TIME IS OF THE ESSENCE

3/9/10

WHAT I KNOW

*We all are called to give an account of our love for people, and foremost our love for our God.

*In a world that true love is absent, we must be an example of the love that reaches all groups.

WHAT I DON'T KNOW

*Is the strong talk from Iran all smoke and mirrors or is there something more to it?

*Will Israel pull the trigger to strike Iran?

*How will the US treat Israel in the months ahead, and will that treatment lead to the isolation of Israel?

MY THOUGHTS

I have been away the last few days taking a nice break from the news.  My wife and I took a little vacation, and enjoyed time with each other.  Looking forward today posting on the news of the days as we may be entering some very tough times.

I am not a doom and gloom person in response to earthquakes, storms, or unusual phenomena in nature.  I think nature takes its course and there are times of great upheaval and there are times of great swings in the earth.  History records this.  However, what we have been experiencing lately is more than just natural phenomena, but a spiritual phenomena.  God will use the earth, those things below the earth, and the heavens to point people to the reality that the Coming of Christ is coming soon.  There are many sizeable earthquakes happening in this world, and our prayers are with those who are suffering, but is there something really different this time?  People are noticing, and if ordinary people are noticing then one of the desired effects of the natural phenomena is to point people to Christ.  This does not mean that an unloving God is allowing earthquakes to happen to bring about people's attention, but it is more of our own sin that is bringing on the natural upheavals.

In Genesis, when Adam and Eve sinned all of creation fell with them.  As mankind rushes toward Armageddon, so will nature rush in the same direction.  We are tied to the earth, not in some mythical way, but we are the stewards of this earth.  The makeup of physical man is made up of all elements found on earth, so where the spiritual makeup of mankind goes so does the future of this planet.  Therefore, if the earthquakes and weather are getting worse, then it is not as much God, but sinful man waging a losing war against its Maker is to be blamed.  This is a Biblical truth stretching through Genesis, the flood, and the earthquake when all of man's sins was put on the shoulders of Christ during Easter.  God has allowed the sins of mankind to affect much more than that individual, but everything around him, even to the very world he lives in.

Economies are on the verge of collapse, the earth is making noise, Iran is pushing the world toward war, and all of this is spoken in the Bible.  As the world is going through its birth pains before the great 1,000 year reign of Christ is ushered in, we all must show love toward one another.  It doesn't matter the sin, the ethnic group, the position of life, love is our battle cry.  Love those that need love, and love those that do need love.  The world is falling apart, lives are falling apart, and the only One who can put all of it together is God.  It is not our prophetic knowledge, our Bible knowledge, nor our church attendance that drives people toward God, but our treatment of each other and the world.  As the time is coming to a close in this age, let love be your guide, for when you are in front of Christ, He will ask you if you loved the world as much as He does.  Do you measure up?

Bro. Brian

SCRIPTURE

Matthew 24:4-8

"And Jesus answered and said to them, "^(F)See to it that no one misleads you.

 ⁵"For ^(G)many will come in My name, saying, 'I am the Christ,' and will mislead many.

 ⁶"You will be hearing of ^(H)wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not frightened, for those things must take place, but that is not yet the end.

 ⁷"For ^(I)nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and in various places there will be ^(J)famines and earthquakes.

 ⁸"^(K)But all these things are merely the beginning of birth pangs."

NOTE:  In order for the earthquakes to be prophetic, you must have all of the other prophecies coming together also.  It seems that those things may be coming to pass.  If so, then Christ's coming is very close.

Bro. Brian

NEWS LINK

The jolt threw me onto the ground," he told The Associated Press. "When I got up I checked my animals and then I checked on my neighbors."

"Two of them were buried. We pulled them out," he said, adding that they were alive but injured.

Men used shovels and bare hands to dig two bodies out from under piles of dirt, rubble and concrete blocks, video footage showed. Both bodies were covered in blankets and carried away.

One appeared to be a baby or young child.

Women in veils gathered near the rescue scenes, some crying.

http://gulfnews.com/news/world/other-world/hundreds-of-earthquake-survivors-camp-out-in-turkey-s-winter-cold-1.594153

ANOTHER NEWS LINK

JP Morgan economist Malcolm Barr said: ''It is plausible that the snow disruption was more of a constraint on the ability to get UK exports to airports and the dockside than it was on receiving imports.''

The pound came under further pressure today, falling below $1.50s as ratings agency Fitch also reiterated its concerns over the UK's public finances and called for tougher action on the deficit at a London conference.

Experts warned the poor trade figures would continue to act as a drag on recovery during the first quarter of 2010, having knocked off 0.2 percentage points from the UK's 0.3% growth in the final three months of 2009.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/economics/7404682/UK-exports-plunge-threatening-hopes-of-economic-uplift.html