elizabethprata

"Infomercials for dictators", or How the Media is now our Enemy

Posted on October 3, 2012 by elizabethprata

I read a headline the other day I didn’t follow up on. I’m following up on it now, because I read a second headline that startled me even more. The first headline was from Pat Caddell, who said that the “press is the enemy of the American people”. Pat Caddell is a former Democratic pollster. He said in his speech in part,

“it is one thing for the news to have a biased view, but It is another thing to specifically decide that you will not tell the American people information they have a right to know.”

“But all I want to conclude to this is that we face a fundamental danger here. The fundamental danger is this: I talked about the defense of the First Amendment. The press’s job is to stand in the ramparts and protect the liberty and freedom of all of us from a government and from organized governmental power. When they desert those ramparts and decide that they will now become active participants, that their job is not simply to tell you who you may vote for, and who you may not, but, worse—and this is the danger of the last two weeks—what truth that you may know, as an American, and what truth you are not allowed to know, they have, then, made themselves a fundamental threat to the democracy, and, in my opinion, made themselves the enemy of the American people. And it is a threat to the very future of this country if that—we allow this stuff to go on. We have crossed a whole new and frightening slide on the slippery slope this last two weeks, and it needs to be talked about.”

The reference to “the last two weeks was about the terrorist attack in Libya, killing an American Ambassador, and the subsequent refusal of the White House to admit it was a terrorist attack, the collusion of the media to not press the issue, nor even report on the many embassy attacks after the Libyan attack.

I agree with Caddell that the media is the Peoples’ enemy. The Media is colluding with the ones the media is supposed to inform us about and protect us from by giving good information. We cannot make informed choices if we are not informed. We saw that clearly in the 2007-2008 Presidential campaign. Just ask Joe the Plumber.

I lived in a small town in the 90s. There was one weekly newspaper in addition to the daily big city paper. The little paper reported on the doings around town, the activities of the council and school board, had a religious column in it, as well as the obits and lunch menus. You know the kind of paper.

Well, when it started in the 70s, it was a good, activist, journalistic paper. It did its job with courage and without favor. But as the 80s wore on it became tame and innocuous, but at least it did no harm. When the paper was taken over by its new editor in the 90s, it became a lapdog organ for local government and a club to browbeat active citizens. It published without impunity innuendo, sarcasm, and outright lies, if it thought it would help their friends in town hall. The paper even moved into a town building, where it got its rent for free! The whole thing sucked swamp water.

Well, I was not active nor interested in town doings for most of the decade. I traveled widely with my husband and much of the time we were not at home. When I was, I didn’t read the rag.

But then I did get involved through no volition of my own. The government came to us, and it wasn’t here to help us. So we sought redress for our grievance through the regular means available to all citizens, committee advocacy, positive change through petitioning, and began a process of a charter change. [The charter was the governing document of the town]. All this was outlined in normal methods available to any citizen, However, most normal citizens never availed themselves of those means, due to the browbeating they’d get in the paper. We ignored that and went forward.

As the issues wore on and I knew the truth because I was living it, and read the lies the paper was producing, and wondered about the gap, I mulled over what to do. As soon as our government issue was concluded (satisfactorily to my side), I decided I’d start a newspaper to compete with the monopoly-stranglehold going on in my town. Citizens were being hurt, freedom of speech was not allowed, and the government and media had too close a relationship. This is never a good thing for a democracy. I started my paper to shoehorn in a crowbar between the coziness of the other paper and the local government, which was run by the way, via nepotism and patronage.

My paper was successful and won awards. It grew economically as the advertiser base expanded. In content, I sought to educate the citizenry as to their rights and duties, to put the local government on notice they were being watched, fairly, but watched nonetheless, to show what journalistic standards should be, and to reflect a vibrant and lovely community back to itself.

The other paper did not go gently into that good night. They employed every dirty trick, every lowbrow act, and every mean thing they could to subdue us. I would not be cowed, and eventually I ran the other paper into the ground. They sold out and then I sold the paper and moved to GA. My work there was done, lol.

I was saved by Jesus during that 8 years. As I grew in faith I began to realize the Lord’s provision was such that the event (and there was much more I haven’t told you, including spiritual warfare!) was a microcosm for what went on nationally in 2007-2008. During the first Obama campaign, we saw a media abdicate its responsibility to the citizens, collude with government, exist by nepotism, monopoly, and patronage, fail to properly vet the candidates or inform the electorate as to the issues in a fair manner, and browbeat citizens, companies, or candidates who didn’t conform to the media’s standards or ideals. Just ask Joe the Plumber.

When you have a media that refuses to reflect the society back to itself you have a society with a skewed view. An uninformed society. An apathetic society. All these things are anathema to an active democracy. In that sense, the media as the Fourth Estate has become the enemy of freedom, a treasonous entity set to destroy us. I am convinced of this. Just look at the words of Mr Caddell.

Now I want to bring you to another article I read today. As you read the excerpt I’ll post, keep in mind that America’s Fifth Fleet docks at Bahrain. We NEED Bahrain to maintain our presence in the Gulf. On Russia Today’s website, they published the following:

‘Bahrain buys favorable CNN content’
“Amid a violent crackdown on a popular uprising, Bahrain paid CNN to get favorable coverage, says a former reporter who believes her documentary on the protests there was censored by the network. What CNN is doing is they are essentially creating what some people have termed “infomercials for dictators.” And that’s the sponsored content that they are airing on CNN International that is actually being paid for by regimes and governments. And this violates every principle of journalistic ethics, because we’re supposed to be watchdogs on these governments. We are not supposed to allow them to be a paying customer as journalists. And that’s the issue here – that CNN is feeding, then, this propaganda to the public and not fairly disclosing to the public that this is sponsored content.”

I’ve often thought about the Tribulation and media. As we watched the Iran uprising and then the Arab Spring on Twitter, Youtube, and Facebook, I know, and you know, that the unfettered access to citizen journalism will be the first thing to go. The Main Stream Media is already gone. Dear ones, do not even trust Fox News. Pastor JD Farag noticed a distinct shift in tone regarding Israel over the last year and a half, and he noted this may be due to the fact that News Corp.’s second-largest shareholder, after the Murdoch family, is Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, the nephew of Saudi Arabian King Abdullah, and one of the world’s richest men.

The powers that be will NOT allow people to express themselves. Christians certainly will be shut off.

I read an article about Duck Dynasty today. Duck Dynasty is a reality TV show on A&E that follows the Robertson family, makers of duck calls. The family has a staunch faith in Jesus. Each show ends with a prayer around the family dinner table, and though each and every prayer is ended with the phrase, “In Jesus’ name” each and every time, the editors chop that part out. Hardly any depiction of their faith is given light of day. The folks on the show do not swear, so to spice things up, the editors bleeped a couple of non-curse words anyway! The article is here, and it is really good in showing how the Robertsons, fervent and relentless evangelizers, plan to get around the censorship.

If media won’t even allow a faithful family, on a hit show (which means America WANTS to see the Robertsons) to express their faith by saying Jesus, what do you think it will be like during the time of total sin, the Tribulation? Total censorship. Total collusion with power-brokers, and what you see on tv and in the movies and in the papers will be at your peril. Satan has surely claimed Hollywood. I think we all recognize that. The media IS our enemy.

The Tribulation will be a time for total sin to saturate the world. That means every organization will also be total sin. Media included. Revelation 18 shows the mourning of the world’s merchants, kings, captains, and seafarers at the fall of Babylon. Revelation 17 shows the death of the world’s religious system. So if the economic organization is total sin, media will not escape that economic death. Their collusion by filthy lucre to the governments will be exposed and the cause of death on their certificate will be “FORNICATION.” Their prostituting of themselves may seem sweet to them now, but it will cost them heavily on the LORD’S Day.

The media is an enemy of the state, taking money from dictators to produce infomercials. Read/watch/listen at your own risk.

How wonderful we can turn to the bible for all truth! I find it exhilarating that the world’s headlines are in the bible right now. The things the dictators are saying are almost word for word in the bible. The events we see happening are lining up exactly. We can take heart that His word is not polluted, but pure. He is the Sinless Groom, glowing and holy, and His word is the same. The bible is the enemy of the world but is the friend, comforter, and sustainer of the Christian who seeks truth. Seek it not in the news media, but in the holy scriptures. It does a body good!

christian persecution, christianity, jesus

Anti-Christian hatred is rising

Posted on October 2, 2012May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

Hatred. Hatred of each other, Hatred toward God. Vicious hatred of Jesus. It is all rising.

“If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you.” (John 15:18).

“The righteous detest the dishonest; the wicked detest the upright.” (Proverbs 29:27)

“All men will hate you because of me, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved.” (Matthew 10:22)

“Do not be surprised, my brothers, if the world hates you.” (1 John 3:13)

In Jerusalem, Christianity is increasingly targeted. The Jerusalem Post reports, “Vandals ‘price tag’ Jerusalem monastery“
“JERUSALEM, Oct. 2 Assailants vandalized the Franciscan Convent on Jerusalem’s Mount Zion early Tuesday morning, in the third price tag attack against a Christian site this year. According to police, vandals spray-painted the words “price tag” and “Jesus is a bastard” on the door of the convent, located adjacent to the Dormition Abbey cathedral. … Assistant commander Moshe Bareket, chief of the David precinct in Jerusalem, confirmed that police were notified of the incident early Tuesday morning by a priest. “We will do everything we can to get to the bottom of whoever spray-painted these sentences,” Bareket said outside the convent.” (photo source)

It was not the first time that extremists had vandalized the church, and every few months authorities have to deal with some kind of graffiti in the area, the article states. Vandals scrawled “Jesus is a monkey” in large orange letters on the outside of the Latrun monastery. They also burned the wooden door at the monastery entrance. earlier this year, at the Valley of the Cross Monastery in Jerusalem, cars and a fence were covered with anti-Christian graffiti, and cars’ tires were slashed. The vandals wrote “Jesus drop dead,” “Death to Christians” and “Kahane was right.”

Though the hate-vandals are as yet unknown to authorities, the media outlet Russia Today displayed their own bias when they reported on the incident, by blaming Israeli settlers. The reporter wrote:

“Radical Jewish settlers vandalized a Christian church outside of Jerusalem, spray-painting “Jesus is a bastard” and “price tag” on its outer door. Such attacks have been on the rise despite police promises to curb hate crimes in the Holy Land.”

I must make a point. Most of the secular world and much of the Christian world believes Catholicism to be part of the Christian faith. Catholicism is not. It is a false religion. However, idolaters don’t know that and they target Monasteries anyway.

A horrific attack on a church service for children targeted a Christian church in Nairobi, Kenya this week. Worthy News reports, “A grenade attack by suspected Islamist militants rocked an Anglican church in Kenya’s capital Nairobi killing a nine-year-old boy and injuring several others, the church and police said Sunday, September 30. The blast occurred during a Sunday school service for young children at the Anglican Saint Polycarp Church, which lies in the Pangani district on the outskirts of Nairobi.” (photo source)

I read in one comment stream, “nothing a good Interfaith potluck supper won’t solve, eh?”

They hate Jesus.

“But this cometh to pass, that the word might be fulfilled that is written in their law, They hated me without a cause.” (John 15:25)

And they hate the faithful. Take heart. If they hate Jesus and they hate us because of Jesus, we are in good company! They may hate us, but we love each other! If you are in a part of the world where grenades are not being lobbed at your kids just for being Christian (hatred without cause) then please pray for those who are. And if you are in a part of the world where just living for Christ is cause for death, take heart. WE ARE PRAYING FOR YOU!

candidate, election, jesus, Obama, voting

Who should I vote for? An election overview from a biblical perspective

Posted on October 2, 2012May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

I’ve been wrestling, and wrestling hard about the upcoming American Presidential vote. I abhor the current political system, the two parties, and the corruption that is Congress.

I loathe the two candidates, based on spiritual qualifications. Obama is an abomination and Romney is lost and deluded, an enemy of God, being a Mormon. Charles Spurgeon said, “Of the lesser of two evils, choose neither.”

However, standing on the sidelines as a Christian doesn’t seem right, either. The first century Christians lived under a horrible dictator who burned them alive, yet the Word says we are to submit to all governing authorities. (Romans 13:1). This is because God is the ultimate governing authority who sets up kings and takes them down. Rebelling against government is rebelling against God. (Romans 13:2b)

It also didn’t seem right to remain on the sidelines as an American. God, in His providence and wisdom, created me at this time and in this nation, where we do have freedom to speak, worship, and vote. I would not want to squander the gifts and opportunities He gave me, and since I am a free American, I have a right and a duty and a privilege to participate in the government He set me up in.

To play devil’s advocate on myself, though, there is a limit to submission to governing authorities. My friend Pastor Phil Andrukaitis wrote in his sermon series, A Biblical Perspective on Politics, quoting John Piper here. “Scripture supports and prohibits civil disobedience. There are limits when it comes to submitting to horizontal authorities. Therefore, [John Piper said] “subjection to governing authorities is subjective, not absolute; it depends on whether the demands of the governing authorities require the Christian to disobey Jesus Christ”. Have we passed that limit? Are still within the boundaries of that limit? It is up to each Christian to make that determination for him or herself.

How do I balance my heavenly citizenship with my national citizenship?

I am not a fan of the current revival movements that focus on America as a political entity. I mean those movements that call for returning America back to a Christian nation, the ‘America for Jesus’ rallies, praying for America so that we would be reset to ‘original factory conditions.’ Blogger Erin Benzinger calls this ‘patriotic idolatry‘, and I agree. People who call for America’s return to Jesus have no idea how far the Founding Fathers were from the true God and Holy Jesus. John Adams was the most thoughtful, the most curious and the most studied about the things of God. He denied the Trinity, writing to Thomas Jefferson in 1813, “Had you and I been forty days with Moses on Mount Sinai, and been admitted to behold the divine Shekinah, and there told that one was three and three one, we might not have had courage to deny it, but we could not have believed it.”

Pastor Andrukaitis explained that we are citizens of heaven, but until we’re raptured or resurrected, we are also citizens of a nation here on earth. He said, “Paul and Silas beautifully illustrated their understanding of their dual citizenship when they were unjustly beaten, mistreated, and thrown into a Philippian jail. What were Paul and Silas’ reactions? They prayed and sang songs to God (Acts 16:25).”

So I am presented with a quandary…I have a national right and a God-given duty to participate in a corrupt process and thus choose between two men that at their soul-level are ungodly. This is a hard thing.

Then I listened to a 4 minute clip from an essay that’s based on two sermons John MacArthur preached last week called The Campaign for Immorality. The link is to the summary of two sermons, the first sermon is:

Abortion and the Campaign for Immorality
Homosexuality and the Campaign for Immorality

Dr MacArthur doesn’t talk about politics as much as he lays out the case that America is actively campaigning for judgment according to the process in Romans 1. He has spoken of this before. He has been essentially saying the same thing all along, that Divine Judgment comes when a nation rejects the basic platforms and institutions God set forth. Government, family and the Church are the three institutions God set up by Divine decree. MacArthur has been warning for years now that America is under that judgment due to our having rejected those institutions and have descended into immorality as a permeating and institutionalized level.

But this year, this time, it is really bad. In his two sermons, MacArthur shows through the bible how the two political parties, particularly one party, is engaging in a process that will drive us straight off the cliff of Judgment. He attended both Conventions and he returned to his home town stunned and aghast at how closely Romans 1 is being lived out by the decision makers in America today.

For example, taking God out of the Democratic platform, legalizing abortion, homosexual marriages, feminism, and other related government sanctioned behaviors that infringe on God’s territory show us how close we are to that judgment.

It is this that he preaches on.

In the excerpt of the essay, The Campaign for Immorality, Dr MacArthur said the following, which helped me decide what to do about voting. I put in bold the parts that especially helped me come to a decision about my vote. I hope it helps you. Here is the excerpt:

————-begin MacArthur————-

“I’m not one to talk about politics as such, but I was essentially amazed that one of the historic parties here in the United States adopted the sins of Romans 1 as their platform. This is a new day in our country. Parties which used to differ on economics now differ dramatically on issues that invade the realm of God’s law and morality.”

“In an ideal situation, their platform would mean that the government passes out condoms so people can fornicate at will. For those who happen to get pregnant in the process, platform advocates that you kill the baby at the will of the mother, up and including the ninth month.”

“At the same time, it advocates a homosexual marriage, which is an oxymoron, an utter impossibility, and a gross violation of the law of God. And then to add to that, the murder of abortion, and then a platform originally leaving God out. All of that’s Romans 1. Romans 1 says God will judge, God has judged throughout human history, nations that experience sexual freedom. Romans chapter 1 lays that out clearly: the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against those who advocate sexual freedom, sexual conduct outside of marriage. And that’s an indication of the demise of a nation.”

“And then Romans 1 also says that God will judge those nations that advocate homosexual behavior, men with men, women with women, doing what is unnatural. They are also haters of God, haters of God–leaving God out, advocating abortion, advocating homosexuality, advocating free sexual conduct and government-provided condoms so that everybody can do what they want. That is literally creating a platform out of what God hates.”

“This is not about politics, although there are things we could talk about. You’re not voting for a pastor, you’re not voting for a spiritual leader, you’re voting for someone who has some sense of morality. Since the Bible says that the role of government is to punish evil doers and protect the good, you better have somebody in power who understands what is good and what is evil. And if you think homosexuality, abortion, sexual freedom, hating God are not evil, then you better go back and check your Bible again. How can people with that kind of agenda protect those who do good and punish those who do evil? That’s Romans 13’s definition of the role of government. We could talk about foreign policies, should we protect as many defenseless people from evil aggressors as possible? We could talk about economics, Is it right to get into irreparable debt? Is that responsibility? We could talk about that.”

‘We could talk about the economics of if you don’t work, you don’t eat, which is what the Bible says. But those things are not what concern me. And I’ve seen something happen in these conventions that is just stunning. The adaptation of a Romans 1 platform, sexual freedom, homosexuality on an equal level with marriage, the murder of infants, and the elimination of God.”

“And by the way, I didn’t like it any better when they put God back in because that’s blasphemy. To connect God with that agenda is a horror, it’s a horror. It’s taking His name in vain. In fact, I don’t think God should be in either agenda (applause). But when you have an advocacy of support for the slaughter of infants and homosexuality, complete sexual freedom, you have a formula for divine judgment. If we have any sense of justice, if we have any sense of righteousness, if we want to make a little bit of a voice heard about what is right and about the role of government being to punish evil doers and protect the people who do right, then we better step up. I’m not sure what God has in the future, but I do know we can take His side and give Him honor.”

—————end MacArthur—————

Pastor Andrukaitis ended his message about this upcoming election this way, “Therefore, when we enter the voting booth on Tuesday, November 6, 2012 or submit an absentee ballot prior to Election Day, remember that there is a day when each of us will give an account to God for our decisions. Please, choose wisely.”

For me, the quandary about whether to even enter the voting booth and vote has been resolved. The quandary on who to vote for has also been answered.

I hope that this information, or the wealth of Christian information out there helps you resolve any dilemmas you may have on this upcoming election.

God, hell, judgment, paul washer, sin, wrath

God’s holiness and His wrath

Posted on October 1, 2012 by elizabethprata

“And one called to another and said: “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!” (Isaiah 6:3).

Holiness is a quality of perfection, sinlessness, and inability to sin that is possessed by God alone. As Christians we are called to be holy (1 Pet. 1:16). But this does not refer to our nature. Instead, it is a command of our practice and thought. We are to be holy in obedience (1 Pet. 1:15). God has made us holy through his Son Jesus (Eph. 1:4; 1 Pet. 2:9). (source)

Our LORD is holy. We so often focus these days on His friendship with us, His provision to us, His loving-kindness … that we could always use a refresher on His holiness, I think.

“so that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud, for the glory of the LORD filled the house of God. (2 Chronicles 5:14)

“Moses could not enter the Tent of Meeting because the cloud had settled upon it, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle.” (Exodus 40:35)

Our LORD is holy! How wonderful it must have been to be so overcome with His holiness that they could not even stand!

The flip side of His holiness is His wrath. He is angry over sin. On the day of His wrath, which is His anger over sin released, no one will be able to stand, either. His holy fury will overtake the sinful world.

They were “calling to the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who is seated on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb, 17for the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?” (Revelation 6:16-27).

His sinless perfection is offended at putrid sin. The following is a 6-minute sermon jam from Paul Washer on the Wrath of God. Remember, the flip side to His holiness is wrath over sin.

Wrath
“Biblically, wrath is the divine judgment upon sin and sinners. It does not merely mean that it is a casual response by God to ungodliness, but carries the meaning of hatred, revulsion, and indignation. God is by nature love (1 John 4:16), however, in His justice He must punish sin. The punishment is called the wrath of God. It will occur on the final Day of Judgment when those who are unsaved will incur the wrath of God. It is, though, presently being released upon the ungodly (Rom. 1:18-32) in the hardening of their hearts.”

“Wrath is described as God’s anger (Num. 32:10-13), as stored up (Rom. 2:5-8), and as great (Zech. 7:12). The believer’s deliverance from God’s wrath is through the atonement (Rom. 5:8-10). “For God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ,” (1 Thess. 5:9).” (source)

Praise Lord Jesus that He will accept you if you repent, and you shall be cleansed and redeemed to His bosom. No wrath will be upon you. GO HERE if you want to learn how to be saved from the wrath of God.

Uncategorized

Skip this blog entry if you hate political ads

Posted on October 1, 2012 by elizabethprata

I am Elizabeth Prata, and I approve this message. (Except the part about Romney being President)

gratitude, thanks

Begin the work-week with thanks, and be glad

Posted on October 1, 2012 by elizabethprata

Father God thank you for the rain. Thank you for the refreshment from the skies of your bounty, and even as the rain drops fall I am reminded of the Living water that is Jesus. He refreshes and renews all the time, not just the ground but the soul. He who drinks of His water will never be thirsty again. (John 4:13).

Thank You for the beautiful creation, which will be greened after this refreshment. But even as its current beauty is marred by the curse of sin, I long to see Your creation in its full glory. Today I am grateful for the pastures and the rain and the beauty, even so, I know I am seeing through a glass darkly. On Your day I will see everything clearly. (1 Corinthians 13:12).

I go back into the world this morning but I am not of the world. “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:6-7)

earthquakes, end time, jesus, prophecy

Major Earthquake in Columbia, how many earthquakes have we had this year so far?

Posted on September 30, 2012May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

Here is some information regarding earthquakes. The year is not over so we cannot compare this year to previous years…unless we compare the exact same time frame, January 1 to Sept 30, which is what I did.

What did the data reveal? How is the number of earthquakes running so far this year, compared to previous years? How is the number running, compared to annual averages by United States Geological Survey? (USGS gives annual averages from Jan-Dec., so the time frame is not exact but you can get an idea of the running total to see if this year is under, the same as, or over expected number of quakes.)

This first chart is the major magnitudes and the annual number of each magnitude of quake, from Jan 1 to Dec 30 for each year, USGS source.

This next chart is one I generated by using USGS search engine to find total of quakes between January 1-Sept 30. I highlighted in red the years where each magnitude of quake exceeded the annual average by Sept 30.

This chart is straight from USGS (though I cropped off the lesser magnitudes). Click to enlarge.

As for quakes in diverse places, there were two just north of Dallas Texas which rattled windows, and nerves. The magnitude was 3.4 with a 3.1 aftershock.

A 7.3 occurred in Columbia today, which was a very strong one, but so far thankfully no deaths are reported. Here is a news story about it, but the current reporting of the magnitude is 7.1 which is wrong. Initially USGS posted the magnitude of the Colombian quake at 7.4. Then USGS downgraded it to 7.1, and that is where most news reports came in. But then USGS upped the magnitude again to 7.3, where it is currently staying.

The other strong quakes this week were:
6.2 at the Gulf of California
6.4 at Andreanof Islands, Alaska
6.0 Solomon Islands

There have been 167 quakes of small size at or just north of the Virgin Islands. They all range roughly from 2.5 to 3.5 in magnitude.

Jesus said, as a sign of His soon return, “There will be famines and earthquakes in various places.” (Matthew 24:7b). Not every quake by itself is an indicator of His soon return. However, the totality of the signs He told us would be present is a better barometer of the times. Israel being in the land existing as its own nation is sign number one, given the focus of God upon Israel as the major eschatological component.

However also included but not limited to the signs on the list are earthquakes, famines, diseases, false teaching, false prophets, and sin rising to levels that make the times absolutely perilous.

God either causes or allows each and every thing to happen on this earth, and if an earthquake has occurred, it is of God and from God, as part of His plan in some way. In other words, He is speaking. Are we listening?

end time, falling away, jesus, prophecy

Apostasy and the Remnant Church, part 2

Posted on September 30, 2012May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

Yesterday I wrote how the remnant church is like a peanut M&M. I think anyone with eyes to see understands that the global body of believers in Jesus Christ is persecuted, surrounded, discriminated against, and generally derided. I think it’s obvious that the church in the West has been thoroughly polluted by Gnosticism, Phariseeism, ecumenism, and prosperity gospel. The church, especially in the west, is largely apostate.

This is prophesied. We read in Luke 18:8 that Jesus asked the disciples, “I tell you that He will bring about justice for them quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?” He had just finished telling them the parable of the unrighteous judge, and He warned them that at the end the oppressed will get justice, but it won’t be on earth. He was speaking of the time of the Tribulation, but we see that apostasy being set up now.

At the last day, there will be faith on the earth in the form of Tribulation saints, but they will be so few in number and there will be so many who don’t believe, that realistically speaking the believer’s influence will be statistically negligible.

Apostasy will abound in the last days, and that means not only in the tribulation, but now, too. (Matthew 24:12; 2 Thessalonians 2:3; 1 Timothy 4:1-3). But what does that apostasy look like? How does it begin?

First, let’s look at apostasy in the person who has never believed. How can a life-long unbeliever be an apostate, you say? Because we all know God from the beginning. Any unbeliever, whether they have never believed or they seemed to have believed for a while and fallen away, are apostate.

You see, we all start out on equal footing when we are born. We all have a sin-nature. (Genesis 5:3; Psalms 51:5). And as we grow, we all see the glory of God made manifest in the world through His creation. All.(Romans 1:19). Romans 1 continues by showing us the process of how people end up dead in their sins for all their lives.

First, they deliberately suppress the truth. (Romans 1:19). Then, though they know God, they refuse to give Him honor. As a result, their hearts are darkened. (Romans 1:21). Still needing to honor something greater than themselves, though, they trade giving honor to God for giving honor to idols. (Romans 1:22). That’s the end of the mental portion of the process.

If a person has come this far without repenting, then they start dishonoring God with their bodies. (Romans 1:24). The tipping point seems to be the moment when they actively start worshiping nature or idols. If they continue without repentance, then their bodily dishonor deepens and they become homosexuals. (Romans 1:26-27).

At the last, their mind becomes so polluted due to their having suppressed the truth and dishonored God with their bodies, their minds are given over to total debasement. (Romans 1:28.) You notice in the next verse it says they were “filled” with all manner of unrighteousness. The Greek word used here is defined “to make full, to complete”. God allows all sins to flood into them and they are capable of anything at that point.

But what about apostates, you ask. I described the unbeliever’s process, but an apostate is someone who falls away from the faith, right? Yes and no. Yes they fall away from the faith, but they were never IN the faith to begin with. They were an unbeliever the same as those I described above, they just happened to have made a little foray into the church for a while.

It is important to understand that Jesus will never lose one of His sheep. (John 10:28; John 6:39). Those He brings into the faith will never leave. John wrote:

“They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out, that it might become plain that they all are not of us.” (1 John 2:19).

How they leave may take a long time or a short time, but they never were in the faith. They only looked like it on the outside.

An apostate could be someone who came forward at an altar call, who responded to the pastor’s plea for “the sinner’s prayer” to be answered. Maybe they were even baptized. But after that week you never saw them again. They never came back. That was a false convert, an apostate who fell away.

An apostate could be someone who had served as deacon for thirty years. Who had been a long-time member of a church, dong all the right things, saying all the right things, but slowly began drifting away. Their church attendance became spotty, and they gave up on Wednesday night teaching. Then their absences became longer and longer and when asked about it, they said they needed a break. Eventually you realize, they never did come back. They stopped leading devotionals at home…they quit praying… That is apostate also.

So how does apostasy happen to a person who looked like a believer? The exact same way as Romans describes.

In 2 Peter 3:3 Peter reminds us that we should remember the predictions of the prophets of old, that in the last days, “knowing this first of all, that scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires.” The Greek word used here for scoffers implies a false teacher. These mockers will be false teachers, who look like they are in the faith, but they mock and scoff at His coming and at the doctrines surrounding His coming, such as pre-tribulation rapture, literal Millennium Kingdom, or even his second coming at all.

Jude 1:18 says the exact same thing. “They said to you, “In the last time there will be scoffers, following their own ungodly passions.” Haven’t we seen a steady chipping away of the truth of these doctrines? Some even claim that there is no rapture.

But look at this, Peter goes on after reminding them that there will be scoffers, to say in verse 4-5: “They will say, “Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation.” For they deliberately overlook this fact, that the heavens existed long ago, and the earth was formed out of water and through water by the word of God,” [emphasis mine]

We saw in Romans 1 that the process begins with knowledge of God, even for the overt unbeliever. Of those who claim to be in the faith, and by definition have some familiarity with the bible and the history of our faith, they deliberately overlook the facts that they know. When a person deliberately suppresses the truth, they are on dangerous ground! Whether it is an unbeliever suppressing general revelation of God by His creation or a false believer suppressing biblical fact & history, they purposely suppress. That is the first step for the apostate.

So first the apostate suppresses knowledge. Then they begin to mock and scoff at those in the faith, or aim their ire at who hold to certain doctrines that are evidence of His sovereignty. Then they abandon the faith, either abruptly or slowly.

Picture a hot air balloon anchored to the ground. Those who are in the basket are those who are solidly in the faith. They are being sanctified, going higher and higher by God’s process of Spirit-filled consecrating. Sanctification means we are becoming more Christlike every day.

Some people are around the basket, tying ropes and filling the balloon. They are easy to spot as people who will never get into the basket and allow the Spirit to lift them higher and higher. They are hangers-on, doing works that look Godly in form but they have no solidity. Some people hang on to the basket, even as it rises. Some hang on for a long time. But the further a person goes in sanctification, and the higher the Spirit takes them, the harder it is for the apostate to hang on. Eventually they drop off. They drop off because they were never IN the basket of faith. The hand of Jesus was never holding them (otherwise they never would have fallen away!)

Source

Though it is painful to see our church swamped with apostates, flooded with ungodliness, and surrounded by false doctrines, it is part of the process! The apostasy we see now is a mini-version of what will happen at the end of the 1000 year reign of Christ. At the end of the Millennium Jesus will allow satan out of the abyss for a short while. Satan will gather the nations and like the sand of the sea they will march against the beloved city. (Revelation 20:7-9).

How can this be, you wonder!? The people will have lived for a long, peaceful life, on earth when Jesus made everything perfect, and there was no war nor high degree of sin, because Jesus ruled with a rod of iron. How could satan gather rebellious ones so fast, and so many of them, too! It will have been be a pure theocracy for a thousand years!

Because those people will have been born during the millennium with a sin nature, and the last rebellion is to weed them out. For hundreds of years of their lives, they looked the part, they acted the part, they said all the right things on the outside, but Jesus knew their heart was not inclined towards Him.

Satan’s drawing out of them is an opportunity to give them one last chance to decide for him or against Him. Satan was the magnet that drew out the apostates.

This apostasy is a weeding out, too. Though we may feel surrounded at times by encroachment of false teachers, false pastors who strike the sheep, mockers and scoffers even sitting next to us in the pew, the fact that “The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons” (1 Timothy 4:1), means these things must be so.

Don’t worry, peanuts! At the rapture, the brittle candy exterior will be cracked, the chocolate confection melted away, and the peanuts who had been the core of the church will burst out and up. We’ll be brushed off, cleaned up, and forever will be in the presence of Jesus! We’ll be shot out of all that sickening sweetness like a cannonball!

As we strive toward the goal, the balloon is rising higher and higher in our process of sanctification, those who are just hanging on are exposed, and they fall away.

Even so, come Lord Jesus!

carnal, end time, false church, jesus

The Remnant Church is like a peanut M&M…

Posted on September 29, 2012May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

Part 2 of Apostasy and the Remnant Church here

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Tucker Whitaker wrote an interesting piece this week called “The Rise of the Remnant Church” He wrote-

“The mainstream and denominational churches, the seeker friendly, emergent, and prosperity churches are far from what God envisioned them to be. Entire denominations and religious movements today operate without the Holy Spirit. They are spiritually bankrupt without the presence of Jesus, showing no evidence of spiritual gifts or fruit. They practice a form of godliness devoid of power or conviction which gives no hope of eternal salvation. They are comfortable with the world and are more social and political than spiritual. They appease sin, teach spiritual tolerance and diversity, and deny the authority of the Bible, while casting away all teaching about repentance, heaven, hell, and judgment. They have abandoned Biblical Prophecy for modern relevancy and Replacement Theology believing all prophecy is already fulfilled or that it is all allegory or at very worst that God has abandoned His covenant relationship and promises to His chosen people Israel. By making any or all of these unbiblical claims they prove their own ignorance of scripture and prophetic truth. They prove the very prophecy they deny.”

The remnant church is the small core in the middle of all that. Mr Whitaker wrote,

“I believe He is calling out a Holy Remnant Church, dedicated to Jesus Christ and focused on doing His work during these last days. I believe God is raising up a church that is committed to Him and His cause who are a holy remnant, a group of people who are steadfast and sure of their God. Perhaps the Lord Jesus Christ is calling His Remnant Church to Himself at the end of this age to worship and teach in simplicity and doctrinal purity. Perhaps the desire to be obedient to the Word and to understand Bible Prophecy and to fulfill the great commission and the great commandment has birthed an early church understanding of what it truly means to follow Christ. Perhaps God is preparing a people to stand and hold forth truth in a world where people and “churches” are consumed with materialism, prosperity, self-centered pursuits and desires, and tolerance for those things that are unbiblical. Perhaps a time of final testing for the true church and Israel is upon us, a time for the Remnant Church to “Stand” for Christ. Whatever the ultimate reason, folks are coming out, and almost immediately they understand the need to adapt to this new and extraordinary environment where the Sufficiency of Christ is taught, that Christ alone is indeed all they need.”

Mr Whitaker reminds us that no matter how feeble the Lord’s church may seem, He always preserves a remnant of it throughout the darkest of times. He said that even in the Tribulation there will be 144,000 sealed believers powerfully evangelizing the world, Two Prophetic Witnesses warning the world, and a host of Tribulation believers who will witness unto martyrdom. All this I agree with.

The main point of his articles (part 1 and part 2) is that the remnant church will rise so powerfully that the gates of hell will be shook. He said that ‘God is calling out a remnant church’, and I do not agree with that. I think that the church has always been called by God but the call is being ignored and suppressed in these last days. In addition, I believe that those who do answer some kind of call, are increasingly responding to false calls and are false converts. The church that remains is a remnant but it is holding on amid the increase in candy coated preaching and missional confection. Thus, I do not agree with Mr Whitaker’s ultimate premise that a remnant church will rise, though I do agree that the true church IS a remnant in these days. His articles are very interesting nonetheless.

When I read of the small core huddling at the center of churches surrounded by carnality as Mr Whitaker wrote about, I think of two things. First I think of Paul Washer’s description of American churches. In his sermon “The Great Sin of the American Pastor” he said,

“Now I want to tell you the great sin of the American pastor, and this has gotten me in a lot of trouble, but it’s true. This small group of converted people in that local church, all they want is Jesus and all they want to do is the right thing. They want purity, they want truth, they want Christ. But, the pastor, in order to keep this larger group of unconverted people, he caters to them. So while he is feeding these carnal men and women with carnal things, he is letting the sheep of God starve to death and he is going to stand before God one day in judgment.”

It is a vivid picture of sheep huddled together in the middle pews bleating for real food as goats swirl around the church ransacking everything in sight.

The other picture I get in my mind of the remnant church besides Mr Whitaker’s and Mr Washer’s, is of a peanut M&M.

There is an exterior thin veneer of cohesion, (“ecumenical tolerance”) covering a thick layer of chocolate candy, (false church) which melts away if pressed too hard. Inside all that sickeningly sweet, cloying confection, is a hard core of believers standing on the blessedly sure foundation of Christ. But that core is so small that a thin covering of eye-catching neon candy coating and a thicker layer of chocolate hides it very well. And the pile of M&Ms overall is growing as churches explode in falsity and where the real believer is so hidden as to be invisible,or at least, overlooked. The form of godliness without power is like candy- it’s food, filling without being nourishing. There are calories, but they do nothing for the body.

A worldly spirit makes apostates. “For Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world, and is departed unto Thessalonica; Crescens to Galatia, Titus unto Dalmatia.” (2 Timothy 4:10). More in the next blog entry on the process of apostasy.

Do you feel like you are part of a remnant church? I do. The church may look bedraggled on the outside, but His true Bride is unbesmirched, glowing, and pure. It may be small, but it has the power of He who overcame the world within it, sustaining it, and holding it. And that is a beautiful thing indeed.

comfort

I wanna go home…don’t worry be happy

Posted on September 29, 2012 by elizabethprata

I listened to these sweet songs last night, after an exceptionally hard day and a rough and tumble week. The list shows a progression of thought I underwent, and likely many of you also. I can’t linger or wallow in pity or stay down licking my wounds. I have to rely on the Lord to brush me off and then I go on my way.

“I’m worried.”
“Don’t worry- be happy. In your life, expect some trouble. When you worry you make it double.”
[Petulantly] “I want to go home.”
“I wanna to go home.”
“I wanna to go home.”
“Oh well, Every little thing gonna be all right.”

I’m a Worried Man