elizabethprata

We should train the mind. It’s time to get our creativity going! Read, write, draw

Posted on January 2, 2019January 2, 2019 by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

As 2019’s new year launches off into the timeless void, lots of people are making resolutions. Many of those resolutions are vows to take better care of our bodies, by eating well or losing weight or exercising more.

But do we take care of our mind?

Christianity is a religion of the mind. We have the mind of Christ. (1 Corinthians 2:16). The Spirit transforms us by the renewing of our mind. (Romans 12:2). The mind governed by the Spirit is
life and peace, as Romans 8:6 says. Mark reminds us in verse 12:30 that we must ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’

Start looking in the New Testament and the Psalms and Proverbs for the ‘mind’ and you may be surprised at how many times it’s mentioned.

The Internet was commercialized and came into widespread use in the US by 1995 or so, making the generation in their 20s now the first generation to live post-Internet. The rest of us, like me in my 50s, have used some version of the Internet for most of my adult life. I’ve been an Amazon customer since 1997. My final email address was established in 1998 and it has remained the same ever since.

As the Internet grows, our mind diminishes. You might think I am overstating the case, but the Internet, while having many boons and pluses, has served to make our thinking more shallow. 21st century media has pummeled our minds and not in a good way. We listen in sound bites and read in tweet-length script. Yet the two greatest books ever written, the Bible and The Pilgrim’s Progress, are old.

The Bible has a variety of literature within it, many genres, difficult concepts, and is a demanding read. It requires study.

Pilgrims’ Progress by John Bunyan is the single best selling English language book in the world, after the Bible. It was written in 1678 and uses antiquated language. Even if you read a modernized version, it is a book that again, demands the reader’s attention and requires lengthy thought.

Our minds are being trained away from that kind of reading. The kind of thinking we are commanded to do in the Bible is the opposite, it’s the kind of reading that edifies us. Not to mention reading the ancients and the Puritans are, every day, getting out of reach because they demand attention spans that nearly don’t exist any more

I write essays that range from 500 words to 2000 words. I remember the first time on the blog a reader commented “TLDR”. I had to look it up. It stands for ‘Too Long, Didn’t Read.’ I was irked and shocked. 2000 words is only about 4 single spaced pages long.

I’m speaking to myself here, not just you. As I get older and I come home from a busy day of work, all I want to do is make a cup of tea, sit down, watch a comedy, then go to bed- in that order. I have to work at keeping the energy up so that I can have a clear mind to absorb Christian classics and other great material.

I’m fairly aghast at myself, because reading didn’t used to be this hard. My reading material of choice in High School and as a twenty-something were the classics. As I went through my 30s, my Graduate School reading was easy peasy, I got a 4.0 and thought nothing of it. But now I’m nearing 60, and my mind is balking at difficult material. Reading Moby Dick last summer was hard. I was surprised at how hard. My mind is a terrible thing to waste.

I don’t want to waste it. It’s the mind of Christ.

I feel it’s important to keep our mind active and our creativity up. When we spend time in the creative side of our mind different things happen. Here are a few resources along these lines:

3 Reasons Why You Should Read More Classic Literature in 2019
Why Great Literature, Especially Old Literature, Has Become Essential Medicine In the Age of Social Media

Call me Ishmael.

The famous opening sentence of Moby Dick, so short and provocative, is welcoming and familiar to the 21st century reader, who is accustomed to snappy prose with short sentences and lots of white space. A few sentences later in Melville’s masterpiece we get a sentence that’s more representative of the novel to come. In just a bit I’m going to quote that sentence, and insist that you read it.

My own personal reading challenge that I’d modified from Challies’ (by adding to it) is to read the following classics this year:

Sense & Sensibility By Jane Austen
It Can’t Happen Here by Sinclair Lewis
The Running Man Stephen King
The Machine Stops, E.M. Forster
The Decameron, Boccaccio
Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad

The Classics Spin is an activity from an online book club devoted to the classics. Readers list the top 20 classics they would like to read, sometimes the game is along the lines of a theme (Shakespeare challenge, Really Huge Book challenge) and other times not. They pick a number at random and you read that book. Since the Club is a community, the Admins of the site say,

We know it can be hard to stay on track and enthused about your Spin Book for the whole journey. We plan to provide support and encouragement to all our CC Spinners via twitter, fb, instagram and goodreads. We hope you can join us in cheering everyone on to finish another fabulous classics reading experience!

Four Good Reasons to Read Good Books
Tim Challies lists 4 reasons, here’s one of them-

Identify areas of weakness and read books to strengthen yourself there. This may be weakness of knowledge, weakness of character, or weakness of understanding. If you have too low a view of God, read The Holiness of God by R.C. Sproul. If you are struggling with parenting, read Gospel-Powered Parenting by William Farley. If you struggle with making decisions, read Decisions, Decisions by Dave Swavely. If you don’t know where you are weak, read a book on humility. Whatever your weakness, there is almost definitely a book that answers it specifically and well.

Colin Adams, the Unashamed Workman, goes Challies 16 better and lists 20 good reasons to read good books. Here are a few of them

–You will be forced to cease from incessant activity and think
–You will receive a historical perspective on current problems and spot present day blindspots
–You will have some of your questions answered and confront other questions you hadn’t even thought of
–You will be able to practically apply Paul’s command to think upon “wholesome” things

Do you like Bible journaling, sketching things that Bile reading or Christian classics bring to mind? I’m a visual person too. I see all these magnificently illustrated journals and theologically rich blogs and I get intimidated and when I’m intimidated I quit before I start. So if you’re like me, scared of generating huge or fabulous content, write one sentence or sketch one quick scene. Everyone can do that. Even me! Here are two ‘challenges’ along those lines-

The Sketchbook Challenge is a daily draw where you draw, paint, or sketch one quick scene from your day that stands out to you. I think this is a good way to both practice your skills and keep the creativity going. You can adapt this to a quick sketch of a Bible visual. Whatever helps the brain keep flowing! I am not a good draw-er but here are my two-

Gretchen Rubin wanted to enhance her writing skills, and all writers know that to be a good writer you need to write every day. But she worked and had kids. Busy! So she developed the one-sentence journal. Gretchen says

Instead, each day, I write one sentence (well, actually, I type on the computer) about what happened that day to me, the Big Man and the girls.

She suggests that you can even do a one-sentence journal on a particular topic, your day at work, your divorce, a catastrophic event. In like manner, you can keep a one-sentence journal of your spiritual reactions or insights as you read the Bible or a Christian classic. By the end of the year you’ll have 365 sentences or around 15-20 pages.

Let 2019 be the year you spent 21 days developing a new habit (some say that is how long it takes, others say that it takes longer, but I stick with the 3 weeks because it’s not, well, intimidating). Read, write, draw, whatever kind of activity you know enhances your mind is the one.

Let’s train and protect our bodies, but also let’s take care of the mind.

What am I to do? I will pray with my spirit, but I will pray with my mind also; I will sing praise with my spirit, but I will sing with my mind also. (1 Corinthians 14:15).

theology

“In 2019 let’s open the Bible differently” by Ayanna Thomas

Posted on January 2, 2019January 2, 2019 by elizabethprata

I really like Ayanna’s writing. This is a repost/share from her Instagram. She posts photos, long captions, and mini-videos frequently. If you want, check her out.

ayanna

View this post on Instagram

LET’S OPEN THE BIBLE DIFFERENTLY IN 2019 Tonight, some woman who desires to know the path God has chosen for her, will hear a false teacher tell her that all she has to do is “activate” the will of God by some human means. Tonight, some woman will struggle to see how God’s sovereignty sustained her this year, even though her 2018 was riddled with bad decisions and sinful choices, despite God saving her with the shedding of irrevocable, non-refundable blood of Christ. This New Year, many women will be enticed by, carried along into, and some willfully deceived, by those who hate their God, yet declare things about Him from an unregenerate state, week after week. The podcasts misconstruing God’s Word, the influencers promoting doctrines that have no merit up against God’s Word, the inward wrong beliefs, that keep us from having assurance of our salvation, will come and fight to take your attention from our Savior and His Word. I know this may sound pretty grim, but as a teacher, I’ve watched, listened, read, prayed and grieved over so much of what has been targeting God’s daughters this year. I’ve listened to the popular sermons, I’ve read some of the books and lots of the articles that we’re fed, I’ve seen how far so much of it, is from the heart of God, the truth of His Word, the nature of His character. Sisters, we don’t have to go into the New Year with the same things we did in 2018. We can build ourselves up in healthy local church communities. We can believe and rehearse The Gospel message daily. We can understand and get through the hard to read passages in The Bible. We can pray, Study The Scriptures, see a therapist and take medication if needed, WHILE trusting God for healing ALL at the same time! We can leave behind our shares and reposts of teachers who dangerously twist and take out of context, what is supposed to be for our instruction and help. We CAN do this differently. But, it starts here, IN God’s Word, pacing ourselves, doing it in community, wrestling with the tension of learning and trusting that God wants this more for us than we do. Please, share with me below, what you desire to do differently with God’s Word this New Year!

A post shared by Ayanna Thomas (@ayannazariya) on Dec 31, 2018 at 11:28am PST

encouragement, theology

Those who reject are putting themselves in grave danger!

Posted on January 1, 2019 by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

As witnesses to His Gospel, in sharing with other people, I’m sure you, as have I, experienced the gamut of reactions. Some are curious, some are polite but have closed ears, and some, sadly are like wild pigs who turn on you ferociously and tear you to pieces.

Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast
ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them
under their feet, and turn again and rend you.
Matthew 7:6 (KJV)

There is an example of such a ferocious rejection in Acts 13. Paul and Barnabas had reasoned with the Jews in Antioch. Some were persuaded to stay and follow Paul and learn more. Others rejected. But when Paul went to give the Gospel to the Gentiles, the Jews became jealous and when they began opposing Paul all the harder, they blasphemed. Paul’s response was this:

Then Paul and Barnabas waxed bold, and said, It was necessary that the word of God should first have been spoken to you: but seeing you put it from you, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, see, we turn to the Gentiles. (Acts 13:46).

Those who reject put themselves in grave danger. Felix rejected. Though he was curious and listened to Paul then became alarmed to hear of the judgment, ultimately he remained apathetic. Stalling for a decision, he sent Paul away ’till a more convenient time, (Acts 24:25) putting off what he should do today. (2 Corinthians 6:2). How different from the reaction of the Philippian jailer who rushed in to Paul asking, “What must I do to be saved?”

Those who reject ferociously are in the greatest danger of all. Here is an excerpt from Barnes Notes on the Acts 13:46 verse. What does it mean when Paul said they judged themselves unworthy?

Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

Ye put it from you – You reject it.

And judge yourselves – By your conduct, by your rejecting it, you declare this. The word “judge” here does not mean they “expressed such an opinion,” or that “they regarded themselves” as unworthy of eternal life – for they thought just the reverse; but that by their conduct they condemned themselves. By such conduct they did, in fact, pass sentence on themselves, and show that they were unworthy of eternal life, and of having the offer of salvation any further made to them. Sinners by their conduct do, in fact, condemn themselves, and show that they are not only unfit to be saved, but that they have advanced so far in wickedness that there is no hope of their salvation, and no propriety in offering them, any further, eternal life. See the notes on Matthew 7:6.

(1) When people, even but once, deliberately and solemnly reject the offers of God’s mercy, it greatly endangers their salvation. The probability is, that they then put the cup of salvation forever away from themselves.

(2) the gospel produces an effect wherever it is preached.

(3) when sinners are hardened, and spurn the gospel, it may often be the duty of ministers to turn their efforts toward others where they may have more prospect of success. A man will not long labor on a rocky, batten, sterile soil, when there is near him a rich and fertile valley that will abundantly reward the pains of cultivation.

——————–end Barnes’ Notes——————–

I’ve shared the Gospel with people once, twice thrice, but when I see the reaction is hardening them more than producing a softening effect, I stop sharing. I stop talking about it. Withdrawing, I pray for them.

We like to think of a soft and seeking Jesus who pursues to the end (or woos as the lady snowflakes would have us believe). It is more probable, to use Barnes’ word, that once they reject, they likely put the cup of salvation away from them forever. When their conduct in so rejecting makes them act like unreasoning animals, they show themselves condemned.

This is one of the most heartbreaking things to watch, especially when it’s a family member or colleague or a friend. Even if it’s the guy at the gas station you’ll never see again…when you see them reject the Gospel, it’s sad. When it’s ferocious, the I get the haunting feeling that they have just sealed their coffin, and that is nearly unendurable.

In the coming year, I pray that your sharing and witnessing and loving will fall on fertile soil. I pray that the Lord gives you and me strength when we have to watch their rejection of You, the most beautiful person in the universe, casting away the only salvation that exists. I pray that many come through Your door, Jesus, in 2019.

manton ark

new year, theology

2018 roundup and thank you

Posted on December 31, 2018December 31, 2018 by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

Y2K! Stock up! Computers will crash! Hysteria!

That was the year-end feeling on December 31, 1999. It seems like yesterday that the millennium changed and we said goodbye to the 1990s and hello to the 2000s. Now we are looking at climbing into the last year of the second decade of the 2000s! Time flies, it really does.

My Plan for 2019

I started this blog in 2016 in response to a growing concern that increasing social media mogul scrutiny into what they term ‘hate speech’ left my blogspot blog in perilous condition. If Blogger shut it down for hate speech I’d have lost a ten year archive of 4,600 Christian essays. So I started this blog as a mirror blog to that one. It’s the same content, though the oldest essays didn’t migrate to WordPress because they exceeded the limit.

I’ve been writing this blog every day for ten years. TEN YEARS! Can you believe it! My first essay on the blogspot was posted on January 6, 2009. The blog was born from a weekly newsletter I was composing and sending out via email in 2007-08. That was born from an increasing drift in content from secular essays to Christian ones on my other blog, The Quiet Life. I started that blog in 2006. When it became obvious that my main interest was Christian content, I started this blog so I could maintain a sole Christian theological focus and not mix in recipes or cat stories in it, lol, like I do on my personal blog.

So for 13 years I’ve been writing publicly.

It’s normal, I think, for a Christian blogger or anyone in any kind of ministry to occasionally wonder if it is doing any good. Is it edifying? Is it helping? Is it honoring to Christ? Or is it adding to the general confusion? Am I mature enough to handle the word of God in this public way? Should I quit? Does the Lord want me to move into a different ministry using the gifts of the Spirit in a different manner?

I’ve asked myself all those questions and more. Just because the Lord started me on this path doesn’t mean it’s a forever thing. I was asking myself those ‘take stock’ questions the other day. I received an answer. A kind lady emailed with some encouragement, letting me know that indeed some things I’ve written had alerted her to an unwanted spiritual state, had strengthened her, and had pointed her toward good ministries and sermons.

Not that we look for personal accolades, but we do look for Spirit delivered affirmations that we are obeying in the manner the Lord wants us to obey. I take to heart these signs that the Lord is pleased with the ministry and wants me to continue.

As long as there is even one woman out there who is edified, I’ll continue.

I love writing. I am grateful for this ministry and for the women who read it.

The outlook for 2019 is more writing. I’ll continue in the same vein as I always have been. I’ve tried to do schedules and write on similar topics on each day of the week, but that just doesn’t work for me. My style is more organic. I like waiting to see what the Spirit brings to mind. Don’t you think it’s amazing that for over 4,600 essays every day He has been faithful to bring something to mind? That’s one of the things I love about writing, the clear working of the Spirit to guide my mind into insights, or revealing biblical truths, or helping me adopt a biblical worldview instead of my formerly secular one.

The one series I do is of the more old-fashioned theological stuff I write on Sundays. I’ve been writing about the Word of the Week Since June. I fear a decrease in Christian literacy and a lack of mutual understanding of the important words of the faith. I had with a 22-year-old who was raised in a strong Christian home who was confused between what sanctification and justification meant. I decided on the spot to do my part in promoting the understanding of the important words.

I’ve written in the series that resulted, Word of the Week, about Justification, Transcendence, Immanence, Propitiation, Sanctification, Glorification, Orthodoxy, Heresy, Omniscience, Perspicuity, Aseity, and Immutability. Then in October I shifted to the Fruit of the Spirit, writing about each of the 9 characteristics in succession. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and last week, self-control. I enjoyed that series. I think the Word of the Week is a good Sunday kind of essay. As of now, I plan to continue it.

Launching off the Word of the Week I create scripture photos based on that word, my own visual interpretation of the word, to extend the theme throughout the week. I’ll keep doing the scripture pictures, too.

Top Ten Essays of 2018

The top essays this year on this blog (it’s different on the other End Time Blogspot blog, interestingly) are below. Here is the rundown-

1. Two divorce cases: Looking at Summer White and Melissa Moore’s divorces wase the number one essay on The End Time wordpress version. In that 2016 essay, I had examined the reasons for and behavior of two prominent women serving in Christian ministries that have a global impact: Summer White (daughter of James White) and Melissa Moore (daughter of Beth Moore). I’d explored the following questions:

If the adult children or the wife of a leader sins, does that mean the leader falls below biblical standard for acceptable leadership? When the children are minors and living under the leader’s roof, certainly there is no doubt since the scripture is clear. But what if the child is 22 years old? 32 years old? 42 years old? Certainly if the sinning adult child is involved in the parent’s ministry then that adult child should be asked to step away. When it was revealed that RC Sproul Jr. had been involved in the Ashley Madison adultery site, he was temporarily suspended from the ministry that was founded and is led by his father, RC Sproul Sr. The actions (sins) of the adult child do impact the ministry of the elder, especially if the younger is involved in the ministry. I’ve come across two situations where adult children of a leading Bible teacher have divorced: James R. White’s daughter Summer and Beth Moore’s daughter Melissa. Remember, divorce is a sin. It bears mentioning because Christians often focus on other ‘big sins’ to the exclusion of divorce.

2. The Home Page with archives was #2. People must have it bookmarked.

3. Lifestyles of the mega-rich pastors with estates and private jets: You’ll be shocked to see who is among them (OK it’s Beth Moore). The ridiculous extravagance of some of the word of faith preachers such as Kenneth Copeland, Jesse Duplantis, Creflo Dollar, Joyce Meyer and Joel Osteen with their jets and mansions and vacation homes and gold commodes is well known. Less well known is that Beth Moore is reaching the same benchmark in greed and accumulated wealth. Using primary documents such as various city GIS maps with property valuations, IRS returns (all of which is public), and her own public words, I showed that undeniably Beth Moore is living a lifestyle far from her carefully presented one. Interestingly the number one search query leading people to this site is ‘Beth Moore Net Worth’. How much these non-profit ministries make and how the Bible teachers live is important. It’s a fact that Moore is not a down-home sister, but is in theology and in lifestyle more similar to Joyce Meyer and Victoria Osteen.

As a matter of fact 7 of the top 10 search queries that bring people to this blog involve Beth Moore. As I said, she looms large.

4. Is Billy Graham in heaven? The 99 1/2 year old evangelist died in February of this year. I posted the essay asking the question the same day. I used primary documents and quotations from the man to show that despite his world wide acclaim as a great evangelist, Graham held unorthodox views that seriously tilted the answer to the title question toward “no.” I’d ended the essay by saying-

“What I hope is that Billy Graham will be in heaven. What I fear is, that he is not.”

5. In 2016 I wrote about One more reason to avoid Lysa TerKeurst of Elevation Church

In case anyone wonders if discernment essays are still needed, they are. Two years after I wrote that essay women are still looking for information on Lysa’s ever growing ministry. Ladies please, please, just read your Bible. Most Bible studies aimed at women from the Christian publishing industry continually promote lies (Heaven tourism and God Spoke to Me genre), proffer error-ridden books (Beth Moore, Sarah Young), wind up diverting you from your own fellowship (Great Banquet/De Colores/Walk to Emmaus) or give you books and studies that simply weaken you. The mainstream publishing industry is not your friend. Neither are the parachurch organizations like If Gathering and the ladies ministry conferences glutting the market.

Go to church, read your Bible. Pray. Repeat. No matter how many ladies claiming to have heard from God tempt you to buy their books, there is no magic formula and there are no short cuts.

6. This year’s Book Review of Rachel Hollis’s juggernaut and seriously silly book Girl, Wash Your Face made it to #6. This was only 4 months ago, which tells you in the face of 411 other essays I wrote this year just how popular Hollis’s book was and is.

7. Beth Moore looms large. Her publishing blitz since 1995 with the issuing of her first ‘study’, A Woman’s Heart – God’s Dwelling Place Bible, launched her writing career. By 2018 and 342 published materials later her glut goes unabated. Books, studies, Spanish editions, CDs and audio books, leader guides, fiction books, DVD’s, storm the Christian world year after disgustingly relentless year. In 2015 Moore even delved into acting, taking a speaking part in the War Room movie. She continues to make news, and not in a good way. In 2018 Moore tweeted something that insightful believers would know is effectually an anointing of Kevin Jones as a Third Adam.

Moore is seriously an evil influence on women in Christendom. I’ve collected a list discernment essays written by me, other women, and men who critique her ministry, doctrine, and lifestyle. The list begins in 2011 and goes to this day. So, coming in at #7 is All Beth Moore Critiques in One Place

8. John MacArthur on the Ben Shapiro Show was published just a few weeks ago but widespread interest in the steady old pastor and his Gospel-drenched witness to Jewish tv show host Ben Shapiro drew thousands of views. For that I am glad.

9. My “About” page gets a lot of traffic. That’s good. People should be looking at who is writing this stuff, what I believe, and what credentials I have, if any. Check me out, email me with questions or concerns, and don’t just take my word for it, but always read with your Bible open and next to you.

10. Another discernment essay, this one about Ted Dekker and The Forgotten Way, rounds out the top ten list.

Blog Stats: The End Time is not an echo chamber, thankfully!

Capture3

This year saw a growth in the blog despite having started it just a year and a half ago and not doing anything active for search engine optimization, other than posting new content every day. And despite the glut of millions of blogs, articles, and podcasts all trying to draw the attention of the Christian consumer.

I’m grateful to the Spirit for that. It’s kind of dizzying when I think about what I write going all around the world in an instant. Between the blogspot blog and the wordpress blog this year there were 633,000 views of the material I’ve published.

I remember what John MacArthur said of his ministry when someone asked him if he ever thought it would go far,

Early in my ministry I committed, before the Lord, that I would simply worry about the depth of my ministry, and I would let Him take care of the breadth of it.

Facebook came on strong this year too. On the other blog, I received 49% of my referrals from Facebook and 28% from Pinterest. I don’t know how this plays out on WP because I don’t have the sme kind of stats pak, but I’m sure it’s consistent. That’s the trend. This shows me that the bulk of my readership is female and I’m glad, because ladies are my target audience. It also tells me to curate those social media outlets well.

Thank you for a great year!

Thank you to all my wonderful readers. I truly appreciate you and value you. I appreciate the people who have sent me questions or asked for advice, who have emailed encouragement and sent donations. Thank you for the donations! I am really grateful.

Thank you most of all for your prayers. I love this ministry. Sometimes when things get into a conflict and I have to go against popular opinion, it gets hairy. I am thankful for prayers to strengthen me. I also appreciate prayer that helps me stay doctrinal. Please, please don’t let me drift. That is an important prayer to pray for me, if you are so inclined.

I pray you all have a wonderful New Year! May this year be the year of the rapture!

theology, word of the week

Word of the Week- Fruit of the Spirit, Self-Control

Posted on December 30, 2018 by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. (Galatians 5:22-23).

In past essays, I explored the previous characteristics in the verse, from the first, joy, to gentleness, the second to last. Now we look at self-control.

In a previous essay it was noted that the 9 characteristics Paul outlines in the verse can be grouped by three threes.

Warren Wiersbe notes the triple triad within the verse. The first three characteristics of the fruit are love, joy, and peace. Those reflect the Godward aspect of Christian life.

The next three are patience, kindness, goodness; characteristics reflecting the manward aspect of Christian life.

Faithfulness, gentleness, self-control are aspects reflecting the selfward part of the Christian life.

Self-control…what does that mean, exactly? As with everything in the Bible, it’s both simple and clear on the surface, but if you dig deeper, valuable truths come out that prick the conscience and grow the believer.

In Barnes’ Notes we learn

The word used here, (ἐγκράτεια egkrateia), means properly “self-control, continence.” It is derived from ἐν en and κράτος kratos, “strength,” and has reference to the power or ascendancy which we have over exciting and evil passions of all kinds. It denotes the self-rule which a man has over the evil propensities of his nature. … It includes the dominion over all evil propensities, and may denote continence, chastity, self-government, moderation in regard to all indulgences as well as abstinence from intoxicating drinks. See the word explained in the notes at Acts 24:25.

The sense here is, that the influences of the Holy Spirit on the heart make a man moderate in all indulgences; teach him to restrain his passions, and to govern himself; to control his evil propensities, and to subdue all inordinate affection.

A Christian must be a temperate man; and if the effect of his religion is not to produce this, it is false and vain.

We see this is so in the 1Timothy 3:2-3 regarding elder qualifications

Therefore an overseer must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, sober-minded, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not a drunkard, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money.

The man has self-control in demonstrating he won’t drink to excess, thus losing control. He isn’t violent because he controls his anger, and this is an important one because angry situations are full of pressure. Can he control himself when the circumstances become chaotic emotionally or physically? If he is growing in the fruit of the Spirit he will be.

We see self-control again in 2 Timothy 2:24 where again he controls his anger,

And a servant of the Lord must not be quarrelsome, but he must be kind to everyone, able to teach, and forbearing.

In 2 Timothy 1:7 Paul again remarks about self-control

for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.

And more, the following verses remark about having self-control, and it’s not exhaustive,

2 Peter 1:6, Acts 24:25, Proverbs 25:28, Proverbs 16:32, 1 Corinthians 9:25, 1 Timothy 2:15, 1 Timothy 2:9, Titus 1:8…

Possessing self-control means you are growing in the fruit of the Spirit as the Galatians verses shows. It means one’s sanctification is progressing. It’s proof that we are relying on the Spirit to resist our depraved and evil impulses. Christ died for us so that we may die, to our sins. Having self-control demonstrates Spirit-led mastery over them.

self-control

———————————————-

Further Resources

Focus on the Family: Got Self-Control?

GotQuestions: What does the Bible say about self-discipline?

Ligonier Devotional: Self-Control

Head Heart Hands blog: Pumping up the Self-Control in the Age of Temptations

book review, theology

Book Review: “You Who?: Why You Matter & How To Deal With It” by Rachel Jankovic

Posted on December 29, 2018December 30, 2018 by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

“Feelings are a bunch of monkeys. Our feelings are not bulletins from the Holy of Holies.”

And just like that, Rachel Jankovic’s new book “You Who?: Why You Matter & How To Deal With It” is off and running. Oh and by the way, she first mentions sin on page TWO. Take that, every other feelings-laden, soft-sell, ‘messy lives’ snowflake books.

Because, Rachel’s new book isn’t for the easily melted. Then again, it is. It’s for every woman who claims Christ. It’s a straight shot across the bow to all the carefully contrived me-oriented schemas, constructs, and operating theories women in Christendom have been presented with, (I’m talking to you, Lifeway & Ladies Ministry) and a good deal more. But I get ahead of myself.

Here is the official blurb of this upcoming book*, slated for publication on January 15. Canon Press is the publisher and you can also buy from Amazon.

If “Who am I?” is the question you’re asking, Rachel Jankovic doesn’t want you to “find yourself” or “follow your heart.”

Those lies are nothing to the confidence, freedom, and clarity of course that come with knowing what is actually essential about you. And the answer to that question is at once less and more than what you are hoping for.

Christians love the idea that self-expression is the essence of a beautiful person, but that’s a lie, too. With trademark humor and no nonsense practicality, Rachel Jankovic explains the fake story of the Self, starting with the inventions of a supremely ugly man named Sartre (rhymes with “blart”). And we–men and women, young and old–have bought his lie of the Best Self, with terrible results.

Thankfully, that’s not the end of our story, You Who: Why You Matter and How to Deal with It takes the identity question into the nitty gritty details of everyday life. Here’s the first clue: Stop looking inside, and start planting flags of everyday faithfulness. In Christianity, the self is always a tool and never a destination.

When do we start being us? The existentialist will say we become who we are when we start knitting together our actions that create the story of our identity. Our identity is all about ‘our story.’ The Christian woman should say, as Jankovic explains, that “our valuations are built in a completely different foundation. Who you believe does the creating makes all the difference. Which creator do we honor?”

In asking the question ‘Who am I?’ we are really asking the question ‘Who is my God?’ Knowing, understanding, and living the answer to that question correctly gives the Christian woman relief and joy. Jankovic expertly outlines how to achieve that relief, and it’s not in what we do, but knowing who we are.

Rachel’s contention is that we have no practical idea of what makes us who we are, because we have absorbed too much of the world and its philosophies. As we grow up we adopt titles of identities that have either been thrust on us or that we take on ourselves. “Carefree grrrrl”, or “The Fashionista” or “The Nerd” might satisfy for the moment, but they are a lie. Why? Because they are only temporary. We outgrow the youthful grrrl and become a mom, or an employee, or a boss. But God never changes. When we find our identity in Him, we rest satisfied because we know and are known, unchangeable, no matter the temporary worldly title our family or the world might put on us.

Rachel punctures every misnomer, every misapplication, every fad (like the Christian fad telling us women “You’re a princess”) attempting to be the terminus identity. Defining ourselves by man-made categories simply gets between us and Christ.

Here is an example of her explosive language drilling down to the main point of our Christian identity as women:

Jesus Christ did not come into the world and die so that you might live. That is only the partial truth, the truth that skips all the action. Jesus Christ came to this earth, struggled, suffered, and died so that you might die.

I have to say, as a matter of personal preference and bias, I don’t enjoy podcasts, from men or women. I don’t enjoy interviews and very few Q&A’s. I’m not a fan of banter, filler, giggling, or circuitous points. I participated in Rachel’s DVD seminars, which is comprised of hours of her talking and us listening/watching via a flat screen. The Valley Girl accent that so many millennials have these days, the rabbit trail points, and verbal tics are very distracting. Like?…like?…like… you know what I mean, like?

I am of the opinion that if one wants to have a speaking career, one should speak clearly and concisely. This skill is directly taught to pastors in Homiletics classes. But it seems that anyone with an internet connection who decides to launch a podcast (as Rachel has) or embarks on a speaking career does so without a minimum benchmark most people learn in high school speech classes. There IS such a thing as adhering to a minimum standard of craftsmanship. I’ll expand on this point in another blog essay but for now let me admit that when I was handed Rachel’s book, though obviously highly intelligent, based on her speaking persona I wasn’t expecting much.

I’m thrilled to say that not only were my expectations on her writing craftsmanship exceeded, but I’m actually blown away by the book’s brilliance.

Pros:

I appreciated Rachel’s continual turning to Jesus as the answer. She urges total submission and makes a clear point about just what that answer is (and it’s more than being a “Princess”). There is not a hint of eisegesis, narcissism, or me-centered, self-esteem, pop psychology so often present in the glut of books flooding the Christian publishing market today.

Sin was stated as sin, not ‘brokenness’ or ‘messiness’ or ‘mistakes’. Rachel never whitewashes who we are as sinners but continually points to Christ. She offers practical, optimistic responses that slay the philosophies we have been pummeled with in the Christian publishing industry for the last 20-odd years. Rachel is skilled at mounting up responses and excuses to women use to rebut her points but then blowing them all away like the milkweed they are. When the title says ‘how to deal with it’, it means it.

Rachel spends a good deal of the book focusing on giving God glory. What glory is and how to express it. And that expression is never more glorious and God-honoring than when we obey. We are never more our true selves than when we obey God’s word.

Rachel shows restraint in using personal anecdotes and momisms. As any good preacher knows, illustrations are a double edged sword. Once you start making an illustration on which to revolve your sermon, you’ve lost any demographic that doesn’t identify with it. Rachel uses few, but they are sprinkled in to the chapters at just the right moments.

Now, don’t run away when I say this, but Rachel begins with an examination of various philosophies, such as nihilism, cognitive psychology, and in a lengthy treatment, existentialism. I’ve always had a hard time wrapping my mind around these philosophies, but Rachel does a brilliant job of making a practical analysis of how they compare to Christianity, specifically, Christian identity. Yet for all its weighty themes, it is a highly readable book. I read it in just a few days.

“You Who? Why You Matter & How To Deal With It” is an important addition to the Christian woman’s bookshelf, and one I believe is a “must read.”

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*Oganizers of the Jankovic DVD seminars were offered a pre-publication advanced reader copy of this book, with a request if so accepting, to also write a review of the book. No expectation was given as to the type of review nor its content. This review was completed without influence of any kind.

prophecy, Uncategorized

Thirty Days of Jesus Redux: Postlude 2, Like the Sun

Posted on December 28, 2018 by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

Christmas means baby Jesus. Everybody loves the baby. The swaddling clothes (so cute!) the manger (awww, really?), the Wise Man (distinguished solemnity). It is a tremendous story. It is THE story of all of history. God Himself came in flesh, incarnated solely to grow, live a perfect life, and die.

The baby grew up. He ascended to the Father, sat down, and reigns from heaven. He is coming again, as I wrote yesterday. When He comes again it will not be as a baby all swaddled and cooing. His incarnation continues, as it will forever, but today we look at Jesus as He is now. He is kingly, powerful. He is GOD.

Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking to me, and on turning I saw seven golden lampstands, 13and in the midst of the lampstands one like a son of man, clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash around his chest. 14The hairs of his head were white, like white wool, like snow. His eyes were like a flame of fire, 15his feet were like burnished bronze, refined in a furnace, and his voice was like the roar of many waters. (Revelation 1:12-15).

The verse continues into v. 16, today’s focus. It’s the last verse in the series. We have gone from prophecies announcing the fact of His coming, to the Babe, to His life, work and ministry, His death and resurrection, and now as He is in heaven and His soon return. He will come again to deal with sin- and sinners.

True believers will be gathered with Him prior to the bloodbath that the Second Coming will be. During that horrific time, it will be a blessed time also, because many will come to faith. It will be a time of blood, evangelism, faith, sin, horror, and martyrdom.

Praise God, Jesus will come again. He is great and mighty.

On to today’s verse:

thirty days of jesus final

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Thirty Days of Jesus Series-

Introduction/Background
Day 1: The Virgin shall conceive
Day 2: A shoot from Jesse
Day 3: God sent His Son in the fullness of time
Day 4: Marry her, she will bear a Son
Day 5: The Babe has arrived!
Day 6: The Glory of Jesus
Day 7: Magi seek the Child
Day 8: The Magi offer gifts & worship
Day 9: The Child Grew
Day 10: The boy Jesus at the Temple
Day 11: He was Obedient!
Day 12: The Son!
Day 13: God is pleased with His Son
Day 14: Propitiation
Day 15: The gift of eternal life
Day 16: Two Kingdoms
Day 17: Jesus’ Preeminence
Day 18: Jesus is highest king
Day 19: Jesus emptied Himself
Day 20: Jesus as Teacher
Day 21: Jesus as Shepherd
Day 22, Jesus as Intercessor
Day 23: Jesus as Compassionate Healer
Day 24: Jesus as Omniscient
Day 25: Jesus’ Authority
Day 26: Jesus’ Sinlessness
Day 27: He rises!
Day 28: Resurrection is of central importance
Day 29: Ascension
Day 30: He sat down
Thirty Days of Jesus: Postlude 1, He is coming again

I hope you have enjoyed these verses and pictorial representations of the thirty-plus verses I’d selected. Feel free to use the photos as you will. All of them except two are my own creation, and the two that aren’t mine are issued freely under creative commons license at Unsplash.com. Be sure to visit the Further Readings links I’d posted under most of the Scripture pictures, too. I always want to connect readers with good, credible sources.

Happy New Year! May 2019 be the year Christ returns.

2 Timothy 1:10
And now He has revealed this grace through the appearing of our Savior, Christ Jesus, who has abolished death and illuminated the way to life and immortality through the gospel,

prophecy, Uncategorized

Thirty Days of Jesus Redux: Postlude 1, He is coming again

Posted on December 27, 2018 by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

thirty days of jesus postlude 1
Further Reading:

GTY blog/sermon link: Christmas Future

Spurgeon: Watching for Christ’s Coming

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Thirty Days of Jesus Series-

prophecy, Uncategorized

Thirty Days of Jesus Redux: Day 30, He sat down

Posted on December 26, 2018 by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

We are coming toward the end of our look at the life of Jesus through scripture. The first section of His life was seen through verses focused on prophecy, arrival, and early life.

The next section of verses looked at Him as the Son, second person of the Trinity.

We proceeded into looking at Jesus as the Son’s preeminence, His works, and His ministry. Under ministry & works, I chose verses showing His attributes and aspects of being servant, teacher, shepherd, intercessor, and compassionate healer; and His attributes of omniscience, having all authority and power, and sinlessness.

Now it’s the last section. We’ll look at His resurrection, ascension, and prophesied return. It’s the day after Christmas, but I have a few more verses waiting, which I believe fits. When we finish, we will be looking at the New Year with all that entails, the feeling of freshness, hope, optimism for a new start. And when we finish the last verse, we will be looking through the lens of scripture at the hope and optimism of His return and that all will be made new.

On to today’s picture verse.

thirty days of jesus 30 he sat down
Further Reading:

Ligonier Devotional: Seated at God’s right hand

Grace to You: The Forever Exalted Christ

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Thirty Days of Jesus Series-

prophecy, Uncategorized

Thirty Days of Jesus Redux: Day 29, Ascension

Posted on December 25, 2018 by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

We are coming toward the end of our look at the life of Jesus through scripture. The first section of His life was seen through verses focused on prophecy, arrival, and early life.

The next section of verses looked at Him as the Son, second person of the Trinity.

Now it’s the last section. We’ll look at His resurrection, ascension, and prophesied return. There is one day until Christmas, but I have more verses waiting. We are going to go over by a week, into the New Year, which I believe fits. When we finish, we will be looking at the New Year with all that entails, the feeling of freshness, hope, optimism for a new start. And when we finish the last verse, we will be looking through the lens of scripture at the hope and optimism of His return and that all will be made new.

On to today’s picture verse.

thirty days of Jesus day 29