By Elizabeth Prata
SYNOPSIS
I witnessed a Facebook controversy where a local restaurateur’s accusations went viral worldwide, then collapsed under video evidence. The episode illustrates social media’s power to spread gossip, destroy reputations, and implicate hearers, urging Christians to remember God’s omnipresent witness and use words only to edify others.
Continue reading “The Algorithm of the Tongue”By Elizabeth Prata
We tend to think of Revelation being the “hard” chapter. But Paul’s little missive to the Galatians has some tough language in it, and stern words for the Christians of his day and for Christians of all time. Paul sends curses out twice in this short passage. False doctrine is extremely important to tend to. A little leaven spoils the whole lump.
Paul wrote:
“I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed.” (Galatians 1:6-9).
Paul mentions here that:
–Christians desert solid doctrine
–Christians accept a different gospel
–Christians be warned that some come in who trouble us
–Christians be warned that some who come in purposely distort the Gospel
–Do not ‘dialog’ with the Gospel-perverters. Instead, let them be accursed!
“Have you ever noticed how difficult sometimes it is to reject a false system because the people in it are so nice? Paul says, “I don’t care if it’s me or if it’s a beautiful angel from heaven, let him be accursed.” So many buy false doctrine because the package is so nice. Don’t you know Satan knows that?” (source)
Far from being tolerant, having a ‘let them be mentality, or promoting inclusiveness; Christians should be exclusive to the Gospel only, intolerant of false doctrine, and vigorous in defending Christ.
By Elizabeth Prata
Glorious Grace by Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758). Read the rest at the link.
“And he shall bring forth the headstone thereof with shouting, crying, grace, grace!“—Zechariah 4:7
“The mercy of God is that attribute which we, the fallen, sinful race of Adam, stand in greatest need of, and God has been pleased, according to our needs, more gloriously to manifest this attribute than any other. The wonders of divine grace are the greatest of all wonders. The wonders of divine power and wisdom in the making [of] this great world are marvelous; other wonders of his justice in punishing sin are wonderful; many wonderful things have happened since the creation of the world, but none like the wonders of grace. “Grace, grace!” is the sound that the gospel rings with, “Grace, grace!” will be that shout which will ring in heaven forever; and perhaps what the angels sung at the birth of Christ, of God’s good will towards men, is the highest theme that ever they entered upon.” ~Jonathan Edwards
By Elizabeth Prata
I was in a secular setting with some 7-year-olds. They were drawing a picture to go along with the story about pizza they had just read. When one boy finished his drawing he still had room on the page. He asked if he could draw a cross. I said sure.
Of course then the others wanted to draw a cross too. Most or all of them have been exposed to Jesus. As they drew their crosses they began to talk about Jesus. The original boy said, ‘Jesus died on the cross’. Another said, ‘Isn’t He living now’? I chimed in and said His is living now, that He walked around on earth for 40 days after His death and resurrection and talked with His friends.
By Elizabeth Prata
What is a miracle? GotQuestions answers,
The Bible uses three main words to refer to a miracle: sign, wonder, and power. From a human perspective, a miracle of God is an extraordinary or unnatural event (a wonder) that reveals or confirms a specific message (a sign) through a mighty work (power). From the God of miracle’s vantage point, a miracle is nothing extraordinary or unnatural. It is simply a divine display of His might (power) that attracts the attention of humans (a wonder) to His Word or His purposes (a sign).
Miracle-mongers are the people who clamor to see or experience a miracle but do not know the first thing about the other attributes of God. Like the ‘crowds’ in the Bible. These are the people who come to church only in hopes to see a sign. The pray for glory dust to fall down so they can say Jesus showed up. They pray for healed legs so they can run toward sin. People like that existed in Jesus’ day and in our day too. (John 6:2, John 12:18).
Be warned, miracle-mongers, “most of the miraculous events in the Old Testament killed people,” explained John MacArthur. They simply, flatly, killed people, as a demonstration of God’s justice and holiness.
His justice is demonstrated at the cross. It is God who said the soul that sends it must die. It is God who says the wages of sin is death, and death there will be. Death there must be. And justice prevails at the cross. God is so just, so just, that He will even take the life of His own beloved Son. If the sins of the world are to be laid on His Son, then His Son must take the death that they deserve. You will never see a greater illustration of the justice of God. You can look in the past. You can look in the Old Testament. You can see most of the miracles in the Old Testament killed people. If you’re looking for miracles in the Old Testament, most of the miraculous events in the Old Testament killed people, drowned entire armies, drowned the entire world, burned up people, holes opened in the ground and swallowed them up. People were literally killed by angelic beings. Most of the Old Testament miracles were miracles of divine judgment.
“So Jesus said to him, “Unless you see signs and wonders you will not believe.” (John 4:48).
You know, we have a tendency to read the Bible as if miracles were occurring behind every bush and every other day by everybody in history. But actually, if you look at the appearance of miracles in the Bible, they’re clustered. There’s all these miracles that attend Moses in his mediatorial office, and then very little miraculous activity takes place for centuries until when? Elijah. That’s the next redemptive historical period that has a cluster of miracles. Isn’t that interesting? That God verifies the law, and then the prophets, through the giving of miraculous powers. And then you don’t hear about miracles from Jonah or Habakkuk that they performed, or Ezekiel, or the other prophets of the Old Testament until again, the world becomes a blaze of miracles with the appearance of Jesus. Notice that there is a special focal point for the clustering of miracles in biblical history—all surrounding the issue of the word of God.
Do you love Jesus for who He is? Or for what He can do for you? A warning to those who seek and cling to and desire miracle after miracle, be careful what you wish for–
For false Christs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and wonders that would deceive even the elect, if that were possible. (Matthew 24:24).
By Elizabeth Prata
Did you know that every New Testament Book (except Philemon) deal with, advises, warns, or commands us about false teachers/doctrine? It is a huge subject in the Bible. In the Old Testament, dealing with false prophets was also a huge topic. Deuteronomy 18:20-22 says a false prophet must be put to death! THAT is how serious God takes it for men or women to speak in His name when they are actually speaking for satan. All of Jeremiah 23 deals with the topic, as well as many others.
We can’t be all “oh, just let them be”, or “don’t judge”, or “you don’t know their heart”, or “they mean well, just eat the meat and spit out the bones’. No. There is nothing more important that the Truth. Jesus died so we may learn it. Do not squander the truth with platitudes that allow doctrinal pollution to seep into your souls.
To that end, Jesus gave us some instructions in the Sermon on the Mount. In Matthew 7, He spoke a section of verses that discuss how to reveal a false teacher. It is by looking at his or her fruit. Here are the verses:
A Tree and Its Fruit
15″Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves. 16You will know them by their fruits. Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes, nor figs from thistles, are they? 17So every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit. 18A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. 19Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20So then, you will know them by their fruits.” (Matthew 7:15-20).
Easier said than done, right? Easy to read it on the page but hard to apply it in life. One reason is that we want to take care in distinguishing between the true teacher, the teacher who is temporarily teaching error or an incomplete doctrine (think of Apollos), or the truly false teacher who is evil through and through and marked for condemnation. (2 Peter 2:3; Jude 1:4).
Teacher Sinclair Ferguson illustrated a few key points on HOW to detect a false teacher in his sermon “Ultimate Choices” (Youtube), the final lesson from Ligonier in Ferguson’s sermon on the mount series,
Jesus said, ‘You will recognize them by their fruits’. What does this mean? In these excerpts, Ferguson explained,
Look at the person’s teaching and their character
1. Does this person remind me of the character and speech of the Lord Jesus Christ? Spiritual fruit in scripture, especially in the NT, is first and foremost likeness to Jesus in character and in speech. Alas, so often that spiritual test will enable you to see through a spiritual charlatan.
Look at the impact he makes on others.
2. And then you need to ask the question what is the fruit of this ministry and those who are influenced by it? What is the fruit of this teaching as you see the impact of it? Jesus is saying not only look at the person’s teaching and their character, but look at the impact he makes on others. See if this person’s teaching enables them to grow in fruit of the spirit. See if what he teaches sets them free from himself, to live for the glory of God.
3. Lord Lord, didn’t we prophesy in your name etc
…depart from me I never knew you. Here, Jesus is teaching us to distinguish to judge to discern between the possession of abilities that impress us and the presence of grace that draws us to Jesus Christ. It’s possible to preach wonderfully eloquently, to prophesy, but apparently not really be a genuine Christian believer.
Jesus sent out Judas Iscariot with the others to heal the sick and to cast out demons he came back with the others and said that the very demons of Hell are subject to us.
4. The test is this- does the teaching draw my eyes to the Lord Jesus?
Or does it draw my eyes to him or her, the gifts they have, the impression they make? It is this that helps us make the judgment of whether we follow this teacher. —End Sinclair Ferguson
Fruit takes time to ripen. For us who want to assess a professing Christian’s teaching of lifestyle, we wait a bit and watch. Compare what they say or how they live to the Bible. The Bible is the standard. Someone once told me before I was saved, I was too trusting, taking everything people said at face value as true. I had no clue people lied, had personal agendas, or were manipulative. She said, “What they say and what they do must match up.” I have found this good advice post-salvation to assess a good teacher from a false one.
Don’t allow today’s politically correct stances, today’s cultural ideals, or today’s lifestyles to influence you. The BIBLE is the barometer. It is important to note that we don’t only test their teaching but also their lifestyle.
The qualifications for male teachers from 1 Timothy 3, Titus 1:5–9; 1 Peter 5:1–4 relate more to lifestyle than ability. The same goes for females from Titus 2 for the older “teaching what is good” to the younger. Lifestyle is a big part of qualifications for teaching God’s word.
A teacher’s doctrine can be checked against the Bible for what they say and what they DON’T say. Some teachers or pastors who profess Christianity have publicly stated they don’t talk about certain doctrines. I can think of some names right now who have said they deliberately don’t preach or teach on sin, hell, wrath, judgment, homosexuality, age of the earth, or eschatology. That is one of the reasons we wait a bit to assess a teacher’s solidity- you’ve noticed he or she hasn’t talked about certain doctrines ever. Do they teach the WHOLE counsel of God? Unashamed and bold?
I hope these few items from Sinclair have been helpful to you. Humility and a servant heart will show good character, and not just lip service to those, but a true, over time, humble service. A renewing mind and a servant heart will yield good fruit.
By Elizabeth Prata
SYNOPSIS
I show that Proverbs 31 does not endorse feminist careerism. While acknowledging limited work outside the home, I look at the Proverb closely to show that God ordains that most wives’/mothers’ primary vocation is household management and sacrifice. The woman’s worth lies not in productivity, but fearing the Lord and serving family within God-ordained roles.
Continue reading “More Than Productivity: The Heart of Proverbs 31”By Elizabeth Prata
SYNOPSIS
This essay reviews Dwell Differently®, examining its theology, practices, and leadership through a biblical lens. While affirming Scripture memorization, it raises concerns about self-centered application, lack of discernment, commercialization, and the implications of corporate motherhood, concluding the ministry is not recommended.
Continue reading “A Discernment Review of Dwell Differently®”By Elizabeth Prata
SYNOPSIS
Christianity teaches Jesus Christ as the sole way to heaven: exclusive in rejecting unrepentant sin and alternative paths, yet inclusive by offering salvation to all people who repent, believe in the Son, and obey Him, restoring humanity to fellowship with God through Christ alone eternally.
Continue reading “The Gospel: Exclusive Truth, Inclusive Invitation”By Elizabeth Prata
SYNOPSIS
Using The Twilight Zone’s “The Masks” as metaphor, the essay warns against judging by appearances. Outward beauty, kindness, or smiles can conceal evil. Christians must discern teachers by fruit and doctrine, not charm.
Continue reading “Wolves Wear Smiles”
the-end-time.org 