January 2015 – Page 2

Tender Moments in the Bible (repost)

Posted on January 23, 2015May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

I’m reposting this essay originally published in June 2014 in hopes that it will encourage.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

There are so many powerful moments in the bible. Where does one begin? Genesis 1, God creates everything, are verses that are awesome to ponder. The resurrection, when Jesus emerged from the tomb alive. God is all-powerful.

There are thunderous moments too. When Mt Sinai trembles, when God was in the earthquake, when He split the ground under Korah and closed it back up again. God is to be feared.

But there are tender moments too. The God of thunder and wrath and all-power is so tender!! I’m not one of these who believes the wrathful God is the Old Testament turned into the sensitive (“boyfriend”) Jesus of the New Testament. Read Revelation and you see it is the same God of wrath and anger against unrighteousness and sin. In the Old Testament (as well as the New), there are very tender moments which show us our Holy God is everything. He is simply everything good- including tenderness.

In Genesis 21:15-19, slave girl Hagar had been misused by Sarah (and Abraham). She and her son Ismael ran away to the wilderness, and there, thirsty, alone, and weak, they prepared to die.

When the water in the skin was gone, she put the child under one of the bushes. 16Then she went and sat down opposite him a good way off, about the distance of a bowshot, for she said, “Let me not look on the death of the child.” And as she sat opposite him, she lifted up her voice and wept. And God heard the voice of the boy, and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and said to her, “What troubles you, Hagar? Fear not, for God has heard the voice of the boy where he is. Up! Lift up the boy, and hold him fast with your hand, for I will make him into a great nation.” Then God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water. And she went and filled the skin with water and gave the boy a drink.

“God heard“, “The Angel of God” [Jesus] called to her from heaven. He assured her. He made promises to her. He opened her eyes so she could drink. What direct, intimate ministration from Holy God in heaven!

In 1 Kings 19:4-8, we see tender ministrations again. Poor Elijah, downcast, alone, and fearing for his life. He, like Hagar, ran to the desert and wanted to die.

Elijah in the wilderness, by Washington Allston, 1817

But did God let Elijah stay that way? No

Ferdinandus Bol, 1660, Elijah Fed By An Angel

But he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness and came and sat down under a broom tree. And he asked that he might die, saying, “It is enough; now, O Lord, take away my life, for I am no better than my fathers.” And he lay down and slept under a broom tree. And behold, an angel touched him and said to him, “Arise and eat.” And he looked, and behold, there was at his head a cake baked on hot stones and a jar of water. And he ate and drank and lay down again. And the angel of the Lord came again a second time and touched him and said, “Arise and eat, for the journey is too great for you.” And he arose and ate and drank, and went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights to Horeb, the mount of God.

The angel touched Elijah! He had prepared food for Elijah! He comforted Elijah, and gave him direction and hope. God is so good to us. He does that for us today.

In Matthew 4 we read that Jesus was in the desert 40 days and nights, alone, fasting, and tempted by satan. At the end of the trial, it says in Matthew 4:11,

“Then the devil left him, and behold, angels came and were ministering to him.”

One might say, ‘Well, of course God would send angels to minister to His Son!’ but perhaps the ministering angels who ministered to Jesus are also some of the same ones who minister to us? Just think on it! Overall, it is to His glory that he is so involved with His people, that ministration is a regular part of His interaction with us!

His ministration with sinful man began at the Garden after the Fall. He personally covered Adam and Eve

Genesis 3:21 says, “And the Lord God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them.”

The God who had just made the Universe, and upholds it by power of His will and His voice, personally made garments for his rebellious children, and wrapped them. I picture a child throwing a tantrum, and saying all sorts of things to his father, including, “No! I don’t wanna! I hate you!” But after the storm is over and the timeout is finished, the father gives the boy a bath, wipes his tear-stained face, and wraps him in a towel. He holds him close to herself, his sniffles diminishing as the very heartbeat of the one who created him him and feeds him and cares for him saturates the boy’s heart and mind, and eventually his brow unfurrows and his face becomes angelic, and he drifts off to sleep, still in his father’s arms.

That is our God. Holy and Fearful, but a caring Father, holding us in His arms until the storm passes by and our rebellion subsides. He is tender. One day, there will be no more tantrums, and no more rebellion. We will love our Father perfectly and completely, just as He loves us now. What a day that will be.

bible study, logos 6

Logos 6 review

Posted on January 23, 2015May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

I’d mentioned over Christmas vacation that I’d taken the plunge and bought Logos 6 bible software. I’d been watching it since Logos version 3, and the reviews were so good that when an updated version #6 came out, I took the plunge.

Coincidentally a week or two later, pastor and blogger Tim Challies reviewed Logos 6 because he also decided to commit to it. In his concise way, he wrote about it from a pastor’s perspective and I recommend his review here, if you are at all interested in learning more. He said in one paragraph I particularly liked,

The greatest strength of Logos is its wider system. What a Logos book offers that a printed book does not is integration into that system. When you add a new book to your Logos library, you increase the power and usefulness of the entire system, because that book now links to and from every other book. It is less like adding a printed book to a bookcase and more like adding a new Christian with his spiritual gifts to your congregation—it improves and strengthens the entire system.

He also said that it doesn’t do the work for you. Having the software system won’t make you read the bible more. It won’t get you to pray more. It is just a tool. He’s right.

As for me, I’m a layperson. For me it’s great. I love it. I enjoy the automatic reading plan. I plug in what book I want to read and at what pace, and the software organizes it for me, marking where I left off and where I need to begin. It also lets me know when I’m behind, lol. I always seem to be behind.

I get lost in the photographs of the Earthly Footsteps of the Man of Galilee, a 120 year old tome containing photos from the late 1890s. I enjoy looking at what Israel used to look like back then and push my mind back a bit farther to imagine those scenes in Jesus’ day.

The books I can read or refer to, the plants of the bible, animals of the bible, dictionaries, pronunciation guides, maps, even videos., are all stellar. I have a wealth of material even though I’d bought the lowest base package. It is plenty for me, really.

The commentaries are especially helpful. I am falling in love with Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary of the Whole Bible. I have access to the Concise Commentary online but the Complete Commentary deepens the background and elicits so much from the verse I can barely stop reading.

Something else I like is the home page. Excerpts of various books or essays are posted. Today there is one explaining salt and light, being missional, survivor’s guilt, bond servant of Jesus Christ, Context Matters: Dr. John Walton Explains Why, and Perseverance, among many other items, including explaining some of the great art of the biblical scenes, and Logos promotions (they are unabashed about it).

One thing that Brannon Howse said in one of his programs on World View Weekend, when he was discussing his purchase of Logos 6 and why he liked it, is the Art of the Day. He was very excited about the home page daily verse put to art. I didn’t understand his enthusiasm for it until I purchased Logos 6 and began seeing the amazing creative work the Logos artists do in putting abstract theology to visual art. Here is today’s example. It is the verse noting Enoch’s rapture.

Add caption

It was an expensive purchase but worth it.

contemporary music, divination, false, roma downey

(Updated) Unity is over-inflated. Let’s have more division, please. A report on the CCM free concert "We Will Stand"

Posted on January 22, 2015May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

UPDATED. Read the link at the end to see what true unity is.

A live-streamed event is occurring online tonight (and in a real life place venue located in Brentwood, Tennessee) which has the potential to reach 40 million people. It is being billed as a Christian event, but we’ll see more about that in a moment. The event is titled “We Will Stand: An Online Concert” and is promoted as “the greatest night in the history of contemporary Christian music.”

Well. The promoters are not without hubris, to be sure. But first, here is a bit of background on charitable single songs or concerts by super-groups–

Over thirty years ago, “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” a song written in 1984 by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure, was sung by a quickly put-together supergroup. It was written and recorded in reaction to television reports of the 1983–85 famine in Ethiopia. It was sung by a supergroup consisting mainly of the biggest British and Irish musical acts at the time. It was a huge success and raised a lot of money.

In America the next year, We Are the World was sung as a charity single for African relief. It was recorded by the supergroup USA for Africa. It was written by Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie, and produced by Quincy Jones and Michael Omartian for the album We Are the World. Do They Know It’s Christmas, sung by Band-Aid, was a direct inspiration for the single We Are the World. We are the World was very successful. (source)

Cut to thirty years later, and today we have the Contemporary Christian Musician’s attempt at a Do They Know It’s Christmas and We Are the World hit, replicated in “We Will Stand” but minus the charity. According to this article, “Stan Moser, Christian music industry veteran and founder of CCM United, he is seeking to create a “We Are The World” type of moment — but one that ultimately has its greatest impact on the world for Christ.” Yet in an interview about the event, he stated his first goal is to be “part of a historic moment.”

Details about exactly what the group stands united around are not clear, neither in that article or on their website. After reading the lengthy article published on 94 The FIsh radio station’s site, and every page on their own website, I’m still not sure as to what is the message they’ll be bringing, except that they will be “Glorifying God with One Voice and One Mind.” – Romans 15:6 HCSB” and their slogan is, CCM UNITED, ONE MESSAGE. MANY VOICES. (source)

Christian Contemporary Music is not typically known for having a strongly doctrinal Christian message. It’s saturated with sentimentalism, laced with emotion, and has an emphasis on experience. In fact, the organizer of this two-hour concert event happening tonight said the genesis for it was a conversation with God and a mystically intuited moment, sans the bible.

In its pursuit of mysticism and experience, CCM usually repeats one line many times until its choruses become mantra and mindlessness is achieved. Its emphasis is usually on our response to worshiping God rather than God’s attributes and how He expects us to worship Him. CCM artists and music producers have not shown the best discernment regarding handling Christian doctrines in song. Nor have they shown the best discernment in who they partner with.

In addition to all that is the problematic nature of Christianity in general these days. Satan always attempts to re-define commonly understood words, until its original meaning has been twisted away from the biblical original meaning. At issue these days is the issue of Unity.

The bible urges unity within the body in many different verses. Here are just three: Philippians 2:2, 1 Peter 3:8, and 1 Corinthians 1:10. The bible urges the brethren to mark those who cause divisions among us. (Romans 16:17). Originally, Paul meant for the brethren to mark those who are teaching contrary to the doctrines which have been delivered, because confusion divides. However, today it has come to mean mark the brethren that dare to exercise discernment and dividing them. The false teachers aren’t marked out as divisive anymore, that is said to be unloving. Rather, the brethren pointing them out are said to be the divisive ones. What happens is that the false teachers are being protected and the true brethren are marked and shunned as dangerous. Nowadays, unity at the expense of doctrine is sought and seen as desirable, as long as “we agree on the basics.”

The irony is, everyone is divided on just what the basics are, and so everyone gets past any whiff of disagreement by welcoming anyone and everyone as a brother. Unity around nothing is no unity.

Today’s ‘unity’ has also come to mean, unite with Catholics.

CCM’s lack of discernment as revealed repeatedly in their songs is on full display tonight. In addition to the contemporary Christian music they will be playing, appearances will be made by Roma Downey throughout the event. Ms Downey may be remembered for her role in the long-running television series Touched by an Angel, in which she appeared as a female angel. She and her husband Mark Burnett also produced a miniseries several years ago called The Bible, or as the more conservative, doctrinal, discerning Christians like to think of it, as “The-Missing-the-Mark Bible” series due to the fact that Downey and her team re-wrote or twisted many of the biblical events they portrayed in the show. The duo also produced and Downey acted in a theatrical release called Son of God, in which the life of Jesus was portrayed, with Downey playing Jesus’ mother Mary.

Worse still, Ms Downey is a mystic, a Catholic, and a demonic summoner (divination) in which on live television she used a medium to contact and speak with her dead mother.

The bible says of divination, an activity hated by God and expressly forbidden:

When you come into the land that the Lord your God is giving you, you shall not learn to follow the abominable practices of those nations. There shall not be found among you anyone who burns his son or his daughter as an offering, anyone who practices divination or tells fortunes or interprets omens, or a sorcerer or a charmer or a medium or a necromancer or one who inquires of the dead, for whoever does these things is an abomination to the Lord. And because of these abominations the Lord your God is driving them out before you. (Deuteronomy 18:9-1)

You can read more about the doctrinal problems with the faith that Ms Downey claims to have, which is no faith, here.

And lest one believes that God’s hate for divination is just Old Testament wrath and not relevant to today’s loving Jesus, Paul wrote to the Galatians that anyone practicing sorcery will not gain heaven. (Galatians 5:20)

Now when I say that the CCM artists participating in this event show lack of discernment, there it is in full display.

Worse, also participating in this event is Travis Cottrell, Beth Moore’s band leader. Participating also is LifeWay Christian booksellers- they are donating the live-streaming for it.

If the concert event is donating the proceeds to some sort of charitable organization I’ve missed it. All I’ve been able to determine from quotes like the one above where the organizer said they want to be part of an historic moment, and this quote, that “CCM United was created to deliver the music, the ministry, and the life-changing message of many of the greatest CCM artists of today” and that it is a celebration of 40 years of contemporary Christian music, therefore all I can gather is that the event is just simply a celebration of themselves.

And this would make sense, because much of CCM is about celebrating ourselves. “God look at us worshiping you.” “God look at us singing to you.” “God see how we really, really love you.” Why wouldn’t 30 CCM artists get together and celebrate themselves?

I’m sad that they have partnered with Roma Downey. If they are attempting to get “one message” out, it is this:

Doctrine is not necessary, our version of love is; and mysticism, Catholicism, and divination are hunky dory. No wonder the organizer said five times in the interview that “We Are the World” was his inspiration and catalyst. They definitely are the world. They definitely are.

As for their event, “We Will Stand” I only have scripture to share:

Then the kings of the earth and the great ones and the generals and the rich and the powerful, and everyone, slave and free, hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains, 16calling to the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who is seated on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb, 17for the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?” (Revelation 6:15-17)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Birds of the air

Posted on January 21, 2015May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

It’s comforting to know that the Creator of all the Universe takes care of us.

EPrata photo

bible, christian living, clamor, encouragement, the word

How is being clamorous like a Russian nesting doll?

Posted on January 19, 2015May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. (Ephesians 4:31)

My Sunday School teacher was reading this verse aloud yesterday, and I got stuck on the word ‘clamor’.

It is an interesting word. We hardly ever hear anyone use it these days. I like the word clamor, if not the real life noise it represents.

According to the internet dictionary, clamor means

“a loud and confused noise, especially that of people shouting vehemently.”

Set of Matryoshka dolls nested
inside each other. Wikipedia

Whenever there is a list of words together, especially moral qualities, it seems to me that they build. Like Russian nesting dolls, they’re connected. In this case, Matthew Henry Commentary explains the connection between bitterness, wrath, and anger and its connection to clamor and slander and malice.

By bitterness, wrath, and anger, are meant violent inward resentment and displeasure against others: and, by clamour, big words, loud threatenings, and other intemperate speeches, by which bitterness, wrath, and anger, vent themselves. Christians should not entertain these vile passions in their hearts not be clamorous with their tongues.

Henry, M. (1994). Matthew Henry’s commentary on the whole Bible: complete and unabridged in one volume (p. 2315). Peabody: Hendrickson.

I think this can be especially applied to women. The bible speaks of woman’s quietness and gentleness as part of exemplary character. Riotous women, whether in anger or clamorous mirth, are not to be modelled after. In fact, Titus 2:3 says women should be reverent in behavior.

Strength and dignity are her clothing, and she laughs at the time to come. (Proverbs 31:25)

Whether man or woman, we know that what is inside us comes out and it can either honor Jesus or defile us. See Mark 7:21-23,

And he said, “What comes out of a person is what defiles him. For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.”

Matryoshka dolls set in a row
Wikipedia

If I suddenly break out in clamorous, slanderous, or malicious talk, then I know I have much more inside me that needs to be repented of. The outward expression is merely the end result, not the beginning. The beginning is what is in the heart. It is a grace to have verses like these, which tell us that if we are speaking clamorously, then it is the warning signal that there is something needing to be addressed inside of us, as a sinful heart condition.

Aren’t we fortunate and blessed to have the Word of God to use as the mirror of all goodness? Holding it up to ourselves as a reflection is painful sometimes but this is what Jesus wants, and it is good for us. After all, didn’t Paul say to Timothy,

All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, (2 Timothy 3:16)

discernment, glorify, jesus, paul

Philippians 1:10- Why do we want to abound in all discernment?

Posted on January 19, 2015May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in real knowledge and all discernment, 10so that you may approve the things that are excellent, in order to be sincere and blameless until the day of Christ; (Philippians 1:9-10)

Let’s look specifically at verse 10. Whenever there is a ‘so that’ or a ‘in order to’ it means there is a causal relationship. We are supposed to DO something in order that a result can come about.

Here I’d like to focus on the “all discernment”. Why does Paul want the Philippians (and us) to have all discernment? Because discernment is a critical ingredient in an important process. The result Paul is praying for his people to have is to be pure and blameless on the day we stand before Jesus. So now let’s look at this process and see how in honing our discernment it helps us strive toward this end.

Literally, “With a view to your proving (and so approving and embracing) the things that excel” (Ro 2:18); not merely things not bad, but the things best among those that are good; the things of more advanced excellence. Ask as to things, not merely, Is there no harm, but is there any good, and which is the best?

Source: Jamieson, R., Fausset, A. R., & Brown, D. (1997). Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (Vol. 2, p. 361).

Now this is interesting. There are three questions the Commenter said we ask in discerning.

–Is there harm?
–Is there any good?
–Which is the best?

We already know that at the basic level, discernment means sifting between what is good and what is bad. That’s the part in asking ‘is there harm?’ In addition, as Spurgeon said, “Discernment is not simply a matter of telling the difference between what is right and wrong; rather it is the difference between right and almost right.” That’s the second question.

And now here we have a third part of the process of discernment, distinguishing between what is good and what is best. This is an often overlooked part of discernment.

If your son or daughter is choosing a college to attend, if you’re able, don’t you want them to choose the best? If you’re buying a book to read, all other things being equal, don’t you choose the one with the best reviews? If you are a Sunday School Superintendent choosing new material to use in class, don’t you want the best? No one says, ‘Nah, I’ll pass over the best and settle for the merely good.’

It’s like if a tsunami is coming. The waters are rising and you’ve gotten to high ground. It’s good ground. You’re pretty sure it’s good enough. But you still have time to reach the best ground, where you can be sure you won’t get swept away. Do you stay put? Of course not. To save your life you strive for the best and highest ground.

Discernment is like that. I remember reading a Christian woman’s essay about this very thing in practical terms. Sunny Shell, on why she chose to no longer follow John Piper.

I’ve found the teachings from John Piper and “Desiring God” (after testing it with God’s word) requires more discernment than I currently possess. And since there are other Christian teachers/ministries I can learn from (e.g., John MacArthur/Grace to You, Alistair Begg/Truth for Life, R.C. Sproul and son, R.C. Sproul, Jr./Ligonier Ministries) that don’t give me tired-head, I’ve chosen to only follow those who are clearly and faithfully following the Lord (Heb 13:7).

Discernment includes searching out the best holy ground we possibly can, so that Jesus is MORE glorified rather than LESS glorified. Seek out what you know to be the best, and stick with that.

Keep going up and up

Our ultimate aim always is to glorify Jesus. However there are several additional reasons why we want to “abound still more and more in real knowledge and all discernment, 10so that you may approve the things that are excellent”. The first reason is so that others will benefit.

all discernment – The term aisthēsis refers to the ability to make decisions for the benefit of others. 1:10 what is superior When the Philippians’ love abounds, they will be able to determine what is most valuable or beneficial to the community of believers.

Barry, J. D., Heiser, M. S., Custis, M., Mangum, D., & Whitehead, M. M. (2012). Faithlife Study Bible (Php 1:9–10). Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software.

What if you were running from the rising waters of the tsunami again. And you were not too familiar with the ground and you thought you’d reached the highest you could go, and sat down to see if the waters would reach you or not. But along came someone who had hiked that hill before and knew there was a narrow pass that led to even higher ground? Would you stay put? Of course not, you’d be grateful someone came along and showed you that though where you were was good, it was beneficial to move to where it was best.

The second reason we discern is so that our minds can be renewed. And here we have the most critical reason why discernment is important. (along with the other items Paul prayed for us to have). The process of discernment helps to sharpen the mind and to renew it according to Christ’s likeness. This is the process I spoke of at the beginning.

Gills Exposition explains this aspect of the Philippians 1:10 verse

Or “try things that differ”. There are some things that differ one from other; as morality and grace, earthly things and heavenly things, carnal and spiritual, temporal and eternal things, law and Gospel, the doctrines of men and the doctrines of Christ; all which differ as much as chaff and wheat, as gold, silver, precious stones, and wood, hay, stubble.

These are to be tried and proved; they are not to be received without distinction, but should be examined, which is right and best to be chosen and preferred; and to such trial and examination it is necessary that a man should be transformed, by the renewing of his mind, that he should have spiritual light, knowledge, and experience, have his spiritual senses exercised to discern the difference of things.

Let Jesus freshen and open your mind
as you practice discernment. EPrata photo

Gill said these things are not to be received without distinction. In today’s Christianity we are barraged with the notion that we are to let the false teachers alone. We are not to point out the false doctrine. We are not to say this or that is a bad book. ‘Let God judge’ they say. ‘It will be taken care of in the end’ they say. However, failure to participate in the important process of discernment means you are choosing deliberately NOT to renew your mind.

The process of choosing, testing, weighing, examining, reading, comparing…all these are part of the process of how the Lord transforms our mind. As we hear a teaching and go back to the word, He transforms our mind. Through hard work, trial and error, we gain experience.

It would be nice if we were sitting around and Jesus simply plopped discernment and experience into our minds. This is what many of the false teachers say happens to them. They sit on their porch or sequester themselves in a cabin or shell peas and all of a sudden presto, a new revelation from God and a new ‘level’ of ‘fresh experience.’ They say, “God told me.” “God wrote the book for me.” “I saw Jesus and He said…” But that is not how it works.

When Paul said ‘persevere in the struggle’ and ‘run the race’, he didn’t mean as a sidelines armchair quarterback waiting for a personally dove-delivered epiphany. LOL, that is hardly running, now, is it? The practice of discernment is part of the struggle and through it, we gain experience and a transformed mind.

The more I practice discernment the more my love for Christ abounds, because that means I see Him more clearly than the day before. We still see through a glass dimly, but in practicing discernment, it’s like when we walk into a dark room, instead of choosing to turn on only a flashlight, we are using a floodlight.

So we end as we began, with Paul’s prayer:

atheism, discernment, encouragement, Perry Noble, prophecy

A few good links: ‘One True God’ free download workbook; Meaning of Pastor, Atheism, CT quake swarm, more

Posted on January 17, 2015 by elizabethprata

Here are a few good links.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

One True God

Justin Peters wrote on Facebook this week,

If you are looking for something to do this weekend, download this free Bible study and tear into the Book. For your edification:

One True God – workbook PDF

Written by Paul Washer. I haven’t looked at the content, but I trust Peters and Washer to know good material. Take a look and see it if suits you.

Thank you Pastor, for developing good materials for us. Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord. (Romans 12:11)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

What does Pastor mean anymore?

A Pastor friend of mine from Maine posted this. I read it and I thought it was excellent. I don’t know the pastor who wrote it nor his church, but this particular article was very good.

Disembodied Bodies, Mark Driscoll, and How “Pastor” Has Lost All Meaning

With one simple click of the mouse, Christians can be pastored by their favorite pastor. Regardless of the miles between them, open your web browser and in just a few keystrokes, your preferred preacher is pastoring your soul…except, not really.

This, then, is how you ought to regard us: as servants of Christ and as those entrusted with the mysteries God has revealed. (1 Corinthians 4:1)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hail Satan

Tory MP comes out as atheist.
A Minister of Parliament (MP) of the Tory Party ‘came out’ as an atheist. He said that there is much pressure to at least pretend to believe in God. He said he can ‘come out’ now because his term is ending and he will not run again.

The MP was speaking at a debate on a private members bill which calls for prayers to be read at the start of council meetings. At the start of his speech, he noted that,

At a meeting of Lake Worth City Commission last month, the invocation was given by an atheist called Preston Smith. And he began his invocation with the words, ‘May the efforts of this Council blend the righteousness of Allah with the all-knowing wisdom of satan.’ The fact that the effect of the public sector equality duty on this bill is at local authority’s choosing to hold religious observance in their meetings will not then be able lawfully to discriminate against the observances of the religion of Satanism.

What the MP does not realize is that he is in exactly the same camp as the people who worship Allah and satan.

Therefore you are great, O LORD God. For there is none like you, and there is no God besides you, according to all that we have heard with our ears. (2 Samuel 2:22)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Earthquakes in Diverse places!

4th straight day of earthquakes in Conn.

A 2.2-magnitude earthquake has rattled eastern Connecticut again. In what’s becoming a daily seismic event, the Weston Observatory of Boston College said the earthquake occurred at about 4:40 a.m. Thursday near Plainfield, where previous earthquakes were recorded. It says two minor earthquakes were recorded on Wednesday and another on Tuesday. Several were recorded on Monday and last week, too.

Connecticut officials coordinate earthquake preparation

After daily earthquakes in eastern Connecticut over the past week, officials have met to discuss ways the state can respond and residents can prepare.

For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are but the beginning of the birth pains. (Matthew 24:7-8)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

SBC in full-on meltdown?

SBC-affiliated Beth Moore is allowed to speak God’s alleged prophetic word with no rebuke from the allegedly most conservative denomination. Perry Noble of the Southern Baptist Convention’s NewSpring church in SC re-wrote the ten commandments in a Christmas Eve sermon he delivered. As James Duncan at The Pajama Pages wrote,

On Christmas Eve, Perry Noble gifted the world a rewritten Ten Commandments. In so doing, he contradicted Scripture, celebrated his ignorance of the Bible, and ultimately rejected the gospel.

And LifeWay engages in fraud by trading on God’s word in heaven tourism for filthy lucre, causing an outcry and forced to pull one of the heaven tourism books, The Onion weighs in with a (deservedly) mocking opinion:

Publisher Pulls Book after Boy Admits He didn’t Go To Heaven

And many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of truth will be blasphemed. (2 Peter 2:2)

PS: Phil Johnson has published further statements from Tyndale related to the Heaven book which show demonstrably the publishing house knew the boy had repeatedly said he not gone to heaven and are lying about not knowing.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

And just in case you ever need it,

How to Give a Pill to a Cat

discernment, false teacher, joel osteen

I avidly used to watch Joel Osteen every week

Posted on January 17, 2015May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

Source

This is a testimony to the faithfulness of the Holy Spirit. Jesus said He would keep and protect His sheep, and He has done so with me.

He imparts spiritual life to the person who has faith in Jesus (2 Timothy 3:5; Ephesians 2:1; I John 5:11-12). He is the very Spirit of Truth,

that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you. (John 14:17)

The Holy Spirit teaches us, and He has taught me faithfully since the moment of my conversion.

“These things I have spoken to you while abiding with you. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you.” (John 14:25-26).

I was saved at age 42. I lived in New England. I had gone though several years of a trial, and I reached my wit’s end. Never had I not been able to figure things out myself, teach myself, handle things myself. But at rock bottom, I came to the realization that I couldn’t. This was the Holy Spirit convicting me, and through His work, I realized I was a sinner. I had always thought I was a good person, but now I knew I was not good. All those Christians talking about Jesus were right! Only He could make me ‘good’ as I clumsily called my sin. I cried out to Jesus and I was saved.

New England is the most godless place in America.

A 2012 Gallup Poll found that the five least religious states in the country, based on the percentage of self-identified “very religious” Americans living there, are all in New England. Vermont is the least religious, followed immediately by New Hampshire, Maine, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island. At number 11, Connecticut might as well be New England’s shining beacon of faith. (source)

The landing place of the Puritans has been ceded to the devil. What is it like to grow up in a place like that? It means a person can live and work and never see a bible. Never see someone reading it. Never hear the name “Jesus.” Never go to a church. Never even have it cross your mind.

Oh, there were moments when I was stuffed into a Methodist church basement and given a workbook and gone through the motions in some weak accession to a pale and long evaporated cultural vapor. I remember guitars and sitting in a circle in a Unitarian church. One or two Catholic visits. But church, bible, religion was never part of a strong upbringing. It was decades-long self-glorification-fest punctuated by occasional spots of “religion.” Sundays were for Sunday car rides to Newport, picnics, and be quiet because Dad was napping.

So when the conversion happened (2004) it was a few months before it even occurred to me to get a bible. I’d never even seen a bible store. A male friend had suggested “You ought to think about getting a bible.” I was stumped. I didn’t have a clue even to where to get one. I called a female friend, and 20 minutes later she arrived at my office door with one to give me. [Lesson for me: Always respond immediately to anyone asking about anything related to Jesus.]

I wasn’t in a church yet. I thought it was just as good to watch Joel Osteen. He was on TV during Sunday mornings at that time, in my area. 2004 was a big year for Osteen and Lakewood. I remember Joel speaking about how God was moving in their lives because after many bumps in the road, they had acquired the Compaq Center. I thought he must be a good preacher because of the size of the Lakewood’s growing congregation and how much money was pouring in.

I remember settling in on my big couch, with a notebook, an unopened bible on the coffee table in
front of me. I felt very good that I never missed Joel. For the next 6 months, every Sunday, unopened bible, listening to speeches that made me feel very self-satisfied. The rest of the week I went on as before my conversion. Yet I felt I was now a religious person.

I’d scribble down the biblical addresses as Joel spoke, and after a few months I began a pattern of scanning back over what notes I’d written. I frowned, because they were scanty. Not just the notes, but I noticed that there weren’t many biblical addresses jotted down. There is nothing like quantitative evidence staring you in the face.

So for the next few months I’d settle on the couch, still with a notebook, but this time with open bible, and listen religiously to Joel. Things went by too fast for me to both write and read the bible while he was speaking, so I’d jot down the main concepts in his speech. I had been an academic researcher and writer, and was at that time a journalist. I could grasp the main thought, and I paired it with every biblical address and reference Joel mentioned. I began to notice he mentioned people or events in the bible a lot, but not the address.

Screen capture from Osteen sermon,
audience repeating Osteen bible mantra

I began looking up the people and events he was mentioning in order to get a wider perspective. I used the internet for this, to Google names and events like this- “David, Saul, on the run.” Remember, I was coming from a completely godless society, tabula rasa, babe in Christ by a few months. ALL this was new to me. I did not have a discipler and I was not in a church.

After some months, almost a year now, I noticed a distinct pattern in Joel’s speeches. First, on the practical level, they were some of the best speeches I’d ever heard. The academic in me was interested in the high quality of their structure, the speech’s cadence, and their obvious intent: to make you feel good. I was amazed Joel had the ability to sustain this same rhythm and cadence every week. When it came time for the inevitable moment of climax, I always knew at least 30 seconds prior. You can see it coming. You know what he is going to say at minute 15, minute 22. It was spell-binding. Emphasis on spell. The academic in me liked this. The growing Christian in me was put off by this. It was confusing.

I began to get a kind of mental queasy feeling. Things weren’t adding up. Biblically, I mean. Rather than be carried along by the spell, it helped to have the notes, main ideas, and biblical addresses written down. This anchored me and kept me from being swept.

Meanwhile, the Spirit was doing a mighty work inside me. As He came to indwell my flesh, glimmers of holiness were growing. Tendrils of Holy Ghost smoke were encircling my mind, pushing away the pollution and giving it clearing from a lifetime of corruption.

After a while the Spirit had given me enough of a footing to be able to think about the verses as Joel was speaking. I distinctly remember the day that the Spirit’s sun broke through my mind. I was listening to Joel, open bible on my lap, knowing by now thanks to the Spirit to read above and below the mentioned verse. Joel ramped up to one of his main points, mentioned the verse, and as I looked at the bible and then looked back up at Joel, I shouted out loud, “THAT’S NOT WHAT IT MEANS!”

Eleven years later I still remember how deeply betrayed I’d felt when that moment came. It was as if I was looking at the great gulf fixed itself. On the one hand I was looking at my bible and what it was saying, and on the other hand looking at Joel across the room in the TV saying what he says the bible says. The two didn’t match up. I was shocked to the core and thoroughly horrified.

I remember muttering, “What a gyp.” It was exactly like the scene in Wizard of Oz when the curtain was drawn back to reveal not a powerful being but a crumbly old man with a squeaky voice. What a gyp.

It was exactly like the scene in A Christmas Story when Ralphie eagerly used the secret decoder ring to decode the secret message from the Radio program and it turned out to be an ad for Ovaltine. Ralphie said, “A crummy commercial?” The moment on the couch was my Ovaltine moment.

It had never once occurred to me that a famous preacher, such a capable speaker, would not be able or willing to present biblical verses simply and with conviction, explaining what they meant. It wasn’t a matter of his ignorance. No one can write such deft speeches week after week who didn’t have some mental chops. The man is obviously intelligent. That he used his intelligence to obfuscate the Word rather than illuminate it was devastating to me. I felt unhinged. I was angry and felt personally betrayed.

The precious and wonderful Holy Spirit kept me growing from there. He grew me rapidly. The entire period was about a year and a half. A year of watching naively and a half year of growing discernment. I never looked back. I moved to the Bible Belt and got into a Baptist church. A good solid, little rural church that sings hymns and meets on Wednesday nights for supper, and who prays together and who really care.

I personally believe that not only did the Spirit hold me but He allowed this to happen in order to teach me discernment. I lived the entire discernment process from my conversion to the eventual epiphany. There were many lessons. This is all to God’s glory and His Spirit who keeps us in His hand.

#5: False teachers obscure their false doctrine behind eloquent speech and what appears to be impressive logic. Just as a prostitute paints and perfumes herself to appear more attractive and more alluring, the false teacher hides his blasphemies and dangerous doctrine behind powerful arguments and eloquent use of language. He offers to his listeners the spiritual equivalent of a poisonous pill coated in gold; though it may appear beautiful and valuable, it is still deadly. Tim Challies, 7 Marks of a False Teacher

That thing Joel does at the beginning of each speech, where he holds the bible aloft and says the mantra “This is my Bible. I am what it says I am. I have what it says I have. I can do what it says I can do. Today I will be taught the Word of God. I boldly confess, my mind is alert, my heart is receptive. I will never be the same, in Jesus’ name.” It’s brainwashing.

Source No Compromise Radio

Of course he has to brainwash us in saying ‘we will be taught the word of God.’ Because he doesn’t. What he says and what he does doesn’t match up. Lesson learned.

There are preachers out there who give speeches that they call sermons and say they’re giving the truth but it’s lies. That liars existed within a place they call the church was new news to me.

Large congregations and money pouring in and smooth talkers and popularity don’t equate to meaningful biblical exposition. Lesson learned. Don’t forget how easy it is for the babes in Christ to believe these things. Often, they don’t talk about them but they believe them nonetheless. I was so naive.

For such persons do not serve our Lord Christ, but their own appetites, and by smooth talk and flattery they deceive the hearts of the naive. (Romans 16:18)

The key was, the absolute key, was that nothing happened to break me of Joel’s spell until I opened the bible for myself.

Now these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica; they received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so. (Acts 17:11)

What a wonderful lessons the Spirit gave me. The lesson was that there is nothing like the bible to explain the bible, that there is nothing more precious than the Word of God. However, as precious as it is, the Word of God does no Christian any good if it stays unopened on the coffee table.

Discipling: it’s critical. I was already older when I came to Christ, and then I went ahead and spent another year failing to glorify Him. I know that Jesus is in complete control and He allowed this for His reasons, but I still feel terrible of the wasted time.

Though this experience was ten and eleven years ago, I still remember the sense of personal betrayal and my spiritual horror when the scales fell from my eyes. The revulsion I felt was seeing that a person could use the bible for personal gain. This may seem a obvious conclusion to some people, but to a babe in Christ, this was a new thought. Oh, I knew there were religious charlatans out there, I saw their empires crumble all through the 1980s and ’90s with the successive televangelist scandals. I thought Joel was good because no such scandal had happened and after all, he held up his bible.

I have a sense of righteous anger over Osteen, a feeling of repugnance and hatred for what he does in God’s name. I feel the same about Beth Moore and what she does to women in God’s name. I agonize in white-hot fervency when I see those two do what they do to pollute, cast mud on Jesus’ name, draw away the babes, use God’s word for personal gain. I also feel a sense of relief and gratitude to the Holy Spirit, my Savior and Holy Father for allowing me that season of following a false teacher so I could repent and love Him even more. I went through a season of undiscernment-to-discernment very quickly. I still stand amazed at the power of the Spirit to clear my mind and illuminate the Word so clearly and powerfully. I am in awe of His power. I am eternally grateful for His ministry.

Now you know why I always urge prayer. Now you know why I always urge us to stay in the Word. I’m not immune to life’s distractions. I include myself in that urging.

In Galatians 5:12 Paul was urging the people in the Galatian church to beware of the circumcision group, who said one must be circumcised to be fully in the faith. Paul said,

“I wish those who unsettle you would emasculate themselves!”

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary explains,

“were even cut off—even as they desire your foreskin to be cut off and cast away by circumcision, so would that they were even cut off from your communion, being worthless as a castaway foreskin (Ga 1:7, 8; compare Php 3:2). … if circumcision be not enough for them, then let them have excision also; an outburst hardly suitable to the gravity of an apostle. But Ga 5:9, 10 plainly point to excommunication as the judgment threatened against the troublers: and danger of the bad “leaven” spreading, as the reason for it.”

Rough speech about these usurpers? Pitched holy anger? Yes. Just as it should be.

In Titus 1:11, we read of false teachers,

They must be silenced, since they are upsetting whole families by teaching for shameful gain what they ought not to teach.

The Commentary again, explains that silencing them means “mouths … stopped—literally, “muzzled,” “bridled” as an unruly beast (compare Ps 32:9).”

Alternately, seeing the purity of the Holy Spirit and His gentle leading me away from such unruly beasts, these dogs who must be muzzled, is so awe-inspiring. The Light the Spirit brings to the Word, His answer to prayer for discernment, His keeping us in Jesus hand, pointing to Jesus always, oh, what glory and blessing.

He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. (John 16:14)

He does, dear brethren, He does. This is my testimony of discernment.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

What will it be like to be glorified?

Posted on January 16, 2015May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

I’m 54 years old. When I was young I said I’d never prattle on about my ailments, like a great-aunt Jane or a Grandpa Joe.

But now the doctor said I have bad arthritis in my knees, my feet swell, my eyes get so dry, my digestion is ahem explosively sensitive, and I get these headaches…

Ack. And my bodily griefs are piddling compared to some who endure disease, chronic pain, and trauma by fire or accident. Anyway, I think so often about seeing Jesus. My daily prayer usually ends with asking, “Is this the day? Will today be the Day I see you?”

After the promise and excitement and joy of seeing Jesus, the next part I’m looking forward to is the new body.

In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. (1 Corinthians 15:52)

OK, that’s a great start. We shall be changed. Hmmm. Changed how?

When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.” (1 Corinthians 15:53).

Ok, we will be immortal. That’s a fact that a lot of unsaved people do not know and a lot of saved people do not ponder enough. All peoples who have ever lived will be immortal. The unsaved dead will be raised for eternal punishment and the saved dead will be raised for eternal joy and communion with the Savior. In new bodies!

Matthew Henry Commentary says,

He assigns the reason of this change (v. 53): For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. How otherwise could the man be a fit inhabitant of the incorruptible regions, or be fitted to possess the eternal inheritance? How can that which is corruptible and mortal enjoy what is incorruptible, permanent, and immortal? This corruptible body must be made incorruptible, this mortal body must be changed into immortal, that the man may be capable of enjoying the happiness designed for him.

Henry, M. (1994). Matthew Henry’s commentary on the whole Bible: complete and unabridged in one volume (p. 2276). Peabody: Hendrickson.

Further, the verse says we will be imperishable. This means we will not only be eternal but we will not even have to worry about our bodies. They cannot perish. Imagine living without worrying about the end of our lives?! Take death off the table and just imagine how much of a relief it will be.

He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away. (Revelation 21:4)

Our bodies and our hearts and our minds will no longer feel any kind of pain. Not even the memory of it.

In 2 Corinthians 5:8, Paul said, “We … would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord.” When we die, we’re home. Imagine a small boy who falls asleep in the back seat of the car. When the family gets home, his father picks him up and carries him into the house. When he wakes up, he’s home. That’s what will happen for God’s children.

Death is glory. It is paradise, as Jesus said. In Philippians 1:21, Paul wrote that “to die is gain.” When we die, we will gain imperishable, glorified, spiritual bodies (1 Cor 15:42–44) and be like Jesus in this way (1 Cor 15:49). We will know God and each other as we are known (1 Cor 13:12). And we will eat of the tree of life and live forever (Rev 22).

Barry, J. D., Heiser, M. S., Custis, M., Mangum, D., & Whitehead, M. M. (2012). Faithlife Study Bible. Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software.

beth moore, discernment, encouragement

Discernment: Flatteries of false teachers

Posted on January 15, 2015May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

We are told in many verses about the false prophets and false teachers coming to deceive the people. They use false words, flatteries, and smooth speech. The antichrist will be the most full version of a false prophet ever, being full of sin. His name will be Man of Sin. (2 Thess. 2:3)

All the false prophets and teachers that come before the Man of Sin will be less potent, but no less dangerous. They use the same methods. Satan sticks with what works.

Sometimes I discuss false teachers with friends. I might mention Beth Moore or Billy Graham etc. One thing that I hear most often when I discuss this with people is “But they talk about Jesus!”

This tells me we need to look at how false teaches deceive by using rhetoric, oratory and speech. Earlier this week I looked at false teachers’ motivations. Now let’s look at their methods.

For such persons do not serve our Lord Christ, but their own appetites, and by smooth talk and flattery they deceive the hearts of the naive. (Romans 16:18)

In Greek smooth talk means a kind speech, from the word chrēstologias
In Greek flattery means praise and adulation, from the word eulogias. It’s our word eulogy, the kind and flattering speech given at funerals for the dearly departed.

Gill’s Exposition says,

“by good words and fair speeches”; either by making use of the words of Scripture, and a show of arguments taken from thence; … by using words and phrases that faithful ministers of Christ use, such as the grace of God, the righteousness of Christ, the Spirit of Christ, but in a different sense…or by an elegant style, a set of fine words, a flow of rhetorical expressions, great swelling words of vanity, which such men generally affect, and so work themselves into the admiration of the common people.

And in their greed they will exploit you with false words. Their condemnation from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep. (2 Peter 2:3)

Here the term false words is from the Greek plastois, meaning made up, contrived, something artificial; from which we get our word plastic.

Gill’s Exposition says,
made words, words of their own devising, and not which the Holy Ghost teacheth…new words and phrases are always to be suspected and guarded against, great swelling words of vanity, having men’s persons in admiration

As Gill’s says, “they make use of scripture”. They use it, to further their own ends and satisfy their own appetites and to get money. Those are the motivations of the false teachers. They use scripture. That know scripture but they use it by twisting it, ripping it from context, referring to it but stripping the meaning from it.

Gill’s said, “They use words and phrases that faithful ministers of Christ use”. Every group has jargon. Christianity does too. False teachers will talk the same talk that pastors and ministers use. “Praise the Lord!” they’ll say when someone has a breakthrough,. “Bless your heart!” “I’m missional.” “You’ll receive a blessing.” “Gifted for ministry.” In other words, as wolves come in sheep’s clothing, they will imitate the sheep, right down to adopting the same phrases and terms we use every day. This makes them blend in.

Gill’s said they will use these terms but in a different sense. When a prosperity preacher talks about sending money to him or her, he or she will use the word blessing. ‘Sow a seed and get a blessing’ they will say. In the eternal words of Inigo Montoya, “You Keep Using That Word, I Do Not Think It Means What You Think It Means”.

Gill’s says also of the Romans 16:17-18 verse, false teachers will have an elegant style. They are good at what they do. Salesmen are salesmen because they’re talkers. If you’re not a talker, you’re usually a writer or a hermit, lol. False teachers’ apply their gift for talking to their dastardly work inside a church. Or within Christianity, as is the case with so many of them these days. Many are not even associated with a church. They’re smooth, plausible, facile with words and skilled at linguistic nuance.

People sometimes speak of sins of commission and sins of omission. Sins of commission are those sinful actions that are proactively done. Lying or stealing are examples of sins of commission. A sin of omission is a sin that takes place because of not doing something that is right. Examples could include not praying, not standing up for what is right, or not sharing Christ with others. James 4:17 is often used as a key verse regarding sins of omission: “So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.” This overarching theme provides the basis for the concept of a sin of omission. Read more: source

There is one sort of sin that is a half-kind of sin of omission. It is not a sin of commission. It’s called being disingenuous. Here’s the definition:

The definition of disingenuous is: “not candid or sincere, typically by pretending that one knows less about something than one really does. …giving a false appearance of simple frankness … Pretending to be unaware or unsophisticated“

A “good” example of smooth speech designed to flatter and praise is rife in Beth Moore’s Heresy Hunting article and also in her emails to the woman she was writing about. Remember, compare what they say with what they do. Do not be deceived naively by smooth words. Moore said of the 22 year old woman she was writing negatively about,

Anyway, the odd thing of it is, I loved her immediately. My calling is discipleship and my focus is women.

But the actions didn’t match up. Moore condescended about the woman’s age, her ability to discern, her ability to think for herself, and blocked her from commenting on Moore’s twitter stream, not to mention the entire article was uncalled for to begin with. That’s not love. But it is smooth speech.

Let me share one small example of how a false teacher can be disingenuous, by performing a half sin of omission. Let’s look at how a false teacher uses smooth language to present a different appearance to the naive. This is from Beth Moore’s recent blog essay about heretic hunting. Moore wrote:

I only have one small desk from which to watch our world so I miss a lot but, among the things in my eyeshot…

Not Beth Moore. However, it’s the impression Moore’s scene sets
in your mind. Just a small desk and a sliver of a view. Source.

Really think about the words here. This is the woman who has a 2000+ square foot home in a nice subdivision in Houston. Her corporate office is three floors and 8000 square feet. The first floor is where the workers pack and ship. There is also a conference room with candles and pillows and tissues. Moore’s private office is on the third floor. (source) The entire property, including the 18,000 sf land, is worth $673,397.

This is the woman who travels the country on a constant basis. She is President of a multi-million dollar corporation, one which employs 16 people (or did in 2010.) Perhaps her desk is small in fact. Likely not. Her ‘eyeshot’ is certainly not small. However, think about the picture Moore’s sentence creates in your mind – and then compare it to the reality. It’s the exact definition of disingenuous.

BTW here is the reality.

Actual property at Living Proof offices

Another example of being disingenuous, by using speech to appear to be transparent but actually obfuscating, was Diana stone from the She Reads Truth Editorial Board. I also wrote about this recently.

With a sweet daughter in tow, Diana clings to God’s Word daily through the struggles and beauty of being a woman who loves her Lord. You can find her in the mornings with a cup of coffee and her Bible flung open, preparing for the day ahead.

The website She Reads Truth is a mommy oriented site, lots of bible studies and devotionals for ‘busy moms’. (I do NOT recommend their studies or devotionals). The impression the women want to give is they’re harried moms just like you. Just like you! doing the mommy thing and trying to get the laundry done and making sure to read our bible every day. And all that is no doubt true. Except in order to have enough time to write about all this stuff, Diana drops her kids off at daycare first. A stay at home mom with out of the house kids. Now, she didn’t lie, she wrote about switching from having a nanny to to using daycare (First world problems!) on her blog. But the disingenuous impression put forth, especially in the bio, is the overwhelming mommy appearance. The nanny-day care appearance…you have to dig for it.

This is what it means by having sheep’s clothing. Sheep’s clothing is not skin. You’ll see frays, tears,

it might be ill-fitting. Sheep’s clothing is a disguise. At some point, their mask slips.

The Romans 16:18 verse also said that false teachers use language to deceive the naive. The Bereans were not naive. They listened to Paul but then eagerly went home and compared what Paul said to scripture to see if it was so. He was an effective speaker, certainly knowledgeable. The Bereans were called noble, because they checked it out. There were lots of apostles in Paul’s day, some true and many false. What if the Bereans did not check to see if it was so, but instead were impressed with his speaking ability, his ability to connect with audiences, his charisma or his sincerity.

Now let’s say that next comes along Hymenaeus and Philetus. (2 Timothy 2:1). They preached that the resurrection had already taken place. The duo had gone astray from the truth. No doubt they were also effective speakers, charismatic, plausible, sincere. Failing to check against scripture meant that they easily upset some in the faith. Titus wrote that in Crete, whole families were being upset by the false teachers over there.

Check any teacher’s words against the bible! Dig! Pray! Check again! Look at their lives to see if it is above reproach!

No matter how many scriptures they use, no matter how long they carry a bible around in their hand, no matter how charismatic and fervent ‘for the Lord’ they may sound, don’t be deceived by being naive. Not all who claim Christ are one of His. Beware. As Matthew Henry said, “it is an easy thing to be godly from the teeth outward.”

But do you know what else is easy? Praying to the Holy Spirit for discernment after hearing a teacher. Opening the bible to check. Asking a trusted elder for advice on the credibility of teacher so-and-so.

The Lord’s glorious Word is so precious, wonderful, filling, and good. When a false teacher USES God’s word to deceive, get money, destroy people, or lie about Jesus, it is one of the very worst things I can think of. What a terrible thing to do, take the holy word and pollute it for carnal gain.

But we can use it for its intended purpose- to point to Christ, to edify , encourage, build up, and train. We can use it to know Jesus better. We can use it to cut a heart to the quick, unto salvation. (Acts 2:37).

As precious as the word is, O joyous day when we see Him glorified, in person, in holy heaven! No more false teachers. His blessings are manifold.