Hurricane Isabel

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0 height="100%"><tr> <td valign="top" width=168 BGCOLOR="#000000" TEXT="#F7F7FF" background="129a11c3.png"> <div> <A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Welcome to the Heart4God Website!"><U><B><IMG SRC="4b55a500.png" border=0 width="90" height="80" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id2.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="The Writings of Joseph Herrin"><U><B>Writings by Date</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id212.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="The Writings of Joseph Herrin Organized "><U><B>Writings by Topic</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="http://www.heart4god.ws/Audio/index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.heart4god.ws/Audio/index.htm"><U><B>Audio Files</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id690.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Videos"><U><B>Videos</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id323.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Writings of Others"><U><B>Other Authors</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id324.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Links"><U><B>Links</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id339.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Questions and Answers"><U><B>Q&A</B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id328.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Heart4God Email List"><U><B>Heart4God E-mail List</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="http://www.parablesblog.blogspot.com" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.parablesblog.blogspot.com"><U><B>Parables Blog</B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id306.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="File Downloads"><U><B><IMG SRC="2b264140.png" border=0 width="100" height="20" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></U></A></div> <bR> </td> <td valign="top" BGCOLOR="#000000" TEXT="#F7F7FF"> <bR> <div> <B>Hurricane Isabel</B></div> <div> <IMG SRC="c2827160.png" border=0 width="807" height="22" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> <div> Joseph Herrin (9-19-03)</div> <bR> <bR> <div> It has been twenty days (August 31) since I last sent out an e-mail to the Heart4God mailing list, and that e-mail spoke of a tropical storm that was headed for Corpus Christi, Texas. Following is the text of that message in brief:</div> <div> --------</div> <bR> <div> Dear Saints, </div> <div> God is moving us again today. I don't always understand His working, and this one is a true puzzle for me, but we see His hand in the move, though it has not come without a struggle. This morning I woke with some trouble in my heart concerning this move, and when I looked at our clock in the bedroom it read 5:00. This was somewhat encouraging because five is the number of God's grace. When I checked the CNN site for news headlines this morning I was even more encouraged, for below is the text of the article. I have put my comments in brackets []. </div> <bR> <div> <B>Texas braces for wind, rain as Grace nears</B></div> <bR> <div> Sunday, August 31, 2003 Posted: 6:49 AM EDT (1049 GMT)</div> <bR> <div> (CNN) -- As Tropical Storm Grace moved steadily closer to the Texas Gulf Coast, Hurricane Fabian churned far east of the Caribbean, the National Hurricane Center in Miami, Florida, said Sunday. </div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#0000FF" FACE="Georgia" >At</FONT> <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#FF0000" FACE="Georgia" >5 a.m. [number of grace] </FONT><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#0000FF" FACE="Georgia" >EDT,</FONT> <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#FF0000" FACE="Georgia" >Grace</FONT> <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#0000FF" FACE="Georgia" >was about</FONT> <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#FF0000" FACE="Georgia" >115</FONT> <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#FF0000" FACE="Georgia" >[5 times 23, and 23 is related to Psalm 23 "The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want..."]</FONT> <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#0000FF" FACE="Georgia" >miles southeast of</FONT> <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#FF0000" FACE="Georgia" >Corpus Christi [literally "Body of Christ"]</FONT><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#0000FF" FACE="Georgia" >, Texas, and moving to the northwest near 14 mph, forecasters said. That motion would bring the storm's center across the Texas coast sometime Sunday. </FONT></div> <bR> <div> Strong winds and rain from the storm have fallen over East Texas and southern Louisiana, forecasters said. They predicted rainfall accumulations of 6-8 inches in those areas, with higher amounts in some places. </div> <bR> <div> A tropical storm warning remained in effect for the Texas coast from High Island to Corpus Christi. </div> <bR> <div> Grace's maximum sustained winds are near 40 mph, with higher gusts. The hurricane center said the storm could strengthen during the next 24 hours. </div> <bR> <div> Could it be God's way of sending His saints a message that grace is coming to His body, and this grace will include the provision they need in this hour? </div> <div> --------</div> <bR> <div> I have commented before that God often sends messages in large ways, and using hurricanes and tropical storms is one method that I believe He employs. In recent years we have seen a number of very large messages from the Father, and many can be found written about on the Heart4God website. Beginning with the events of 9-11-2001 a number of very large signs, observed by the entire world, have been witnessed.</div> <bR> <div> The tragic events of 9-11 have been front and center in many people’s attention ever since the event, and who can escape the symbolism that it is the date of this event that has become the term that identifies it, for it is no little coincidence that the telephone number to call in case of emergencies throughout the U.S. is 911? I will not repeat all of the symbols and what they represent for they can be read about online, but it was certainly significant that the towers that both fell in one day were called "The World Trade Center" and they were located on Church Street.</div> <bR> <div> In all of the four gospel accounts we never saw Yahshua act with greater emotion and zeal than when He cleansed the Temple which had been filled with money changers and merchants. This zeal of His was symbolic of His great zeal for the temples of living stones, the bodies of men and women, who were created to be houses of prayer where God communes with man, but which have instead been filled with the noise and rancor of all of the trade of this world. I believe it was Austin Sparks who wrote that the great theme of Scriptures is that Yahweh has been seeking a tabernacle to dwell in, and this tabernacle is not made with wood and stone, but of the lives of men and women who were created in the image of God and were designed to be containers of His Spirit and His glory. This theme is seen from Genesis to Revelation, yet men have defiled the sanctuaries of God, following in the pattern of Satan of whom it is written:</div> <bR> <div> Ezekiel 28:18</div> <div> You defiled your sanctuaries </div> <div> By the multitude of your iniquities,</div> <div> By the iniquity of your trading;</div> <div> Therefore I brought fire from your midst;</div> <div> It devoured you,</div> <div> And I turned you to ashes upon the earth </div> <div> In the sight of all who saw you.</div> <div> NKJV</div> <bR> <div> By the multitude of his iniquities and trading Satan defiled his original sanctuaries, and he has not yet repented, seeking to defile all of the sanctuaries of God through iniquity and trade. Did not the World Trade Centers located on Church Street represent the sanctuaries of God being so filled with the trade of a corrupt world that their report ascended into the heavens? The judgment of God upon Satan for his original sin was repeated in the events of 9-11, and we need only compare the words of Ezekiel to the horror of that day to see the clear parallel. In the verse above we read:</div> <bR> <div> Therefore I brought fire from your midst;</div> <div> It devoured you,</div> <div> And I turned you to ashes upon the earth </div> <div> In the sight of all who saw you.</div> <bR> <div> The next verse is just as poignant.</div> <bR> <div> Ezekiel 28:19</div> <div> All who knew you among the peoples are astonished at you;</div> <div> You have become a horror, and shall be no more forever.</div> <div> NKJV</div> <bR> <div> Shortly after 9-11 another event occurred in New York City that was written about in the article "Babylon Burning". The largest Gothic Cathedral in the U.S. caught fire, with the fire beginning in the gift shop located just behind the sanctuary. Once more we see a clear picture of the presence of merchants and money changers in the buildings that are associated with the terms "sanctuary of God" and "house of prayer". This particular church building was a picture of gross defilement for it has long been a center for the most wicked and perverse corruptions to be hosted inside a church building. Again, this was merely a picture, a great symbol seen by many, for it is not buildings built of wood and stone that Christ is zealous for, but the houses of living stones which are just as much defiled as this gothic cathedral.</div> <bR> <div> After this series of messages to a fallen and corrupt church, that were written large for all of the world to see everywhere in the daily news media, another set of great signs began to be seen that were much more focused upon America’s coming judgment. These signs bore the name of Columbia, which is the female personification of the United States of America, and it is the name Columbia that the very Capital of the nation is named after. Once more the world watched as on the news was played over and over all the details of the space shuttle Columbia disintegrating, being first observed from the town of Palestine, Texas. Once more this event was filled with immense symbolism.</div> <bR> <div> A more recent sign has been seen in the story of the young, female American soldier whose convoy got lost and was ambushed in Iraq, the ancient home of Babylon, and quite amazingly her hometown is Palestine, West Virginia. The symbols of this event are explored in the following article "The Sign of Jessica Lynch".</div> <bR> <div> It is no coincidence that there is such a consistency in the symbols and themes of these various events, for God oftentimes sends repeated warnings to a people before He brings His judgment. Before Israel was destroyed and carried into captivity by Assyria God sent numerous warnings to her, and He waited with great patience as He looked for her to repent of her wickedness. Before Judah and Jerusalem were destroyed and her people carried away into Babylon God once more sent many prophets to warn her of the coming judgment. The prophet Jeremiah was one of the last of these prophets, and he sent warning after warning, but the rulers and people of Judah and Jerusalem would not listen to him. They scoffed at his dire predictions, and when the foretold judgment delayed they began to call him a false prophet. Yet everything he prophesied was accomplished.</div> <bR> <div> Why does Yahweh wait so long to carry out His judgments? Why does He send repeated warnings over a period of time before He brings calamity upon a people? It is because He is a merciful and loving God and He does not delight in seeing the wicked destroyed. The entire chapter of Ezekiel 18 speaks of the fact of God preferring repentance to judgment. Therefore He is longsuffering and patient, not wishing for the people to perish, but to come to repentance. Tragically, neither Israel nor Judah repented and their judgment came. This same scenario is being played out today in that neither the nations of the world, nor the church are repenting, though God is sending many messages and many messengers to them.</div> <bR> <div> What then is the message of Hurricane Isabel? In researching the etymology of the name Isabel I have found that there is discord concerning the name’s origin. Some state that Isabel is a foreign form of the English name Elizabeth, while others contend that it is derived from the name Jezebel. Interestingly, when I did a search on the names Isabel and Jezebel together I came up with dozens of links to a theatrical production called "Isabel is a Jezebel". I believe that there is great significance in this, and that in understanding the message of Hurricane Isabel we must understand that Isabel is a Jezebel.</div> <bR> <div> America was founded as a Christian nation and for more than a century she led the world in sending Christian missionaries abroad. In this way she typified Isabel as Elizabeth, the mother of John the Baptist. Yahshua said that among those born of woman has not arisen any prophet greater than John the Baptist. America for a time was a great leader in spreading the gospel of Christ throughout the world, yet over time the number, and the character, of these "prophets" of the Kingdom of God have declined. Now there are many nations sending missionaries to America which is viewed as a wicked and degenerate nation. A recent interview I read by an American church leader with some native Chinese revealed an astonishing thing which caused the American great shame. The Chinese church leaders said that they did not want any more American missionaries for the American Christians were spiritually corrupt and defiled with the ways of the world. Isabel, the mother of prophets, has become Isabel the Jezebel.</div> <bR> <div> According to Strong’s Dictionary of Greek and Hebrew words, both the Greek New Testament and the Hebrew Old Testament pronunciation of the name Jezebel bears a striking resemblance to the name Isabel. Following is how Strong’s records it.</div> <bR> <div> NT:2403</div> <div> Iezabel (ee-ed-zab-ale'); of Hebrew origin [OT:348]; Jezabel (i.e. Jezebel), a Tyrian woman (used as a synonym of a termagant or false teacher):</div> <bR> <div> OT:348</div> <div> 'Iyzebel (ee-zeh'-bel); from OT:336 and OT:2083; Izebel, the wife of king Ahab:</div> <bR> <div> The word of God is clear about the fact that a people cannot rest on their laurels. They cannot expect the righteous behavior of past years to preserve them from judgment if they turn to wickedness. If a people who were once righteous and who spread the gospel of Christ to the nations, who based their laws upon God’s laws, and who proclaimed their allegiance to God from the greatest to the least, who punished the wicked and defended the helpless, if they should turn away from a path of righteousness and fill their land with shame and defilement, if they should overturn laws that were established in righteousness and begin to call evil good and good evil, if they should make laws that protect those who kill the innocent, and create laws to hinder those who would speak out against evil, if they should call homosexuals righteous and normal, and label as intolerant and hateful those who call homosexuality an abomination, if they should fill their own land with pornography, adultery, fornication, and if they judge that the Ten Commandments have no place in the courtrooms of the day, nor prayer in the schools, then God will no longer remember their righteousness, but will judge them according to their deeds.</div> <bR> <div> When America was little regarded among the nations she sought God and pursued righteousness, but when she became strong and exalted she turned aside to great wickedness. This same pattern is seen in the kings of Israel and Judah. We read of King Uzziah that God supported him and strengthened him and increased him with many material blessings, yet when he became strong he departed from following God as he had formerly.</div> <bR> <div> II Chronicles 26:16</div> <div> But when he became strong, his heart was so proud that he acted corruptly, and he was unfaithful to Yahweh his God...</div> <bR> <div> In his presumption Uzziah began to rewrite the laws of God, thinking that he could go into the Temple and offer incense, which was a thing God only allowed priests of the tribe of Levi to do. Therefore God struck Uzziah with leprosy. Even so, when God exalts a nation that walks uprightly before Him, if they should turn aside from righteousness and begin to act corruptly, He will bring judgment upon them. He will send them many warnings of the consequences of their turning aside to iniquity, even as both the church and America have been receiving many warnings, for He desires repentance and forgiveness over judgment. But if after they are given time to repent, and they have received many warnings that have gone unheeded, He will certainly judge them.</div> <bR> <div> Failing to heed the warnings of God has a direct correlation to the name Isabel/Jezebel in Scripture, for we read the following in the book of Revelation.</div> <bR> <div> Revelation 2:20-23</div> <div> "But I have this against you, that you tolerate the woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, and she teaches and leads My bond-servants astray so that they commit acts of immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols. <I><B>I gave her time to repent, and she does not want to repent of her immorality</B></I>. Behold, I will throw her on a bed of sickness, and those who commit adultery with her into great tribulation, unless they repent of her deeds. And I will kill her children with pestilence, and all the churches will know that I am He who searches the minds and hearts; and I will give to each one of you according to your deeds."</div> <bR> <div> The message of Hurricane Isabel is that God will judge each one according to their deeds. A nation that has turned away from righteousness and which not only embraces immorality and falsehood, but which teaches and induces other nations to adopt the same corrupted doctrines, spreading her filth throughout the earth, will be judged. Yahweh will give this nation warnings and time to repent, but when repentance does not come then judgment must surely follow.</div> <bR> <div> There is significance to the path that Hurricane Isabel followed upon making landfall in America. She first came ashore in North Carolina, a state whose motto is "First in Flight." North Carolina has made much of the fact that the first men to ascend into the heavens in an airplane did so in this state. During the coverage of the Hurricane many of the news channels had reporters stationed at Kitty Hawk and Kill Devil Hills on the Outer Banks of North Carolina, both of which are locations associated with the Wright brothers experiments in flight. What began with such modest beginnings, ascending only a few feet above the ground for a very short duration, has reached its pinnacle in the space shuttle program. It is no coincidence again that Isabel crossed this spot first at a time when the entire space shuttle program is grounded due to the disintegration of Columbia with the loss of all life onboard. Regarding these two locations where America first took flight we read the following:</div> <bR> <div> In September 1903, [the Wright brothers] returned to Kitty Hawk. By now, they had become a welcome -if somewhat odd- addition to the local community, and each day the Wrights tested their aircraft, two or three local folks would turn out to help and watch the experiments. On December 14, they were finally ready to fly their new contraption. They had constructed a single rail laid into the sand, which would serve as the "runway". Wilbur climbed aboard, cranked the engine, and began to roll down the rail. The plane's nose lifted into the air-and the engine stalled, dropping the plane into the soft sand. </div> <bR> <div> The brothers worked quickly to repair the plane. It was frigid on the Banks, and they were anxious to return to Dayton for Christmas. Three days later, on December 17, they rolled the plane out of the work shed and hoisted the signal flag that served as notification to the locals that flying was going on that day.Several members of the nearby lifesaving station came over to Kill Devil Hill to watch. </div> <bR> <div> The wind was a brisk 21 miles per hour out of the northeast. At 10:35 AM, Orville boarded the craft and started the engine. Wilbur ran alongside the plane as it began to slowly roll down the track into the wind, holding the wing tip for balance. And then, in Orville's words, the plane "lifted from the track just as it was entering on the fourth rail. Mr. Daniels took a picture just as it left the tracks." </div> <bR> <div> That photograph remains the most monumental piece of documentation of mankind's greatest discovery. And thus, for the first time in human history, on a wind-swept beach in North Carolina, man left earth for the first time in a powered flying machine. Orville's first flight lasted only 12 seconds, and he flew only 100 feet. Today, man can fly 10 miles in 12 seconds. </div> <bR> <div> The brothers, however, were ecstatic. That day, they piloted three more flights, with the last and longest being 852 feet in 59 seconds. But as they readied the plane for a fifth run, a gust of wind caught the wings and flipped the aircraft end over end. The 1903 flying season was over. That afternoon, after eating lunch, the brothers hiked over to the Kitty Hawk weather station and sent their now-famous telegraph message which changed the world: </div> <bR> <div> "<B>Success four flights Thursday morning. All against twenty-one mile wind. Started from level with engine power alone. Average speed through air thirty-one miles. Longest 59 seconds. Inform press. Home Christmas. Orville Wright.</B>" </div> <bR> <div> The Wrights would make several more successful flights back home in Ohio, while the world was slow to give them the credit they deserved for their achievement. But 30 years later, when the cornerstone of the great monument that now crowns big Kill Devil Hill was laid, Orville Wright was present to claim the Wright Brothers' place in history.<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#FFFFCC" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT></div> <bR> <div> (source: <U>http://www.coastalguide.com/packet/wrightbrothers01.htm</U>)</div> <bR> <div> The two towers that were destroyed by terrorists, the destruction of the shuttle Columbia, and this hurricane crossing over Kitty Hawk and Kill Devil Hills, all speak of things that were lofty and elevated in America which have been brought down to the ground. One of the repeated news items regarding this hurricane is that over 2,000 flights were canceled in the North Carolina to Washington, DC area due to the storm. God is able to abase the proud and to bring low those things that are exalted. This has been the message of all three of these events.</div> <bR> <div> Hurricane Isabel also closed down the nation’s government in Washington for two days. While Isabel was still many days from land the forecasters predicted that she was on a course for the nation’s capital, and, though she weakened some, she never deviated from this course. Though Pat Robertson went on television and publicly rebuked the storm and ordered it to turn around and head back out to sea, Isabel did not waver. The judgment of God will not be stayed by prayer any longer. Only a true repentance and a turning away from evil can satisfy the heart of God.</div> <bR> <div> One of the results of Isabel is that millions were left without power. In 1998 Hurricane Floyd came ashore in Cape Fear, North Carolina, and fear has since gripped this nation due to terrorism from hijacked airplanes being flown into buildings to anthrax laden powder being mailed to people. Floyd was a much more powerful hurricane when it came ashore, but far fewer people lost power. Isabel has knocked out the power to over 5.5 million people largely because the ground was already saturated with water from a very wet summer season and this has caused the root systems of trees to lose their firm foundation. The weaker winds of Isabel, along with her rainfall, has caused much more damage in the area of lost power than previous storms.</div> <bR> <div> This comes on the heels of the great blackout of a large part of the Northeast U.S. from a cascading power failure a few weeks earlier. America is losing power at a time when she is entering into great darkness. The nation that has touted herself as the world’s last superpower is seeing her power cut off in huge swaths. This sign in the natural points to the loss of political and economic power of America as a nation. A brother in Christ sent me the following AP news brief just a short time ago.</div> <bR> <div> Isabel Leaves Damage Behind in Capital </div> <bR> <div> By SHARON THEIMER, Associated Press Writer </div> <bR> <div> WASHINGTON - The capital city suffered from a rare power vacuum Friday. Thousands of residents were without lights, hundreds of trees littered the landscape and all three branches of government were basically shut down.</div> <bR> <div> Lights were out at the Supreme Court and federal offices; President Bush remained at his secluded mountaintop retreat in Maryland and members of Congress for the most part stayed out of town...</div> <bR> <div> For some 700 emergency work crews, the order of the day was to restore power and clean up the scattered tree limbs and other debris; the area's normally busy transit systems cranked slowly back into gear and school kids enjoyed another day off...</div> <bR> <div> Trees and power lines knocked down by gusty winds littered many streets, and dozens of traffic lights were out.</div> <bR> <div> "If you don't need to come in the city, please don't," Peter LaPorte, director of the city's emergency management agency, said at daybreak. "A number of our main roads are covered with trees."</div> <bR> <div> More than 120,000 customers lost power in the District of Columbia along with more than 525,000 in the Maryland and Virginia suburbs. By morning, city officials said more than 80,000 were still without power.<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#FFFFCC" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT></div> <bR> <div> This morning when I awoke and went online to check the news, the first headline that popped up on AOL was "Darkness, Death in Isabel’s Wake". The end result of any people turning from a path of righteousness and tolerating, and even embracing, evil is that darkness first descends upon them, followed by eventual death.</div> <bR> <div> Days of great darkness are ahead for America. God has been preparing a remnant who will shine forth as lights in the midst of gross darkness. These have been prepared through many trials and tribulations. The day of their revealing is approaching, for in a day of great darkness they will shine forth.</div> <bR> <div> Isaiah 60:1-3</div> <div> "Arise, shine; for your light has come, and the glory of Yahweh has risen upon you. For behold, darkness will cover the earth and deep darkness the peoples; but Yahweh will rise upon you and His glory will appear upon you. Nations will come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising."</div> <bR> <div> Grace is coming to a chosen portion of the body of Christ while those who have embraced sin and who have turned aside from a path of righteousness will know darkness and death. God is writing His messages with large strokes. He is patient and longsuffering, but the report of the wickedness of America has reached unto heaven. The nation that has been exalted above all others has turned aside from the God she once honored and its highest court has in recent days demanded that depictions of God's Law be removed from State court houses, while at the same time prohibiting states from making any law against the practice of Sodomy. Is it mere coincidence that the AP article cited above mentioned specifically that the lights were out in the Supreme Court building? The judges of this land have preferred darkness over light for many years now. God has given them thirty years to repent of their 1973 decision to allow women to murder their unborn children, but repentance has not come. A people who had much light and who have received great blessings must be held accountable for that which they have received.</div> <bR> <div> No matter how high a nation ascends, they will be brought low when they turn aside from righteousness and begin to scorn the one true God Whom they once honored. None can remain in flight when God casts them to the ground. The towers lie shattered on the ground. The space shuttle program is grounded, and even the state that boasts that it was first in flight cannot get its planes in the air when God sends His judgment. As a watchman I have declared that which I see. America will be humbled, along with the haughty church in her midst. She has been given time to repent. Now, what must follow?</div> <bR> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>