Author: elizabethprata

Christian writer and Georgia teacher's aide who loves Jesus, a quiet life, art, beauty, and children.
Posted in theology

Matthew 18: “Did you go to her?” and the part that people ignore

Posted on by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

There remains much confusion about the process outlined in Matthew 18. Whenever a public Bible teacher is questioned, confronted, or critiqued, people invariably charge the questioner with failure of “having gone to her/him.”

Their reference is to a process outlined in Matthew 18:15-17.

If your brother sins, go and show him his fault in private; if he listens to you, you have won your brother. But if he does not listen to you, take one or two more with you, so that by the mouth of two or three witnesses every fact may be confirmed. If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector.

This is a process for individual church members and pastors, to employ among members inside a local body. It is commonly known as church discipline. We understand that by the first verse where one is called brother, and the third step where one must get his church involved.

It is not a process to be used for global students commenting or critiquing a public Bible teacher.

An example of the Matthew 18 church process might be, totally hypothetically, if I saw a brother in my church sideswipe my car at the Kroger Grocery store and he didn’t leave a note or come to me to fix it. If I knew a church friend was having an affair with a married man. Going to that person gives them the opportunity to repent to Jesus and make the situation right. If a brother denies sideswiping my car or the sister denied having the affair, we’re told to go back to that person privately with one or two additional people. This again inserts grace into the situation and allows the person opportunity to repent. If they still rebel and deny, then go to the pastor and lay out the case. The church is now responsible for calling that person back to holiness.

The main goal is stated in verse 15a, ‘you have won your brother.’

I find it bemusing that Christians insist that “loving” a person always means tolerating whatever sin they perpetrate, and in a honeysuckle sweet voice and attitude as well. They say, Jesus “hung out with sinners after all.” They always charge anyone who brings up something disagreeable in public regarding a public teacher, as having failed to go to them, which as we saw, is a mistreatment of the verse. More resources will follow.

But those who always clamor that someone has failed to ‘go to them’, who insist on tolerating all manner of sin in the name of love, themselves fail…to see the end result of the very process they want to see enacted. Surprise! There ARE times when a person is to be shunned.

Noooooo!

Yes.

If they refuse to repent and fail to pursue holiness, they are to be ostracized from all fellowship, denied the blessings of the church, and even as S. Lewis Johnson preached, disallowed to partake in the Lord’s Supper.

2 Thessalonians 3:6 also speaks to this- Now we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you keep away from every brother who leads an unruly life and not according to the tradition which you received from us.

This has been the traditional understanding of the discipline process for centuries; various Commentaries follow:

and so such that have been privately admonished and publicly rebuked, without success, their company is to be shunned, and intimate friendship with them to be avoided. Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible. 1746

Publican – See the notes at Matthew 5:47. Publicans were people of abandoned character, and the Jews would have no contact with them. The meaning of this is, cease to have religious contact with him, or to acknowledge him as a Christian brother. It does not mean that we should cease to show kindness to him and aid him in affliction or trial, for that is required toward all people; but it means that we should disown him as a Christian brother, and treat him as we do other people not connected with the church. This should not be done until all these steps are taken. This is the only way of kindness. This is the only way to preserve peace and purity in the church. Barnes Notes. 1830

Lastly, If even this fail, regard him as no longer a brother Christian, but as one “without”—as the Jews did Gentiles and publicans. Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary. 1871

Quit his company- he has despised the last tribunal. Now you must leave him. Be not angry with him. Freely forgive him, but quit him. Spurgeon, 1889.

The purpose of ostracism is not to punish but to awaken, and it must be done in humble love and never in a spirit of self-righteous authority…the fourth step in the discipline process is therefore to put out and to call back-to keep the sinning brother out of fellowship until he repents, but also keep calling him back in hopes that he will. John MacArthur Commentary, 1988

So using the logic of the day, IF we were to ‘go to them’, meaning, go to the public teacher, AND they refuse to hear reason, THEN you’d have to shun them.

But we don’t have to use an If-Then statement, mainly because Mt 18 doesn’t apply in this case. Elsewhere, the Bible gives plenty of commands and instructions for what to do regarding false teachings. It gives advice and instruction for what to do to verify a teaching, in order to determine if it is false or true.

The several points for the takeaway here are-

1. Critiquing a public Bible teacher’s works doesn’t have to be done within the context of a local church. We don’t have to “go to them.” You can if you want, IF they are accessible (many are not) but it’s not part of any biblical mandate. They are teaching publicly, we critique (or applaud) publicly.

2. The very process of ‘going to them’ means that once you start on this path it might end up where you have to shun them. That’s the process. If going to them is loving, then 2 verses from that point, shunning them is also loving. You can’t insist on step 1 of  the discipline process and then abandon step 4 as ‘unloving’. It’s all or nothing.

3. The version of love insisted upon by liberal and nominal Christians is often not biblical love. Love means offering the whole counsel of God, declaring sin as sin…pointing to God’s wrath as well as His love…knowing and publicizing that some teachers are not to be trusted..that there are times and cases when an individual or a whole church must ostracize a rebel. And so on.

If you are ever on the receiving end of the Matthew 18’s local church discipline steps, please realize it is God’s way of bringing you back to the fold. If you’re wandering, sinning, then the love that the brethren are showing is true love. Ignoring sin or coddling it isn’t love. Confronting it so you can live a holy life again, is.

Further Resources

D.A. CArson: Editorial on Abusing Matthew 18

Some of the “angriest, bitterness-laced emails I have ever received—…were those whose indignation was white hot because I had not first approached privately those whose positions I had criticized in the book. What a hypocrite I was—criticizing my brothers on ostensible biblical grounds when I myself was not following the Bible’s mandate to observe a certain procedure nicely laid out in Matt 18:15–17. Doubtless this sort of charge is becoming more common. I… This pattern of counter-attack, with minor variations, is flourishing.

Josh Buice: Matthew 18 and the Universal Church

Every once in a while I receive an e-mail from a concerned reader of this blog asking me if I had taken time to contact someone before I publicly named them in my article.  This past week, I received more than one e-mail asking me that very question.  In fact, I received at least ten such e-mails and some were quite critical of my intentions as they accused me of sin for not following the model of church discipline found in Matthew 18.  So the question remains – should I have contacted Pastor Andy Stanley before I made him the center figure in a critical article?

Tim Challies: Matthew 18 in a shrinking world

And when I write about people or their books, it is nearly inevitable that someone sends me an email or leaves a comment saying, “Did you follow the procedure laid out in Matthew 18?” This is sometimes a kind suggestion and sometimes a harsh rebuke. But either way, it almost always seems to come. This was true when I wrote critical reviews of 90 Minutes in Heaven and The Shack. It was true when I shared some concerns about men whose ministry I respect. In each case, people suggested that I ought to follow Matthew 18 and speak to the men themselves before publicly critiquing them.

 

Posted in theology

“The Pain of Seeing People Go”

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By Elizabeth Prata

Jordan Standridge wrote today of The Pain of Seeing People Go. His is a timely essay, as I’ve been drafting one exactly like it on the same topic.

I’m talking about when God sovereignly moves fellow believers to a new city. I happen to pastor at a church that has a lot of coming and going. People move to Washington DC for a couple of years, they become part of our family and then suddenly get taken away. It is like your heart is being ripped away.

Our church was founded with the intention of being missional. We are in the heart of a University city with many of the founding members in college or Graduate School. It’s an influx and outflow church. About thirty have left over these last few months, but about thirty new people have been sent in by the Spirit.

Whether a person the elders raised up would be on mission in our local city or across the world, we wanted people to grow, and if they felt the call, leave with the heart full of joy in evangelism and our support. It’s purposeful, but it’s hard, too, to see them go.

And many have done just that. They are veering off to Canada for training as a Wycliffe Bible Translator. They are headed to Malaysia as teachers of English. They have gone to other US states to head up college Navigators organizations or other Christian jobs. They’ve gotten married and headed to different states with their husbands, having been trained up in the Gospel so well by our elders. They have obtained jobs as High School Bible teachers. And many more.

I’ve been happily saddened by the departure of  some of our original members this summer. I miss them, their smiles, their fervor, their dedication. But I’ve been uplifted by the knowledge that they are serving the Lord there just as they did here, and that I’ll see them again someday.

Now we are on to the next round of raising up men, guiding families, serving the new members in all ways so that there will someday be a new crop to fly out into the world with the Spirit-given gifts and talents that have been shepherded in them. We are just as busy encouraging the next crop being raised up as much as we support and love the ones who remain. Milkweed seeds that fly on the breath of the Spirit driven wind, into the world to again serve and labor there as they once did here. And so on. Repeat.

I’m grateful for the church’s commitment to raise up men. It’s no doubt wearisome as the people come and go, our lives a cycle of ebbs and flows in saying goodbyes and then creating new relationships forged in His spotless name. The congregation’s own smiles, verve, and excitement at laboring in our God-given tasks is infectious. It helps that we know that the Word of God says do not grow weary in the well-doing. I pray the Spirit gives me just as much joy in meeting new members as I’d had for the ones who helped found the original congregation.

I pray frequently that the Spirit gives us energy and wisdom, as also pray that the Spirit sends us new people. I’m looking forward to the next ring of seeds to come up and waft out onto the winds of the Spirit.

For all things are for your sakes, so that the grace which is spreading to more and more people may cause the giving of thanks to abound to the glory of God. Therefore we do not lose heart. (2 Corinthians 4:15-16a).

 

Posted in theology

The importance of a Bible teacher’s transparency: it relates to accountability

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By Elizabeth Prata

On June 18, I and 5 other ladies signed an Open Letter to Beth Moore and it was published on several of our platforms. It asked Moore 5 plain questions regarding her stance on homosexuality, and noted that her associations and partnerships with several high-profile gay-affirming and openly homosexual Christians were causing confusion between her life and whatever doctrine she held. (1 Timothy 4:16). So we asked the questions about her doctrine.

The issues covered in this essay are a Bible teacher’s accessibility, accountability, and transparency.

After two weeks of controversy, stirred because Mrs Moore refused to directly acknowledge the letter or answer the questions, (timeline here), then finally publishing a ‘kind of-sort of’ explanation, Beth Moore announced she was taking time off from Twitter.

One of the charges Moore made against the publishers of the Open Letter was that we did not go through “the right channels.” Here is her tweet.

She opens with an insinuation that she knows our hearts, that we don’t really want answers. We do. She closes with another insinuation as to our motivations, that we want public attention and we like barbecuing fellow Christians. We don’t.

In the middle she said that we should contact our church to ask. This makes no sense. I should contact my pastor to ask him what Beth Moore’s stance on homosexuality is?

How would one get in touch with Beth Moore to ask a question or gain clarification on something she has taught? Remember, she does not restrict her teaching to women in her own church, she teaches all people globally. See Lifeway Christian Resources 2019 report for the year 2018 activities:

LifeWay Christian Resources and the Women’s Event and Publishing Team continues to equip and minister to women across the country and beyond with multiple live events and resources for a diversified audience, both to the SBC and other women of faith.

In 2018 the Women’s Event Team celebrated 20 years of Living Proof Live events with Beth Moore and worship led by Travis Cottrell. From October 2017 through September 2018, cities included Sacramento, Calif.; Seattle, Wash.; Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.; Boone, N.C.; Green Bay, Wis.; San Diego, Calif.; Calgary, Ala., Canada; Columbia, Mo.; Hot Springs, Ark.; Huntsville, Ala.; as well as an Alaskan cruise during the summer.

These events ministered to more than 50,000 women.

The Beth Moore simulcast event was partnered with the live event in Huntsville and included 376 churches and 6,500 individuals representing more than 10 countries.

The year before, Lifeway reported,

In 2017, the team managed 36 events, including 21 enrichment events, two live simulcasts, and 17 leadership training events. The team hosted 11 Living Proof Live events Women across the United States and around the world were reached through annual Beth Moore and Priscilla Shirer simulcasts with approximately 150,000 women watching.

That’s a lot of women being influenced by what Beth Moore says and does. Because she has introduced confusion as to whether it is appropriate to ask a public Bible teacher a question, and has caused confusion about how to access a widely-known Bible teacher, I decided we should take a look as to what the Bible says on the issue.

In reading of the Apostles and teachers of the New Testament time, did they answer questions? IS it appropriate to ask the celebrity teachers a question about their teaching? What are the right channels, anyway?

Does your favorite Bible teacher or pastor only pay lip service to transparency? Or are they truly transparent?

In Acts 2:12, the sermon by Peter was a response to questions from the crowd.

Why, are not all these who are speaking Galileans? And how is it that we each hear them in our own language to which we were born? … And they all continued in amazement and great perplexity, saying to one another, “What does this mean?” (Acts 2:7-8, 12)

Peter replied that they were not drunk as they had supposed, then answered their questions.

The disciples asked Jesus about the temple and the time of the end, asking “when will these things happen, and what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?” (Matthew 24:3)

“And Jesus answered…” (Matthew 24:4), sparking one of the longest discourses in the New Testament.

Nicodemus sought Jesus at night, presumably when the day was done and Jesus was eating or resting. Yet Jesus was available to him, and gave some of the most important answers in the entire New Testament about being born again-

Jesus answered, (John 3:5)
Jesus answered and said to him, (John 3:10)

Paul’s 1 Corinthians letter responds to issues and questions which the congregation at Corinth had sent him in writing. Paul answered in writing. (1 Corinthians 5:1; 6:1; 7:1).

Acts 17 begins with recounting how Paul’s entire life was given to traveling and teaching and answering questions. Here is from Acts 17:1-3, Paul at Thessalonica,

Now when they had traveled through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a synagogue of the Jews. And according to Paul’s custom, he went to them, and for three Sabbaths reasoned with them from the Scriptures, explaining and giving evidence that the Christ had to suffer and rise again from the dead, and saying, “This Jesus whom I am proclaiming to you is the Christ.”

I underlined reasoned with them because in the Greek that word reasoned is, dia lego. If that sounds like our English word dialog, it’s because it is.

Strong’s #1256 /dialégomai (“getting a conclusion across”) occurs 13 times in the NT, usually of believers exercising “dialectical reasoning.” This is the process of giving and receiving information with someone to reach deeper understanding – a “going back-and-forth” of thoughts and ideas so people can better know the Lord (His word, will). Doing this is perhaps the most telling characteristic of the growing Christian!

In other words, asking and answering.

Is your favorite Bible teacher partially transparent, only allowing you to see what he or she wants you to see?

In John 8:2 we read-

And early in the morning he came again into the temple, and all the people came unto him; and he sat down, and taught them.

In other words, answering questions. Responding to pupil queries is part of teaching.

I understand that when a person gets to a certain level of fame, accessibility might become difficult. Or not. Paul Washer is famous too, and spans the globe teaching and preaching, just as Beth Moore does.

Yet when he preached at The Master’s University, he remained in the auditorium for a lengthy period afterward. He answered every single question asked of him to each and every student that approached. The line was long, he needed to return to the Shepherds Conference where he had been engaged to preach, yet he did not look at his watch or become impatient. He made himself available to students who wanted to engage with him, one-on-one. He is a true servant. This man pours himself out like a drink offering on behalf of the body and for Christ.

We know that the numbers show that Beth Moore has a huge impact on a huge number of women. The question is, how would one approach her to ask a question about something she has taught?

Moore’s Living Proof Ministry has an official Facebook page, but it is managed by someone other than Moore. Moore does not have a personal FB page. I have not found an Instagram page for Beth Moore. At her Ministry Contact Page it is shown where you can postal mail Moore or you can call. When you call, you don’t get Beth Moore on the phone, but a secretary. See below.

She closed comments to her essay ‘Why I deleted half the chapter on homosexuality from the Kindle version’. She withdrew from Twitter, the only remaining source of direct engagement any of the public actually had with her.

She is inaccessible by preference and by design.

In 2010 Christianity Today wanted to do a cover story on Moore. One would think that a widely circulated magazine aimed directly at Moore’s demographic would please her, and that she would do everything to get the message out. No.

CT reported that accessing her was extremely difficult. Newsmax reported,

Finding fun facts [About Moore] isn’t easy, at least not in person. Christianity Today (CT) wrote of the difficulty in getting through the Moore phalanx of image guardians to get an interview: “It was not easy to get there.”

CT had to ask several times just to receive a ”yes” to the interview. The reporter stated that she was-

“closely protected by assistants who allow very few media interviews. After several interview requests from CT, her assistants allocated one hour to discuss her latest book and ask a few questions about her personal life. Each question had to be submitted and approved beforehand, I was told, or Moore would not do the interview. Follow-up interview requests were declined. I was permitted to see the ground level of her ministry, where workers package and ship study materials. But Moore’s third-floor office, where she writes in the company of her dog, was off limits.” (Christianity Today)

As one man on Twitter wittily stated, “I can tweet the president of the United States of America, directly, but I have to go through “proper channels” to get to @BethMooreLPM?”

Accessibility is to one’s discretion. Availability might become limited. But transparency should never, ever be an issue with a person handling the word of God.

There is a difference in being wise and mindful of one’s time in order to shepherd it to the fullest, and being elusive and evasive.

Be wary of teachers that reject open scrutiny or are not transparent in their theology or their thinking in how they got there. It means they reject accountability. Apostle Paul welcomed scrutiny and was happy to be held accountable (Acts 17:11). Paul Washer and John MacArthur, as busy as they are, both make time for students and answer questions. Dr. MacArthur frequently holds a Q&A at the pulpit and welcomes people’s questions.

Bible teachers, accountable for accurately speaking truth to students, must also understand God’s desire for them to love students as well seen in how they speak about them to others. How easy it can be to talk negatively about certain students to fellow teachers, a spouse, friend, or to whomever you might unload frustrations. God says, “this should not be.” Source

True transparency. Can you see into the Bible teacher’s or the Pastor’s life?
Can you see how they arrived at their conclusions?

The more transparent a teacher is, the more we can assess their doctrine and their life. (1 Timothy 4:16). I’m not taking about opening up every single private thing you ever did, but general transparency for any public teaching figure, local or global, means seeking to serve from a humble position and earnestly answering or helping those whom you teach (locally or globally).

 

Posted in theology

The Langugage of God: Earthquakes

Posted on by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata
This is an updated version of an essay I published in June 2010.

In looking at ways God has spoken to us in the past and of the ways He has promised to speak to us in the future, we discover God’s vocabulary. Among other ways that He has spoken to us, part of His language included fire and brimstone, hail, lightning, and earthquakes. The writer of Hebrews wrote in verses 1:1-2, “Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world.”

God has promised to speak to us again via earthquakes and this article explores the ways the LORD shakes us when He wants our attention.

Here is Ray Comfort’s response during a 7.1 quake that shook California this week:

Please consider liking and sharing this video so that people may be awakened to the reality of their death and turn to Christ. Make sure to also pray for those who are injured and possibly even killed from this earthquake.

The Church Age is coming to an end. The trumpet will sound and believing Christians will disappear from the earth in the blink of an eye. The Tribulation will begin, signaling the last 7 years of this earth’s history will conclude. The Apostles asked Jesus three questions about this particular time in history. First, they asked when the Temple will be thrown down (something Jesus had made reference to immediately prior to the Apostles’ question.) They also asked what will be the sign of His coming and the signs of the end of the age. Jesus’ answer to these three questions is recorded in Matthew 24, Mark 13 and Luke 21. Note that the Apostles asked three questions, and though the main answer is considered to be in Matthew, that each of the other two Gospels offer slightly different information to complete the picture. Jesus’ response is called “The Olivet Discourse” because the conversation was held on the Mt. of Olives and Jesus spent quite a bit of time explaining, Therefore, we spent quite a bit of time asking the Spirit to lead us into understanding.

One sign Jesus said will occur is that there will be “earthquakes in diverse places.” Other translations spell it divers, or use the word various places. Jesus did not explicitly say that the number of earthquakes will rise in advance of the end. However, right after stating that there will be earthquakes, He said that the period of time the earthquakes & other signs will be occurring will be like birth pangs. Birth pangs increase in intensity and frequency as the new life approaches. This is a symbol that is easily understood and readily identifiable, therefore we can feel confident that the number of earthquakes will rise in number as the end comes near. So, let’s look at types of earthquakes.

 

Earthquakes are a sign of the end of the age, and not just numerical increase, but unusual locations, swarms, and impacts are part of God’s lexicon. We need not turn to USGS to prove or disprove God’s word. There will be earthquakes in diverse places. And today, there are earthquakes of different types and in different places. It is as simple as that.

God has used earthquakes to speak to His people in the past and will again in the future. In Acts 16:26, He used a quake to release Paul from prison. When Jesus died on the cross, a quake occurred, recorded in Matthew 27:54, “When the centurion and those with him who were guarding Jesus saw the earthquake and all that had happened, they were terrified, and exclaimed, “Surely he was the Son of God!”

The quake was God speaking to humans … and they understood.

A few days later as Jesus rises from the grave there is another earthquake. Matthew 28:2 records it. “There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it.”

In Ezekiel 38:19 God promises to show Himself through an earthquake (among other things). “In My zeal and in My blazing wrath I declare that on that day there will surely be a great earthquake in the land of Israel.”

During the Tribulation, an earthquake will occur in Jerusalem as described in Rev 11:13 where 7000 people will be killed. Later, in Rev 16:18, “Then there came flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder and a severe earthquake. No earthquake like it has ever occurred since man has been on earth, so tremendous was the quake.” Every mountain will crumble and every island will flee away.

God speaks in various ways. He spoke to Elijah when Elijah was fleeing Jezebel. God told Elijah to listen for Him. He sent the wind, but He was not in the wind (that time). He sent the fire, but He was not in the fire (that time). He sent the earthquakes, but He was not in the earthquake (that time). God spoke to Elijah in a still, small voice, and it was that voice that awed Elijah more that the demonstrable ways God had usually spoken.

God demonstrates His anger through earthquakes: Isaiah 13:13 says,

Therefore I will make the heavens tremble, and the earth will be shaken out of its place, at the wrath of the Lord of hosts in the day of his fierce anger.

Then the earth reeled and rocked; the foundations also of the mountains trembled and quaked, because he was angry. This verse from Psalm 18:7 directly tells us that the earthquake was a sign that God was angry

And there was a panic in the camp, in the field, and among all the people. The garrison and even the raiders trembled, the earth quaked, and it became a very great panic. (1 Samuel 14:15).

That particular earthquake affirmed the fact of divine intervention during this battle and that it aided Joshua and his armor-bearer. (John MacArthur Study Bible note).

It was a quake that let Peter out of Jail. God spoke that Peter should be let out and used an earthquake to say it. (Acts 16:26)

We read in Hebrews 12:25-29 the echo of the promise in Haggai 2:

“See to it that you do not refuse Him who is speaking. For if those did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, much less will we escape who turn away from Him who warns from heaven. And His voice shook the earth then, but now He has promised, saying, “YET ONCE MORE I WILL SHAKE NOT ONLY THE EARTH, BUT ALSO THE HEAVEN.” This expression, “Yet once more,” denotes the removing of those things which can be shaken, as of created things, so that those things which cannot be shaken may remain. Therefore, since we receive a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us show gratitude, by which we may offer to God an acceptable service with reverence and awe; for our God is a consuming fire.”

Though earthquakes were used by God and understood by the Old Testament people and early New Testament folks alike as a display of divine wrath, and it still assuredly could be in general, there is danger in assigning divine displeasure to this earthquake or that earthquake. Unless one is living through the prophesied earthquake of Revelation where 7000 die and a tenth of the city collapse (Revelation 11:13), or the temblor where every island flees away  (Revelation 16:20), then we don’t know for sure Gods’ intent for every quake.  

Spurgeon called earthquakes “creation’s groans”, which is a good place to leave it. (Romans 8:22-23). Meanwhile, God’s language these days is through His Son. (Hebrews 1:1-2).

I pray that you are in a place of spiritual acceptance to God, so that YOU cannot be shaken loose when the time comes.

Further Resources:

The World in Conflict and Distress

Spurgeon Creation’s Groans

Posted in theology

Onions, A Day in the Life, Sideways Necklace, Ghost Horse, Martyr Moment, and more

Posted on by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

I’ve blogged here for ten years. There are over 4,800 essays to peruse. (Which no one will actually do). So, I put before you several of the series I have written that new followers and recent readers might not know about.

A Day in the Life

I got curious about how the tradesmen and women actually lived. We know there were fishermen, potters, tanners, etc but what did they do, actually? What was their job like? How was their profession seen by others? Some of these trades are gone but others still labor in these professions (fishermen). I wondered how or if the profession has changed. So I looked into it and after writing an Introduction, I wrote several essays exploring a Day in the Life of a:

Fisherman
Seller of Purple
Tanner
Shepherd
Potter
Scribe

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

The State of the Church

I had become concerned with the State of the Church. Global negative influences such as charismaticism, apathy, prosperity gospel, and other false doctrines seemed to me to be watering down the American church’s witness. America never really was a true Christian nation, but for a long time we enjoyed the veneer of being one. That veneer was being eaten away at home by apostasy, homosexuality, feminism, and other worldly conditions. I wrote a series called expressing my views of this situation: Introduced here in part 1, and then continued with 5 more parts.

Part 2: Are you tending your anchor?
Part 3: The numbers aren’t good
Part 4: Carnal Carnival, & the greatest sin pastors commit
Part 5a: When carnality leads to spiritual abuse
Part 5b: Is your church spiritually abusive?
Conclusion: Spiritual Leaders and Humble Relationships

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

Beth Moore Reactions and Troubled

In 2011 I was brought to a Beth Moore Living Proof Live event. It meant a 6 hour bus ride and an overnight stay in a hotel. Ladies from our SBC church excitedly signed up to go and our bus was filled. When we arrived I saw that the arena was packed and that meant 20,000 ladies had taken huge steps to get there and paid out good money too. I was amazed by the turnout. I mean, people came in buses from far away, in droves, to attend a Bible event? I was thrilled. I was pretty new to church life, and new to the south. I had not heard of this lady before but I’d seen almost every woman I knew toting a Beth Moore book or talking about her studies. I settled in.

By the end of the weekend I was walking the outer perimeter of the arena, weeping and praying. As a discernment person, it felt like I was in a Babylonian Temple, and that the pillars were shaking with evil power and maniacal laughter from the demons that had gathered 19,999 deluded women to pay homage to a false god of a false Bible. I certainly didn’t mean to upset or offend the ladies who I was with nor offend the church leaders who urged me to go and even had paid my way. But I couldn’t, simply couldn’t remain in that place and listen to what was being said one moment longer. I paced in spiritual agitation.

I had been a journalist before coming to Georgia and I was glad. Moore speaks rapidly, throwing out terms and mantras without explanation, cobbling together many different verses to make her points. After a while of having this fire hose of words thrown at you, you just give up thinking and absorb without understanding. I was glad I wrote everything down so I could look at it later.

So I took copious notes the first session, and at night back in the hotel I looked them over. I praise the Lord that He graciously gave me a mind to dig onto things, and I had questions a lot of what was being taught, and the manner it was being taught. In looking them over now, 8 years later, I am pleased with what I’d written. In addition noting the wildly flung scripture verses, Moore’s incorrect allegorizing, and improper hermeneutics, I’d written

“to many mantras with mood inducing music- Eastern mysticism?”
“a temple of money lenders and false doctrines”
“cult of personality”
“She’s making our relationship with God a partnership- worrisome”
“Says things but doesn’t explain them…’Law of Love’? where’s that in the Bible?”
“lots if ‘if-then’ legalism”
“talks too much about abundant life and things we get from God”

I came home confused and upset and as I usually do, processed my thoughts by writing. I wrote a 6 part series of my reactions to Beth Moore’s teaching that weekend, and another series exploring her teachings after more research at home. From that day I’ve been on guard about her teachings and doing my best to warn in love and with scripture. Note, these links will take you to my mirror site at the-end-time.blogspot.com. It’s the same content)

Beth Moore: reactions to Living Proof teaching in Charlotte. Part 4: A final word
Beth Moore: reactions to Living Proof teaching in Charlotte. Part 3b: The Teaching
Beth Moore: reactions to Living Proof teaching in Charlotte. Part 3a: The Teaching
Beth Moore: reactions to Living Proof teaching in Charlotte. Part 2, The Music
Beth Moore: reactions to Living Proof teaching in Charlotte. Part 1, The Women
Troubled by Beth Moore’s teaching: Part 7, Conclusion
Troubled by Beth Moore’s Teaching, Part 6: Eisegesis, Pop Psychology, & Bad Bible Interpretations
Troubled by Beth Moore’s teaching, Part 5: Personal Revelation
Troubled by Beth Moore’s teaching: Part 4: Legalism
Troubled by Beth Moore’s teaching, Part 3: Contemplative Prayer
Troubled by Beth Moore’s teaching, Part 2: “Obnoxious”
Troubled by Beth Moore’s teaching: Part 1, Introduction and Casualness

Here is a link containing 60+ critiques of Beth Moore’s teaching written by men/pastors, by other women, and by me.

All Beth Moore critiques here in one place

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Sideways Necklace

In 2013 suddenly it seemed like everyone was wearing a sideways cross necklace. I was vaguely offended by this new fad and the designer’s positioning of the cross on its side, but I couldn’t figure out why. So I looked into it and wrote an essay asking the question – Is wearing a sideways (horizontal) cross good, or bad?

Little did I know that of all the theological essays diligently researched here, of all the encouragement essays cried over here, of all the salvation pleas and ‘left behind’ letters placed here, this essay would vault to number 1 and stay there. Six years later it’s still the most read essay.

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Ghost Horse of Tahrir Square is also an essay that got a lot of views. During the unrest in the Arab world in 2011, called Arab Spring, riots occurred in advance of the Egyptian President’s fall. MSNBC was there in a hotel, filming from a high vantage point, And for all the world to see, a ghostly apparition looking exactly like a horse and rider appeared on the video. I wrote about it. It’s one of those supernatural things that can’t really be explained…unless you’re a Christian.

My opinion is that it was something supernatural, a glimpse of the unseen world.

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Onions

I enjoy learning natural history of the things in the Bible. These are some of my personal favorites I’d enjoyed researching and writing.

All About Onions

All About Linen

The unique bird migration over Israel

Almond Tree: The Promise and the Beauty

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Math

I’m a math-a-phobe but sometimes I come across something really neat and understandable. Vi Hart is a mathematician who explains thing sin videos very well. You might enjoy this video about how to create a unique shape called a flexahexagon.

This Flexahexagon will blow your mind

The orderliness of growth and beauty in the natural world is a perfectly balanced design from a God of Wisdom. Hidden within the design, mathematicians in the middle ages discovered a progression that they still can’t understand, while they acknowledge its beauty. This progression of orderly growth and design is called the Fibonacci Sequence, named after the Italian scientist who discovered it. Here is more information-

Glory Window in the Thanks-Giving Square Chapel

 

Fibonacci spiral

Golden Spiral

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Sunday Martyr Moment

For a while I wrote essays about one martyr in the early days of the persecution, just as a way of honoring them, and reminding us of the cost in these easy believism times. I wrote over 40 of these. Just search at the search bar for Sunday Martyr Moment. Here is the first essay:

Sunday Martyr Moment

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Thank you for visiting and please feel free to search around at the material here. It goes back 10 1/2 years. I hope it edifies you. As always, email me if you have questions, or concerns about anything written here, or just want to share. Thanks!

Posted in theology

Gifts from the Sea

Posted on by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

Happy Fourth of July long weekend, if you’re taking it off! For many of us the beginning of July is high summer. Lots of families take vacations at this time of year, and many of those, choose to go to the beach.

Shells, sea glass, rocks, coral, barnacles, and pottery from the sea, collected from Labrador to the Bahamas. Prata photo

I used to take a week off at Christmas and head to Florida, and the week of the 4th I’d go to my favorite spot in Maine, Lubec. If you see the map of Maine as a profile of a dog, Lubec is at the dog’s nose. It borders Canada separated only by a narrow inlet. The bridge from Lubec takes you to Campobello Island on the Canadian island of New Brunswick.

As you might guess, the beaches on the hardy, rockbound and foggy coast of Maine are wild. As a matter of fact, Dr Beach, AKA Stephen Leatherman, several years ago rated a beach near Lubec as the most wild in America.

In December, I took my vacation at Venice FL, where the sand beaches are white and the ocean is azure and gentle at the Gulf coast.

Beaches around the US and around the world all have their own personalities. Each one yields up its own treasures. At Jasper Beach in Machias Maine, the beach has no sand! There’s only smoothly polished rocks of rhyolite and jasper. At Lubec’s Globe Cove, the sea yields sea glass, from the hundreds of years the fishing fleet used to throw over their glass bottles. At Venice FL, the sea yields up shark’s teeth in great numbers. At the deserted beaches in The Bahamas, you find coral washed up, bleached and in interesting twisted shapes. In Labrador, you find scallop shells bigger than your hand! All you need is one of these for dinner!

You rule over the surging sea; when its waves mount up, you still them. (Psalm 89:9)

And of course, there’s shells!

If you’re headed to the beach, or are already there, here are a few facts I found fascinating. As you amble along the borderline between ocean and ground, as you wade in the waters to cool your tired feet, as you shield your eyes and gaze out to the limitless blue expanse, praise God for making such a beautiful habitation, and its creatures so complex and wondrous.

My favorite shell is the moon snail. He has a lot of cousins. They all have that sweet spiral, so pleasing to the eye. Their hushed colors of slate grey or moon blue are also pleasing. In the US’s warmer waters and the tropics the shell colors are brighter. Some think this is because of the temperature of the ocean. Others think it’s because of the different food available that translates through digestion to the calcium the shells are made of. Scientists still aren’t sure what kinds of pigments the mollusks are using. The reasons for shell coloration and variation are a mystery to scientists, but God created them all. In one day! He knows why their colors and shaes are so varied. Perhaps to create a palette of beauty that glorifies Him.

Juvenile whelk, collected Gulf Coast Florida. Prata photo

Moon snails for all their delicate beauty are actually rapacious predators. The holes you see on other snail shells are made by the moon snail. He climbs on top of a shell, spits acid, uses his tongue lined with teeth to drill a hole, then spews acid onto the hapless mollusk inside. He waits for his prey to melt a little, then inserts his stomach into the hole and absorbs the prey.  Ouch! Yuck!

This is what the LORD says, he who appoints the sun to shine by day, who decrees the moon and stars to shine by night, who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar— the LORD Almighty is his name: (Jeremiah 31:35)

Did you know that the moon snail is hatched with a little shell attached already? That’s the point at the start of the spiral. So cool.

Moon snail, collected Maine. Prata photo

Scallops can grow into the size of dinner plates, their age shown by lines on the shell – just like the rings of a tree. I found that one in the photo at the top, in Blanc Sablon near Labrador Canada.

He is the Maker of heaven and earth, the sea, and everything in them— he remains faithful forever. (Psalm 146:6)

The Bahamas has been described as having the third most extensive coral reef system in the world. Did you know? Andros Island has a 140-mile Barrier Reef – and that is one of the longest coral reefs in the world.

Coral. The Bahamas. Prata photo

Did you know? Corals are in fact animals, not plants. Coral reefs are the largest structures on earth of biological origin.

Sea glass is becoming rarer.

Did you know? Sea glass takes 20 to 40 years, and sometimes as much as 100 years, to acquire its characteristic texture and shape. Sea glass begins as normal shards of broken glass that are then persistently tumbled and ground until the sharp edges are smoothed and rounded. In this process, the glass loses its slick surface but gains a frosted appearance over many years.
Naturally produced sea glass (“genuine sea glass”) originates as pieces of glass from broken bottles, broken tableware, or even shipwrecks, which are rolled and tumbled in the ocean for years until all of their edges are rounded off, and the slickness of the glass has been worn to a frosted appearance.

This article talks about the best places to find sea glass and mentions Jasper Beach in Machiasport, Maine among other beaches Downeast. That’s where you find the round and tumbled stones. Some glass can be found there, too. But if you’re going that far, drive just a bit further to Lubec, and walk the small beach at Globe Cove. That’s where even more sea glass treasure can be found.

If you spot some sea glass, salute our God who made the ocean and currents’ motion so strong that over time his waters will wear away hard glass.

See the barnacles on the scallop? Apparently in Labrador they grow em big! Barnacles are a sea creature that attaches to things, like they did to the underside of our sailboat. Enough of them get on there and it slows down the boat considerably, creating a lot of drag. Occasionally you have to pull the boat out of the water at a marina and scrape them off.

Barnacles on a scallop. They make it hard for the scallop to swim, too. Prata photo

Did you know that the cement barnacles use is stronger than anything man can make synthetically? How barnacles did it was a mystery from time immemorial until 2014. The US Navy has been intensely interested in barnacles, partly because of the issue of slowing the boats when barnacles grow on the hull, and also because the cement the creatures use is so sticky in salt water!!

When you’re walking on a pier and see the barnacles on the pilings, salute our God who made them so super strong.

Jasper Beach Machiasport ME. Prata photo

Whether it’s shark’s teeth, shells, rocks, sea glass, pottery, or any other treasure you find on vacation, praise God who made it all in 6 days by the power of His word and the creativity of His intellect.

Below you’ll find some resources I’ve enjoyed to help me learn more (and perhaps extend my vacation even after I get home?) the wonderful finds you find at the beach!

Conchologists of America, information about the shells and the animals that inhabit them. Conchologist is a shell collector.

Anne Morrow Lindbergh wrote a books of poems and thoughts called Gift from the Sea. Here is the link to the 50th anniversary edition

Remembering Lubec: Stories from the Easternmost Point (American Chronicles) 
is a short book about life in that harsh but beautiful climate and location

This is a good book, and pretty, too: Pure Sea Glass: Discovering Nature’s Vanishing Gems

 

Posted in theology

Independence Day in the US today, but a future freedom awaits

Posted on by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ; (Philippians 3:20)

Charles Spurgeon preached on this verse:

Citizenship in heaven

Our text, I think, might be best translated thus— “Our citizenship is in heaven.” The French translation renders it, “As for us, our burgess-ship is in the heavens.” Doddridge paraphrases it, “But we converse as citizens of heaven, considering ourselves as denizens of the New Jerusalem, and only strangers and pilgrims upon earth.”

I. The first idea which is suggested by the verse under consideration is this: if our citizenship be in heaven, then WE ARE ALIENS HERE; we are strangers and foreigners, pilgrims and sojourners in the earth, as all our fathers were. In the words of Sacred Writ “Here we have no continuing city,” but “we desire a better country, that is an heavenly.”

Let us illustrate our position. A certain young man is sent out by his father to trade on behalf of the family: he is sent to America, and he is just now living in New York. A very fortunate thing it is for him that his citizenship is in England; that, though he lives in America and trades there, yet he is an alien, and does not belong to that afflicted nation; for he retains his citizenship with us on this side the Atlantic.

Yet there is a line of conduct which is due from him to the country which affords him shelter, and he must see to it that he does not fail to render it. Since we are aliens, we must remember to behave ourselves as aliens should, and by no means come short in our duty. We are affected by the position of our temporary country.

Do you eagerly await our savior? I do. It’s Independence Day here in the United States. There will be fireworks, barbecues, beaches, parades, and gatherings. When Jesus comes, we will have a magnificent independence! The Great Gathering will happen and then we will be freed from this body of death. We will be free from the presence of sin. We will be free to gaze in adoration upon the Savior all the day long, and bask in His glory light in wonder and in love.

So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. (John 8:36).

No flags in heaven, but the presence of every nation, tribe, and tongue.

After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, 10 and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” (Revelation 7:9-10).

collage fourth of july

Posted in theology

Our associations matter: Biblical study on when to stay and when to separate

Posted on by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

We live in the age of “tolerance”. It’s not the tolerance you and I might have grown up with. The Merriam Webster dictionary defines tolerance as

sympathy or indulgence for beliefs or practices differing from or conflicting with one’s own, or : the allowable deviation from a standard

The issue in this decade is that in the secular world, liberals set the standard – and don’t allow any deviation from it. They also do not display any sympathy for those who differ. (Not all of them, I’m not speaking of an absolute, but a generality common to many people). Sadly of late the same is happening in the Christian world. Liberal Christians, some truly saved and others who aren’t, display the same attitude.

There are many reasons for this latter unfortunate circumstance. One of them, in my opinion, is that there is a throng of false teachers whose fetish in teaching is grace only, usually focusing on “love” to an extreme and never mentioning sin/repentance/wrath. After a decade or more of love-love-love, people have just as twisted understanding of what love is as they do the new version of tolerance.

That, in combination with a lack of ability or willingness to study and understand scripture, has brought forth a horde and a herd of folks ready to squash anyone whose understanding on these matters is biblically based on scripture.

This effect of the false teachers’ teaching was brought home to me yesterday as I was having conversations on social media about the need to separate from some professing believers  at prescribed times is a matter of command and prescription. When you look at the myriad scriptures, there are actually quite a few situations when brethren are supposed to divide from other brethren, and even in some cases, the lost.

This fact was met with incredulity, horror, and anger as one after another of these women, and some men, pushed back against this notion. Sharing the scriptures does not resolve anything. It often actually makes them angrier. Many simply ignore the shared scriptures and resort to calling names.

So I thought I’d do a study on what the Bible says about our associations with other people, when to leave a brother alone. This is hopefully to show that as with many other circumstances in our earthly life as humans, the Holy Spirit has given us wisdom and understanding about our associations, friendships, and fellowship.

While it seems “unloving” or dare I say “intolerant” to separate from a brother, there are sometimes good reasons for it, as we’ll see.

In many cases, when discerning brethren warn about this or that false teacher, the person will say, “Did you go to him?” meaning, did you have a private conversation with that public teacher before you said anything negative about his or her teaching? This refers back to Matthew 18. Going to a false teacher prior to critiquing his or her lessons is not necessary, because they are public teachers. The Matthew 18 verses are concerned with sinners in church.

It’s baffling to think that they will cling to Matthew 18:15-17 in the first place but avoid the end result of that process just 3 verses later, which is separation. Her is the process for dealing with a sinning brother in church-

Step 1: If your brother sins, go and show him his fault in private; if he listens to you, you have won your brother.

Step 2: But if he does not listen to you, take one or two more with you, so that by the mouth of two or three witnesses every fact may be confirmed.

Step 3: If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church;

Step 4: and if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector.

The separation in this last step to treat them “as a Gentile and a tax collector” means-

In the narrative’s Jewish context, Gentiles and tax collectors would be regarded as outsiders. This instruction to cut ties with the unrepentant sinner is intended to remove sin from the local group of believers. Faithlife Study Bible (Mt 18:17), Barry, J. D.,

The individual person’s involvement in this scenario is in step 1 and 2. When it gets to steps 3 and 4, it is the pastor’s duty to make this judgment call, and the individual sister’s onus to submit to the assessment of her leaders in church. You see the reason for this called-for separation; to prevent sin from spreading.

A little leaven leavens the whole lump of dough. (Galatians 5:9).

In another case of called-for separation, we see in 1 Corinthians 5:9, 11 of Paul that,

I wrote you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people;

But now I am writing to you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother if he is guilty of sexual immorality or greed, or is an idolater, reviler, drunkard, or swindler—not even to eat with such a one.

Paul expected them to disassociate with all who said they were brothers but had a consistent pattern of sin, particularly sexual sin. In the culture of the day eating with someone was a sign of acceptance. Therefore if breaking bread with a homosexual, an adulterer, fornicator etc it was a sign that their behavior was accepted by Christians, who otherwise called for holy living.

Paul said that sexual sin was a sin that brethren were not to tolerate, even to the point of breaking fellowship, because as he explains the verses in 1 Corinthians 6:15-19,

The believer’s body is not only for the Lord here and now (v. 14), but is of the Lord, a part of His body, the church (Eph 1:22,23). The Christian’s body is a spiritual temple in which the Spirit of Christ lives, therefore when a believer commits a sexual sin, it involves Christ with a harlot. All sexual sin is harlotry. (John MacArthur Study Bible note.)

So, that’s pretty obvious why we are to separate.

Here is another example regarding the limits of Christian fellowship.

So when you are assembled and I am with you in spirit, and the power of our Lord Jesus is present, 5 hand this man over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved on the day of the Lord. (1 Corinthians 5:4-5).

This is the famous case of a man sleeping with his father’s wife. The Corinthians were tolerating it. In today’s parlance, were they trying to “be loving”? Would they think it “mean-spirited” to ostracize this man from their fellowship? Paul pulled no punches with what they were to do.

Satan is the ruler of this world, while Jesus is head of the Church. (Not that he isn’t the ultimate Ruler). Since it was known that the man was engaged in sexual immorality to the point of incest, the Corinthians were to put him out where satan reigns. Turning a believer over to satan puts him back into the cold world to be on his own, apart from the care and support of Christian fellowship inside the warmth of the church, as John MacArthur explains in his commentary.

That person has forfeited the right to participation in the church of Jesus Christ, which He intends to keep pure at all costs. MacArthur, Commentary

As always, the goal is reconciliation. Making this shocking move would let the believing sinner know the limits of tolerance.

We have another example of separation in 2 John 1:8-11

Watch yourselves, that you do not lose what we have accomplished, but that you may receive a full reward. 9Anyone who goes too far and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God; the one who abides in the teaching, he has both the Father and the Son.if anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house, and do not give him a greeting; 11for the one who gives him a greeting participates in his evil deeds.

Here in this epistle John is giving limits to Christian hospitality. We are to separate from people who go beyond the teaching of Jesus. Do not even greet those who teach beyond what is written. Back then hospitality was important because there were no hotels, so traveling teachers lodged with believers.

John isn’t prohibiting people from sharing the Gospel with unbelievers or the ignorant, or even those in cults and false religions. We always want to evangelize. But remain apart from and do not even welcome those false teachers, because welcoming them to your home affirms their teaching and gives them credibility. What we say is important but also what we do is equally important. Housing and welcoming false teachers who labor in the faith (to deceive followers) would confuse people and offer a massive stumbling block.

It might seem “unloving” to say that there comes a point where we don’t offer the Gospel to a lost person but there are even limits to associating with the unsaved.

Do not give what is holy to dogs, and do not throw your pearls before swine, or they will trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces. (Matthew 7:6)

Jesus’ point is that certain truths and blessings of our faith are not to be shared with people who are totally antagonistic to the things of God. … Jesus did not give all of his teaching to everyone who happened to be listening. (Matthew 11:25, 11:11-13). … There will be times when the Gospel we present is absolutely rejected and ridiculed and we make the judgment to turn away and speak no more. JMac Commentary

We are given the same admonition in Matthew 10:14 where we are told to shake the dust off our feet and move on.

One commenter gives a word of caution though,

But while the indiscriminately zealous have need of this caution, let us be on our guard against too readily setting our neighbors down as dogs and swine, and excusing ourselves from endeavoring to do them good on this poor plea. Jamieson Faucett

Even Jesus closed His public ministry at a certain point, after He had given sign after sign and miracle after miracle and taught all the days long, and many were still questioning, demanding, and rejecting. So He closed it down and privately taught only the believers and eventual apostles. After His resurrection He only appeared to believers.

We have seen that with love and discernment, there are times to make a judgment call and separate from people who profess Christ but persist in unrepentant sin. Against the backdrop of the lovey tolerance of today, doing so seems harsh and cruel. But do we today care more about the feelings of the unrepentant professing believing rebel than the Savior who died to give us power by the Spirit to slay those sins?

Look at Acts 5:13,

But none of the rest dared to associate with them; however, the people held them in high esteem.

The watching pagans respected the followers of Jesus, but feared to join them. Why? Were they scary No, they were respected, not feared. The fear came because it was obvious that the followers were serious about sin and hypocrisy in the church. Ananias and Sapphira had just been smote. The followers were obviously part of something that was holy and pure. Bystanders respected their witness and were counting the cost of joining. Only serious sin-slayers need apply.

Nowadays people are encouraged to follow Jesus and bring their sin with them.

We love our neighbor in the next pew, yes, but loving that believer doesn’t mean overlooking their sin. Sadly there are times and cases when separation from the believers we associate with is called for. With everything, do so cautiously, in love, and after study and prayer. Some of these situations are pretty clear and others are more gray. Err on the side of love, but remain strong in respecting biblical limits of associations and fellowship. We strive to be strong in both doctrine and life.

DSCN3922

Posted in prophecy, theology

The Lord will Thresh and Winnow

Posted on by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

It’s vacation week for much of America. I’m going to go a little easy myself this week and get a bunch of reading done. I thought for this week I’d bring forward some of the early essays I wrote.

With 5,200 essays written here since 2009, there are some you may have missed, lol. I published this one in May 2009. You can see my heart even since the earliest days of this blog. Agricultural allusions, and judgment.

bd618-sheavesSheaves of Wheat, Van Gogh

God uses a process as an example in His Word that would have been immediately identifiable to His agricultural people: threshing and winnowing. He talks of the threshing floor, the threshing barn, the winnowing fan and fork, chaff and sheaves…all these are examples of His sorting process in judgment. We have lost contact with the land. Do we fully understand know what these prophetic scriptures mean? Most of them refer to the end of days and final admonitions and judgments. We should learn them.

“For behold, the day is coming, burning like a furnace; and all the arrogant and every evildoer will be chaff; and the day that is coming will set them ablaze,” says the LORD of hosts, “so that it will leave them neither root nor branch.” (Malachi 4:1)

Before the decree takes effect–The day passes like the chaff–Before the burning anger of the LORD comes upon you, Before the day of the LORD’S anger comes upon you. (Zephaniah 2:2)

You will winnow them, and the wind will carry them away, And the storm will scatter them; But you will rejoice in the LORD, You will glory in the Holy One of Israel. (Isaiah 41:16)

His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor, gathering his wheat into the barn and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire. (Matthew 3:12, Luke 3:17

Threshing floor

After reaping, the grain is gathered and prepared for processing. In Jesus’ times, the main grains were wheat, which made better bread but required good soil and water, two items lacking in the desert; and barley. Barley was used for bread by less wealthy people, because it would grow in harsh conditions with more ease.

(John 6:9:”There is a lad here who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what are these for so many people?“)

Grain reaping was completed either by pulling it up by the roots, or cutting it with a type of sickle. The grain when cut was generally put up in sheaves (Genesis 37:7; Leviticus 23:10-15; Ruth 2:7, 15; Job 24:10; Jeremiah 9:22; Micah 4:12). You can see sheaves stacked together in the Van Gogh rendering above. Afterwards the sheaves were gathered to the threshing-floor or stored in barns (Matthew 6:26).

Threshing with ox

Next comes threshing. Circular floors were prepared on hilltops, where there was more wind. A threshing floor is a specially flattened surface made either of rock or beaten earth where a farmer would thresh the grain harvest by spreading the sheaves on the threshing-floor and causing oxen and cattle to walk repeatedly over them (Deuteronomy 25:4; Isaiah 28:28) using a threshing roller or sledge (2 Samuel 24:22; 1 Chronicles 21:23; Isaiah 3:15).

However, the a sledge sometimes damaged the grain, but that couldn’t be helped. This process got the grain off the stalk.

Next, winnowing. Now that threshing got the grains off the stalk, it was still lying on the threshing floor among all the other parts of the plant, the grass, leaves, and stalk. Winnowing is sifting the grains from the stalks and leaves.

After the grain was threshed, it was winnowed by being thrown up against the wind (Jeremiah 4:11) to sift it. The wind would carry away the grass, leaves, and stems. The grain, being heavier, would fall back to the floor. The shovel and the fan for winnowing are mentioned in Psalm 35:5, Job 21:18, Isaiah 17:13. The refuse of straw and chaff was burned (Isaiah 5:24). Freed from all the extras like the stalk, grass, and leaves, the grain was then stored in granaries till used (Deuteronomy 28:8; Proverbs 3:10; Matthew 6:26; 13:30; Luke 12:18). It would be ground into flour and baked as bread.

Are you wheat, good men who will be gathered from the barns to His bosom? Or are you chaff, which will be left behind and burned with unquenchable fire? Do not wait for the very end to find out, to be winnowed and sifted, the good from the bad. Pray to Jesus today and ask to be forgiven of your sins, and He will do so. Ask Him to be the Lord of your life, and He will be so. Then when the time of judgment comes, you will know with certainty where you stand in the winnowing.

Picture gallery-

Source- Earthly footsteps of the Man of Galilee, 1893, public domain

Caption:

‎The threshing scene which our picture represents we witnessed between the Garden of the Virgin and the Obelisk of Heliopolis. What a commentary is this upon that vanity of earthly greatness that men should be threshing upon the very site of one of the proudest and most influential cities of ancient times. The mowraj is a threshing machine which is drawn over a floor by a yoke of oxen till the grain is separated from the straw, and the straw itself ground into chaff. The Egyptian mowraj has rollers which roll over the grain. Circular saws are sometimes attached to the rollers. Source: Earthly Footsteps of the Man of Galilee.


Winnowing with the wind. Source, Images from The People’s Bible Encyclopedia, by Charles Barnes, 1912

Sweeping the threshing floor in order to pile up the seed. Source: Wikiwand