The Water

The desert stretched on forever before him. He was tired – dead tired. Soon, he thought to himself, he could die.

He was out of supplies, parched, drained, depleted and his strength was failing fast.

His brisk walk had long slowed to lazy steps. Now, he mustered every ounce of concentration to put one foot in front of the other.

The problem was, he did not know where he was going.

Along the way, when he had the opportunity, he had packed things he thought he needed for the journey, but they had become dead weight as he trudged on in the fierce heat of the desert. It was really sad that it was in pain, lack and closeness to death that clarity was found – he simply needed bread, water and a compass.

Then he saw them.

A group of travelers loomed ahead, or so he thought. He blinked at the mirage, but it did not go away. They were really there. Anticipation gave him strength and he walked with greater determination, quickening his pace.

It was a mistake.

The little energy he had was drained away as strength left him. What fluid he had left in him vanished quickly as they seeped from his pores in the fervent heat. The sun burnt like eternal coals before his eyes that were smarting – but were so dry that blinking did nothing to help.

Water, he said.

He was before the queer group now. They were in the middle of the desert surrounding a figure that sat meekly on a stone before them. He did not understand the strange ritual that involved them walking around the stone in perpetual circles, neither did he notice that he had been reduced by weakness to his knees, crawling on all fours like an invalid, throat parched, face scarred, eyes blurred. He needed water.

The group finally noticed him and they stopped momentarily. Dehydration was almost making him mad, so there was no time for long speeches. He willed his shaking hands towards them in a pleading gesture.

“Water!”

All around him, smiles lit up the face of the strangers as a knowing look filled their eyes.
“He wants water” he heard them say, and he felt hope well up within him. At least he would have water.
The group helped him sit up on the burning sand and then they began their march around him.
“What is water?” one said.
“Water is life”, answered another
“What are the sources of water? That is really important to know” said a tall dark man.
“I think there are five sources of water. There is rain, underground water, water from strea..”
“This man needs water” said another frantically. “Give him SOMETHING.”

Someone rushed up to him and finally said the words he had been dying to hear.
“Here is some water”
Half-blinded eyes looked up. He looked at the man who stood before him. The face was as scarred as his, but maybe this man had something he needed. He looked to the man’s hand. Confusion made his head swim.

There was a tablet in the man’s hand with the words in bold “WATER”.
“That is water,” said the man genuinely. “What do you think about the writing style, not forgetting this is a key element to have in the desert?”

Somewhere in his mind, he thought to himself, he had stumbled on a group of man people. That was the only explanation for their genuine but useless “solutions”.

Realization dawned on him. If he stayed longer, he was going to die. Die here with this genuine group that talked about what he needed but did not seem able to give him any of it. His alliance with these folk would be the death of him except he found water. He fell to the ground, crawling away, dragging his body along the sandy earth.

“Come to me, I’ll give you rest” he heard behind him. He struggled to look around and his gaze fell on the man sitting on the large stone. The eyes burned with a brilliance he had NEVER seen in his walk. It was understanding, care, love…power. Bizarre - but in a good way because it gave him hope which he knew would not make him ashamed. He did not realize that just looking into the man’s eyes had automatically made his limbs start to move towards the man. Man, this man was a magnet.

“Wa…water!” He said and for the first time, tears filled his eyes. He had been through so much. He just needed to get on with this journey he had found himself on.

He saw an empty hand stretch out to him. His anguish at the sight gave way to shock for there was a huge bowl of clear water in the well-formed hands.

Forgetting manners, he grabbed the bowl and drank, then felt ashamed at his behaviour. He looked at the stranger’s hand first, knowing he would have to look at the man’s face. It was just good behaviour. There was a healed gash on the hand. Curiously, he looked up to see the stranger was smiling at him, amused. He stood looking at the stranger, wondering who he was.

Then he realized he was now STANDING. Wow, what water!

“Who are you?” he said, curiousity growing by the second.

The desert wind stopped blowing, as though all of creation had to be still when this man spoke. The sound of the group that kept marching and babbling endlessly faded into the distance as though the brilliance of this man made all things turn to gray.

When he spoke, the voice was calm, genuine…and knowing.

“I am Jesus, but right now, I am water”

Questions

Discouragement!

Now, that can be such a heavy word.

After a meeting went wrong, I sat down in the driver seat of my car, feeling like my life was been driven out of control. Oh, yeah, I would have loved to 'take charge' but sometimes, you look back at your life and wonder how you came to be where you are.

That was how I felt.

I looked to the sky and thoughts filled my mind.

I wondered why evil seems so powerful in the world. Having read about how so many of the rich, powerful and famous have occultic ties, or became linked to clandestine activities or compromise, I wonder why the basic necessities of life do not come easily to men so that evil can be easily shun.

I have heard tales of people selling their souls for wealth, for fame, for influence. Why was wealth hard to get in the first place?
Why do people who pursue God, many times, have to face tough, rough times that test their faith and make compromise alluring when they are already trying so hard to please God?
Why does it appear that while the devil seems to be bent over backward to grab the soul's of men by appealing to their senses and with things they desire and even need, God seems hard to get a handle on, prayers are not always answered and even Christian leader would give a second thought when it comes to banking their lives and decisions COMPLETELY on scriptural principles - and I do not mean rhetorics or idle lip service as we always see.

Speaking to a friend of mine, he confided in me, talking about the struggles he had been having in his life, how he had been fighting to stay away from sin, how he had been trying to find and align with his purpose. He went on to say he wondered if in the quest for money to simply get by, he had lost it along the way.

I said what I could but I did not believe I had the right words to say.

The Bible says God is not interested in the death of sinners and yet while media, economy and politics roil and foul the soul, as shiny sensuous music and art are spewed forth on a daily basis, greying the lines of right and wrong, what the God-chaser is left with many times is with burdensome religion, controlling dogma, impractical cliches - depression, loneliness, lack, confusion, as they scavenge for the crumbs that life gives

OR

They (like a million others) may just give in to compromise, bribery, greed, loss of self, loss of purpose, loss of natural affection as they become cold corporate clones, high-classed prostitutes, 'flexible' business people giving into immorality, corruption, unnatural affection and compromise - to make ends meet, to climb up the corporate ladder, to cinch business deals, to get ahead...to survive.

Till they become whited sepulchers.

So I looked to the sky and thought of God and wondered if he played chess with the lives of men. Some live and some die for reasons we don't understand. Job's life made sense in the long run after so much trauma. BUT beyond the lessons (which I don't fully grasp) I still ask myself why?

Why did Jesus have to die? Why did he have to go through all the pain and suffering and beating?
I know the quick reply may be, to save us from our sins - but was there no other way?
There is the quote, without the shedding of blood, there is no remission for sins' - then why blood?
Why not water or plant sap - why did it have to be blood? Like someone said, why does God seem obsessed with blood?
Life is in the blood, says scripture, you reply - but God is life and he has no blood, I counter.
Well, there are things we don't understand, you say.
But we have the mind of Christ, I reply.
I know, you begin, but, you see...

I watch you from across the room seeing your mouth move, but my ears hear nothing because my thoughts are far away.

Why did God have to make earth if he knew more people would end up in hell than in Heaven? Why must torment be eternal - and though it is said to have been just for the devil and his buddies, now men are in the mix, how come that doesn't change anything - and did he not know from the beginning some men were going to disobey anyway?

Why make Adam if he was going to fall and land us all in trouble? And if the perfect man fell, how are we supposed to stand when we are created fallen for 'in sin did our mothers conceive us!'? Why are many scriptural prayers not answered?

David said, I have never seen the righteous forsaken or his seed begging bread.
Well, I have.

I have seen good people wilt from cancer, fervent prayers offered and they still died anyway. Seen humans melt in flames, butchered for no reason, watched with my eyes as a 10 year old kid was set ablaze, fire on his hair as he cried, looked at the cameras and said "God, why?" I have seen babies turn away from dried breast, crying because there was just no milk, seen poor tribes wilt to the bone for lack of food.

My concentration is broken as I hear a rap on my window. I look to the left and wear a "mask" over my face, hiding my emotions. I have no more money to give the beggar outside the car. I have given all my spare change away and I have bills to pay and I cannot tell him to shoo off - and yet, I cannot smile, and yet I cannot whisper hope because I do not know the right words to say - and the lights just turned green. So I drive away, my heart heavy, knowing that I am not the only one in the world that is having a messed up day. I remember a family friend who had kids that had gotten used to no food...they learnt that sleep helps. These kids were barely 10.

So why doesn't a 'God of love' make it any easier?

And if it's all so messed up, maybe God is not so good after all, maybe there is no divine plan, maybe we all just fool ourselves with this whole 'god' business.

Right?

Well, I still believe.

I still believe in God and I know whom I have believed.
Someone sang a song a long time ago and said "If I suddenly woke up and find out that you are not there anymore, I'll still believe you Lord"

I thought it was a daft song or a song not well thought out.

I still think so.

If there is no God, then there is no God, but if there is 'evil' in the world, then we can call it evil because there is an inbuilt compass that knows there is an 'other' way of acting or thinking...a good way.

If there is life, it started from a source or initial trigger or it would void Newton's law of inertia. There had to be a kick-start to life or all form would have continued to be in a state of rest. Also, the scientific basis for the formation and continuity of life shows too much evidence of design so that Genesis 1:1 is a loaded gun that millions of books cannot HOPE to cover fully.

So there was a start.

Now, if there was such COMPLEX design, then, LOGICALLY, there was a plan. One doesn't create COMPLEX design without a plan. Well, when I heard someone was doing a major degree studying the cell, I laughed. It seemed too small, then I found someone else was doing a Ph.D focussing on the MITOCHONDRIA, a unit within the cell.

So let's call this designer "the higher other", the "light", the "source" - and other nifty titles.
Well, since it's a free country, I'll call Him God - I'll save JAH for later.

It's a big jump but I'm going to just talk from the perspective of the Bible because discussing it's validity is a whole lot of other articles, but THIS God is GOOD.

Now, if God is good, then WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY...and all the other WHY's.

This is my answer.

Prove that for any operator A, E||^=Tr(AA^T), Highlighting where Tr denotes the trace help. 

Er...what is that?

That's a quantum physics equation I looked around to get. It's very helpful for me (and hopefully for you) to be faced with stuff that tells us emphatically: You don't know much.
Yes...YOU.

The amount of knowledge one has determines the decisions one makes. The one who has more knowledge has a difference in perspective from the one who has little.

It is in the same way that God knows why because he has answers and understanding that we don't.

In his wisdom, he has given us choice. Now, you can sit down and get angry about why the knight on the chess board moves L-shape, or you can ask the Grandmaster and board maker 'what do I do now?'

Some pawns will be lost. Depending on the unique play of your life, maybe your knight...WHAT! He just let your queen get captured - but you MUST trust that He knows the end from the beginning and combine that with FAITH that He is Good.

And perhaps, now you understand God's reply to Job.

It was


"Prove that for any operator A, E||^=Tr(AA^T), Highlighting where Tr denotes the trace help. 

 OR

Trust me!"

Don't be offended

At that time in my life, I was a pastor - and that was why I was looking into her eyes.

There were tears in her eyes and she was afraid. Her husband respected me and so could express his fears. I had to squelch mine inside. When I got a call about the emergency, I had looked to the heavens and trusted God as we drove to the hospital.

We walked into the crowded ward and seeing many dead babies all around did nothing to help my faith, but I filled my heart with scripture and calmed the couple.

Then I saw the baby.

I have always had a mega soft spot for kids, but this boy was different. He was a few days old and he was a fighter and I loved him for it! His lungs heaved as he fought for air, his eyes darted around, looking slightly glazed - or maybe it was my eyes getting misty. He was a few days old but something had gone wrong somewhere and he was fighting to stay alive. His mum burst into tears, but I re-assured her, laid my hands on the child, and forced faith to well up on my inside. I had prayed for people and seen them get better, seen circumstances turn around and that conviction gave me strength as I projected my faith onto the child.

I don't think I had said a more fervent prayer and after that I could turn to his mom and say calmly "Don't worry. It WILL be alright".

It was alright.

I got a call the next day at work. The baby was dead - gone to be with the Lord before me, before his parents, in a place way better than earth's best. His mom?
She was devastated.

My role meant I took the news calmly, said what I felt I was supposed to and project all the strength I could to the caller.

Then I went to the toilet and cried.

The walk with God means that doors will open and the supernatural will be displayed. Prosperity becomes a birthright and by Christ's stripes, we can claim a healing. But Hebrews 11 cited as the popular faith chapter shows us a valid key in the walk with God. It talks about those who did 'great' things, BUT also talks about those who were sawn asunder, or in modern-day English, CUT in two. Some were stoned, beaten, became vagabonds, were poor and destitute because of their faith in God. Like marriage, the God journey is for better for worse and sometimes, the only thing that can be held onto is TRUST in the goodness and plan of God.

When John the Baptist was cast in prison and was going to be beheaded, he sent his disciples to Jesus to relay a message."Are you the one or do we wait for another Saviour?" I bet the naive and theological might want to squabble about his 'irreverence' or any such nonsense many are able to conjure, but John spoke genuinely as a man. He was afraid. Much later, Jesus as a man, was afraid and thought about the possibility of not going to the cross.

But back to the story.

Jesus performed miracles for the disciples of John and sent the message back to him "Blessed is the man who is not offended with me"
Another translation says "Blessed is the man who does not fall away because of me" (Luke 7:23)

We live in a world where the path of least resistance is pursued. We even think that walking with God or getting directions from God means that we enjoy ease.

Truth is, 'positive' outcomes are not proof that one heard from God about a direction to be taken.
Truth is, sickness and death are sometimes not the result of sin, lack of faith or hidden compromise.
Truth is, all the 'heroes' of the Bible walked a lonely road at so many points in their lives.
Truth is, many times, it is when you start to follow God that life gets complicated because he has to wean you off certain 'things' - or most times, NOBODY knows why it gets complex.

I do not advocate or endorse denominations, a set of theological rules, 'tried-and-tested' techniques or any such stuff. They might be helpful and there are enough folks advocating these. However, I advocate knowing Christ and letting him lead you as only He can. How he does that is up to him. It's his job to build His church.

But if the road gets rough, and brethren do not understand, or your loved ones leave, and your finances crumble, or maybe your baby dies or whatever tough scenario you MAY face, my friend, know this.

GOD doesn't love you any less.

Perhaps, I will sit with you in silence, because that may be all you need. And also, because I do not have all the answers. But somewhere in the midst of your pain, when you think about God, know that he holds you and never allows what you cannot handle to come your way.

And like he said "Blessed is the man who is not offended with me"

Strength and Honour, friend...

My Jesus

I sit down sometimes and ponder on Jesus and what he is really like.
Is he black because Revelations says his feet are like brass or is he white because all the movies depict him that way? Or is he Hispanic or really (SERIOUSLY) does he look like Osama Bin Laden because he was from the Middle East?

(I'm sure many have not thought about that before!)

Would his temperament have been sanguine or would he have been a hot-blooded choleric? Did he turn water to wine just for the wedding bash - or did he enjoy a Jewish cocktail every now and then?
(I have NOT yet been privileged to stumble on a non-alcoholic Jewish wine. So, MAYBE, just MAYBE the wine Jesus 'created' had the label 'שתה באחריות' - which is translated in English as "Drink Responsibly" – that’s what the online translator came up with anyway.

Truth is, I don't know - and while those who are zealots will want to fight and talk about what Jesus is not (like they strolled through the streets of Jerusalem with him chewing on a kebab and dates), no one really knows.

He displayed many human emotions, love, fear, happiness, anger, sadness

And yet he was God in a human stocking.

At the end of the day, Jesus becomes who we think he is. We basically project on him our desires, the things we have learnt about him from people around us, from denominations, from the public, from the news, from the media, from parents…and so on.

However, study has led me to see “information”, "news" and "facts" in a new light. Many times, the news and media is controlled by people who decide what the public sees. The people who watch the news and listen on their radios then make decisions based on the pool of selective information they have been 'primed' to receive. This is the same way scribes and historians would write about events around them, but many times, would favour a ruler or a point of view, and would sometimes edit out significant events.
The sad fact is that many times, nothing is further from the truth than 'truths', that "news" has been set up to be received in a particular way - or to evoke a particular response.

The same applies to the Christ.


We see him as the effeminate man on the posters, the confused martyr on stained glass windows, constantly looking depressed as though thinking “Wow, how many times do I have to mount that cross?”
Or we see a gay version of him dancing down the street on a Youtube video singing "I will survive" - and it goes on and on.


At this point, I have to relate a story. I am not sure if it was a dream or a vision, but a fellow Christian was allowed to ‘peep into the esoteric’.

He saw a gathering like a regular denomination with people doing all the norms: the singing, the dancing, the chanting, the praying, the raised hands, the crying... and many more interesting things we tend to do in "houses of God".
Note: Let the reader understand that the Christian/Disciple is the House of God, not any denomination.

Now, in the vision/dream/what he was seeing, there was a man seated at the back, alone and away from "the action". Well, the fellow who was seeing this unfold wondered who the man was and walked up to an usher in the vision.
Man: Who is that lonely man in the back row way from the attention and the interesting stuff that is going on in this "house of God"
Usher (with a bewildered look on his face): Are you kidding me, mate? How can you not know who that is? That is Jesus Christ, DUDE!

I think a lot about this analogy, and in my constant search and quest to know God, it reminds me of key facts.
First, the search for God and his truth is an individual quest. No one has seen God and those who may have glimpsed into the eternal have only seen a sliver of a larger picture - a sliver that was meant for them alone. Taking that sliver as doctrine or dogma leads to error - and a great many have toed this line.
Secondly, just like relationships break down because an individual assumes his/her partner will have the same likes and dislikes, there is only one way to learn to SEE Christ and to PLEASE Christ - learn of Him FROM Him.

The corporate expression is alright, but when it starts to lead to the death of the individual walk with God, it starts to become an addictive disease. Its symptoms are the clock-like preparations for a Sunday Service with no thought of God during the week or life’s dealings, feelings of guilt at missing a service/’fellowship’ meeting - when godless actions do no evoke the same emotions.

So what is my version of Jesus? Who is My Jesus? I have seen he is meek, humble, and easy to talk to. I also notice that while he hates evil he is not overbearing and like he never did in the whole of Scripture, he doesn’t try to choke the Talmud down my throat – and he applies the same thing to the KJV. I don’t understand him a lot of the time and he still makes me angry because I think he should be watching my back with regards to things I find important – but I am slowly learning to trust him and that he has a way of working things out at the end. I have found out he is very strong, tough, extremely decisive and is not the pussycat of Judah. In fact, he embarrasses the expression, Lion King.

In my life, My Jesus allows for a lot of drama, things happening just in the nick of time – sometimes, drama I’d rather do without! And, he gives me songs in the night, inspiration in the morning, balance for my madness, and a light in my frequent depression.
But that’s not all.

However, I don’t know the other facets at the moment and I am content to keep exploring.
But, that’s enough for now. I’m off to ‘trouble’ my wife in the kitchen (devil grin) and I know, for sure, Jesus will be watching.

My Jesus…

Staring at the world through my rearview: The Countdown begins (Part 2 of 2)

If you read my last article, I must say, it all sounds like a lot of drama and someone replied in my post that I was crazy – which is amusing. However, like I said before, I’m just going to be showing links, expressing thoughts and allow you explore for yourself.

Okay let’s back up a bit to the story.

I started by saying that there will be an Anti-Christ who will rule over an alliance of Nations. What shows or implies an alliance of nations at the end?

Revelations 13:16 – 17 says that He (the Anti-Christ) will have sufficient Political power over ALL to decree that without the mark of the Beast, no one will buy or sell. If you read the whole of this chapter you see more references to the control of ALL on earth, politically and commercially.
Daniel 7: 16- 24 as well as Daniel 2: 41- 42 explain about the final world power at the end. (The whole story is about a statue seen in a dream that represents four world powers – Medo-Persia, Greece, Rome – and the last world power which will be a union of uneven nations.)

Alright, away from scripture, there are several events that show these trends – or point to the likelihood of these trends. Note the world, “unfolding”.

1.    The Wocu: The Wocu was launched this year and is basically short for ‘World Currency’. Feel free to look it up. Basically, the rationale for having a one world currency is purchasing power parity – which is a term the business people use to confuse us again. Basically, value is lost when a currency from one country is converted to another – not really important for individuals (in the immediate), but important for forex traders, and multinational/international companies that make money in other currencies and feel the impact in their margins due to the constant fluctuation of value of currencies in relations to one another due to larger uncontrollable macro-economic forces. So £1 could equal $2 or $1.80 and so on – and when that is applied to accrued revenue from a company, the 20cents difference is value lost (or gained, depending on your point of view) – especially for companies where transactions are large scale. So imagine 20 cents lost for about 1million transactions. I guess you get the idea.

So you if you have a fixed unit of currency used by both sides of a buying process, you do not experience revenue loss because of the exchange rate.
Yeah, I can see you trying to keep awake. Anyway, here are some links to the Wocu.
Disclaimer: The authors have expressed their points of view on the subject.
http://www.wocu.com/wocu/wocuandyou/index.php
http://seekingalpha.com/instablog/588086-pluto-s-chronicles/56777-the-wocu-is-here-finally-a-stable-reserve-currency-to-replace-the-dollar

2.    Alliance of Nations:
Okay. Everyone knows about the EU – which is actually an eco-political coalition of nations. One visa allows you get into the EU nations (except the UK) and One set of laws (EU laws) govern all nations that are part of the EU.
However, my conjecture is this: Like the case of NAFTA, there will be more political alliances forged among nations that are presently trade bloc. NAFTA is the North American Free Trade Arrangement. (A trade bloc is a group of nations engaged in mutually beneficial commercial activities. There is generally some degree of geographical proximity.) First, there was NAFTA, but now you ALSO have the NAU – the North American Union, comprising of the United States, Mexico and Canada – nations that were a part of NAFTA.

http://www.canadafreepress.com/2007/cover041207.htm
http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=14965

So just like the European trade blocs are now the EU, NAFTA evolves towards NAU, ECOWAS nations are more or less linked via the OAU – and there are speculations that Arab nations and ASEAN (the Asian trade bloc) are evolving into National Unions.
So there are alliances of nations. Can there be an alliance of alliances with someone controlling it all?
I guess we’ll just have to wait and see it unfold with our eyes – BUT, the Bible says it WILL happen.



Moving on, Daniel 8:24 says something quite exciting about the Anti-christ. It says he will “destroy wonderfully”.

My thoughts are that there will be weapons that are so sophisticated developed that he will believe that he can take on God – especially since the Anti-Christ will already have amazing spiritual clout as well as some really heavy weaponry. (You may read earlier articles for a breakdown).

I have been doing a lot of ‘stumbling upon’ and I stumbled upon something I’d like you to stumble upon as well. Some military weapons I thought were just in games or science fiction are fast becoming standard military issue. They INCLUDE x-ray vision gadgets that can see things underground, VAPOURIZING laser weapons, invisibility gadgets, and METAL GEAR SOLID!

Ok, if you don’t play video games like I do, metal gear is about a four legged robot (a walking quadruped) that can be used as a vehicle while being able to convey some nasty firepower. Don’t believe me. Click the link.
http://www.technewsdaily.com/seven-sci-fi-weapons-from-tomorrow-are-here-today-0694/4

There is also the new taser gun which are designed to knock out and not kill an individual. Well, let me play with your mind a bit. If taser guns don’t kill, maybe there is something more the Anti-christ might want to do if he gets a person alive. The bible says people will be beheaded by him…ok, the bible says saints. Well, guillotines are extinct….or are they?

Revelations 20:4 "And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years..."

It was interesting to stumble upon these articles.
http://www.arizonaguardian.com/azg/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2201:county-coroners-cant-back-brewer-beheadings-claim&catid=937:campaigns-a-elections-fp
http://www.datehookup.com/Thread-217941.htm
http://freedom-school.com/reading-room/marine-boasts.html

They talk about guillotines being imported into the US.

Note: I have searched as much as I can and have NOT found sufficient SUBSTANTIAL evidence for the fact that guillotines have been brought into the United State or are used at Fort Knox. It is very important to draw the line between an interesting article and a CREDIBILE one. I have also looked up several sources and there is no substantial evidence for OR against – so it’s up to readers to decide what they think is true or false.


The Israeli Dimension
My earlier article talked about Israel being surrounded by an alliance. Currently, there has been growing tensions with Israel, especially after the flotilla attack. In summary, a convoy from the UK, Turkey, Algeria, Greece and Kuwait as well as others from 50 nationalities, was attacked close to Israeli water space. The Israelis have said they have a right to defend themselves and they had placed an embargo on the water space. There has been a huge outcry against Israel following the incidence. Prior to this time, there has been increased tension due to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

When I heard about the flotilla incidence, my first thoughts were the international community withdrawing support from Israel – and the fact that there HAD to be an incidence to set this off. Reason being, there are two major battles, the Bible talks about Gog and Magog (Israel takes on the Anti-Christ’s army which at the time comprises of many nations under him (Ezekiel 38 and 39)) and Armageddon (which is much, much later). I further stumbled on news about Israeli rabbis who expressed the same thought.
http://beforeitsnews.com/news/72/984/Is_flotilla_battle_signaling_start_of_Gog_and_Magog.html
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2010/05/201053133047995359.html
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/138425

So what happens next?
I don’t know. Like ‘System of a Down’ sang, ‘I’m just sitting in my garden waiting for my God’. I sit down, watching the world’s sunset, starring at the skies.

Earth is beautiful, an excellent stage that allows lives to come around, play their parts – and then move off. Drama continues to play out in every life, at every phase, as people come and go and legacies are passed from father to son…

BUT

Not one jot or title will pass from God’s word till all is fulfilled.

I can’t deny that sometimes prophecy doesn’t seem to align, can’t deny that many times God doesn’t seem to make sense. But a time is coming ahead where we are changed, because “we shall not all sleep” – we will be changed and then we will KNOW as we are known. We will understand.

So, keep faith, look to the sky – it’s only when you FACE the sky that you can have proper perspective of earth – staring at the world through your rearview.

Staring at the world through my rearview: The Countdown has begun (Part 1 of 2)

Hopefully, I may not be writing about the end-times for a while. The more you read up on the subject, the more you see – and the more things open up. I also notice that people get very uncomfortable around the subject – particularly Christians. It is almost as though Christians say “Repent, Christ is coming soon” – but hardly believe it themselves…and REALLY do not REALLY want it to REALLY happen. (Chuckles) It’s almost like when people say they don’t want the rapture to happen before they have sex on their wedding night – they want to experience the other kind of ‘rapture’


:D Which is fab…


I know many Christians belong to denominational organizations (these things we have come to call churches)that are making a lot of money. Heck, it’s tax free, and all sort of marketing ruses are used to collect money in the name of God – and unlike the early churches, it’s only in few settings you see a breakdown of how these monies are allocated. I was once a member of a denomination in the UK and you can imagine my shock when one of the elders came forward and explained how much had been collected and using precise figures and pie charts to show how the collections had been spent. I was crazy impressed.


He went on to talk about a program called a gift day for the less-privileged and MAN, was I happy to give!! Reason being, you hardly see any sort of breakdown in many denomination, you know the ‘man-of-God’ is living large, the denomination has purchased its 12th keyboard for “worship” (which is actually a life style NOT a live jam), there are plans for expanding the house of GOD (I thought the house of God was our bodies and not the building – which gives a twist to where the tithe should be going, INNIT?!)



What I am getting at is, many Christians have reached a point of being settled in the world, have taken on its practices, and like someone said, feel a lot better when they have a famous person’s name on their pants!


Yet, we really are NOT of the world…


What I plan to do next is highlight prophecies UNFOLDING (note the use of the present-continuous tense!) Some prophecies are fulfilled, some are unfolding, and some are just beginning to unfold – while others are being pointed to by current events. What I mean is, when you think, “this is it”, it may not be it at all. It might just be a decoy or an indication of the possibility of the real deal.
As always, I will harmonize scripture with occurrences in the world today, giving links to explore and news snippets to peruse and I will be as brief as possible, hoping that you will ‘study to show yourself approved unto God’ – and “maybe, just maybe” (like Kheston Walkins, the profound poet said) you just MIGHT become a watchman – going about your business, but looking to the watch, to the sky and letting others know that earth is a plane going down – with waitresses wearing masks to hide their fear.


All the time, movies, music, nudity and ‘entertainment’ constantly flash off the constantly-expanding screens to distract you from reality, with people locked up and silenced because they have been pronounced ‘clinically mad’ by goblins in lab coats – because unlike the easy-to-fool mass of humanity, they have looked away from flashing screens, and out of the windows – and have seen the coming doom and try to speak up. And all the while, the only ones who are truly calm are that way because they see the stairway to heaven under the sea the plane WILL crash into – a stairway… a highway, where nothing unclean passes except those who have become white from being dipped in lamb’s blood and who have traded vultures’ hearts for eagles’ wings…



I will talk briefly about a few trends that signal “the end”.
To do this effectively, I will speak briefly on a sequence of events that scripture has said will culminate in the coming of Christ. (People argue about if the rapture is the same as the SECOND coming. PERSONALLY, I think that’s as trivial as the argument some people had in my university – Does heaven have streets of gold? Using my ‘amazing’ and ‘highly extensive’ communicative skills, I have replied BELOW in ONE word to that argument.



Duh…


Ok, that said, the end of the age as written in the Bible is very Israel-focused.
Israel will be disliked by most of the world, and so will be followers of Jesus. There will be a heavy coalition of nations who will finally come to be under one man. He is known as the Anti-Christ. He is charismatic (like Hitler was), promises peace and unification to a turbulent world, and will seize control of nations. By virtue of his influence, he will have a mark known as “the Mark of the Beast”, without which people cannot buy or sell – the obvious implications being that he controls global finance – and as any economist knows, once you control the finance of a country/nation/entity, you control it irrespective of its VISIBLE law makers.
But, like the biblical Pharaoh, Herod and Hitler – he will hate Israel, and will want to destroy it.


Being subtle, he will have an agreement with Israel, promising peace – but he will break the treaty with Israel.

Globally, certain events will be unfolding. The Anti-Christ comes to power BEFORE the rapture happens (2 Thessalonians 2: 1- 4), and the Great Tribulation is unleashed.

Basically, God, at the time, is pissed off! There are solar flares, mass deaths, there are new diseases, there are massive natural disasters, there is violence, there are colossal fires that take out a lot of civilization and greenery, a meteor falls and hits the earth – it poisons a lot of earth’s waters…
Then things start to get bad.


There is a 200 million army that is unleashed and kills a lot more people, a mysterious breed of stinging locusts hit the earth. At the same time, the Anti-Christ has to ‘handle’ some difficult political concerns and using his hi-tech gadgets, he destroys wonderfully – and then he breaks his treaty with Israel.
Already having an alliance of nations under him, having a central currency, crazy weapon technology, and IMMENSE spiritual backing, he gets a massive force together. He has been given power to kill followers of Christ, so he kills a lot of them along the line.


Yup… he does.


And then he marches against Israel.
It is at this point it starts to sound like science fiction – well, many things were thought of as impossible, but science is doing crazy things already.
So imagine the drama when God steps in.


Israel is surrounded on every side. She is a tiny nation – and a damn stubborn ‘stone of contention’! The sun is rising slowly painting the land below with golden rays as men lay huddled together on the ground, weapons at the ready, ready to make one last and final stand. Several small skirmishes have reduced a vast number of their Israeli fighting force. The Wailing Wall is crowded as Rabbis and soldiers pray. Perhaps Yeshua will intervene like stories in scriptures.



The younger soldiers know the stories but make sure their guns are cleaned, cocked and at the ready – they know there is a such as thing as ‘a good death’. They have heard of strange occurrences that led to the abnormal victory of “the 6-day war”, but that was in the past. Right now, the nation is on the brink of annihilation and with the giants around them, they are really like grass hoppers.

A general lifts up binoculars to his eyes and sighs. The sky is filled with visible and invisible forces with immense firepower that can liquefy a man. Visible and invisible tanks line the hills and terrain around Israel.

Israel is all alone.

But she is God’s own Israel

The apple of his eyes – and her walls are continually before him, for as the hills surround Jerusalem, so he surrounds her.


And then, the heavens open…


A ray of sharp sunlight cuts through the clouds…but it is not sunlight, because the sun is on the other end of the sky. Well it depends on who’s the actual SUN.

It’s a bird, it’s a plane.


It’s Jesus Christ.

Yay!


Er.. but there is something really really wrong with the picture.


You see, there is no smile on his face. It’s a stern look, the eyes are almost dead-pan and they burn like a million suns. His hair is white as wool, not brown like in the pictures, as it billows in the wind. He is nothing like the movies; no lamb-like demeanor, no time for the little children at the moment, no time to carry crosses, no time to display nail-scarred hands, no time to take a beating, or explain parables again and again to people who do not want to believe in the unseen.
It’s a time to war, a time to fight – It’s a time to KILL.
YUP – a time to kill.

(To be continued)