Via Ideas, Inventions And Innovations, 12 July 2013 - A team of U.S. and U.K. scientists has found geologic evidence that casts doubt on one of the conventional explanations for how Antarctica's ice sheet began forming. Ian Dalziel, research professor at The University of Texas at Austin's Institute for Geophysics and professor in the Jackson School of Geosciences, and his colleagues report the findings today in an online edition of the journal Geology.
This is a physiographic map of the present-day Scotia Sea, Drake Passage and adjacent land masses. The white arrows show the present path of the several branches of the deep Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC) centered on its core. The area of study in the central Scotia Sea (CSS) is shown by the black box to the south of South Georgia island (SG). The volcano symbols mark the active South Sandwich volcanic arc (SSA). (WSS = western Scotia Sea; ESS = eastern Scotia Sea)
The Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC), an ocean current flowing clockwise around the entire continent, insulates Antarctica from warmer ocean water to the north, helping maintain the ice sheet. For several decades, scientists have surmised that the onset of a complete ACC played a critical role in the initial glaciation of the continent about 34 million years ago.
Now, rock samples from the central Scotia Sea near Antarctica reveal the remnants of a now-submerged volcanic arc that formed sometime before 28 million years ago and might have blocked the formation of the ACC until less than 12 million years ago. Hence, the onset of the ACC may not be related to the initial glaciation of Antarctica, but rather to the subsequent well-documented descent of the planet into a much colder "icehouse" glacial state.
"If you had sailed into the Scotia Sea 25 million years ago, you would have seen a scattering of volcanoes rising above the water," says Dalziel. "They would have looked similar to the modern volcanic arc to the east, the South Sandwich Islands."
Using multibeam sonar to map seafloor bathymetry, which is analogous to mapping the topography of the land surface, the team identified seafloor rises in the central Scotia Sea. They dredged the seafloor at various points on the rises and discovered volcanic rocks and sediments created from the weathering of volcanic rocks. These samples are distinct from normal ocean floor lavas and geochemically identical to the presently active South Sandwich Islands volcanic arc to the east of the Scotia Sea that today forms a barrier to the ACC, diverting it northward. This is a reconstruction of the Scotia Sea area 25 million years ago, showing volcanoes of the ancestral South Sandwich arc (ASSA). They are now submerged, but were active at that time and possibly emergent. They may have blocked the onset of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current. (NSR = North Scotia Ridge; SSR = South Scotia Ridge; SG = South Georgia island)
Using a technique known as argon isotopic dating, the researchers found that the samples range in age from about 28 million years to about 12 million years. The team interpreted these results as evidence that an ancient volcanic arc, referred to as the ancestral South Sandwich arc (ASSA), was active in the region during that time and probably much earlier. Because the samples were taken from the current seafloor surface and volcanic material accumulates from the bottom up, the researchers infer that much older volcanic rock lies beneath.
Combined with models of how the seafloor sinks vertically with the passage of time, the team posits that the ASSA originally rose above sea level and would have blocked deep ocean currents such as the ACC.
Two other lines of evidence support the notion that the ACC didn't begin until less than 12 million years ago. First, the northern Antarctic Peninsula and southern Patagonia didn't become glaciated until less than approximately 12 million years ago. And second, certain species of microscopic creatures called dinoflagellates that thrive in cold polar water began appearing in sediments off southwestern Africa around 11.1 million years ago, suggesting colder water began reaching that part of the Atlantic Ocean.
The research team also includes Larry Lawver and Marcy Davis at The University of Texas at Austin's Institute for Geophysics; Julian Pearce at Cardiff University (U.K.); P.F. Barker at the University of Birmingham (U.K.) (deceased); Alan Hastie at Cardiff University and the University of Edinburgh (U.K.); Dan Barfod at the Natural Environment Research Council's Argon Research Facility (U.K.); and Hans-Werner Schenke at the Alfred Wegener Institute (Germany).
Support was provided by the U.S. National Science Foundation's Office of Polar Programs, the U.K. Natural Environment Research Council, the Alfred Wegener Institute (Germany) and the British Antarctic Survey.
Via charlotteobserver.com, 10 July 2013 - BEIJING Flooding in western China, the worst in 50 years for some areas, triggered a landslide Wednesday that buried about 30 people, trapped hundreds in a highway tunnel and destroyed a high-profile memorial to a devastating 2008 earthquake.
Residents are evacuated through a flooded street by an excavator in Guanghan city in southwestern China's Sichuan province Tuesday July 9, 2013
Meanwhile, to the northeast, at least 12 workers were killed when a violent rainstorm caused the collapse of an unfinished coal mine workshop they were building, said a statement from the city government of Jinzhong, where the accident occurred. The accident Tuesday night came amid heavy rain and high winds across a swath of northern China, including the capital, Beijing. There was no immediate word on the chances of survival for the 30 or so people buried in the landslide in the city of Dujiangyan in Sichuan province, but rescue workers with search dogs rushed to the area, the official Xinhua News Agency said.
State-run China Central Television said hundreds of people were trapped in a highway tunnel between Dujiangyan and Wenchuan - the epicenter of the earthquake five years ago that left 90,000 people dead or missing. Authorities were not able to make contact with the people, the report said.
Mudslides and flooding are common in China's mountainous areas, killing hundreds of people every year. Deforestation has led to soil erosion and made some parts of China prone to mudslides after strong rains.
In nearby Beichuan county, flooding destroyed buildings and wrecked exhibits at a memorial for the 2008 earthquake. The quake left the Beichuan county seat unlivable. The town was abandoned, and 27 square kilometers (10 square miles) of ruins were turned into a memorial and museum.
The flooding also caused the collapse of an almost 50-year-old bridge in a neighboring county, sending six vehicles into the raging waters and leaving 12 people missing.
Since Sunday, flooding in Sichuan has affected 360,000 people, damaging or destroying 300 homes and forcing at least 6,100 emergency evacuations, state media reported.
A great and wondrous sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars on her head.
She was pregnant and cried out in pain as she was about to give birth.
The heavenly signs mentioned in Revelation 12 actually describe the heavenly signs that appear during the Feast of Trumpets each year while verse 2 describes a pregnant woman in travail.
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What is relationship between the Feast of Trumpets and the pregnant woman in travail?
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The seven feasts of Israel, Passover, the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Feast of Firstfruits, Pentecost, the Feast of Trumpets, the Day of Atonement and the Feast of Tabernacles, are for God to model his churches.
So, the seven feasts represent the path of the righteous, and even the period from a woman’s pregnancy until the birth of the baby.
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Because all the specifics of the seven feasts correspond to the process of pregnancy of a woman.
The first feast:
Passover on 14th of the first month represents the beginning of faith.
Jesus was crucified on the day of Passover, giving birth to the church.
Relatively, the fertilized egg appears on the 14th day after the mother is pregnant.
Hence, from generations to generations, in addition to lamb, Israelis would eat an egg during Passover.
Afterwards, on the second to the sixth day, this egg will be implanted in the uterus of the pregnant woman, and begin to grow.
Corresponding to the second to sixth day after Passover, it is the Feast of Unleavened Bread. It is also the wave offering during the Feast of Firstfruits.
Jesus’ resurrection and ascension happened on the Feast of Firstfruits, three days after Passover.
He led a group of saints in paradise to heaven, and became the first fruits in the wave offering.
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And then He came back and explained the Bible to His disciples, and shared the truth of the whole gospel. Hence, the church on earth also became the first fruits.
Fifty days after Passover, the Holy Spirit descended.
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The church was established, with body and organization.
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Compared to a fertilized embryo, it begins to have a human-shaped body, with hands, arms, fingers, legs, toes, eyes and head, after fifty days.
Four months later, the embryo is still growing.
This corresponds to the absence of feast within the four months after Pentecost.
Until the first day of July, it is the Feast of Trumpets.
At that time, Israelis would make sound by blowing the trumpets.
All people in Jerusalem can hear.
But in fact, the fetus begins to have the sense of hearing on the first day of the seventh month. It can hear the words from his mother from outside.
Before that day, he cannot hear anything from outside.
From the first day to the tenth day on the seventh month, there is the chance of preterm birth, if the mother is careless.
This is the meaning of the labor pain described in the Feast of trumpets, in Revelation 12.
The tenth day of July is the Day of Atonement.
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It is also called the day in sackcloth and ashes. It is the hardest day for Israelis.
Compared to the first to tenth day in July, when preterm birth may appear, on the tenth day the fetus would be more stable.
Compared to the feast, the tenth of July is the Day of Atonement.
The high priest would bring the blood of the lamb to enter the Holy of Holies, and sprinkle it seven times.
Compared to the tenth day of the seventh month, it is the day when the fetus can produce its own blood pigment.
Before that day, the fetus can only rely on the blood pigment from his mother.
The fetus can be independent with blood pigment.
The function of the blood pigment is to bring oxygen and food from the lung to other parts of the body, for energy supply.
The child has his own ability, just as his parents.
This is like the Day of Atonement.
The blood of lamb represents the precious blood of Christ, which saves us, makes us reborn, for us to have the life, image and glory of God.
The fifteenth day of July is the Feast of Tabernacles.
The Feast of Tabernacles represents that we will have the revived body and can live in heaven with God.
Compared to the fetus, on the fifteenth day of the seventh month, it can be born anytime because on that day, the fetus’ lung has developed completely.
Before this day, the baby would breathe in difficulty if it is born.
But after this day, he can breathe by himself. He can live outside of his mother.
In September, it is the Feast of Dedication, which is added apart from the law of Israeli.
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During the Feast of Dedication, Israelis would place a lampstand which has nine lamps. The middle lamp will be ignited by the fire in the altar.
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One lamp would be ignited each day, and all eight lamps will be ignited on the eighth day.
Hence, in John 1 God says Jesus Christ ignites our lamps.
Our lamps were lighted when we were born.
But when we sin and become the wicked, the lamps would be extinguished.
Compared to the ninth month of pregnancy, all babies would be born.
On the eighth day after birth, the baby is to be circumcised. It is the same day that the lamp is lighted.
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Circumcision represents the removal of the sin of the baby, and become a lighted lamp in front of God.
The modern technology allows us to know the specific events that happen to the embryo on specific days.
But God has already fixed the feasts through Moses 3500 years ago.
We can see that the live drama of feasts is arranged supernaturally by God.
By the rehearsal of feasts, we need to leave the elementary teachings about Christ, grow up continuously to become the body of Christ, and attain to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ!
Via navy.mil, 25 February 2013 - U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) research physicists and engineers from the Plasma Physics Division, working at the High-frequency Active Auroral Research Program (HAARP) transmitter facility, Gakona, Alaska, successfully produced a sustained high density plasma cloud in Earth's upper atmosphere. "Previous artificial plasma density clouds have lifetimes of only ten minutes or less," said Paul Bernhardt, Ph.D., NRL Space Use and Plasma Section.
Sequence of images of the glow plasma discharge produced with transmissions at the third electron gyro harmonic using the HAARP HF transmitter, Gakona, Alaska. The third harmonic artificial glow plasma clouds were obtained with HAARP using transmissions at 4.34 megahertz (MHz). The resonant frequency yielded green line (557.7 nanometer emission) with HF on November 12, 2012, between the times of 02:26:15 to 02:26:45 GMT. - See more at: http://www.nrl.navy.mil/media/news-releases/2013/nrl-scientists-produce-densest-artificial-ionospheric-plasma-clouds-using-haarp#sthash.Rh4opuze.dpuf
"This higher density plasma 'ball' was sustained over one hour by the HAARP transmissions and was extinguished only after termination of the HAARP radio beam." These glow discharges in the upper atmosphere were generated as a part of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) sponsored Basic Research on Ionospheric Characteristics and Effects (BRIOCHE) campaign to explore ionospheric phenomena and its impact on communications and space weather.
Using the 3.6-megawatt high-frequency (HF) HAARP transmitter, the plasma clouds, or balls of plasma, are being studied for use as artificial mirrors at altitudes 50 kilometers below the natural ionosphere and are to be used for reflection of HF radar and communications signals.
Past attempts to produce electron density enhancements have yielded densities of 4 x 105 electrons per cubic centimeter (cm3) using HF radio transmissions near the second, third, and fourth harmonics of the electron cyclotron frequency. This frequency near 1.44 MHz is the rate that electrons gyrate around the Earth's magnetic field.
The NRL group succeeded in producing artificial plasma clouds with densities exceeding 9 x 105 electrons cm3 using HAARP transmission at the sixth harmonic of the electron cyclotron frequency.
Optical images of the artificial plasma balls show that they are turbulent with dynamically changing density structures. Electrostatic waves generated by the HAARP radio transmissions are thought to be responsible for accelerating electrons to high enough energy to produce the glow discharge in the neutral atmosphere approaching altitudes of nearly 170 kilometers.
The artificial plasma clouds are detected with HF radio soundings and backscatter, ultrahigh frequency (UHF) radar backscatter, and optical imaging systems. Ground measurements of stimulated electromagnetic emissions provide evidence of the strength and frequency for the electrostatic waves that accelerated ambient electrons to ionizing velocities.
The NRL team is working with collaborators at SRI International, University of Alaska Fairbanks, University of Florida, and BAE Systems on this project to synthesize the observations with parametric interactions theory to develop a comprehensive theory of the plasma cloud generation. The next HAARP campaign, scheduled for early 2013, will include experiments to develop denser, more stable ionization clouds.
June 26, 2013 - MADAGASCAR - Madagascar is in the grips of a largely uncontrolled locust plague and risks a serious food crisis. A large-scale emergency control campaign urgently requires a minimum of $22 million in funding to start in time for the next crop planting season in September. So far, FAO emergency appeals for Madagascar remain severely underfunded.
By September, FAO expects that two-thirds of the country will be infested by locusts.
Some 13 million people’s food security and livelihoods are at stake, or nearly 60 percent of the island’s total population. Nine million of those people are directly dependent on agriculture for food and income.
Sounding the alarm – more loudly FAO has issued various warnings since August 2012 calling for financial support.
FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva emphasized that prevention and early action are key. “If we don’t act now, the plague could last years and cost hundreds of millions of dollars. This could very well be a last window of opportunity to avert an extended crisis,” he said.
Timely control of the locust upsurge in Madagascar at an early stage would have cost $ 14.5 million in 2011-1012, but FAO only received half the funding necessary. Another campaign had to be launched, but that received barely a quarter of the required funds in 2011/2012.
When the Sahel region experienced a locust upsurge in 2003-2005, the costs of control operations exceeded $ 570 million, in addition to the economic damages in terms of lost crops and food aid.
Preventive control measures normally cost $3.3 million per year for the 10 affected Sahelian countries. So intervening only when the situation reaches a crisis point cost roughly the same as 170 years of prevention.
In order to have all the supplies and personnel in place to mount a wide-scale anti-locust campaign starting in September, funding should be allocated by July.
FAO’s locust control programme needs to be fully funded in order to monitor the locust situation throughout the whole contaminated area and to carry out well-targeted aerial control operations. Otherwise, undetected or uncontrolled locust populations will continue to breed and produce more swarms.
The plague would therefore last several years, controlling it will be lengthier and more expensive and it will severely affect food security, nutrition and livelihoods.
The complete three-year programme, which is needed to return the locust plague to a recession, requires more than $41.5 million over the next three years.
According to a recent FAO assessment mission on the impact of the current locust plague in Madagascar, in parts of the country rice and maize losses due to the locusts vary from 40 to 70 percent of the crop, with 100 percent losses on certain plots.
A joint Crop and Food Security Assessment Mission, supported by FAO, IFAD and WFP and in close cooperation with the Malagasy Government, is currently on the ground to measure the locust plague’s damages to food security and livelihoods. More detailed data analysis will be available in July, but the resources to start preparation for the field actions have to be available now.
Major impact on food securityAccording to FAO estimates, there could be losses in rice production of up to 630 000 tonnes, or about 25 percent of total demand for rice in Madagascar. This would severely affect food and nutrition security and livelihoods of the most vulnerable.
Rice is the main staple in the country, where 80 percent of the population lives on less than a dollar per day. One and a half million hectares will need to be treated by aerial spraying during the 2013/2014 campaign. The three-year FAO programme includes:
improving the monitoring and analysis of the locust situation;
large-scale aerial and ground spraying and related training;
monitoring and mitigating the effect of control operations on health and the environment;
measuring the impact of anti-locust campaigns and the damages to crops and pasture.
"Speak to the Israelites and say to them: 'When you enter the land I am going to give you and you reap its harvest, bring to the priest a sheaf of the first grain you harvest.
He is to wave the sheaf before the LORD so it will be accepted on your behalf; the priest is to wave it on the day after the Sabbath.
On the day you wave the sheaf, you must sacrifice as a burnt offering to the LORD a lamb a year old without defect.
3500 ago, God set up Israelite Law through Moses that Israelites should return to Jerusalem every year in Spring Festival to observe Passover. Observing the Passover comprises of three festivals including the Passover, the Feast of Unleavened Bread and the Festival of First Fruits.
During the Festival of First Fruits, the Israelites need to offer the first harvest, the first grain of harvest as a wave offering to God.
So since the ancient time, the sacrifice that pleases God should be the ripe fruits or the crops full of grains. <!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--> <!--[endif]-->
As a result, about 2000 years ago, Jesus was born. When Jesus was 33 years old, he became the Passover lamb according to the law of the Passover in spring time. He fulfilled God’s plan of redemption with many holy ones raising from their tombs. Besides, during the Festival of First Fruits, Jesus also raised from the dead with his earthly body. He is the first one who acquired the Body of Resurrection, and together he brought with him a group of holy ones who also are resurrected, mature in their faith and mission in life. With the Body of Resurrection, they got up to the Throne of God and became the first grain of the wave offering.
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Matthew 27:50-53:
And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit.
At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook and the rocks split.
The tombs broke open and the bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life.
They came out of the tombs, and after Jesus' resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many people.
So, in 1 Corinthians chapter 15, Apostle Paul revealedthat in the last days, the holy ones will be like Jesus, with physical change that they can have the Body of Resurrection.
1 Corinthians 15:20-25:
But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.
For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man.
For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive.
But each in his own turn: Christ, the firstfruits; then, when he comes, those who belong to him.
Then the end will come, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father after he has destroyed all dominion, authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet.
Besides, in Philippianschapter 3, Apostle Paul also stated that Jesus has the Body of Resurrection, which is the model for the saints in the last days, as the first Fruits.
Philippians 3: 21:
Who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body. <!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--> <!--[endif]-->
Similarly, Apostle Paul stated that again that in the last days when the horns blow just how the Israelites used to blow in every year’s Feast of Trumpets, the saints will experience what Jesus had experience and will have the Body of Resurrection. They can even get up to heaven escaping the Seven Years of Tribulation on earth.
1 Corinthians 15:50-53:
I declare to you, brothers, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.
Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed--
in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.
For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality.
Thus, before the disasters at the endtime, the church and the saints will be like Jesus, that they may become the ripe fruits or the crops full of grains. It means that during their life on earth, they are just like the wheat of the Festival of First Fruit, which they fill up their inner, and satisfy their destiny and the duties as a Christians, so as to become the first grain of harvest that God pleased.
Moreover, in the last days, during the harvest of the Feast of Tabernacles in Autumn Festival, not only do some churches become the wheat, but also have the fruits of the Holy Spirit. Just like the life of Joseph, he was always watchful even under the most difficult situation that he even completed the duty of his belief that given to him. He got ready for the Seven Years of Famine. Besides, he even helped the people around him, such as his brothers and father that he provided the answer and solution for the disaster.
So, in the last days, the churches and the saints can follow Joseph’s belief, and fulfill the mission given by God. They can become the sacrifices that God pleased, thus get up to heaven before Seven Years of Tribulation. Just like Jesus, they can have the Body of Resurrection and escape from the disasters on earth. <!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--> <!--[endif]-->
So, the Revival is going to happen in the last days. According to the acoustic frequency creation, some new believers are always watchful just like the wheat being filled up inside speedily. Thus they become the sacrifice of the first grain that God pleased. <!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--> <!--[endif]-->
Amos 9:13:
"The days are coming," declares the LORD, "when the reaper will be overtaken by the plowman and the planter by the one treading grapes. New wine will drip from the mountains and flow from all the hills. <!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--> <!--[endif]-->
So, in the last days, in the wedding of the Lamb in heaven, other than Jesus, the Bible tells us that there are three groups of people.
1. The bride:
They are the church which know about the coming of Jesus and always be watchful and get ready. They observe the rehearsal of the Holy Communion and wait for the coming of Jesus. They even complete the Revival in the last days.
2. The Watchful Virgins
They do not sleep like other virgins, who delay in participating in the wedding of the Lamb.
3. The Guests who get ready.
Although they cannot be like the brides and the virgins to fulfill many of the missions of the Kingdom of God, still they catch up. And like the wheat that fill up their inner, and get ready to complete the basic duty of one’s belief, they still become the sacrifice that God pleased.
Matthew 22:2-10 <!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--> <!--[endif]-->
The kingdom of heaven is like a certain king, who made a feast when his son was married <!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--> <!--[endif]-->
And sent out his servants to get in the guests to the feast: and they would not come <!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--> <!--[endif]-->
Again he sent out other servants, with orders to say to the guests, See, I have made ready my feast: my oxen and my fat beasts have been put to death, and all things are ready: come to the feast <!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--> <!--[endif]-->
But they gave no attention, and went about their business, one to his farm, another to his trade <!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--> <!--[endif]-->
And the rest put violent hands on his servants, and did evil to them, and put them to death <!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--> <!--[endif]-->
But the king was angry; and he sent his armies, and those who had put his servants to death he gave to destruction, burning down their town with fire <!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--> <!--[endif]-->
Then he said to his servants, The feast is ready but the guests were not good enough. <!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--> <!--[endif]-->
Go then to the cross-roads, and get all those whom you see to come to the bride-feastAnd those servants went out into the streets, and got together all those whom they came across, bad and good: and the feast was full of guests
However, in the great revival in the end, some people - because of backsliding and pleasure seeking in terms of their faith - will not prepare well. They finally can’t be taken up to the lamb’s wedding.
Matthew 22:11-14 <!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--> <!--[endif]-->
But when the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a man who had not on a guest's robe <!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--> <!--[endif]-->
And he says to him, Friend, how came you in here not having a guest's robe? And he had nothing to say <!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--> <!--[endif]-->
Then the king said to the servants, Put cords round his hands and feet and put him out into the dark; there will be weeping and cries of sorrow <!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--> <!--[endif]-->
For out of all to whom the good news has come, only a small number will get salvation. <!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--> <!--[endif]-->
If a person’s faith is unlike wheat fully filled up, God will not take him as an offering. In addition, he is easily swept away by the wind due to inner hollowness and left in the outside darkness.
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Psalms 1:4 The evil-doers are not so; but are like the dust from the grain, which the wind takes away.
Similarly, Jesus has demonstrated when he was resurrected and taken up to heaven, he was only going with those saints already passed away, act as the first fruit of the wave offering to God. It was because his disciples just woke up from the situation of knowing God, they had failed to fulfill the responsibility in their own beliefs. <!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--> <!--[endif]-->
On the other hand, Revelation Chapter 14 says, God has chosen a hundred and forty-four thousand people to preach his gospel in the disaster. They need to be the first fruits to God as well.
And I saw the Lamb on the mountain of Zion, and with him a hundred and forty-four thousand, marked on their brows with his name and the name of his Father
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And a voice from heaven came to my ears, like the sound of great waters, and the sound of loud thunder: and the voice which came to me was like the sound of players, playing on instruments of music <!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--> <!--[endif]-->
And they made as it seemed a new song before the high seat, and before the four beasts and the rulers: and no man might have knowledge of the song but the hundred and forty-four thousand, even those from the earth whom God has made his for a price These are they who have not made themselves unclean with women; for they are virgins. These are they who go after the Lamb wherever he goes. These were taken from among men to be the first fruits to God and to the Lamb
So no matter the rapture is before the disaster or in the midst, or even in the end, we must fulfill God’s requirement, to have a resurrected body into eternality. We must aim at becoming the first fruits to God, fill up ourselves with Christ character, complete our responsibility in faith and be the first-fruit that is God pleased. As wrote by Apostle Paul near the end of his life.