For Fair Use Discussion and Educational Purposes

Originally Posted on RITA Rapture in the Air
January 21 2011

http://pub48.bravenet.com/forum/static/show.php?usernum=4086901292&frmid=13&msgid=1055106&cmd=show

Reposted on
PreWrath & Pre Tribulation Rapture of the Church Forum

http://pub39.bravenet.com/forum/static/post.php?usernum=3330765498&frmid=8549&msgid=0&cp=1

http://www.worldviewweekend.com/worldview-times/article.php?articleid=6835

1. Birds Falling, Fish Dying, & Earthquakes 2.Who is able.. 3. Christians Only (Atheists, don't )


Birds Falling, Fish Dying, and Earthquakes

HEADLINES: Forty Thousand Velvet Crabs Washed up on the Coast of Great Britain. Penguins Dying and Littering the Beaches of New Zealand. Crows Falling Out of the Sky in Sweden. Eight Thousand Turtle Doves Falling Dead to the Ground in Italy. Two Million Dead Fish Washed up along the Shores of the Chesapeake Bay. That is just a few places from a much larger number of headlines.

It appears to have started on New Year’s Eve and has been escalating daily for over two weeks. Brazil is dealing with hundreds of tons of dead fish. In state after state all across America, thousands of birds and millions of fish are mysteriously dying. There are numbers of reasons being given, but the answers sound emptier than not giving any answer. Is all of it more evidence that we are quickly approaching the Great Tribulation?

I believe 2011 will be a year of signs from heaven above and earth beneath. There is a Jewish proverb that states, “Accidents are not kosher.” The earth is the Lord’s and nature is God’s system — full of warnings and signs of the time. Absolutely nothing of human life is without cause or purpose. Nature does not exist out of God’s control but is a system of balance and design. Whatever is in our Creator’s plan is played out on a daily schedule. Jesus Christ warns us of man’s failure to discern the signs of the time. He stated, “And in the morning, It will be foul weather to day: for the sky is red and lowring. O ye hypocrites, ye can discern the face of the sky; but can ye not discern the signs of the times?” (Matthew 16:3).

Earthquakes have always been viewed by Godly people as a warning from the Creator. The Son of God stated, “And great earthquakes shall be in divers places, and famines, and pestilences; and fearful sights and great signs shall there be from heaven” (Luke 21:11). The growing frequency of earthquakes is ominous. We are witnessing an increase of earthquakes that is above normal and that perfectly fulfills the End Time prophetic events. A scale of earthquakes over a span of the last ten years is scary. There were twenty-one earthquakes that were over a magnitude of 6.0 in the year of 2002, but there were 168 earthquakes over a magnitude of 6.0 last year in 2010.

Before the OBD radio broadcast this past Saturday, I went online at USGS to research the frequency of earthquakes. From midnight on Friday until 11:30 AM on Saturday (11.5 hours), there were twenty earthquakes over 2.5 magnitudes, nine of them were over 4.5 magnitudes. I just read a headline from Arkansas, where many of the birds and fish are dying. The state had thirty-eight earthquakes in 2009 and over 600 in 2010. Nearly 500 of them were during the months of September – December. Today, earthquakes are as clearly the voice of the Lord as the one that shook Jerusalem and Calvary when the Son of God said, “It is finished.”

Peter declared the voice of God, “And I will shew wonders in heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath” (Acts 2:19a). The media is awash with terrifying reports out of the heavens. One headline stated, “Terrifying Scientific Discovery: Strange Emissions by Sun Suddenly Mutates Matter . . .” (Project World Awareness). Another headline said, “Earth’s Magnetic Pole Shift Unleashing Poisonous Space Clouds, Linked to Mysterious Bird Deaths” (naturalview.com). This report warned that a cloud of this nature covering a major city would cause a multitude to die instantly. When you know that the infallible Scripture has warned us that this kind of End Time phenomena is going to occur, why do we fail to discern that the end is near? My friends, you must get ready to meet God!

The death of such an unprecedented number of birds and fish all over the world denies a simple problem. A just released news report gave details of the death of two hundred cows in a single pasture in Wisconsin. These all died over a span of a few days. It is impossible to call all of this anything but alarming. The Bible must always be the factor in understanding what we are facing in our world. By the Holy Ghost, an Old Testament prophet spoke and said, “I will consume man and beast; I will consume the fowls of the heaven and the fishes of the sea” (Zephaniah 1:3a).

The kind of judgments that are right before us are clear prophecies, given by the Holy Ghost and they cannot be erased. Our world is in such a slumber that the only way a Holy Ghost revival can occur is for all of us to be awakened. There is a great majority that will only hate God more as His wrath is revealed. But, a remnant will wake up and repent. That’s all we can hope for in these last hours before the Rapture.

During our weekly radio broadcast, I am giving an up-to-date report of what is occurring that week. Our website (www.pawcreek.org) carries this radio broadcast live every Saturday at 1:00 PM (EST). There is a link on our front page, where you can click and join the family of listeners. You can send a question by email to jrc@pawcreek.org or call 1-800-338-7884 end_of_the_skype_highlighting! Please copy this report and send it to those you love or to whom you minister.

Joseph R. Chambers
http://www.raptureready.com/featured/chambers/jc117.html


WHO IS ABLE TO STAND?

By Matt Leasher



As the Age of Grace that we are currently living in draws nearer and nearer to a close and the lateness of the hour becomes more relevant to those of us who have our eyes on heaven and the coming of the Lord, we can’t help but be concerned about those that do not know their Savior and are living for the world and for themselves. Almost every saved Christian has some unsaved friends and family that do not accept the truth of the gospel and whom they know will be left here on earth to have to endure the soon to come Tribulation period that Jesus has clearly warned us is sure to come before He physically returns to Earth to set up His Kingdom, (see Matthew 24:3-31, Mark 13:3-27 & Luke 21:7-28).

The Book of Revelation lays out much of the horrific details of this forthcoming history-ending period. The actual beginning of the Tribulation itself begins in chapter 6 with Jesus (referred to as the Lamb), opening the seals of the scroll and beginning the seven seal judgments. Since Jesus is Lord, (see Hebrews 1:8), this is therefore the beginning of the wrath of God upon a Christ rejecting world. The first four seals are the four horsemen of the Apocalypse. The fifth seal is the cry of the martyrs and the sixth seal is of cosmic disturbances upon the earth. All of these seal judgments seem to happen very rapidly in succession because at the end of the description of the sixth seal it says:


And the kings of the earth, the great men, the rich men, the commanders, the mighty men, every slave and every free man, hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains, and said to the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of Him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb! For the great day of His wrath has come, and who is able to stand?” (Revelation 6:15-17)


We see from the last verse that it isn’t until the sixth seal that the folks hiding themselves in caves have realized that the wrath of God has begun! We know that the Church is gone at this point because “God has not appointed us to wrath”, (1 Thessalonians 5:9), and it clearly states that “the day of His wrath has come”, but it is the very last phrase of that verse that also reveals the absence of the Church where it asks the sobering question ­– “who is able to stand”?


There are some similar Old Testament prophecies about the dreadful Day of the Lord in the last days that are almost identical to Revelation 6:15-17 asking the same question of who will be able to stand? They are Psalm 76:7, Malachi 3:2 and Nahum 1:6. All of these verses imply that it will be impossible to stand at the time of God’s fierce anger. As I mentioned above we are still living in the Age of Grace. God is incredibly merciful and gracious to us even though the world continues to wax more and more in wicked opposition to Him. God has been longsuffering and patient but the inevitable day of His wrath is coming.


So what does it mean to not be able to stand at His coming? Most all of the verses where this is used it is referring as to being able to stand before Him in judgment. God is so holy and righteous that no sinful man can stand in His presence. Ezra 9:15 exemplifies this:


O LORD God of Israel, You are righteous, for we are left as a remnant, as it is this day. Here we are before You, in our guilt, though no one can stand before You because of this!”


Since all people are sinful it would seem that we are all hopelessly lost in the presence of the Lord but the good news is that we are not! Because of the loving sacrifice of Jesus Christ those who believe in Him can stand in the presence of the Lord and He doesn’t see your sins, He sees you through the lens of Jesus Christ standing before you! God the Father directed His wrath against sin upon His Son Jesus Christ while He was on the cross. Christ endured what we deserve. All we have to do is simply accept it. It is God’s free gift. It is not dependent upon anything that you can do but only upon all that Christ did for you. It is so simple yet so many people refuse it. They would rather believe that they can earn their own way to heaven through their own good works but the sad reality is that when you stand before a perfect and holy God without Christ, even if you sinned only once in your lifetime, you are guilty on judgment day.


But we are all like an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags; (Isaiah 64:6a)


So now that we’ve established what it takes to be able to stand before the Lord the question remains in Revelation 6:17 – who will be able to stand? In context this is after the Rapture and in the early part of the Tribulation. Immediately following this verse in chapter 7 we see the 144,000 Jewish witnesses being appointed and also a great multitude of martyred saints standing before the Throne of the Lamb arrayed in white robes which were washed clean with the blood of the Lamb. These are Tribulation saints! Those that came to Christ after the Rapture but undoubtedly had to suffer severe persecution. Nevertheless they are able to stand! Even while God is pouring out His wrath upon the Earth He is still merciful and all knowing to those that come to Him.


The mountains quake before Him, The hills melt,
And the earth heaves at His presence,
Yes, the world and all who dwell in it.
Who can stand before His indignation?
And who can endure the fierceness of His anger?
His fury is poured out like fire,
And the rocks are thrown down by Him.
The LORD is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble;
And He knows those who trust in Him.

(Nahum 1:5-7)


The will of the Lord is that we should come to Him today while His grace is still abounding. Seek the Lord while He may be found, call upon Him while He is near, (Isaiah 55:6). Accepting Christ as your Savior is much more than just fire insurance from the coming Tribulation. When you become a born again Christian all things become new and He wipes away any guilt of sin that you may have been lugging around with you. Your life takes on new purpose as you joyfully serve Him. You will still have to endure the hardships of this world while we are sojourning here but we walk in His promises knowing that as we abound in the work of the Lord, our labor is not in vain in the Lord, (1 Corinthians 15:58). This current existence that we dwell in is only preparation for the real life that is to come!


So the question of who is able to stand can be answered individually amongst ourselves. God has granted us free will to choose our own eternal destiny. Are you choosing life or death? Will you be able to stand at His coming?


He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe in the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.” (John 3:36)


This may sound rather threatening but Jesus said, “he that is not with Me is against Me,” (Matthew 12:30). The message of the gospel is pretty straightforward. There are no ifs, ands, or buts about it. God does not strong-arm us to obey and follow Him. He allows us to make our own choices but there are consequences for our choices and He lovingly warns us of those consequences just like an earthly father or mother warns their child of the consequences of their choices.


As we currently observe the conditions of the world in relation to Bible prophecy there are several signs that are signifying that the Age of Grace is soon about to come to an end. I cannot express the importance of knowing and accepting Christ as your Savior this very day. There is soon coming a day when God’s grace will end and He is going to draw the line and receive unto Him what He bought and paid for, (Ephesians 1:14), and judge the remaining world with fiery wrath. In Luke 21:36 Jesus encourages us to be watching and to be ready for this day:

“Watch therefore, and pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man.”


Notice that Jesus doesn’t just warn us to be able to be counted worthy to escape the things that will come, (The Great Tribulation), but also to be able to stand before the Son of Man. This is a clear indication that those that take part in the Rapture are also worthy of standing before Him. This will be when the saints are given their crowns and rewards. The winner’s circle if you will. The apostle Paul expounds on this in his valedictory at the end of his life recorded in 2 Timothy 4:6-8:



For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day, and not to me only but also to all who have loved His appearing.



In the above passage we see a reward for those that love His appearing but in 1 Corinthians 16:22 we are giving another warning regarding those that do not love the Lord Jesus Christ at His coming:


If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be Anathema Maranatha. (KJV)


The word “anathema” is Greek for “accursed” and according to the American Heritage Dictionary means to be banned or excommunicated. The word “Maranatha” was a popular Aramaic first century greeting among Christians that translates, “Our Lord Cometh”. So if we wanted to paraphrase that verse it could very well read like this:


If any man does not love the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be left behind at the Lord’s coming!


My dear reader, don’t let this be you! Even if the Lord were to tarry for several more years or even decades you still do not know if you’ll be here tomorrow. Your dying day is your personal judgment day and you will want to be able to stand on that day! The Bible mentions nothing about any second chances after death.


I began this article mentioning those of us that know Christ as our Savior and have loved ones that we know that don’t. Sometimes no matter what we say or do we cannot get them to know and understand the eternal life saving grace of Christ. That doesn’t mean we are out of options. There is still prayer! In fact prayer should be our first option not our last and is probably the strongest thing we can do for them for we are not in control of who is saved and who is not, that has already been determined by God before the world was even created, (Ephesians 1:4). What we need to do is pray that it is in His will that they are saved, (Ephesians 1:11) and that they will be able to stand at the Judgment Seat of Christ and hear the words, “well done good and faithful servant come and enter into the joy of your Lord”. Will you be able to stand?

http://www.raptureready.com/soap/leasher7.html



Posted: 01/19/11

For Christians Only (Atheists, please don't read)... –Ray Comfort

Never forget how you feared death before you became a Christian. The Bible says that until we come to Christ, we are "subject to the fear of death all of our lifetime." When we come to faith in Jesus Christ, God places a shield of faith in our hands so that we can combat the sharp and fiery arrows of fear. We can look death in the faith and say, "You no longer have any power over me!"

Think of two men in a plane. One has no faith in the pilot, and one does. The man without faith opens himself to fear. The less faith he has, the more susceptible he will be to fear if there is severe turbulence. However, the man with faith in the pilot will have no fear, as long as he keeps that faith.

He who lives without faith in God is open to fiery darts of terror that will pierce him to the core. I once saw a man like that as he lay on his deathbed. He was consumed with terror. It was a horrible thing to see, and my heart went out to him. He lived his life with his back turned to God, and consequently, when he needed faith most, he had none.

So when you are sharing your faith, don't hesitate to tap into a powerful evangelistic tool that is often neglected--the sinner's will to live. He doesn't want to die. Don't be afraid to ask him if he is afraid of dying. It can often be a relief to talk about it, because the world avoids the question.

The king of interviewers, Larry King, once said, "Death is the hardest thing to deal with, from an interviewer's standpoint because no one really knows what's going to happen, and I don't care what anybody said, everybody's frightened." He says that, from the perspective of a man who lives without faith in Jesus. He makes the massive assumption that "no one knows what's going to happen," when that's just not true. Christians know what happens at death. We no longer walk in darkness as do the ungodly. Our understanding is no longer darkened, because we are no longer alienated from the life of God. He is frightened, because he has no faith.

Let me ask you a thought-provoking question. What is the most important moment in the life of any human being? Is it the moment of birth? That certainly is an important moment. Is it the moment he or she is married, or the moment they arrived on a new job? Those are big moments, but the most important moment, without a doubt, is the moment you and I die. That's the moment for which we all wait with bated* and it draws closer and closer, like the ticking of an untimely clock, with every beat of our heart.

Such are fearful thoughts . . . if we have no faith. Never let that happen. Have faith in God. He is trustworthy. If you trust Him, He will be there for you at the moment you pass from this problem and pain-filled life into eternity. Until that happens, seek those who live without faith, and plead with them to get right with God. Let your heart go out to them, to a point where you go out to them, regularly.

Every now and then you and I see faith shine in this dark world. Just after the tragic shooting of 19 people in Tucson, Arizona, one elderly man died while using his body to shield his precious wife. At a news conference, his daughter had a shining faith in her eyes as she boldly proclaimed, "What a way to go home!" How true. How wonderfully true. Those who trust in Jesus don't die. They go Home.

* EDIT, sp. correction
Take Some Comfort...

I wrote a book once, called, 101 of the Dumbest Things People Have Done. It's a funny book. Adults do the dumbest things. The book's almost an autobiography, because most of it is about dumb things I have done. But I do take comfort in the fact that I'm not the only one in this world who messes up.

One of my friends is a school teacher. Just this morning he told me that he drove his wife's van to work. As he pulled into the school parking lot he noticed that his lips were dry, so he found his wife's Chap stick and gave a liberal application to his dried lips. He also applied it a little above and below his lips. He taught the first five minutes of class with red Avon lip balm lipstick all over his face. His students finally said something.

I could easily write book two. I have the material. Ask any of my friends about an average day. I walk into walls, hurt myself, hurt other people, drop things and knock things over. Just my presence can cause things to go wrong.

I have the combined virtues of being a klutz and of doing dumb things. For example, I stood up from a couch recently while holding a plate in one hand and a sandwich in the other. Suddenly I hit the floor like a ton of bricks. Both of my feet had become caught in a comforter that was on the floor. Sue couldn't believe how fast I went down and how fast our dog downed my food.

A few days earlier we had taken our thieving canine to get trimmed. This was to be a complimentary trim because the last time we took him in he came back looking like he had a fight with a lawn mower. The groomer had cut back his ears so much he looked more like a matador than a Bichon. It was so bad I wrote a polite letter of complaint to the lawnmower lady, and she called and sincerely apologized. When she asked when Sam would need another clip, I was tempted to say that it would be 15 years, because the last cut was so close.

I wasn't excited about his next trim, but the time came when the dog's eyes disappeared into his white fur. I suspected that if we didn't get him trimmed, we would soon have to send in a search-party to find him.

We made an appointment, and Sue decided that I should go in and personally make sure it was a free trim and that the fur-hater had been warned to cut back her enthusiasm. She wanted me to take the initiative because, as a man, I know how to do things right.

As she sat in the car and watched me take the lead and take the dog into the groomers, she noticed that I had walked into the wrong place. I had mistakenly gone into a pediatric clinic. This was no surprise to her. I was inside a little mystified as to why the groomers had changed their procedure and were having me sign in my name and the time I arrived.

It was when I was filling out the form that I heard her calling from the door "Wrong place!" The dog groomers was next door. I'm sure she would have said something more if I had come out of the place without the dog.

A little while after that, my Personal Assistant was able to secure an interview with a professor of evolutionary biology at Los Angeles' most prestigious university. He's a good researcher and is great with words. He was born in Mexico, raised in Canada, married a Russian, and lives in France.

I wanted to ask an "expert" on evolution about some of the serious difficulties I have with the theory. This was for an episode of Season Five of our television program called "Darwin, God, and the Bible."

The professor was very nice and the interview went well, so I decided to send him a fruit basket and a thank you card. I went on line, filled out all the details, and received confirmation that the order went through. There was only one problem. I couldn't remember typing in the professor's address. I had accidentally sent the fruit basket to myself. This was no surprise. I ordered a second basket and had this one sent to the professor.

Next week I will get a huge basket of dried fruits, some nuts, and a big thank you card for a great interview. I'm sure I will be encouraged.
www.LivingWaters.com

http://www.worldviewweekend.com/worldview-times/article.php?articleid=6835