elizabethprata

discern, holy spirit, jesus, mind, philip, study, understanding

Do you understand what you are reading?

Posted on May 3, 2014May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

“Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Rise and go toward the south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” This is a desert place. And he rose and went. And there was an Ethiopian, a eunuch, a court official of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who was in charge of all her treasure. He had come to Jerusalem to worship and was returning, seated in his chariot, and he was reading the prophet Isaiah. And the Spirit said to Philip, “Go over and join this chariot. So Philip ran to him and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet and asked, “Do you understand what you are reading?” And he said, “How can I, unless someone guides me?” And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him.” (Acts 8:26-31)

Above, The Monteleone Chariot is an Etruscan chariot dated to ca. 530 BC. It was originally uncovered at Monteleone di Spoleto and is currently part of the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. Though about 300 ancient chariots are known to still exist, only six are reasonably complete, and the Monteleone chariot is the best-preserved. Wikimedia Commons

The above is a tremendous passage, full of meaning and worthy of lengthy study. I’ll mention a few things that caught my eye, but the central lesson at this moment, is this:

The mind versus the heart. Then versus now.

Philip was going along and heard a word from the Spirit. Philip obeyed Him. We have the closed canon now but we obey the Spirit-inspired word.

Here was a eunuch reading the text of the word of God. (Isaiah 53). Philip saw him and was directed to the eunuch by the Spirit. Philip obeyed, more than that, Philip ran. Today we don’t obey, or if we do, we don’t hasten to do so.

When Philip arrived at the chariot, he heard the eunuch reading Isaiah. Philip recognized:
–it was the word of God the eunuch was reading, and
–where within the word of God the eunuch was reading from.

Today, biblical illiteracy abounds so that some people don’t even recognize the word of God when it is spoken, or believe that non-words of God are from Him when they’re not.

Philip asked the Eunuch if he understood what he was reading. This is the key thought in this essay today.

“Do you understand what you are reading?”

Manet, The Reader, 1851.

In today’s world, people don’t ask that. They ask, “How did you feel about what you read?” Or, “How did it make you feel?” It’s considered rude and intolerant to ask a person if they understand. The word for understand in the context used is from Strong’s word concordance, “I am taking in knowledge, come to know, learn; aor: I ascertained, realized.”

People get huffy if they’re asked if they understand. You can just see the reaction, either verbal or mental- “What do you mean, understand? I’m not an idiot. Maybe YOU don’t understand!”

In addition, look at the Eunuch’s reaction. Philip didn’t know the Eunuch. He didn’t work for several years to establish a relationship with the Eunuch before talking of Godly things. He didn’t seek to meet the Eunuch’s felt needs. He didn’t make the Eunuch comfortable. He didn’t give him a donut. He simply asked him if he understood it. The Eunuch’s reaction wasn’t huffy or prideful. The Eunuch responded humbly,

“How can I, unless someone guides me?”

Today’s Christianity is all about experience and feelings. This is thanks to Rick Warren, Brian McLaren, and Joel Osteen, among others in the purpose-driven, seeker sensitive, word/faith movements. Osteen in particular is known for what Osteen calls a ministry of encouragement, but unlike Barnabas’ ministry of encouragement in persevering the Lord through the scriptures, Osteen is simply in the pop psychology biz in making people feel good about themselves through the heart. Osteen doesn’t make people even feel good about Jesus, he strives to make people feel good about themselves, turning their mind away from Him and focusing their feelings on themselves.

The Eunuch provides a good example of a man humbly submitting to the Spirit. He admitted his biblical inexperience and his need for a teacher. He acted on his need by inviting Philip up to the chariot.

Understanding the scriptures always leads to a positive action, either obedience, or salvation, or witnessing (Woman at the Well) or ministry. In this case, we see that the Eunuch was baptized immediately.

Lambert Sustris (1515–1591) The Baptism of the Ethiopian Eunuch
by the Deacon Philip

The bible is replete with verses that tell us to learn with our mind. Our minds are being renewed, (Romans 12:2.) Difficulties in understanding parables such as in Matthew 13:11-13, and symbols, such as in Revelation 17:9, call for a mind with wisdom, says the verse. We need to understand with our mind, before we decide how we feel about it with our heart. And even at that juncture, feelings are often murky and misleading. Yet so many of today’s bible studies involve circumventing the mind and going straight to feelings, based on experience. And you see where that has gotten us.

The next time you’re in a bible study group, ask the question that Philip did, “Do you understand what you are reading?” If you don’t want to go that far, then ask “Do I understand what I am reading?” That’s a good question to ask anyway. Don’t let the discussion revolve around feelings launched by questions such as “How do you feel about that?” with responses given through personal experiences, therefore coming to a conclusion that is what the verse means.(I.E., ‘I experienced it, therefore it is true.’)

Luke 24:45 says that when Jesus appeared to His disciples post-crucifixion, “Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures”. He called the men of Emmaus foolish and slow of heart for not understanding.

How you feel about what you read is of no real consequence. Feelings are temporal, ephemeral, and often faulty. Why, even God allows the wicked to rest in a feeling of security. (Job 24:23). The security they feel is unprofitable for them because it is a false feeling. Don’t trust feelings about scripture, but seek to know, to understand, to comprehend. Feelings aren’t bad, but we learn the word of God through our mind. It is study which renews your mind. After that, you gain more and more clarity.

We all have the same guide that the Eunuch had, and in fact that Philip had: the Holy Spirit. He guides us into all truth. (John 16:13). We must study personally and also study under a guide or a teacher or a pastor so the scriptures will become understandable to us. Do you understand what you are reading? Ask the Spirit to deliver wisdom to you, He will do so without reproach. (James 1:5).

90 minutes in heaven, discernment, extra-biblical, heaven is for real, heaven tourism

Have you been to heaven lately? Also, ‘Heaven is for Real’ Dad Says Critics are ‘Pharisees’

Posted on May 3, 2014 by elizabethprata

Many people seem to be having a trip to heaven and a personal tour of the place, even meeting John the Baptist, “he’s nice” and meeting up with relatives and chatting with angels. A few of the prophets and apostles in the bible saw heaven. Let’s compare their reactions to the experiences the modern day heaven tourists are having.

Colton Burpo says he went to heaven in his book Heaven Is For Real. Colton was three at the time of a medical emergency in which he did not die, but while on the operating table, he went to heaven anyway. He told his story to his pastor-father over the course of several years, and Heaven is For Real was born. Asked about Jesus, Colton described ‘him”. Jesus has markers. [marks on feet and hands]. And brown hair and hair on his face. I was sitting on Jesus’ lap. I got to pet His rainbow horse. I was scared so Jesus had the angels sing to me.”

Now let’s look at Apostle John’s trip to heaven.

“Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking to me, and on turning I saw seven golden lampstands, and 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. The hairs of his head were white, like white wool, like snow. His eyes were like a flame of fire, his feet were like burnished bronze, refined in a furnace, and his voice was like the roar of many waters. In his right hand he held seven stars, from his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword, and his face was like the sun shining in full strength. When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead.” (Revelation 1:12-17)

Strong’s Greek, 3498 dead; literally, “what lacks life”; dead; (figuratively) not able to respond to impulses, or perform functions. So when John saw Jesus he fell as if dead, meaning unconscious and unable to perform functions. But Colton tottled around petting rainbow horses.

Kim Walker Smith of the band Jesus Culture says she saw Jesus in a vision, and had many other visions too.

“Anyways, (pause) so, irresistible, I go to Jesus, I fall in His arms. And as I’m laying in His arms, I’m still feeling kind of afraid to really even look at Him. All the sudden this thought comes into my mind, and I know this is not my thought. I would never, ever, ever in a million, trillion years think this; and I think, “I need to ask Him two questions.” I need to ask Him, “How much do You love me; and what were You thinking when You created me?” And as this thought comes into my mind, I’m thinking, “No way! I am not asking those questions.”

Oh but she did. She was kind of afraid but quickly overcame her fear to ask the LORD OF THE UNIVERSE about herself.

Isaiah was afraid too. Let’s see his reaction to being with God.

“And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke. And I said: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!” (Isaiah 6:4-5)

John fell down. Isaiah fell down. Colton sat in the throne. Kim sat in the throne.

“When I, Daniel, had seen the vision, I sought to understand it. And behold, there stood before me one having the appearance of a man. And I heard a man’s voice between the banks of the Ulai, and it called, “Gabriel, make this man understand the vision.” So he came near where I stood. And when he came, I was frightened and fell on my face.” (Daniel 8:15-17)

Daniel fell down.

Let’s see how Jesse Duplantis’ heaven tour went.

In his hotel room on August 1988 Duplantis “felt a suction as if I was being pulled up out of the room” … zooming along at a phenomenal rate of speed, being carried in something like a cable car. It was a chariot without a horse.” A blond-headed angel is with him in the cable car. Duplantis asks, “Where are we going?” He smiled and said, “You have an appointment with the Lord God Jehovah”… (His name is YHWH, a real angel would know better and call God by His real name, says Justin Peters).

Duplantis continues, “Jesus was taller than I thought He would be. I would guess Him to be from five feet eleven inches to six feet one inch. I thought at first His hair was white; but when He turned His head, I caught a glance and saw that it was light brown. When He looked at me, the glory of God was emanating from Him. I said, “Jesus!” He said simply, “Do you like this place?” I said, “Yes, Sir”.

Do you like this place? Oh my.

In the recounting of the vision Duplantis says he had, he did fall down at the feet of Jesus, but not as though dead. He noticed the holes in His feet and when he stood up, he noticed Jesus’ height. That’s a lot of noticing, when all the other men, including even Peter in the boat with Jesus, shrank back or fell down. Some simply fainted.

In addition, “Jesus” told Duplantis that he’d learn a lot there, yet scripture alone is the place where we receive our teaching. God said the canon is closed and not to add to the word of the bible. (Revelation 22:18). Finally, “Jesus” told Duplantis that he was supposed to tell the world that He is coming.

I said, “They know that.”
“No, they don’t know that. I brought you here so that you would go tell them I’m coming. Do you hear Me? I’m coming. Go tell them.”

So we have a new ‘go and tell’ given directly to Jesse Duplantis by Jesus. Because nobody knows Jesus is coming. Oh, my.

Though Jesse Duplantis was taught new things, and then told to go and tell, Paul said it is unlawful to tell.

“and he heard things that cannot be told, which man may not utter.” (2 Corinthians 12:4).

If a contradiction exists between a man’s experience and the bible’s truth, which will you believe?

In one more comparison, here’s Ezekiel’s experience, and then Don Piper’s.

“In the thirtieth year, in the fourth month, on the fifth day of the month, as I was among the exiles by the Chebar canal, the heavens were opened, and I saw visions of God. … Such was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord. And when I saw it, I fell on my face, and I heard the voice of one speaking.” (Ezekiel 1:1, 28)

Don Piper: “As the crowd rushed toward me, I didn’t see Jesus, but I did see the people I had known. As they surged toward me, I knew instantly that all of them had died during my lifetime. Their presence seemed absolutely natural. They rushed toward me, and every person was smiling, shouting, and praising God. … Although no one said so, intuitively I knew they were my celestial welcoming committee. It was as if they had all gathered just outside heaven’s gate, waiting for me. … “More and more people reached for me and called me by name. I felt overwhelmed by the number of people who had come to welcome me to heaven. There were so many of them, and I had never imagined anyone being as happy as they all were…. I spotted two teachers who had loved me and often talked to me about Jesus Christ. … Everyone continually embraced me, touched me, spoke to me, laughed and praised God.” pp 22 & 24

me me me me me me me me me me me me me = # times we read me or my in those few sentences. Ezekiel spoke of the glory of the Lord.

“But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.” (Luke 5:8)

Quite a different use of the word me there, with Peter pleading for Jesus to remove Himself from sinful ‘me’.

On the Mount of Transfiguration, when Peter saw Jesus in His glory, his first impulse was to build a tent of worship. He said as much to Jesus, then,

“He was still speaking when, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him.” When the disciples heard this, they fell on their faces and were terrified.” (Matthew 17:5-6)

The disciples were terrified in the presence of the LORD. Yet Kim Smith lounged in Jesus’ lap and asked Him of ‘me’.

Here are several short blog essays to help you discern that trips to heaven are not real. They ones by John MacArthur are aptly titled. Several in the list are by Tim Challies & another is by Justin Peters.

Sermon by Justin Peters: Spiritual Shipwreck of the Word-Faith Movement

Response to Heaven is For Real, 4 part essays

1. Blog by John MacArthur: Heaven Is Real; Hallucinations Are Not

2. Blog by John MacArthur: Dead Men Tell No Tales

3. Blog by John MacArthur: When Preschoolers Speak Ex Cathedra

4. Blog by John MacArthur: The Idolatry of Experience

Tim Challies Book Review: Heaven is For Real

Tim Challies: I Went to Heaven Books

Tim Challies: What The Bible Says About the Heaven Books

“The Boy Who Came Back From Heaven…not quite” Beth Malarkey’s Poignant Testimony about her son’s NON-trip to heaven, how it is just a lie exploited by others (“The Boy Who Came Back From Heaven”)

‘Heaven is for Real’ Dad Says Critics are ‘Pharisees’

God, grieve the holy spirit, love, Trinity

We grieve God, yet He loves us

Posted on May 1, 2014May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

Man’s sorry history of grieving the entire Trinity is long and sad.

In Genesis 6:6 we read,

Adam and Eve banished, Gustave Dore

“And the LORD regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart.”

During the incarnation of Jesus, Jesus was saddened to the point of tears over death, (His friend Lazarus), and over His city.

When Jesus was told Lazarus had died, he wept. (John 11:35). Matthew Henry said,

Christ’s tender sympathy with these afflicted friends, appeared by the troubles of his spirit. In all the afflictions of believers he is afflicted. His concern for them was shown by his kind inquiry after the remains of his deceased friend. Being found in fashion as a man, he acts in the way and manner of the sons of men. It was shown by his tears. He was a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief.” (Isaiah 53:3)

“As he approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it.” (Luke 19:41)

Matthew Henry again,

“The Son of God did not weep vain and causeless tears, nor for a light matter, nor for himself. He knows the value of souls, the weight of guilt, and how low it will press and sink mankind.”

The Holy Spirit grieves, too.

“And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.” (Ephesians 4:30)

Gill’s Exposition says,

And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God,…. Not a believer’s own spirit, sanctified by the Holy Ghost, which is grieved by sin; nor the spirit of a good man, that hears our words and sees our actions, and is displeased and troubled at them; but the third person in the Trinity: and this is said of him by an anthropopathy, and supposes something done that is offensive to him; and he may be grieved, not only by unconverted persons, by their stubborn resistance and opposition to the Gospel and means of grace, and by their contempt of his person, office, and grace, but by believers themselves, and who are here spoken to; and which may be done both by their words, lying, angry, and corrupt ones

S. Lewis Johnson said of the Ephesians verse,

Now the New Testament has a word for believers. In Ephesians chapter 4 in verse 30, the Apostle Paul says, “Grieve not the Holy Spirit or the Spirit of God, whereby you are sealed unto the day of redemption. Grieve not.” Now grieve is a love word. Only those who love can be grieved. … Now when we disobey God, whether it be by a sin of omission or a sin of commission, we have grieved the Holy Spirit. That’s the word that the New Testament uses of believers. They do not resist the Spirit. They grieve the Spirit according to the New Testament.

Charles Spurgeon said of grieving the Spirit, “but where is the heart so hard, that it is not moved when we know that we have caused others grief?—for grief is a sweet combination of anger and of love. It is anger, but all the gall is taken from it. Love sweetens the anger, and turns the edge of it, not against the person, but against the offense.“

I feel so terrible having grieved my LORD and my God.

Have mercy on me, O God,

according to your steadfast love;

according to your abundant mercy

blot out my transgressions.

Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity,

and cleanse me from my sin!

For I know my transgressions,

and my sin is ever before me.

Against you, you only, have I sinned

and done what is evil in your sight,

so that you may be justified in your words

and blameless in your judgment.

(Psalm 51:1-4)

What an amazing and loving God we have, who came down to us!

A cross in a heart formed with candles taken in Camp Tejas,
Giddings, TX, USA By Wingchi Poon. Wimimedia COmmons

“Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” (1 John 4:8-10).

“This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him.” (1 John 4:9)

God our Trinitarian God, loves us so much, despite humankind’s grief against Him, despite the fact that we personally sin against Him each day. Honor Him by loving Him, resisting sin, and repenting when we fail. By reading His word to get to know Him better, and by praying in communication to Him. He loves His little children. Let us cry out ‘Abba! Father!’ Now that the Spirit is in us, let us not quench Him, resist Him or grieve Him any longer. Let us love Him with all our heart, mind, strength, and soul! He delights in our love for Him!

It’s so hard to fathom that despite the fact that we grieve each member of the Trinity at various times, He loves us so much!

“The Lord takes pleasure in those who fear him, in those who hope in his steadfast love.” (Psalm 147:11)

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The bestseller book "The Shack" in development to become a movie

Posted on April 30, 2014 by elizabethprata

The lack of Christian discernment continues…(2 Timothy 4:3) or perhaps the reality is closer to a huge money making machine running over Christians and raking it in hand over fist. (2 Peter 2:3). Either way, in the wake of the blasphemous movie Noah starring Russell Crowe, and the equally blasphemous heaven tourism trip “Heaven is for Real“, comes a proposed movie based on William P. Young’s bestseller “The Shack“

It will star Forrest Whittaker and possibly Oprah. Though it is as yet unclear exactly what role Oprah will play, in The Shack, ‘God’ was depicted as a large, African American woman, sooo…. The Holy Spirit was depicted as a woman also, an Asian. As The Christian Post reports on the upcoming movie, they dug up the original quote from Dr Al Mohler regarding the heresy in The Shack-

In 2010, R. Albert Mohler, Jr., president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, described [the book] The Shack as a “wake-up call for evangelical Christianity,” and that its story reflected “a theology that is unconventional at best, and undoubtedly heretical in certain respects.” He also blamed its popularity among Evangelicals on their ignorance of “basic theological knowledge.”

To wit: though the book was heretical, it spent 70 weeks at #1 on the NY Times bestseller list.

How quaint those time were, lo those 4 years ago, when The Shack’s heresy was embedded sweetly in a well-written book promoting what was termed as merely unconventional theology.

Here are a few reviews of The Shack. Negative, of course.

The Shack: Helpful or Heretical? by Dr Norman Geisler

Challies: A review of The Shack

Why Christians Should Not Read ‘The Shack’

Burning Down The Shack

Our society is making God into its own image, and the script for it couldn’t be followed any better and the trip down heresy lane more successful. Willing ‘Christians’ are allowing the dilution of holy and fearsome God into a romantic, boyfriend living in a shack cheerfully making pancakes for ‘her’ universally loved sheep, who will all end up in the sheepfold.

For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, (2 Timothy 4:3)

Has a nation ever changed its gods? (Yet they are not gods at all.) But my people have exchanged their glorious God for worthless idols. (Jeremiah 2:11)

“Do people make their own gods? Yes, but they are not gods!” (Jeremiah 16:20)

galatians, good, spurgeon

Do not grow weary in the doing good

Posted on April 29, 2014May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

“And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.” (Galatians 6:9)

These days are getting more and more evil. A Christian in an area like ours, the Southern United states, is so far spared the persecution many are experiencing abroad, praise the Lord. However, attitudes toward Christians from secular people are shifting rapidly even here in the so-called ‘bible belt.’ Though we are not persecuted from the outside, many local churches are dying from the inside.

Just as Britain is grappling with the reality that they are a post-Christian nation, a clear look at the US will show that we are too.

Apostasy is rising, which means that people who have called themselves Christians are behaving less and less like our Master and more and more like the world.

I used to think that discernment ministries, such as the ministry the Spirit gave me to perform online and in the real world, was the hardest. I was wrong to think so. Plus, I was in error. It is hard for everybody. I’m nobody special.

The tendency is to excuse themselves because at some time or other they have been victimized.~Charles Spurgeon
For example, I was talking with a sister in the faith who serves in a helps ministry. She has been given a strong desire to serve. Even when people who call themselves Christian ask for help from churches where a sweet women like my sister serves, the seekers of help often display the worst of human attitudes; entitlement, greed, laziness, ingratitude, and anger.

Paul warned Timothy to:

“understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people.” (2 Timothy 3:1-5)

“Having the appearance of godliness”…Christians who look like they are Christians aren’t really, but will at some point be found to never have known the Lord. (Matthew 7:21-23). This is one of the saddest verses in the entire bible, to me.

Weary traveler by eharsee. reuse allowed

Discernment ministries arise within a church and online when a person has been spiritually gifted with a supernatural ability to distinguish between the spirit of truth and the spirit of error, between holiness and evil. It comes from 1 Corinthians 12:10.

Because it is getting toward the end of the end of the age (we have been in the end of the age since Jesus ascended (1 John 2:18), there are a good many people who succumb to tickled ears, heaping up teachers for themselves, and won’t endure sound doctrine. As I read on Challies’ website, not that they don’t know what sound teaching is, but that they WON’T ENDURE it.

People still refuse to accept such and such is a false teacher, or that a particular doctrine is aberrant, or an activity founded on a scripture is actually a twisted use of that scripture…. Discernment is seen as something unnecessary to a vibrant Christian life. So many people display an attitude of “let’s just agree Jesus is the only thing we need to agree on and leave the rest to God. But that’s not all there is, and still the gift of discernment isn’t adhered to much.

Back to the Galatians verse, Charles Spurgeon said in his exhortation about not being weary in the doing good, as related to teaching Sunday School

“It is true, my Brothers and Sisters, that you are not to save yourselves by doing good. Your motive is not selfish, but because you are saved already, you desire to manifest the power of gratitude and to prove to all the world that those who receive a free salvation are the very men who most cheerfully labor to please God and to bring glory to His name. O you who are debtors to infinite mercy, “Be not weary in doing good.” …

Now, secondly, it appears from the text that in your service YOU WILL MEET WITH EVILS common to Christian workers of all descriptions. You will especially be liable to weariness and faintness. Take the first word as it stands in our version—you will be tempted to grow weary. …

Do you not think that, at times, our getting lax in Christian work arises from our being very low in Grace? As a rule, you cannot get out of a man that which is not in him. You cannot go forth, yourself, to your class and do your work vigorously if you have lost inward vigor. You cannot minister before the Lord with the unction of the Holy One if that unction is not upon you. If you are not living near to God and in the power of God, then the power of God will not go forth through you to the children in y our care! Therefore I think we should judge, when we become discontented and down-hearted, that we are out of sorts spiritually. Let us say to ourselves, “Come, my Soul! What ails you? This faint heart is a sign that you are out of health. Go to the Great Physician and obtain from Him a tonic which shall brace you! Come, play the man! Have none of these whims! Away with your idleness! The reaping time will come, therefore thrust in the plow.”

By Benson Kua from Toronto, Canada. Wiki commons

“Sometimes, too—I am ashamed to mention it—I have heard of teachers becoming weary from lack of being appreciated. Their work has not been sufficiently noticed by the pastor and praised by the superintendent. Sufficient notice has not been taken of them and their class by their fellow teachers. I will not say much about this cause of faintness because it is so small an affair that it is quite below a Christian. Appreciation! Do we expect it in this world? The Jewish nation despised and rejected their King and even if we were as holy as the Lord Jesus we might still fail to be rightly judged and properly esteemed. What does it matter? If God accepts us, we need not be dismayed though all should pass us by.

Perhaps, however, the work itself may suggest to us a little more excuse for being weary. It is hard work to sow on the highway and amidst the thorns—hard work to be casting good seed upon the rock, year after year. Well, if I had done so for many years and was enabled by the Holy Spirit, I would say to myself, “I shall not give up my work because I have not yet received a recompense in it. I perceive that in the Lord’s parable three sowings did not succeed and yet the one piece of good ground paid for all! Perhaps I have gone through my three unsuccessful sowings and now is my time to enjoy my fourth, in which the seed will fall upon good ground.”

Spurgeon always has a good word. In addition, the Good Book says to

Do all things without grumbling or disputing, that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, (Philippians 2:14-15)

Spurgeon again,

“If there are a hundred reasons for giving up your work of faith, there are 50,000 for going on with it! Though there are many arguments for fainting, there are far more arguments for persevering. Though we might be weary and do sometimes feel so, let us wait upon the Lord and renew our strength and we shall mount up with wings as eagles, forget our weariness and be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might!”

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Methodist Church Organist has been playing every Sunday for 73 years

glory, God, providence, tornado, tragedy, weather

It’s tornado weather

Posted on April 28, 2014 by elizabethprata

I’m working on another blog essay for tonight about not growing weary in the well-doing. But I wanted to pause and pray for a moment. There is a severe weather outbreak in the South and the Plains States of the US. Tornadoes, hail, lightning and severe winds and thunder are wreaking havoc at this hour, and have been since last night. Many people have died and much property is demolished. Lives are forever changed.

Our section of the South, Georgia, will start to get hit later tonight and tomorrow through Wednesday. It is by meteorological accounts, a very severe threat. Tupelo Mississippi just got hammered and there is a great amount of damage.

The Lord told us in His word that He holds us in His hand and the days of our lives are numbered. We never know if this moment will be our last breath or if we have another 20000 days to go. By this time tomorrow I could be dead, injured, or homeless. Or I could be the same- ensconced in my tiny apartment with three happy cats eating fruit and drinking tea. We just never know. However, what I appeal to the Lord for is my attitude. Here is my prayer:

“Lord, may You be glorified if You decide to blast my house in a tornado. May my attitude reflect submission to Your will, exhibit certainty that You are in control, and comfort in the knowledge that You have the bigger picture in mind- because all things work together for good for those who love you.

“If you decide to spare my house, then please may I reflect Your glory in gratitude that You have allowed me to continue unscathed, though, knowing that life’s trials are a sure thing and another one may be around the corner tomorrow. In all, Your will be done.”

“May You be glorified if some of those who have experienced tragedy through this weather come to salvation. Severe storms make a person think about life, family, and mortality. May they also think of You and Your Son, and the afterlife you have prepared for those who love you. May your glory shine brightly in newly converted hearts, even amidst the debris.” Amen

Job Loses his Children and Property
While he was yet speaking, there came another and said, “Your sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother’s house, 19and behold, a great wind came across the wilderness and struck the four corners of the house, and it fell upon the young people, and they are dead, and I alone have escaped to tell you.”…

21He said, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, And naked I shall return there. The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away. Blessed be the name of the LORD.”

22Through all this Job did not sin nor did he blame God.
(Job 1:18-19, 21-22)

encouragement, jesus, praise, revelation

"…and his face was like the sun shining in full strength"

Posted on April 27, 2014May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

In the spring and summer, the sun is a position that when it rises in the morning, it bursts over the trees and its rays shoot down the road.

I live at the end of a small one-way street. Looking east, the sun rises over the tree line for a few minutes, brightening the sky. It’s coming!

Suddenly the sunrays burst out and stream down the road, lighting all the bushes and pastures along the way

The brightness is incredible, reflecting off everything the sun rays touch. The bushes burst into focus, each leaf evident in the gold adornment

It’s as if the curtain of golden light is being raised- you can see half the bush illuminated as the sun rises higher and higher, the shadow line sinking fast to the ground as the illumination is almost complete

I always love that moment, when the sun comes up and the first light shows itself. What will it be like when we’re called home in the rapture, and we see the full light of the glory of Jesus?!

Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking to me, and on turning I saw seven golden lampstands, and 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. The hairs of his head were white, like white wool, like snow. His eyes were like a flame of fire, his feet were like burnished bronze, refined in a furnace, and his voice was like the roar of many waters. In his right hand he held seven stars, from his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword, and his face was like the sun shining in full strength. (Revelation 1:12-16)

And I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb. And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb. (Revelation 21:22-23)

All praise to the Lamb, the Light of the world!!

flood, heaven, jesus, jewel, mineral, young earth

Completely new mineral discovered: Putnisite

Posted on April 27, 2014May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

Source

It’s purple, translucent and goes by “putnisite.” Discovered in Western Australia, putnisite contains the unusual elemental combination of strontium, calcium, chromium, sulphur, carbon, oxygen and hydrogen and is notable for its dissimilarity from other, known families of minerals.

Salon.com explains,
It’s purple and pretty and composed of cube-like crystals just 0.5 mm in size. But what really makes putnisite, the world’s newest mineral, truly unique is that nothing like it has ever been discovered before. “Most minerals belong to a family or small group of related minerals, or if they aren’t related to other minerals they often are to a synthetic compound, but putnisite is completely unique and unrelated to anything,” said Dr. Peter Elliott, lead author of a new study detailing the discovery in Mineralogical Magazine. … Putnisite is named after German mineralogists Andrew and Christine Putnis for their contributions to mineralogy. What’s got scientists so intrigued by the mineral is its composition. It’s a rare combination of strontium, calcium, chromium, sulphur, carbon, oxygen and hydrogen that’s completely distinct from any of the other 4,000 known minerals in the world.

I love science. But I know Who the author of science is, God. He made the earth and everything in it. (Genesis 1:1, Acts 17:24, Hebrews 1:10). Jesus sustains it. (Hebrews 1:3). Insofar as man can, with his limited mental faculties (compared to God’s), he strives to discover his origins and learn about this creation in which we dwell.

For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. (Romans 1:19-20)

I love minerals. In Maine, as with many other states, there is a Mineralogical Society. Membership allows us entry to mining sites where the owners allow us to sift through their tailings. We often went on weekend expeditions with shovel and chisel and bucket in hand, to explore and try to find amethyst, quartz, tourmaline, beryl, and other gems hidden in the earth. In Maine you can also pan for gold, it exists in the rivers. But it was always too cold for us, so we usually only went on the rock hunting expeditions. Here are a few samples of some of the minerals we found.

Amethyst, quartz. EPrata photo

Quartz and Smokey quartz. EPrata photo

In Texas, we camped on the Woodward Ranch, where the teacher/geologist owner Trey Woodward gave you a shovel, a bucket, a pick and a hardy screwdriver, and let you hunt for red plume agate and opal. You brought it back and he’d tell you what is really good and what’s junk, and whatever you wanted to keep, he weighed and you pay a nickel a pound. This was in the 1990s. Trey Woodward died of cancer a few years ago.

These are some of the things we found on the Woodward Ranch.

EPrata photo

Geodes are fun, They look like a dull rock, but if you split them open, there is a world of minerals in there!

EPrata photo

In Jasper Beach, Maine there are a billion billion jasper and rhyolite stones, tumbled to a smooth sheen and glistening in the Atlantic waters at the edge of a totally stone beach.

It’s the minerals in the granite stone that makes it sparkle. EPrata photo

Weather.com had an interesting list of the “8 Biggest Mysteries of Our Planet“

1. Why are we all wet? Scientists think Earth was a dry rock after it coalesced 4.5 billion years ago. So where did this essential chemical, H2O, come from?

2. What’s down there in the core? The stuff of legend and lore, Earth’s core has long fascinated writers as well as scientists. For a while, the composition of Earth’s unreachable core was a solved mystery — at least in the 1940s. With meteorites as proxy, scientists gauged the planet’s original balance of essential minerals, and noted which were missing. The iron and nickel absent in Earth’s crust must be in the core, they surmised. But gravity measurements in the 1950s revealed those estimates were incorrect. The core was too light. Today, researchers continue to guess at which elements account for the density deficit beneath our feet.

3. How did the moon get here? Did a titanic collision between the Earth and a Mars-size protoplanet form the moon? There’s no universal consensus on this giant impactor theory, because some details don’t pan out.

4. Where did life come from? Was life brewed on Earth or sparked in interstellar space and delivered here on meteorites? The most basic life components, such as amino acids and vitamins, have been found on ice grains inside asteroids and in the most extreme environments on Earth. Figuring out how these parts combined to form the first life is one of biology’s biggest hurdles…[and a link brings you to the 7 theories on how life began…and so on and et cetera, always learning yet never above to come to knowledge of the truth…]

5. Where did all the oxygen come from? Understanding the shift to an oxygen-rich Earth is a key factor in decoding the history of life on our planet.

6. What caused the Cambrian explosion? The appearance of complex life in the Cambrian, after 4 billion years of Earth history, marks a unique turning point, said Donna Whitney, a geologist at the University of Minnesota. Suddenly there were animals with brains and blood vessels, eyes and hearts, all evolving more quickly than during any other planetary era known today. [For another take on a biblical explanation for the Cambrian explosion, see below]

7. When did plate tectonics start? Thin plates of hardened crust knocking about Earth’s surface make for beautiful mountain sunsets and violent volcanic eruptions. Yet geologists still don’t know when the plate tectonics engine revved up. [The FLOOD. Genesis 7:6, Genesis 10:25]

8. Will we ever predict earthquakes? At best, statistical models can tease out a forecast of future earthquake probability, similar to weather experts who warn of coming rain. But that hasn’t kept people from trying to predict when the next one will hit — with no success. [Prediction: There will be an earthquake in Jerusalem killing 7000 and a tenth of the city will collapse. This will happen the same hour the Two Witnesses are resurrected and ascend to heaven. Revelation 11:13.]

A summary of flood geology
Other creationists accept the existence of the geological column and believe that it indicates a sequence of events that might have occurred during the global flood. Institute for Creation Research creationists such as Andrew Snelling, Steven A. Austin and Kurt Wise take this approach, as does Creation Ministries International. They cite the Cambrian explosion — the appearance of abundant fossils in the upper Ediacaran (Vendian) Period and lower Cambrian Period — as the pre-Flood/Flood boundary, the presence in such sediments of fossils that do not occur later in the geological record as part of a pre–flood biota that perished and the absence of fossilized organisms that appear later (such as angiosperms and mammals) as due to erosion of sediments deposited by the flood as waters receded off the land. Creationists say that fossilization can only take place when the organism is buried quickly to protect the remains from destruction by scavengers or decomposition. They say that the fossil record provides evidence of a single cataclysmic flood and not of a series of slow changes accumulating over millions of years.

Here are some fossils I found beautiful:

EPrata photo

I often wondered, as I looked at my fossils, what killed them. Now I know.

It’s fun to speculate on the earth’s mysteries. It was a blast looking for minerals in western Maine, in Downeast Maine, in Texas, and all the other places we searched, looking for clues as to how the earth works. We loved to unearth its beauty- literally.

Please note that for the born again Christian the scientific mysteries are different than the mysteries the unsaved scientist will ponder. If one does not have God as the first cause, one will always wonder about the ensuing causes. So, another new mineral was discovered, and scientists cannot figure out why it is unrelated to any other mineral… When this happens they begin to reassess once again what they know, and what they don’t know. I’m glad I know what I know. God created the heavens and the earth…

And the minerals that we know, like gold and pearl, we will see in heaven and they will be beautiful. (Revelation 21:19-21). The minerals we don’t know but we will discover in heaven will be beautiful also. But the most beautiful gem of all, in the entire universe, is Jesus.

And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great, high mountain, and showed me the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God, having the glory of God, its radiance like a most rare jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal. … And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb. (Revelation 21:10-11, 23)

fearing the Lord, holy fear, spurgeon

The fear of the LORD is clean

Posted on April 25, 2014May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

The title is from Psalm 19 verse 9. It has an intrinsic beauty and a comprehensible truth that is evident but hard for puny man to describe. However, Spurgeon did.

I’ll post it in context. Psalm 19:7-9;

7The law of the Lord is perfect,

reviving the soul;

the testimony of the Lord is sure,

making wise the simple;

8the precepts of the Lord are right,

rejoicing the heart;

the commandment of the Lord is pure,

enlightening the eyes;

9the fear of the Lord is clean,

enduring forever;

the rules of the Lord are true,

and righteous altogether.

Spurgeon wrote,

“The fear of the Lord is clean.” The doctrine of truth is here described by its spiritual effect, viz., inward piety, or the fear of the Lord; this is clean in itself, and cleanses out the love of sin, sanctifying the heart in which it reigns. Mr. Godly-fear is never satisfied till every street, lane, and alley, yea, and every house and every corner of the town of Mansoul is clean rid of the Diablolonians who lurk therein. “Enduring for ever.” Filth brings decay, but cleanness is the great foe of corruption. The grace of God in the heart being a pure principle, is also an abiding and incorruptible principle, which may be crushed for a time, but cannot be utterly destroyed.”

encouragement, high priest, jesus

It feels like there’s no one left who is a true believer…

Posted on April 25, 2014April 2, 2021 by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

Apostasy is a hard, hard thing, For anyone who is righteous, seeing loved ones succumb to the sway of a false doctrine, or follow a false teacher, it is a torture to the soul and a agony to the mind and a hardship on the soul. I see a Blackaby book on a pastor’s desk and I worry. I hear a woman refuse to acknowledge Joyce Meyer is false “because she preaches straight from the bible” and I mourn, I see a woman wear a “Walk to Emmaus” tee shirt and I fear. Encountering these things in my daily routine is like having a hot nail driven into my head. I am not exaggerating.

It’s not to say that these people or any person who reads a book, accepts a teacher or participates in a retreat once is an apostate. I participated in both the Experiencing God study by Henry Blackaby and a Beth Moore Living Proof weekend and a DVD retreat, but in doing so alerted me to the falseness of their teachings. It gave me a close-up view of what it was that troubled my soul so much. That’s what false teaching does, it either grieves the soul and alerts one to its falsity or it entrenches one deeper into their lack of discernment. I worry because I know when someone doesn’t or won’t see the falseness of a particular doctrine or teacher, the false teacher or a false doctrine has successfully taken root into their mind. Satan won’t let that go. Unless they refute it and repent, it will grow like gangrene. That is the way of things. (2 Timothy 2:17; Acts 14:2)

It feels sometimes like there are hardly any people with discernment left. It feels like so many friends and family are falling away. I know from your emails and blog comments that many of you are in locations where there literally are no good churches or where false teaching abounds. Doesn’t it feel like were the only ones, sometimes!

Here is where we praise the gracious Lord for His examples for us in scripture. We are not alone! Elijah thought he was alone! Jeremiah was tortured by the apostasy around him and in his lifetime, judgment came! Noah preached 120 years and only had 7 converts! Isaiah was told to prophesy until there was literally no one left!

“And the word of the Lord came to him: “What are you doing here, Elijah?” 10He replied, “I have been very zealous for the Lord God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, torn down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too.”… God assured him, Yet I reserve seven thousand in Israel—all whose knees have not bowed down to Baal and whose mouths have not kissed him.” (1 Kings 19:9-10, 18)

My anguish, my anguish! I writhe in pain! Oh the walls of my heart! My heart is beating wildly; I cannot keep silent, for I hear the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war. (Jeremiah 4:19)

The LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. 6And the LORD regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart. …These are the generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation. Noah walked with God. (Genesis 6:5-6, 9)

“Then I said, “How long, O Lord?” And he said: “Until cities lie waste without inhabitant, and houses without people, and the land is a desolate waste,” (Isaiah 6:11)

In the New Testament, imagine there being no ‘church down the road’ you could switch to when apostasy is so rampant in your church you have to leave. The Corinthians were having chaotic services, drunken Lord’s Suppers, and immorality and sexual impurity were a problem. But that was the ONLY church. Can you imagine how the few pure and holy Corinthians felt?

I’ve seen a massive defection from the faith since 2008. I’ve also seen a horrific decline in discernment since then too. The rise in apostasy to my mind and according to how I interpret 2 Thessalonians 2:3 is that the time is near when the rapture will occur. The defections of millions from the faith and the fast tsunami of apostasy in even evangelical denominations shows this, in my opinion. The curtain on this age is coming down, and fast.

Each of the prophets named above walked closely with God. Even in times of terrible apostasy when they were literally the only ones in their sphere left who were faithful. They were human, to be sure. Elijah suffered a bout of depression. Jeremiah was tearful and mourning much of the time. The key is, they clung to God.

Noah walked with God. (Genesis 6:9b)

Take encouragement! The Lord Jesus is near to us. At the time of His incarnation, there were few faithful ones. His religion had been turned into a mockery. They rejected His words while clamoring for His miracles. They wanted His ‘stuff’ but not Him for Himself. He knew apostasy! He knows the pain we feel when people reject our precious Jesus and go astray! Don’t give up the fight!

For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. (Hebrews 4:15)

Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted. (Hebrews 2:18)

He is able to deal gently with those who are ignorant and are going astray, since he himself is subject to weakness. (Hebrews 5:2)

Pray for those who are ignorant and going astray. Pray for yourself in your weariness and sadness. Jesus is with us. It is good.

And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. (Romans 8:28)