Archive for darkness

Rolling Blackouts… Rodna Epley

Posted in #PaulthePoke, Rodna Epley with tags , , , , , on February 16, 2021 by paulthepoke

Hi everyone! With record low temperatures in many states, -20 degrees this morning in some places in Oklahoma, and the electric company performing rolling blackouts to conserve energy, the spiritual significance of this physical manifestation of darkness is not lost on me. The coldness of hearts in the world toward our Father in heaven and the rolling blackouts of the power of God in people’s lives is an indicator not only of the current spiritual condition for many, but also of the great glory of God that is soon to be, at the point of being released upon the earth through the church, Christ’s body, through those of us who are called by His Name.

https://twitter.com/disclosetv/status/1361357898815791110/photo/1

An increase of darkness and evil is clear evidence, albeit negative, that the dawn of God’s glory is about to be revealed in us and in the earth. It is an opportunity for us to measure how magnificent His glory is about to roll in with surging eternal and uninterrupted power through all those who are called by Jesus’ Name and dare to operate in His glory in these times.

Romans 8:18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be (soon to be, at the point of being) revealed in us…

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National Weather Service

Darkness does not have to bring fear or despair. We have been given the power in Christ to roll back every form of darkness that we encounter. It does not take a lot of effort on our part either. It only takes stirring (waking) up His glory (Christ, the gift, the treasure) in us, a desire to see the darkness leave, and confidence in the name of Jesus and His Word, also the boldness to act upon it.

2 Corinthians 10:4-5 For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.

Romans 8:19-21 For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope; because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.

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Acropolis
Athens, Greece

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Approaching Darkness and Fear… Christine McDonald

Posted in #PaulthePoke, Christine "Clarity" McDonald with tags , , , , on August 31, 2019 by paulthepoke

Everyone be blessed!

“The people remained at a distance, while Moses approached the thick darkness where God was.” Exodus 20:21 

Like the nation of Israel, we are each called to the mountain of God, but few are willing to pass through the darkness to get there. God wanted to reveal His glory to the children of Israel, but they were afraid to enter into His presence. They only wanted to know about God, rather than know him personally like Moses did. This grieved the heart of God.

Why wouldn’t the people of Israel risk entering the darkness if it meant being in the presence of God? What did the people fear?

Perhaps they had fears like each of us. The fear of the unknown. The fear of what might happen. The fear that God might not like what He sees. Or, perhaps even the greatest fear: the fear of darkness itself and what lies behind that darkness.

Many of us have been satisfied to hear about God from God’s messengers. But there is a greater calling for each of you – a calling to enter into His presence. Sometimes entering into His presence means we enter through an unexpected door – a door that appears to have nothing good behind it.

“Love your neighbor, all of ’em.” -Christine Clarity McDonald

https://crypurplemovie.com/

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Rays of Hope

Posted in #PaulthePoke, Christine "Clarity" McDonald with tags , , , , , on May 4, 2019 by paulthepoke

The story below is excerpted from my book Cry Purple.

Christine McDonald

Romans 8:24-25 For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.

Life has a way of beating a person down when they think they can’t sink any lower. Such dark moments can squeeze you until you feel there is no hope. But somewhere deep down we all have the tiniest bit of faith that the darkness isn’t supposed to be the norm. Somehow we all have a sense, though perhaps buried, that darkness is the intruder, even if darkness is all we have known. Something in us cries out for the light even if we have never known it.

Photo: Shutterstock

We see these glimmers of hope in the world around us, the sunlight warming our faces, flowers demanding our admiration, a gentle breeze hinting that change will come. It’s easy to take tiny freedoms, these small displays of beauty or simple breezes, for granted. Some of us see change or even our redemption right around the corner. Yet others live on these small moments for years, barely surviving, but surviving all the same.

2 Corinthians 4:16-18 So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.

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https://www.gofundme.com/crypurplemovie

“Love your neighbor, all of ’em.” -Christine Clarity McDonald

https://crypurplemovie.com/

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Millennial Kingdom: Let There Be Light

Posted in Isaiah, Millennial Kingdom, Prophecy, Signs: Sun, Moon, Stars... with tags , , , , , , , , , , , on February 14, 2016 by paulthepoke

Isaiah 30:26 The light of the moon will be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun will be seven times brighter, like the light of seven days, on the day the LORD binds up the fracture of His people and heals the bruise He has inflicted.

brightsun

The context of these comments is a future time when the Lord is present on Earth. Day and night as we know it in February of 2016 will change. What we know as day time will be consistent with a future night time during the Millennial Kingdom. The light of the moon will be as the light of the sun.

Day time as we know it will be significantly brighter…and the light of the sun will be seven times brighter, like the light of seven days…

Increased light has to impact agricultural production significantly to the upside. Photosynthesis of plant life will be occurring at all times due to continuous light.

Prior to the return of Christ, the earth will be coming from a place of darkness…literally and figuratively. Light is progressively diminished during the Tribulation as noted in Revelation. The Tribulation is a seven year period noted with volcanic and seismic activity. Fire, brimstone, and smoke are noted in Tribulation verses. The sun is progressively blotted away and darkness will descend.

Revelation 6:12 I looked when He broke the sixth seal, and there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth made of hair, and the whole moon became like blood…

Revelation 8:12 The fourth angel sounded, and a third of the sun and a third of the moon and a third of the stars were struck, so that a third of them would be darkened and the day would not shine for a third of it, and the night in the same way.

Revelation 9:2 He opened the bottomless pit, and smoke went up out of the pit, like the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by the smoke of the pit.

Revelation 9:18 A third of mankind was killed by these three plagues, by the fire and the smoke and the brimstone which proceeded out of their mouths.

Revelation 18:9b …will weep and lament over her when they see the smoke of her burning… (in regards to mystery Babylon). Further smoke and burning are noted in Revelation 18:18.

Earthquake activity is noted in Revelation 6:12, 8:5, 11:13, and 16:18.

Darkness, figuratively and literally, will come to an end with the return of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Isaiah 60:19-20 No longer will you have the sun for light by day, nor for brightness will the moon give you light; but you will have the LORD for an everlasting light, and your God for your glory. Your sun will no longer set, nor will your moon wane; for you will have the LORD for an everlasting light, and the days of your mourning will be over.

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Passover, Nisan 14, Noon – 3 PM, 33 AD

Posted in Gospel, Prophecy, Spring Feasts with tags , , , , , , , , , , , , , on March 22, 2015 by paulthepoke

Matthew 27:45 Now from the sixth hour darkness fell upon all the land until the ninth hour.

Mark 15:33 When the sixth hour came, darkness fell over the whole land until the ninth hour.

Luke 23:44-45 It was now about the sixth hour, and darkness fell over the whole land until the ninth hour, because the sun was obscured; and the veil of the temple was torn in two.

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This three hour period of darkness is one clue that confirms the year of Christ’s death.

Hebrews mark time the following way. The sun comes up in the first hour. The sun sets in the twelfth hour. Midday or noon is the sixth hour. The ninth hour is 3 o’clock in a western way of thinking. As we view time in a western sense, darkness fell upon the land at noon and remained until 3 p.m.

The event described in the Bible was not a solar eclipse. An eclipse of the sun only occurs when the moon is directly between the sun and the Earth, a new moon phase. The day of the crucifixion was the day before Passover. The spring holiday occurs during a full moon. The moon was on the far side of the Earth away from the sun. A solar eclipse can last only seven and a half minutes in any one place. Darkness in the verses of the Bible lasted three hours.

We know there was seismic activity in the region on the day of Christ’s death from Scripture and extra biblical historians. This region of the world is noted with tectonic and volcanic activity.

Matthew 27:51 And behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom; and the earth shook and the rocks were split.

Matthew 27:54 Now the centurion, and those who were with him keeping guard over Jesus, when they saw the earthquake and the things that were happening, became very frightened and said, “Truly this was the Son of God!”

Secular historians report a failure of the sun during the middle of the day. Below is an example.

In the fourth year of the 202nd Olympiad, a failure of the sun took place greater than any previously known, and night came on at the sixth hour of the day (noon), so that stars actually appeared in the sky; and a great earthquake took place in Bithynia and overthrew the greater part of Niceaea,”— TRALLIANUS, OLYMPIADES

This event was confirmed by many other historians. Here is a brief list: Phlegon (Greek), Julius Africanus, Thallus, Eusibis, Syncellus, Jerom, Maximus, and the list goes on and on…

http://www.bethlehemstar.net/the-day-of-the-cross/peters-argument/

http://www.freechristianteaching.org/modules/smartsection/item.php?itemid=184#axzz3UUQWaXsE

Bithynia is modern day Turkey near the capital of Istanbul or historical Constantinople. Niceaea is the region of northwest Turkey.

If the sun went dark in the middle of the day in the 21st century, there would be a significant historical record of the event. It would be well documented.  I can almost guarantee this. People would literally freak out if the day turned to dark and there was no solar eclipse scheduled. Put yourself in Jerusalem at the event of the cross in that day. Eerie, eerie, eerie…

The Bible confirms secular history. The sun went dark at noon. The year was 33 AD. Christ was on the cross at that time.

 

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Isaiah 5:28 Lion, King of the Beasts

Posted in Isaiah with tags , , , , , , , , , on October 7, 2012 by paulthepoke

Its roaring is like a lioness, and it roars like young lions; it growls as it seizes the prey and carries it off with no one to deliver it. And it will growl over it in that day like the roaring of the sea. If one looks to the land, behold, there is darkness and distress; even the light is darkened by its clouds. 

This is the description of the army invading Israel. Culturally in Israel, lions were known as the king of the beasts with their size and strength. Lions generally are not man eaters. If a lion eats a man, it is a threat to eat a man again. Lions once were in the land of Israel. This is not the case at this point in time.

Look at the different ways Scripture describes a lion. Proverbs 19:12a The king’s wrath is like the roaring of a lion… A roaring lion is like a king’s rage and fury. Proverbs 20:2 The terror of a king is like the growling of a lion; He who provokes him to anger forfeits his own life. A growling lion is dreadful and fearsome. When angered, it will cost you your life. Proverbs 28:1b …But the righteous are bold as a lion. Confidence is exuded by the lion. Proverbs 30:30 The lion which is mighty among beasts and does not retreat before any…There is no fear in the lion. The lion bows to nobody and keeps coming. Jeremiah 2:30b …Your sword has devoured your prophets like a destroying lion. The lion is compared to an eating and consuming lion.

When one looks at the idiomatic description of the invading army to a lion, you get rage, fury, wrath, terror, dread, fear, and death. The army is confident, bold, pressing, consuming, and devouring.

Finally, darkness has fallen upon the land. Scholars debate whether this darkness is literal or idiomatic. With all the death and destruction caused by this destructive army, it is easy to understand how this could be idiomatic. It would be figuratively dark with the level of death described in these verses.

It could also be a physical reality. The book of Joel describes a time in the future during “The Day of the Lord” when Israel is visited by an invading army and the physical world is literally darkened.  Joel 2:2a A day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and thick darkness. Joel 2:10 Before them the earth quakes, the heavens tremble, the sun and the moon grow dark and the stars lose their brightness. Joel 3:15 The sun and moon grow dark and the stars lose their brightness. Remember these same references to the progression of physical darkness in Revelation. The culmination of darkness occurs in Revelation 9:2 He opened the bottomless pit, and smoke went up out of the pit, like the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by the smoke of the pit. Jesus Himself references the physical darkness on the earth prior to His coming in Mark 13:24. Jesus is quoting Joel 2:10, 3:15.

It does not have to be one or the other, the darkness can be both figurative and literal.

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Genesis 1:5 Sunset, A New Day

Posted in Creation with tags , , , , , , on May 30, 2011 by paulthepoke

Genesis 1:5 God called the light day, and the darkness He called night. And there was evening and there was morning, one day.

Observation, according to God the day starts when the light source sets. The first part of the day is evening, then morning. What happens in the evening? It is dark. What happens in the morning? There is light. This pattern is consistent through the creation week in days one through six. Evening comes first, then morning. The Hebrew day starts at sunset. This mindset is the reason why people were scrambling like mad to get Jesus off the cross and buried before sunset. The day was about to end and the next day was the Sabbath.

In comparison, look at the western world concept of time. In our world, the new day starts at midnight. We mark our time by a clock. God marks his time with the sun. Culturally, our day starts when the alarm goes off in the morning or the sun gets us up. We are completely out of phase with God’s schedule. The modern, enlightened, western world has scrapped God’s definition and marking of a day.

Consider a mind set of the sun sets and the day is over. We start a new day by eating an evening meal, resting, then sleeping. We get up and eat a morning meal, then we go about our day’s work. Work is the end of the day, not the beginning. That is God’s way.

The sun is not needed for day and night. Light and a rotating earth are needed. On the first day of creation, God made and is light. The phrase “evening and morning” certainly implies a rotating earth. If we have light from one direction, and a spinning earth, there can be day and night. (Could God Really Have Created Everything in Six Day? Ken Ham, September 27, 2007)

Evolutionary theory suspects the sun was part of the formation of the earth. Big Bang theory has the sun occurring before the earth. Big Bang also suspects the sun was responsible in the development of life on earth. Science is no different than pagan religions who believe the sun is part of the creative process. (Could God Really Have Created Everything in Six Day? Ken Ham, September 27, 2007)

The Bible says that the sun is not created until day four. The sun is a created tool, not a source of creation. God’s account of creation and man’s theories clash. Man is concerned about the sun from the beginning and man postulates the sun is a source of life.

God’s word is radically different than the opinion of man. Isaiah 55:8 “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,” declares the LORD.

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Genesis 1:3-4 Day 1, Let there be light

Posted in Creation with tags , , , , , , , on May 22, 2011 by paulthepoke

Genesis 1:3-4 Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness.

At this point the critic launches an objection. How can you have light without the sun? After all, the sun was created on day four and this is day one. How can there be day and night without the sun for the initial three days? This question shows the bias in the belief system of the evolutionist. The evolutionist assumes that the sun and the stars were present before the earth. Genesis states the earth was created before the light (day one), let alone the sun, moon, and stars (day four). Because of their bias, science makes a leap of faith and decides the Bible is not true.

Evolution is a belief system. It is a theory. Can these scientists go back in time? Were these scientists present to observe precisely what happened? Science can not go back and test. They must deal with the present. According to their doctrines of the Scientific Method, science can not replicate or reduplicate what happened. Their theory can not be proven in a lab. By their standards, science fails miserably. At the very least, scientists should realize their hypothesis is false and reconstruct another hypothesis. As Ken Ham accurately points out in The Genesis Solution, “The conflict is really a battle between two religious beliefs”.

The sun is not needed for light. There are also many types of light, not just visible light. Short-wave light includes ultraviolet light, X-rays, and others. Long-wave light includes infrared light, radio waves, and others. Light is produced by friction, by fire, by numerous chemical reactions, as well as the nuclear reactions of atomic fission and fusion, which is what we think is occurring in the sun. (Sunlight Before the Sun, John D. Morris, Ph.D.)

Light is energy. We know from verse two that the Spirit of God was moving on the face of the waters (Genesis 1:2). In effect, there is movement or energy over water. Note, land was not present yet. Land does not occur until day three. 1 John 1:5 This is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you, that God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all. Follow the thinking. God = light = energy = movement. God (light) is separate from darkness, just like His creation. God (light) is good, just like His creation. God can accomplish His will without the sun, He has other means. Isaiah 45:7 The One forming light and creating darkness, causing well-being and creating calamity; I am the LORD who does all these.

God’s word is radically different than the opinion of science. Isaiah 55:8 “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,” declares the LORD.

This is not a scientific argument. God’s word is history.

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