“At this also my heart trembles
and leaps out of its place.
2 Keep listening to the thunder of his voice
and the rumbling that comes from his mouth.
3 Under the whole heaven he lets it go,
and his lightning to the corners of the earth.
4 After it his voice roars;
he thunders with his majestic voice,
and he does not restrain the lightnings when his voice is heard.
5 God thunders wondrously with his voice;
he does great things that we cannot comprehend.
6 For to the snow he says, ‘Fall on the earth,’
likewise to the downpour, his mighty downpour.
7 He seals up the hand of every man,
that all men whom he made may know it.
8 Then the beasts go into their lairs,
and remain in their dens.
9 From its chamber comes the whirlwind,
and cold from the scattering winds.
10 By the breath of God ice is given,
and the broad waters are frozen fast.
11 He loads the thick cloud with moisture;
the clouds scatter his lightning.
12 They turn around and around by his guidance,
to accomplish all that he commands them
on the face of the habitable world.
13 Whether for correction or for his land
or for love, he causes it to happen.” (Job 37:1-13 ESV)
Our God – Father, Son Jesus Christ, and Holy Spirit – is the sole creator of the universe and of all living beings and creatures upon the earth. And he is absolutely sovereign over everything that he has created. And nothing and no one can thwart what he has planned and purposed for his creation. Everything and everyone is under his control, even if they do not acknowledge him as the one and only true God of this planet called earth.
Now, let me interject here that not one of us, of ourselves, can ever be made right with God. We are all born into this world with sin natures, unable within our own flesh to be acceptable and approved by God. And that is why Jesus died on that cross. But not one of us can believe in Jesus unless God the Father first draws us to Christ, i.e. unless God first persuades us as to his holiness and righteousness, and of our sinfulness, and of our need to turn from our sins and to now obey our Lord with our lives, in his power.
But this is not to say that human beings have no free will and that we are all being controlled by God like marionets attached to strings which are being guided by their creator. We make our own choices, for good or for evil. We choose to serve God or the flesh. But God sets limits on what human beings can do. He sets limits on what he allows Satan to do, too. But he allows evil to exist. He allows evil people to do evil to other humans, for a time, too. For to stop all evil, he would have to remove all humans from the world.
But our God is in control over all nature. But this is not to say that man has not done things to alter nature or to attempt to imitate God’s works in nature, such as bringing snow, ice, and rain upon the earth. I believe there is much reliable evidence that man has the ability to manipulate the weather, to a certain extent, but only so far as what God allows it, and he allows it for his purposes. For we read in the Scriptures regarding the last days of how the evil ones will even bring fire down from heaven. See:
[Revelation 16:13-14; Revelation 13:11-14; Matthew 24:24-25; 2 Timothy 3:1-5; Matthew 7:15; Acts 20:29-31, and more like these]
So, in the times in which we now live there are many humans who are trying to replace God or to take over for God or to attempt to create what only God can create, but they will have some success (see Scriptures referenced above), but God sets limits on what he will allow man to do. No matter what man is able to accomplish on this earth, God is still sovereign, and man can go no further than what God allows it. And he will allow evil people to do evil things, often with the purpose to get his people to repent and to obey God.
Therefore, the last days events described for us in Revelation 13, and in other passages of Scripture, both in the Old Testament and in the New Testament, can only take place because God allows it for his purposes which I believe primarily is to get the people of the earth to bow to him as Lord and to get those who have fallen from their walks of faith to repent of their sins and to return to following the Lord in walks of obedience to his commands, in holy living, and in dying daily to sin, by the Spirit.
I truly believe that we are living in these final days before the return of our Lord, and that the signs of the end of the age are all over the place. But the main thing we all need to be aware of is how the Scriptures describe this time as a time of great deception, and that even the elect of God can be deceived. And they tell us that many false prophets and teachers will appear and will deceive many, and that they will perform all kinds of signs and wonders. So we need to be discerning people who test everyone!
Right now I do believe that we are going through a time of tribulation, the purpose of which is God correcting and discipling his people who have wandered off to follow after other gods and the ways of the world. And it is to bring them to repentance and renewed faith before the time of the end. And so, again, be aware of the times in which we now live, and pray to God to open your eyes to any lies you are believing and to any false teachers or prophets or politicians who are presently deceiving you with their lies.
And just know that we live in an age of great deception, that lies and liars abound in the church gatherings, in the media, in the government, in the public education system, and in the world of medicine, etc. So don’t take everything and everyone at face value. Test them all! For anything can be faked and altered and made to appear as one thing while it is something else. And the gospel is being diluted and twisted by people whose goal it is to deceive and so they teach the Scriptures out of context. Know the truth!
[Matthew 5:10-12; Matthew 10:16-39; Matthew 24:9-14; Luke 6:22-23; Luke 21:12-17; John 15:18-21; Jn 17:14; Rom 5:3-5; Phil 3:7-11; 1 Pet 1:6-7; 1 Pet 4:12-17; 2 Tim 3:12; 1 Thess 3:1-5; Jas 1:2-4; 2 Co 1:3-11; Heb 12:3-12; 1 Jn 3:13; Revelation 6:9-11; Revelation 7:9-17; Revelation 11:1-3; Revelation 12:17; Revelation 13:1-18; Revelation 14:1-13]
Paradise Valley
Lyrics by Noah White, Music by Virgil Stamps (1935).
As I travel thru life, with its trouble and strife,
I’ve a glorious hope to give cheer on the way;
Soon my toils will be o’er and I’ll rest on that shore,
Where the night has been turned into day.
As I roam the hillside, or I list to the tide,
As I pluck the sweet flowers that grow in the dale;
A faint picture is there of a land bright and fair,
Where perennial flowers ne’er fail.
Tho’ your garden is rare, it is naught to compare
With the flowers that bloom in the garden above,
In the midst of it grows, Sharon’s perfect sweet Rose;
‘Tis the wonderful Flower we love.
Up in paradise valley By the side of the river of life,
Up in paradise valley, We’ll be free from all pain and all strife;
There we’ll live in the garden, ‘Neath the shade of the evergreen tree,
How I long for the paradise valley, Where the beauty of heaven I’ll see.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TcfpFmzHqos
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