As for being prepared, well, that is a mindset that God honors in any season, and it is a responsibility we each and all bear to the extent that He leads us.

So, be well, all. Most of all, be found in Christ Jesus from now until the last day. And, yes, happy new year!

All of what upon us?

By now everyone knows how the Christmas holiday came into being. We know that Jesus was not born on December 25. We know that the Saturnalia was celebrated at the winter solstice in the Roman Empire and that when Constantine converted to Christianity, he ‘Christianized’ all the pagan festivals to appease the people.

Yet, the celebration of Christmas has come to mean a lot to many good-hearted and sincere Christians. That is something no one should want to take away from them. However, some points should be made about much that has been attached to that day and the way Christians respond to it.

Recently, Walgreens was bombarded with calls and emails because their weekly ad insert read “Happy Holidays” instead of “Merry Christmas.” Many Christians were offended at Walgreens’ inclusiveness, calling it political correctness. Really, it was neither inclusiveness or political correctness. It was a business decision. That ad insert was about nothing but bringing customers into the store and selling them product to realize a profit. And that, dear friend, is the only thing any advertisement selling goods at this time of year intends to do.

Why are Christians so offended in the first place? Can you imagine Jesus saying, “Come into Walgreens today. Buy tinsel and personal appliance gifts to celebrate My birth!” Can you see Him, in your mind’s eye, cheering, “Get out there at 4 AM to those Black Friday sales in My Name!” Would He be proud of our insisting that retailers attach His Name (for the title Christ refers only to Him) to their money-making programs at this time of year? To their encouragement to come out and spend, and to compete to be one of the chosen dozen to get the loss leaders featured in their ads? Do we want liquor ads to use the words, “Merry Christmas” instead of Happy Holidays, too? What about the adult bookstore near the interstate? Should they also hang, “Merry Christmas” on their door? They probably do.

Yes, there is a war on Christmas so far as the day is useful in bringing hearts and souls to think about Christ Jesus and to glorify God for all that He has done for us as sinners. It is a war conducted by the enemy of men’s souls to dilute that day by associating the celebration of Christ (Christ’s Mass) with commercial activity. When Christians insist that the word “Christmas” be attached to every single bit of it, we are playing into the plan set into motion by the father of lies to commercialize it to the point that people say, “Ah, Christmas, humbug, it’s just a way to get my money.” Why is it a problem for Christians that they say instead, “Ah, the holidays, humbug, it’s just a way to get my money?”

This has nothing to do with people saying “Merry Christmas” to passersby or sending Christmas cards. That is a personal expression. This is about Christians wanting Christ attached to all the commercial activity. Do you really think that people buying gifts to put under a tree are going to forget to call it a Christmas tree? Can a retailer choosing to plaster “Happy Holidays” all over ads and stores take what Christmas means to you and yours out of your hearts and minds?

That the shopping experience and what stores choose to say in their stores and ads gets so many in such an uproar shows the inappropriate focus on the commercial aspect of the day has already overtaken Christians. If only they would get as upset and motivated to action over the real sin in this nation, that which God repeatedly condemns in His Word, there might be something in our lives that people see and say, “Hey, I want that!” and many souls would be won to Christ for God’s glory.

In 1933, the last Thursday of November fell on the last day of the month – November 30. Just like today, businesses knew that people traditionally began Christmas shopping after Thanksgiving, and feared the shorter shopping season would mean lower sales. This was a perilous time for the nation’s economy, with the Great Depression in full swing. The merchants appealed to President Franklin Roosevelt to move the Thanksgiving holiday to the fourth Thursday so that the shopping season would have 30 days.

That year, Roosevelt refused, but when the situation repeated in 1939, he relented. Thousands of letters poured in from all across the nation. Smaller businesses were not pleased with the change, as they felt the shorter season might help their sales. Schools had to adjust schedules with short notice to accommodate the new date. Many were not happy that the president would change such a long-standing tradition just so businesses could make more money. Some states decided to stick with the fifth Thursday while others accepted the move to the fourth week, making planning difficult for families wanting to gather for the feast across state lines. This repeated in 1940. In 1941, Congress set the fourth Thursday as the official day perpetually, assuring a longer shopping season for retailers every year.

Fast-forward to 2011. Stores can’t wait until the day after Thanksgiving for the season to begin. Each year they increasingly encroach upon Thanksgiving to tempt shoppers out the door earlier and earlier on what is now known as “black Friday.” Some stores, such as Walmart and Kmart, are open Thanksgiving Day. How long until they are bold enough to ask that Thanksgiving be moved to the third Thursday of November?

That is not a real concern, of course. Thanksgiving is probably firmly set on the fourth Thursday of November. And it’s an old complaint that the Christmas season is rushed upon us. I’m only sharing a bit of history to show it is not a purely modern phenomenon. Businesses have wanted to push Americans out the door to shop for presents as early in the season as possible for nearly a century.

I have nothing against making money. Personally, I like doing it. When someone pays me for a job well done, I am pleased. When someone wants to purchase an item I have for sale, I am joyful. However, everything has its time and season. There is a time for making profits and a time to focus on what should come before, in, and following all that we receive: Thanks unto the Most High God. As Lincoln said plainly in his proclamation:

The year that is drawing towards its close, has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. . . . No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy. . . . I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens.

What is really behind this effort to rush through Thanksgiving? Well, there is no way around the intention of the day — to give thanks. Give thanks to whom? That question lingers. It makes people think about the Source. It brings many families together in gratitude and celebration, with prayers of thanks offered to the Lord. Of course, the enemy can’t stand it, so sets out to do what he has always done – try to take God’s glory for himself. And he does that by trying to push Thanksgiving out of the way so that we focus as soon as possible on another day intended for God’s glory, one that the father of lies has nearly corrupted altogether.

But more on that Friday. Until then, have a happy Thanksgiving full of gratitude and praise to the One that made us, and Who sustains us, with all good things. Take your time. Reflect upon God’s goodness. Don’t rush. Restore the rightful place a national day of Thanksgiving should have in our nation beginning in your heart and your home. It might just catch on if we all do.

Suggested readings for the Thanksgiving table:

Psalm 100

All Men Exhorted to Praise God.

A Psalm for  Thanksgiving.

Shout joyfully to the LORD, all the earth.
Serve the LORD with gladness;
Come before Him with joyful singing.
Know that  the LORD  Himself is God;
It is He who has  made us, and  not we ourselves;
We are  His people and the sheep of His pasture.

Enter His gates  with  thanksgiving
And His courts with praise.
Give thanks to Him,  bless His name.
For  the LORD is good;
His lovingkindness is everlasting
And His  faithfulness to all generations.

Online: http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=psalm%20100&version=NASB

By the President of the United States of America.

A Proclamation.

The year that is drawing towards its close, has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature, that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever watchful providence of Almighty God.

In the midst of a civil war of unequaled magnitude and severity, which has sometimes seemed to foreign States to invite and to provoke their aggression, peace has been preserved with all nations, order has been maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed everywhere except in the theatre of military conflict; while that theatre has been greatly contracted by the advancing armies and navies of the Union. Needful diversions of wealth and of strength from the fields of peaceful industry to the national defence, have not arrested the plough, the shuttle or the ship; the axe has enlarged the borders of our settlements, and the mines, as well of iron and coal as of the precious metals, have yielded even more abundantly than heretofore. Population has steadily increased, notwithstanding the waste that has been made in the camp, the siege and the battle-field; and the country, rejoicing in the consciousness of augmented strength and vigor, is permitted to expect continuance of years with large increase of freedom.

No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy. It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and one voice by the whole American People.

I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens. And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to His tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquility and Union.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the Seal of the United States to be affixed.

Done at the City of Washington, this Third day of October, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and of the Independence of the Unites States the Eighty-eighth.

By the President: Abraham Lincoln

William H. Seward,
Secretary of State

Online: http://showcase.netins.net/web/creative/lincoln/speeches/thanks.htm

It seems we are too good these days to be wretched. We prefer to sing of amazing grace “that saved and set me free,” though we are ambiguous on exactly what it is that held us from which we needed to be set free and could not, being the exemplary creatures we are, manage to free ourselves. Maybe that is why some prefer the amazing grace “that saved and strengthened me” apparently with enough strength to set oneself free but wretched? Oh, no, we are not, could not ever be wretched.

Yet, according to the Word of God, that which John Newton, author of Amazing Grace, preached and proclaimed from the pulpit given to him in 1779 until his death in 1807, it is the one who is wretched that is set free. Paul declares,

“Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!” — Romans 7:24-25a

Paul was wretched and wanted to be set free. Oh, but that was Paul. Paul was a persecutor of Christians. He was wretched. John Newton was a trader of slaves. He was wretched. But not us. Not today. We are not wretched.

Because you say, “I am rich, and have become wealthy, and have need of nothing,” and you do not know that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked, I advise you to buy from Me gold refined by fire so that you may become rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself, and that the shame of your nakedness will not be revealed; and eye salve to anoint your eyes so that you may see. – Revelation 3:17-18

Christ Jesus dictated that in His letter to the church at Laodicea right after He told them,

I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot; I wish that you were cold or hot.   So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, will I spit you out of My mouth. – Revelation 3:15-16

Better to be cold or hot? Better to stay away entirely than to come half-heartedly? How enthusiastically on fire can one be for his Savior if one does not believe he has need of a Savior in the first place? If one is not wretched but merely unhappy? If one is not lost but just a little confused?

We are, clearly, living among the Laodicean church today. We no longer recognize our poverty. We think that grace — that amazing grace of which Newton writes — might be innate within us and our fellow man. We no longer see ourselves as wretched, miserable beings whose best efforts laid before the LORD God are no more than filthy rags, a stark contrast to the marvelous, beautiful, pure white linens of perfect righteousness that Christ Jesus alone gives unto His saints.

Modern man no longer sees any need for a Savior. He is not wretched. He is not poor. He is, instead, thoroughly deceived.

Amazing grace! (how sweet the sound)
That sav’d a wretch like me!
I once was lost, but now am found,
Was blind, but now I see.

’Twas grace that taught my heart to fear,
And grace my fears reliev’d;
How precious did that grace appear,
The hour I first believ’d!

Thro’ many dangers, toils and snares,
I have already come;
’Tis grace has brought me safe thus far,
And grace will lead me home.

The Lord has promis’d good to me,
His word my hope secures;
He will my shield and portion be,
As long as life endures.

Yes, when this flesh and heart shall fail,
And mortal life shall cease;
I shall possess, within the veil,
A life of joy and peace.

When we’ve been there ten thousand years,
Bright shining as the sun;
We’ve no less days to sing God’s praise,
Than when we first begun!

The earth shall soon dissolve like snow,
The sun forbear to shine;
But God, who call’d me here below,
Will be forever mine.

A lot of people are counting on a 7-year warning that the end of the age is nearing. That warning is supposed to be the ‘rapture’ of the saints, and it’s not just pre-trib believing Christians who are watching for it. There are some who are not in Christ today who think that when they see all the Christians go up, that’s when they’ll get right with God, knowing it’s all true, refusing to take the mark of the beast, and enduring for the next seven years of tribulation.

What if they (and we) don’t have that 7-year warning?

The first of several on a theme coming out this summer, this video presents the information summarized in the following graphic (click to view full-size):

From today’s entry @ http://urbansurvival.com/week.htm :

(T)he key thing I’ve been authorized to reveal in advance of the next ‘rickety time machine’ report [predictive linguistics] is that we will likely see our first round of systemic crashing in a ‘time band’ between summer solstice and fall equinox. That much you’ve maybe picked up here previously

But here’s an important refinement: Circle plus or minus a couple of days for Europe or the U.S. to let loose. It’s a Tuesday. If you’re really savvy on how international markets work, that should immediately send you scurrying to this link where you’ll find that June 1st features a partial solar eclipse and June 15th features a total lunar eclipse.

That leads into another prediction:

A brilliant fellow named Steve Puetz is credited with observing that crashes seem to occur shortly after the first full moon after a solar eclipse.Six days before to three days after a full moon within six weeks of a solar eclipse.

Of course, we have plenty of non-occult predictions about the summer before us, such as:

• Martin Armstrong re: June 13-14 market ‘correction’
• Michael Ruppert re: “We have until July at the latest — even a caveman can see it”
• Reports of 2011 looking to be a possible repeat of 2008
• And Lindsay Williams’ reporting on what ‘the elite’ have revealed to him, as he is their confessor of sorts, with a longer timeline (late 2012) but nonetheless relevant to the present rising oil prices

And these are just a handful of the many clues out there that something is likely to pop soon.

So we see that one does not need a software bot to gather the data necessary to predict a collapse (even a caveman can do it!) and the correlation with eclipses means little because a solar eclipse is not so rare an event — per NASA, there are four in 2011, which means that each financial quarter has been at risk if you give credence to Puetz’s hypothesis.

What should we do?

First of all, those of us who know the LORD God should draw near to Him, spending time in His Word and in prayer with Him, seeking to know Him more and asking Him to search our own hearts and lives so that we can come to Him again in wisdom, seeking to repent and allow Him to take down strongholds that prevent us from being all we can be in Christ Jesus. We need to do this in our daily walk with the Lord, so that we are in right relationship with God and others, and have increased confidence in our prayers to the Father in Christ Jesus and also to stand in the day when satan the accuser will throw his poison darts of doubt our way.

We then need to be sure we are hearing His voice when it comes to making material preparations, whether to do or not to do, to go or not to go, and to speak or not to speak to others about the time that is coming. We must be certain that we are walking being led by the Holy Spirit according to the will of God and not the flesh, which is so easily distracted by fear.

Those who do not know Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord should begin to seek Him today, for days are coming when the skies above us will darken and thicken due to spiritual deception running unrestrained, and while God will still hear those who call out to Him with a pure heart it will be more difficult for us to discern what is true or not true, which voice is which. That is why today is day of salvation for all, while the skies above and around us are still relatively clear. We can come to know Him now, so that we are fully in tune with Him and will more surely know our Master’s Voice above the fray when the dark days come.

I am not predicting anything coming at a particular time, of course, but it does seem that the next round of financial hardship will bring with it the onslaught of spiritual discouragement and deception. I am certain that it is only those who know His Voice before that time begins who will persevere to the end to stand before the Lord Jesus on that day. While it is always possible that the LORD God will do a miraculous work in any of us to save or bring us closer to Him in those days without our own efforts in these days, I do not advise counting on that when so much time is given already. We need to do this for ourselves, to seek out God and His Will, and to encourage others to do the same whether or not they know Him already today.

Blessings to all ~~

• Can you afford to ignore these warnings?

• A huge fracture in the sea floor, 180 miles long by 50 miles wide.
• Shift in the Earth’s axis by 4 inches.
• Shorter days for Earth by 1.8 microseconds
• Japan’s coastline altered up to 8 feet in some areas
• Whole cities left underwater because the land beneath them sank
• The island of Honshu moved 2.4 meters

If this great earthquake with all its shaking and aftershocks, causing tsunami that washed away homes and businesses as well as the people who live there, was strong enough to move an island the size of Honshu only 2.4 meters, what would it take to move every mountain and island from its place? How huge is an earthquake able to do that?

When he 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, and the stars of the sky fell to the earth as the fig tree sheds its winter fruit when shaken by a gale.  The sky vanished like a scroll that is being rolled up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place. (Revelation 6:12-14 ESV)

To be fair, there will probably be more going on than merely a super earthquake when islands and mountains are moved. Earthquakes are not known to cause the sun and moon to be obscured or a phenomenon that looks like stars falling from the sky. There are, however, phenomena that can come upon the earth that do cause those changes to our view from the earth. These events involving heavenly bodies will cause a great earthquake (or series of earthquakes) with tremendous tsunami and aftershocks, and these would move every mountain and island out of its place. How big would this upheaval be? Can you imagine?

How would anyone survive? Many wealthy individuals and world governments plan to go to a prepared underground shelter to survive an expected future cataclysm many say is coming within the next few years. Since the instigator behind this huge earthquake sounds like an asteroid or other space object making a near-miss pass of earth – causing stress upon our planet and leaving a trail of dust behind, some that lights up as falling stars in our atmosphere – many people might go to these bunkers to survive that assault. They would be underground as the earth began to heave and moan. It would be a frightening time for them. That sounds familiar.

Then the kings of the earth and the great ones and the generals and the rich and the powerful, and everyone, slave and free, hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains, calling to the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who is seated on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb, for the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?” (Revelation 6:15-17)

Think about it: If the destructive natural forces unleashed last weekend were only enough to move a relatively small island like Honshu about 8 feet, what is in earth’s future that will move every island – some much larger than Honshu – and every mountain out of its place?

And the earthquake is only the beginning of sorrows, for the asteroid or whatever causes this stress upon the earth has not yet hit when the earth begins to quake. When the object makes its nearest pass, the earth will experience:

• “hail and fire, mixed with blood . . . thrown upon the earth” and a third of the earth, trees, and grass will be burned up.
• “something like a great mountain, burning with fire . . . thrown into the sea” and a third of the sea becomes, with a third of all sea life dying and a third of all ships destroyed.
• “a great star . . . (falling) on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water” and a third of the waters become bitter, and many people die from the water becoming bitter.
• The sun, moon, and stars affected from the perspective of Earth such that “a third of their light might be darkened, and a third of the day might be kept from shining, and likewise a third of the night” – shorter days and nights – earth’s rotation and axis experience a great change from the calamity.

The above events are recorded in Revelation 8:6-12.

Note that John does not report what he records in “The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show to His servants the things that must soon take place” (Revelation 1:1) as a vision. John is not left where he is on the island of Patmos and shown scenes in the sky above him there. John is invited up into the heavens through a portal, perhaps a stargate, wormhole or vortex that took him into heavenly places so that he could view the earth and its times as God does. *

After this I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven! And the first voice, which I had heard speaking to me like a trumpet, said, “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this.” (Revelation 4:1)

Look again at what the voice said: “what must take place” not “what might take place” but “what must”. John was seeing events that were happening as he watched them.

Today’s advanced communication technology allowed all of us who were interested to view the destruction centered near Honshu, Japan, up close. We could rewind and replay it again and again to get a better appreciation of the horrors that came upon the Japanese people. We can imagine what it would be if something like this struck near where we live. Dare we imagine what it would be if earthquakes equal to or several magnitudes greater than 8.9 hit in dozens of places across the earth at once?

Pray for the people of Japan. Then, pray for yourself, for those around you, and for all the people of the earth, too. God is listening. He is waiting for you.

Further Reading/Sources:

Fast Facts about the Japan Earthquake and Tsunami

Japan Earthquake Alters Coast Line, Changes Earth’s Axis

Japan’s Giant Shock Rattles Ideas about Earthquake Behavior

2012 Bunkers with Canned Food and Water Become Hottest Investment

Emergency Command Posts and the Continuity of Government

Cheyenne Mountain Air Force Station

Norwegian politician speaks about surviving global catastrophe in government bunkers

@ the asterisk:

*If you have difficulty with this concept, please read Time and God, an excerpt from C. S. Lewis’ book, Mere Christianity. If you do not have time to read the full chapter at the link, go half-way down the page to the paragraph that begins, “If you picture Time as a straight line . . .”

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