Poetry by Kay Cude. Used with permission. Click to enlarge.
Kay Cude poetry: Mother and son
Author: elizabethprata
Christian writer and Georgia teacher's aide who loves Jesus, a quiet life, art, beauty, and children.
Curate your soul
By Elizabeth Prata
I have always been a museum-goer. My parents did a good job of introducing me to cultural things and museums were one of those cultural things. A museum is where I first heard the word “curate” or “curator”.
According to AI, “A curator’s role involves overseeing and managing collections, including historical items, artwork, and other artifacts, ensuring their preservation, proper presentation, and accessibility for exhibits and displays within institutions like museums, libraries, and historical sites.“
The curator selects the art pieces and decides which goes where in order to make a cohesive experience for the viewer in the museum, or gallery, wherever the pieces are that have been curated.
And that setting is where the word “curate” remained for most of my adult life.
Until the internet. Until the internet really got going with social media exploding everywhere.
Now I hear the word curate all the time. According to AI again, in terms of social media,
“In the context of social media, “curate” means selecting and sharing valuable, relevant content created by others to engage your audience and build your brand’s reputation as a credible source of information.”
Everyone is a curator. People curate their Facebook wall. They curate their Twitter stream. They curate their Instagram photos. They curate their TikToks. Everybody is a curator.
I got to thinking… do we curate our souls?
The world’s most precious commodity is the soul. Everybody has one. Someone somewhere might not have a social media to curate, but everyone has a soul.
“The sinful body is the sepulchre in which it is entombed, until Christ
giveth it life.” ~The Greatness of the Soul, John Bunyan.
The New Testament is FULL of wise advice, admonitions, and exhortations on how to curate this precious item, this invisible, ephemeral, but real and actual thing. A soul dwells inside all who are unborn and who are born. It emerges wrapped in flesh and lurks in the heart to do only evil against God.
Upon Adam’s sampling the fruit, Boston wrote, “Death also seized his soul; he lost his original righteousness, and the favor of God; witness the pangs of conscience which made him hide himself from God. And he became liable to eternal death…“
But God’s mercy is such that He did not leave us in that hopeless state. He sent His own Son to live the perfectly holy life that we could not ever live. He was killed for this, dying on the cross, and buried. But He rose again on the third day and ascended into heaven, to sit at the right hand of the Father. His feet are upon the footstool of all enemies, including death.
“Turn your eyes, O prisoners of hope, towards the Lord Jesus Christ; and embrace him, as he offers himself in the gospel. “There is no salvation in any other,” Acts 4:12.” Thomas Boston, “Human Nature in its Fourfold State“.
If you have been redeemed, dear reader, how do you curate your soul? The very soul wrested from death’s grip at bloody expense? Have you committed your interests to the Glorious Savior?
Boston again, “Be frequently reflecting upon your conduct, and considering what course of life you wish to be found in, when death arrests you; and act accordingly. When you do the duties of your station in life, or are employed in acts of worship, think with yourselves, that, it may be, this is the last opportunity; and therefore do it as if you were never to do more of that kind. When you lie down at night, compose your spirits, as if you were not to awake until the heavens be no more. And when you awake in the morning, consider that new day as your last; and live accordingly.”
Further Resources
Human Nature in its Fourfold State by Thomas Boston at Monergism, read online for free
The Greatness of the Soul, John Bunyan at Chapel Library, download for free
Tragic Trends: Sexual Predators seem to be everywhere
By Elizabeth Prata
I’m on Twitter a lot (now called X). I get the headlines and weather in just a few lines. I commune with Christian friends, both virtual and in real life that I know personally. I see nice photos of different areas of the country. It’s a good social media for me.
I’ve also seen a lot of headlines lately about public education teachers arrested for lewd or sexual acts with their minor students. Enough to make me investigate whether there has been a noticeable uptick in reported incidents over the past few months. It seems to me there has been, which could suggest increased media coverage—or simply more incidents coming to light. From CA to CT to Delaware to NYC, and sadly, many in Texas, have been in the news just this past month.
Even worse, there has been momentous and tragic news of this sort in Christian circles, too. The news that Steve Lawson had been engaged for five years in an adulterous affair with a young woman in her twenties and thirty+ years his junior came to light a few months ago and was a severe shock to many.
But even this week, Robert Preston Morris, formerly pastor at mega-Gateway Church in Texas, was indicted on charges he had engaged in sexual misconduct with a 12-year-old girl in the 1980s. In March 2025, he was indicted on five counts of lewd or indecent acts with a child. A warrant has been issued for Morris’ arrest. What happened was, Morris was a pastor invited to a friend’s home and over repeated visits, molested their host’s 12 year old child. This is an unconscionable evil and betrayal of the worst kind.
This same week, International House of Prayer Kansas City (IHOP KC) founder pastor Mike Bickle is found in a released report which alleges 17 cases of abuse. The report states “The allegations range from spiritual abuse to rape.” Two of the women at the time of the alleged molestation/rape were minors. Another unconscionable evil.
Can you think of anything worse than USING the name of Jesus as a cover and His church hunting ground in order to prey on children?
We know that Jesus was tender about children and toward children. He considers children, and widows, a most vulnerable demographic. Always at risk, children have been misused in every culture and period in history. In ancient Rome a father could kill his child without penalty. They were seen as property. In Hawaii, China, and Japan, many female and disabled children were killed to maintain a strong race without overpopulation. Girl children were not as preferred as male children. Child sacrifice was rampant. (Molech, among other cultures). Child labor was routine.
Sexual predators have always been around. But even lately it seems to be growing worse in every level of society. We read about abductions of children who are trafficked and put up for sale to sexual predator and porn rings.
God puts a high value in children. Almost the first command God gave to the man and the woman was to be fruitful and multiply. “The Bible emphasizes the significance of children from the opening chapters of Genesis, where God makes the earth and every living thing on it to be fruitful—including the man and woman (Gen 1:27–28). Humanity can only fulfill God’s mandate of fruitfulness by bearing and raising children…” The Lexham Bible Dictionary.
Children were to honor their parents, and were expected to work with the family, especially in that agrarian culture. In return, children, especially boys, were educated in the scriptures, liturgies, and expected to attend the festivals. They were full participants in daily life of the family and the community.
In the New Testament, “Thompson notes that 50 percent of children in the ancient Roman world died before age 10, and Graeco-Roman society valued girls less than boys. Infants born with disabilities or unwanted female infants were commonly left exposed to the elements. As Christianity grew more influential in the Roman Empire, the Jewish and Christian value for human life increasingly pervaded Roman society. Christian emperors of Rome outlawed infant exposure in AD 374“. The Lexham Bible Dictionary.
Jesus valued children.
We are perhaps most familiar with the verse from Matthew 19:13-15, “Then some children were brought to Him so that He might lay His hands on them and pray; and the disciples rebuked them. But Jesus said, “Let the children alone, and do not hinder them from coming to Me; for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” After laying His hands on them, He departed from there.”
Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones; for I say unto you, That in heaven their angels do always behold the face of my Father which is in heaven. (Matthew 18:10).
The Gospels record that Jesus healed several children and even brought at least one child back from the dead. For example:
• He raised Jairus’ daughter from death (Matt 9:18–26; Mark 5:22–43; Luke 8:41–56).
• He healed the Gentile Syrophoenician woman’s daughter of a demon (Matt 15:21–28; Mark 7:24–30).
• He healed the demon-possessed son of a common man (Matt 17:14–19; Mark 9:14–28; Luke 9:37–42).
• He healed a royal official’s son (John 4:46–54).
By healing such a variety of children—both boys and girls, Jews and Gentiles, poor and wealthy—Jesus showed that He valued all children, for their own sake as well as for their families and communities.
The Gospels further portray Jesus ascribing value to children by welcoming them and inviting them to come near to Him even over the objections of His disciples (Matt 19:13–15; Mark 10:13–16; Luke 18:15–17). Jesus also identifies qualities in children that He wants His disciples to emulate. For example, He uses the humility of a child as a leadership model for His disciples (Matt 18:1–5; Mark 9:35–37; Luke 9:46–48). In Mark 10, Jesus states, “Anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.” The Lexham Bible Dictionary.
As sin increases, we know that the warnings from Paul to Timothy are true: “But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. 2For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, slanderers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, 4treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God…” The last days have been since Jesus ascended, but with sin, it always gets worse. As time goes on, our sin-soaked world will eventually reach the state where it’s Genesis 6:5 again, “Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of mankind was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of their hearts was only evil continually.”
Child abuse, molestation, neglect etc. are heinous crimes against little ones who are defenseless and rely upon their adults to nurture and protect them. I will be glad for the day when there is no more sin, no more predation, and no more evil against our precious little ones.
Further Reading
Challies: Why my family doesn’t do sleepovers
Diligence in Hearing: A Path to Spiritual Growth
By Elizabeth Prata
When we receive the word of God, we have a responsibility to it. Before we are saved, our responsibility is to repent and believe the Gospel, for the Kingdom of God is at hand (Mark 1:15).
After we are saved, we still have a responsibility regarding our response to the word. Here is my pastor:
“What you receive from it will be directly related to how you receive it. Look at the verse in Mark 4:24. With the measure you use, it will be measured to you and still more will be added to you. Now that’s a very simple principle. What you get out of or from God’s word will depend on how well you pay attention to it. In other words, there’s a reward for diligent understanding of God’s word, diligent effort. If you apply yourself to carefully understanding and heeding God’s word, you’re going to be richly rewarded for your efforts.”
The pastor continues with other verses along the same principles, earnestly devoting yourself to the Word as you receive it will yield wisdom, discernment, joy, and more. Pastor again:
“In Proverbs 19, verse 27; Cease to hear instruction, my son, and you will stray from the words of knowledge. But if you take heed of what you’ve been taught, then the truth will become a guard over you. Paul wrote in 1 Timothy 4:16, keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching. Persist in this, for by doing so, you will save both yourself and your hearers. And so don’t be careless in how you receive God’s Word. Pay attention to what you hear. And like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk that by it you may grow up into salvation. Have you been careful in how you hear? In our scripture reading today in Hebrews 5, the author criticizes the audience. He says, you have become dull of hearing, Hebrews 5, verse 11; “For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food. For everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness since he is a child. But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.” In other words, this is a classic description of someone who has not taken heed of the truth. They have not received it, thought carefully about it, and applied it to their lives.”
On the next day’s devotional, I heard Dustin Benge’s reading of the Puritan John Owen from his classic “Communion with God.” The principle of hearing well was brought up again. These ‘spiritual coincidences’ delight me.
The father’s love “was fixed on us before the foundation of the world. Before we were, or had done the least good, then were his thoughts upon us, — then was his delight in us; — then did the Son rejoice in the thoughts of fulfilling his Father’s delight in him, Prov. 8:30, says Owen. Why did the father love us? There was “nothing in us for which we
should be beloved” and “though we change every day, yet his love changeth not. Could any kind of provocation turn it away, it had long since ceased. Its unchangeableness is that which carries out the Father unto that infiniteness of patience and forbearance…”
Seeking the special closeness with God through our prayers and receiving of His word is a special privilege of the saints. “Men are generally esteemed according to the company they keep. It is an honour to stand in the presence of princes, though but as servants.
What honour, then, have all the saints, to stand with boldness in the presence of the Father, and there to enjoy his bosom love!” says Owen. “What a safe and sweet retreat is here for the saints, in all the scorns, reproaches, scandals, misrepresentations, which they undergo in the world.”
“His love is not ours in the sweetness of it until it be so received. Continually, then, act thoughts of faith on God, as love to thee, — as embracing thee with the eternal free love before described. When the Lord is, by his word, presented as such unto thee, let thy mind know it, and assent that it is so; and thy will embrace it, in its being so; and all thy affections be filled with it. Set thy whole heart to it; let it be
bound with the cords of this love.” ~John Owen
Receive His word faithfully, earnestly, knowing His love is immense and directed toward His children. Receive it, do diligence with it, and return this love in worship and in all our strength, mind, and heart.
Fly to the fountain, once filled with blood, now gushing love to all who are in Him. Receive His word with joy, implant it in your heart, do not delay, for within is a bountiful mercy. Owen concludes,
“Indeed, the great sin of believers is, that they make not use of Christ’s bounty as they ought to do; that we do not every day take of him mercy in abundance. The oil never ceaseth till the vessels cease;
supplies from Christ fail not, but only when our faith fails in receiving them.”
Further Resources
Hearts Aflame: John Owen Communion with Christ
CCEL, Communion With God by John Owen, online
Embrace the Challenge of Reading ‘Communion with God’ by John Owen, by Mike McKinley: summary of key points in Owen’s work
Don’t be a pig’s snout- Lessons from Proverbs for Women
By Elizabeth Prata
As a ring of gold in a pig’s snout, So is a beautiful woman who lacks discretion. (Proverbs 11:22).
It’s obvious what this means. But…is it obvious?
That’s the beauty and the wonder of God’s word, especially Proverbs. On the surface, it’s easy to understand what it’s saying. But the word of God is living and active, so digging into it yields further depths of understanding.
Bibleref explains the overall sense of the proverb: “The comparison made here is meant to be slightly shocking, as pigs were considered unclean animals. Beauty is represented by something small and insignificant, as compared to the disgusting, filthy, and enormous problem of indiscretion.“
I find that if I ask questions of the text, it will yield answers. I wondered after reading this proverb as part of my daily Bible reading yesterday, I asked myself, what exactly does the proverb mean by ‘discretion’?
I like Biblehub.com because it has the Bible in every translation, commentaries, original languages, lexicon, word dictionaries and much more, all in one spot. I looked up the word discretion in Strong’s Hebrew:
Usage: The Hebrew word “taam” primarily refers to the sense of taste, but it extends metaphorically to denote discernment, judgment, or understanding. It is used to describe the ability to perceive or evaluate situations, often in a moral or spiritual context.
Cultural and Historical Background: In ancient Hebrew culture, the concept of “taste” was not limited to the physical act of eating but was also a metaphor for experiencing and evaluating life. Just as taste helps one discern the quality of food, discernment helps one evaluate moral and spiritual matters. This metaphorical use reflects the holistic view of human experience in the Hebrew mindset, where physical senses often parallel spiritual insights.
“Just as a gold nose ring in a pig’s snout is incongruous, even so indiscretion in a beautiful woman is incongruous. Outward beauty should be accompanied by inward virtue. The negative illustration is Jezebel while the positive is Abigail.” Gingrich, R. E. (2005). The Book of Proverbs (Volume I) (p. 29). Riverside Printing.
Discernment is important. Yes, the proverb is alluding to a woman’s virtue, taste, and beauty, but a key point is her ability to evaluate spiritual and moral situations.
But solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to distinguish between good and evil. (Hebrews 5:14).
Discretion, or discernment, or using proper evaluative methods, are important for the biblical woman. Far from the improperly used ‘Judge not lest ye be judged’ verse (out of context) a Proverbs woman or wife who lacks discernment is as ugly as a pig’s snout. We can dress her up with jewelry and fine clothes, but her inability to cling to hat is good will make her ugly as a pig, which is offensive to the Bible people because as stated, pigs are highly unclean.
Peter makes this same point in the New Testament:
1 Peter 3:3-4
Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as braided hair or gold jewelry or fine clothes, / but from the inner disposition of your heart, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is precious in God’s sight.
A women attains unfading beauty by communing with God and training her senses to distinguish between good and evil so as to better obey and love what God loves and hate what God hates. This is discernment.
And Jesus made the same point in Matthew 23:27-28
Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead men’s bones and every kind of impurity. / In the same way, on the outside you appear to be righteous, but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.
Prettying up the external does a man or woman no good if the internal is devoid of discretion.
1 Timothy 1:5
The goal of our instruction is the love that comes from a pure heart, a clear conscience, and a sincere faith.
The Truth Behind Heaven Tourism: Biblical Perspectives
By Elizabeth Prata
There is a social media story going around that alleges a man died in a hospital and spent 11 hours in heaven. It’s an older story, 6 or 7 years old, but getting traction now. The man said he got a full tour, complete with glowing-eyed monsters, demons climbing out of the pit to claw his back, fires, green grass so beautiful and symmetrical, feathered angels hugging him, and Jesus face to face.
“Jim was never a religious man. When it came to matters of God and faith, he was ambivalent. But as he lay in the hospital bed, clinically dead for more than 11 hours, his consciousness was transported to the wonders of Heaven and the horrors of hell. When he returned to this world, he brought back the missing peace his soul had been longing for.“
He told his story on Youtube, saying he was never particularly religious, if anything, he was agnostic. He said, “I hoped that someone was in charge of the chaos but I never sought it out.”
Stop and think, if the people who Jesus has chosen from the foundation of the world to be one of His, and this man was a Jesus-rejecting sinner, why would Jesus give him, and not others the opportunity to preview what he would be missing if he continued in his unsaved state?
The man has traveled around North and South America, having spoken to about 20,000 people so far.
“James, my son, this is not yet your time. Go back and tell your brothers and sisters of the wonders we have shown you. While he now attends church, Woodford doesn’t affiliate with any denomination, eschewing labels. ‘Labels do not matter to God. He knows your heart better than you do,’ he states. For Woodford, it boils down to living a life of kindness and service. “That’s how simple the love of God is. It requires nothing more of you other than a dedication to doing good for others.” source.
Didn’t the Rich Man in Hades beg Abraham to send his servant Lazarus to his brothers to warn them of their impending doom? And didn’t Abraham say,
‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them.’ 30But he said, ‘No, father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent!’ 31But he said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be persuaded even if someone rises from the dead.‘” (Luke 16:19-31).
Was Abraham wrong? This man’s friends will listen to him since he rose from the dead? You see how the contradictions mount up.
It is not your time? Doesn’t the precision of God dictate perfection in birth and death? Was his entrance to heaven a mistake?
The man said that the experience apprised him of how wasteful his life had been, accumulating wealth, being unkind, unhelpful. These are normal things a convert says when truly converted, we recognize that. But the method of his alleged conversion is distinctly false. Jesus is not giving guided tours of heaven, personal messages or warnings, and then sending the person back to their body. In normal life, a near-death experience often changes people, but the change is not sourced from the blood of the Lamb to His elect. It’s a moral decision from inside the person.
And just as it is destined for people to die once, and after this comes judgment, (Hebrews 9:27)
Tim Challies said of one particular book during the height of the heaven tourism era 12 years ago, “I am not going to review To Heaven and Back. It’s pure junk, fiction in the guise of biography, paganism in the guise of Christianity.”
In fact, there came to be such an outcry against the spate of these books being pumped out, that in 2014, “LifeWay Christian Resources has stopped selling all “experiential testimonies about heaven” following consideration of a 2014 Southern Baptist Convention resolution on “the sufficiency of Scripture regarding the afterlife.”
Paul reluctantly, very reluctantly described some of his experience in heaven, not for titillating or self-serving purposes, his trip to third heaven. He refused even to name himself as the ‘traveler’, and he said specifically there were some things man was not even permitted to say.
And yet all these people allegedly return from ‘heaven’ and gush about their experience. And make money off them…
Did Mary and Martha’s brother Lazarus write a parchment and travel around telling his story of being dead for 4 days and his experience of the afterlife? No.
One minute after you slip behind the parted curtain, you will either be enjoying a personal welcome from Christ or catching your first glimpse of gloom as you have never known it. Either way, your future will be irrevocably fixed and eternally unchangeable. Erwin Lutzer, One Minute After You Die
Our eternity should be taken seriously. It is a weighty matter, and not one for merchandising, flippantly joking about, or bearing tales about. Lutzer again,
And so while relatives and friends plan your funeral- deciding on a casket, a burial plot, and who the pallbearers shall be— you will be more alive than you have ever been. You will either see God on His throne surrounded by angels and redeemed humanity, or you will feel an indescribable weight of guilt and abandonment. There is no destination midway between these two extremes; just gladness or gloom.
The scriptures are sufficient to tell us how to prepare for the moments after our bodies cease, and our souls go to its place, awaiting judgment and a fitted body for heaven. Failing to prepare, which means failing to repent and believe in the resurrected and ascended Jesus, a person will be fitted with a body for hell.
A way to determine that these stories are false, aside from the time that one author came out and said he had been lying all along, is that the people who claim to have gone to heaven claim to have spoken with grandma or seen family or been hugged by friends, and had been shown green grass and beauty…fail to mention the ONE THING that will capture our attention: Jesus on his throne.
Here is Todd Friel with a one minute comment on that: Auto-start at 5:07- ends at 6:29
https://youtu.be/o_pmjd0Zggg?si=yxLroACZO5_2GKP1&t=307
For a longer treatment on the issue, here is a biblical talk by Justin Peters, Mysticism: The Deadly Dangers of Trusting Personal Experience Over Biblical Authority
Anytime somebody tells you they’ve been to heaven, do not believe it. This is mysticism. This is trying to get in touch with the divine, with deity through subjective experience and disengaging the mind
Source
Just as visions are not happening today, just as God isn’t directly speaking/whispering to anybody today, trips to heaven are not happening. They either come from a lying tongue or a deceived mind.
The Masters University’s New Movie, Review of “The Descent”
By Elizabeth Prata
“The Descent” follows the story of a small, tranquil community suddenly grappling with a series of horrifying attacks from mysterious creatures that have emerged from the depths of darkness.
The Great Tribulation of Revelation is one of the next prophetic events on God’s timeline. Many Christian filmmakers have made movies about this period in Earth’s life. Some were fairly successful, others not. The main issue people usually have with these kind of movies is the poor production values make some of these films nearly unwatchable. The Descent’s production values are excellent, stunning in fact.
The main issue with movies based on events in Revelation is that the prophesied events are so horrific, the worst of the horror genre movies cannot capture them realistically. Nor would we want to. Even Jesus said in Matthew 24:21,
For then there will be a great tribulation, such as has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever will again.
The Descent is a film made by the Department of Cinema and Digital Arts from The Masters University, a Christian University. Its premise is that the Tribulation had begun three years ago, and now the Great Tribulation is beginning with the opening of the abyss to let out the demon horde. Here is the passage, which is read to several characters in a pivotal scene in the movie:
Then the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star from heaven which had fallen to the earth; and the key to the shaft of the abyss was given to him. 2 He opened the shaft of the abyss, and smoke ascended out of the shaft like the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened from the smoke of the shaft. 3 Then out of the smoke came locusts upon the earth, and power was given them, as the scorpions of the earth have power. 4 They were told not to hurt the grass of the earth, nor any green thing, nor any tree, but only the people who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads. 5 And they were not permitted to kill anyone, but to torment for five months; and their torment was like the torment of a scorpion when it stings a person. 6 And in those days people will seek death and will not find it; they will long to die, and death will flee from them!
Movie Recap (skip down to avoid spoilers)
The movie opens in stunning scenes of a spacewalk, displaying the Milky Way, the universe, and the Earth, the blue marble that sustains the only life. The character says in communication with ground control at Houston he is looking forward to returning to earth in a few days. As he is speaking, static enters the communication lines and soon all communication is lost. On Earth we see with numerous bombs going off that global war has erupted. The movie later calls this ‘Red Friday.’
The tension building in the cold open is excellent, as are the visual effects. Next we see a slick advertisement for the Unity program, “working toward the greater good” in a push for a rebuilding earth’s damage.
We see a montage of chaos and war and death in quick-flashing fashion. All the things you’d expect to see if the earth was at war with itself. It’s explained that though the world’s social and civic infrastructures were crumbling, there were small pockets of relative normalcy, and we soon join the characters in the US Northeast in one of those pockets.
The characters are meeting with an older man who is a leader in this global party called Unity. He is singing its virtues, and there is one character, Wyatt, who is hesitant to join, though his girlfriend Mia is all-in.
As they conclude the meeting the couple go outside to dispose of trash and they see a man sitting on his porch, whom they get a weird feeling about and try to avoid. This is Markus, a Tribulation saint (played by Jubilant Sykes). He later explains that his wife tried her best to evangelize him but he rejected her push to convert and didn’t listen. “The she was gone” he said, in a moment the earth’s remaining unsaved call “The Abductions.”
As characters in the neighborhood go about their business this night, they hear strange chattering sounds and the music builds the tension. One by one, ‘something’ takes them, and there are some scenes of screaming, and some blood, though the rating is (if I remember correctly) TV-14. Nothing gory is shown. Only parts of the creatures are shown, leaving the rest to the imagination. The tension builds as the creatures stalk and drag away characters, and this is effective. I did slide forward a bit, myself, to relieve the tension.
Jubilant Sykes is ‘Markus’, the tribulation saint who later explains to the curious (and wounded) characters what is happening and what will happen. The leader of Unity slowly descends into madness, the unsaved entrench further into their deception, and the fence-sitter Wyatt eventually parts with his stubborn girlfriend, and walks over to Markus’ house, presumably to learn more about Jesus.
The movie ends with ‘Wyatt’ deciding to join with Markus, not with Unity.
My Review
A critic who reviewed the movie was perplexed as to why the producers chose to call this movie The Descent. I was quizzical about that myself. He said that there is another, more famous horror movie with the same title, and people no doubt would get the two mixed up. Additionally, he said he didn’t see what the title had to do with the movie. Me either. Unless, since I know about the events in Revelation, that the world descends into chaos and sin?
Anyway, I am not a cinephile but I thought it was pretty well acted, and also the shot composition, camera placement, and pacing were good. Some complaints I have read say it has a lot of talking in rooms, and it does, but the conversations are interspersed with outside scenes of the creatures and other goings on.
My Conclusion
Rating: Cinematically: B+. Good job on the first feature length movie!
Rating theologically: F. There was a glaring error, omission, and flaw in this film. It is Gospel-less. None of the scenes where Markus is talking about his conversion or what was happening to the world contained the words sin, repent, wrath, grace, nothing.
Markus’ first conversation with seeker Wyatt was that Markus’ wife tried her best and she read the Bible and prayed every day, but Markus would not listen. After the ‘Abductions’, AKA the rapture, Markus read the Bible “and it all made sense.” WHAT made sense?
In another conversation Markus had with Wyatt and his girlfriend, he said the Bible is the “very word of God” and that these events are ripped straight from the Bible, “I heard the truth. I hadn’t listened to it. The Bible changed my life, man.” The Bible doesn’t change your life, it changes your position in front of Jesus the King from wrath-bound sinner to saved penitent rightly worshiping the Savior. It changes your eternity, your soul, and then, yes, your life.
“It’s all real, it’s all foretold,” Markus said. He said he’s “a Christ follower” but he never says what it takes to become one, nor WHY these events were happening (wrath for sin).
When Wyatt seemed ready to convert, that would have been the moment, but Markus simply gives Wyatt a Bible to read. It wasn’t even open to the Gospels, but to Revelation.
I didn’t hear the Gospel and this is a heinous omission. Even the self-identifying atheist reviewer I listened to gave the movie props for acting and a good job on a limited budget for its production values, but he said the the movie “doesn’t really give you a lot of context about what’s happening.” I agree. And who better than an atheist to hear the Gospel in context?
The movie is here at Tubi (it’s hard to find there if you search, but here’s the direct link: https://tubitv.com/movies/100034175/the-descent. It will also be on Amazon later, they say.
I recommend it as a watchable movie in itself, and as a well done thriller. The movie does a good job of showing the unsaved’s reactions to the events unfolding in front of them, and giving very plausible reasons, too. But theologically there is no excuse for the lack of gospel. For all the ‘talking in rooms’ in the film, just once I’d liked to have heard the gospel and the biblical explanation for the events happening. Shame on TMU for leaving this out.
Creation Grace: Fields
By Elizabeth Prata
John MacArthur: “I realize I’m on the last lap…”
By Elizabeth Prata
The annual Shepherds Conference held at Grace Community Church, currently pastored by John MacArthur, is a highlight of all the conferences on the Christian circuit. Drawing top-notch speakers from around the world, the sermons are encouraging, deep, and convicting.
The mission of Shepherds Conference is to provide the opportunity for men in church leadership to be challenged in their commitment to biblical ministry. It also aims to refresh men in ministry for the three days through the sermons, songs, and fellowship, and to BE served.
It began over 40 years ago. Thousands of men pour into the campus and overflow rooms are also filled. It has grown from 100 men to this year around 6000 men from all over the world attending.
For all of the ShepCons, as it’s nicknamed, John MacArthur has been the host. He has pastored Grace Community Church in Sun Valley, CA for 56 years and has said ShepCon is the highlight of the year for him. He has always said he has had two goals as a pastor: preach the word and raise up men. In this, he has been faithful.
Of all the 6000 men attending, there is one man who is not attending this year, and that is MacArthur himself. Previously he has opened and closed the conference with a sermon based on the conference’s theme, which this year is “Proclaiming Christ to the ends of the earth”. It is the first time in 40 years he has not been able to attend.
On March 7, 2025 published a video explaining why. In January 2023 he was preaching the first morning service and he became short of breath. “I went on to preach for 50 minutes” he said. But after the service as elders to attended him, “they sidelined me” and he was not allowed to preach the second service, MacArthur said. Doctors later confirmed he’d had a heart episode. Thus began an 18 month journey through numerous heart operations, lung surgeries, and dialysis. He has most recently been in the hospital for 7 weeks straight and was only recently released.
Disappointed he could not deliver his sermon to close out the conference this year, he gave a video message.
Below is a clip from the short published by Grace to You on Youtube, it’s not the entire message, which at present I cannot find online except from Phil Johnson of Grace To You, on Twitter. Watch the entire 2:30 message here if you are on Twitter/X. https://x.com/i/status/1898192033367609452
Or here on Facebook, the John MacArthur Appreciation Page: https://www.facebook.com/groups/MacArthur.111/posts/24010591651863596/
MacArthur said he had his message he’d intended to deliver printed and distributed to the conference attendees. It will also be sent to the people on GTY’s mailing list. Here is the cover:
It hits hard. Here is a transcription of the message from John MacArthur from the video.
I want to say ‘grace to you’, all of you who are at the Shepherds Conference. For me it’s a highlight of the year so you have to know my disappointment in coming to you through video. It really came down to being the only option because I haven’t had such a speedy recovery as I’d hoped to have. I feel great, I just lost a lot of strength by being 7 weeks in the hospital. It’s the hospital that can kill you. You can survive the illness…if you can survive the hospital then you’ve won on every level. It took a toll on me physically, so I’m seeing therapists and trainers trying to get back as soon as possible.
I had this message on my heart and I didn’t want to lose the opportunity to give it to you so we printed it up in a booklet. The good news is, you don’t have to listen to me, you don’t have to take notes because you’re going to get the sermon in a booklet form.
Just know how much I miss being at Shepherds Conference. I love the fellowship, I love the preaching, I especially love the singing…every aspect of it. And the camaraderie and fellowship of meeting people is always a highlight. Thank you for your prayers, thank you for your faithfulness, and being a part of Shepherds Conference. I’ll be praying for you, asking the Lord to bless in an unusual way, and sharpen all of us for whatever the Lord has for us in the future.
I realize I’m on the last lap. That takes on a new meaning when you know you’re on the short end of the candle, but I am all thanks and praise to God for everything He’s allowed me to be a part of and everything He’s accomplished by His word in these years of ministry.
Grace and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
John MacArthur is 85 years old. His acknowledgement of being near the end of his life is not only a statement of the obvious. His great age, shrunken body, tremulous voice, and numerous heavy medical issues all testify to that. But knowing MacArthur’s care for his elders and his people, his statement of being at the short end of the candle was a care in itself- preparing his people and the wider world for his translation in body on this earth to heaven’s glories. This is how a lion of the faith finishes well, indeed.
The Role of Almonds in Biblical Texts
By Elizabeth Prata
Why almonds? They appear a lot in the Bible. There must be some kind of symbolism to almonds, almond blossoms, and almond trees.
Then he made the lampstand of pure gold. He made the lampstand of hammered work, its base and its shaft; its cups, its bulbs, and its flowers were of one piece with it. There were six branches going out of its sides; three branches of the lampstand from the one side of it and three branches of the lampstand from the other side of it; three cups shaped like almond blossoms, a bulb and a flower on one branch, and three cups shaped like almond blossoms, a bulb and a flower on the other branch—so for the six branches going out of the lampstand. And on the lampstand there were four cups shaped like almond blossoms, its bulbs and its flowers; and a bulb was under the first pair of branches coming out of it, and a bulb under the second pair of branches coming out of it, and a bulb under the third pair of branches coming out of it, for the six branches coming out of the lampstand. Their bulbs and their branches were of one piece with it; the whole of it was a single hammered work of pure gold. And he made its seven lamps with its tongs and its trays of pure gold. He made it and all its utensils from a talent of pure gold. (Exodus 37:17-24).
Aaron’s Rod sprouted ripe almonds:
Now on the next day Moses went into the tent of the testimony; and behold, Aaron’s staff for the house of Levi had sprouted and produced buds and bloomed with blossoms, and it yielded ripe almonds. (Numbers 17:8).
The LORD used almond trees in speaking to Jeremiah:
And the word of the Lord came to me, saying, “What do you see, Jeremiah?” And I said, “I see a branch of an almond tree.” 12 Then the Lord said to me, “You have seen well, for I am watching over My word to perform it.” (Jeremiah 1:11-12).
What do almonds mean in biblical symbolism?
The early-appearing white bloom of the almond apparently serves as a picture of the early graying of a person’s hair, pointing the writer of Ecclesiastes to the certainty of death (Eccles. 12:5). The early blossom meant for Jeremiah that the almond watched for spring and gave the prophet a wordplay on the almond (Hb. shaqed) and his task to watch (Hb. shoqed) (Jer. 1:11). Source: Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary
The reference to the image white hair of age is conspicuous, since the almond blossoms in early February, sometimes January, and the white blossoms would stand out as the only color on the hillside, as nothing else was blooming or growing yet.
The almond is Amygdalus communis (N.O. Rosaceae), a tree very similar to the peach. The common variety grows to the height of 25 feet and produces an abundant blossom which appears before the leaves; …This early blossoming is supposed to be the origin of the name shāḳēdh which contains the idea of “early.” The masses of almond trees in full bloom in some parts of Palestine make a very beautiful and striking sight. The bloom of some varieties is almost pure white, from a little distance, in other parts the delicate pink, always present at the inner part of the petals, is diffused enough to give a pink blush to the whole blossom. (The International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia (Vols. 1–5, p. 100), 1915.).
Barnes’ Notes says, “The name almond in Hebrew denotes the “waking-tree,” the “waking-fruit;” and is applied to this tree, because it blossoms early in the season. It serves here, as in Jeremiah 1:11-12, to set forth the speed and certainty with which, at God’s will, His purposes are accomplished. So again the blossoming and bearing of Aaron’s rod, naturally impotent when severed from the parent tree, may signify the profitableness, because of God’s appointment and blessing, of the various means of grace (e. g. the priesthood, the sacraments), which of themselves and apart from Him could have no such efficacy”
Beautiful!
the-end-time.org 