'Birth pains' have begun (End Days Alert) [Open]

WND ^ | May 16, 2008 | Hal Lindsey

[NYer]

The world has endured an almost mind-numbing series of shocks in recent weeks, from the unprecedented swarm of tornadoes across the American Midwest to the death and destruction wrought by Cyclone Nargis as it tore a path through Myanmar, better known as Burma.

There were 368 documented tornadoes in the U.S. in January and February of this year, shattering the previous record of 243 over that two-month period, set in 1999. February's total of 232 tornadoes also shattered previous records.

Cyclone Nargis ripped Burma apart, killing at least 128,000, according to Red Cross estimates, and creating some 2.5 million refugees.

Al Gore was quick to blame global warming. In an interview on NPR to plug his appropriately named book on global warming, "Assault on Reason," he told host Terry Gross: "And as we're talking today, Terry, the death count in Myanmar from the cyclone that hit there yesterday has been rising from 15,000 to way on up there to much higher numbers now being speculated. . … And last year a catastrophic storm last fall hit Bangladesh. The year before, the strongest cyclone in more than 50 years hit China – and we're seeing consequences that scientists have long predicted might be associated with continued global warming."

Maybe. But Germany's Institute of Marine Scientists says we're in for a 10-year period of global cooling. There sure seems to be a lot of opposition to what is supposed to be "settled science."

Global warming can't explain away the devastating earthquake that all but flattened a huge portion of western China. The death toll from Monday's quake is approaching 20,000, with twice that number still listed as missing. According to the U.S. Geological Survey, Monday's earthquake was the 25th "significant" earthquake registered so far this year.

[roamer_1]

Then you do not see the possibility that there was a significant time elapse between [Genesis 1 and 2]?

I see the possibility, though not the necessity thereof. To suppose so would suggest that Adam was not in fact the first man. I find that to be bothersome, as there is a significant amount of scripture that says so, plainly.

I would rather see Genesis 1 as a summary of creation as a whole, while Genesis 2 dwells upon the creation of man specifically, and upon God's interaction with him.

The reason I do.....is because Satan was already a fallen creature when Adam and Eve appear in Eden.

That is not necessarily so- What we do know is that there are one-hundred and thirty years spanning Genesis 2 through Genesis 4 (The creation of Adam until the birth of Seth).

If one were to look at the age at which men were given sons (Genesis 5), it would seem fair to say that Cain and Abel would have been born around the time that Adam was 100 years old.

Therefore, it is reasonable to infer that the first sin may have occurred as much as 100 years after man's creation, as the first thing described after being expelled from Eden is the birth of Cain.

What I suggest is that there is time enough for Lucifer to be both an exalted, and later a fallen creature within the normal construct of the time Adam spent in Eden.

As pointed out in [Ezekiel 28:13-14] he was considered an anointed Cherub....an inhabitant of the garden....evidently sometime in the distant past....certainly before Adam and Eve.

Yes, I can see Ezekiel describing a time before the garden, and during the garden.

And, of course we know that when he rebelled he took a bunch with him. [Jude 6]

Yes, but that seems to have taken a while to unfold, as the fallen ones are accused of laying with the daughters of men after man had grown diverse and large in population. So the rebellion of the fallen ones could well have spanned some hundreds of years before they were permanently cast down.

You cannot see that Peter is discussing a world that was .....and a world that is [2 Peter 3:5-7]? We have essentially the same world that Noah had.... at this point.

No, the antediluvian world had waters above the firmament, and had not experienced rain- quite a different environment compared to what we have now. So I can readily suppose the antediluvian world to be different in context from the postdiluvian world (today)

[chuckles]

I have no delusions that Christians will be protected in this world. The point the Bible makes is the Wrath of God will not be upon us. We are not the Children of Wrath. The Tribulation will be on a scale humans can’t imagine. The Bible says it will be worse than anything before. I can think of several times in history that were pretty bad. Americans do take their freedom for granted and refuse to defend it so I believe we WILL be persecuted as bad as anywhere on Earth. They will say they are doing the “Will of God”. They call it “hate speech”. Only problem is their god kills babies and promotes homosexuality. They seem to have no problem with adultery and fornication. They seem to punish the innocent and free the guilty. They routinely call evil, good; and good, evil.

[x_plus_one]

But the day of the Lord will come as unexpectedly as a thief

With all the disasters of late, a thief in the night would not be unexpected...

[Ready2go]

I received this email over the week-end & all I can say is WOW what a blessing!!!

This is so good. Please read.

This is really neat and just reinforces what we've always known; that "Our God is an Awesome God!' Just a little more incredible stuff from our Creator.

A couple of days ago I was running (I use that term very loosely) on my treadmill, watching a DVD sermon by Louie Giglio...and I was BLOWN AWAY! I want to share what I learned....but I fear not being able to convey it as well as I want. I will share anyway.

He (Louie) was talking about how inconceivably BIG our God is...how He spoke the universe into being...how He breathes stars out of His mouth that are huge raging balls of fire...etc. etc.

Then He went on to speak of how this star-breathing, universe creating God ALSO knitted our human bodies together with amazing detail and wonder.

At this point I am LOVING it (fascinating from a medical standpoint, you know.) ...and I was remembering how I was constantly amazed during medical school as I learned more and more about God's handiwork. I remember so many times thinking...'How can ANYONE deny that a Creator did all of this???'

Louie went on to talk about how we can trust that the God who created all this, also has the power to hold it all together when things seem to be falling apart...how our loving Creator is also our sustainer.

And then I lost my breath.

And it wasn't because I was running on my treadmill, either!!!
It was because he started talking about laminin.

I knew about laminin. Here is how wikipedia describes them :'Laminins are a family of proteins that are an integral part of the structural scaffolding of basement membranes in almost every animal tissue.'

You see....laminins are what hold us together ..LITERALLY. They are cell adhesion molecules. They are what holds one cell of our bodies to the next cell. Without them, we would literally fall apart. And I knew all this already. But what I didn't know is what lamini n LOOKED LIKE.

But now I do.

And I have thought about it a thousand times since (already)....Here is what the structure of laminin looks like...AND THIS IS NOT a 'Christian portrayal' of it....if you look up laminin in any scientific/medical piece of literature, this is what you will see...

Now tell me that our God is not the coolest!!!

Amazing.

The glue that holds us together....ALL of us....is in the shape of the cross.

Immediately Colossians 1:15-17 comes to mind.

'He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by him all things were created; things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things HOLD TOGETHER.'Colossians 1:15-17

Call me crazy. I just think that is very, very, very cool. Thousands of years before the world knew anything about laminin, Paul penned those words. And now we see that from a very LITERAL standpoint, we are held together ...one cell to another....by the cross.

You would never in a quadrillion years convince me that is anything other than the mark of a Creator who knew EXACTLY what laminin 'glue' would look like long before Adam even breathed his first breath!!

We praise YOU, Lord!

Sorry guys I can't get the image to post, but go to google to see it.

http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&rls=GGLG,GGLG:2005-27,GGLG:en&q=laminin

[Marysecretary]

Thanks for the good info. I’m a prewrath believer myself but am hoping it’s pre-trib. Either way, I want to be prepared spiritually for whatever happens. Yes, we should know, through the signs, scripture, and the Holy Spirit’s leading. I appreciate your knowledge of the feasts. I believe that we need to pay more attention to them as far as end times beliefs go.

[Ready2go]

AMEN & AMEN chuckles

1 Thessalonians 5

1 Now concerning how and when all this will happen, dear brothers and sisters, we don’t really need to write you.

2 For you know quite well that the day of the Lord’s return will come unexpectedly, like a thief in the night.

3 When people are saying, “Everything is peaceful and secure,” then disaster will fall on them as suddenly as a pregnant woman’s labor pains begin. And there will be no escape.

4 But you aren’t in the dark about these things, dear brothers and sisters, and you won’t be surprised when the day of the Lord comes like a thief.

5 For you are all children of the light and of the day; we don’t belong to darkness and night.

6 So be on your guard, not asleep like the others. Stay alert and be clearheaded.

7 Night is the time when people sleep and drinkers get drunk.

8 But let us who live in the light be clearheaded, protected by the armor of faith and love, and wearing as our helmet the confidence of our salvation.

9 For God chose to save us through our Lord Jesus Christ, not to pour out his anger on us. .

10 Christ died for us so that, whether we are dead or alive when he returns, we can live with him forever.

[Jeremiah Jr]

There is only one Feast Day commanded by YHvH for which no man knows the day nor hour.

Thank you for (one of) the only sane post(s) on this thread. I love to point out that Yeshua narrowed it down when He said no man knows the day or hour. Another interesting fact is it’s always one of two days in this world, Australia being one day ahead of U.S. So it’s true I don’t know the day or hour but I know the festival.

[chuckles]

Doesn't get any better than that!

Seems pretty clear to me. Everybody has a hair trigger to condemn anyone who makes a prediction about the Rapture or Judgment Day. I'm not foolish enough to sell everything and by new tennis shoes to catch a comet tail, but we can be pretty certain that the Feast Days of the Jews are "dress rehearsals" for the return of Christ. If I get excited on Sept. 29 2008 and have trouble sleeping, then I don't see how that hurts anyone or hurts my witness. OTOH, If I sit on the info and tell no one, then who do I love? The nay sayers are running out of excuses why it can't happen. Every prophesy has been fulfilled that is required for The Rapture to happen. If the date of Judgment Day can be calculated, then it seems only plausible to subtract 7 years to calculate the Rapture. If The Rapture doesn't happen in Sept. 2008, then so what? I'm commanded to keep watch and not sleep. The Bible even says some will be able to figure who the Antichrist's is. But if a person says they think so and so fits the 666 moniker, they they are surrounded by the BATF and burned out.

[Uri’el-2012]

XS>There is only one Feast Day commanded by YHvH for which no man knows the day nor hour.

Thank you for (one of) the only sane post(s) on this thread. I love to point out that Yeshua narrowed it down when He said no man knows the day or hour. Another interesting fact is it’s always one of two days in this world, Australia being one day ahead of U.S. So it’s true I don’t know the day or hour but I know the festival.

Have you seen either of these two links

Solar and Lunar Eclipses in 2014/15

Blood moon eclipses: 2nd Coming in 2015?

shalom b'SHEM Yah'shua HaMashiach Adonai

[topcat54]

Okay ... I'm having a little fun here. But I'll bet many people are thinking this. I don't take Hal Lindsey seriously but ... for all the Bible thumpers out there ... what say you?

Hal Lindsey suffers from a severe case of false labor. He’s been having "birth pangs" since 1970. He forecast the delivery for 1988. This theological debilitation is common among the "rapture fever" crowd.

[topcat54]

Well, we’ve had a bible study regarding end times, and I’ve also heard it on the radio. Perhaps Xenia would know more about that.

Paul speaks of Jewish fables that are to be avoided by God's people. The theory that Jesus will return on one of the old covenant feasts is one of them since it has no support from the Bible. Many folks get absorbed into these arbitrary, faddish ideas because they are ignorant both of the Bible and the historical teachings of the Church.

The feast days of the old covenant, like the rest of the ceremonial law, were given to point the Jewish nation of that day to their Messiah, Jesus Christ. As the Westminster Confession teaches they were given to a "church under age" to picture the future Messiah. Jesus testifies in Luke 24 that this mission was accomplished, and so we know that the ceremonial laws, including the feast days, no longer carry any prophetic significance.

[Lee N. Field]

Well said.

[ConservativeMan55]

bttt

[Diego1618]

Paul speaks of Jewish fables that are to be avoided by God's people.

[Titus 1:14] Not giving heed to Jewish fables, and commandments of men, that turn from the truth. It is interesting to note that Paul includes "Commandments of men" in this verse. Our Saviour used that same wording in [Mark 7:7-8] when He spoke also of "Jewish fables": Howbeit in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. For laying aside the commandment of God, ye hold the tradition of men, as the washing of pots and cups: and many other such like things ye do.

But....of course the Jewish Fables are not God's Laws. They are Jewish fables! As usual....some folks have a tendency to misinterpret some of Paul's most lucid comments as they have divorced themselves from any thing that may be construed as "JOOOish"!

[Romans 7:1-4] Know ye not, brethren, (for I speak to them that know the law,) how that the law hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth? For the woman which hath an husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth; but if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband. So then if, while her husband liveth, she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress: but if her husband be dead, she is free from that law; so that she is no adulteress, though she be married to another man. Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God.

The above is an interesting analogy. Notice that Paul does not say the Law is dead. He says "We" are dead to the Law. This means the judicial demands of the Law which identified us as sinners and demanded a death penalty were no longer in effect. They were fulfilled through the sacrifice of Christ (verse 4).

[Romans 7:22-25] For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.

Because of Our Saviour's death we are no longer under the Law's power to punish us as sinners. Our Lord has provided a way to escape those judicial demands and that is why the Apostle says in [Romans 6:14] For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.

The theory that Jesus will return on one of the old covenant feasts is one of them since it has no support from the Bible.

For someone to say that Our Saviour's return would not take place on one of God's Holy Festivals is kind of rash.....since He was born on Sukkot, crucified on Pesach, and began his Church on Shavuot......it would seem plausible that a return on another Feast day would not be unusual. I would not consider it to be faddish if He chose to do that. I would consider it logical.

[topcat54]

Since there is nothing in God’s law that says He will return on a particular feast day, the best we can say is that it is a Jewish fable. If there was anything in the law to make such a connection I’m sure you would have quoted it.

[Diego1618]

Since there is nothing in God’s law that says He will return on a particular feast day, the best we can say is that it is a Jewish fable.

You're right. Nothing in the Law says that.....but scripture sure points that way: From Xenia and Jeremiah (post #'s 15 and 87: There is only one Feast Day commanded by YHvH for which no man knows the day nor hour. (XeniaSt)*** I love to point out that Yeshua narrowed it down when He said no man knows the day or hour. Another interesting fact is it’s always one of two days in this world, Australia being one day ahead of U.S. So it’s true I don’t know the day or hour but I know the festival. (Jeremiah Jr.)

[Joel 2:1] Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in my holy mountain: let all the inhabitants of the land tremble: for the day of the LORD cometh, for it is nigh at hand;

[1 Thessalonians 4:16-17] For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump[et] of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.

Rosh Hashanah is thought to be the anniversary of the creation of the world (The Head of the Year). It is also known as "The Feast of Trumpets". [Leviticus 23:23-25] And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, In the seventh month, in the first day of the month, shall ye have a sabbath, a memorial of blowing of trumpets, an holy convocation. Ye shall do no servile work therein: but ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD.

[1 Corinthians 15:51-53] Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.

Paul speaks of Jewish fables that are to be avoided by God's people. The theory that Jesus will return on one of the old covenant feasts is one of them since it has no support from the Bible. Many folks get absorbed into these arbitrary, faddish ideas because they are ignorant both of the Bible and the historical teachings of the Church.

Do you think these scriptures look like "Jewish" fables?

[Marysecretary]

Me, too. I have always believed that God will warn His people who are listening and paying attention of the coming storm.

[Marysecretary]

I think they’re warnings. We need to repent and turn back to God. Our country is a mess because we’ve turned our backs on Him and gone our own way. He loves us and doesn’t want us to perish. When our economy goes kaput, maybe then we’ll listen.

[Marysecretary]

Jesus told us to occupy until He came. I don’t see where He says to run scared or hide in a hole somewhere. It IS tempting though, LOL.

[Marysecretary]

Exactly.