Heaven Bound

                                 Dead fish, Plaguemines, LA

Many of you have seen this photo or one like it in the past few days; hundreds of thousands of fish found dead at the mouth of the Mississippi River.  This grim discovery  was made Friday Sept 10 and although, it was not immediately clear right away as to what may have caused the mass extermination of so many fish, it has since been determined that the massive kill was most likely the result of the recent oil spill and not a depletion of oxygen in the water as some had originally suggested.  http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/3140919/BP-under-fire-over-fish-kill.html

When I first saw this photo, I was just appalled! It was truly shocking!  I’m sure if even a hundred dead fish were found on a shore here in Hawaii, it would be profoundly disturbing.  I simply cannot imagine hundreds of thousand’s of dead fish in one area!  What is even more amazing is the variety of fish which were involved.  In the photo above they all look pretty much the same – grey and dead, but, in actuality a large number of species were affected; flounder, pogies, redfish, trout, freshwater eel, crabs, shrimp and many others, there was even a dead baby whale! 

I’ve wondered since seeing this photo; what do you do with a hundred thousand dead bloated fish?  Can you imagine the stench, the nauseating, overwhelming odor the dead bodies of this many fish would create?  Undoubtedly, someone had to haul them off to be incinerated.  Why? Because dead rotting fish just aren’t good for anything.

As I thought about this awful tragedy, a couple of things caught my attention.  First the date on which the fish kill occurred – Friday Sept 10.  A day which many of us were watching as a potential date for the rapture.  And, secondly, the location – the west side of the mouth of the Mississippi River, Plaguemines Parish, LA.

Now this is interesting because if you visualize the Mississippi River as if it were a major artery running through the body to the heart, (as the Mississippi River runs from North to South through the heart of the country), you can see how, if clogged long enough, the heart muscle deprived of oxygen rich blood; its life-giving source, soon dies.  

Interesting word correlation – plague and Plaguemines.  But, when I googled the word Plaguemines, I found out, it actually comes from the creole and native american word Piakimin which in English means Persimmon.  A Persimmon is a yellow-orange fruit which dates back to ancient times and is grown in many parts of the world. In ancient Greece, it was known as “the fruit of the gods.”  In Bible times, the Persimmon grew in a region called Ein Gedi and was used in the coronation of Kings.   According to a website called Archaeology Today:

A mysterious plant, the persimmon, of which the exact present-day equivalent is not known, grew in Ein Gedi in thick groves. The resin flowing from the plant was collected and produced a most famous perfume. The Israelite kings also extracted perfume for oil from the Ein Gedi groves. King Josiah of Judah installed the practice of anointing new kings with persimmon oil.  http://www.jewishmag.com/54mag/ein-gedi/ein-gedi.htm

Fascinating, don’t you think; the common thread that weaves these seemingly unrelated things together:

 Fish, a symbol of the church, – fish found dead at the mouth of a life-giving river – fish found dead in a place named for a fruit, the oil of which was used in anointing the Kings of Israel – fish found dead on a date on which the King was expected. 

What does this mean, all this symbolism?  Certainly we know already, that much of the so-called “church”  is dead or asleep.  So, how much more can be learned from one more sign?   As my friend, Steve Coerper of Blog Talk Radio has recently said – “how many harbingers do we need?”  For those of us watching, the signs this past year have been many, we don’t need another sign to convince us the return of the King is near.  We’re convinced already!  But, for those not yet convinced, we have to wonder, will one more sign really change their minds?

 For the sake of the King who loves them, I pray that it may be so!

“Pray for the peace of Jerusalem, they shall prosper who love thee”  Psalm 122:6   Waiting and watching with YOU for the soon return of Jesus!  Cindy