I love a nice rain, don’t you? We haven’t had rain here for a long time. We are in a drought of varying levels up and down the state. Ours is ‘Extreme drought”. I miss a nice, gentle rainy day, with rumbles of thunder far off and some lightning.
The air smells (people tell me) so fresh and vibrant after a rainy thunderstorm. I never thought about why. Then this week Ken Ham of Answers in Genesis wrote the following. There is a scientific reason. The air actually DOES smell different after a storm!
Trees glow during thunderstorms. A recent study of tree leaves has revealed what scientists have long suspected but have never been able to observe: The tips of tree leaves shimmer as a thunderstorm passes overhead. This “glow” is called the corona and is caused by a weak electrical discharge. It’s invisible to the naked eye, but technology has allowed researchers to observe and document the phenomena. And this glow is actually really important. As the corona is discharged, it releases hydroxyl radicals, which clean the air, removing pollutants. It’s such a powerful cleaning force that it’s known as “nature’s detergent.”
This whole process is just another example of how our Creator God has lovingly provided for the needs of His creation. God’s creation is truly amazing, and every discovery of the things He’s made brings glory to Him. “Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice; Let the sea roar, as well as its fullness; Let the field exult, and all that is in it. Then all the trees of the forest will sing for joy Before Yahweh, for He is coming, For He is coming to judge the earth. He will judge the world in righteousness And the peoples in His faithfulness” (Psalm 96:11–13).
Scientists chasing thunderstorms in a retrofitted minivan finally captured something never seen before in nature: faint electrical glows shimmering from treetops during a storm. These “corona discharges,” long suspected but never observed outside a lab, appeared as tiny UV flashes at the tips of leaves. The discovery could reshape how we understand forests, since these bursts may help clean the air by breaking down pollutants.
Then God said, “Let the waters below the heavens be gathered into one place, and let the dry land appear”; and it was so. And God called the dry land “earth,” and the gathering of the waters He called “seas”; and God saw that it was good. Then God said, “Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees on the earth bearing fruit according to their kind with seed in them”; and it was so. The earth produced vegetation, plants yielding seed according to their kind, and trees bearing fruit with seed in them, according to their kind; and God saw that it was good. And there was evening and there was morning, a third day. (Genesis 1:9-13)
God did all that in one day! He is an amazing, powerful creative, holy God! He made this for US, so we could live on a beautiful planet. So many places are still so stunningly beautiful even with the Fall of man polluting and corrupting it. Imagine what heaven will be like! God’s dwelling place with no sin to stain it. Imagine what He has in store for us in eternity to do for Him! It will not be boring, that is for sure. It will be beautiful, good, and true.
Now on the next day, that is, the day which is after the preparation, the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered together with Pilate, 63and they said, “Sir, we remember that when that deceiver was still alive, He said, ‘After three days I am rising.’ 64Therefore, give orders for the tomb to be made secure until the third day; otherwise, His disciples may come and steal Him, and say to the people, ‘He has risen from the dead,’ and the last deception will be worse than the first.” 65Pilate said to them, “You have a guard; go, make it as secure as you know how.” 66And they went and made the tomb secure with the guard, sealing the stone. (Matthew 27:62-66).
Nicodemus was a Pharisee and THE Teacher of Israel. He came to Jesus saying “WE know you are from God…” (John 3:2). They knew. They also remembered Jesus had said He would rise on the third day. The disciples had apparently forgotten, but the priests and Pharisees and scribes didn’t. They were worried that the disciples would come and steal the body and try to claim He had risen. So they went to Pilate. They reminded Pilate that the disciples may steal the body. This was likely a strategic mention, not just to prevent any claims of having risen, but tomb robbing was a terrible problem in the Roman Empire. Severe penalties existed for grave robbing. Mentioning the likelihood of the body being stolen would have startled Pilate and/or the Romans into action.
Placing a stone against the tomb’s opening was a usual practice. Lazarus’ tomb had a stone against it. (John 11:38-39). The seal on the stone was probably what they used commonly in those days- a wax seal impressed with a signet and some cords pressed into the wax and then stretched across to an opposite lump of wax.
The seal was not intended to prevent moving the stone away, the guards were there for that, and the stone itself. The seal was only to indicate that if the seal was broken it would be a sign someone had messed with the grave.
Poole's Commentary says, "So they went, and made the sepulchre sure, sealing the stone, and setting a watch. Vain men! as if the same power that was necessary to raise and quicken the dead, could not also remove the stone, and break through the watch which they had set. But by this their excessive care and diligence, instead of preventing Christ’s resurrection, as they intended, they have confirmed the truth and belief of it to all the world. So doth God take the wise in their own craftiness, and turn their wisdom into foolishness, that he may set his King upon his holy hill of Zion." Poole, M. (1853). Annotations upon the Holy Bible (Vol. 3, p. 143). New York: Robert Carter and Brothers.
The Pharisees had set up triple barriers but in the end all they did was prove that Jesus had resurrected! They knew that Jesus was from God, did they really think a paltry rope seal would stop the avalanche of God’s power in raising His Son from the dead?
They had seen or heard of the moment in Nazareth where Jesus stood in the synagogue and read from Isaiah as depicted in Luke 4:16-19,
And He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up; and as was His custom, He entered the synagogue on the Sabbath, and stood up to read. And the scroll of Isaiah the prophet was handed to Him. And He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written:
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, Because He anointed Me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent Me to proclaim release to captives, And recovery of sight to the blind, To set free those who are oppressed, To proclaim the favorable year of the Lord.”
And then Jesus announced that the prophecy had been fulfilled in their hearing. Who else but someone from God, or the Messiah Himself, could open the eyes of the blind? No other blind person had ever been made to see in all of Israel’s history, before this. They knew. Romans 1:18 reminds us that the unsaved suppress the truth in unrighteousness. They were very busy suppressing the truth of who Jesus was, and scurried around putting Scotch tape over a boulder’s crack.
Nothing can stop the power of God. Nothing. He created the worlds with a word, and the stars also. He made man from dust. He sustains it all by His power. He resurrects the dead, and he regenerates sinful hearts. His power cannot be stopped with a stone or a guard or a wax seal. Poole is right- o vain men!
I like to ponder the love of God and His invitation to come to Him who is gentle and lowly. I also like to ponder His power and might!
Dr. Dan Schricker, who earned a Ph.D in music composing, is a highly intelligent and educated man. He was also a cult victim and one who has made a lifetime study of cults. He is often an invited speaker on the topic such as when he spoke as a presenter at the 2023 International Cultic Studies Association Conference.
Lori Alexander is a blogger who puts out teachings on her version of the Bible’s female submission issues. Lori’s output is vast and constant, but only on one topic: behavior of women and wives based on only 3 verses of the Bible, Titus 2:3-5. Her teachings are not consistent with the Bible and is in fact warped and legalistic. Lori is a false teacher.
Two years Dr Schricker studied Lori Alexander’s output. Based on widely recognized criteria regarding cults that social scientists use to recognize and warn about high-control groups, AKA cults, Dr. Schricker concluded that Lori meets the criteria of being a cult leader a cult of women who have sadly fallen into Lori’s high-control mind thought.
In Dr. Schricker’s article from two years ago, after laying out quotes and examples from Lori herself, with linkable footnotes, he concluded,
Make no mistake, the thin veil of Scripture and religious terminology that cloaks Lori’s teaching seeks to hide the fact that her message is fundamentally anti-gospel, anti-Christian, and anti-women. The legalism, the misuse of Scripture, and the spiritually bankrupt view of marriage and women are all disqualifying factors in terms of her teaching ability. My recommendation is to reject her message on all fronts and, when necessary, call it out if you have the platform to do so. I am grateful for the people who have already done that.
Lori Alexander, her profile pic
After Dr Schricker’s careful presentation, rife with explicit examples and compared to scripture how did Lori react? She wrote a few months ago,
Then Lori went on to reject the evidence in exactly ALL the ways cult leaders always do.
Now comes another post exploring these themes. Elise Heerde is an educated and trained Religious Trauma Coach & Cult Recovery Expert. Her article about Lori Alexander is here. She also refers to Dr Schricker’s article. Ms Heerde wrote,
This piece responds to Lori Alexander’s post “Am I a Cult Leader?” published at thetransformedwife.com on June 26, 2026. All quotes are taken directly from that post. The analysis applies publicly documented research frameworks to publicly available content and teaching.
Ms Heerde’s verdict, according to the data, is that yes, Lori Alexander is a classic cult leader leading a cult of women who are emotionally manipulated, highly controlled, and drenched in false teachings.
She makes an excellent point that when we think of cults, we think of a charismatic leader who sequesters himself and his followers away from public society, normally in a compound, in order to perform weird behavioral and sexual things, which usually ends violently. (I.E Branch Davidians, The Peoples Temple-Jonestown, Heaven’s Gate, The Manson Family…). Yet that is not the only version of cults. Looking at Robert Lifton’s 8 criteria for cults, Heerde wrote,
“None of those criteria require a compound, a charismatic leader, or explicit punishments for leaving.They describe psychological mechanisms that can operate in a living room, a blog comment section, or a Facebook group with hundreds of thousands of followers.“ Source Heerde.
Heerde went through Lori Alexander’s rebuttals and rejections of Dr Schricker’s evidence and showed how they are just deflections against the truth.
These types of warnings are important because firstly, of course you do not want anyone falling into a “cult”. Saying the world cult usually implies an isolated and manipulated group led by a controlling figure as mentioned above. Yet any idea or religion taken to an extreme can become a cult.
Ms Heerde wrote, “Coercive control doesn’t require the controller to be physically present, to have direct access to the person being controlled, or to impose consequences through their own direct action. What it requires is a framework that the person has internalised so thoroughly that they control themselves on behalf of the system.”
In Jesus day, cults existed. The Cult of Artemis in Ephesus was a potent one with many followers who were not isolated on some compound. In and around Jerusalem there were 4 groups of ‘believers’ who claimed the One True God. Whether these were cults or sects is still a debate, but the Pharisees, Essenes, Zealots, and Sadducees were competing high-control groups oppressing and/or isolating the believers in various ways. (John 9:22; John 12:42)
The framework Lori Alexander pushes is constant, errant, and dangerous. Ms Heerde goes through some of the more troublesome aspects of it in her article. I recommend it not just to learn why Lori Alexander fills the marks of a cult leader, but for information in general. It is easy for a false teacher to become popular then begin to warp the faith and grow his or her platform of followers, who then become like minded as the leader.
Heerde also focuses on deeply troubling aspect of Lori Alexander’s framework. It includes Lori having been formed through the dangerous teachings of Bill Gothard and Michael & Debi Pearl. Both these groups are recognized as cultish, abusive, and dangerous. Ms Heerde wrote,
The company someone keeps is relevant information. When someone cites as their primary formative influences two figures associated with documented institutional abuse, sexual misconduct allegations, and child welfare concerns, and defends both of them against scrutiny using the same logic she uses to defend herself, that pattern is worth noting.
I worry greatly for Lori, her husband Ken, and their followers who are deceived into thinking Lori’s version of Christianity is viable. It’s dangerous not only to her followers, who are internalizing a warped version of the Gospel and life’s walk with Jesus, but because Lori uses Jesus as her basis for promoting her false teachings. He hates that. (Revelation 2:20-23).
Lori’s output is constant and vast, across multiple platforms. It is Jesus-adjacent, so that a person could be easily confused into thinking what Lori teaches is actual truth. It isn’t. Please avoid Lori Alexander The Transformed Wife. Dr Schricker ended his article with a pointed plea, which I echo-
“In short, do not join the cult of Lori Alexander. And if you have joined already- for heaven’s sake, get out.”
Usually the discussions about modesty come in late spring as the temps heat up and we enter the summer season peeling off some layers of clothes. When bathing suit season approaches, the discussions online often turn to the limits of skin being shown, where to obtain modest clothing, and what the Bible actually describes modesty as.
Kay Cude poetry. Used with permission. Right-Click to open larger in new tab or see text below.
REMAIN: You are Chosen by God the Son
The storms that break to drown your soul, ‘neath trials that swirl with rage; Still now your fear and live your faith, and Christ His Strength engage.
Take heed the storms rend not your moor, to toss you to and fro; Be anchored to the Saviour’s Word, God’s Word do not forego.
Though deep the pain that batters you, and weak your grasp may seem; It is The Lord Who’s Chosen you, and you who He’s Redeemed.
And when confronted by the thought, that faith of yours is naught; Remember you are not undone, but by His Blood Are Bought.
And from the rage and storm that brews, reach out and clasp onto; The Truth that God is Sovereign, His Plan He’ll carry through.
“…Lord, to whom shall we go? You have Words of Eternal Life. We have believed and have come to know that You are The Holy One of God” John 6:68-69.
Jesus answered, “Did I Myself not choose you?” John 6:70a “You did not choose Me but I chose you, and appointed you that you would go and bear fruit, and that your fruit would remain, so that whatever you ask of the Father in My Name, He may give to you.” John 15:16
kay cude, December 2015 ADⒸ
TOWER SHIPWRECK Ivan Constantinovich Aivazovsky (1847).Image-
Text addition by author, Kay Cude, purposed solely for non-profit and educational sharing.
Making the rounds on social media this week is a 4 minute rendition of the hymn Nearer My God to Thee. It is a live clip from André Rieu’s tour in Maastricht a couple of years ago. It is now on his album The Sound of Heaven. The Album has a mixture classical masterpieces, romantic melodies, and evergreens, beautifully performed by André Rieu and his Johann Strauss Orchestra.
In this clip, the jumbotron occasionally pans from the players, conductor, or singers, to the audience members who are caught wiping a tear or two from their eyes. The music is so moving.
A famous line from the 1697 play The Mourning Bride by English playwright William Congreve is: “Music hath charms to soothe a savage breast, to soften rocks, or bend a knotted oak.” I was surprised when I looked this up just now because I thought the attribution was to Shakespeare. But no. The concept in the quote is that music enchants. It soothes. It can calm anger, or appease the hardest heart.
Can you imagine the music in heaven? The New Song that will be sung by blameless tongues of the 144,000 who had been purchased from the earth. (Revelation 14:3).
And in Revelation 15:3 the tribulation martyrs sing the song of Moses and the song of the Lamb, holding the harps of God.
And in Revelation 5:8-9a the four living creatures and the 24 elders with the harps sang a new song.
We will sing in heaven and there will likely be instruments there too. Hezekiah said “We will sing with stringed instruments all the days of our lives in the temple of the Lord.” (Isaiah 38:20)
The wider issue is that we need beauty. We respond to it deep in our souls. We need it in music, art, architecture, nature, all ways and and at all times. We thirst for beauty. This world is beautiful, but there is much ugliness too, much cruelty, much pain. Let us drink in the Lord’s magnificence through beauty when we find it.
Indeed, the Psalmist in Psalm 27:4 said his ONE pursuit is to behold God’s beauty-
One thing I have asked from the Lord, that I shall seek: That I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, To behold the beauty of the Lord And to meditate in His temple.
What an incredible honor we believers have, to soon look upon the enthralling face of the Savior, his perfections, glory, infinite holiness. His beauty is unmatched by anything seen, created, or imagines. It was David’s ONE hope, and should be ours.
Jesus is the ultimate beauty, and all earthly beauty comes from Him. This is why we respond to it.
If hymns praising Him then move us toward that pursuit of His beauty, then all the better.
Further Resources
Sheehan Quirke is otherwise known as The Cultural Tutor. He has a variety of resources such as a book, podcast, newsletter, and social media speaking on topics of art, architecture, history, poetry, and literature. He is interesting. His website is here.
RC Sproul’s teaching series at Ligonier on Recovering the Beauty of the Arts is here. I took the course. It’s good. Download & stream the 9 lessons for $14.50
Synopsis: Leah is remembered, but Bilhah and Zilpah often fade into the background. Given as slaves, used as surrogates, they still bore sons who shaped Israel. Their stories expose suffering but a God who did not forget them.
Here are some practical ideas on HOW to love as Jesus would have us love. Love these days is in short supply in the world. Our love will shine brightly if we love as Christians- loving our brethren, our families, the pagans, and even our enemies.
Extended quote from Free Grace Broadcaster #159, Love, from Chapel Library: essay The Triumph of Forbearing Love by Otto Stockmayer,
“Let us stop and consider the form of the expression. Of course, so far as we are children of God, Christ is in us. We cannot be born of God without having Christ in us. Christ must indeed be formed in us (Gal 4:19), but at the very moment we are born again from above He is in us.
Might it not be a very practical test, and a Biblical and Scriptural way of proving that Christ is in us, to get into the holy habit of always seeing Christ in our brother? Even if he were born again but yesterday, or only an hour ago, it is well for us at the very beginning of his Christian life to see in him, through faith, Christ abiding in his heart by the Spirit of God; a being of whom God—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—has taken possession.
Let us learn to look at our brother as seeing in him the unseen Christ, and we shall help him in a mighty way to take heed that Christ may shine in his life. By this means he will become conscious of the holy ground on which he stands and moves and walks, by having become a Christian. We who have for years walked with Christ must help the babe, the child, to awake to his high calling as quickly as possible.
By recognizing Christ in him, we shall help him to become conscious of the wonderful secret of his new life; and we must prove ourselves to be men in Christ by not stopping short at what we see with our eyes and hear with our ears of the manifestations of the flesh which we may find in the young Christian. We must be able, through Divine love shed abroad in our hearts and free grace in our lives, to look beyond what is seen; we must love our brother through faith in God, that He may bring out the new creation in him in a beautiful way… more beautiful, it may be, than in our own lives.”
The Benny Hinn-style of prosperity gospel is well known and easily seen among those Christians with even a snippet of discernment. The Hinn-style prosperity gospel, labeled ‘hard prosperity gospel’ in the article below, promises instant health or wealth, or immediate financial gains. These prosperity gospelers frequently use terms like ‘breakthrough’, urge positive confessions, (AKA ‘name it and claim it’), and press their audiences for donations they call ‘seed faith’ giving. Joel Osteen is one of these. So is Kenneth Copeland.
But there is another type of prosperity gospel that is much harder to detect. As always, that old serpent is subtle. It is in fact the first quality we learn about him, from Genesis 3:1. The first mention in the Bible of the serpent tells us of his subtlety. The word means cunning in a bad way, crafty, or shrewd. So it stands to reason satan adjusts his methods of deception. The “softer prosperity gospel” is one of those.
At 9Marks’ article quoted below, we learn of this more subtle prosperity gospel which in the quote below, says assumes its audience knows the Gospel already:
This is not a new concern. Others have described facets of this prosperity gospel under names like moralistic therapeutic deism, Christless Christianity, and the commodification of Christianity. In truth, all three descriptors overlap to describe a prosperity gospel that is easily missed, because it is seems reasonable to Christians who love God and the American Dream.
That said, the ‘soft prosperity gospel’ can be just as ruinous as the hard prosperity gospel. Any deviation from Christ’s standards for life and doctrine is ruinous. Why? Because any deviation comes from either our flesh, the world, or from satan, and stands opposed to Christ’s Good News. Just because it’s soft does not mean it’s less hard on the soul.
9Marks: “While evangelicals have traditionally decried the prosperity gospel in its “hard” form, there is a softer form of this teaching that is all too common among us. Often undetected by Bible-believing Christians, it assumes the gospel and leads its adherents to focus on things like financial planning, diet and exercise, and strategies for self-improvement. In contrast to the hard prosperity gospel, which offers miraculous and immediate health and wealth, this softer, subtler variety challenges believers to break through to the blessed life by means of the latest pastor-prescribed technique.”
I liked the use of the term “assumes the Gospel”. Too often as a Christian ministry whose goal of presenting information to its audience assumes its audience as Christians already know the Gospel. However, genuine Christians need to be reminded of it all the time. And we can never assume that anyone reading or listening to our output is actually a Christian and/or already knows the Gospel. The Gospel as Good News should be shared incessantly to one and all.
The 9Marks article mentioned diet & exercise as a location for one of the ways softer prosperity gospel enters in. Among the Christian circles I frequent, which focus on women, there is a huge emphasis on diet and exercise. It’s also called ‘wellness’. I’ve written previously about the trad wife & crunchy Christian woman. In these realms it seems a softer prosperity gospel abounds. Angela Mitchell of Raising Apologists has done a yeoman’s work on this topic as well. See some of her links below.
Wellness Christianity is not the only potential soft prosperity pitfall, of course. The pitfalls exist in spheres of financial planning, self-improvement, and other American style problems we think we have.
We do want to be healthy, plan wisely with our finances, and improve ourselves. That is not the issue. The problem comes when promoters of a soft prosperity shift the focus from Jesus’ blessedness to the blessings.
The 9Marks article continues with presenting 5 trademarks of soft prosperity.
Soft prosperity elevates “blessings” over the blessed God.
Soft prosperity detaches verses from the redemptive framework of the Bible.
Soft prosperity diminishes the curse that Christ bore and the blessing of the Holy Spirit.
Soft prosperity relies on pastor-prescribed therapeutic techniques.
Soft prosperity largely addresses first world, middle class problems.
It is easy to get drawn in to these, so please take a look at the article and see if you have or haven’t been fooled by these subtleties. If you have, of course Jesus will accept your repentance and the Spirit will respond to your request to be strengthened in discernment. If you have not been taken in, pray in praise to Jesus that He has delivered you from this error. Remember we do nothing on our own. We always abide in Him.
A leader falls. He goes away, out of the public eye. He is supposed to repent, practice the discipline or the guardrails his former fellow elders placed on him, then he goes to humbly sit in the pew and worship from there from then on. His fellow congregants are supposed to rejoice with him over his repentance and move forward as if the sin that made him fall was forgotten, because God forgets it when we repent. Grace abounds.
Sadly, that is not the experience of many of the publicly fallen pastors we see. Some who are less well known, of course, follow the prescribed method for repentance and restoration to the pew. But many more who have built their platform publicly, don’t.
They offer some kind of faux repentance or washed-out apology open letter, slide out of the public eye for a while. Then they come back. They either plant a new church, or join an existing church, or start up some para-ministry and begin again as a ‘leader’.
However, a leader who falls is under reproach. He can never regain that necessary trust that’s implicit in a leader-congregant relationship. His sin made him lose the position forever. He is surely forgiven if he repents, but he cannot lead. He has squandered the enormous gift of leading in Jesus’ name.
Why do so many fallen leaders fail at this restoration-to-the-pew process? Why do so many resume leading, as if the scriptures describing what he must do don’t exist?
1 Timothy 3:1-2a says The saying is trustworthy: If anyone aspires to the office of overseer, he desires a noble task. Therefore an overseer must be above reproach…
The word for ‘noble’ in the verse according to Strong’s Greek is “properly, beautiful, but chiefly good (literally or morally), i.e. Valuable or virtuous.”
Again from Strong’s Greek, ‘above reproach’ means simply blameless, unrebukeable.
A leader who has sinned and falls under reproach is no longer able to lead because he is no longer virtuous or blameless.
Why are churches so eager to restore fallen pastors to leadership? Why don’t they walk away?
The Master’s University also has some good insights as to how to minister to the fallen leader, “The church should do everything possible to minister to those who have sinned and repented. But that does not include restoring the mantle of leadership to a man who has disqualified himself and forfeited his right to lead. Doing so is unbiblical and lowers the standard God has set” but also an excellent thought on a reason why they keep getting vaulted up to the pulpit again, here in their essay, Forgiving Fallen Pastors.
If you see a fallen pastor re-ascending to the pulpit, just know he is in rebellion. If you see a fallen pastor or leader, especially one in your congregation, humbly seek Jesus from the pew, you can and should forgive, offer grace, and love him like the restored brother he is.
