COMMENTARY & OPINION - THE "LITTLE BOOK"

From the desk of

Bill Ramey

4/15/16

COMMENTARY & OPINION

 THE "LITTLE BOOK"

"BEHOLD YOU AMONG THE HEATHEN AND REGARD, AND WONDER MARVELOUSLY, FOR I WILL WORK A WORK IN YOUR DAY WHICH YOU WILL NOT BELIEVE, THOUGH IT BE TOLD YOU."  Hab 1:5

What is, was or will be this work the Creator says He will do?  We find it in the very next verse:  "For lo, I raise up the Chaldeans, that bitter and hasty nation, which shall march through the breadth of the land to possess the dwelling places that are not theirs." 

Anyone familiar with the writings of the prophets and who owns a Strong's Concordance knows that the names Chaldea and Babylon are used interchangeably in scripture.  There was an ancient nation named Babylon (Chaldea), that was conquered and supplanted by the Medo-Persian Empire in or about 538 BC.  This is not talking about that Babylon as we shall see.

Verse 8 says these people "...shall fly as the eagle..."

Verse 9 says that in their conquests "...they shall sup up the east wind..." so they will be coming from the west. 

Verse 12 says this nation was "...established for correction."  But the verses that follow show that as their power grew, so did their pride, arrogance, corruption and idolatry.  The prophet Habakkuk is protesting to the Creator that these people are killing and enslaving those better than themselves. 

Perhaps we should ask if there was a nation with an Air Force in the seventh century BC. 

In chapter 2 of this little 3 chapter book, the prophet says he will stand his watch on the tower and wait to see (or hear) the answer to his protest to the Eternal. His answer comes in verse 2 of chapter 2.  "And the LORD answered me and said, 'Write the vision and make it plain upon tablets that he may run who reads it'". 

3  "'For the vision is yet for an appointed time.  but at the end it shall speak and not lie'".

In verse 8, the Eternal is speaking to the rulers of this rogue nation called Chaldea or Babylon and says, "Because you have spoiled many nations, all the remnant of the people shall spoil you..."

The rest of chapter 2 continues with the indictment of this rogue nation by the Eternal and chapter 3 goes into the destruction of this nation and it will reach to the ends of the earth because this nation has tentacles that reach around the earth.  There is no nation in history that even comes close to America as being this rogue nation and the closer you look, the more obvious this becomes. 

Two prophets are mentioned in the eleventh chapter of Revelation that will deliver a message to earth inhabitants during the time of Jacob's Trouble which some call the tribulation.  Why is is called Jacob's Trouble?  Because the descendants of Jacob (those who survive), will be in captivity at that time.  That captivity will begin with the destruction of America and Israel.  It appears that the campaign of the two prophets, (called two witnesses in Rev 11), will begin twenty six and one half days after Israel is swept clean of the Khazarian pirates. 

We see in chapter 10 of Revelation, the prep work for this campaign and it is a "little book" given to one of the two prophets and he is told to eat this book (scroll) and "...in your mouth it will be sweet as honey but in your stomach it will be bitter."  Strange words, until you ponder them. 

If you were one of these two witnesses and given this knowledge that has been given to no one else on earth, of course it would be a sweet sensation to be the sole possessor of that knowledge on planet earth.  But as it sinks in and you begin to realize you have to warn that 200 million of your fellow men (those who will listen), that are about to die --- that sweet taste fades pretty fast.  And the 200 million are only those in America.  There are millions more Israelites in Sweden, Norway, Switzerland, Belgium, etc, that will also fall under this curse. 

Now in verse 11 of Rev chapter 10, this prophet is told that he must prophesy to "... peoples and tongues and nations and kings".  So how do these two travel the world and how do they get an audience with kings? 

I have shown you in the pages of these Commentaries, that two thirds of our nation is to die of famine, pestilence and at the hands of the invaders.  The remaining third is to be sold into all the world as slaves.  You could call this a three and one half year college course in humility.  Many of these will not survive because of an attitude problem.  Their slave masters will have life and death authority over them. 

A door will be opened for the two witnesses to take a message of hope to these captives but surely we know that their captors are not going to allow a message that they can't listen in on.  They are not going to permit someone to come in and promote rebellion among their slaves.  So we have the rulers hearing the same message.

No problem.  The message given them will make them more profitable servants to their masters and this will become obvious from the first session.  The message will be primarily Leviticus 26:40-45.  These captives will be shown that if they want to survive and come to the new Israel after the three and one half year captivity, then they need to serve their slave masters as if they were serving God Himself.   They are there for correct-ion because of idolatry and as we see in the above referenced verses in Lev 26, the first step is to accept that correction and serve their masters well.  We can see in Isaiah 14 that some of them will take this to heart and will become model witnesses to the Gentiles because at the end of the three and one half years, their masters will take them to the new Israel and become their servants.  That kind of an account for themselves, while in slavery, is bound to get the attention even of the new ruler of planet earth to be crowned in Jerusalem as we see in Daniel 7:13-14.  At that time, the land promised to Abraham will be parceled out to those Israelites coming out of captivity and making their way to the new Israel which will be considerably larger than the little counterfeit nation of Israel today; Really now, doesn't this make more sense than the religious fairy tales we have been fed for much of our lives?

EARTHQUAKES

FIVE MAJOR EARTHQUAKES IN THE MONTH OF MARCH SEEMED A BIT MUCH.  THEN FIVE MORE MAJOR QUAKES THE FIRST SIX DAYS OF APRIL SEEMED RIDICULOUS.  NOW WE HAVE JUST HAD FIVE MORE IN A PERIOD OF 48 HOURS!

by

Michael Snyder

Why is the crust of the Earth shaking so violently all of a sudden?  Over the past 48 hours, there have been five major earthquakes globally, and one prominent seismologist has declared that “catastrophic mega earthquakes” could be on the way.  In fact, seismologist Roger Bilham of the University of Colorado has made headlines all over the world by warning that “current conditions might trigger at least four earthquakes greater than 8.0 in magnitude”.  If his projections are accurate, our planet could be on the precipice of a wave of natural disasters unlike anything that any of us have ever experienced before.

Since the beginning of 2016, south Asia has been hit by an unusually high number of large earthquakes, and this has scientists groping for an explanation.  The following comes from the Express…

Scientists say there has been an above average number of significant earthquakes across south Asia and the Pacific since the start of the year.

The increased frequency has sparked fears of a repeat of the Nepal quake of 2015, when 8,000 people died, or even worse.

Roger Bilham, seismologist of University of Colorado, said: “The current conditions might trigger at least four earthquakes greater than 8.0 in magnitude.

“And if they delay, the strain accumulated during the centuries provokes more catastrophic mega earthquakes.”

A single magnitude 8.0 earthquake in a populated area would be a disaster of historic proportions.

If we were to see four of them like Roger Bilham is projecting, that would be a complete and utter nightmare.

It is important to keep in mind that a magnitude 8.0 earthquake would be many, many times larger than the twin earthquakes that hit Japan earlier today…

A devastating 6.4-magnitude earthquake has struck Japan hours after a first which killed at least three and injured 19 others.

The quakes, which struck the south-western island of Kyushu, leveled more than a dozen homes, sparked fires and trapped several people under collapsed buildings.  Around 350 military personnel have been dispatched to aid the rescue effort, said Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga.

The first earthquake, measuring 6.5-magnitude, hit the south-east Asian country late on Friday, local time, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency.

On Thursday we also saw a magnitude 6.5 earthquake hit Vanuatu, and a magnitude 5.9 earthquake shook the southern Philippines…

A 5.9 magnitude earthquake hit off the coast of Mindanao early Thursday, April 14, seismologists said, with no damage or casualties immediately reported and no tsunami warning issued. The quake occurred at 2:21 am (1821 GMT Wednesday) off the coast of Zamboanga del Norte, with its epicenter at a depth of 15 kilometers, the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) said.

And of course on Wednesday a huge magnitude 6.9 earthquake caused tremendous devastation in Myanmar…

A magnitude 6.9 earthquake struck Myanmar on Wednesday, causing tremors around the region, including in neighboring Bangladesh where scores were reported injured in stampedes and buildings were damaged. The quake, which took place at a depth of 134 kilometers (83 miles), hit some 400 kilometers northwest of Myanmar’s capital Naypyidaw, according to the US Geological Survey (USGS), and was also felt in parts of India and China. There were no immediate reports of casualties, although the region where the earthquake hit has poor communications infrastructure like many of Myanmar’s outlying provinces.

So why is this happening?  Why is Asia shaking so violently all of a sudden?  And does this shaking bode ill  for other areas along the “Ring of Fire” including the west coast of the United States?

I think that it is important to point out that all of this shaking did not just begin this week.  In fact, ever since the start of this calendar year there has been a lot of unusual earthquake activity all over Asia…

Just four days ago, on April 10, six people died in Pakistan when a 6.6-magnitude quake hit Kabul with aftershocks in India.

Two days before, on April 8, there was a magnitude 4.2 earthquake in Nepal.  Nepal had suffered a larger 5.5 magnitude one on February 22.

A month before, on January 20, there was a 6.1-magnitude earthquake in China, and 16 days earlier 11 people died when a 6.7-magnitude earthquake hit Manipur in India.

In addition, let us not forget about all of the volcanic eruptions that have been in the news in recent weeks.

According to Volcano Discovery, 38 volcanoes around the globe are erupting right now.  This is definitely an unusually high number.

In Matthew 24, Jesus warned us that there would be earthquakes in “divers places” just prior to His return.  This is something that I discuss quite a bit in my new book.  If we truly are in the times that the Bible refers to as “the last days”, we should expect the shaking of our planet to continue to intensify.

If seismologist Roger Bilham is right and we do begin to see a series of absolutely massive earthquakes, that could dramatically change the course of world events literally overnight.

Even a single magnitude 8.0 earthquake in a major city in Japan, China or the United States would cause global markets to crash and would mean billions of dollars in economic damage.

So let us hope that the crust of our planet begins to stabilize, but let us also not ignore the warnings of the scientists.

What they are warning us about right now lines up perfectly with what Jesus warned us about nearly 2000 years ago, and that is a very sobering thing to consider.

Ramey comment:

15 major quakes in the past 6 weeks and none of them have hit the U.S. --- yet.