This first article should be read by all of us, particularly at this time:
There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love (1 John 4:18).
There’s lots of fear mongering going on today. The word “monger” originally referred to a trader of commodities, but today it’s more often used to describe a person involved in something petty or contemptible.
You don’t have to look very far to find someone who’s only too willing to inform you about all the things you should fear, whether it’s financial collapse, food shortages, killer diseases, or the government secretly planning to lock you up in the FEMA camps they’ve been building so they can force you to take the mark of the beast.
Books and videos explaining signs from God that foretell of coming judgments are guaranteed to sell even if they are not always accurate in their interpretation of His word.
This is because all around the world there is a growing expectation of judgment. Paul explained that even those who have no knowledge of God’s law intuitively know right from wrong (Romans 2:14-15), and even the most casual observers are beginning to sense that things are going wrong.
We recently compared current events in the world with the “birth pangs” Jesus described as indicators that the end of the Age was drawing near. We saw evidence that these indicators are steadily becoming more frequent and more intense as the time for the Second Coming approaches in the same way that birth pangs become more frequent and more intense as the time for the delivery of a new life approaches.
Many Christians are still deeply immersed in the world, and even though they are born again, the fearful attitudes of their unbelieving counterparts have begun occupying their minds as well. What with the evening news, the internet, radio and TV talk shows, and what passes for secular entertainment these days it’s no wonder.
The Bible warns us about letting the fears and uncertainties of this world infect our minds. In Matt. 6:25-34 Jesus repeatedly said, “Do not worry.” And in Matt. 13:22 He said the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of worldly wealth could stunt the growth of His word in our hearts and make us unfruitful. He said we should expect trouble in this world but to take heart because He has overcome the world (John 16:33). And about the times we’re in, He said, “When these things begin to take place, stand up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near” (Luke 21:28).
Notice that Jesus didn’t tell us to take heart because He would give us the strength to overcome the world ourselves. He said to take heart because He has overcome the world. And He also said seeing the signs of the approaching End Times should cause us to stand up and lift up our heads because our redemption is drawing near. One of the great promises of the Bible is that we don’t have to be overtaken by events in this world, but can remain above them.
But because of our fallen nature, this doesn’t happen automatically. Our natural tendency is to mirror the attitudes of the world around us. We learn very early in life that this is how we get the people around us to accept us, and acceptance is one of our most basic human needs. That’s why so few of us are truly individuals. We’ve been working to fit in with the world around us since we were little children. By the time we reach adulthood it has become second nature to us. Most of us never come to understand that we are who we are primarily because we’ve learned to reflect the attitudes and habits of people whose acceptance has been important to us.
Jesus said there will be trouble in this word but to take heart because He has overcome the world (John 16:33). He said when the particular trouble the world is experiencing right now begins to take place we should stand up and lift up our heads because our redemption is drawing near (Luke 21:28). He said because we’ve kept His command to endure patiently He will keep us from the hour of trial that’s coming upon the whole world to test those who live on the Earth (Rev. 3:10). He said He will come back and take us to be with Him so that where He is we will also be (John 14:2-3).
Paul said Jesus will rescue us from the coming wrath (1 Thes. 1:10). He said we who are alive and are left will be caught up (raptured) to meet Him in the clouds and we will be with the Lord forever (1 Thes. 4:17). He said to encourage each other with these words (1 Thes. 4:18). He said events leading up to the end of the age should not take us by surprise (1 Thes. 5:4), and that we are not appointed to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through Christ our Lord (1 Thes. 5:9).
You know that these promises do not necessarily exempt you from any persecution or trial between now and the day He comes to take us, but you know you are a child of God (John 1:12-13) and because of that you can continue to endure patiently. Since He left to prepare a place for you, you know He will come back for you. When He does He will take you to His Father’s house, and you will dwell in the house of the Lord forever (John 14:2-3). You can almost hear the footsteps of the Messiah. 10-25-14.
In the mainly Arab neighborhoods of East Jerusalem, heavy rioting broke out again in the early hours of Sunday. Masked rioters threw stones and firebombs, blocked roads and set fire to trash cans. Attacks were perpetrated against the light rail tram once again. The rioting comes on the backdrop of a 14-year-old Palestinian shot and killed north of Ramallah. According to an army spokesman he was involved in rioting and was shot when he threw a fire-bomb at Israeli security forces on the main trans-Samaria highway.
In East Jerusalem at the outset of Shabbat Arab rioters set fire to garbage cans and attacked a yeshiva. One person was lightly injured by a stone. In the Silwan neighborhood of the city a cleaning vehicle involved in clearing debris from the previous day's violence was attacked by stone-throwers. Israeli police used riot dispersal methods and tear gas to disperse the rioters and several rioters were arrested overnight.
Israeli security forces fear further unrest this evening as the 21-year-old Palestinian terrorist, who perpetrated last week's light rail attack killing a three-month-old Jewish girl and injuring another 7 people, some seriously, is expected to be buried. The Palestinians have honored him as a "hero and a martyr." Police have bolstered their presence in the capital.
The annual number of “great” earthquakes nearly tripled over the last decade, providing a reminder to Americans that unruptured faults like those in the northwest United States might be due for a Big One.
Between 2004 and 2014, 18 earthquakes with magnitudes of 8.0 or more rattled subduction zones around the globe. That's an increase of 265 percent over the average rate of the previous century, which saw 71 great quakes, according to a report to the annual meeting of the Geological Society of America this week in Vancouver, British Columbia.
It’s clear that recent "great" earthquakes "triggered" related major quakes, says study author Thorne Lay, distinguished professor of earth and planetary sciences at the University of California, Santa Cruz.
FIRST it was an earthquake. Then it was a tsunami. Now Japan fears another nuclear disaster — this time because of a stirring volcano.
The Japan Times has reported a sleeping volcano next to its already damaged Sendai nuclear power facility has woken, and is beginning to shake.
The new activity comes barely a month after the sudden and unexpected eruption of Mount Ontake killed 57 hikers enjoying its until-then scenic slopes.
Volcanologists have warned that the enormous magnitude 9.0 earthquake of March 2011 may have increased the likelihood of volcanic activity throughout Japan — which sits on the “Ring of Fire” band of more than 100 volcanoes which forms the Pacific Rim.
Now the signs appear to be proving them right.
Mighty eruptions at a volcano in Iceland involve huge amounts of lava, so it's no surprise the Bardarbunga volcano lies directly over the hottest portion of the North Atlantic mantle plume, researchers say.
The volcano in central Iceland, which has been ejecting huge amounts of lava since Aug. 31, is evidence that such eruptions require extremely high mantle temperatures deep beneath the Earth's surface to generate such massive amounts of magma, scientists from the University of California Davis and Denmark's Aarhus University say.
"From time to time the Earth's mantle belches out huge quantities of magma on a scale unlike anything witnessed in historic times," says UC Davis earth and planetary science Professor Charles Lesher.
Dozens of residents in a rural area of Hawaii were placed on alert as flowing lava from an erupting volcano continued to advance.
Authorities on Sunday said lava flow on the Big Island of Hawaii had advanced about 230 metres since Saturday morning and was moving at the rate of about 9 to 13.5 metres an hour, consistent with its advancement in recent days.
The flow front passed through a predominantly Buddhist cemetery, covering grave sites in the mostly rural region of Puna, and was roughly 800 metres from Pahoa Village Road, the main street of Pahoa.
Residents in the flow path have been told to complete all necessary preparations by Tuesday for a possible evacuation. The timeline could change, based on the flow rate.
Oliveira estimated there were at least 50 to 60 structures, including homes and businesses, in the area most likely to be impacted.
Frontline Healthcare Workers Must Protect Themselves from Aerosol Transmission of Ebola
We’ve noted for some time that Ebola can be spread by aerosols to frontline healthcare workers.
The CDC is finally admitting this fact.
The CDC put out a new poster stating:
Droplet spread happens when germs traveling inside droplets that are coughed or sneezed from a sick person enter the eyes, nose, or mouth of another person. Droplets travel short distances, less than 3 feet (1 meter) from one person to another.A person might also get infected by touching a surface or object that has germs on it and then touching their mouth or nose.***Clean and disinfect commonly touched surfaces like doorknobs, faucet handles, and toys, since the Ebola virus may live on surfaces for up to several hours.
Meryl Nass, M.D. – a board-certified internist and a biological warfare epidemiologist and expert in anthrax - comments:
CDC says it doesn’t travel farther than 3 feet. Well, at least CDC is starting to move the narrative. Maybe tomorrow it will be 5 feet. Then 10. Maybe next month they will tell us why all the victims’ possessions are being incinerated and apartments fumigated.Just remember: historically, Ebola spread fast in healthcare facilities.
And see this.
Dr. Nass previously argued that the CDC has been lying about aerosol transmission of Ebola, as its own 2009 publication admitted that Ebola:
pose[s] a high individual risk of aerosol-transmitted laboratory infectionsand life-threatening disease that is frequently fatal, for which there are no vaccines or treatments…
Also see:
Thank you Scott for the good admonition on fear. it is definitely timely for me. There is, along with that fight to not give in to fear, the pressure that Lot and Noah felt too when they saw their worlds and chafed at the pain and lostness. Balancing that with "think on things that are lovely, noble and of good repute.."it is at times a constant discipline. Blessed hope. It is the cure . Many thanks.
ReplyDeleteYea, I needed to read that as well. I mean, these are some fear provoking times. I was just having this conversation tonight - about how "casually" we discuss epic events these days - Ebola, world-wide financial collapse, centralized government, quarantine, martial law, mass terrorism, EMPs, etc...Things that 10-20 years ago would have been unthinkable - are discussed daily...In a few years, similar discussions will involve a world leader and his rise to power. It will happen too...Strange times indeed.
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