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Raoul’s Two Cents: July 29, 2022

Warning: Religious content

Handwriting on the Wall

Do you remember my rant about the unthinkable, unbelievable, illogical presidential election of Bong Bong Marcos in the Philippines? Sadly, from my personal assessment, even without the widespread cheating, the Filipinos really did vote this uneducated happy-go-lucky dictator’s son into power.

On July 22, last Friday, the Sandiganbayan (the special Philippine court overseeing government graft and corruption) decreed that 200 billion pesos that were confiscated from the Marcos dictatorship back in the 80’s be returned to the Marcos family due to insufficient evidence. No surprise that with Bong Bong “owning” the government, corruption was expected to follow — the sins of the father emulated by the son. And, true-to-form, the spineless judges decided to end the decades-old lawsuit. Imelda, you can have your shoes back.

Six days later, on Tuesday, July 26, a powerful magnitude 7.0 earthquake rocked a small village in Abra, Ilocus, Philippines. Lives were lost, buildings tumbled including historic Mission church structures dating back to the Spanish era. The tremor was felt as far as 250 miles away and damage was estimated at $687 million.

I don’t know if anyone else noticed a correlation between the earthquake and the dirty activities of the new Philippine regime … but I did. The epicenter of the quake is only 25 kilometers away from the dictator’s hometown/birthplace. Essentially, that’s right on the bullseye. It’s like God pointing His finger on the Marcos family and leaving his “number 7” business card.

Is this a stretch of my imagination? You tell me. Why waste a good lesson from a natural disaster, right? It reminds me of the story in Chapter 5 of the book of Daniel where King Belshazzar, a spoiled, godless, son of a powerful ruler is throwing a blasphemous party — insulting God by using sacred stolen goblets and utensils. In the midst of their merriment, a hand appears out of nowhere writing the words “Mene, Mene, Tekel, Parsin” on the wall. Talk about party poopers!


Trembling with fear, King B, calls all his wise men to interpret the message. But these buffoons are clueless. Running out of options, he asks the prophet Daniel to decipher.

Painting by Rembrandt

Our Danny Boy, proceeds to give King B the low down. “Don’t you remember what happened to your Dad? He conquered civilizations, built the Babylonian Gardens (yeah, one of the 7 Wonders of the ancient world) and he thought he was Mr. Big Shot. But God humbled him. Your Dad lost his mind for 7 long years. He acted like an animal. Ate grass like an animal. His hair and his nails grew long and mangled like a Babylonian rock star. Then, when it was all over, the king gained his composure and understood how infinitesimally insignificant he was compared to the God of the Universe. Good for him. Fast forward and YOU take over Daddy’s kingdom. Apparently, you didn’t learn diddley doodley squat, did you? And what’s with all these sacred gold and silver goblets I see scattered here? Were you doing what I think you were doing? Listen here, Junior. That’s it! Congratulations! You signed your own death sentence!”

25 “This is the inscription that was written: mene, mene, tekel, parsin 26 “Here is what these words mean:
Mene: God has numbered the days of your reign and brought it to an end.
27 Tekel: You have been weighed on the scales and found wanting.
28 Peres: Your kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and Persians”
29 Then at Belshazzar’s command, Daniel was clothed in purple, a gold chain was placed around his neck, and he was proclaimed the third highest ruler in the kingdom. 30 That very night Belshazzar, king of the Babylonians, was slain, 31 and Darius the Mede took over the kingdom, at the age of sixty-two. —- Daniel Chapter 5: 25-31


Years ago a good Christian friend sent me an email about a similar incident. On Feb 23, 2011, Japan approved a “morning-after-pill” that would abort a baby after conception. Days later, on March 11, 2011 the disastrous Fukushima earthquake cracked open a nuclear reactor which destroyed lives and polluted the environment. To this day, Japan is still dealing with the calamity.

To me, the earthquake in Abra, is a clear warning to the godless Filipino officials. It is a warning to us as well. Look at the events around us. Do you see what I see? How did the unacceptable yesterday suddenly become acceptable today? Our value system changes with the wind but God is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow.

Daniel lived to fight another day. He was one of the good and humble guys. God protected him. Which side are you on?

Of course, this is just me. TGIF people!

Raoul


Joke of the Week

Thanks to John of Connecticut for this joke.

Art by Raoul Pascual

Parting Shots

Thanks to Rodney of Manitoba, B.C.

Thanks to Art of Sierra Madre, CA

Thanks to Tom of Pasadena, CA

Thanks to Naomi of N Hollywood, CA

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4 Comments

  1. Ed

    July 29, 2022 at 8:17 am

    Imelda, you can have your shoes back!

    Well done. As a clueless Yank, I knew the political spectrum in the Philippines was corrupt, but this was startling.

    It was a good lesson in history that leads us to today.

    I had expected, perhaps, something more personal… but found your narrative and tie in to scripture thought provoking…

    Reply

  2. David

    July 29, 2022 at 8:19 am

    From my neighborhood:
    https://nextdoor.com/p/PNrhLMpDwM-F?utm_source=share&extras=NDE5NTMyMzU%3D

    Have a blessed day — ”if my people who are called by my name shall humble themselves and turn from there wicked ways and seek my face, I will heal their land.” — 2 Chronicles 7:14

    Pray for Gods mercy. Blessings Kababayan.

    Reply

  3. April

    July 29, 2022 at 11:47 am

    Hi Raoul,

    The “earthquake lady” here. No, not Lucy, but I’ve been called that before.

    I’ve written and spoken about the prophetic implications of the Great Tohoku quake and tsunami, but don’t recall at this point ever being aware of a “blasphemous decree” being made in the same month. Although age is beginning to take a toll on my memory at times, it’s not the kind of thing I think I would be most likely to forget. It’s the kind of thing that makes all the light bulbs not only come on but flash all the brighter as something inside ignites.

    Plus, since your post says it happened in the same month, that would only allow for ten days max in terms of timing since the quake was on the 11th. Do you recall, or can you trace, what that decree was? Do you at least remember what it was about? Do you remember which friend it was in case there’s an option to go check for more details from your source? I did some quick searching and it looks like it would take me more time to dig than I currently have today or tomorrow. But it’s a terribly important point to add to my work associating earthquakes and the scriptures.

    If you’re interested, I might also be willing to fill you in on some of the things that have emerged over the many years of being immersed in all things earthquake and also being a student of scriptures. I could also fill you in some on at least one incredibly unusual experience with prophetically anticipating – with utter certainty – and accuracy -– an earthquake on a specific date that was and is of utmost importance.

    Too many people who try to talk about end times stuff will say stuff like “too many earthquakes” or “more earthquakes than normal” as if they’re trying to fill in the blanks of the list of things in the Olivet discourse. Unfortunately, they’re frequently neither factually accurate nor do they seem to understand what I believe God wants us to know about specific events and the important role of earthquakes in scriptures and in His overall plans.

    If you can provide more detail about what you learned/heard about that decree, I would be ever so grateful! I’m convinced you’re on to something with what you wrote, and that I’ve somehow missed in the meantime.

    April

    Reply

  4. Vanessa

    August 2, 2022 at 12:31 pm

    Such a well written article about the correlation of the earthquake and the evil actions of the Philippines dictators. I believe the reason we have not had hardly any rain in California It’s because of the great sin the state has perpetrated and continues to try to perpetrate against God’s very nature. I also love the clip about The mentally ill being in Congress versus the hospital. It’s crazy! I don’t know if you follow real impact through CCCH, yesterday we learned about a new proposal SB 107. California will do gender altering surgeries for all children from any other states. You can contact your state Assembly person which Is LISA Calderon for us and ask her to oppose it. You can get information from real impact.us.
    Thank you for what you doing out there!

    Reply

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