elizabethprata

It’s the weekend and I’m filling my moat with water and alligators. And other thoughts on sanctification

Posted on September 7, 2013May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

One of the kindergarten teachers plays a welcome song every morning and on Fridays it is the Friday Song with the refrain of “It’s Friday! It’s Friday! We love it!” The kids dance. It’s really cute.

I do believe there is nothing like the feeling of driving home on Friday after a ___________ workweek. Insert your own descriptor.

1. a stressful work week
2. a fruitful work week
3. a productive work week
4. a tiring work week.
5. A dull work week.

This week I choose work week descriptor… #1 and #2!

When I get home on Fridays I put the car in the garage. It’s my signal of the boundaries between home and work being set. If I had a moat, at this time I’d be filling it with water and alligators.

I gather my things from the back seat of the car and go in. This is a momentous occasion. Crossing the threshold of my home

photo credit: Stewf via photopin cc

from the outside on a Friday night is a tremendous feeling of relief and release. As I step inside, there actually should be a mariachi band playing.

I close the door and lock it. The ‘tick’ the lock makes cements the feeling that I have now separated from the world.

I’m IN!!

I make sure to have cleaned up the apartment Thursday evening or Friday morning so that when I come in the place looks orderly and nothing stands out as needing attention or to be done. I close the windows, fire up the AC, and unpack. I change into comfy clothes, currently a stretched white Hanes tee shirt and very soft blue stretch pants. The world is now dead to me.

I fire up the laptop and pour a chilled green tea, warm up piece of pita bread to enjoy dipped in hummus.

Weekend has begun.

The above was what I posted tonight on my secular blog. But the work week also presented some opportunities to be a good witness for Christ- or not. In this one short work-week, we had a death, a funeral, training for a new task we’ll be performing, a job loss in our ever-shrinking staff numbers, and an influx of visitors to our Grandparents Breakfast. Phew.

When these things happen, they cause emotions to run at high gear, everyone has an opinion, it’s 90+ degrees out, and I haven’t even added to these the stresses people are feeling in their home lives.

Phew again.

A natural inclination for people, especially me, is to talk and talk and gossip and gossip and to have an opinion about what’s happening. I say this is ‘natural’ because events affect us and we have feelings about them. And again it is natural to talk and hash it all over because the flesh wants to do what is wrong and not what is right.

Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. (Galatians 5:19-21)

At a time when emotions are running high, it’s tempting to want to weigh in, especially if the topics are what everyone is talking about. But this is the exact time to stop and take to heart the warnings so often given:

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. (Galatians 5:22-24)

Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruits.
(Proverbs 18:21)

Was I a poor witness and stirred up strife and anger with my tongue? Was I a good witness and was calm and gentle and a help to people in building them up? I don’t know the answer to that fully. The Lord knows.

I know I failed in some areas this week. Did I do better this week than last week? Probably. Did I do better than I would have done last year? Definitely.

And that is sanctification. Day by day I feel the struggle, the ups and downs and victories in Christ and sins of the flesh. But the long term back-look is good. Sanctification may be slow, it may not be visible day by day, but it’s there. If you look back across your life over the year, years, decades, you should definitely see growth. CARM.org puts it this way:

photo credit: marrngtn (Manuel) via
photopin cc

“Sanctification is the process of being set apart for God’s work and being conformed to the image of Christ. This conforming to Christ involves the work of the person, but it is still God working in the believer to produce more of a godly character and life in the person who has already been justified (Phil. 2:13). Sanctification is not instantaneous because it is not the work of God alone. The justified person is actively involved in submitting to God’s will, resisting sin, seeking holiness, and working to be more godly (Gal. 5:22-23). Significantly, sanctification has no bearing on justification. That is, even if we don’t live a perfect life, we are still justified.

Where justification is a legal declaration that is instantaneous, sanctification is a process. Where justification comes from outside of us, from God, sanctification comes from God within us by the work of the Holy Spirit in accordance with the Bible. In other words, we contribute to sanctification through our efforts. In contrast, we do not contribute to our justification through our efforts.”

It’s a process. As with any process, there are bumps and progress, hesitations, fallbacks, and strides.

“Sanctification isn’t easy—it takes faithfulness, hard work, and self-discipline. And even then, it’s not purely a function of your will, but the work of the Holy Spirit in you. It’s not manufactured overnight. I can tell you that faithful Bible study, prayer, and self-discipline play a vital role in your sanctification. As we’ve seen over the last several weeks, we can’t manufacture spiritual growth on our own, but we can certainly hinder it through unchecked sin and spiritual laziness.”

photo credit: Christaface via photopin cc

It is impossible to detect how much of our growth is God (likely MOST) and how much we of what we do contributes to it, but the point is, growth is a must for the Christian. Picture the pencil lines on a doorway of measuring a child’s height over his lifetime. They should be going up.

So I’m sitting here at the end of a workweek behind my moat with floating alligators, privately assessing my behavior during the week. How did I do? Well, my goal this week was to honor Christ in all I said and did, and to be a model to the younger employees. Of course I failed. Of course I repented. Of course He forgave me. Of course I try again. Of course it is He who enables me to grow. This is all normal. I’m glad I’m a normal Christian and not a radical Christian.

The only problem comes if, when looking back over weeks of years, I don’t see growth. If there is no growth and no fruit, then I am not being sanctified. That could mean two things. One is that it could mean I’m justified but lazy:

“I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot! So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth. For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked.” (Revelation 3:15-17)

Gill’s Exposition: I know thy works … Which were far from being perfect, and not so good as those of the former church: that thou art neither cold nor hot; she was not “cold”, or without spiritual life, at least in many of her members, as all men by nature are, and carnal professors be; she was alive, but not lively: nor was she wholly without spiritual affections and love; to God, and Christ, to his people, ways, truths, and ordinances; she had love, but the fervency of it was abated. … so uses this phrase [lukewarm] to show his detestation of lukewarmness, and that it is better to be ignorant, and not a professor of religion, than to be a vain and carnal one; Christ desires not simply that she might be cold, but that she might be sensible of her need of spiritual heat and fervency.“

Or a lack of growth could mean that I’m not justified at all.

“I know your works. You have the reputation of being alive, but you are dead. Wake up, and strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your works complete in the sight of my God.” (Revelation 3:1b-2).

Gill’s exposition again: “but art dead”; for, the most part, or greater part of the members of these churches, are dead in trespasses and sins; and as for the rest, they are very dead and lifeless in their frames, in the exercise of grace, and in the discharge of duties; and under great spiritual declensions and decays

Did I exercise His grace this week? I think so. All in all it was a good week, despite my failings and despite my successes, because ultimately God brings glory to Himself no matter what I do. He grows me in His likeness, despite my own fleshly, stumbling self. And next week is another week to do it all over again.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Further reading:

Counterfeit Sanctification

How do you measure up?

comfort, day of the lord, sin, wrath

The Great Day of the Lord

Posted on September 6, 2013 by elizabethprata

I just worked four hours on a blog entry about Gog-Magog from Ezekiel 38-39 and in re-reading the passages and praying and thinking, I have paused my thought on it, so I am going to study it some more before I say anything. I’m not posting it yet.

I had also come across this passage from Malachi, and it also weighs heavily on me. This is because someone I knew had performed a great and grievous blasphemy against Jesus. He was chastised and punished. I had hoped that the punishment and trauma of the discovery of his blasphemy and wickedness against Jesus which he had done in the name of Jesus purportedly on behalf of Jesus, no less, would chasten him unto repentance and shake his black and stony heart. I see tonight that it has not. Therefore I mourn for those who persist in their blindness because I know they are storing up great wrath for themselves.

Nevertheless, God is great, and he said to Ezekiel, “And whether they hear or refuse to hear (for they are a rebellious house) they will know that a prophet has been among them.” This is a comfort, because I know God has spoken in the situation. On the Day when we all stand before Him, the person will remember the chastening and the words and the fact that God had given opportunity to repent. If the completely ignorant are beneficiaries of general revelation of Himself so they are without excuse, (Romans 1:20), when an unsaved person inside the church who has heard the Gospel so often, and has been beneficiary of being immersed in special revelation, still rejects it, how much more are they truly and eternally without excuse?

So here is my thought for the night, short and sweet:

“For behold, the day is coming, burning like a furnace; and all the arrogant and every evildoer will be chaff; and the day that is coming will set them ablaze,” says the LORD of hosts, “so that it will leave them neither root nor branch.” “But for you who fear My name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings; and you will go forth and skip about like calves from the stall. “You will tread down the wicked, for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet on the day which I am preparing,” says the LORD of hosts.… (Malachi 4:1-3)

The just will have their day. Hang on to righteousness. Cling to Him and stand on the rock. We will escape the fire and skip on the high places

yet I will rejoice in the Lord;

I will take joy in the God of my salvation.

God, the Lord, is my strength;

he makes my feet like the deer’s;

he makes me tread on my high places.

Habakkuk 3:18-19

record alligators

Of interest: two 700+ lb alligators killed in Miss. today

Posted on September 4, 2013May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

Wow. Just wow. Those beasts are freakishly large and definitely scary. I wonder what Job’s Leviathan looked like!
————————
http://www.buzzfeed.com/ellievhall/two-700lb-alligators-were-killed-in-mississippi-also-dinosau

This 13-foot-and-5.5-inch, 723.5-pound male alligator held the record for the heaviest alligator ever to be killed in Mississippi… for about one hour.

Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries, and Parks
Via usnews.nbcnews.com

t took Beth Trammell and her team of six people an hour and a half to bring down the 723-pound beast after it became hooked on their lines. Trammell told the Clarion-Ledger that when the alligator finally surfaced beside the boat, she screamed, “Oh, my gosh. It’s the Loch Ness monster.” After another two hours, and the assistance of a few extra hunters, the alligator was hoisted into their boat and taken back to shore to be weighed and measured, and a new, albeit short-lived, state record was set.

The previous weight record was 697.5-pounds, according to the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries, and Parks. The state’s alligator hunting season, sponsored by the department, ends on Sept. 9. Hunters must apply for permits and attend alligator hunting training courses if they are selected through the department’s lottery.
While Trammell and her team were subduing their behemoth, another gator, weighing 727 pounds and measuring 13 feet, 4.5 inches had been killed by a group of hunters a few miles away.

Via Facebook: dustin.bockman.7

“We chased him for about two hours,” Dustin Bockman told NBC News. “Then we got a shot on him.” After the first crossbow shot hit the alligator, it took an additional two hours before Bockman and his team could take down the reptile with a shotgun. They were unable to get the gator into their boat, so they waited until sunrise and called a few fellow hunters to help them load their record-breaking catch.

Job 41:1
“Can you draw out Leviathan with a fishhook
or press down his tongue with a cord?
2 Can you put a rope in his nose
or pierce his jaw with a hook?

discernment, solomon

Solomon asked for discernment and the LORD was greatly pleased

Posted on September 4, 2013May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

Everyone knows Solomon asked God for wisdom. However people forget that he actually asked God for two things. The second thing was discernment. Here is the verse:

“Give your servant therefore an understanding mind to govern your people, that I may discern between good and evil, for who is able to govern this your great people?” (1 Kings 3:9)

So Solomon asked for an understanding mind to govern and discernment to distinguish between good and evil, or right and wrong as some translations go.

Solomon’s request was not only spiritual, for he already had a measure of discernment given his relationship with God and having learned from David, his father. But Solomon’s request also related to civil and governing capacities. A total package- he was to be able to judge people rightly in matters, to solve controversies, and to be fair to one and all.

Solomon didn’t consider himself and ask for a long life or wealth or health. He asked God for the tools to help him help God’s people.

The LORD was greatly pleased with Solomon’s request.

Rodin, The Thinker, Wikipedia photo

James says that if anyone lacks wisdom, he should ask God and He will give it without reproach. (James 1:5). God was pleased with Solomon’s request, because at root, it honored God and served His people. The Spirit breathed inspiration to James that anyone could and should ask for wisdom. The Lord is not stingy with handing out wisdom or discernment. If you do not have the particular gift from the Spirit of discernment, you can simply ask for more discernment/wisdom in your daily life, and He will increase you. The intent is, you’ll use it for God’s glory and to help His people.

There is a flip side to this also. Solomon dissipated. When it was time for Solomon to build the Temple, the LORD had told Solomon in 1 Kings 6:12 that IF Solomon “will walk in my statutes and obey my rules and keep all my commandments and walk in them, then I will establish my word with you, which I spoke to David your father.”

The glory that was Israel’s military might, wealth, protection, and increase were onerously placed on Solomon’s shoulders. As Matthew Henry said, “None employ themselves for God, without having his eye upon them. But God plainly let Solomon know that all the charge for building this temple, would neither excuse from obedience to the law of God, nor shelter from his judgments, in case of disobedience.”

Luke 12:48b says, “Everyone to whom much was given, of him much will be required,”

Gill’s Exposition says, “For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall, much be required: the more knowledge a man has, the more practice is expected from him; and the greater his gifts are, the more useful he ought to be, and diligent in the improvement of them”

The LORD reiterated the condition when Solomon prayed the dedication prayer at the newly built temple.

“But if you turn aside from following me, you or your children, and do not keep my commandments and my statutes that I have set before you, but go and serve other gods and worship them, then I will cut off Israel from the land that I have given them, and the house that I have consecrated for my name I will cast out of my sight, and Israel will become a proverb and a byword among all peoples. And this house will become a heap of ruins.” (1 Kings 9:6-9)

photo credit: jinterwas via photopin cc

So with all Solomon’s wisdom, he still backslid. With all his discernment, he allowed paganism into his heart in marrying over 700 women and having over 300 concubines. They were from foreign lands and they persuaded him to turn away from God and commit spiritual fornication with false gods.

Having wisdom and discernment is no guarantee that without all due purity in public and private life, you won’t be turned away from God.

But do ask God for wisdom. If you dare! Wisdom is knowing how to apply your knowledge. Discernment is detecting not just right from wrong or good from evil, “but right from almost right” (Charles Spurgeon).

It goes without saying the discernment and wisdom that we yearn for and live by are God’s truths, not man’s. Live by His statutes and His paths, and ask for the wisdom and discernment to always remain there, walking uprightly in His wise ways. Discernment is a bestowal from the Lord which honors Him and serves the brethren. And it greatly pleases the Lord when we ask for it.

earthquake

Several large earthquakes today (Updated)

Posted on September 4, 2013May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

6.1 magnitude earthquake strikes off B.C. coast
“A 6.1 magnitude earthquake struck off the northwest coast of Vancouver Island at 1:19 p.m. PT Tuesday, followed by a series of at least three aftershocks, but officials say no tsunami is expected. The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Weather Service was the first to report the quake’s epicentre was approximately 150 kilometres northwest of Port Alice, on Vancouver Island, but said a tsunami was not expected.”

There was a 5.9 aftershock, also.

Off Japan tonight, Japan’s seismology institute puts a quake occurring at 8:30PM EST off the Izu Islands at 6.9 preliminary magnitude. It was felt 400 miles away in Tokyo, where it rocked buildings. USGS puts preliminary magnitude at 6.5. Tepco says no irregularities at Fukushima nuclear plant following Japan earthquake.

UPDATE
There was a 6.5, a 6.2 at Alaska last night as well as a 5.9. That particular Aleutian Island has been shaken quite a bit this week, with several large quakes and many small quakes continually.

Quakes this week between 6.0-8.0 magnitude

encouragement, fragrance, odor, smell

Smelling heaven

Posted on September 3, 2013May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

I have no sense of smell. I never could smell and I have never smelled one thing and I never expect to smell anything.

photo credit: fikirbaz via photopin cc

I don’t think much about it. I never had it so I don’t truly know what I’ve missed. Though when my baby sister was little and I’d give her a bath, and the baby skin became soft and pink and her hair was freshly shampooed, she looked so cute and cuddly. I understand that a freshly clean baby is a good smell. Mown grass. Strawberries. Flowers. Baking bread. Sometimes I’d wonder what those things smelled like, and occasionally lamented the lack.

Sometimes I’d be sad at having this handicap. I worry about not being able to smell my gas heat, or food burning, or an electrical fire. I was not allowed to babysit when I was a teen because of the safety factor of not being able to detect gas leaks or smoke or fire. Never mind not being able to smell if the diaper was dirty. But I don’t dwell on it, I just push the thought out of my head and go on.

photo credit: ~jjjohn~ via photopin cc

The bible speaks of fragrances and smells. The woman Mary poured out an expensive perfume and washed the feet of Jesus with it. The whole house smelled of the fragrance. (John 12:2-4).

The LORD smelled the pleasing aroma of Noah’s burnt offering, and He “said in his heart, “I will never again curse the ground because of man, for the intention of man’s heart is evil from his youth. Neither will I ever again strike down every living creature as I have done.” (Genesis 8:20-21).

Exodus 30:23 talks of a sweet smelling cinnamon. Psalm 45:8 mentions “All thy garments smell of myrrh, and aloes, and cassia…”

It sure would be good to smell spices, or at least have first hand knowledge of these odors to which the bible refers.

But then I decided…no.

photo credit: Prabhu B Doss via photopin cc

I decided this because it is a better blessing to wait. I am anticipating my first smell…and it will be heaven. I’m speaking literally. When I’m glorified at the rapture, the very first thing I’ll ever smell is heaven. And in heaven, there will be no malodorous things to smell. I’ll never have smelled pollution, or septic, or waste, or rot.

I’ll only ever smell the sweet fragrance of the knowledge of Jesus. (2 Corinthians 2:14).

Thank you, Jesus, for this blessing.

earthquake, israel, middle east, syria, tokyo tornado

News Roundup: Syria, Suez Canal attack, Tokyo tornado, Israel’s isolation, fallen culture, passive-aggressive granny

Posted on September 2, 2013May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

There is a lot going on in the world. Here is a news round up for you.

Something that had been feared for a while happening in the Strait of Hormuz has in fact happened in the Suez Canal. Both locations feature an important shipping area which are constricted to extremely narrow boundaries due to landmass.

At the Strait of Hormuz, on the north coast is Iran, and on the south coast is the United Arab Emirates and Oman. At its narrowest, the strait is 21 nautical miles. Yet is an extremely important shipping area, and not incidentally, inside the Strait where the Persian Gulf opens a bit, is Bahrain, where the US docks the Firth Fleet.

It would be very easy to disrupt the world by either mining or terrorizing shipping in the Strait. Wikipedia says “It is the only sea passage from the Persian Gulf to the open ocean and is one of the world’s most strategically important choke points. About 20% of the world’s petroleum, and about 35% of the petroleum traded by sea, passes through the strait making it a highly important strategic location for international trade.”

If anyone got it into their head to do so (and I’m talking to you, Iran) to stop oil traffic, gas prices would spike to the point where no one would be able to afford it. The Marketplace reports, Blocking the Strait of Hormuz would affect gas prices immediately.

This same scenario exists in the Suez Canal. Wikipedia again, “The Suez Canal is an artificial sea-level waterway in Egypt, connecting the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea. Opened in November 1869 after 10 years of construction work, it allows ship transport between Europe and Asia without navigation around Africa.”

The Suez Canal is about 675 feet wide as of 2010. Seeing that the Suezmax width of a ship passing through is 164 feet, it stands to reason that anyone standing on the shoreline could easily reach a ship with any kind of artillery. And this weekend, that is just what someone did.

Egypt arrests three who machine-gunned ship in Suez Canal

AP archive photo of Suez Canal

“Egypt has arrested three people who opened machine gun fire on a ship passing through the Suez Canal, an army source said on Sunday, playing down what the waterway’s chief described as a terrorist attack. …During Saturday’s unsuccessful attack, the Panamanian-registered container ship COSCO ASIA came under fire in a northern section of the Suez Canal, a major global trade artery which is secured by the Egyptian armed forces. “There was an attempt to disrupt security in an area called el-Qantara as they fired at a ship in an attempt to halt (traffic on) the waterway,” said the army source.”

My best advice is with the extreme brinksmanship and military threats igniting in the Middle East these days, to make sure your car is gassed up, not to let it go below half tank.

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

The situation in Syria and the Obama’s reaction to it has been nothing short of embarrassing. Kurt Schlichter tweeted, “It’s like we gave control of foreign policy to a pony-tailed gender studies seminar TA.” Exactly.

Syria crisis: Obama turns decision on military action over to Congress
“Pulling back from the brink, a lonely President Barack Obama indicated last night that he would not order military strikes over Syria until he has received authorisation from the United States Congress – putting an unexpected brake on what had seemed like impending action.”

The French Government says it has evidence that the Syrian President’s regime (Bashar al Assad) perpetrated the attack, and will present that evidence to French lawmakers. Yet the rebels say that perpetrated the attack, in an oops moment when they ‘mishandled’ the weapons. Yeah. And the link goes to an Iranian paper. If you remember, Iran is propping up the Assad government so it is in their best interest to thrown suspicion on the people trying to bring down their puppet. The fog of war…

Lebanon’s terrorist organization, Hezbollah is mobilizing ahead of potential US strike. The Arab League is pushing for intervention, and behind the scenes, Israel is too.

It must be said that gassing and killing thousands of your own citizens cannot go unpunished. Yet, there are indications that the rebels may be the ones behind the attack, doing this to incite the West into the fray. And if it was President Assad, then coming to the aid of the opposing forces means that we side with the Muslim Brotherhood and al Qaeda. None of these are palatable options.

And if we did strike Syria, could Syria strike back? This CNN analysis goes through the potential scenarios.

How vulnerable would Israel be if the West strikes Syria? Watching the Us uncertainty, Israel says,

‘We Can Only Rely on God and Our Troops’
“As Israeli leaders continue to react to American prevarication on Syria, one former IDF commander has summed up the general mood. “We have no one to rely upon except for God and our veteran troops,” said former IDF General Uzi Dayan, attacking US President Barack Obama’s decision to postpone action on Syria until an official approval from Congress. Dayan’s comments were featured on his Facebook page on Sunday, opening with a statement saying that the Israeli government should “continue with its sensible policies” of refraining from a Syrian intervention unless the conflict were to spill in Israel’s direction.”

The closing circle of Israel’s loneliness is becoming ever more apparent. And can Israel rely on God as long as Israel is out of right relationship with Him? He will not allow Israel to be obliterated (Zechariah 12:9) but He will allow punishment to rain upon Israel. Ezekiel 39:24-25 has the story-

“And the nations shall know that the house of Israel went into captivity for their iniquity, because they dealt so treacherously with me that I hid my face from them and gave them into the hand of their adversaries, and they all fell by the sword. I dealt with them according to their uncleanness and their transgressions, and hid my face from them.”

Yet the LORD will rescue Israel and blessedly, “The house of Israel shall know that I am the Lord their God, from that day forward.” (Ezekiel 29:22)

But that has not happened yet. Israel has a few things to go through until that day.

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

EARTH CHANGES

Freak tornado ploughs through Tokyo suburb
http://player.ooyala.com/player.js?embedCode=F2djg0ZTrNKGzNk_yWW2kyk_prlE8fo3&video_pcode=RvbGU6Z74XE_a3bj4QwRGByhq9h2&width=560&height=315&deepLinkEmbedCode=F2djg0ZTrNKGzNk_yWW2kyk_prlE8fo3

“Several dozen people were injured when a tornado ripped through parts of eastern Japan on Monday, tearing off roofs and uprooting trees. Footage shot by public broadcaster NHK shows a number of homes destroyed, upturned cars, schools with shattered windows and a warehouse that had been lifted from its foundations and hurled into other buildings in Koshigaya, north of Tokyo.”

Reportedly, 66 people have been injured, as the news is still coming in. I wrote when the volcanic geyser broke through the ground at the end of a runway at Rome’s Fiumicino Airport, that just because man has built a city does not mean it is then and forever immune to disasters. And here another example of this come today, with the tornado in Tokyo.

Here is a map showing worldwide distribution of tornadoes. Japan does have recurring tornadoes annually, but usually they are weak and short lasting.

Source, NOAA

There was a 6.5 earthquake this weekend in Indonesia. A 6.1 quake in Papua New Guinea. A damaging quake in China, though the magnitude was not so high (5.8) there was a lot of damage and three deaths.

Here is a Youtube with an Iranian scientist explaining that Tehran is smack dab in the middle of an active seismic zone and is at risk for a major quake.

In searching for confirmation that Guatemala’s volcano Fuego had erupted, I came across this news article from August 19, 2013 which I had missed. Japan’s Sakurajima erupted.

“Residents in a southern Japanese city were busy washing ash off the streets Monday after a nearby volcano spewed a record-high smoke plume into the sky. Sakurajima, one of Japan’s most active volcanoes, experienced one of its most powerful eruptions in decades Sunday, sending an ash plume as high as three miles into the air. Visibility in the city of Kagoshima, where the volcano sits, deteriorated quickly as ash spread into populated portions of the city of 600,000 residents, according to the English-language NHK World website. NHK World said a pyroclastic flow, a fast-moving current of gas and rock, was observed along a one-kilometer (0.6-mile) swath on the southeast flank of the mountain.”

Volcano Fuego in Guatemala did indeed erupt today. This scientific article reports,

“A phase of increased lava flow activity occurred this morning at Fuego volcano, Guatemala, generating a series of pyroclastic flows that descended several ravines on different, but mostly the southwestern side of the volcano. An ash plume rising as a by-product of the pyroclastic flows was reported to about 12,000 ft (3.6 km) altitude.”

Impressive looking. I hope everyone was safe.

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

CULTURE

It’s inevitable. Once the tapeworm of homosexuality is loosed from its bowel constraint, it will loose all other immoralities which had heretofore been relegated to the darkest of closets. (We have Doug Wills to thank for the vivid picture.) Here is proof: a call in opinion section of the Washington Post to legalize sex between teachers and students. I am not making this up.

This week we mourned the loss of innocence among America’s youth who viewed the lewd performance of formerly sweet Miley Cyrus and mourned more when America’s youth didn’t seem to know or understand what was so lewd about Miley Cyrus’s performance.

We have scandals at mega-churches, and lewdness at a school bus stop. I’m heartbroken over the lewdness to children. I’ve said many time I can’t wait for children to be in the Millennium kingdom so they can run and be free and safe and loved.

The 50 Shades of Gray (soft porn) movie has been cast . Gay marriages have been recognized by the IRS. As if the IRS needed any further reasons for us to dislike them. One town clerk in Pennsylvania has been handing out marriage licenses to seeking gay couples, despite the fact that gay marriage is illegal in PA. Now a court must decide if “the clerk has singlehandedly added Pennsylvania to the growing list of states that formally sanction same-sex marriages or whether he has been acting illegally and must be stopped.” How about firing the guy? He violated his oath, for goodness sakes. Meanwhile, The Atlantic offers a guide to gay wedded bliss.

In Asia, though, it seems that social media commentary has been squelched, so many on the peninsula wont’ even know of the cultural items happening nor can comment on them if they did.

SE Asia Governments Appear to Squelch Social Media Commentary
“Warnings from authorities and new regulations in countries such as Thailand and Vietnam may have some users of social media thinking twice about what they post or even click “Like” on the popular Facebook site. Thailand has 15 million Facebook users, more than one-fifth of the country’s population. And an estimated 40 percent of Vietnamese are now on the internet, with the surge in smartphones. Social media sites such as Facebook and Zing Me each have an estimated 12 million users in Vietnam. Amid the surge in commentary on social media, governments in the region, according to Shawn Crispin, Southeast Asia representative for the Committee to Protect Journalists, are seeking to emulate China’s success with controlling online discourse.”

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FUN

Here are 9 pictures of wonderfully vibrant paintings of artist, by finger…
“When artist Iris Scott was finishing a painting one time, she saw a spot that needed to be touched up with yellow, but all her brushes were wet with different blues. She didn’t feel like cleaning any of them, so she just did the adjustment with her finger…and she discovered a new passion. Now, wearing latex gloves, she works exclusively with her fingers. Here are several of her vibrant paintings…”

IRIS SCOTT

Here is short and nice article about the Commemoration of Dorcas, Lydia, and Phoebe: Faithful Women

Mrs. Reformation is a blog entry about a book review on the wife of Martin Luther, Katherine Luther, who was a pretty neat person, too.

Nobody does guilt trips like Grandma

bulldog, children, football, idolatry, idols, university of georgia

Two sacred cows … examining the idolatry of UGA football, & idolizing your children

Posted on September 2, 2013May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

I’m going to poke a wasp’s nest here by looking at two sacred cows. “Sacred cow” is an American idiom.

“The idiom is based on the popular understanding of the elevated place of cows in Hinduism and appears to have emerged in America in the late 19th century. A literal sacred cow or sacred bull is an actual cow or bull that is treated with sincere reverence. A figurative sacred cow is something else that is considered immune from question or criticism, especially unreasonably so.” [Wikipedia source]

The sacred cows are: making children your idol, and University of Georgia football. UGA football is a particularly virulent strain of idolatrous football in general.

We all agree that the run-of-the-mill kind of idolatry is bad. We all agree that work could be an idol and that’s bad. Shopping and consumerism could be an idol. Our car or our hobby could be an idol. When bringing them up in a Christian context, people agree that we should ratchet back down from those and put them in their proper place.

GotQuestions defines idolatry as:

“The definition of idolatry, according to Webster, is “the worship of idols or excessive devotion to, or reverence for some person or thing.” An idol is anything that replaces the one, true God. The most prevalent form of idolatry in Bible times was the worship of images that were thought to embody the various pagan deities.”

One example of an ancient deity formed into an image is the fish deity Dagon. This is how the LORD views idols and what He did to Dagon-

“When the Philistines captured the ark of God, they brought it from Ebenezer to Ashdod. Then the Philistines took the ark of God and brought it into the house of Dagon and set it up beside Dagon. And when the people of Ashdod rose early the next day, behold, Dagon had fallen face downward on the ground before the ark of the Lord. So they took Dagon and put him back in his place. But when they rose early on the next morning, behold, Dagon had fallen face downward on the ground before the ark of the Lord, and the head of Dagon and both his hands were lying cut off on the threshold. Only the trunk of Dagon was left to him. This is why the priests of Dagon and all who enter the house of Dagon do not tread on the threshold of Dagon in Ashdod to this day.” (1 Samuel 5:1-5)

There aren’t many pagan idols whom worshipers dance in front of today, but they still exist here and there. The Burning Man festival is one. I wrote about that festival earlier in the week. This is a festival where scantily clad people cavort in the Black Rock desert of Nevada for a week, drinking, fornicating, looking at profane art installations, and culminate their week with a revival of a Celtic festival in which an effigy of a man in burned. When the man is burned, they dance and worship in similar style to the Hebrews dancing and having an orgy before the Golden Calf. Just as the Golden Calf was an idol through which they blasphemed God, (Exodus 32:4, Nehemiah 9:18), it can be said that the Burning Man is an idol through which they blaspheme God also.

Source SF Chronicle

Any Buddhist shrine is an idol, where a figure of Buddha is graven and people leave presents for and bow down to him in worship.

Buddhist shrine just outside Wat Phnom. Source Wikipedia

But an idol doesn’t have to be a figure in which the person bows down to or worships in front of. An intangible thing may become an idol. In this way, it lurks in the heart and displaces or replaces God as the primary focus of worship.

Remember, the short definition of idolatry was, ‘excessive devotion to, or reverence for some person or thing.’ In this way, as I mentioned above, work, hobbies, shopping, or cars could displace God either temporarily or permanently as the primary focus of worship or devotion.

There are two idols that we rarely speak of being an idol, and if we do, people have a hard time seeing what is wrong with loving them so much. These idols are sacred cows. We aren’t supposed to question whether they are becoming an idol in a person’s life. Remember a sacred cow is something else that is considered immune from question or criticism, especially unreasonably so.

The two idols are Children. And Football. Especially University of Georgia Bulldog football.

It seems strange that a person could make their child an idol. But the flesh can make anything an idol, even the ‘good’ of loving your child. Anything that takes the place of God as primary in our heart could be an idol- including children.

In the video below, Todd Friel explains about children as an idol. I’ll transcribe and then post the video below.

“So how is it that a child can be an idol? It isn’t the baby itself, it is our attitude toward the child. And that really goes for just about anything. Even this thing, whatever it is. [Picks up decorative statue]. ‘Ohhh, I love that. I’ve got to get more of those! I need to spend time cleaning this, it’s the most beautiful…’ That’s an idol. How can something that’s an inanimate object become an idol. I guess any other god besides the true God is an inanimate object. Anyway, it’s a heart issue. Mom, Dad, love your kids. … Enjoy your kids. Did you see the recent Time Magazine cover? ‘Is it Better To Not Have Kids?’ with a picture of a couple laying on the beach, like that’s the quality life. That’s the good life. No. It’s not. Having children, is. They are a blessing from God and they should be enjoyed. But, like virtually everything else, they can be an idol. Watch that line.“

Are you a parent who has made their children their idol? Even to the exclusion of the husband? And to the exclusion of God? Where every thought, every action is focused on the children? Where every conversation is about the children? If the idolatrous mom or dad switched their child’s name in conversation for God’s name, how much more would someone think the person was weird? Yet excessive devotion to children seems like it is a good thing. It is not good, if they have become your idol.

In this essay on Motherhood in Focus on the Family, Tosha Wlliams wrote, “Taking care of our children, even going beyond the call of duty for them, is not the issue, though. The heart of the matter is that nobody, not even our kids, should have a higher place in our hearts than God, lest they become our idols.“

Consider these questions:

Do you ever break away from your children — no matter their ages — and spend time alone with God?
Do you intentionally communicate with Him as much as you do with your kids?
Do you regularly focus on getting more of God instead of getting more for your kids?
Do your kids see you read your Bible as much as they see you watch TV?
Is your relationship with God a higher priority than anything else in your life — even more important than teaching your child the alphabet, cooking healthy meals or getting your kids into Little League?

The total focus and attention of our lives should be God first, then spouse then children. However the parent who idolizes their child is thought to be a good parent and the person who speaks of God as often is thought to be a weird person to be avoided. Like Mr Friel says, watch that balance.

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College football started this weekend. Around here in the University of Georgia-land, UGA Bulldog football takes on a life of its own. The team is regularly place in the top ten of college ball, and football is revered anyway from tot squads on up to Pro ball. Football is a way of life around here.

Daniel Ausbun of First Baptist Church, Moreland published a very well-written essay on modern idolatry. In it, he asked, “How would someone know if they’re practicing idolatry? We must look at the state of our hearts. On Saturdays does Georgia football completely dominate and take-over our thinking? If you have a desire or joy for something more than God, you’re an idolater.”

Enjoying your children isn’t idolatrous. Attending and enjoying a football game is not idolatrous. However, it becomes so when excessive devotion looms in the heart. Does Saturday football consume you? Do you plan for your Saturday football all week? Does the game, win or lose, impact your worship the next day? Do you stay home from church because you’re tired the next morning? Did you fail to adequately prepare your Sunday School lesson for Sunday’s class? Do you feel hateful toward other people as you go to church? Or feel downcast, depressed, or angry at that last-minute call the referee made? If you do, you’re a football idolater.

Even after 7 football seasons here in GA I can’t believe the idolatry of the UGA devotion to Bulldogs. In the very short clip above, Todd Friel of Wretched TV asked Kevin Hynes, Fellowship of Christian Athletes Campus Director (FCA) about the excessive devotion to football, and the UGA bulldog in particular.

“We have to be careful we don’t cross a line in praising the gift rather than the giver.” ~Todd Friel

Here is the transcript of the Football clip above Hynes and Friel talking:

“This is something you don’t normally see. Where the guys come running out of the tunnel over there, but over here, this is the mascot. ‘Go Dawgs’, right?

Hynes: Uga.

Friel: Uga, U-G-A, I just got that, lol! Maybe I need to go back to school. So this is the mascot [pointing to a statue of the bulldog]

Hynes: It’s a replica of the mascot of the dog running around on the field.

Friel: So it’s a real dog running around on the field. What happens to the real dog when the real dog dies?

Hynes: Well, they have a service, to celebrate the dog’s life, and then they entomb him behind us.

Friel: Right in these little things right here.

Hynes: Yes.

Friel: They each get a plaque. See, “This dog was gone too soon”… this one, “A big dog for a big job and he handled it well” … So they get a little plaque commemorating their lives.

Hynes: Yes.

Friel: Now this could be an example of going a little bit too far with how much we love the sport, or connect a symbol with an affection. In other words, maybe…it has become idolatry?

Hynes: Absolutely.

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Do you idolize your kids? Do you idolize UGA football, or any sport? Watch out!!

“Do not be idolaters as some of them were; as it is written, “The people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play.” (1 Corinthians 10:7).

“Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry.” (1 Corinthians 10:14)

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Sunday Martyr Moment: Coliseum and Catacombs

Posted on September 1, 2013May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

Foxe’s Book of Martyrs. According to this summary from Christian Book Summaries,

Writing in the mid-1500s, John Foxe was living in the midst of intense religious persecution at the hands of the dominant Roman Catholic Church. In graphic detail, he offers accounts of Christians being martyred for their belief in Jesus Christ, describing how God gave them extraordinary courage and stamina to endure unthinkable torture.

From the same link, the book’s purpose was fourfold:

Showcase the courage of true believers who have willingly taken a stand for Jesus Christ throughout the ages, even if it meant death,
Demonstrate the grace of God in the lives of those martyred for their faith,
Expose the ruthlessness of religious and political leaders as they sought to suppress those with differing beliefs,
Celebrate the courage of those who risked their lives to translate the Bible into the common language of the people.

Text from Foxe’s Book of Martyrs

“It has been said that the lives of the early Christians consisted of “persecution above ground and prayer below ground.” Their lives are expressed by the Coliseum and the catacombs. Beneath Rome are the excavations which we call the catacombs, which were at once temples and tombs. The early Church of Rome might well be called the Church of the Catacombs. There are some sixty catacombs near Rome, in which some six hundred miles of galleries have been traced, and these are not all. These galleries are about eight feet high and from three to five feet wide, containing on either side several rows of long, low, horizontal recesses, one above another like berths in a ship. In these the dead bodies were placed and the front closed, either by a single marble slab or several great tiles laid in mortar. On these slabs or tiles, epitaphs or symbols are graved or painted. Both pagans and Christians buried their dead in these catacombs. When the Christian graves have been opened the skeletons tell their own terrible tale. Heads are found severed from the body, ribs and shoulder blades are broken, bones are often calcined from fire. But despite the awful story of persecution that we may read here, the inscriptions breathe forth peace and joy and triumph. Here are a few:

“Here lies Marcia, put to rest in a dream of peace.”
“Lawrence to his sweetest son, borne away of angels.”
“Victorious in peace and in Christ.”
“Being called away, he went in peace.”
Remember when reading these inscriptions the story the skeletons tell of persecution, of torture, and of fire.
But the full force of these epitaphs is seen when we contrast them with the pagan epitaphs, such as:
“Live for the present hour, since we are sure of nothing else.”
“I lift my hands against the gods who took me away at the age of twenty though I had done no harm.”
“Once I was not. Now I am not. I know nothing about it, and it is no concern of mine.”
“Traveler, curse me not as you pass, for I am in darkness and cannot answer.”

The most frequent Christian symbols on the walls of the catacombs, are, the good shepherd with the lamb on his shoulder, a ship under full sail, harps, anchors, crowns, vines, and above all the fish.”

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Wikipedia explains the Catacombs: “The Catacombs of Rome (Italian: Catacombe di Roma) are ancient catacombs, underground burial places under Rome, Italy, of which there are at least forty, some discovered only in recent decades. Though most famous for Christian burials, either in separate catacombs or mixed together, they began in the 2nd century AD,[1] much as a response to overcrowding and shortage of land. Many scholars have written that catacombs came about to help persecuted Christians to bury their dead secretly. The soft volcanic tuff rock under Rome is highly suitable for tunnelling, as it is softer when first exposed to air, hardening afterwards. Many have kilometres of tunnels, in up to four storeys (or layers). The Christian catacombs are extremely important for the art history of early Christian art, as they contain the great majority of examples from before about 400 AD, in fresco and sculpture. The Jewish catacombs are similarly important for the study of Jewish art at this period.”

Below, Early Christian funerary art from the Roman catacombs depicting the good shepherd 3rd-5th century CE

photo credit: mharrsch via photopin cc

“Catacombs of San Callisto; in the center, the Chi Rho — a commonly used Greek monogram for Christ. Also note the fish in the upper right hand corner, another Christian symbol — the letters in the Greek word for symbol were an an anagram for “Jesus Christ, Savior, Son of God.” More at Jim Forest’s Photostream

photo credit: jimforest via photopin cc

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I visited the Colosseum and the Catacombs when I was in Rome some years ago. The Colosseum was where many thousands of Christians were slaughtered for the name of Jesus. The Catacombs was the place where they were buried. They tunneled under ground secretly because no one was allowed to be buried within the walls of the city, and land was expensive anyway. Christians were usually poor and could not afford land. Wealthy Brethren donated land for the purpose, and the Catacombs were born.

Photo Jim Forest

When I was there, I wasn’t saved yet. After visiting these two important places in the birth of Christianity, my only takeaway was of the Colosseum, that the Romans were geniuses at engineering, and from the Catacombs, how small the early Romans were. Their funeral holes in the walls of the tufa were a mere four or five feet.

How I wish I could go back there now that I am part of the great, eternal body of believers, connected through time by the blood of Jesus. Now I know of the plan of redemption God promised His Son from before the foundation of the world (1 Peter 1:20, Titus 1:1-2). I would give the places more respect, pray in praise for our Magnificent God for creating a people who, by the Spirit endured death for His holy name, and thank Him for my inclusion in this great Body.

As it is, I’ll do the same from my chair here in Georgia, because I know that though my body may perish, it will be resurrected and united with my eternal soul, in a timeless and boundary-less place called heaven.

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