 Prophecy/News Update 2016
Falling Apart or Falling Together? Greetings in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! As this New Year begins I want to begin it by saying, maranatha! For those of you who are not familiar with this word, it means, “O Lord, come!” in Aramaic. It was a phrase that was used by the early church – and was used by Paul in the New Testament. The word or phrase was used to speak of a strong desire for the return of the Lord Jesus Christ. I mention this because like never before I want to pray daily, maranatha! Next Sunday I will be sharing the 2016 Prophecy/News Update message. This year has been filled with events that involve Israel, and that possibly foreshadow the fulfillment of biblical prophecy. World events are definitely heating up and many, even in the secular world, are predicting that we may be on the verge of World War III. It was also a year in which the United States Supreme Court legalized homosexual marriage. This decision has set up a monumental battle between the newly fashioned erotic rights of our age with the constitutional right to religious liberty. That battle will be fought right before our eyes in the courts of our land and the court of public opinion. In light of how scary this can be – I want to begin this week with an encouraging word to the saints. Things that are going in our world can be very frightening. We are definitely watching our world become more and more volatile before our very eyes. Things in the Middle East continue to degenerate almost daily. The ongoing Syrian civil war is a flashpoint for the entire world as superpowers like Russia, China, and the United States get involved in that conflict. The rise of ISIS (The Islamic State in Iran and Syria) and the ongoing fight to remove them from large portions of Syria and Iraq are causing a destabilization of the entire region. The daily rocket fire on Israel continues (those it is a situation almost completely ignored by the mainstream news media) – as does the daily threat to Israel from Hezbollah, ISIS, Hamas, and Iran. Add to this the uptick in terrorist activity in Europe, Africa, and the United States – and we have a world that is ready to blow up in a worldwide war between various factions and nations. In the midst of all this it would be easy to want to throw your hands up and say, “The world is falling apart!” Things are also scary when it comes to the changes in our nation. The battle between religious liberty and erotic liberty is heating up every day. It is no surprise that the world system is standing firmly behind erotic liberty. What we were told was a quest for tolerance has become a very intolerant attack on the church for holding to a biblical view of sexuality and marriage. Close on the heels of the recent victories for gay marriage we watched as the next battle began concerning gender confusion. The speed at which the sexual revolution is happening is dizzying – and frightening. It is as if nothing is either sacred or stable in our culture any longer. On top of all this there is a growing racial tension in our nation as we watch police shootings being questioned and riots erupting that engulf entire cities in flames and lawlessness. In light of all that is happening around us it would be easy to say, “Our nation is falling apart!” Those with a Christian/Biblical worldview understand this differently. First of all we know that the world has been falling apart ever since the “fall.” When man chose to sin against the Lord – everything began to fall apart. The descent into chaos and destruction began in that moment – and for those who forget the narrative of Genesis – resulted in the whole earth being flooded to address the wickedness of man just 10 chapters later. Shortly after Noah and his family departed from the ark – Noah got drunk – and the whole process started all over again. Our current situation is not any more wicked than others in history – it is just that we are given vastly more information about the results of godlessness in our day. Sin has always been destructive – wars and devastation have always either been ongoing – or on the horizon as mankind continues to reject God and live according to their own sinful nature and inclinations. A Biblical understanding of the chaos that happens as a nation turns away from God is also nothing radically new. The history of nations recorded for us in Scripture makes it clear that when a nation rejects God and godly principles bad things happen. The history of Israel and Judah’s kings as recorded by the historical record as well as the prophecies spoken against them for their rejection of God is clear. Just as a nation is blessed when it submits to God – it will be under a curse when it rejects and turns from Him. Our nation is rejecting not only godly principles – but God Himself as it rebels against what the Scriptures say. When we take a few minutes to refocus our thinking with Scripture, we may come to a different realization about the current state of affairs in the world. Things have always been falling apart due to sin – but God is working so that things are falling together for the return of Christ. Mark chapter 13 and Luke chapter 21 are accounts of Jesus’ teaching about the last days. In this teaching Jesus presents the things that will be happening before His second coming. Many of these things match events that are taking place in our time. Jesus closes this section of both gospels with the following words, “Even so, you too, when you see these things happening, recognize that He is near, right at the door.” (Mark 13:29, NASB) When you read through the previous verses to this one, you will see that what is happening in our day was foretold by our Lord Jesus. He spoke of wars and rumors of wars – earthquakes – famines – and a wholesale rejection of God by humanity. What is equally fascinating is that passages that speak of future prophetic events, which require a certain aligning of the nations against Israel, are being fulfilled before our eyes. Truly things are falling together just as God said – even as they fall apart because of mankind’s rejection of Him. The more they fight against Him – the more they are unwitting accomplices to do what He said would be done. Take courage saints, none of what has happened has taken God by surprise. All of it was foretold 2000 or more years ago. Anyone even remotely aware of what the Bible says about the last days knows that the return of our Lord Jesus Christ will be at a time when the world is falling apart. You cannot read of what the prophets foretold and imagine a world getting better and better. You cannot be familiar with the seal judgments of Revelation 6, the trumpet judgments of Revelation 8 and 9, and the bowl judgments of Revelation 16 and think that things will be at an all time best at the second coming of Christ. All the nations, all the prophetic predictions, all the things necessary to see all thing fulfilled just as God spoke – are falling together as if God were sovereign over the affairs of men (which, by the way, He is). Based on this knowledge, then, we need to live in reality concerning where the world is headed. This is not our home, saints – it is the place where God has been rejected. We await the kingdom of our God and of His Christ. And as that falls together the world itself will fall apart. But take courage dear ones of God – He has overcome the world – and by His grace and the power of His Spirit – He will grant to us the ability to be overcomers even in this difficult hour!
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 Recently I read through Revelation 6 and came across the following passage.
I looked when He broke the sixth seal, and there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth made of hair, and the whole moon became like blood; and the stars of the sky fell to the earth, as a fig tree casts its unripe figs when shaken by a great wind. The sky was split apart like a scroll when it is rolled up, and every mountain and island were moved out of their places. Then the kings of the earth and the great men and the commanders and the rich and the strong and every slave and free man hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains; and they *said to the mountains and to the rocks, "Fall on us and hide us from the presence of Him who sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb; for the great day of their wrath has come, and who is able to stand?" Revelation 6:12-17 (NASB) What kind of event could cause the kind of ecological disaster that this seal mentions? When you read this kind of description – with the sun black as sackcloth – the moon becoming red like blood – the sky split like a scroll – and every mountain and island moved – it seems impossible except for maybe some kind of miracle by which it would take place. That may well be what causes this event – but there is evidence of a geological anomaly that could very well be part, if not all, of what causes this disaster. Scientists from The University of Utah as well as others from the USGS (United States Geological Survey) have recently realized that underneath the some 300 active geysers, thousands of bubbling mud pots, and steam vents in Yellowstone National Park is a couple of magma reservoirs unmatched in our knowledge of what lies under the earth’s crust. The super volcano has been a mystery for years and would still be one if it were not for recent seismic technology being used to do a kind of CT-scan of the chambers beneath Yellowstone. What they found from the three-dimensional seismic maps they were able to put together dwarfs any previous thoughts about the size of the what is going on beneath the park. A subsequent article reviewing their findings was published in March of 2015 in the journal Science. HOW BIG IS THIS SUPERVOLCANO? The researchers scientists from Utah found that beneath Yellowstone Park are two huge magma chambers – and upper and a lower one – whose size is staggering to grasp. The upper chamber is closest to the surface and has 2,500 cubic miles in volume. It measures about 19 by 55 miles. The lower reservoir is close to 5 times that size, measuring 11,500 cubic miles, and measures 30 by 40 miles and is roughly about 16 miles thick. These two chambers are the some of the largest ever found by researchers. Although these chambers have not erupted, their presence has been made known as recently as 2003. Park officials closed Yellowstone at this time because they feared that people would burn their feet walking on the ground or that their tires would be melted and ruined by the roads that were melting at the time. The ground temperatures rose to such a level that geysers dried out and amazingly, even trees in the area were destroyed as the sap within them boiled. Thermometers were put a few inches under the surface and recorded temperatures rising to 200 degrees Fahrenheit – just a few degrees more and one would have been able to boil water just beneath the soil. The real problems came when researchers began to describe the effects of an eruption of this super volcano. The best way to understand this is by comparing volcanic eruptions of the past with what is possible if Yellowstone were to erupt. Compared to Yellowstone, Mount St. Helens was a lovely picnic in the park. This eruption covered the state of Washington with an ash bed nearly the size of all of Lake Michigan back in 1980. In the Philippines the Mount Pinatubo blast of 1991, which yielded an earthquake over 7.0 in magnitude. In addition to this Pinatubo, considered the second largest eruption in the 20th century, blew 1 cubic mile of debris into the air almost 22 miles high – and spread ash as far away as the Indian Ocean – and dropped temperatures throughout the region by at least 1 degree for the next year. If we compare the largest volcanic blasts known to us in modern times we have to go back to Krakatoa (1883) and the eruption of Mount Tambora in Indonesia in 1815. Krakatoa blew on August 26-27 of 1883 and sent 11 cubic miles of debris into the air. The explosion from this volcano ruptured the eardrums of people as far as 40 miles away – and completely obliterated two mountains that disappeared into the sea. The earthquake and subsequent tsunami from this event sent a wave 120 feet high into Java and Sumatra – killing an estimated 36,000 people – and sending ships a mile inland. But the mother of all known modern volcanoes was that of Mount Tambora. Tambora killed 10,000 people instantly and over 100,000 people before it was over. It launched over 30 cubic miles of debris up to 38 miles into the atmosphere. Other effects of this volcano were a period of 3 to 5 days without any sunshine and a 5-degree drop in worldwide temperatures. The weather patterns of the whole earth were so dramatically impacted that it caused famines and crop failures as far away as the U.S. and Europe – and 1816 was referred to as the year without a summer. HOW BIG WOULD THE BLAST BE? Here are the comparisons of a blast in Yellowstone to those of recent history. Tambora shot 30 cubic feet of debris over 35 miles into the atmosphere. It is estimated that an eruption of the super volcano under Yellowstone could launch up to 600 cubic miles of debris at least that high into our atmosphere. The effects of this would be disastrous to the earth. First, it is estimated that over 100,000 people would be killed almost instantly – and the entire population of North America would face death from the ash, gasses, and lava bombs that would result. Such an eruption would so fill the entire atmosphere of the earth that travel by air would be impossible for up to as long as a year or more. The temperature change involved in such an eruption could be as high as 10 or more degrees – almost ensuring a kind of volcanic winter for at least a year. The destruction to agriculture would be beyond compare – making almost the entire surface of the United States unusable for years or even decades. What is shocking is how a super volcano blast of this magnitude would mirror the events of Revelation 6 in many ways. I will examine this in my next article. I would be remiss if I did not also tell you that such an eruption of the super volcano underneath Yellowstone is considered to be very unlikely. Scientists who have studied this put the odds of it around 1 in 700,000 – or the likelihood that you will be struck by lightning. But, with that said, it is interesting that such a scenario as that of Revelation 6 is possible from a geological standpoint. |
 What is the Prophecy/News Update?At Calvary Chapel of Jonesboro, we believe that history is moving toward fulfilling God's plans and purposes. In an effort to help us be prepared for His appearing - and also to chronicle news items you just won't see in the national media - this page is devoted to sharing those items and their possible significance to 
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