lack of belief and/or faith. Let me explain what I mean here. Famine as Funk and Wagnalls Standard Dictionary explains is 1) A widespread scarcity of food, 2) scarcity of anything.
We are used to seeing pictures of people around the world when there is a famine from food- sad pictures of little kids with extended stomachs, surviving on very little if anything every day. The mothers looking as frail and skinny as skeletons. This kind of famine is unfortunately a typical way of life in many poor countries around the world- many countries who's leaders could avoid slow starvation of their people, but for power or egotistical reasons, refuse. Places like North Korea, who's Kim Il Jong would rather spend any money coming into the country on building up the military, acquiring nuclear arms and putting dissenting citizens in concentration camps. Places like Rwanda, Somalia and Sudan, where people are terrorized because of their religion, or who are caught between opposing militias trying to gain political power often lead to the innocent men, women and children having to either leave their homes and belongings, or being burned our driven out by warlords. Some places suffer for lack of water and crops, insect infestations and other catastrophes.
For many decades, it has been countries like the USA who have been at the forefront of sending aid to these countries, tons of bags of wheat, rice and other food stuffs. Now, we are seeing problems in this country- in that some places are experiencing over farming and soil erosion, some places are experiencing insect or other natural disasters, just a couple of winters ago in California for example, lost much of it's crops due to snow and ice storms. here in Florida, many of us lost crops due to frost and freezes. The animal industry is also experiencing problems with mad cow, resurgence of hoof and mouth disease and with the 'bird flu', could wipe out much of the world's beef and poultry supplies. One only has to look at food recalls lately as well to see that there are serious health issues with cross contamination and uncleanliness. There is also a mysterious killing off of and disappearance of bees around the world. Bees which are necessary to pollinate crops. The economy in recent years as well, with rising fuel prices and scarce crops have actually caused shortages on some food items in the grocery stores.
There will definitely be famines and food shortages to come, possibly worse than anything ever experienced in the world.
As for spiritual famines, I believe we have been seeing this for decades- both inside and out of the Christian church. There is a slow demise of the church and culture is influencing the church more than what it should be- as it used to be, the Church's calling to influence culture by spreading the Gospel and loving people by the Truth has been disappearing. I read a few interesting stories that are not all that uncommon, that show the spiritual starvation of so many people, that they are not being fed the Truth of the Gospel, so they are turning elsewhere to be fed, or they are sampling from the 'smorgasbord' of beliefs that are available. When Jesus was tempted in the wilderness with a loaf of bread, His answer to Satan was "Man can not live by bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God." Jesus was and is talking about God Almighty- not new age gurus, not Mohammad, not Rev. Moonie, not any and every other god- but The God- author of all time, the beginning, the end and everlasting creator of the Universe. Jesus knows that people can survive physically on food, but without His Word, people will die spiritually- from famine.
For those who equate Jesus as just one of the many good teachers or prophets of ages past, another enlightened and good teacher- He believes in the God Breathed Book of Holy Scriptures- He knows that the Bible is Truth, or He wouldn't have quoted it so much. Therefore, either He was a liar, quoting something He knew to be corrupt or nothing more than fairy tales, some book that could be changed or interpreted according to societal and cultural changes, or He is who He says He is. It is your choice in which to believe, but how can a good teacher, or enlightened prophet be a liar?
For the next part of this prophecy, Jesus tells of earthquakes in various places. This is happening now, in places that aren't usually the places you'd think of earthquake prone areas. Last year, some in South West Florida felt a tremor that was from an earthquake in the Gulf of Mexico. The deadly Tsunami a few years ago that was caused by such a massive quake in the Ocean off Sumatra, that it literally knocked the earth slightly off it's axis. Earthquakes are happening quite frequently, as they most likely have throughout history, but there will be major ones to come such as the Oakland/San Francisco Bay area quake back in the late 80's. There are more people in quake prone areas, so there will be terrible loss when they happen more violently in the future.
For the last part of this prophecy, this is happening in many countries around the world already in countries such as China, Cuba, Eritrea, Egypt, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Vietnam, Cambodia, Bhutan and so many others, and if the so called hate crimes bill passes and becomes law here in the Untied States has it has in Canada and other countries of Christian roots, many more people of Christian faith will be dragged into courts, forced to pay large fines or thrown in jail for their faith, and Pastors at Bible believing churches could lose their tax exemptions or even their church.
Many of the Prophecies told to us by Jesus are happening already, and are only going to get worse until He comes back. Some might claim it's just coincidence, or that people like Nostradamus predicted similar things. While there have been many psychics and seers, none of them have proven to have every prediction come true as the Bible prophecies have and will.
Are you willing to stake your eternal future on coincidence or some seer that died centuries ago, or will you put your trust and faith in the Living Jesus, who has forgiven all already, paid the penalty for all sins, leaving you only to accept or reject Him?
There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of birth pains. "Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me.
One thing I will never claim is that I'm a prophet. Unless God gives me the gift of prophecy, any opinions that I give, remains just that- opinions. That said, as I was thinking about the above verses, I was thinking about the first, famine, in that it is not only physical famine, or lack of food, but also spiritual famine- lack of belief and/or faith. Let me explain what I mean here. Famine as Funk and Wagnalls Standard Dictionary explains is 1) A widespread scarcity of food, 2) scarcity of anything.
We are used to seeing pictures of people around the world when there is a famine from food- sad pictures of little kids with extended stomachs, surviving on very little if anything every day. The mothers looking as frail and skinny as skeletons. This kind of famine is unfortunately a typical way of life in many poor countries around the world- many countries who's leaders could avoid slow starvation of their people, but for power or egotistical reasons, refuse. Places like North Korea, who's Kim Il Jong would rather spend any money coming into the country on building up the military, acquiring nuclear arms and putting dissenting citizens in concentration camps. Places like Rwanda, Somalia and Sudan, where people are terrorized because of their religion, or who are caught between opposing militias trying to gain political power often lead to the innocent men, women and children having to either leave their homes and belongings, or being burned our driven out by warlords. Some places suffer for lack of water and crops, insect infestations and other catastrophes.
For many decades, it has been countries like the USA who have been at the forefront of sending aid to these countries, tons of bags of wheat, rice and other food stuffs. Now, we are seeing problems in this country- in that some places are experiencing over farming and soil erosion, some places are experiencing insect or other natural disasters, just a couple of winters ago in California for example, lost much of it's crops due to snow and ice storms. here in Florida, many of us lost crops due to frost and freezes. The animal industry is also experiencing problems with mad cow, resurgence of hoof and mouth disease and with the 'bird flu', could wipe out much of the world's beef and poultry supplies. One only has to look at food recalls lately as well to see that there are serious health issues with cross contamination and uncleanliness. There is also a mysterious killing off of and disappearance of bees around the world. Bees which are necessary to pollinate crops. The economy in recent years as well, with rising fuel prices and scarce crops have actually caused shortages on some food items in the grocery stores.
There will definitely be famines and food shortages to come, possibly worse than anything ever experienced in the world.
As for spiritual famines, I believe we have been seeing this for decades- both inside and out of the Christian church. There is a slow demise of the church and culture is influencing the church more than what it should be- as it used to be, the Church's calling to influence culture by spreading the Gospel and loving people by the Truth has been disappearing. I read a few interesting stories that are not all that uncommon, that show the spiritual starvation of so many people, that they are not being fed the Truth of the Gospel, so they are turning elsewhere to be fed, or they are sampling from the 'smorgasbord' of beliefs that are available. When Jesus was tempted in the wilderness with a loaf of bread, His answer to Satan was "Man can not live by bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God." Jesus was and is talking about God Almighty- not new age gurus, not Mohammad, not Rev. Moonie, not any and every other god- but The God- author of all time, the beginning, the end and everlasting creator of the Universe. Jesus knows that people can survive physically on food, but without His Word, people will die spiritually- from famine.
For those who equate Jesus as just one of the many good teachers or prophets of ages past, another enlightened and good teacher- He believes in the God Breathed Book of Holy Scriptures- He knows that the Bible is Truth, or He wouldn't have quoted it so much. Therefore, either He was a liar, quoting something He knew to be corrupt or nothing more than fairy tales, some book that could be changed or interpreted according to societal and cultural changes, or He is who He says He is. It is your choice in which to believe, but how can a good teacher, or enlightened prophet be a liar?
For the next part of this prophecy, Jesus tells of earthquakes in various places. This is happening now, in places that aren't usually the places you'd think of earthquake prone areas. Last year, some in South West Florida felt a tremor that was from an earthquake in the Gulf of Mexico. The deadly Tsunami a few years ago that was caused by such a massive quake in the Ocean off Sumatra, that it literally knocked the earth slightly off it's axis. Earthquakes are happening quite frequently, as they most likely have throughout history, but there will be major ones to come such as the Oakland/San Francisco Bay area quake back in the late 80's. There are more people in quake prone areas, so there will be terrible loss when they happen more violently in the future.
For the last part of this prophecy, this is happening in many countries around the world already in countries such as China, Cuba, Eritrea, Egypt, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Vietnam, Cambodia, Bhutan and so many others, and if the so called hate crimes bill passes and becomes law here in the Untied States has it has in Canada and other countries of Christian roots, many more people of Christian faith will be dragged into courts, forced to pay large fines or thrown in jail for their faith, and Pastors at Bible believing churches could lose their tax exemptions or even their church.
Many of the Prophecies told to us by Jesus are happening already, and are only going to get worse until He comes back. Some might claim it's just coincidence, or that people like Nostradamus predicted similar things. While there have been many psychics and seers, none of them have proven to have every prediction come true as the Bible prophecies have and will.
Are you willing to stake your eternal future on coincidence or some seer that died centuries ago, or will you put your trust and faith in the Living Jesus, who has forgiven all already, paid the penalty for all sins, leaving you only to accept or reject Him?
Saturday, June 13, 2009
2 Timothy
In the last post we looked at some of the prophecies which are written in the Bible, which have a lot to do with what we will be witnessing soon. There are more, which is what we'll look at in this post. Some of these are close to happening, or are happening now. Many things happening in the world are being shown in the secular news, with no reference to what the Bible has to say, but I find it interesting that many of these happenings have already been written about and foretold in the Bible.
One of the most vivid descriptions of the times we are living in now can be found in 2 Timothy 3:1-9
Godlessness in the Last Days
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 them. They are the kind who worm their way into homes and gain control over weak-willed women, who are loaded down with sins and are swayed by all kinds of evil desires, always learning but never able to acknowledge the truth. Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so also these men oppose the truth—men of depraved minds, who, as far as the faith is concerned, are rejected. But they will not get very far because, as in the case of those men, their folly will be clear to everyone.
Now people may argue that we've had these kinds of people all throughout the ages, that there have always been hateful behavior from people. While that is true, there will be worse to come, and we are seeing the beginning of it.
We witnessed some of this behavior within the past year, with political greed and personal irresponsibility from people who thought they were entitled to something more than they could afford, in the housing collapse. While I'm not going into the whole story, as it's old news, it does show that love of money, power, and proud behavior is alive and well in Washington and all around the world. Governments the world over are displaying reprehensible and greedy behaviors- everything from mass murder of their own people, building weapons to destroy others, letting their people starve while they live in luxury.
Even in America we have so called leaders who are corrupt, using their positions in government for their own gain and interests. From lobby groups to so called community organizers who are out for their own benefit while claiming to be working for the poor and disadvantaged. We've seen crime among young kids and teenagers sky rocket, and many of the crimes are brutal, evil and totally without conscience. People are showing no self control when they are piling on debt on credit. They are showing no self control when being sexually promiscuous- and our society has displayed it's utter disregard for life when we allow our children to be murdered in the womb from conception all the way to the point of being able to survive after birth. We have allowed these "compassionate" people let those unfortunate babies who survive the burning saline and the butcher's knives- to die unaided, cold, hungry and in pain in a garbage can.
In our hyper sexual society, we can see that people are lovers of pleasure with no thoughts of consequences, no thoughts of the impact on the rest of society.Perhaps the biggest of all is having a form of godliness but denying its power. The church has become any place except a place of corporate worship. We have churches which are hip and trendy cafe style, or even in bars- a ear tickling, feel good all inclusive, non judgemental social clubs. Everything is taught at many of these churches, from how to have your best life now, to helping the poor- but for the love of pete! DO NOT proselytize! They are learning how to connect to the inner christ, how to meditate on the feeling of spirit, to love mother earth and build a utopia where we all get along. Not often will anything be said about Christ, the cross or sin and redemption.
We have garbage worming it's way into our homes via TV. Now, I don't have cable where I live, nor do I have satellite. On just the 5 or so channels we do have, is garbage enough. Daytime TV is virtually nothing but depraved people, sad people airing their sin to those they supposedly love on national airwaves. From everything from Maury to Judge Judy, people are willing to display their degenerate behavior for all to see. Night time is not much better with shows like 2 and a Half Men, Sex in the City and other trash.
We have people from all parts of society always learning, and many are shown the truth, but they reject it. It is only going to get worse, and unfortunately many people will still be rejecting the truth until He comes again. They will be acknowledging at last the truth, on their knees before Him, but by then it will be too late for them.
The prophecies in the Bible- or for that matter, the whole Word exists so we don't have to live rejecting Him. It is His revealing Himself to us through His Word, He shows us in this world of His Glory. You don't have to reject the truth.
The world is heading towards it's end. Someday soon, Christ will make a new heaven and new earth. After God's warnings for the past millennium through His prophets, we are all facing the one decision. Are we for Him and Truth, or are we going to live out the word of Timothy?
I'm sorry, this is longer than I intended- I will post more soon, finishing up the current happening prophecies.
One of the most vivid descriptions of the times we are living in now can be found in 2 Timothy 3:1-9
Godlessness in the Last Days
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 them. They are the kind who worm their way into homes and gain control over weak-willed women, who are loaded down with sins and are swayed by all kinds of evil desires, always learning but never able to acknowledge the truth. Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so also these men oppose the truth—men of depraved minds, who, as far as the faith is concerned, are rejected. But they will not get very far because, as in the case of those men, their folly will be clear to everyone.
Now people may argue that we've had these kinds of people all throughout the ages, that there have always been hateful behavior from people. While that is true, there will be worse to come, and we are seeing the beginning of it.
We witnessed some of this behavior within the past year, with political greed and personal irresponsibility from people who thought they were entitled to something more than they could afford, in the housing collapse. While I'm not going into the whole story, as it's old news, it does show that love of money, power, and proud behavior is alive and well in Washington and all around the world. Governments the world over are displaying reprehensible and greedy behaviors- everything from mass murder of their own people, building weapons to destroy others, letting their people starve while they live in luxury.
Even in America we have so called leaders who are corrupt, using their positions in government for their own gain and interests. From lobby groups to so called community organizers who are out for their own benefit while claiming to be working for the poor and disadvantaged. We've seen crime among young kids and teenagers sky rocket, and many of the crimes are brutal, evil and totally without conscience. People are showing no self control when they are piling on debt on credit. They are showing no self control when being sexually promiscuous- and our society has displayed it's utter disregard for life when we allow our children to be murdered in the womb from conception all the way to the point of being able to survive after birth. We have allowed these "compassionate" people let those unfortunate babies who survive the burning saline and the butcher's knives- to die unaided, cold, hungry and in pain in a garbage can.
In our hyper sexual society, we can see that people are lovers of pleasure with no thoughts of consequences, no thoughts of the impact on the rest of society.Perhaps the biggest of all is having a form of godliness but denying its power. The church has become any place except a place of corporate worship. We have churches which are hip and trendy cafe style, or even in bars- a ear tickling, feel good all inclusive, non judgemental social clubs. Everything is taught at many of these churches, from how to have your best life now, to helping the poor- but for the love of pete! DO NOT proselytize! They are learning how to connect to the inner christ, how to meditate on the feeling of spirit, to love mother earth and build a utopia where we all get along. Not often will anything be said about Christ, the cross or sin and redemption.
We have garbage worming it's way into our homes via TV. Now, I don't have cable where I live, nor do I have satellite. On just the 5 or so channels we do have, is garbage enough. Daytime TV is virtually nothing but depraved people, sad people airing their sin to those they supposedly love on national airwaves. From everything from Maury to Judge Judy, people are willing to display their degenerate behavior for all to see. Night time is not much better with shows like 2 and a Half Men, Sex in the City and other trash.
We have people from all parts of society always learning, and many are shown the truth, but they reject it. It is only going to get worse, and unfortunately many people will still be rejecting the truth until He comes again. They will be acknowledging at last the truth, on their knees before Him, but by then it will be too late for them.
The prophecies in the Bible- or for that matter, the whole Word exists so we don't have to live rejecting Him. It is His revealing Himself to us through His Word, He shows us in this world of His Glory. You don't have to reject the truth.
The world is heading towards it's end. Someday soon, Christ will make a new heaven and new earth. After God's warnings for the past millennium through His prophets, we are all facing the one decision. Are we for Him and Truth, or are we going to live out the word of Timothy?
I'm sorry, this is longer than I intended- I will post more soon, finishing up the current happening prophecies.
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