Can Tattoos Still Be Edgy When So Many People Have Them?
Monday, October 31, 2016
EFF Suggests Halloween Costume To Protest Facial Recognition Databases (eff.org)
"Just this week we learned that facial recognition is far more prevalent among local and federal law enforcement than we thought, with at least 26 states using this biometric technology...
To draw attention to this emerging threat to privacy, you can use your face painting skills to recreate the digitization algorithms on your own mug based on public records we and others have obtained from law enforcement agencies."
Sixteen states already grant the FBI access to their DMV databases, reports EFF, noting that it's "almost completely unregulated," with one study reporting that 50% of American faces are already in a government database.
Sunday, October 30, 2016
Dark Sayings and Riddles in the Bible
What the truth of life is according to the Bible, and what has transpired and what will be.
“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” – Jeremiah 29:11
Police Used Cell Tower Logs To Text 7,500 Possible Crime Witnesses (www.cbc.ca)
With the ever increasing density of our cities as planned by UN Agenda 21, increasing population density along "mixed use" corridors, ...crime is increasing exponentially.
Just turn on your local news channels and all you hear about is the latest crimes.
This is about to turn into a real pain for everyone who carries a cell phone around, which these days is just about everyone.
The following may be a good reason to leave those cell phones at home to avoid being involved in something you really have nothing to do with, unless you are the criminal type.
Another less effective alternative would be to turn off your cell phone until you actually need to make a call.
"Investigators are calling it a 'digital canvass' -- the high-tech
equivalent of
knocking on thousands of doors for information," reports
the CBC, describing how an Ontario police department sent text messages to 7,500 potential witnesses of a homicide
using phone numbers from a nearby cell tower's logs.
Police obtained the numbers through a court order, and sent two texts -- one in English, and another one in French -- asking recipients to "voluntarily answer a few simple questions..."
On one hand, this seems like the natural progression from the traditional approach of canvassing local residents by putting up flyers and knocking on doors.
Do we want this to happen whenever there is a major crime?
The article adds that the police force "will keep the numbers on file until the killing is solved, officers said at a news conference on Wednesday...
Investigators will also consider calling the numbers of people who don't respond voluntarily, but they would be required to obtain another court order to do so."
My Electronics Store "Fry's Electronics" Is Pushing Drones
Fry's Drones
.
The U.S. Army, curious about the potential threat and usefulness of off-the-shelf drones, brought consumer quadcopters and octocopters to the Network Integration Evaluation war games that concluded earlier this month at White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico, and Fort Bliss, Texas."During the exercise, which is used by the Army to help evaluate new technology, the drones were deployed as a swarm to simulate a threat,' writes Martyn Williams.
'Later, the Army expanded the trials to discover whether it might be able to make use of the same technology."
The results are pretty much what you'd expect:
"It has been proved that consumer [drones] can be used for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, distraction tactics and, in the future, the ability to drop small munitions," said Barry Hatchett with the Army's Program Executive Office for Simulation, Training and Instrumentation.
New Attack Can Seize Control of Drones
A new radio transmitter "seizes complete control of nearby drones as they're in mid-flight," reports Ars Technica:From then on, the drones are under the full control of the person with the hijacking device.
The remote control in the possession of the original operator experiences a loss of all functions, including steering, acceleration, and altitude...
Besides hijacking a drone, the device provides a digital fingerprint that's unique to each craft.
The fingerprint can be used to identify trusted drones from unfriendly ones and potentially to provide forensic evidence for use in criminal or civil court cases...
Hijacks could allow law-enforcement officers to safely seize control of vulnerable drones that are endangering or interfering with first responders.
The hacks could also provide ordinary citizens with a less-draconian way of disabling a drone they believe is impinging on their property or privacy...
A patchwork of federal and state laws makes it unclear if even local authorities have the legal authority to shoot or hack an aircraft out of the sky.
XKCD once proposed solving the problem with butterfly nets, but instead this new attack is exploiting unencrypted DSMx radio signals.
Saturday, October 29, 2016
Mysterious Star Pulses May Be Alien Signals, Study Claims (iop.org)
The paper argues that the signals "cannot be caused by instrumental or data analysis effects."
Finally, we consider the possibility, predicted in a previous published paper, that the signals are caused by light pulses generated by extraterrestrial intelligence (ETI) to makes us aware of their existence.
We find that the detected signals have exactly the shape of an ETI signal predicted in the previous
The fact that they are only found in a very small fraction of stars within a narrow spectral range centered near the spectral type of the Sun is also in agreement with the ETI hypothesis.
The researchers add that "at this stage, this hypothesis needs to be confirmed with further work," and Seth Shostak, a senior astronomer at SETI, tells Space.com that "If I were a betting guy, I'd bet this is an artifact of the way they processed their data."
Check this out:
http://theunfunnytruth.ytmnd.com/
Ancient Muslim Inscription Confirms Dome of the Rock’s Jewish Temple Origin
http://archive.is/Bibh2
Southern California Has An Active Nuclear Radiation Field! Hope your not living near it.
TIL
that in 1959, an experimental nuclear reactor meltdown in Simi Valley
(35 miles from Los Angeles) released an estimated 458 times more
radiation than the Three Mile Island incident. The site remains
radioactive to this day, which is surrounded by 500,000 people within 10
miles.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_Susana_Field_Laboratory
Thursday, October 27, 2016
Apple CEO Tim Cook: 'We're Going To Kill Cash' (cnet.com) Folks This Shows Who He Unknowingly Works for!!!
At a media event on Thursday, Apple CEO Tim Cook said that the Touch ID on the new MacBook Pros will make it incredibly easy for people to do online money transactions.
After the event, speaking to reporters Cook made a bold statement about how he sees Apple Pay. CNET reports:
"We're going to kill cash," he said. "Nobody likes to carry around cash."
He makes most of his purchases with Apple Pay (which is not surprising).
Cook's comment comes days after Australia's top banks refused to support Apple Pay, saying that the company has been 'intransigent, closed and controlling'.
***
And of course you knew I was gonna dust this one off and present it to you...
http://endtimestruth.com/mark-of-the-beast/cashless-society/And here is Apples fingerprint ID fail!
***
Bank of America, Capital One, Chase, Wells Fargo, and 19 other financial institutions announced plans for their money-transfer app, Zelle, which is meant to rival person-to-person payment platforms such as Venmo and Square Cash, according to a Recode report.
http://www.vocativ.com/370473/major-u-s-banks-launch-venmo-competitor-zelle/
Why Are Not Christians Smarter?
Why Aren't Christians Smarter?
Have you ever wondered why Christians aren’t smarter?
I mean, we have the only true religion, we have a Book which is responsible for all of Western Civilization, and we serve a God who can safely call Himself the supreme champion at every trivia contest.
So why aren’t we smarter?
Well, the reasons are many, but the goal of changing that condition is the driving passion of my life.
Having taught college philosophy, my background is in equipping people to think better, and I used to think that talent was best used in the secular world.
Three years ago,however, I was persuaded by some good counsel to turn my attention toward the Body of Christ, and that’s why I came to Phoenix to do my radio show weekdays from 5to 7 p.m. on AM 1360 KPXQ.
Not thinking well is a sin.
God commands us very simply: Love Him with all our heart, and with all our soul,and with all our mind. Catch that last part … with all our mind.
This means thinking is not optional for the Christian.
Thinking, and thinking well, is a form of worship of God which is nothing short of obedience to His primary command. Hence, if we do not"use the brain God gave you," (my mom’s favorite rhetorical chastisement), we are sinning.
Not thinking well is a scandal.
The most pervasive myth about Christianity is that it is incompatible with intelligence.
This is what I believed before I became one, and it made me not want to be one. I say it is a myth both because nothing demands more thinking capacity than being a faithful Christian and also because our history is rich with intellectual giants.
Nonetheless, Christianity has a reputation as a religion for fools, and this is at least partially our own fault. By offering empty platitudes such as, "Well, you have to have faith," when challenged with difficult questions, outsiders can be forgiven for forming the impression that what we really mean is, "Well,you have to be stupid."
This puts people in the painful situation of feeling like they have to choose between their mind and God. Also, it makes Christianity offensive to the smartest people in society, who tend to be culture’s greatest influencers. Thus, simply showing non-Christians that one can be both smart and faithful is a powerful form of evangelism.
Fishers not just fish-eaters.
"If you give a man a fish, you feed him for a day. If you teach him how to fish, you feed him for a lifetime." Simple. Obvious. But, all too often, it’s not the guiding principle of Christian education.
Christians can be so concerned about having the right answers (good doctrine), that we fail to teach people the thinking skills and patterns which would lead them to these and other true conclusions.
They may have the unreliable dogmatism which comes from mere repetition, but they lack the true confidence which comes from deep and honest examination of an idea. Sadly, it also means they do not have the ability to discover new answers for themselves in novel situations.
On my radio show, I deliberately do not provide people many answers because I am more interested in helping people learn how to think than I am in telling them what to think. My confidence is high that such ability will ultimately get them to the right place, and it will be a place of true security as well.
Disciples, not an audience.
Jesus mentored His disciples. He interacted with them. He answered their questions. He joked with them. And He corrected them. He didn’t lecture them. He lectured the masses. And I think the reason is simple. A lecture is not the ideal form of education.
The reasons are many. If a listener doesn’t like what is being said, he can simply ignore it. If he doesn’t understand or if he disagrees, he cannot easily inquire of the speaker.
Because such questions go unanswered, other people miss out on having these questions answered. When the teacher fields questions, he replaces his own assumptions about his audience with real knowledge and can more accurately tune his teaching to the real needs they have.
Finally, I believe in collaboration rather than solo performances. Although I think I have many reliable insights worth saying, I’d rather talk with people and work together toward truth instead of just trusting in my own ideas too much. So my show is built around discussion rather than presentation.
I am working with my listeners to fashion a product together rather than simply distributing to them a prefabricated one.
Haggling, not purchasing.
In the Mediterranean culture of the Bible, haggling was a way of life—and such negotiations provide a great way of coming to know someone.
The process of haggling gains both friends and sharper minds. We are often baffled by this when we travel to that part of the world because Americans are so transaction-oriented. "I agree," "I disagree," "I will buy," or "I will not buy." We are very comfortable with these types of shallow interactions.
In the Mediterranean,the sellers understand that the product is insignificant compared with the relationship its sale can create.
In contrast, I think Americans are too concerned with conclusions instead of relationships.
Thus, the key in my show is to find stimulating topics which cause people to want to talk with each other and build friendships. Whether we agree is not so much the issue,but whether we are able to love each other while we disagree and talk about it.That matters.
In Conclusion
I was concerned when I took this job—concerned that my fellow Christians wouldn’t endure me because they wanted their own ideas reinforced rather than examined and challenged.
To my pleasant surprise, I discovered vast numbers of Christians who were excited about the prospect of being made to think, even if they didn’t always agree with me.
And so my audience and I have created an environment where we love each other not because we agree all the time, but because we enjoy the experience of talking it over together.
Every day we collaborate to show that theology, like a good relationship, is not something to be purchased or rejected, but something to be enjoyed … together.
By Andrew Tallman
The Secret That Is Making People Sick
I painted the home of a retired Air force Major and I drink coffee now and then with another.
These men flew bombing runs in Vietnam as pilots.
Both men told me, off the record, that everyone they knew who had anything to do with Agent Orange in Vietnam is dead.
They said they saw the flights that released the chemical over the jungles over and over again.
In 1945, Monsanto began promoting the use of chemical pesticides in agriculture with the manufacture of the herbicide 2,4,5-T (one of the precursors to Agent Orange), containing dioxin.
Dioxins are a group of chemically-related compounds that since become known as one of the “Dirty Dozen” — persistent environmental pollutants that accumulate in the food chain, mainly in the fatty tissue of animals.
In the decades since it was first developed, Monsanto has been accused of covering up or failing to report dioxin contamination in a wide range of its products.
During the early 1960s, Monsanto was one of the two primary manufacturers of Agent Orange, an herbicide / defoliant used for chemical warfare during the Vietnam War. Except Monsanto’s formula had dioxin levels many times higher than the Agent Orange produced by Dow Chemicals, the other manufacturer (which is why Monsanto was the key defendant in the lawsuit brought by Vietnam War veterans in the United States).
As a result of the use of Agent Orange, Vietnam estimates that over 400,000 people were killed or maimed, 500,000 children were born with birth defects, and up to 1 million people were disabled or suffered from health problems—not to mention the far-reaching impact it had on the health of over 3 million American troops and their offspring.
Internal Monsanto memos show that Monsanto knew of the problems of dioxin contamination of Agent Orange when it sold it to the U.S. government for use in Vietnam.
Despite the widespread health impact, Monsanto and Dow were allowed to appeal for and receive financial protection from the U.S. government against veterans seeking compensation for their exposure to Agent Orange.
(Think that can’t happen here? Two crops were recently genetically engineered to withstand a weedkiller made with one of the major components of Agent Orange, 2,4-D, in order to combat “super weeds” that evolved due to the excessive use of RoundUp.)
The US government has worked had to conceal the truth from ever surfacing...
Read More Here
Wednesday, October 26, 2016
The Current Face Of War
The explosion was huge, and I felt something hit the top of my right wrist.
Somehow there was no pain yet — in the moment I actually thought of a teacher’s ruler smacking my wrist.
Hard to explain.
I stopped behind the Humvee I’d been aiming for, with two Iraqi soldiers ahead of me.
One of them was screaming, checking his body for wounds and in a clear state of panic.
American Cities Nuked During Female Presidency If One Man's Vision Is Indeed By The Holy Spirit
Russia Unveils 'Satan 2' Missile Powerful Enough To 'Wipe Out UK, France Or Texas' (telegraph.co.uk)
A report from The Telegraph: Russia has released the first image of its new nuclear missile, a weapon so powerful that it could wipe out nearly all of the United Kingdom or France.
The RS-28 Sarmat thermonuclear-armed ballistic missile was commissioned
in 2011 and is expected to come into service in 2018.
The first images
of the massive missile were declassified on Sunday and have now been published for the first time.
It has been dubbed "Satan 2," as it will replace the RS-36M, the
1970s-era weapon referred to by Nato as the Satan missile.
Sputnik, the
Russian government-controlled news agency, reported in May that the
missile could destroy an area "the size of Texas or France."
Russian
media report that the missile will weigh up to 10 tons with the capacity
to carry up to 10 tons of nuclear cargo.
With that type of payload, it
could deliver a blast some 2,000 times more powerful than the bombs
dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Russia reportedly tested a hypersonic
warhead in April that is apparently intended for use on the Satan 2
missiles.
The warhead is designed to be impossible to intercept because
it does not move on a set trajectory.
A Russian nuclear-powered attack submarine armed with long-range cruise missiles operated undetected as it slipped undetected by the US Navy into the Gulf of Mexico for several weeks and its travel in strategic U.S. waters was only confirmed after it had left the sensitive region.
The US military didn't even know about the presence of the Akula-class nuclear submarine until after it had already left the gulf, still carrying a payload of long-range missiles.
The revelation is part of a startling trend of Russian incursions as the former Cold War foe ramps up its military might under the leadership of President Vladimir Putin.
Apparently the Russians have a submarine way more advanced than the US Navy 20 year old nuclear sub featured in the above video.
The Washington Free Beacon, a conservative news site, quoted anonymous military sources as saying the sub was in the gulf for a month.
The exact time frame of the vessel's presence was not clear.
'The Akula was built for one reason and one reason only: To kill US Navy ballistic missile submarines and their crews,' a source told the Beacon.
A.A. Allen has said that he had a vision and in that vision America had a female president.
July 4, 1954, when Allen had the vision, it was inconceivable that a woman could ever be the president of the United States.
Here is some of that vision:
"As I stood atop the Empire State Building, I could see the Statue of Liberty, illuminating the gateway to the new world. Here, spread before me like an animated map, is an area 60 or 80 miles in diameter. I was amazed that the Spirit of the Lord should so move me, there atop the Empire State building.
Why should I feel such a surge of His Spirit and power there?
Then suddenly I saw from the Atlantic and from the
Pacific and out of the Gulf rocket-like objects that seemed to come up
like fish leaping out of the water.
High into the air they leaped, each headed in a different direction, but every one toward the United States.
On the ground the sirens screamed louder, and up from the ground I saw similar rockets beginning to ascend.
To me these appeared to be interceptor rockets although they arose from different points all over the United States; however, none of them seemed to be successful in intercepting the rockets that had risen from the ocean on every side.
High into the air they leaped, each headed in a different direction, but every one toward the United States.
On the ground the sirens screamed louder, and up from the ground I saw similar rockets beginning to ascend.
To me these appeared to be interceptor rockets although they arose from different points all over the United States; however, none of them seemed to be successful in intercepting the rockets that had risen from the ocean on every side.
These rockets finally reached their maximum height,
slowly turned over and fell back toward the earth in defeat.
Then suddenly the rockets which had leaped out of the oceans like fish all exploded at once.
The explosion was ear-splitting.
The next thing which I saw was a huge ball of fire.
The only thing I have ever seen which resembled the thing I saw in my vision was the picture of the explosion of the H-bomb somewhere in the South Pacific.
In my vision it was so real that I seemed to feel a searing heat from it."
Then suddenly the rockets which had leaped out of the oceans like fish all exploded at once.
The explosion was ear-splitting.
The next thing which I saw was a huge ball of fire.
The only thing I have ever seen which resembled the thing I saw in my vision was the picture of the explosion of the H-bomb somewhere in the South Pacific.
In my vision it was so real that I seemed to feel a searing heat from it."
Continue reading here:
SOVIET DELTA SUBMARINE FIRING SS-N-18 MISSILES - Edward L. Cooper, 1987
A
Soviet DELTA III nuclear powered ballistic missile submarine firing
SS-N-18 missiles. The DELTA III submarine was 155 meters long, had 16
missile firing tubes, and carried SS-N-18 nuclear missiles.
Here is an older documentary below, one can only wonder how advanced the Russians are today...if the Russians deconstructed this particular submarine the question arises,"how advanced is the sub that replaces it?"
Tuesday, October 25, 2016
Monday, October 24, 2016
XPrize's New Challenge: Turn Air Into Water, Make More Than a Million Dollars (cnet.com)
If you can turn thin air into water, there may be more than $1 million in it for you.
XPrize, which creates challenges that pit the brightest minds against one another, is hoping to set off a wave of new innovations in clean water -- and women's safety too.
The company announced its Water Abundance XPrize and the Anu & Naveen Jain Women's Safety XPrize on Monday in New Delhi.
The first competition will award $1.75 million to any team that can create a device able to produce at least 2,000 liters of water a day from the atmosphere, using completely renewable energy, for at most 2 cents a liter.
Teams have up to two years to complete the challenge.
India is at the center of the world's water crisis, with access to groundwater depleted in some northern and eastern parts of the country.
Water has become so scarce in India that natural arsenic has infiltrated the soil and water in certain regions.
While there are systems that can currently extract water from the atmosphere, many of them aren't energy-efficient, or generating enough water.
"We know that overuse of groundwater resources are causing the water crisis and it's only getting worse," said Zenia Tata, XPrize's executive director of Global Expansion.
The $1 million Women's Safety XPrize calls for an emergency alert system that women can use, even if they don't have access to their phones.
The alert would have to be sent automatically and inconspicuously to emergency responders, within 90 seconds, at a cost of $40 or less a year.
The device would have to work even in cases where there's no cellphone signal or internet access.
***
I Have Already Reported The Solution Here A Year Ago!
On Tuesday, September 15, 2015 I Shared The Solution To The Above Challenge.
Here it is...
http://shekinahfellowship.blogspot.com/2015/09/water-for-nothing-water-for-all.html
Genesis 15:1 And Me On My Trip To Jerusalem Where I Stood Above The Ark Of The Covenant Before It's Discovery!
 |
| Absalom's Pillar similar to the condition it was in when I first visited it. |
I went down into the Kidron Valley also known as the King's dale, and as the Valley of Jehoshaphat and the Valley of Shaveh where King David's son had erected a monument to himself.
The Kidron Valley runs north-south between the Mount of Olives and the eastern wall of the Temple Mount and the City of David. This valley actually continues all the way to the Dead Sea.
The total length of the valley is 20 miles, and it falls 4,000 feet.
The Gihon Springs naturally filled this valley, but the settlers of Jerusalem diverted the water into pools and channels to be used by the city.
Now Absalom in his lifetime had taken and set up for himself a pillar that is in the King’s Valley, for he said, “I have no son to keep my name in remembrance”; he called the pillar by his own name.
It is called Absalom’s Pillar to this day.
2 samuel 18:18
Third born Absalom, the oldest living son of David and natural heir to the throne.
“Now in all Israel was no one as handsome as Absalom, so
highly praised;
from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head there
was no defect in him.
When he cut the hair of his head he weighed the hair of
his head
at 200 shekels by the king’s weight.” (2 Samuel 14:25-26)
Josephus says, "Now Absalom had erected for himself a marble pillar in the king’s dale, two furlongs distant (440 yards) from Jerusalem, which he named Absalom’s Hand.
It was very ancient and very neglected when I was there, the dark patina of age was all over it at the time I was examining it.
It was not much to look at when I first saw it.
Today it is cleaned up and looks much better!
It is now a tourist attraction.
 |
| Absalom's Pillar (Yad Avshalom) Cleaned up. |
I went inside of the dank neglected monument and read the scripture about it in my Bible while standing there inside, on location.
What a great experience to read scripture right were it happened!
I was the only one there, all by myself, reflecting on my incredible good fortune to be having a geographical experience with the scriptures that few will ever have in their life times.
The inside of the pillar was musty and very old.
Melchizedek, the king of Salem, came to Abram to congratulate him on his victory in war.
They met him in "the valley of Shaveh, which is (what was after wards called) the King's dale."
 |
| Artist drawing from 1880 of Absalom's Pillar |
My dear friend, do you know how exciting it is to be able to read something in the Bible while on location where it took place.
I was beside myself.
Melchizedek brings bread and wine from Salem "to supply the exhausted warriors with food and drink, but more especially as a mark of gratitude to Abram, who had conquered for them peace, freedom, and prosperity."
This priestly reception Abram reciprocated by giving him the tenth of all, i.e., of the whole of the booty taken from the enemy.
Giving the tenth was a practical acknowledgment of the divine priesthood of Melchizedek.
After these things the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram: I am your shield, and your exceeding great reward.
Genesis 15:1
The word of the Lord came (Heb., was) unto Abram.
The expression denotes "the Lord manifesting himself by speech to his servant,"Abram.
Signifying revelation.
The apostle Paul also received "revelation."
Paul says in Galatians 1:12, For I neither received it from man, nor was I taught it...
God makes known his mind and will to man by revelation.
Although he had been highly trained in rabbinic schools and was “a Pharisee according to the strictest sect of [Jewish] religion” (Acts 26:5; cf. 23:6), he had discarded every un-scriptural notion he had learned in that man-made religious system.
No Jew had more reason than Paul to boast in his accomplishments in Judaism; but everything he had accomplished in the flesh before receiving Christ he counted “as rubbish” (Phil. 3:4–8), and even the elements of the story of Christ that he knew prior to his conversion were shallow and empty because of his unbelief.
What he now believed and preached he neither received … from man, nor was … taught by man.
There was no human source for Paul’s message.
The gospel was not invented by men nor transmitted to him by any human being.
Paul got from God through revelation.
The gospel Paul preached and taught was neither a human invention nor a human tradition, but was given to him directly by God through a revelation of Jesus Christ.
Abram was obviously very worried about retaliation after the battle he had just fought and won.
So God assures him to "Fear not."
By the war with the Elamite king he had also made for himself powerful enemies; and though the immediate result was fortunate, yet many Canaanite nations may have witnessed with displeasure so the incredible exhibition of the power and energy of an “immigrant.”
Abram may certainly have feared attack from their overwhelmingly superior forces if they regrouped and aligned against him.
And thus the time had come when the patriarch needed and obtained assurances from God, first, of the bestowal upon him of offspring (Genesis 15:1-6), and, secondly, of the future possession of Palestine (Genesis 15:18-21).
The revelation of God is the true antidote to fear.
‘Fear not’ is the characteristic word of divine revelation.
It is of frequent occurrence from Abraham till John in Patmos.
‘Fear not-I am thy shield’ whatever force comes against thee, ‘and thine exceeding great reward,’-perhaps in reference to Abram's refusal to take anything from the spoil.
But God says this to us all.
.
In these antique words the very loftiest and purest principles of spiritual religion are set forth.
He that loves and trusts God possesses God.
He that possesses God has enough for earth.
He that possesses God has enough for heaven.
It is possible for a man to have God for his.
.
‘I am thy Reward,’-not merely Rewarder, but Reward.
How can one spiritual Being belong to another?-plainly, By mutual love.
The Gospel assures us of God’s love, and makes it possible for our love to be fixed on Him.
Faith gives us God for ours.
The highest view of the blessings of the Gospel is that God Himself becomes our reward.
How sad the insanity of men appears, in the ordinary aims of their life, its rewards and its objects of desire!
How they chase after vanity!
The possession of God is enough for us on earth.
God the all-sufficient object for our spirits, His love, the communication of Himself, the sense of His presence, the depths of His infinite character, of His wondrous ways, of His revealed Truth.
Give all your worries to him, because he cares for you.
I Peter 5:7
Abram may have done exactly that and his loving God responded with revelation to encourage him and comfort him as we read in Genesis 15:1.
And I was allowed to stand in the very valley where Abram and Melchizedek stood and read my Bible.
The day is soon coming when Jesus Christ will return to the Mount of Olives and walk down the valley and up to the east gate to the temple mount.
In the near future, the world will witness the most awesome event in all of human history.
Jesus Christ will physically return to earth in order to exact vengeance on the enemies of God.
Known as the "Commander of Heaven's Armies," Christ will appear in sky like lightning, and every eye will see Him.
His feet will touch down on the Mount of Olives, on the very place from which He ascended, and thus fulfill a prophecy made over 2,000 years ago by two angels on the Mount of Olives:
"After saying this, he was taken up into a cloud while they were watching, and they could no longer see him. As they strained to see him rising into heaven, two white-robed men suddenly stood among them. 'Men of Galilee,' they said, 'why are you standing here staring into heaven? Jesus has been taken from you into heaven, but someday he will return from heaven in the same way you saw him go!'" Acts 1:9-11When Christ returns, He will enter Jerusalem through the Eastern Gate of the Old City walls.
In so doing, He will fulfill not only the prophecy of these two angels, but innumerable prophecies recorded by God's prophets for the benefit of mankind.
The Eastern Gate
Approximately 2,600 years ago, the prophet Ezekiel was given a vision of the Glory of the Lord:"After this, the man brought me back around to the east gateway. Suddenly, the glory of the God of Israel appeared from the east. The sound of his coming was like the roar of rushing waters, and the whole landscape shone with His glory. This vision was just like the others I had seen, first by the Kebar River and then when he came to destroy Jerusalem. I fell face down on the ground. And the glory of the Lord came into the Temple through the east gateway." Ezekiel 43:1-4Ezekiel's vision was no ordinary vision, for He witnessed nothing less than the Glorious Appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Ezekiel describes in his vision what Jesus told His disciples when warning them to guard against false prophets who claim the Messiah has arrived - that he is in this place or that place.
Jesus tells us not to believe such people, for when He returns, all eyes will see Him simultaneously:
"For as lightning lights up the entire sky, so it will be when the Son of Man comes." Matthew 24:27In addition, Ezekiel's vision offers further details of the Lord's Glorious Appearing:
1) He will appear from the east.
2) The sound of His coming will be like the roar of rushing waters.
and
3) He will enter the Temple through the eastern gateway.
The fact that the Lord Jesus Christ will once again walk through the Eastern Gate is confirmed in Ezekiel 44:
"Then the man brought me back to the east gateway in the outer wall of the Temple area, but it was closed. And the Lord said to me, "This gate must remain closed; it will never again be opened. No one will ever open it and pass through, for the Lord, the God of Israel, has entered here. Therefore, it must always remain shut. Only the prince himself may sit inside this gateway to feast in the Lord's presence. But he may come and go only through the entry room of the gateway." Ezekiel 44:1-3Not only does this passage reiterate certain details of the Lord's Glorious Appearing, but it offers substantial evidence to the unbeliever that the Bible is the Word of God.
Why?
Because Ezekiel 44 demonstrates the astounding accuracy of bible prophecy, providing evidence that can verified firsthand by anyone who doubts.
I stood there at the closed east gate in 1977 and threw a rock at it and the rock bounced off the blocks closing the gate.
The day is coming soon when I will be able to throw a rock through the gate!
For hundreds of years, the Eastern Gate offered convenient, unfettered access to the Temple courtyard.
Yet, for almost five hundred years now, it's been closed.
In this generation, the Messiah will open it.
The History of the Eastern Gate
The Eastern Gate is one of eight gates built into the walls which surround the Temple Mount in Jerusalem.The Eastern Gate provides the only entrance from the East, and it faces the Mount of Olives.
The Eastern Gate was destroyed during the Roman conquest of Jerusalem, and the subsequent destruction of the Temple in A.D. 70, thus fulfilling Christ's prophecy that "not one stone will be left on top of another" Matthew 24:2 .
Prior to this, the Eastern Gate had never been sealed.
Sometime in the sixth or seventh century, the Byzantines rebuilt the Eastern Gate.
The exact year they did so remains a matter of debate.
However, for our purposes, what happened after it was rebuilt is of much greater importance.
In the year 1541, the Ottoman Sultan Suleiman I sealed the Eastern Gate.
Historians disagree as to why he did this, but legend abound that, learning of the prophecies which predicted the Messiah's entrance through the Eastern Gate, Suleiman tried his best to make sure it wouldn't happen during his reign.
And just in case a sealed entrance didn't thwart the Messiah's coming, Muslim built a cemetery directly in front of the gate - conventional wisdom being that a Jewish Holy man would never defile himself by walking through a Muslim cemetery.
It's been over 465 years since Suleiman sealed the Eastern Gate, and despite numerous well-documented attempts to open it, the gate has remained sealed just as the Lord proclaimed to Ezekiel over 2,600 years ago.
The Identity of the Prince
So is the sealing of the Eastern Gate merely a coincidence?
Or is it a bona fide partially fulfilled bible prophecy, poised for its ultimate fulfillment on the day the Messiah comes to open it?
To find the answer, we only need to examine the various components of Ezekiel's prophecy and compare them to the historical record.
In so doing, we will learn the identity of the Prince who will open the Eastern Gate and what His doing so will mean for the world.
The first question a person might ask is why is the gate closed?
In the aforementioned passage, the Lord tells Ezekiel the eastern gate must be closed because:
The LORD said to me, "This gate is to remain shut. It must not be opened; no one may enter through it. It is to remain shut because the LORD, the God of Israel, has entered through it.At the time the Book of Ezekiel was first written, this statement prophesied a future event.
Ezekiel 44:2
However, this event transpired a few hundred years later, when Jesus of Nazareth triumphantly entered the Eastern Gate in preparation for the Passover festivities:
"The next day, the news that Jesus was on the way to Jerusalem swept through the city. A large crowd of Passover visitors took palm branches and went down the road to meet him. They shouted, 'Praise God! Blessings on the one who comes in the name of the Lord! Hail to the King of Israel!? Jesus found a young donkey and rode on it, fulfilling the prophecy that said: 'Don't be afraid, people of Jerusalem. Look, your King is coming, riding on a donkey's colt.' His disciples didn't understand at the time that this was a fulfillment of prophecy. But after Jesus entered into his glory, they remembered what had happened and realized that these things had been written about him." John 12:12-16As this passage states, the triumphant entry of Jesus of Nazareth fulfilled an additional prophecy, one made over 500 years earlier by the prophet Zechariah:
"Rejoice greatly, O people of Zion! Shout in triumph, O people of Jerusalem! Look, your King is coming to you. He is righteous and victorious, yet he is humble, riding on a donkey - even on a donkey's colt." Zechariah 9:9This is only one of the numerous Old Testament Messianic prophecies fulfilled in the life of Jesus of Nazareth, but if any doubt exists as to the identity of the rider on the donkey, it should be swept away two verses later when we read of God's promise to the world:
"Because of the covenant I made with you, sealed with blood, I will free your prisoners from death in a waterless dungeon." Zechariah 9:11Christ sealed this covenant with His blood on the cross not long after His triumphant entrance into Jerusalem. Because of His sacrifice, many have been freed from eternal damnation in hell (death in a waterless dungeon).
Jesus of Nazareth is the Messiah, the Lamb of God who wipes away the sin of the world. He is the Prince who will "sit inside this gateway to feast in the Lord's presence"
The prince himself is the only one who may sit inside the gateway to eat in the presence of the LORD. He is to enter by way of the portico of the gateway and go out the same way."
Ezekiel 44:3.
Because Jesus blessed the Eastern Gate with His coming, it has been sealed shut.
No man, no army, and no person but Jesus Christ Himself can open the Eastern Gate ever again.
This is God's promise.
The fact that the Eastern Gate remains closed to this day is God's testimony to doubters throughout the world.
Just as Thomas doubted the Lord until he could see Him with his own eyes and touch the scars on His body, most of the world demands physical evidence as a prerequisite for belief.
The Eastern Gate is their physical evidence.
It is the testimony of Jesus Christ, and soon, it will be the stage on which the Glory of God will be revealed for all the world to see.
The Glorious Appearing
Just as the two angels testified following the ascension of Jesus, the Lord will one day return just as He left.When He does, He will come as a conqueror, the Commander of Heaven's Armies.
His feet will touch down on the Mount of Olives, and He will go out to fight against God's enemies:
"Then the Lord will go out to fight against those nations, as he has fought in times past. On that day his feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, east of Jerusalem. And the Mount of Olives will split apart, making a wide valley running from east to west. Half the mountain will move toward the north and half toward the south. You will flee through this valley, for it will reach across to Azal. Yes, you will flee as you did from the earthquake in the days of King Uzziah of Judah. Then the Lord my God will come, and all his holy ones with him." Zechariah 14:3-5Zechariah 14 further describes what this day will look like, the day when Christ will establish His Kingdom on earth, a kingdom which will never be destroyed:
"On that day the sources of light will no longer shine, yet there will be continuous day! Only the Lord knows how this could happen. There will be no normal day and night, for at evening time it will still be light. On that day life-giving waters will flow out from Jerusalem, half toward the Dead Sea and half toward the Mediterranean, flowing continuously in both summer and winter. And the Lord will be king over all the earth. On that day there will be one Lord ? his name alone will be worshiped." Zechariah 14:6-9When speaking to His disciples, Jesus confirmed that He will one day fulfill the prophecies of Zechariah:
"Immediately after the anguish of those days, the sun will be darkened, the moon will give no light, the stars will fall from the sky, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken. And then at last, the sign that the Son of Man is coming will appear in the heavens, and there will be deep mourning among all the peoples of the earth. And they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory." Matthew 24:29-30He will also fulfill the prophecies of Isaiah:
"The heavens will be black above them; the stars will give no light. The sun will be dark when it rises, and the moon will provide no light." Isaiah 13:10And the prophecies of Joel:
"The earth quakes as they advance, and the heavens tremble. The sun and moon grow dark, and the stars no longer shine. The Lord is at the head of the column. He leads them with a shout. This is his mighty army, and they follow his orders. The day of the Lord is an awesome, terrible thing. Who can possibly survive?" Joel 2:10-11As well as John:
"The sun became as dark as black cloth, and the moon became as red as blood." Revelation 6:12This is why Jesus came - and why He will come again. For as Jesus said Himself:
"Don't misunderstand why I have come. I did not come to abolish the law of Moses or the writings of the prophets. No, I came to fulfill them. I assure you, until heaven and earth disappear, even the smallest detail of God's law will remain until its purpose is achieved." Matthew 5:17-18Even the smallest detail of God's law will remain until its purpose is achieved.
Some would view the sealed Eastern Gate as a small detail in the course of human events.
But God has a great purpose for it.
One day soon it will play host to the greatest event in human history, the Glorious Appearing of Jesus Christ. And the result will be further fulfillment of the law and the prophets:
"In that day the Lord will punish the gods in the heavens and the proud rulers of the nations on earth. They will be rounded up and put in prison. They will be shut up in prison and will finally be punished. Then the glory of the moon will wane, and the brightness of the sun will fade, for the Lord of Heaven's Armies will rule on Mount Zion. He will rule in great glory in Jerusalem, in the sight of all the leaders of his people." Isaiah 24:21-23And, finally, God will dwell among His people.
Conclusion
The sealed Eastern Gate is evidence of bible prophecy fulfilled. It provides visible evidence for everyone in this generation.People constantly demand to see miracles, and they constantly demand visible proof of God's existence.
The sealed Eastern Gate provides them with all the proof they need.
Still, many will argue the sealed gate is mere coincidence.
Unfortunately, they will only realize the folly of their error when Jesus Christ returns in the Glory of God to open the gate Himself.
That will not be a happy day for the enemies of God, especially Satan.
Satan would love to prove God wrong by opening the Eastern Gate himself.
But he lacks the power and authority to do so.
Neither Lucifer, nor man, nor any power in the universe can open what God has closed.
But this generation will witness the purpose of God fulfilled when the Eastern Gate is opened in order to receive the King of kings.
He is the Lord of lords, the Prince of Peace, the Lamb of God - Jesus Christ...
"Open up, ancient gates! Open up, ancient doors, and let the King of glory enter. Who is the King of glory? The Lord, strong and mighty; the Lord, invincible in battle. Open up, ancient gates! Open up, ancient doors, and let the King of glory enter. Who is the King of glory? The Lord of Heaven's Armies - He is the King of glory" Psalm 24:7-10Amen, come Lord Jesus!
I had been told, while at the East Gate in 1977, that the grave yard had been placed there by Muslims because a prince would not walk through the grave yard.
Additionally, for Muslims each of the two doors of the double gate has its own name: Bab al-Rahma, "Gate of Mercy", for the southern one, and Bab al-Taubah, the "Gate of Repentance", for the northern one.
A strange placement of a grave yard at the entrance gate.
There may be validity to the story that I was told so long ago.
The Dome of the Rock is on top of the temple mount.
Today, it is at the very core of a bitter dispute between Palestinians and Israelis.
Only Muslims are allowed to visit the Islamic shrine.
But in 1977, when I was there, everyone was allowed to visit it.
The Dome of the Rock is the oldest Islamic building to survive.
The Dome of the Rock is located on a rocky outcrop known as Mount Moriah, where, according to scripture, Abraham offered his son Isaac as a sacrifice.
There are inscriptions inside the building that say Islam is the final true revelation and culmination of the faiths of Judaism and Christianity.
The building is actually not a mosque but a ciborium, erected over a sacred site.
The rock that Abraham used as an alter to obey God when he was tested to sacrifice Isaac. Genesis 22.
 |
| The Large Rock |
Our Islamic tour guide took us under the big white rock through a hole in it.
There is a small room space under the rock.
Muslim tradition also has it that an angel will appear here with a trumpet call to announce the Last Judgement at the end of the world.
The slabs of Marble and pillars were beautiful.
There are Turkish tiles that adorn the shrine's exterior which are faithful copies of the Persian tiles that Suleiman the Magnificent added in 1545 to replace the damaged originals.
The lower half of the exterior is white marble.
The Crusaders captured Jerusalem in 1099 and the Dome of the Rock was given to the Augustinians, who turned it into a church with a cross on top of the dome.
Jerusalem was recaptured by Saladin on 2 October 1187, and the Dome of the Rock was reconsecrated as a Muslim shrine.
Just around the corner from the Dome is an Arab bus station.
Above this bus station is the place of the skull, "Golgotha."
 |
| Golgotha way before the bus station that was built below. |
I stood inside of this tomb and I can honestly say I bore witness to it being the tomb we read about in the New Testament.
I being a young foolish man at the time wanted to get up on top of Golgotha.
The tomb garden is below the level of Golgotha and is walled.
The wall against Golgotha was around 12 feet high.
I noticed an old iron spike hanging out of the wall around seven and a half feet up.
I jumped up from a bench and grabbed onto it and used it to get up to the top of the wall.
I was up there illegally on Islamic property, or at least that was what I was told.
I walked through a small grave yard on my way to the top of Golgotha over looking the bus station.
Someone had placed three circles made of stones up there.
They were placed as you would imagine, where the three crosses of Calvary would have been.
I naturally stepped into the center circle.
Something happened to me and all of the scriptures concerning this spot came flooding into my awareness.
I had a good view of Jerusalem.
It started to get too overpowering and I started shaking.
Until I couldn't take it any longer and jumped out of the circle.
I did not know that on February 2, 1977 I stood 20 feet above the ark of the covenant with the dried blood of Jesus which fell onto the mercy seat.
The blood of the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ, has to be poured upon the mercy seat for the redemption of man kind.
For centuries, people have tried in vain to locate and recover the ark of the covenant.
One man did find it 5 years after I stood above it.
It was back on Jan. 6, 1982 when Ron Wyatt realized what he had found during the excavation of the Ark of the Covenant.
http://www.ronwyatt.com/new_written_account.html
Here is a man who has confirmed one of Ron Wyatt's discoveries.
Here are several videos of Ron speaking.
https://www.amazon.com/Writing-God-Secret-Mount-Sinai/dp/0692680276
https://www.amazon.com/God-Mountain-Story-Behind-Discoveries/dp/0882706055/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1477402521&sr=1-1&keywords=The+God+of+the+mountain
https://www.amazon.com/Exodus-Case-Commentary-Hardcover/dp/8772477083/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1477402599&sr=1-1&keywords=The+Exodus+case
https://www.amazon.com/God-at-Sinai-Jeffrey-Niehaus/dp/0310494710/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1477402671&sr=1-1&keywords=God+At+Sinai
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