Category: bible

Posted in beth moore, bible

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

Posted on by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

Previous essays on my reaction, here:

Beth Moore: reactions part 1, The Women

Beth Moore: reactions part 2, The Music

Beth Moore: part 3a: The Teaching

Beth Moore: reactions part 3b: The Teaching

You know, it might be nice to be in a helps ministry. Everyone loves to see you coming. You’re filling a need. You’re bringing cake. There is an immediate satisfaction of a product of the help one can see (a cleaned house for an invalid, a casserole simmering for a bereaved family).

When in an exhortation ministry usually no one likes to see you coming. You have to say some unpleasant things sometimes. You have to challenge the status quo, and no one likes that. It makes people angry and it makes them uncomfortable.

But what does the Bible say? Titus 1:9 says church elders must be “holding fast the faithful word which is in accordance with the teaching, so that he will be able both to exhort in sound doctrine and to refute those who contradict.” Refute. Refute! Jude 1:3 says “Dear friends, although I was very eager to write to you about the salvation we share, I felt I had to write and urge you to contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints.” Contend defined in the Greek is “to struggle with skill and commitment in opposing whatever is not of faith (God’s persuasion).” Contend. Contend!

As we left the arena at the first session’s conclusion I cried but not in joy. It was in repentance, asking forgiveness for this preaching. But examining everything as we are instructed to do is a ceaseless activity. You’re never set. You’re never done. No matter how peeved you are, you have to let that burn off and then set about examining if there is truth to the charge.

So what do we think that satan’s subtlety looks like? (Genesis 3:1). It’s easy to say that rapture date-setter Harold Camping was wrong but harder to say where exactly the error is in Beth Moore’s stuff. But the Bible says satan is the most subtle creature on earth. Subtlety defined is “fine or delicate in meaning or intent; difficult to perceive or understand.” It is going to take a lot of effort, prayer and open ears and eyes to catch it.

What do we think false doctrine acts like? It doesn’t burst in, it creeps. (Jude 1:4). We’d notice if a bear stormed into our campsite. We do not notice when a snake curls up under our pillow. We can’t tell if a scorpion is slumbering in the shoe. They creep. They may go undetected for a long time, hiding there in your tent.

What do we think false doctrine will sound like? A Jerry Springer? With crashing chairs and loud yells and fights sprawling all over the stage? You’d want to get out of there pretty fast. “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires…” I don’t know about you but when someone is tickling me, I don’t want them to stop. Really deadly false doctrine will sound good and you’ll want to let it continue.

False doctrine is going to come pretty close to the real thing. Consider what Satan said to Eve when tempting her with the fruit: (Gen 3:4-5)

“And the serpent said unto the woman,
–Ye shall not surely die: (half right. Flesh is alive, spirit is dead, he only told half the story)
–For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, (true)
–and ye shall be as gods, (false)
–knowing good and evil.” (true, but forgot to mention the penalty)

We HAVE TO “Prove all things; hold fast that which is good” (1 Thess 5:21). “The meaning here is, that they were carefully to examine everything proposed for their belief. They were not to receive it on trust; to take it on assertion; to believe it because it was urged with vehemence, zeal, or plausibility”, says Barnes Notes. Moore certainly is full of zeal. She urges with vehemence. She is quite plausible. But I had to prove her and she failed the test. Now my job is to share my proofs with the body.

Now when we have a favorite teacher we get angry when someone says that their teaching contains false things. We might reject that assertion out of hand. We might reject that friend out of hand. As the person on the exhorting end of things, we might hold our exhortation because we do not want to make a friend mad. I was certainly not happy that I had to be the naysayer. Here my friend was, in the thrall of an emotional and what she felt was an uplifting evening, and I threw cold water all over her head. That’s what I mean when I say it is not an easy thing to contend and exhort. But we are called to defend the truth as Jesus revealed it to us, and we must obey the Spirit when He prompts us to do the unpleasant exhortations.

Sailing requires almost constant course corrections. The wind from above will push you off course. The current from below will push you off course. You must pay constant attention if you want to arrive in port safely. You keep a weather eye for clouds. You stay away from pirates. Now, the rocks are easy to spot and you can avoid those. But the underwater reefs are not easy to spot. The chart tells you where they are but if you don’t check the chart, or get off course through inattention, or failure to constantly check the compass, you can crack the bottom of your boat so fast that you won’t know what happened to you.

Catching false doctrines is like sailing. You have to be alert to the smallest of course corrections because before you know it you’re off course. It doesn’t happen right away. It is the accumulation of failures to correct that sends you up on the rocks. We’re told that this will happen, falsity will creep in:

“Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils;” (1 Timothy 4:1)

“Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming.” (Eph 4:14). Notice the language here, ‘cunning’, ‘crafty’, ‘deceitful’ ‘schemes’. In other words- Hard. To. Spot.

“Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them. For they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly; and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple [innocent, unsuspecting].” (Romans 16:17-18)

Proclaiming error is not easy when it’s about someone who is popular, embedded, and sounds so appealing and gospel-y. But we have to take the risk we will offend someone when we exhort in love and gentleness. It is what contending means. The Bible says that the infants are tossed by every wind of doctrine but as we exercise our faith through prayer, corporate worship, Bible study and in the active parts of faith through discerning, contending and refuting, we soon become more mature. “He will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit.” Do not fear! The living water will keep your leaves green.

He is ALL GLORY, He is the treasure upon which we set our eyes. He is so exalted, the very courts of praise rock with the living angels who proclaim HOLY HOLY HOLY is He! His holiness should not be besmirched by Bible teachers who put man in the center and talk about how the relationship is reciprocal. “Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised; and his greatness is unsearchable.’ (Psalms 145:3)

Posted in beth moore, bible

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

Posted on by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

I went to a Beth Moore convention, and below is a series outlining 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

“Repeat after me”

I had written previously in the 7-part series on Beth Moore about her drift toward Eastern Mysticism, most notably in her participation in the Be Still video touting contemplative prayer and eastern mystical practice. In contemplative meditation, one repeats certain mantras repeatedly. In Buddhism and Hinduism, adherents used chanting as a means of practice. They also use recitation of verses as a way of developing an awareness of the qualities of the Buddha or of the false god they were praying to. Beth Moore had us do a lot of repeating. Sometimes it was a mantra spoken to the person next to us, as when she said “God has a destiny for you” and urged us to turn to the women in the next seat and repeat, “God has a destiny for you.” I am uncomfortable doing that, not the least of which is that I feel silly. I also feel that if the women next to me learns that God has a destiny for her, it was because she learned that from the Bible and not from some schmoe at a conference parroting it back to her.

Frequently she would have us repeat one of the eight points she was building the lesson around, and repeat it as many as 8 times. She addressed that it might seem silly or overdoing it to repeat these things, but she said, she’s a teacher and she knows the value in rote memorization. She’s right, but I’d prefer to spend my rote memorization time memorizing actual Bible verses and not Beth Moore mantras. This parroting practice bothered me.

“Fear the Lord Your Husband”

In the Deuteronomy verse she built her lesson from (Deut 10:11-21) the first part mentioned the fear of the LORD: “And now, O Israel, what does the LORD your God ask of you but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul,” I’m an admirer of the fear of the LORD. I told you many times that I am ultra conservative, strict, and dogmatic in my adherence to His ways and precepts. I am a big lover of the fear of the LORD. Here is what Matthew Henry commentary describes as the holy fear:

“We must fear the Lord our God. We must adore his majesty, acknowledge his authority, stand in awe of his power, and dread his wrath. Fear him as a great God, and our Lord, love him as a good God, and our Father and benefactor. We must walk in his ways, that is, the ways which he has appointed us to walk in. The whole course of our conversation must be conformable to his holy will. We must serve him, serve him with all our heart and soul. No single English word conveys every aspect of the word ‘fear’ in the phrase. The meaning includes worshipful submission, reverential awe, and obedient respect to the covenant-keeping God of Israel.”

Here is how Beth Moore treated the subject: “Fear. Oh, the fear. Ladies, I fear my husband sometimes. You know there is a line ya just don’t cross. I know some ladies who won’t cheat on their husband for fear of what he’ll do.” That isn’t a verbatim quote but it is extremely close. Beth Moore has a way of explaining the Bible while not really explaining it, exalting God with her words yet diminishing His character at the same time. She said a bunch of times that she refers to commentaries, but I guess she skipped over what the Matthew Henry Commentary had to say…

The “Reciprocal relationship”.

If you google ‘reciprocal relationship’ you’ll not get many Beth Moore results except from her study of David. But her emphasis on this phrase, and she repeated it many times, was that we want what God has and He wants what we have. It was ill-defined but a permeating leaven throughout the teaching. Now, I looked up the definition of reciprocal relationship, and it is “a mutual agreement to exchange privileges, dependence, or relationship, as in an agreement between two governing bodies to accept the credentials of a physician, dentist, licensed dental professional, or other health professional licensed in either jurisdiction.”

I was horrified at the fear of the Lord teaching because it diminished His august-ness. And here again we have a diminishing of who He is. There is nothing mutual about our relationship with Jesus. We have nothing He wants, except maybe His expectation that we offer Him worship and praise. He has everything we want. She is making the divine relationship of Master-slave into a partnership and that is the oldest satanic lie there is.

“It’s all about me”

source

I was plenty sick of the words Beth Moore uses in her teaching. There was a lot of talk about toxic relationships, depraved, defeated, poison, deprived, sexual abuse. Frankly, I know why. Because every Beth Moore teaching is about us. It is about how we have all this negativity inside us and once we get clear of that, our relationship with Jesus can really begin. THEN He can use us! We have to ‘break free’ of all that stuff first, and then we will be “impactful for the kingdom” as she put it. Yet every single person in the Bible was a depraved flawed sinner that God used.

But we are all sinners. We all have a past, we all do wrong things, and we’re all totally depraved. Once we are born again, all those sins are forgiven AND they are forgotten by Jesus. But that is not good enough for Moore, because she brings up those sins at every opportunity. Jesus may have forgotten our sins, but Beth Moore never will. And that is good, because once you go through the legalistic teachings of how to break free, how to get out of that pit, and say “So Long, Insecurity”, what happens the next time you feel insecure? You have to do another Beth Moore study.

I’m being deliberately impatient in this section. I do know there is a world of hurt out there. I do know that there are women living in domestic violence, abuse, or ‘toxic relationships’ as Moore says, who don’t feel they are effective for the Lord, or who Moore says CAN’T be effective unless they bust those negative strongholds first. I read recently of a missionary family in India witnessing in a Hindu section extremely hostile to Christians. The missionary dad and his two sons were surrounded in their car, and the mob poured gasoline in the vehicle and burned the man and his two sons alive. His wife, who escaped, said she was “hurt by what they did, but not angry because Jesus said to love our enemies.” Then she went to the hospital. Now there’s a toxic relationship for you. I want us to get some perspective. I read of Phil Masters and his wife Phyllis in Papua Indonesia, and Phil was killed and eaten by cannibals. Phyllis elected to remain in the jungle with her children and continue the mission. I don’t know how she managed it without a Beth Moore study to learn how to break free from insecurity.

Christian faith is NOT about obsessing over wounds and past hurts. You can’t destroy faith with a trial. Trials build faith. Jesus will use you, emotional wounds and all. You don’t need a Beth Moore study to be impactful for the kingdom. You need faith and obedience. At that, even the disobedient prophet Jonah was used for the kingdom…

It’s all about me…even the title of her ministry belies the believer-centeredness of it all: “Because you are living proof of God’s love.” I rather think that the resurrected Jesus is living proof of His love.

Miles McKee at Wednesday Word wrote a marvelous two-part essay on the current state of self-centered Christianity.

McKee said,
“Now here’s something we must grasp: since the gospel is about Jesus, the gospel is, therefore, not focused on the believer. In the genuine gospel, the believer is not on center stage, rather, in the authentic gospel, the limelight falls on Christ alone. There are pastors who dispute this, but let me point out that ever since the fall of man, when sin entered into the human race, the focus of man’s attention has been on himself. “…

“And that, it seems, is exactly how so many churches want it to remain to this day. Life is all about us, the believer! We, not the Lord Jesus, are our chief concern. The preachers preach about us and how our lives can be improved: we sing about us and how much better off we are and how great it is to be Christians. It’s all about us!” … “Eastern religions teach their devotees to look to the inner being and to focus on their experience and condition. There once was a time when there was a great distinction between Christianity and Eastern Mysticism. No longer so!”

“One of the great tragedies in our Churches today is that we take self- centered sinners and teach them how to be self-centered believers. Christ has been dethroned in what should be His own Church and the believer now reigns supreme. We are witnessing the day and age of the decapitated church. Christ the head of the Church (Colossians 1:18, Ephesians 1:22-23) has been all but expelled. The head has been chopped off. In all things, according to the Bible, Christ Jesus is to have the pre-eminence, but now that honor goes to the believer.”

We should know, we’re living proof! My conclusion to the Beth Moore ministry is that it is led by a troubled woman having extended therapy sessions about herself. I learned nothing at the ‘Hold Fast’ teaching from Deuteronomy, except that she took the most God-centered, exalted words in the whole chapter and made them about us.

I will hold fast, though, I am “holding fast the faithful word which is in accordance with the teaching, so that he will be able both to exhort in sound doctrine and to refute those who contradict.” (Titus 1:9) Beth Moore does not teach sound doctrine and I refute her.

I’ll “examine everything carefully; hold fast to that which is good…” (1 Thess 5:21) And after examination, I will not hold fast to Beth Moore for she is is not good. Rather than leading women to victory in Jesus, she is leading women into emotional bondage.

As Miles McKee wrote, “To grow in our Christian life we must practice looking unto Jesus, the one who lived and died for us and is now exalted in glory! There is no other way to run this race (Hebrews 12:1-2)! But how do we do this? How do we look unto Jesus? The first thing that looking to Jesus means is that we must stop continually looking at ourselves and our condition.” But Beth Moore only talks about ourselves and our condition. That’s why, if you want to grow, you have to let her go.

Next a final word, on the difficulties of refuting and exhorting.

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

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

Posted on by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

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

I will say right off the bat that I am ultra-conservative in my approach to worship and music. I don’t favor large revivalist type events, and I don’t like loud music either in worship or personally in life. I may be a wet blanket, or even boring when it comes to those things, but I like dignity in a Bible teaching and I don’t apologize for that opinion.

In part 1 of my reaction to the Beth Moore Living Proof tour held in Charlotte this weekend, I noted the scene where women from 34 states and Canada streamed in to the Time Warner arena in advance of a 6 hour session of Bible teaching, broken up over two days. In this essay I’ll advance the scene to the start of the conference, the music from the Travis Cottrell band. From Cottrell’s bio: “For the last fourteen years Travis has served as worship leader at Beth Moore’s Living Proof Live conferences. He and his team have been grateful to minister with Mrs. Moore in all 50 states and in several other countries as well.”

It should also be noted that along with the live Beth Moore tour sessions there is an accompanied simulcast where women in churches around the country can also pay to participate via video. Sometimes there are over 500 annexed simulcast locations participating along with the women at the main location. So when I say that 12,000 women packed the arena to hear Beth Moore speak and praise band Travis Cottrell sing, there are also thousands more participating simultaneously all around the US, so that number swells considerably.

As the lights went down other lights flared up. It was a light show that accompanied the first drum beat. And that percussion was LOUD. I’d estimate they were about 115-120 decibels. Pain begins at 125 decibels. Between the green and red lights sweeping the arena, and the beats that made the floors shake, I was already overwhelmed. And I was only one minute into it. All the women were standing and the captions to the songs were crawling across the jumbo-trons, several of which were stationed adjacent to the stage.

A still of a promotional clip of Living Proof praise singing, Rapid City S. Dakota Nov. 2010.
A still of a promotional clip of Living Proof praise singing,Rapid City S. Dakota Nov. 2010.

I tried to forgive the assault on the senses. I really did. I tried to imagine that they were emulating the verse of the blessed glimpse of heaven were given in Isaiah 6:1-4

“In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him were seraphs, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. And they were calling to one another:
“Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty;
the whole earth is full of his glory.”
At the sound of their voices
the doorposts and thresholds shook
and the temple was filled with smoke.”

The Time Warner Arena doorposts and thresholds shook, and they shook hard. I decided right away that I’d spend Saturday’s  musical worship time outside the arena in the lobby. The songs were a mixture of contemporary praise and hymns, but the hymns were blended into the contemporary. So as we were singing a modern song it would blend into an old-fashioned one. I don’t even remember, now which songs were sung, because I was too overcome by the noise and the lights. The session lasted about 20 minutes and it had a mood all its own. The cadence would begin slow and soft, and rise and rise to a climactic moment when those drum beats would shake the house, and then slowly descend back into soft. This method was repeated several times. Rather than be moved by the music, I had a bad emotional and spiritual reaction. I fell to my knees. Crying, I prayed for forgiveness on us all. I really did.

I’m very affected by music. We all are. Nothing jazzes me up like a good ole fashioned singin’. I can sit in a pew and sing the good old hymns all night long and leave feeling terrific. I am not down on singing. It is a fact that music sets your mood and because we can be so moved by it, music can also be used manipulate us. It can bring to mind Godly worship and good thoughts, or it can be so manipulative that it can be its own thing outside of worship, an emotion all in itself, used to manipulate feelings rather than thoughts. It is my opinion that the musical worship at the Beth Moore convention is used for the latter purpose.

I wondered to myself if 12,000 women from 34 states and Canada would still drive 12 hours and spend hundreds of dollars to come to a place where there would be one guy singing The Old Rugged Cross on acoustic guitar, and one woman standing behind a podium speaking only Bible truths. No light show. No concert. No personal testimony of Beth Moore’s life, no jokes about bad hair days, no sweet stories about the husband or the dog, but only hymns and Bible.

These things grow, they get out of hand. I heard one woman near me muse that in ‘the old days’ Travis Cottrell had only one or two accompanists but now he has a whole band and several singers. That’s how it goes. These things only ever get bigger. And somewhere along the way, plain Bible and plain music gets lost in an overwhelming flood of extras, extras that are then used to manipulate and distract.

In the Religious Affections Ministries blog, Scott Aniol wrote, “Emotion, Worship, Revivalism, And Pentecostalism.“

He opened his essay with this: From W. Robert Godfrey, “Worship and the Emotions,” in Give Praise to God, Philip Graham Ryken, et.al. (Phillipsburg: P & R Pub, 2003), 368-9: “When emotions are misused, there is a constant danger of manipulation. It is easy for effective leaders to move people, especially trusting and expectant people, to feel what they want them to feel. Easily the church becomes a theater where feeling and catharsis take the place of true faith.”

Beth Moore is all about catharsis. In order to engender the desired condition; music, lights, sounds, and emotions speed that catharsis. Scott Aniol continued his essay by saying, “Grant Wacker, a sympathetic historian of Pentecostalism, comments on this phenomenon in early Pentecostalism: “And then there was congregational singing, one of the most notable and remarked on features of Pentecostal worship. . . . Music offered leaders a ready means for managing the intensity of the service. They could ratchet up the tempo until worshipers broke into ecstatic praise, or tone it down when things seemed to be getting out of hand. Either way, music gave leaders a tool for regularizing the expression of emotion.”

“What Wacker sees as true of early Pentecostalism is even truer with the Contemporary Christian Music phenomenon. Praise songs, which originated in charismatic circles and spread widely in other Protestant churches, seem often to express rather spontaneous waves of emotion. But their use is carefully planned with an eye to the emotional effect on the worshiper. In such a session of singing one can predict exactly when the hands will be raised and when other emotional responses will be exhibited.”

And unknowingly, he just described a Beth Moore praise concert. It is my opinion that the hollower the Bible teaching is, the louder the music. The less the focus is on God, the more the service needs something to fill it, usually with loud music but sometimes with holy roller behaviors such as ‘holy laughter’, tongues, and other emotional-behavioral expressions. But I think the more the world reels toward ever higher assaults on the senses, the less we need it in worship. The more depraved the world gets, the more we should strive for purity in worship. Of course your definition of purity in worship may be different from mine. The point is, that the louder the world gets, the quieter we should get. The more the world puts on a show, the less we should indulge in clamor. The Bible is getting lost in the world, so let’s put it center stage.

Emotions are part of worship, I know, a valid part. We’re filled with love and joy in contemplating the inexpressible Majesty of our God. It is proper to feel shame and repentance in a worship service when we need His forgiveness. Emotions are good as part of worship but they are not the key to worship. If the emotions displace something else, or cloud the reason of your presence there, then the problems begin.

But my problems were just beginning, because then Beth Moore took the stage.

Posted in beth moore, bible, discernment, teaching

Troubled by Beth Moore’s teaching, Part 2

Posted on by elizabethprata
By Elizabeth Prata In part one of “Troubled by Beth Moore’s Teaching,” I outlined some of my biases, and listed one of my first concerns with her approach to Bible teaching. I’ll go on to the next concern now, a concern about her method of delivery. I’ll get into her theology in part three. In this essay I’ll explore her tendency for seeking affirmation tag-end questioning, the lack of dignity in delivery of the teaching, and her rapid-fire talk. In the next piece I’ll look at her attempts to extract biblical truth from personal experience (eisegesis) and finally, her theology. In one pet peeve that drives me crazy about females in general, as part of their gender rhetoric they ask for affirmation at the end of their sentences. The less secure a woman is, the more she will use questioning affirmations to relate to the audience, whether it is one (husband) or thousands (Beth Moore audience.) An example of Beth’s seeking affirmation at the end of sentences: “Are you with me?” “Do you understand?” She does this a lot. These are called tag-end questions and the woman’s tendency to use them as a method of establishing rapport and relationship building was observed by gender sociologist and linguist Deborah Tannen and Robin Lakoff in the mid to late 70s. People say their research has debunked the female tendency to use hedge language and tag-end questions, but anyone who has listened to a mother on the playground, restaurant, or checkout line knows this kind of speech is alive and well: You hear it in moms who don’t declare things, as in “put your toys away now,” but instead they ask the child’s permission: “Put your toys away now, OK?” It is an unfortunate tendency in women, but it is absolutely credibility-diminishing for women Bible teachers. The Bible is authoritative. Teachers delivering a teaching message from it should be authoritative! Just make declarations about its truths! You don’t have to check for understanding every five minutes. The Holy Spirit does that. He delivers its teaching. (John 14:26). The Spirit delivers the wisdom (Eph 1:17). On to my next concern with her method of teaching. I haven’t gotten to the content yet! I’m going in order of least offensive to greatest offenses. Next: She isn’t dignified. Yes, that’s what I said. Beth Moore is not dignified on her stage. She moves around a lot, quickly delivering scriptures and her interpretations in rapid-fire fashion. She will use tricks like having a wastebasket prop to “throw away” negative behaviors, she presses participants to wear bracelets that supposedly mean certain things (I read this from three blogs) and she will contort, kneel, dance, and generally cut up, sometimes while holding the Bible. Laughter is frequent.
Call me staid (Decorous? Sedate?) but I don’t think Paul hung “I AM” posters around the necks of hapless volunteers in the synagogues when he was reasoning with them…
A Bible lesson is not a comedy routine. I am all for laughter. Our pastor says some funny things sometimes and the congregation will of course laugh. I am among those who laugh loud and I’m sure even the choir can hear me from where I sit. But teaching the Bible with respect requires some gravitas. It requires some dignity. It isn’t a prop or a party trick. I shun antics as the main behavior of the teaching session. Funny sometimes, yes. Zany Bible teachers? No. Lest you think that I am too picky, let’s turn to the scriptures and see what they say about mature leaders of the church handling the word of God.  Be sober, be alert, be wise– Instructions for Ministers: “A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behaviour, given to hospitality, apt to teach; Not given to wine, no striker, not greedy of filthy lucre; but patient, not a brawler, not covetous;” (1 Timothy 3:2-3) Instructions for wives of ministers: “Even so must their wives be grave, not slanderers, sober, faithful in all things.” (1 Timothy 3:11) Instructions for aged men: “For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world.” (Titus 2:11-12) Instructions for aged women: “Older women likewise are to be reverent in their behavior, not malicious gossips, nor enslaved to much wine, teaching what is good, so that they may train the younger women to love their husbands, to love their children, to be self-controlled, pure, workers at home, kind, being subject to their own husbands, so that the word of God will not be dishonored.” (Titus 2:3-5) Do you get the idea that the church leaders, teachers, and elders should be dignified? I hope so. The scriptures are clear. Anyone who has seen a Beth Moore clip knows that self-control and circumspectness is less than optimal. Her bio says she ‘teaches with energy and passion.’ She even calls herself obnoxious. I call it undignified. Awww, cow patties, you might say. That is part of who she is! She’s from Texas! Well, let’s look at women leaders from Texas and see if they are fast-talking, jumping bean, let-it-all-hang-out leaders:  Laura Bush? Lady Bird Johnson? Kay Bailey Hutchinson? Hillary Clinton? (Beth Moore was raised in Arkansas). Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor? Can’t picture them being fast-talking, jumping bean, ‘energetic and passionate’ in front of a crowd in order to get an important point across? There is a reason. It’s distracting to the point you’re making. The problem with energetic and passionate delivery is that is puts the speaker at center stage when it should be the Word. I mentioned Beth Moore’s rapid-fire delivery. This next issue is a bit more problematic. She talks fast. And I mean F-A-S-T. She spits out verses, explains its interpretation like lightning, and then launches into a personal story that supposedly confirms the verse and interpretation. The Word deserves better. It takes a moment to find the address of the verse, it takes a while to absorb the truth being presented. Spitting it out fast and furious, flinging it all around the stage like fast food is not respectful to the Word and its meanings. It also makes it harder to detect error. What I want is gravitas. Beth Moore talks of Bible truths so fast and at such a high pitch, that as Chris Rosebrough of Pirate Christian Radio said, ‘she makes my ears bleed.’ Now a staunch supporter could dismiss the verses on being sober, grave, and self-controlled and put the rest down to my individual preferences. I don’t think so, but in any case, in part three I’ll take a look at some of the more troubling things about Beth Moore’s teaching: its content, her penchant for eisegesis versus exegesis, (those terms are defined here) and aberrant interpretations. Entries in the series- Troubled by Beth Moore’s teaching: Part 1, Introduction and Casualness Beth Moore plays up the southern belle, delicate flower, Texas big hair, ultra-feminine mystique…something that I as a Yankee find mystifying. It’s a cultural thing, I know. But just because it is a women’s ministry doesn’t mean all women will understand the southern belle, delicate flower, Texas big hair persona or even understand what she’s talking about half the time. However, if the Bible is center stage, it will transcend cultural differences, wouldn’t it? Let’s see. Troubled by Beth Moore Teaching, Part 2: Un-dignified teaching In which I look at one of the things that happens when women teach (tag-end questions and affirmation seeking), the undignified delivery of her lessons, and the problems with a rapid-fire teaching. Troubled by Beth Moore’s Teaching, Part 3: Contemplative Prayer In which I explain what Contemplative Prayer is, why it is bad, and Beth Moore’s participation in it. Troubled by Beth Moore Teaching, Part 4: Legalism In which I define legalism, and show three examples of Moore’s tendency toward it. Troubled by Beth Moore’s Teaching, Part 5: Personal Revelation Beth Moore claims direct revelation from God. Is this biblical? Troubled by Beth Moore’s Teaching, Part 6: Eisegesis, Pop Psychology, & Bad Bible Interpretations Does she interpret the Bible that badly? Troubled By Beth Moore’s Teaching, Part 7: Conclusion It is not about Beth Moore-it is about our own proper discernment. Recommendations for discernment studies and also good women teachers
Posted in bible, bible jesus, end of days, end time, prophecy, rapture, tribulation

How long, O Lord?

Posted on by elizabethprata
I had someone ask me recently about the duration of all this. My friend intimated that I’ve been talking about this stuff for almost three years now, when’s it gonna GET here? Sooo, could I be wrong in translating the news of the world in terms of an imminent prophetic event? Am I wrong? Am I promoting an imminence that is false? Let’s take a look at that notion, biblically.

Generally, time has no meaning. Our life is “but a vapor that appears for a little while then vanishes away.” (James 4:14).  I ask, what’s 3 years in the face of eternity future? In the face of 6000 years past? In front of a God to whom a day is a thousand years and a thousand years is as a day? (2 Peter 3:8). He has the full measure of the timing He wants. He waits until the grapes of wrath are fully ripe, even a little overripe, (Rev 15:16). He waits until the entire measure of the iniquity is filled (Gen 15:16). He waits until the full number of Gentiles are come in. (Romans 11:25).

Now, more specifically, in 1948 Israel was born, and that was a huge end times sign. It was a direct Hand of God moment. And by most interpretations the generation who sees that will not pass away before seeing all these things come to pass.(Mt 24:34). No one who is alert and studious can fail to notice the signs. Over these last 3 years the US has fallen from prominence, half the work force is on food stamps, crime is up nationally 41%, homelessness and bankruptcies are a tidal wave upon the banks, which are failing at an exponential number since 2007. Even John MacArthur said this week that America’s judgment must truly be imminent.

Now even more specifically, I referenced the scripture about “peace and security” which is from 1 Thessalonians 5:3. Paul is talking about the period of judgment called The Day of the Lord, and the Second Coming. Here is the verse: “For when they say, “Peace and safety!” then sudden destruction comes upon them, as labor pains upon a pregnant woman. And they shall not escape.” Now here is the rest of the verse:

“But you are not in darkness, brothers, for that day to surprise you like a thief. For you are all children of light, children of the day. We are not of the night or of the darkness. So then let us not sleep, as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober.” Though Paul is talking about the judgment period of the Tribulation, we can back-extrapolate the principle he is explaining, to us at the threshold of that time. Understanding the signs, understanding our position as the generation placed here at Divine will to accomplish His purposes in these last days, understanding that time means nothing, how does the bible say we are supposed to live? As a child of the light, alert and sober! Here is what that means:

Barnes Notes: “But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief – The allusion here is to the manner in which a thief or robber accomplishes his purpose. He comes in the night, when people are asleep. So, says the apostle, the Lord will come to the wicked. They are like those who are asleep when the thief comes upon them. But it is not so with Christians. They are, in relation to the coming of the day of the Lord, as people are who are awake when the robber comes. They could see his approach, and could prepare for it, so that it would not take them by surprise.”

We will not be surprised. Why? We are not asleep! We see His approach. We prepare for it! We who are soulfully injured by blasphemy, evil, iniquity, sin…should and do pray for His appearing. 2 Timothy 4:8 says, “Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.” Not only is it right to expect Him to appear any day, any moment, and to live for Him completely as if this moment could be our last to serve him on earth forever, but we receive a crown as a reward for eager anticipation!

For those who may be flagging…may be tiring from expectancy and anticipation: Habakkuk, that wise old prophet, recorded what God had to say about that: 

For the vision is yet for the appointed time; 
It hastens toward the goal and it will not fail. 
Though it tarries, wait for it; 
For it will certainly come, it will not delay. (Hab 2:3)

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Posted in bible, Christian compassion requihomosexuality, gay agenda, gay marriage

All gay all the time: God gave us over

Posted on by elizabethprata
With the approval of the NY State Legislature and governor in legalizing homosexual marriage last week, the floodgates are already opening. The voices decrying the moral equality of anything gay are increasingly voices in the wilderness. Yet the numbers are truly, TRULY embarrassing. Let me show you:

In the Christian Posts’ “All Gay All the Time” essay, they stated “A Martian who visited modern America today might well think that half the population was homosexual-and the other half wished it were” and then backed it up with numbers. They wrote the statistic that only about 2% of the US population identifies itself as homosexual. And that 2% figure is already rounded up from 1.8%.

The population of the US is 311 million. 2% of 311 million is 6.2 million people. Taking aside objections that the homosexual population isn’t distributed evenly, for the sake of argument, 6.2 million divided by 50 states is 124,670 gays per state. Enacting a state-wide agenda because of the wants of 124,000 is disproportionate in the extreme! 

Let’s look at Christians in America, every one of which should recognize that NOT all voluntary sexual relations are equal… and who should claim homosexuality as a sin … and homosexual marriage as against God’s model for marriage as shown to us in Genesis 2. Seventy-five% of Americans say they are Christian, which I don’t believe. We know that there is a huge apostate church that accepts homosexuality. We further know from the proportions of the saved vs unsaved in the bible that many are not truly saved (parable of the Sower in Mt 13). Further, there will be many who will claim to be one of the Lord’s children but aren’t. (Matthew 7:22). So let’s knock that 75% Christian figure down to 35%.

Thirty-five percent of Christians in the general population of America is one hundred eight million. 108 million who stand for opposite gender relations as opposed to 6 million who don’t. 2% versus 35%. If I was to use the generally accepted standard of 75% of the population being Christian the numbers get so embarrassing I don’t even dare to go further.

This tells us several things. First, Christians need to do a better job of maintaining biblical standards in their minds and hearts and mouths pertaining to the gay agenda. I’m not insisting we go forth in social Gospel activities. It is a spiritual problem, not a social one. Here is what CARM says:

“As a Christian, you should pray for the salvation of the homosexual the same as you would for any other person in sin. The homosexual is still made in the image of God — even though he is in grave sin.  Therefore, you should show him the same dignity as anyone else with whom you come in contact. However, this does not mean that you are to approve of their sin. Don’t compromise your witness for a socially-acceptable opinion that is void of godliness.” 

The same essay says: “Homosexuality is clearly condemned by the Bible. It goes against the created order of God. He created Adam and then made a woman. This is what God has ordained and it is what is right. Unlike other sins, homosexuality has a severe judgment administered by God Himself. This judgment is simple: They are given over to their passions. That means that their hearts are allowed to be hardened by their sins (Romans 1:18-32). As a result, they can no longer see the error of what they are doing. Without an awareness of their sinfulness, there will be no repentance and trusting in Jesus. Without Jesus, they will have no forgiveness. Without forgiveness, there is no salvation.”

In listening to John MacArthur the other day, in his sermon about Jeremiah  “Prophetic message for an ungodly nation” (GREAT SERMON!) he mentioned a lot of people wonder if America is under judgment. There is the famous quote from Billy Graham, ‘If God doesn’t judge America he needs to give an apology to Sodom and Gomorrah.’ We expect judgment. Yet, we don’t see brimstone falling, nor earthquakes ravaging, nor thunder booming. Where is the judgment? MacArthur said that the Romans verse (quoted & linked above) is a judgment. God gives them over to their perverse lusts. So, how can a disproportionate population of 1.8% push an ungodly agenda onto a population of 311 million, 75% of whom claim to be Christian?? God’s judgment. He gave us over.

–A good opinion piece by Pat Buchanan The death of moral community
–Christian Post: All Gay All The Time

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Posted in bible, diane sawyer, end of days. prophecy, end time, joplin, men fainting in terror

Cowering under His power: prophesied astonishment and terror appearing on the scene

Posted on by elizabethprata

I look at language in the bible and look deeply into the meanings and I’m struck with how plainly it tells us what the Tribulation is going to be like. And then I look around at people who report current news and I see the same kind of stunned silence. It’s starting.

In Matthew 12:33 it says, “And when the multitude heard this they were astonished at his doctrine.” Look up the word astonished in the New Testament as it relates to what Jesus said and what He did, and you will see how much they were astonished. It doesn’t mean just that the people were dazzled or amazed, briefly tickled and then went their way. The Greek word means “strike out of one’s senses” , i.e. with the outcome of being utterly amazed (dumbfounded) or left “at a loss” from witnessing the incredible (causing the viewer to gape in astonishment).” Strong’s Numbers. In other words, just listening to Jesus preach or witnessing Him do miracles caused them to go outside their senses and be struck dumb, unable to cognitively cope with what they were hearing or seeing.

This is a link to a page showing how many times people were “astonished” (ekplesso) at Jesus and His preaching, and in Matthew 19:25, they were not just astonished, but greatly and exceedingly astonished. If you’re already out of your senses after hearing Jesus how much more can you get out of our senses? How much more at a loss can you be? It is superlative atop superlative.

We know from the reaction of every prophet or Apostle taken to heaven to view the proceedings, that their reaction was to fall on their face. Isaiah, John, Ezekiel, Paul, and the others fell dead in a faint. Isaiah shouted “O I am undone!” (Isaiah 6:5). The word undone means utterly destroyed, completely unraveled. Not many people have had the privilege of seeing heaven in a vision while in unglorified body, but we can see the reaction of those and of the people who witnessed Jesus even as a man, that the reaction is to cower under that power. All the people seeing Jesus immediately recognized His great power and authority. They had different reactions to it, with the Pharisees choosing not to accept it, and many believers turning away. But they were all “astonished,” gaping, after witnessing the incredible.

We read in the bible that in the Tribulation men will cower upon seeing incredible power. They will be astonished, equally unable to cope with the incredible, their puny brains unable to take it all in. God’s might is astonishing;

“And great earthquakes shall be in divers places and famines and pestilences and fearful sights and great signs shall there be from heaven.” (Luke 21:11). That ‘fearful sight’, in Greek is phóbētron – a fearful sight, emphasizing its terrifying impact on people trying to withdraw or flee from it. It is used only in Lk 21:11. So from the Age of Grace we move to the Tribulation. We go from the astonishing, amazing enough to knock you back on your senses, to the terrifying, so much so that they try to flee.

In Luke 21:26 we read, “Men’s hearts failing them for fear and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth for the powers of heaven shall be shaken…” (Luke 21:26). That word fear is a panic flight, terror. The word is most often used to indicate negatively withdrawing from the Lord (His will). Men will see what is happening and they will have massive heart attacks on the spot. Their bodies are unable to absorb the shock of seeing such power.

That fear, astonishment, and panic is beginning. You see it in Journalists. Reporters are at the forefront. The are at the front lines of witnessing terrors coming upon the earth, which will worsen in the Tribulation. They have to absorb and internalize what has happened, make sense of it, and then report comprehensibly to you and me. At some point the ability to absorb the scope of what is happening will outstrip cognition, as it did those disciples and prophets and followers who witnessed Jesus’ power. Here are two examples:

Weather Channel’s Mike Bettes was the first to arrive on scene in tornado devastated Joplin, MO. Surveying the scene around him, he was overcome with emotion. Though reporters are supposed to appear unengaged and unaffected, reporting the news unemotionally, I was touched by his obvious pain in witnessing the scene. It is the only humane response to what he was seeing. And just what was he witnessing? The power of God. I dare to say that the word ekplesso can be applied here. One is “struck out of one’s senses”, i.e. with the outcome of being utterly dumbfounded or left “at a loss” from witnessing the incredible.”

Also reporting a little while later from Joplin was Diane Sawyer. She is under a tent and rain is pounding on the canvas. Thunder booms above them, and briefly she and the crew debate whether it is even safe to be there. There is no power, the printer had stopped working, and ongoing the technical difficulties of reaching the NY office from a destruction zone are apparent. At one point Sawyer- seeing that she’s going live in moments, and despairing of ever getting paper copy- begs for a Blackberry at least. With time ticking away, Sawyer says repeatedly, “I have nothing.” The crew to me seems unorganized, dumbstruck, and fearful. Others have said that Sawyer looks “anxious, tentative, and confounded” but I think Sawyer looks composed. She refers to the area as a moonscape. Certainly the area outside the tent is a pile of unrecognizable rubble. Truly, how does one report on a massively emotional story in a few moments of air time? How do stories like this affect a person emotionally? One does absorb the tragedy no matter how one tries to filter it. A journalist IS the filter. The Joplin tornado news story is one that is on the edge of ability for humans to report it emotionally, technologically, humanely.

If you read Matthew 24 or Revelation, you know that the severity of natural disasters will ramp up considerably until absolutely nothing is left. Even the mountains crumble. We rely on people to report these disasters and we rely on technology to carry the pixels and the voices back to us. The impossibilities of continuing to be able to do that on an organized basis are rapidly coming to a close.
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Posted in bible, fragrance, God, incense

Do I smell good?

Posted on by elizabethprata
image source

The bible talks about fragrance, smells, ripening, and odors. “Then another angel, having a golden censer, came and stood at the altar. He was given much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all the saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne.” (Revelation 8:3)

God smells us, like in this verse:

“But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of him. For we are to God the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. To the one we are the smell of death; to the other, the fragrance of life. And who is equal to such a task? ” (2 Cor 2:14-16)

I think that’s funny because God doesn’t have a nose, but He can smell. He wanted us to be able to smell, so He formed us with a nose so we could.

I’m intrigued by smells. See, I have no functioning olfactory sense. I cannot smell the world or anything in it. I can’t smell my dinner burning, (which happens a lot) nor the grass when it’s mowed nor a bakery nor my clothes to see if they are dirty nor the food in the fridge to see if it is safe to eat. I can’t smell and I never could. But God can. He can smell me. The unsaved can smell us Christians.

I’m talking metaphorically, of course. But, when you awaken each day and you pray, do you think God will be pleased with your prayers? Are they sweet smelling to Him? Or are they so pale they have no fragrance at all?  Do they have a stench as in Isaiah 3:24 and Amos 4:10?

I’m looking forward to heaven, when I will be able to smell. Won’t that be wonderful, when all the paralyzed will walk, all the deaf will hear, all the blind will see. All the autistic children will speak, all the sick will be healed. There are no handicapped parking spots in heaven! But back to the fragrance.

One of the good, old fashioned preachers in 1904 said, “Every saintly life on earth, is a sweet fragrance unto God; and every sinful life, is a stench in his nostrils. As the rose scents the evening air — so a pure life scatters a sweet Christian influence and a knowledge of God throughout the world. The literal translation of 2 Corinthians 2:14 reads thus: “But thanks be to God, who leads me on from place to place in the train of his triumph, to celebrate his victory over the enemies of Christ, and by me sends forth the knowledge of him, a stream of fragrant incense, throughout the world.” A saintly life diffuses a sweet, heavenly fragrance throughout the world, and brings a knowledge of God and the nature of his salvation to the minds of men. Let me exhort you, therefore, to a pure life — a life full of devotion and reverence to God. You can make your life, by God’s grace, a constant, flowing stream of fragrant incense, whose sweetness will linger long on the air after you have passed to higher realms. So may it be.”
[source Charles Ebert Orr]

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Posted in bible, bible jesus, end time, nehemiah, prophecy

The only proper response to the Word

Posted on by elizabethprata

I read Nehemiah 8 this morning. It is a short book in the Old Testament, and it is good. Nehemiah was the fellow who supervised the rebuilding of Jerusalem and alongside Prophet Ezra help to purify the Jewish community that had re-gathered there. Nehemiah was governor and Ezra was the priest and the scribe.

The day came when Ezra called all the adults, and all children who could understand, to come and listen to the reading of the Law. They stood and listened. The Levites were there to help them understand what they were hearing. Soon there were tears, weeping, and crushed hearts. They fell on their faces. “For all the people wept, when they heard the words of the Law.” The Jews realized how far they were from God. But Ezra said not to weep, for it was a day of rejoicing. The Festival of Booths was born, and the people celebrated, giving gifts to those who had nothing, and went their way eating and drinking. It is a short chapter. I recommend reading it.

The response of the people was the only proper response but it is one from which we can gather strength and praise our Savior all the more. First, the people listened to the word. Any walk with the Lord should begin with listening, either by reading yourself and listening with your mind and heart, or listening to a pastor. The people were instructed, and that is a good start.

Then they wept. There are a lot of reasons people weep when they read or hear the Word. It is precise,  beautiful, true, and convicting. It is a gift delivered once for all to the saints, and it is good for reproof, exhortation, and education. The Word also reminds us how far we are from Him, Him as savior and we as sinners forgiven by His blood and His grace. But the Word also reminds us of how close we can be to Him!

Then the people were glad. He restores us! He hears prayer, he regenerates us in His likeness, and we are glad, going forth in joy to know that we CAN know our Savior personally. They celebrated, and they gave gifts. We should do that as well, always being on the lookout for those who are in need to fill that need. Giving the gift of the Word, or our time, or our love or all three!

Finally, the people went away rejoicing but their response to hearing the Word did not stop there. They DID something. In this case it was to begin the Festival of Booths (Sukkot). The Israelites evidenced an emotional response but the instructors encouraged them to apply the words to a spiritual response, and they did so.

What is your response to hearing the word? Do you remain unaffected? Do you fall on your face? Do you weep? Do you rejoice….but remain inactive? Or does hearing the word motivate you to a response in the world that in turn affects others?

Our joy should be all the greater because not only do we have the word, we have the promise of the Word.

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.” (John 1:1-5)

May He shine brightly in your heart today. If it has been a few days,…weeks…months since you have really listened to the Word, do it today. In Him is life!