86. Recommended book: "One Second After"

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Rewritten and expanded on Monday, November 9, 2009.
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Three nuclear blasts high above America bring life, first, to a standstill; and afterwards to a great decline due to the EMP (ElectroMagnetic Pulse) "frying" effect on computers and electronic products.

Fiction? Yes, William Forstchen’s “One Second After” is a novel, but it is grounded in an all-too-real possibility of an EMP nuclear attack on the USA launched from a cargo container ship in the Atlantic.

I’m listening to the CD audiobook, but I've just bought the hardback as a source of information and ideas about what we as family and individuals need to do to survive such a situation in our country. I'll be making notes as I read the hardback, the notes I wish I had taken during the CD.

The members of Congress have only agreed on one issue during this decade: that All Americans should read this book. The Wall Street Journal warned that this is the weapon that could bring America down to the level of a banana republic.

How will your life need to change? Forstchen has many practical answers (although often with R-rated language). Newt Gingrich writes the Forward.

Do Christians need to be prepared for such things? Yes! Christians, of all people, should be fully prepared in every area of their lives. Read the book, and see if you don't agree -- and then please comment here, and we'll discuss!

Here is the link to Amazon:
http://j.mp/4eoG2h
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31. Earthquakes and the End Times

Seven Bible passages and a few current events

Headline today, July 10th, 2009: California 'due for big earthquake' after tremors near San Andreas Fault signal increased stress.

And another today in the Dallas Morning News: 7th earthquake since June rattles Cleburne, TX

California, yes, we’re expecting that one someday – but Texas??

First, let’s do a survey of the scriptures for all the end-time earthquake passages:

1. Ezekiel 38-39 is the main passage that deals with a Russia/Iran alliance with other countries against Israel, that apparently takes place in the early days of the 7-year time of tribulation and chaos.
Ezek 38:19-20 says: For in my jealousy and in my blazing wrath I declare, on that day there shall be a great earthquake in the land of Israel. The fish […] and the birds […] and the beasts […] and all creeping things […], and all the people who are on the face of the earth, shall quake at my presence. And the mountains shall be thrown down, and the cliffs shall fall, and every wall shall tumble to the ground.
From this passage only you might be surprised to learn that the Russia alliance is demolished by God's direct intervention.

2. Matthew 24, Mark 13, and Luke 21 are three passages that cover essentially the same issues about earthquakes as the last days draw near:
Matt 24:7 says, …for nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are just the beginning of birth-pangs.
Mark 13 and Luke 21 are almost identical.

3. Revelation 6:12 tells of the opening of the sixth seal (see outline of Revelation)
Rev 6:12 says: When he (the Lamb) opened the sixth seal, I looked, and behold, there was a great earthquake, and the sun became black as sackcloth, the full moon became like blood...

4. Revelation 8:5 tells of the opening of the seventh seal, and says: Then the angel took the censer* and filled it with fire from the altar and threw it down to the earth. And there were peals of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning, and an earthquake.

5. Revelation 11:13 speaks of an event that may be at the middle of the 7-year tribulation period: And at that hour there was a great earthquake, and a tenth of the city [Jerusalem] fell. Seven thousand people were killed in the earthquake, and the rest were terrified and gave glory to the God of heaven.

6. Revelation 11:19 tells of the same time period: Then God’s temple in heaven was opened, and the ark of his covenant was seen within His temple. There were flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder, an earthquake, and heavy hail.

7. Revelation 16:18-19 tells of the pouring of the seventh bowl of judgment in the air: And there were flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder, and a great earthquake such as there has never been since man was on the earth, so great was that earthquake. The great city [Jerusalem] was split into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell…

These are all the passages in the Bible that speak of earthquakes in the end times. (Find another one? Let me know)

Just one thing more about relevant current events:
There have been over 500* earthquakes (of recordable magnitude) in California in the last week. See Cal-Earthquake-Chart

(Note that by Feb 27th, 2010, this figure was up to 750 per week. See blogpost #90.)

Chances are good that the earthquake era is only just beginning.

*censer - Old Testament vessel used for offering incense before God.
*over 500 - this figure continually changes.
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17. Are "the end times" different than "the last days"?

This came as a question within a comment. I thought it deserved to be a full post.

Yes, different in the sense that "the last days" is infrequently used to refer to the time beginning when Christ rose from the dead (Heb 1:1-2) through the second coming of Christ. More often, however, "the last days" is used to mean a similar period as "the end times". In this sense, both of them mean the short period preceding and including the second coming of Christ, which is taken in some circles to be a period of 7 years or somewhat longer.

3. What shall we trust for our future history?

In late 1972, as a new believer, I bought the edition of the National Enquirer's annual prophecy issue, where seers, prophets, fortune tellers, and the like, predicted what was going to happen in 1973.

My plan was to squirrel the issue away until the end of 1973, to see how they did -- particularly in comparison to the Bible.

It turned out to be not much of a contest. It has been widely pointed out that there are approximately 150 prophecies (some say even more) about the first coming of Jesus Christ in the Bible, most of them written 500-1100 years before he was born. And they were all 100% fulfilled. (One such list is in the back of Tim Lahaye's Prophecy Bible, where it lists each old testament prophecy and how it was fulfilled)

How did today's prophets in the National Enquirer do in comparison? They listed 68 prophecies for 1973, and I gave them a score of one and a half correct. Let's see. That would be 2.2% correct. What ones did they get right? One was about Elvis's comeback continuing, and the half one was a prediction that Edward Kennedy would get a divorce in 1973. Actually, he and his wife separated in that year, so I gave that prediction a half-right vote.

So what about the many Biblical prophecies that have not yet been fulfilled? In Future History posts we'll be looking at those prophecies, among other things.

1. To tweet or not to tweet, that is the question

Many of you are now using twitter, as I have been for a while. You probably know you can use up to 140 characters in a single message -- but no more than 140. I've decided that sometimes I need 141 characters -- or 1410, or 14,100 to say what I want to say (hopefully not 141,000). So, I'll continue to use twitter, and when I need to expand, I'll link over to here.

As I begin posting, I'm going to start with my early tweets (a single message on twitter), and expand on them.

Down below, I've listed a number of labels that will be themes throughout the posts.

Hope to hear from you soon.