Joel 2:30-32
"I will show wonders in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and billows of smoke. The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and dreadful Day of the Lord. And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved: for on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there will be deliverance, as the Lord has said, among the survivors whom the Lord calls."
I know that when I send this kind of message most people don't want to hear it. I know because it's always utterly silent after I send it, with no responses! Yet, I also know that a gravely urgent part of my own calling is to "blow the trumpet in Zion" and "sound the alarm" to awaken the slumbering.
Yesterday I read a front-page article from the Jerusalem Post that was titled "Coalition crisis looms after 'Post' reveals secret Jerusalem talks." The article revealed that Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni has been in secret negotiations with Palestinian officials to divide up the city of Jerusalem. The Shas party of the Israeli government is now fully threatening to "quit the government" over the issue of dividing Jerusalem. If/when they do, Olmert's government will collapse. A senior PA official stated, "Jerusalem was, of course, on the table," and added that "there is almost full understanding with Israel regarding the creation of a Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital."
But the piece of this article that caused my heart to stop was this quote from United Torah Judaism MK Avraham Ravitz. He criticized the negotiations, saying that "if the story is true, then Jerusalem's fate is being divided like a thief in the night."
Doesn't that phrase take your breath away? This is not a believer in Jesus who made this statement! Be assured he is not quoting out of 1st Thessalonians or Revelation! And that makes it all the more telling and significant to me. "Like a thief in the night" these things are happening - while the rest of the world is "eating, and drinking, buying and selling, marrying and giving in marriage."
Secondly, friends sent me this news article today regarding small earthquakes occurring in Israel, and geologists' prediction for the very near future:
'Major earthquake in Israel - a matter of time'
GII picks up two small earthquakes in Jordan rift valley area over past few days. Rami Hofstetter, head of the Geophysical Institute of Israel told Ynet that "our instruments picked up two small quakes in the area over the last few days - the first one registering at 2.9 and the second of a 2.5 magnitude."
Tremors
2 earthquakes felt in Israel / Ynet
Small to moderate tremors felt from Negev Desert to central Israel; no injuries, damage reported. 'I just lied in bed and felt the room move,' Tel Aviv resident recounts.
Shmuel Marko of the Department of Environmental Sciences and Geophysics in Tel Aviv University and Oded Katz of the GII, have recently published a new study, saying a major earthquake is heading Israel's way.
On Thursday, February 21 we are scheduled for another "blood-red moon." The blood-red moon that occurred in August of 2000 was on the very day Clinton, Arafat and Barak met at Camp David. On that day Prime Minister Barak of Israel made previously unthinkable concessions on Jerusalem, agreeing that Arab neighborhoods of East Jerusalem would become the capital of the new Palestinian state. Later, Arafat rejected this proposal, wanting "all or nothing."
In August of 2007 during the total lunar eclipse/blood-red moon that rose over North America, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert offered the Palestinians sovereignty over the Temple Mount. It happened on the very same day the offer was extended.
Total-eclipse blood-red moons are rare. Having another total eclipse this close to a previous one is extremely rare. What will be taking place regarding the Temple Mount on February 21st?
"The sun and moon will be darkened, and the stars no longer shine. The Lord will roar from Zion and thunder from Jerusalem, the earth and the sky will tremble. But the Lord will be a refuge for His people; a stronghold for the people of Israel!" (Joel 3:15-16)
Please pray this week and remind Yahweh of His promises!
