Category: bible jesus

Posted in bible jesus, mark of the beast, technology, technorapture

Self assembling robots, electronic skin computers, and the mark of the beast

Posted on by elizabethprata

What does it mean to be human? The lines between human-ness and a mixture of biology plus ‘something else’ are getting closer together, almost ready to cross. We wonder what humans will look like in 20 years, 50 years, or even tomorrow. This discussion is called “Transhumanism” and it is represented by H+. The symbolism is obvious: human plus…but to Christians, adding anything to being human is a violation of God’s creation of us as creatures in His likeness. Therefore, satan is behind any movement, principle, or thought that seeks to fundamentally change or add to our humanness.

Transhumanism is described by Wikipedia thus: “Transhumanism, often abbreviated as H+ or h+, is an international intellectual and cultural movement that affirms the possibility and desirability of fundamentally transforming the human condition by developing and making widely available technologies to eliminate aging and to greatly enhance human intellectual, physical, and psychological capacities. Transhumanist thinkers study the potential benefits and dangers of emerging technologies that could overcome fundamental human limitations…”

Transhumanism is is actually a man-made philosophy because if anyone comes to repent and believe on Jesus name, they will be transformed, regenerated, their abilities greatly enhanced and at the last day, will overcome human limitations. (including gravity!)

Accompanying the Transhumanist movement is another movement called the Singularity, or the techno-rapture. It is the moment when the exponential growth of technology intersects and surpasses the processing of the human brain. In other words, a fusion of humanity and technology that creates a new race, cyborgs if you will.

Notice the parallels between the techno-rapture and the real rapture. At the rapture for believers, Jesus will call us up to Him and “in a moment, in a twinkling of an eye, we shall be changed, For this perishable must put on the imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality.” (1 Corinthians 15:52-53). Our bodies are changed into something else, made impervious to earthly concerns and in fact since we are glorified, we become something more than human, or as transhumanists say, H+. Jesus completes his work with us and in us.

In the secular philosophy of trans-humanism and the techno-rapture, our evolution toward ever higher states of being are self-guided. It is man’s efforts that bring change about, and that change seeks to drive humanity toward ever higher states of being, made impervious to earthly concerns and in fact since we would be glorified in the eyes of fleshly man, we become something more than human, H+.

I wrote about the Singularity in 2010, here. I wrote about nanotechnology last year, too. That essay is here.

These next four article excerpts show that the moment when human biology and technology are closer together than ever, when our very likeness made in his image could soon be corrupted into a satanic version of a cyborg. Please note that in this first article from Extreme Tech, it is the original headline. They actually used ‘judgment day’ to describe the article. And in the first sentence, they actually referred to cyborgs.

Self-assembling micro-robots created, Judgment Day looms
“In news that makes you wonder if anyone from the US Department of Energy has watched the Terminator films, physicists at the Argonne National Laboratory have successfully created self-assembling micro-robots that are just 0.5mm (500 micron) in diameter. … The main significance of this discovery is the remarkable accuracy and delicacy that these magnetic controls can provide. … In the short term, these micro-robots could be used to deliver cancer drugs (or any kind of medication) in a highly-targeted fashion, rather than the carpet bombing approach that is currently used — but in the long term, they could be used to make things. That is the ultimate goal of nano- and micro-robotics, after all: self-assembling robots that can assume the perfect form for a task, and then dissolve into nothingness or take on another form. Even with these nascent, crude asters, you could still create a computer program that repeatedly walked a bunch of micro-robots through the same actions.”

Do you really want self-assembling robots crawling around inside your body, making things? I don’t.

How computers will soon get under our skin
A stick-on circuit can monitor heart rate as well as conventional devices, but is weightless, wireless and inconspicuous
“It may soon be possible to wear your computer or mobile phone under your sleeve, with the invention of an ultra-thin and flexible electronic circuit that can be stuck to the skin like a temporary tattoo. The devices, which are almost invisible, can perform just as well as more conventional electronic machines but without the need for wires or bulky power supplies, scientists said.”

All I can say is “ewwww.” How do you control them? What if it runs amok?

Nanofiber Regenerates Blood Vessels
“A synthetic material may help to repair tissue after a heart attack, and aid transplants. Regenerating blood vessels is important for combating the aftereffects of a heart attack or peripheral arterial disease, and for ensuring that transplanted organs receive a sufficient supply of blood. Now researchers at Northwestern University have created a nanomaterial that could help the body to grow new blood vessels. … The “epidermal electronic system” relies on a highly flexible electrical circuit composed of snake-like conducting channels that can bend and stretch without affecting performance. The circuit is about the size of a postage stamp, is thinner than a human hair and sticks to the skin by natural electrostatic forces rather than glue.”

This next article specifically claims to blur the lines between human biology and technology.

Electronic skin tattoo has medical, gaming, spy uses
“A hair-thin electronic patch that adheres to the skin like a temporary tattoo could transform medical sensing, computer gaming and even spy operations, according to a US study published Thursday. The micro-electronics technology, called an epidermal electronic system (EES), was developed by an international team of researchers from the United States, China and Singapore, and is described in the journal Science. “It’s a technology that blurs the distinction between electronics and biology,” said co-author John Rogers, a professor in materials science and engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. “Our goal was to develop an electronic technology that could integrate with the skin in a way that is mechanically and physiologically invisible to the user.”

How long will the LORD wait until He claims His creation? How long will He watch us tinker with our bodies as we seek to fundamentally change who we are away from His likeness? How long will He watch us alter our biology as we mix man-made technology with our humanity and drift ever further away from His creation? He waited until there were only 8 righteous people left in the world before He sent the flood.

I am not saying that technology is bad. I am not saying that biological technology is bad. It has enhanced millions of lives. It has lengthened millions of lives. It has made more comfortable millions of lives. When pacemakers were introduced it seemed that the frontiers of biology and technology were pushed to the limits, but now a pacemaker insertion is almost as routine as popping an aspirin. We have come a long way since the Civil War when doctors amputated using a saw and no anesthetic and gave the person a wooden stump to walk around on.

But the technological advances always come with a price. We don’t know how such advances will morph into something that could be harmful to us, our psyche, or our basic human-ness. Further, since satan is god of this world (2 Corinthians 4:4) we know he continually seeks to corrupt us by every means at his disposal, including technology. Last, we know that at the end of days the anthichrist will cause a mark to be placed on the forehead or the hands of all who wish to participate in the economy. That is some technological advancement! Not only does the antichrist need to have gained control of the entire global economic system, but he needs to be able to rely on a tracking system to count each person. This is because all who refuse the mark (which is a mark of worship of him- Rev 13) will be hunted and killed. (Rev 20:4).

I look to the bible as all truth. It is my complete guide to life on earth and life eternal. It shows us what has happened, what is happening, and what will happen. I like to look to the end and then back up to see where we are on the timeframe. We see technologies being created and coming into common use that support the technological statements in the bible, such as like the mark of the beast (Rev 13:16-17), or the ability for the entire globe to watch the resurrection of the Two Witnesses (Rev 11:11-13). As those technologies are created, I believe that the real rapture is closer than ever.

72-year-old John Hagee is a pastor from a long line of pastors. He related in an interview once that he remembers sitting around the kitchen table as a child, listening to his father and his grandfather discuss the Two Witnesses’ resurrection which the whole world saw. Television had been invented but was just coming into common use. Hagee’s father and grandfather believed the event would happen as described because they believed in the truth of the word as delivered by the Holy Spirit. But they could not envision it. The technology had not been invented yet. However within the same generation, Hagee and all men and women of that age have seen men walk on the moon, satellite communications, the internet, and now nanotechnology and robotics that combined, not only enhance our lives, but also actually threatens our humanity.

Can the rapture be far behind? I don’t believe it is going to be long in coming.
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Posted in bible jesus, end of days, rapture

It’s evening in America, and the sun is setting on the world

Posted on by elizabethprata

Well. Here in the good old United States, things are getting very severe. They are getting very crazy. I look at today’s headlines and I do not even know where to begin. I sit numbly in front of the computer screen, shaking my head.

I’m in awe of how the Lord works. How this little thing and that little thing over time now connect to make a worse thing. And this nudge is repeated and that connection repeated since time immemorial, the dots are connecting and it is all coming down. I’m amazed.

The stocks crumbled today in the aftermath of Standard and Poor’s downgrade of our previous AAA credit rating to AA+ with Negative Outlook. Gold is at record high on the stocks crash. The UK Daily Mail’s headline was screaming veritable panic: “Bloodbath! Panic grips Wall Street as desperate investors rush to sell and Dow goes into freefall”. The stock market is not only tanking, but the big financial corporations are turning on each other. Kind of reminds of the book Lord of the Flies.

The drought in the American central south is deepening. A Texas town ran out of water today. What a horror for the residents! Israel suffered the worst earthquake (4.2) they have had all year.

The killing in Syria continues. Jerusalem deals with enormous protests, 320,000 march in the streets. London is burning in massive riots. The damage is incredible.

Jesus warned that because of the increase in wickedness (sin), love of most would would wax cold (Mt 24:12). The godless want to be rid of us Christians so that they can be in ‘peace’ but even before the Restrainer (Holy Spirit) is taken out of the way (2 Thess 2:7) that sin is rising and giving rise to evil deeds. Like this one:

“Housekeeper Says Queens Monk Kept Her As “Slave” or this one, “Chained up with the dog: The Chinese boy kept as slave by uncle“. Or this one: “Elisabeth Fritzl was forced to help build the dungeon where she was kept by her sadistic father Josef, it emerged yesterday. For the first nine months of her 24 years in captivity, she was also tethered with a 5ft dog leash around her neck to prevent her escape.” So a dad turns sadistic, forces his daughter to build her own dungeon and then chains her up. Unbelievable.

Paul warned Timothy that in the last days people would be without natural affection, meaning, without the natural affection felt between kindred, as a parent to a child. Or an uncle to a niece. Headlines like these are not just headlines. They involve real people. Real people betrayed by the very people they should be able to trust most, and forced to live a horrific life devoid of humanity. I could continue with posting the headlines that would shock and cause anxiety and dismay to one and all. But the thing that really should cause anxiety and dismay is the fact that the Restrainer is still here, restraining, and these are already horrific headlines. The rapture has not occurred and the Days of Lot and the Days of Noah haven’t even begun yet. Meaning, it will get worse. A lot worse.

Please, please, please PLEASE repent. If you have not already confessed your sins and asked Jesus to be your Lord (who will forgive you), the tensions and distress of these days will be so much more magnified beyond all imagining. You will be left behind to wallow in your sins and everyone elses’s and if you still have any sentience, conscience, or morality, you will long for days when ALL they did was chain you up. The horror of daily life during the tribulation will be all riots. All brutality. All cold-heartedness.

But you can repent now and become part of the Bride of Christ, His church, His brethren. The rapture will take us out of all this and the worse part to come. See, He has told us ahead of time: “Come, my people, enter into your rooms And close your doors behind you; Hide for a little while until indignation runs its course.” (Isaiah 26:20). He wishes that no one perish in their sins, and that means you. He knows your name, and He wants for you to be one of His. Please do it now. The time is short.
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Posted in bible jesus, porn, prophecy, rick perry

"Is porn driving men crazy?"

Posted on by elizabethprata

Naomi Wolf’s article “Is porn driving men crazy?” poses a great question. I’ve seen several photos like this one below lately, (it isn’t part of Wolf’s article) which had made me ask the same question. I mean, really? Really? Looking at porn on a wide-open computer screen. In a crowded room? While live TV is happening? That’s just stupid, nuts, and dumb. You have to be crazy to be that stupid, nuts, and dumb. (I’d posted about this porn peeping bankster here)

CNN-is porn driving men crazy?
By Naomi Wolf:
“It is hard to ignore how many highly visible men in recent years (indeed, months) have behaved in sexually self-destructive ways. Some powerful men have long been sexually voracious; unlike today, though, they were far more discreet and generally used much better judgment in order to cover their tracks.Of course, the heightened technological ability nowadays to expose private behavior is part of the reason for this change. But that is precisely the point: so many of the men caught up in sex-tinged scandals of late have exposed themselves – sometimes literally – through their own willing embrace of text messages, Twitter, and other indiscreet media.What is driving this weirdly disinhibited decision-making? Could the widespread availability and consumption of pornography in recent years actually be rewiring the male brain, affecting men’s judgment about sex and causing them to have more difficulty controlling their impulses? … The hypothesis among the experts was that pornography was progressively desensitizing these men sexually”

She asks a good question. She offers a different possible answer to it than I would. I say it is the fallen-ness of our sinful world and the fact that satan inhabits it. He is actually the god of this world and operates within it through the boundaries that God sets. (more here). On the other hand, Wolf could be unknowingly exactly right, because of this verse in which Paul spoke of some people who, “Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron;”

The full verse is: “The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons. Such teachings come through hypocritical liars, whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron”. (1 Tim 4:1-2). The Matthew Henry commentary on this verse explains, “The instruments of promoting and propagating this apostasy and delusion. It will be done by hypocrisy of those that speak lies, the agents and emissaries of Satan, who promote these delusions by lies and forgeries and pretended miracles, v. 2. It is done by their hypocrisy, professing honor to Christ, and yet at the same time fighting against all his anointed offices, and corrupting or profaning all his ordinances. This respects also the hypocrisy of those who have their consciences seared with a red-hot iron, who are perfectly lost to the very first principles of virtue and moral honesty.”

We get desensitized to sin. Once engaging in it, unless we repent and confess immediately, presenting ourselves for a spiritual bath by the Holy Spirit, we remain unclean in that little spot, and we get used to the unclean feeling. We decide that it wasn’t really so bad, and we do it again. And again. Until we’re so strewn with scar tissue from the searing of our consciences, we become inured to the effects of sin and never even feel its pricks any more. And before long we have men exposing themselves publicly in ridiculous ways that they have convinced themselves are fun because they have lost any ability to feel shame. (Anthony Weiner comes to mind ). I think that the effect of this culture’s perpetual exposure to and engagement in sin, our brains are being rewired to be desensitized to sin, especially the sexual sins of homosexuality and pornography.

God told Jeremiah to tell the Israelites:

“Are they ashamed of their loathsome conduct? No, they have no shame at all; they do not even know how to blush. So they will fall among the fallen; they will be brought down when they are punished,says the LORD.” (Jer 8:12). God told Jeremiah to speak that to God’s people at the end of a long list of sins they were committing, which also included deceit, straying from the ways of God, listening to false prophets who say all is well, being greedy, and rejecting God. He punished them. Will He do less with us? Surely not!

Edward Gibbon wrote the book The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. He spent twenty years researching it. Through his research Gibbon realized that all great nations, Rome included, have fallen for the same reasons. Those reasons can be boiled down to just five.

1. The undermining of the dignity and sanctity of the home, which is the basis of human society.
2. Higher and higher taxes; the spending of public money for free bread and circuses for the populace.
3. The mad craze for pleasure; sports becoming every year more exciting, more brutal, more immoral.
4. The building of great armaments when the great enemy was within; the decay of individual responsibility.
5. The decay of religion, fading into a mere form, losing touch with life, losing power to guide the people.

This has been a somber week. We see continually that the sunset of the United States of America is upon us. Other nations are angry with us, and civil tumult abounds from within.

In the face of all this stood one man. Not a governor. Not a presidential candidate, not a high executive. A man. A man who believes in God and who led thousands in Reliant Stadium, yesterday in a day of prayer and fasting. TX Gov. Rick Perry, troubled by the terrible state our nation is in, prayed. He asked Christians to turn to God for answers to the nation’s troubles. This is the only correct response.

“Gov. Rick Perry called on Jesus to bless and guide the nation’s military and political leaders and “those who cannot see the light in the midst of all the darkness. Lord, you are the source of every good thing,” Mr. Perry said, as he bowed his head, closed his eyes and leaned into a microphone at Reliant Stadium here. “You are our only hope, and we stand before you today in awe of your power and in gratitude for your blessings, and humility for our sins. Father, our heart breaks for America. We see discord at home. We see fear in the marketplace. We see anger in the halls of government, and as a nation we have forgotten who made us, who protects us, who blesses us, and for that we cry out for your forgiveness.” (source)

Will you cry out for forgiveness? Jesus is listening, and His arms are open.
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Posted in bible, bible jesus, drought, prophecy

Drought picture essay

Posted on by elizabethprata

Picture essay.

source

Above, in an article published by The Economist, ‘Drought in the South [USA]: Bone-dry – Drought has blanketed nearly a third of the lower 48‘ the weekly said: “There are wildfires in the south-west and water restrictions in the south-east. Fields are scrubby and fallow, and in some counties the ground is riddled with deep cracks. Farmers are struggling to produce crops, and ranchers are worried about watering their cattle. As their losses mount, crop prices have risen.”

source

Above, The drought hit hardest in the Sahelian regions of Kanem, Bahr-El-Gazal, Hajer Lamis, Bastha and Guéra, Chad.

source

“Above, A dead cow lies on the ground as a bus travels past near the giant Dadaab refugee settlement on July 21, 2011 in Dadaab, Kenya. Famine brought on by the drought has killed tens of thousands in the Horn of Africa.” (Photo by Oli Scarff/Getty Images)

source

Above, “The remains of a cow lay near a watering point in a pasture July 28, 2011 near Tulia, Texas. A severe drought in the region has caused shortages of grass, hay and water, forcing ranchers to thin their herds or risk losing their cattle to the drought. The past nine months have been the driest in Texas since record keeping began in 1895, with 75% of the state classified as exceptional drought, the worst level.” Photograph by: Scott Olson, Getty Images.

source

Above, USAID’s photo of drought conditions in Ethiopia, amidst the 2011 Horn of Africa famine.

source

The Cimmaron Grassland Director explains drought conditions in Kansas USA.

I believe it would be a fair statement that the USA is no longer being blessed.
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Posted in bible jesus, end times, judgment, prophecy

A strange news article from Texas: TX reservoir turns blood red

Posted on by elizabethprata

“This is the original headline:

“End Times? Texas Lake Turns Blood-Red“
“A Texas lake that turned blood-red this summer may not be a sign of the End Times, but probably is the end of a popular fishing and recreation spot. A drought has left the OC Fisher Reservoir in San Angelo State Park in West Texas almost entirely dry. The water that is left is stagnant, full of dead fish — and a deep, opaque red. The color has some apocalypse believers suggesting that OC Fisher is an early sign of the end of the world, but Texas Parks and Wildlife Inland Fisheries officials say the bloody look is the result of Chromatiaceae bacteria, which thrive in oxygen-deprived water. “It’s just heartbreaking,” said Charles Cruz, a fish and wildlife technician with Texas Parks and Wildlife in San Angelo, Tex.”
“Blood red reservoir”
“Texas is experiencing major drought this summer, with 75 percent of the state’s area in an “exceptional” drought, the highest level, according to the National Drought Mitigation Center (NDMC). The state had hoped for some relief from Tropical Storm Don last week, but the system fizzled and brought only an inch or two of rain to areas near the coast.”
“End times predictions”
“As of last week, all that remained of the lake was a small pond a few feet deep, Cruz said. There were thousands of dead fish, he said, but no sign of life. Pictures of this blood-red pool circulated online in fishing forums and caught the notice of Indiana preacher Paul Begley, who said in a YouTube video that the lake might be evidence of the apocalypse as predicted by the Biblical book of Revelation. “The second angel poured out his bowl on the sea, and it turned into blood like that of a dead person, and every living thing in the sea died,” the passage Begley cited reads. “The third angel poured out his bowl on the rivers and springs of water, and they became blood.” Begley may not have any more luck at predicting the end of the world than did Harold Camping, the radio preacher who set the date for May 21, 2011. But for as long as the drought persists, the OC Fisher reservoir is a reservoir no longer.”

Well. First, we are not in the Tribulation now. The ‘end times’ technically is the period when Jesus went up (Acts 1:9-12) and the time of the rapture when Jesus will come down. (1 Thess 4:17). After that there will be a period of judgment on the earth known familiarly as the Tribulation (Matthew 24:29) but known formally as the Time of Jacob’s Trouble. (Jeremiah 30:4-7).

The verse the article cites is Revelation 16:3, but actually Rev 16:4 is more apt: “The third angel poured out his bowl on the rivers and springs of water, and they became blood.” However, the whole point is moot, because when the verses above come true it’s actually quite far along in the time of the judgment period. In Chapter 19, Jesus returns, so we can see that quite a lot has been going on before the time when the sea is turned into blood.

For example, Revelation 6 describes wars in all parts of the world, a quarter of the world dying from diseases and other means, a great earthquake, 144,000 Jews have been supernaturally evangelized and are witnessing to the world, and much more. Since it is my interpretation that the Tribulation is mostly chronological, by the time Revelation 16 comes with its seas being turned into blood, many other markers will have let the world know that they were indeed IN the Tribulation. There will be no question.

I don’t find it mysterious or mystical that fish died in the reservoir. It has been incredibly hot in Texas for a long time. Here in GA the news just said that since May there have been only 4 days when temperatures have been below normal, and right now we are experiencing our 15th consecutive day of 90-plus degree temps. Texas has had it much worse. So it’s logical that the reservoir water temperature would increase to the point where fish life would die in intolerable conditions.

What I find is the interesting part is that someone didn’t say, ‘gee, it’s been so hot that the temps got high enough that the fish died.” Instead, a reference was made to Revelation judgments. And more interestingly, the comment didn’t die there, but was printed.

The end times are on people’s minds. That is for a reason. Judgment IS coming, but this long end-time period has been one of grace bestowed on the world and an example of His loving-kindness. As His warnings increase, the fact of the prophesied judgments are rising to people’s conscious minds, whether they believe in them or not. They’re thinking along judgment lines. The discussion of their imminence is happening in the secular world as well as the religious world.

Please heed these warnings from our loving God. He is giving you time to reflect on the fact that He is showing you He exists. He is showing you that judgment is a real thing. He wants you to reflect on your deeds, and know that they are sinful deeds rendered against a Holy God. (Mt 24:44). Please understand that anyone with a sin in them will never be able to enjoy the peace and closeness of heaven with Jesus because with unforgiven sin in them, you’re a criminal to him deserving of a sentence. The sentence is eternal separation from Him in hell. (Luke 21:34-35).

No, we’re not in Revelation times yet, but someday the world will be. But part of that same world will have been rescued from the coming wrath (1 Thess 1:10). His love is such that you get to choose which population group you will be in when that day comes. Don’t wait too long to decide.
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Posted in bible jesus, miracles, rapture

A comment on miracles

Posted on by elizabethprata

Today’s people want miracles. They want fabulous signs and wonders, and flock to places where they think God is performing them. I happen to believe that once the scriptures were closed that the signs and miracles all but ceased. God used the signs and wonders through His designated apostles (the 12 plus Paul) to authenticate the performer of those miracles as being from God. Acts 2:22 says, “Men of Israel, listen to this: Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs, which God did among you through him, as you yourselves know.” 2 Corinthians 12:12 says, “The things that mark an apostle—signs, wonders and miracles—were done among you with great perseverance”. Hebrews 2:4 says of the Gospel, “God also testified to it by signs, wonders and various miracles, and gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to His will.”

Once the canon was set, once the apostles were dead, the signs ceased, because we now had the miracle of God revealed in His closed Word. In my opinion that is why we don’t see the large swathe of validated miracles and signs occurring today.

I’d like to make a distinction about the Tribulation. During that 7-year judgment period, there will be signs, wonders, and miracles. Many will be false (Matthew 24:23-24; 2 Thessalonians 2:9). Some of them will be true: (Revelation 11:1-6; Revelation 14:6-9). The very judgments themselves will be miracles, in that the laws of physics will be set aside and magnificent but deadly miracles will occur such as oceans turning to blood and 100 pound hailstones, and a sun that goes dark.

But between the period of the close of the canon and the death of the original apostles, and the tribulation, showy miracles have all but ended. In His wisdom here and there the Lord may certainly perform a sign in His sovereign will. In Mark 8:12 Jesus signed deeply and asked of the people, “Why does this generation ask for a miraculous sign? I tell you the truth, no sign will be given to it.” He was saying that their belief rested in the show and not in faith. It is like that today.

Back to the clamor for miracles. In the ever-questioning God’s authority, emergent church, counter-reformation, ‘God spoke to me’ generation, they want a show. They desire a sign that will confirm the faith. But I remind us all, we overlook the miracles every day! There are so many. But they are getting lost in the clamor.

What about the miracle of a sinner repenting and coming to faith? It is the greatest act of a Holy God to draw a sinner to Himself for cleansing in redemption and forgiveness. It never fails to make me cry to see someone set aside the old man and ask Jesus to take over their life. It is a miracle of the Holy Spirit, since no man can make that decision for himself, being completely craven. (John 6:44). What about an adulterous marriage restored through faith and love? It is a miracle, because they chose God as their foundation and not their lusts. What about a teen or youth involved in cults, or cutting, or depressed and suicidal, brought to joy in the Lord after prayer and tearful prayers of the family and church? What about the birth of a child? Each child, formed by the Lord Himself. (Jeremiah 1:5, Psalm 139:13). What about answered prayer? A miracle that we have a God who listens to His people, though he is so High and we are so low. He listens and responds to us. A miracle. These are miracles. I praise the Lord for them all.

The quiet miracles from the Holy Spirit’s work are daily occurring around us. Take some time to thank Him for them. They are just as powerful, if not a more powerful witness to His everlasting love in this deeply fallen world.
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Posted in bible jesus, false teachers, prophecy

What is "deception by investment"?

Posted on by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

We are told that in the last days, deceivers will come. They will carry false doctrines, false teachings, and they will want to follow their own lusts instead of sound doctrine. This web page has a list of all the verses in the bible that speak to false doctrine. This web page lists all the warnings about false prophets (which are teachers, too).

In some cases, it is easy to tell who is false. Todd Bentley down in Lakeland FL was easy to spot as false for Christians – but still deceived a great many. People assume he got all those tattoos before he came to the Lord but he got them after, most of them in 2006, just two years before he hit the big time with his (false) ‘revival’. That was one clue that was pretty easy to track and confirm. Hitting old ladies during boisterous healing sessions was another.

Other false teachers we’re warned about, like in 2 Timothy 3:5, have a form of godliness but deny its power … those teachers are harder to spot. When I was a brand-new Christian and had not yet begun attending church, I watched Joel Osteen quite frequently. It took me a while to realize that I was always still hungry. His preaching sounded good but left me empty. I referred to my Bible after his half hour speeches but soon came to realize that he often used the verses out of context or twisted them to give us hope for an earthly success gained in our own strength.

I was a babe in the faith then, still on milk, but the Word is so transparent and so sure that relying on it brought me clarity as to Osteen’s teaching. (Hebrews 5:12; 1 Cor 3:2). I credit the Holy Spirit with it all. He is our teacher, (John 14:6). He molds character (Gal 5:22-23). If we submit to His teaching and allow Him to mold us, soon we will see through His lens more and more and not the craven lens that is our sinful flesh.

But because we ARE flesh, it gets tangled in everything. We can’t separate the flesh from who we are but continual submission and obedience regenerates us and we grow in His Christlikeness. Occasionally you have to take a look at a spot or blemish inside yourself. It’s hard to excise embedded fleshly lies from spiritual glorious truths. Jesus said in Mark 9:43- “If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life crippled, than, having your two hands, to go into hell, into the unquenchable fire…” Excising the flesh where it has fallen prey to sin or where lies are embedded within is sometimes a violently difficult process.

Sometimes someone will come up to you and say “So and so may be a false teacher bringing false doctrines.” You get angry, because you like that teacher. The first reaction will always be fleshly. Translation: emotional. People’s reactions will range from peeved to furious. When my friend and I were talking about false teachers and she asked me about Joyce Meyer, I said I believed Mrs. Meyer teaches a different gospel and therefore is false. She agreed. She wasn’t angry because she had already come to the same conclusion I had and therefore no anger flared up. But when I said I had concerns about Beth Moore, she got ticked because she had not come to that conclusion. Challenging Beth Moore as a teacher was also challenging my friend as a student. That anger arises because of something called “deception by investment”.

When a person begins to suspect their favorite teacher is a false teacher, they continue with the deception because they’ve invested so much of their life in them. They’ve invested their reputation. They’ve invested their money. They’d rather persist in deception than admit they were deceived and abandon their investment.

When we invest time, energy, even money in a teacher or a ministry and then some bubbling reservations or charges are raised, our fleshly response is to dismiss them out of hand. But that’s exactly when the lie firms its grip. Look at it as a morning glory.

I had a morning glory on the left side of my door for about a year. Boy, that thing grew fast! It soon wound around the wrought iron plant stand and up over the awning. The flowers looked so pretty in the morning when they bloomed! But then my landlord said that he had to excavate that area and was going to pave it over. I had to get rid of the wrought iron stand and the flowers.

I’d never dealt with morning glory flowers before. I was amazed at how firmly they were entrenched! I thought I could just pull them down but no way. I thought I could just use a knife to cut them away but nope, that didn’t work either. I had to use scissors and personally excise each strand. It took hours. Each vine was stronger than it looked.

A year later, on the right side of my door, I spotted some more morning glories! Look at the bottom of the photo below. I really can’t tell where the root is, or which stalk is the main one. Just suddenly one day there was a clump.

In the photo below, we can see how tightly wound the vine is to the thing which it claims, in this case, an old cable wire.

Left unattended, there will be shoots sprouting off to go in other directions to claim other things to cling to.

This how false teaching is. It emerges from whence you least expect. You’re surprised by it. Its root or origin is often difficult to determine. If left unattended, it winds among your flesh tighter and tighter. It gets harder and harder to excise. And left unattended for a long time, this happens:

How long did it take for that tree to grow into and up over the metal fence? It took decades, but the end result was that there was no way to remove the fence from the tree without killing the tree. They had become one flesh.

Here is my practical advice when hearing a charge of false teaching, either about yourself, or about another favored teachers you’ve invested in: be ready for the flesh to rebel. It will flare up like a match.

Your feelings will be towering, monumental, roaring. They will flare up! But don’t let that be your response. It is only a fleshly reaction. Instead, what happens to a match? It burns out quickly. Let the emotions about the charge of false teaching leveled on your favorite teacher dissipate. If you don’t allow them to lead you, they will dissipate. Then begin the work the Holy Spirit wants to lead you into. He will either confirm or deny the charge, but allowing yourself to let the anger drive you means you are allowing the morning glory vine access to a tighter grip. And we have seen what happens when we allow the flesh to lead us into failure to explore truth: a dead tree.

“Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.” (Mt 7:19)

But the Lord is merciful. If you are far along in refusing to believe this teacher or that teacher is false because you have invested so much into him or her, if you do begin the examination process by repenting and pleading to be out of deception, you will be forgiven. It first begins with swallowing your pride.

“God sends Isaiah to foretell the ruin of his people. Many hear the sound of God’s word, but do not feel the power of it. God sometimes, in righteous judgment, gives men up to blindness of mind, because they will not receive the truth in the love of it. But no humble inquirer after Christ, need to fear this awful doom, which is a spiritual judgment on those who will still hold fast their sins. Let every one pray for the enlightening of the Holy Spirit, that he may perceive how precious are the Divine mercies, by which alone we are secured against this dreadful danger. Yet the Lord would preserve a remnant, like the tenth, holy to him. And blessed be God, he still preserves his church; however professors or visible churches may be lopped off as unfruitful, the holy seed will shoot forth, from whom all the numerous branches of righteousness shall arise.” (Matthew Henry commentary).

Be careful out there, brethren. Don’t let the morning glory vine choke off truth through its fleshly grip but instead, let His pure glory lead you into truth. Even if you have to cut off your hand to do it.

Posted in beth moore, bible, bible jesus, legalism

Beth Moore: reactions to Living Proof teaching in Charlotte. Part 3a: The Teaching

Posted on by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

I went to a Beth Moore convention, and below is the series I wrote of my reaction. Be sure also to look to the right-menu for the 7-part series of an explanation of why Beth Moore teachings are in error.

All Beth Moore Critiques in One Place

Beth Moore: reactions to Living Proof teaching in Charlotte. Part 1, The Women

Beth Moore: reactions to Living Proof teaching in Charlotte. Part 2, The Music

Beth Moore: reactions to Living Proof teaching in Charlotte. Part 3a, The Teaching

Beth Moore: reactions to Living Proof teaching in Charlotte. Part 3b: The Teaching

Beth Moore: reactions to Living Proof teaching in Charlotte. Part 4: A final word

Beth Moore’s text for the 6-hour bible study was Deuteronomy 10:11-21. She also used quite a number of other verses, both from the OT and the NT. Here is the main passage:

“And now, Israel, what does the LORD your God require of you, but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all His ways and to love Him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the commandments of the LORD and His statutes which I command you today for your good? Indeed heaven and the highest heavens belong to the LORD your God, also the earth with all that is in it. The LORD delighted only in your fathers, to love them; and He chose their descendants after them, you above all peoples, as it is this day. Therefore circumcise the foreskin of your heart, and be stiff-necked no longer. For the LORD your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who shows no partiality nor takes a bribe. He administers justice for the fatherless and the widow, and loves the stranger, giving him food and clothing. Therefore love the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt. You shall fear the LORD your God; you shall serve Him, and to Him you shall hold fast, and take oaths in His name. He is your praise, and He is your God, who has done for you these great and awesome things which your eyes have seen. Your fathers went down to Egypt with seventy persons, and now the LORD your God has made you as the stars of heaven in multitude.”

The NKJV titles that passage “The Essence of the Law”. The HCSB titles it “What God Requires”. NIV’s version is “Fear the LORD”. Even the NLT calls it “A Call to Love and Obedience.” It is a beautiful passage in which His majesty and His Holy character is center stage, prompting all true believers to understand our position below Him, and thus, worship Him for who He is.

Beth Moore’s title for the passage is “His affection is set upon us.”

She explained how she arrives at the lessons she teaches on her tour. She said that when she prays the Holy Spirit will deliver a word to her. In the case for the teaching in Charlotte, it had been “Hold Fast.” In the case of her next tour in Columbia, it will be “Prepare.” This is direct revelation and it is NOT how we study the Bible, much less teach it. She then creates an acrostic of teaching points that begin with each letter in the main word. Ours was –

His affection is set upon us
Only He is your praise
Loving Him awakens your true heart
Doing His will does us good
Fleeing to Him means fleeing with Him
Any tighter embrace will also replace
Satan wants what we have
The Lord is your life

Looks kind of OK, doesn’t it? I won’t explain each of the eight mantras point by point, but share with you some of what troubled me most. I think word studies are good, and I like when teachers look into the Greek or the Hebrew meaning. I am not sure if this manner of exegetical study, finding all the words that relate to a subject and building a lesson out of it is outrageous or wonderful, but I do know that such an approach can be fraught with danger. You lose the context of each passage you are extracting the word from. If you cross OT to NT that context gets more complicated because you have to research whether the word used in a context was meant only for the Jews in the Old Covenant or can be extrapolated into the New Covenant for the Gentiles.

This approach also means that you wind up using a LOT of verses in one study and that tends to feel cobbled together and superficial. You can’t really explain to full depth each verse so you simply refer to them, and there winds up being a lot of different points. It gets unfocused, really fast.

She read the passage and then began by saying that this was “the Law of Love.” I cannot tell you any more than that, because she did not explain it. It is one of my concerns with her teaching. She will make a sweeping claim, and not back it up with scripture. If I was to take a guess I’d say she was teaching that the deliverance of the law in this section of Deuteronomy was all about how much He loves us, when it is really about how much we should love Him.

The next point was that the Israelites were being taken out of Egypt as the release from bondage so that they could have victorious lives. She referred to ‘victory’ constantly but never defined it.  And that Jesus brings us out of [metaphorical] Egypt. Then she said, “Anyone ever been stuck in Egypt too long? There is a land of promise for you and for me. Our promised land is characterized by a place where we live in victory. Where we don’t live in a lot of defeat. We’re walking between those ditches of defeat into victory. And secondly, our promised land is characterized by bearing fruit.” Bearing fruit was never defined. “We can be devalued deprived, depraved” and “we may miss our promised land.” The promised land was never defined. But she has now set up this vague sense of unease…I might miss something if I don’t do it right.

A Beth Moore teaching will be filled with legalism. There will be constant references to “if” you don’t do this, you “won’t” get that. Here is one: “If we don’t hold fast to Him we won’t live in earthly security.” That is a verbatim quote. I would venture to say that Apostle Paul held fast to Jesus as much as any Christian alive or dead, and he never had a day of earthly security in his life. What about Job’s earthly security? Satan tells us to value earthly security. Being alive in Jesus does not mean we get earthly security, as a matter of fact,  Jesus said repeatedly that the opposite will be true. In Luke 14:25 we read that the cost of salvation and subsequent discipleship might mean losing all you have and your life as well.

We love Jesus for Who he is, not for what He can do for us. In Beth Moore’s teachings, it is the opposite. I never heard the words holy or glory. In point 4 where we learn “Doing His will does us good” (and it’s true, doing His will is good for us,) I never heard the rest of the principle: “Doing His will gives Him glory.”

Here is another sweeping claim never backed up by scripture, and actually teaches the opposite of scripture: “He holds tight to us, but are we holding tight to Him? We’re called to a life that’s supposed to work.” Mrs Moore never defined a life that works, nor by whose standard- ours, or God’s? By our standards, Jeremiah’s life failed. He never had a single convert. Jeremiah was friendless, reviled, he was gloomy, negative, and no one wanted him around. According to principles Mrs Moore teaches, Jeremiah must not have been holding fast closely enough. Isaiah never had a following. Noah failed to convert anyone outside his family. Did their lives ‘work’? Her vague concept of a life that ‘works’ is according to man’s standards, not God’s.

She continued, saying “When we latch back on [to Jesus] we have life more abundant here on earth. .. Our life has purpose and life is working with a measurable form of victory.” She did not define victory nor by which tool we measure it. All we know is, IF we don’t do what she said, we WON’T get something good. Those are her nebulous threats. She creates a feeling of amorphous uneasiness that pervades her talks.

Here is another, referring to Deuteronomy 10:12- “God wants everything from us but IF I don’t bring my everything, then my life WON’T work.”

In referring to Isaiah 38:17, “Behold, for peace I had great bitterness: but thou hast in love to my soul delivered it from the pit of corruption: for thou hast cast all my sins behind thy back” she said “He can love you out of the pit.” But I thought He did that at the cross. I thought all believers, once repenting and forgiven by a Resurrected Jesus who is Lord, are yanked out of the pit. Mrs Moore teaches to believers, yet according to her, we are still in the pit and we have to do certain things so that we can access that love of His which will retrieve us out from it. It is that old legalism again.

In my next essay exploring my reaction to Beth Moore’s teaching in Charlotte, I’ll look at Eastern Mysticism, Fear of the LORD, the reciprocal relationship, and finish with ‘It’s all about me.’

Posted in beth moore, bible jesus

Beth Moore: reactions to Living Proof teaching in Charlotte. Part 1, The Women

Posted on by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

Beth Moore: reactions to Living Proof teaching in Charlotte. Part 1, The Women

Beth Moore: reactions to Living Proof teaching in Charlotte. Part 2, The Music

Beth Moore: reactions to Living Proof teaching in Charlotte. Part 3a, The Teaching

Beth Moore: reactions to Living Proof teaching in Charlotte. Part 3b: The Teaching

Beth Moore: reactions to Living Proof teaching in Charlotte. Part 4: A final word

Hello all,

I’ve done a 7-part series on Beth Moore, and now I have a few blog entries in mind to share as my reaction from the 6-hour teaching we received in Charlotte at her Living Proof tour. If you are sick of Beth Moore stuff, I don’t blame you…I don’t like to write on one subject so long, myself. But I do think it is important to examine what she teaches. Here’s why:

The Living Proof Tour: Charlotte NC was held in the Time Warner Cable arena, seating about 18,000. The first teaching session on Friday night was held from 7-9:30 pm, and Mrs Moore said that there were about 10,000 present, from two nations (Canada) and 34 states. The second session was on Saturday and the arena was considerably more filled. I’d estimate there were around 12,000 present. One woman I spoke with in the hotel lobby as the ladies were gathering to head out to the Saturday session said that she had driven in the night before from Michigan, twelve straight hours and then went directly to the Friday night session.

Scene is not from my trip, it is from here.

So we have thousands and thousands of Christians pouring in from over half the United States AND Canada to hear 6 hours of Bible teaching. Either this is a very, very good thing, or it is a very, very bad thing. Are these women that in love with the Bible? Are they that in love with Beth Moore? Or is it both?

For one woman standing in the long, slowly moving vendor’s line, that was clearly answered for me. Let me set the stage for you first before I get to the conversation we had. The area outside the arena was full of energy and bustle. Cars, church buses and ladies from the parking lot moving at a half-trot made the 107-degree pavement outside the entry doors a beehive of activity. Women clutching Bibles were streaming in from all directions, all streets, and made a line at the doors go down and around the block. It was general seating, there were no assigned seats. When the doors opened at 5:30 for the 7:00 start, a loud cheer went up and reverberated under the portico, where the lucky ones who’d arrived even earlier got to stand in some shade. At the doors, security men and women checked our bags, but likely all that they found in them were Bibles, tissues, and notebooks.

source

Inside, there was a rush for the seating, refined and polite, as women from the south will do. We found 20 seats together and then my friends scattered to check out the vendors for dinner, since we had driven straight there ourselves and hadn’t eaten lunch nor supper. We were sorely disappointed to find that a hot dog cost $7.50 and a bottle of water was $4. Prices were tripled. I understand that vendors have a captive audience and that prices at hotels and at arenas where most captive audiences congregate are usually higher, but this was grossly excessive to me. I know Beth Moore has nothing to do with the vendors or the pricing, but I was still disgusted. I wasn’t the only one. Women up and down the lines were grumbling. Tonight was going to be a place of worship for 10,000 women and the money lenders and den of thieves had set up outside the temple. It was the impression I got anyway.

As I stood in the long line I struck up a chat with the lady behind me. The conversation between myself (EP) and the anonymous woman (AW) went like this:

EP: Have you gone to a Beth Moore Bible teaching before?
AW: I’ve been following her for 11 years. I’ve done all her studies. The Breaking Free study was really good, because it’s all about yourself.
EP: What am I ‘breaking free’ from?
AW: See, there are all these holes in us. And they fill up with bad stuff.
EP: Like what stuff?
AW: Any bad things in the world, tv, addictions. Your past. There’s a hole God puts in us too but the holes Beth Moore talks about are the strongholds. Beth Moore helps us break free.
[I was struck by how she equalized the God-hole that fills with grace when we accept Jesus and the holes Beth Moore tells us we’re pock marked with].
EP: What if I don’t have anything to break free from?
AW: Oh, you’d be surprised! We all do! That’s what Beth Moore teaches! That’s what I learned during the study!
EP: Are you broken free now?
AW: Yes, now I can live the abundant life.
EP You’re looking forward to tonight, then?
AW: Yes. I mean, I’ve gone to so many of her talks I’ve heard her testimony so many times I know her family even better than I know my own! I even know her dogs’ names and all that, but I’m still looking forward to it.
EP: How is the Bible part of it?
AW: Oh, that’s good too.

Oh my. If this one woman is any indication, we have a significant cult of personality going on here.  I think it is safe to say that we have a Beth Moore groupie… Where is Jesus is in this? It was a question I was going to be asking myself constantly over the next hours and day. Now I know that one woman does not a cult of personality make, but the scene at the arena, the astounding influence her books, lessons, tv show on Life Today, and her studies are having on Christian women everywhere needs to be examined thoroughly. Is this what worship and Bible study has come to these days?

Britton’s review of the Breaking Free study in part 4 of my series “Troubled by Beth Moore’s Teaching: Legalism“, and I’m going to link to it again. I urge you to please read it in its entirety, because it sets up the threads for the next blog entry and actually for the basis of my objections to anything and everything Beth Moore. I call it “Why women need to break free from Beth Moore” and here is a Paige Britton excerpt from the review of ‘Breaking Free’:

“Beth Moore’s book Breaking Free: Making Liberty in Christ a Reality in Life is a condensation of her video-based Bible study of the same name. Written for Christian women, Breaking Free offers readers and participants the “diagnostic tools” to identify and address “areas of captivity” in their lives (p.21). These areas of captivity are variously identified as spiritual oppression, wounds and disappointments, God’s chastisement, mediocre discipleship, and dissatisfaction with the Christian life. Ten central chapters are devoted to exploring the “ancient ruins” and “old bones” of generational sins and past wounds (pp.81-135). From her reading of Galatians 5:1, Moore assumes that Christians can “return to a yoke of bondage” and require further instruction regarding their deliverance (p.21). She assures readers that, whatever their area of captivity, through her study they will indeed enter “the promised land” of “absolute,” “genuine” freedom and liberation, defined as “the abundant and effective Spirit-filled life God has planned” for each individual (pp. xiiif., 34, 2).”

“Throughout her book Moore prioritizes the subjective, experiential elements of the Christian faith. The most serious error resulting from this emphasis is the implication that Christ’s death actually did not secure for us true freedom or the “abundant life” that he promised his followers. Evidently we need to learn some new information and follow some new laws before we can “ignite” the abundant life, or, to put it another way, before God can “deliver us from the bonds that are withholding abundant life” and “set [us] free to be everything He planned” (pp.41, 177, 53, 51). Early on she hints that a secondary “filling” is necessary for the believer to be truly free: “The filling only He can give does not automatically accompany our salvation…”

In preparation for the trip this weekend, I studied Beth Moore intensively. I watched about ten clips from Life Today. I read three transcripts from several of her teachings. I  recalled my notes from the ‘Loving Well’ study I’d forgotten I’d participated in last April at our church’s ladies retreat. I read reviews and blog entries about her of trusted men and women in discernment ministries. I re-read Tim Challies’ “The Discipline of Spiritual Discernment” book. I prayed, and I read the Bible as the Holy Spirit led. I wrote the 7-part series containing my initial conclusions. But I was looking forward to experiencing the phenomenon first hand. There is nothing like being there with no filter to see what’s what. I was hoping, really hoping to have my previous conclusions dispelled. They weren’t. This trip offered me an opportunity to study Beth Moore first hand, and I finalized many conclusions. One of them is that far from leading women into the truths of the Bible, Beth Moore is putting women in bondage.

More in the next blog entry.