Leave it a COG to find prophecy fulfilled from Pet shop rejects
02/05/2012 a.m. Here is the latest Living Church of God World Ahead Weekly Update
from Rod McNair. It mentions changes in Europe, TW in French magazine,
Passover, Church survey, Living Youth programs, Feast registration,
upcoming new Feast website, world news items, and comments about
face-to-face time.
Here is one of the world news items:
Too Many Hungry Pythons. Burmese pythons were introduced into the Florida Everglades in the 1980s. They escaped from captivity and pet owners also dump them when they become too large to keep. The pythons are prolific and can grow to more than 15 feet long (5 meters) and weigh 150 pounds (75 kg). A new Davidson College study reveals rapidly declining populations of indigenous Everglade mammals (e.g., raccoons, deer, opossum, and others), by more than 90% since the late 1990s. Researchers believe the skyrocketing python population is to blame. New research demonstrates that salt water, once thought to be a barrier that confines snakes to the swamp, is really no barrier. Some experts believe the pythons could expand their habitat throughout much of the Southeastern U.S. (FloridaToday.com, January 31, 2012). The Everglades directly border Miami resident ial neighborhoods. What could happen when pythons run out of native species to eat? The Bible identifies some sobering events that will occur at the end of the age. The Apostle John wrote of the fourth seal, the “pale horse,” that will result in the death of one quarter of the earth’s population, by the sword (war), hunger, and the beasts of the earth (Revelation 6:7-8). Jeremiah’s prophecy adds more detail, highlighting how birds and beasts of the earth will “devour and destroy” (Jeremiah 15:2-4). Florida’s pythons could be one tool that God eventually uses to bring these prophecies to pass. For more information, review our booklet: Revelation: The Mystery Unveiled!
Dennis
"Florida’s pythons could be one tool that God eventually uses to bring these prophecies to pass."
ReplyDeleteMy...head...hurts...my...head...hurts...my...head...hurts...
Well, it's only typical for people of this mindset to do as they were taught by their "apostle", that is, to take news items and use them to support their particular understanding of prophecy, to say nothing of attempting to keep people on edge to further an agenda. Thus, I'm afraid, they remain an easy target. There is the power of positive thinking, and unfortunately, the power of suppository thinking.
ReplyDeleteThat is not to minimize the python crisis in the Southeast, however. Snakes on Guam have caused havoc with the natural species, primarily the birds. So, this is an area of concern which hopefully scientists and naturalists will successfully combat. It's yet another existential threat, probably on a par with golden algae, ebola, and certain other problematic developments. I suspect that some of these will be remedied, others will be minimized, and some will persist. Who would have thought that the AIDS pandemic could have been controlled as it largely has here in 2012?
BB
Similarly, Guttenberg could be the Beast Power and recent earthquakes in the Philippines could signal the beginning of the end. But I don't think so.
ReplyDeleteI would get very tired if I had to hunt through the news to piece together bible prophecy "connections", although I know that is how it is done in the COGs. Hell, Malm reports if the Israeli army is building extra latrines and what it could mean in regards to prophecy.
Here we go again. I remember how wild-eyed we got in the 50s over the coming calamity of the nutria infestation. That rodent is still around, I suppose, but hasn't been the cataclysmic debacle we envisioned.
ReplyDeleteI think there is a concerted effort afoot to wipe out the pythons in Florida. It would take some doing, but I think it can be accomplished. We did wipe out wolves in most of the lower 48 until we came to our senses and began reintroducing them. If I were younger, I might just go on a python hunting vacation.
It's not called "prediction addiction" for nothing! And the emotional anxiety and paranoia it inevitably leads to in an ACOGs member's life is no less a form of psychosis than would be evident in a drug addict or gambling addict methinks. It borders on the criminal what these "ministers of Christ" peddle to gather a following for themselves. Such con artists whose failed prophecies have left people disillusioned, penniless or worse should be flogged through the streets or else stripped naked, tarred and feathered, and railed out of every town!
ReplyDeleteWhat do you know, the people in Florida aren't just waiting around to be consumed by this end-time plague. They're training to capture the beasts! Reports this morning indicate that more than 100 people are currently in training for this very purpose. Serious? Sure. Impossible to fix? No.
ReplyDeleteMy head hurts too, Anon...
I am glad my parents left the WCG.
ReplyDeleteIt was hard on them, though.
Even though my father was not joining another church and advocating anyone leave as he chose to, it was preached from the pulpit the following Sabbath that no one in the Church should have any further contact with my parents.
My parents lost almost all of their friends then.
They moved to Florida and had a crocodile friend.
I remember my grandma chased the big crocodile from behind my parent's Florida pond all the way down the street along the sidewalk and tried to feed it cheese doodles.
I'm glad the crocodile didn't eat grandma.
I'm glad that wacky church didn't eat my parents, either.
(It certainly took a bite out of them, though.)
Norm
Allen, the nutrias were promoted as money makers: the skins would supply valuable fur. Then they became pests.
ReplyDeleteMaybe the pythons can go the other way. They are pests now, but their skins might become valuable in the boot trade. And restaurants could offer braise, broiled, and chicken-fried python meat. Market hunting helped wipe out the passenger pigeon and almost did the job on waterfowl, egrets, bison, and deer. If high consumer demand meets unregulated hunting, the same thing could happen to pythons.
This development would also give the COGs something to rail against as a sign of Manasseh's decline: the sacrifice of unclean animals and the increased consumption of unclean meat. They can fit anything into their End Times scenario.
I thought of that too, Prof. I had relatives by marriage that loved breaded and fried rattlesnake fillets. There'd be a lot more meat on a python. One could set up a rather unique Florida restaurant, I would think.
ReplyDeleteThe skins would bring in extra money.
Sounds like a good business if I were only younger. Tramping around in swamps just isn't in the cards anymore.