Category: discernment

Posted in discernment, Uncategorized

How to Do Online Discernment Ministry, part 2

Posted on by elizabethprata

Yesterday I opened part 1 with a short look at the biblical cause for discernment, and distinguished between the every day Christian (who must discern) and the Christian who has been specifically given the Gift of Discernment (who must discern).

Discernment is important.

I also mentioned the incredible technologies the Lord has allowed to be invented and how we can share the Good News of Jesus Christ by using these various platforms in ways never before seen.

However, I cautioned that since the internet is egalitarian and unregulated (yay!) that any ole person, from vaunted theologian to cranks and nutcases, all issue theological material that range from Gospel gold to cow patties. It’s up to the Christian to learn how to assess credibility of who they follow and use as a resource.

To that end, ask yourself,

–Is the writer/blogger transparent?
–Do they have any credentials? Did you follow up on researching those credentials? (someone did just that on Ravi Zacharias and it turned out his credentials were not exactly what he said they were.)
–If you follow the writer/blogger for any length of time, is he/she growing in maturity toward Christ, or drifting away from Christ?
–And, of course, does their output solidly handle the word of God?

Today I’d like to offer you some tips on assessing whether an online discernment ministry is operating appropriately within an edifying sphere of the gift, or is just a critical crank out to get someone or has an ax to grind.

The ultimate aim of discernment is to edify the saints, either by encouragement, or by warnings so they do not stumble or fall.

Tim Challies wrote a book on discernment, and he defined the skill this way

Discernment is the skill of understanding and applying God’s Word with the purpose of separating truth from error and right from wrong.

No matter if you are in your pew listening to a sermon, choosing a book at the Christian bookstore, or reading some essays online, you need discernment to determine if what you are absorbing aligns with God’s word or is a lie designed to incrementally steer you away from the narrow path.

Primary Sources

1. Does the discernment ministry use primary sources? The internet allows for pasting and re-pasting and re-pasting endlessly. But if you track down the original quote often you find that it isn’t even attributed correctly to the person you’re reading about, or has been ripped out of context and made to say what it was never intended to say.

My stance is that I track down the primary source as often as I can. When I wrote about Melissa Moore’s divorce (Beth Moore’s daughter) I went online to the Texas court sites and read the notarized court papers. Same with RC Sproul’s son when RC Sproul Jr was arrested for felonious DUI, I read the court papers. Same with Chip & Joanna Gaines of Waco TX and their businesses, those are available on the Secretary of State business listing site. Same with many other charitable ministries, their tax returns are available for free online and open to public inspection.

Google has a function where you can read archived newspapers. I strive to read the newspaper of record, not just a penny journal limping along in a corner of the internet somewhere. If the quote or issue arose from a video, I watch the video- all of it. Primary sources are best. I go to lengths to obtain them. I do not rely on hearsay or narrowly selected quotes. This is to honor the person I am writing about. Slander is a sin. I also want to satisfy my own conscience that I’ve done diligence. It is also because I do not want any of my material to cause another to stumble.

So ask, did the discernment ministry go the extra lengths to ensure the information is as close to primary as possible, and therefore of the highest credibility?

Context

2. Context is king. You’ve heard that in Bible study, it also is important in journalism. Discernment research is actually investigative journalism, and the same ethics apply. Has the online discernment ministry writer used ethical standards and looked at the situation/quote/issue in context? Has he or she been fair?

Anyone can take anything out of context and make something of it. Someone sent me a couple of photos that had no provenance to them (origin) and tried to make a claim that something occult was going on at a credible ministry. It turned out to be college kids painted up for a celebration after winning a championship trophy. The link that was sent along with the pictures was to a website whose author sneered that of this Christian college, they sure didn’t see many of the youths carrying around Bibles. But, it turned out that they were, in many other photos on their Facebook page. Context!!

Time/Age

3. Another important factor to look at is, is the online discernment ministry cherry picking non-representative statements? Someone sent me one statement an elder pastor made once at the onset of his ministry, which was 47 years ago. For the ensuing 47 years, the pastor preached a fuller and more nuanced version of the statement. The person was attempting to claim that ergo, the pastor was false due to this statement made long ago. This isn’t judicious, charitable, or even fair. So look at whether the online discernment ministry is taking statements that never did or no longer represent the teacher’s stance. How old is the material the online discernment ministry is using to “prove” their case? How narrow is it? How representative is it?

When I was editor of a weekly newspaper, sometimes issues would heat up the town. People would send letters to the editor, lots of them. Of course I did not have room to print them all. I chose representative letters that seemed to capture the stream of thought and feeling overall. What would be wrong would be to choose the one letter that opined Yea on the situation, if the letters were running 9-1 Nay. It’s the same with online discernment ministry. The writer should chose statements that are representative of the overall doctrinal stances.

Secondly, time. Has the ministry under investigation or the teacher being scrutinized developed over time? It was not fair for the person contacting me to choose one statement from a young pastor and pretend that encapsulates all of his attitudes on the subject of, for example, Calvinism to date, for the last 50 years. We learn, we grow, we mature.

But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil. (Hebrews 5:14).

Martyn Lloyd-Jones had 1,600 sermons recorded and published. S. Lewis Johnson has over 1,500 sermons recorded and transcribed. John MacArthur has over 3,300 sermons recorded, transcribed, and published. Those are a lot of words. It’s a lot to be responsible for. How would you like your 1st grade report on ‘apples’ published and used as a representative example of what you speak and believe now, 40 years later? You would not. When it comes to a discernment ministry being critical of teachers and pastors, are they charitable? Did they look to see how the teacher is doing over time? Or are they taking one aged, anomalous stumble and making a mountain out of a molehill?

Weasel Words, Hyperbole, Conspiracies, Tenuous Connections

4. I pile these three into one section.

Weasel words according to Merriam Webster Dictionary are “words used in order to evade or retreat from a direct or forthright statement or position.” This sales site explains,

Weasel words are used when the speaker wants to make it seem like they’ve given a clear answer to a question or made a direct statement, when actually they’ve said something inconclusive or vague. Fortunately, weasel words are easy to spot.

A lot of the worst online discernment ministries (which are not discerning and minister to no one) are just plain lazy. It takes time to search out primary sources. It takes time to watch a teacher over time. It takes time to write and edit what you’ve written so it reflects fairness and charity. So they get lazy. They try to make their ‘discernment expose’ sound legitimate by using these words.

“Sources say that the teacher did…”
So-and-So would often be seen drinking at a neighborhood bar…”
“Most scholars today believe Jesus likely never existed”

Does your favorite online discernment ministry use these vague but important sounding weasel words?

Hyperbole are wildly exaggerated statements. “At Thanksgiving your mom cooked enough food to feed and entire army!” “That teacher is constantly seen with other heretics!”

Conspiracies are just that, conspiracies. No, that gesture isn’t a hidden signal indicating Freemasonry, or showing occult ties, or revealing an Illuminati guy. It’s just a hand, OK?

Tenuous connections. Sometimes, when there’s no proof at all, the poorer of the online discernment ministries will try to insinuate guilt by association. “He shares the stage with so-and-so, who had a second cousin in the last century in another country who might have been Illuminati!! Therefore the guy is definitely a heretic!” I am not exaggerating too much on some of the stuff I receive that say almost exactly that kind of thing.

“I heard that the guy has links to an underground movement that you can clearly see in the photograph by this hand signal!” Sigh. If I had a dime for everyone who sends me stuff charging that so and so ‘has links to.’ Of course when I ask for proof, the person evaporates. Watch your discernment ministry if they publish nebulous charges of someone having links to or being connected to.

Separation issues/Partnering

This gets complicated. Partnering with someone who is a false teacher may not necessarily be a nail in their coffin. When Beth Moore was starting to show she was going off the rails, Kay Arthur tried to stick with her to steer her back, and they partnered for a few more conferences together. Then when it became obvious that it was not working, Mrs Arthur separated. (source). Ok, that makes sense.

John Piper partners with lots of people that have us scratching our heads, like Louis Giglio at the Passion conference, or sharing the Passion stage with Beth Moore. Sticking with Mark Driscoll long after most had separated from him. Piper has been pretty solid for over 50 years. The last few he has had questionable associations and chosen not to separate. Does this mean Piper is a false teacher himself? Or lacks discernment? Or is solid but making unwise choices for reasons of his own?

But the worse of the online discernment ministries claim that so-and-so shared a stage last year with Piper, who shared a stage this year with Moore, and that means that so-and-so is false, is not discernment and displays a lack of understanding about biblical separation. Separation is serious. It means when a teacher publicly separates, that they are in effect declaring the person they are separating from a false teacher. We don’t do that lightly in real life, and online discernment ministries should not demand separation at every turn from everyone. If they do, there is a problem with the online discernment ministry. Here is a discussion between Phil Johnson and Todd Friel at Wretched regarding separation.

Anger

Last, is the discernment ministry perpetually angry? Is their pen always wagging in the air, their pulpit pounding all the time? Some things we learn in the discernment world are anger-inducing, but mainly, discernment ministry is saddening. It’s depressing to see how many people are taken in, sad to see how deeply some false teachers can be embedded. It’s a sorrow to know their future, which will be justly tormented in the fires of hell. (2 Peter 2:12, Jude 1:10).

If an online discernment ministry is perpetually outraged, it is not a healthy ministry. Ministry of any kind is supposed to point to Christ and be edifying to the saints. Constant outrage at “the latest” isn’t healthy for the ministry or its readers.

Look for online discernment ministries that are charitable, even-keeled, fair, and point to Christ. Look for online discernment ministries that use primary sources, embeds things in context, are willing to review a teacher over time, aren’t perpetually angry, doesn’t push for instant separation from everyone, and uses appropriate proofs to support their contentions. And not least, adheres to a commonly understood interpretation of the Bible verses in the discernment realms. I found this essay helpful:

10 invalid arguments in defense of false teachers

Thank you!

Posted in discernment, Uncategorized

How To Do Online Discernment Ministry, part 1

Posted on by elizabethprata

Part 2 here

There’s online discernment ministry, and there’s online “discernment ministry.” I hope I’m the former. The latter is often discussed negatively. When “scare quotes” are put around the name of discernment ministry, it’s a pejorative. Scare quotes in journalism are sometimes called sneer quotes, so you get the idea.

Though I post articles about a trio of topics, including encouragement and prophecy, I do post articles about discernment. I post articles naming names of false teachers. One-third of what I do online regarding my blog is online discernment. So, am I one of the good ones, or one of the bad ones doing “discernment ministry”? Let’s have a two-part lesson on how to do online discernment ministry, and through it I’ll reveal what I do and how I go about it, and I’ll challenge you to test the discerners you follow, (including me), by sharing how.

What Is Discernment and is it Biblical?

One of the gifts given to people by the Spirit is discernment. (1 Corinthians 12:10). This is one of the spiritual gifts given to me. I primarily serve in my local church, which I believe is extremely important because it’s a command (Ephesians 4:12, Romans 15:2 etc). Spiritual gifts are meant to be used in a local body of believers, for edification and for accountability purposes.

Biblically, discernment is important. It’s a skill all believers must hone, but some were given ‘an extra dose’ if you will, in the form of a specific gift. In the days when the canon was not set, prophecies and revelations and epistles were coming in to the believers. Some of the letters were false. Each local body needed to be able to determine which messages were truly from a designated apostle, and which were false. The church at Ephesus was praised for having developed worthy discernment, (Revelation 2:2) while the church at Thyatira was rebuked for their lack of it. (Revelation 2:20).

The gift is still in force today, much needed, as many false prophets have gone out into the world, and we must test the spirits now as then (1 John 4:1).

By 2003, user-friendly blog platforms had come along, and Blogger announced it had a million users. Christians rapidly gravitated to this new publishing method and pastors and theologians were setting up blogs to push the message. So were lay theologians, cranks, wingnuts, and anyone with a theory or opinion, including me. My first blog came along in 2006 but after two and a half years of writing increasingly Christian content, I separated the content and started a second blog, this one, in January 2009. It is solely focused on Christian content while my other one remains personal. I’ve blogged just about every day on The End Time blog ever since.

By now in the new millennium, many other means have been invented with which to share the message of the Gospel and to maintain its purity. Podcasts, websites, blogs, movies, texts, simulcasts, and more are blessedly available to get our message out. I believe those methods should be used. In Paul’s day there was no internet. But he wrote letters, the internet of his day. Whatever means that the Lord has allowed to be invented to share Christian doctrine, testimonies, missionary reports, and the like, is a good thing in my opinion.

A Little About Me

I’ve published 4,370 essays. That is a lot to say. Yet, who am I? Just some lady in a corner of the internet. I’m not a celebrity. I haven’t gone to seminary. I am just someone taking advantage of the platforms available to share my opinion and perspective. You need discernment to ensure that I am worthy of your time and attention.

I have been a writer all my life and before the internet was available, it was hard to get published. I had been published a few measly times, in a journal or magazine here or there. But it took enormous effort to send pieces for publication to Publishing Houses or Magazines and the monoliths would send rejection letters back after many weeks, if they sent anything at all. It was frustrating.

So when easy platforms like Blogger, LiveJournal (remember them?) and WordPress came along with the touch of a button, anyone could publish, including me! So I did.

An egalitarian publishing world has its downsides too. People can and do propagate error. Not just in theology but in politics, sociology, psychology; in any -ology there will be people who want to push their message. The internet is unregulated, (yay!) but it takes wisdom and discernment to sift through increasingly unhealthy, errant, or just plain rotten content to find the gold. Or just the good.

What are the Blogger’s Credentials? Track Record?

So when you look for a blog to follow, especially a discernment blog or an eschatology blog (those Christian subjects seem to draw the more wonky theorists and unstable theologians), look to see who is writing. Do they have a track record? Do they have credentials? Not that credentials are of sole importance, but sometimes it counts- and that can be for or against. A blogger might say in his ‘About,’ that “I have a Masters of Religious Education” but upon searching further you discover the MA is from Brigham Young University, the Mormon college.

As to the track record, look for their trajectory. Did they start off solid and weaken over time? Do they quote the Bible appropriately? Do they quote the Bible at all? Or are they drifting into theories and conspiracies? Are they focused on secular controversies or extra-biblical prophecies, personal revelations?

When I first started blogging I did newspaper eisegesis. I looked at the news and looked at the Bible and then made statements about it. Israel really is the center of it all! There’s a reason Israel is always in the news! The Middle East is volatile because of the Esau-Jacob struggle! People really are horrible, not basically good, and the news confirms it! I don’t think I ever crossed a line, but you can determine that. I didn’t focus solely on that, though, which is another important measure of a credible discernment ministry. If someone is always writing about and researching the bad, that colors one’s perspective. Soon one can lose perspective.

As for my early days, I don’t apologize for the interest in global affairs as they related to biblical prophecy. My eyes had been opened to another world, the Christian worldview through a biblical lens, and it was wonderful and amazing. I loved that time. I remember distinctly the amazement I felt when learning that the Christian world had been there all along. I was aroused with wonder to learn that God’s plan is orderly and may come to an end any day. That sense of wonder and imminence has never left me and I hope it never will.

But I grew out of the newspaper stuff by the Lord’s grace and went on to study deeper theology. That is what to look for. Is a discernment ministry writer growing up toward Christ, or growing away from Christ?

My credentials…I am loathe to share lest it seem like boasting, but the few times I’ve mentioned this in 9 years perhaps will be forgiven.

I am a writer & researcher, having been published in The Reading Teacher and The LAB at Brown University, in literary journal Brownstone Review and Glamour Magazine. I have helped edit Chicago’s National Association for the Study of Education 98th and 99th Annual Yearbook of Education Research. I was a newspaper publisher, editing a New England Press Association award-winning weekly newspaper. I’ve also been employed by the daily paper Athens Banner Herald as a features writer and have written for the Madison County Journal.

I was and am a educator. I worked as a short and long term substitute, a para-professional and as a certified elementary school teacher. I took some years off to attain a Masters Degree in Literacy Education, and to travel widely, before resuming work as a para-professional, of which I am employed to this day.

Is the Blogger a Lone Ranger, Not a Member of any Church?

I am a member of a local church, fully participating by steady attendance at Sunday worship service as well as weekly attendance in several small groups overseen by the church elders.

Those are my professional and personal credentials. I have no theological credentials. I have taken several for-credit classes through Ligonier. I listen to The Master’s University lecturers online. I applied to and was accepted at Reformed Theological Seminary but after the very first class taught a possible young earth and long years evolution, I quit. Other than daily study in diligence and submission, regular church attendance, and listening multiple times per week to credible pastors, I have no official theological credentials.

When you visit a discernment ministry online, assess who is in charge of it. Who is writing and sending out theological messages? I can’t tell you to do that without giving you some idea of who I am, and whether I should be read or followed. Transparency is important. Hence the above paragraph.

I do not agree with those writers who blog anonymously. I understand the issues around privacy and safety, especially for women, but if one is going to proclaim Christ, one does so openly. Jesus said He did nothing in secret (John 18:20). Paul said he works openly, nothing is done in secret (Acts 26:26).

That is the how and the why. Part 2 will discuss how to assess whether someone is a credible online discernment ministries such as discussing the importance of primary sources, and other tips such as separation issues and solidity and growth over time. I’ll look at how unscrupulous “discernment bloggers” use tenuous connections, weasel words, out-of-context material and quotes, and unrepresentative doctrine.

Till then, thank you and bless you for reading.

error and truth discernment

Part 2 here

Posted in discernment, Uncategorized

“Demons are troubling you. What you need is some harp music!’ said only 1 person ever

Posted on by elizabethprata

Now the Spirit of the LORD departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the LORD terrorized him. Saul’s servants then said to him, “Behold now, an evil spirit from God is terrorizing you. “Let our lord now command your servants who are before you. Let them seek a man who is a skillful player on the harp; and it shall come about when the evil spirit from God is on you, that he shall play the harp with his hand, and you will be well.’ So Saul said to his servants, “Provide for me now a man who can play well and bring him to me.’ (1 Samuel 16:14-17)

Can you see what’s wrong with this picture?

In the previous verses, Prophet Samuel has just anointed David. The Spirit rushed powerfully onto David, and the Spirit departed from Saul. David’s rise begins, and Saul’s descent has begun.

It was obvious to onlookers that Saul was being tormented by an evil spirit. This should have given Saul pause. It did not.

Did Saul examine himself to see if he was in the faith? No, he didn’t.

Instead, Saul addressed the symptom. Let’s soothe the demon, not investigate why I have a demon. Saul did not appeal to the LORD, he did not pray, he did not sacrifice.

A band-aid on a gushing artery will never solve the problem.

Here is another resource in which we look at practical ways to examine ourselves to see if we are in the faith. JC Ryle’s first chapter in his book Practical Religion, the chapter is called Self-Inquiry. Ten questions for self-examination.

Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you fail to meet the test! (2 Corinthians 13:5)

Saul failed to meet the test. Christians if they are true believers will never have the Holy Spirit completely removed from them. God’s hand will never completely release them, they (we) can and do endure seasons where God has withdrawn temporarily.

Grace To You: I Feel Abandoned in My Trial

Ligonier: Grieving the Holy Spirit

Mike Ratliff: When God Leaves us to Ourselves

Naylor’s Heart Talks: When God Withdraws Himself

The good news is that if one is a true Christian, the withdrawal in New Testament times is only ever temporary. Naylor again:

If God apparently withdraws from us, it is only because he sees that we need to be left alone for a season. He sees that the heart must be drawn away from selfish interest; and when this is accomplished, he comes back and reveals to us anew the fulness and richness of his love.

Saul sinned. He never took spiritual inventory. He never went to the source. He only salved the symptom. William Congreve famously said, “Musick has charms to soothe a savage breast,” but the savagery always returns. Repentance and dependence on the LORD will quell the terror. Harps only go so far.

harp

Posted in discernment, Uncategorized

Weepers and gnashers: the importance of examining ourselves

Posted on by elizabethprata

I saw this clip on Todd Friel’s Wretched Youtube page last night and it was extremely moving to me. It was also convicting. It DID spur me to check myself and examine as to whether I am in the faith.

This is important to do, because as the video title suggests, there will be two types of people in hell. The two types are based on the verse from Matthew 13:50, where at the end of the age, angels will

throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

By the way, when you study angels you notice how active they are in executing all God’s commands, especially in Revelation. Anyway, in the clip, Dr Sproul explains what the weeping and what gnashing of teeth is.

The weepers are weeping because they were self-deceived all along and were not saved when they thought they were. Jesus will declare to them, “Depart from me you workers of iniquity, I never knew you.” (Matthew 7:21-23). Hence the urgency to check one’s self to see if we are in the faith. (2 Corinthians 13:5).

The gnashers are angry. They refuse to acknowledge God for who He is, even while they are justly tormented in the fires of hell. How can this be, one might wonder, when the entire lake of fire has been prepared by God for the devil and his angels, and the unforgiven sinners? The fires are real, they are in them. How can they not acknowledge God?

Revelation gives us a clue as to the depth of sin and the anger at God’s authority. Even while they were alive and under punishment of God’s plagues, they did not repent. Revelation 9:20-21 has the first instance. The Lord sent an angel to open the pit and release hordes and billions of demons, which were so many they clouded the sun upon their release. The demons were given authority to plague mankind with sores and pain. A third of all mankind is killed! Further billions will be laying around writhing at the sting of demons, and yet-

The rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands nor give up worshiping demons and idols of gold and silver and bronze and stone and wood, which cannot see or hear or walk, 21 nor did they repent of their murders or their sorceries or their sexual immorality or their thefts.

To make the depth of their depravity even more pointed, the next verse from Revelation shows clearly that they KNOW it is God sending the plagues, and they did not repent. Instead, they cursed his very name!

They were scorched by the fierce heat, and they cursed the name of God who had power over these plagues. They did not repent and give him glory. (Revelation 16:9).

And again in verse 11 when another plague was sent, they did not repent but instead cursed the name of God again. Instead, they began assembling at Armageddon to fight him!

This all goes to show the power of sin. The power of sin to delude us as to its power. It can blind us. Am I self-deceived? Am I not in the faith? Will I hear those dread words ‘depart from me?’ Will I be weeping?

Please watch the short video and ponder the gravity of it all. The cross of Jesus split history. It split the whole of humankind into two types of people- saved and unsaved. It split the world into Gospel-loving and hell-bound. The cross stands alone as the point of beginning or the point of departure.

There will be two types of people in hell…

 

I thank God that there are and were men to preach the truth, even the unpleasant truths of scripture, such as hell, self-delusion, and false conversion. It’s important. Now, how do we examine one’s self? Further resources are listed below.

Sermon series:

Undoubtedly the sincere claims people make are sometimes far from reality. As chilling as that thought may be, there are countless well-meaning people who believe they’re saved, but they aren’t. Could you or someone you know be one of them? How do you know your faith is built on a solid foundation? Or is that something you can ever know this side of eternity?
Determine for yourself whether you are a Christian. John MacArthur shows you how to assess your spiritual condition in Examine Yourself.

If you don’t want to go through a series of sermons, here is a 15-page free booklet called Is it Real? 11 Biblical Tests of Salvation.

If you don’t want to read a 15 page booklet, here is a 5-page free booklet called Examine Yourself.

If you don’t want to read 5 pages, here is a 515 word essay from GotQuestions on What does it mean to examine yourself?

If you don’t want to read 500 words to examine yourself, then I direct you back up to the top to re-watch the clip, where there will be two types of people in hell. I’m not saying that if you don’t follow through in looking at these particular resources you’l go to hell, but I’m emphasizing that the power of sin to delude us is great and must be constantly watched against. There is nothing more important than checking one’s self to make sure we are not one of the two types. It’s the best thing you could do all day or for all eternity. 🙂 If nothing else, you will receive assurance! This illustration by artist Boris Sajtinac is all too vivid!

apostate church by boris sajtinac

Believe me, I checked myself immediately after watching the clip. I know the power of sin to delude me is too great. I’ve seen it happen to others and I know it dwells inside myself. Please, pray and check, and be assured, dear sister.

 

Posted in discernment, Uncategorized

Beth Moore’s Legalism: A Discernment Lesson applicable to any teacher

Posted on by elizabethprata

I have written about Beth Moore’s legalism in the past (2011). It’s hard to believe that was 7 years ago. Here is a refresher course on how, while seeming to speak a Gospel-infused sermon, Beth Moore’s speeches are really just a ‘try harder’ legalism. This is a lesson in discernment.

You have to listen carefully and do a lot of note-taking because Moore speaks so fast, or if you listen online, use the pause button a lot. Her ‘try harder’ theology is also in her books as you will see, so the issue is not just her speaking style, but her theology. You will hear that Beth Moore shapes the scriptures away from pure faith and toward legalism. She splits sentences, putting a crowbar between words and inserting things you’ve ‘got’ to do. There is a lot of ‘do this or else’. There are also lots of warnings about the dire conditions of our walk, without real explanations. Like this from a few days ago.

moore tweet

It seems she is trying to say that we shouldn’t be too busy. Too busy for what, she never says. Yet after more than three successive tweets (yes, it went on) she never got to any clear point. Milk meaning from graffiti? Huffing and puffing? And what does it mean, exactly, that we are ‘blowing our houses down’?  A teacher is supposed to be “able to teach.” (2 Timothy 2:24).  Not vaguely warn. Or be so in love with her writing that plain meaning is obscured…

Our precious Lord gave salvation as a gift. No matter how we stumble, or no matter how many times we enter a sin-repent-forgive cycle, we are saved and effective for His glory. He gave us a GIFT of salvation. It is the gift of redemption, a gift of imputed righteousness. Here are some examples of how Moore diminishes the gift of the Gospel and makes it a confusing, burdensome, treacherous walk among the heavy stones of the Law.

Example #1:

Her contemplative prayer quote: “[I]f we are not still before Him, we will never truly know to the depths of the marrow of our bones that He is God. There’s got to be a stillness.”

According to Moore, we will “never” “truly” know who God is UNLESS we are still. Beware of Bible teachers who frequently use absolute words.

Example #2:

In one study, Beth Moore is speaking of ‘confidence and competence’ that Christ gives us. The study is based on Hebrews 10:19-20 but her interpretation of the verse is wrong from the beginning. Once the basic interpretation is wrong it is no surprise that what follows falls into even worse error. Watch carefully as she inserts conditions to salvation. She even outlines the effect of not believing the new add-ons that she includes.

…but what can happen is this … If we receive Christ as our Savior but we never recognize and by faith believe Him to also be our healer and our restorer then we just stay just as cracked as when we got here.

The Gospel is now Law. According to Moore, we have to believe some things above and beyond what the Bible says we need to believe for salvation. According to Moore, we must believe in a different Christ than the Jesus presented in His Word. I certainly don’t see anything in His word about having to believe that Jesus is our Savior AND our Healer AND our Restorer or else we stay “cracked”. And what does cracked mean, exactly? This is some vague warning of looming disaster, the kind of warnings Moore loves to issue.

Now as for this cracked business, the Bible does speak of being cracked:

For My people have committed two evils: They have forsaken Me, The fountain of living waters, To hew for themselves cisterns, Broken cisterns That can hold no water. (Jeremiah 2:13).

The cracked ones were the ones who forsook God. They were the evil ones.

But when Jesus saves us, we are sealed! “Now He who establishes us with you in Christ and has anointed us is God, who also has sealed us and given us the Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee.” (2 Corinthians 1:21-22).

There is no in-between in the New Testament, being saved but leaking through a crack.

Example #3:

…it [confidence] just bleeds out everywhere, we can’t keep any confidence in there. Because we have never trusted Him to put three pieces of our lives back together. Is this making any sense to anybody? We have all these cracks and all these pieces. … And we’re supposed to be effective here on earth. … Salt and light and profoundly effective, but we can’t be any of that unless we have our God-confidence.

Again with the “we can’t…unless”. Note those words.

As to Moore’s addition of confidence as a necessary condition of keeping our salvation or being effective or something, Jeremiah wasn’t confident. His first worry was that he was too young for the job. (Jeremiah 1:6-8). By any standard, Jeremiah was an effective man of God.

Moses wasn’t confident. He worried he wasn’t eloquent enough to be a spokesman. (Exodus 4:10-12). By any standard, Moses was not too confident, but he sure was effective.

So far, from just three of her teachings we learn that —

1. Unless we accept Jesus as savior AND Healer AND Restorer, His work is not sufficient.
2. Unless we get some God-confidence, we are not effective.
3. Unless we believe certain things about Jesus, we will stay cracked.
4. Unless we are still, we will never truly know God.

The legalistic conditions pile up fast.

Example #4:

Moore’s book Breaking Free: Making Liberty in Christ a Reality in Life was reviewed by Paige Britton.

Britton says, “One rather ironic element of Moore’s teaching is her definition of “legalism,” one of the roadblocks we must remove if we want to journey on to authentic freedom. According to Moore, legalism occurs whenever one studies the Word but fails to enjoy God; it is the absence of relationship, passion, engagement of the heart (pp.75, 77). This definition is fine as far as it goes, but it effectively obscures the fact that Breaking Free is all about applying new rules in order to gain what God meant for us as a gift in Christ.

Isn’t that ironic. A book called Breaking Free is really just a new way to enslave you. Moore makes up and applies new rules to gain what was given as a gift says Britton, and I have noticed this too. So we have issues with new rules in Moore’s speaking ministry and in her tweets and in her books. Her theology, no matter where it’s publicly proffered, is a problem.

Once you start hearing the “got to” and “must do” and “unless you” you will hear her new rules permeating her teaching everywhere.

What does the Bible say about new rules for salvation? It says that adding an unbiblical load kills us.

“Woe to you as well, experts in the law!” He replied. “You weigh men down with heavy burdens, but you yourselves will not lift a finger to lighten their load. (Luke 11:46).

Now, therefore, why are you putting God to the test by placing a yoke on the neck of the disciples that neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear? (Acts 15:10).

Don’t listen to Moore or any teacher who imposes conditions on your walk that are absent from the Bible. Or who uses absolute words like unless, can’t, always, never, all the time, and so on. The Father loves us with an enduring, everlasting love that is perfect. Moreover, He is our priest who prays for us. He sends angels to minister to us. He gave us the Spirit to grow us. We are not cracked, leaking, unconfident, missing out on what we need, ineffective, on the verge of disaster, or any of the things Moore says we are. Moore’s world must be dark and heavy indeed.

Our world, though a mindful one and filled with obedient striving, is one of light and freedom from the very conditions Moore seeks to impose. This is because we are in Christ, and He met all the conditions necessary on the cross and broke that chain, in order to set the captives free.

It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not be encumbered once more by a yoke of slavery. (Galatians 5:1).

chain

Posted in discernment, Uncategorized

Apostasy: What is it?

Posted on by elizabethprata

Apostasy is defined as ‘a defection or revolt’. It is the formal disaffiliation from or abandonment or renunciation of a religion by a person. One who commits apostasy (or who apostatizes) is known as an apostate. It is important to remember that apostates never really were saved. 1 John 2:19 says, “They went out from us, but they did not really belong to us. For if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us; but their going showed that none of them belonged to us.”

There are two kinds of apostasy. It shows that apostasy is a process. No one wakes up one day and says “Gee, I hate Jesus and I’m not going to church anymore.” The first kind of apostasy is a drifting away of the key doctrines of the faith. The second is a complete abandonment of Christianity. Remember, if you are saved, your salvation is eternally secure. If you have submitted to Christ no one can snatch you out of His Hand. (John 10:28 says “I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand.” so we read that if He gives eternal life, then no one can take you away from Him. Equally, because it is He who gives eternal life, mere man cannot nullify His decision.

The primary essential doctrines of the faith one must stick to, According to Christian Apologetics and Research Ministry, (scriptures supporting them are here) and I agree with these as the essential ones, are–

1. Jesus is God in flesh, and Jesus is the proper object of faith. The Doctrine of the deity of Christ includes:

–The Trinity
–There is only one God in all existence
–That Jesus is both God and man.

2. Salvation is by Grace alone
3. The resurrected Christ
4. The Gospel

They are called the primary essentials because the Bible declares them to be essential to the faith. Secondary essentials are necessary truths, but there is no declared penalty for their denial — yet they are still essential to the Christian faith. Those include:

–Jesus is the only way to heaven
–Mary’s virgin birth

FYI, the recently departed evangelist Billy Graham denied both of the above.

An apostate very slowly starts to doubt the essentials. He or she begins to read and absorb other things that are contrary to those doctrines. Paul called false teachings gangrene because they quickly pollute the body and mind. (2 Timothy 2:17).

The Bible says that at the time of the end there will be a great falling away from the truth. Look to 2 Thessalonians for the prediction regarding the “falling away.” 2 Thess. 2:3-7 says, “Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition, who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God. Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things? And now you know what is restraining, that he may be revealed in his own time. For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only he who now restrains will do so until he is taken out of the way.”

The lawlessness is sinfulness and the fact that Paul says it is already at work means that there have been apostates throughout the Church Age, even in Paul’s day. The verse I mentioned above in 2 Timothy 2:17 speaks of Hymenaeus and Philetus who spread false teachings, two men who “wandered away from the truth” and became “more and more ungodly”. (2 Timothy 2:16; 18). So you see, apostasy is a process.

Sanctification is a process, too. Just as apostates-in-the-making drift away from the faith, either fast or slow, those being sanctified progress toward holiness, either fast or slow. The Lord’s people will never, ever be lost to Him nor will they even become apostate. Ever.

I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. (John 10:28).

Praise Him for all His ways, His grace, and His priestly ministrations, and His sovereignty that keeps His sheep.

sheep

Posted in discernment, Uncategorized

Why every woman should be a theologian: The Master’s University Table Talk

Posted on by elizabethprata

womenThe advent of the internet has afforded Christian men and women opportunity to learn from many credible teachers and pastors, and to access a variety of different theological resources.

For example, all of Charles Spurgeon’s sermons and writings are online. John Owen is online. Pilgrim’s Progress is online. John MacArthur’s sermons, over 3000 of them, are online. Martyn Lloyd Jones, S. Lewis Johnson, BB Warfield sermons and materials, online, Valley of Vision, online. Blogs, podcasts, courses both free and paid (i.e Mt Zion Chapel Library, free; Ligonier, affordable paid), books, pamphlets, art work, lexicons, concordances, and more are available tot he  believer as resources.

Wow.

In some ways, this period of time has given people, women in particular, opportunity to become deeply involved with the Word, especially if (other than her pastor) she has no males in her life, such as a Godly husband or brothers, father, etc. It is a rich time.

Alternately, the potential for deception among women has never been greater, either. Women are especially vulnerable to false teaching (2 Timothy 3:6, 1 Peter 3:7) and we must guard ourselves by all the means available to us. While many online ministries are solid, many other ministries online promote false teaching. Even church sermons posted on the internet can contain false teaching, as well as the false doctrine perpetuated by ministries that exist online only. So much falsity.

Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons, 2 through the insincerity of liars whose consciences are seared… (1 Timothy 4:1-2).

For certain people have crept in unnoticed who long ago were designated for this condemnation, ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ. (Jude 1:4).

While it is true that the Bible prohibits women from operating in some roles (teaching men, pastoring), the Bible encourages all believers, women included, to be theologians. Being a theologian simply means you study God in His revealed self, via the Bible.

To that end, this Table Talk discussion from The Master’s University was helpful. The topic was Why Every Woman Should be A Theologian. Professor Abner Chou facilitated, and several other professors answered questions as the discussion went on.

The opening question was asked:

In light of complementarianism, we often emphasize things in light of what women cannot do; she cannot teach (men) she cannot preach or be a pastor. But let’s turn this around and ask what does the Bible encourage women to do? How can women can be active participants in the church?

One of the Professors answered (I’m sorry, his introduction was not contained in the tape):

Every believer is a theologian. Theology is simply asking and answering, ‘Who is God?’ Every time we ask ‘Who is Jesus’ we are engaging in theology. Believers should be about understanding who God is and how He has revealed Himself. Pursuing who He is is a key aspect that should fill the lives of every believer.

The talk went on from there. Betty Price, Associate Professor of Biblical Studies; Women’s Ministries, noted :

For too many years women’s Bible studies have been too light and fluffy, and not have been a serious study. It’s really hard to find something that gives much depth at all. They’re always quick little surface study guides that have a Bible clip and a few fill-in-the-blank questions in a workbook. Perhaps women have not been encouraged enough. … [Women’s studies] are geared around fellowship and social times, probably more than being a theologian. That’s not all bad, many of the women are stay-at-home moms and need the social times to come together with other adults. But I’d like to see deeper studies.

Here is the link. The talk is about an hour click here.

Mentioned in the Talk:

Book- To Preach or Not To Preach? By Professor William Varner

A study of the religious role of women in the Old Testament through the New Testament periods. Emphasis is placed on both the privilege and the limitations of women’s ministry in the early church.

Other resources:

Todd Friel’s Drive By series. He titled the series Drive By, and deliberately made the lectures short because the Internet was that student-theologians like you and me could listen to them in the car, even if the commute was short. However, these are also perfect for the stay-at-home mom who doesn’t often have a long, lingering hour to delve into a Bible study, but can find 8-15 minutes to listen to a lecture (and follow up in the Word later).

I’ve listened to the lectures in all three of these, they’re good. There are also other Drive By series, such as Drive By Biblical Counseling, etc.

Drive By Theology
35 Systematic Theology Lessons- Join Todd Friel and Dr. Steve Lawson (Dr. Metaphor) as they take you through 35 short lectures on every theology from bibliology to soteriology and every other “-ology” and you will see that the Bible is exactly what it says it is, “profitable for all of life and godliness.” $24.99

Drive By Pneumatology (Study of the Holy Spirit)
Drive By Pneumatology will provide a thorough, thoughtful and Biblical presentation on the doctrine of the Holy Spirit. $19.99

Drive By Discernment
Wolves are leaping over the fence. The sheep seem to be oblivious to their wiles. Drive By Discernment is designed to sharpen your skill to help you separate the true from the almost true. $19.99 – $24.99

Ladies, every woman should be a theologian. Priscilla was. Anna was. Mary was. The Bereans were. We can be too. Being a theologian simply means looking into His word to discover more each day who God is.

Posted in discernment, Uncategorized

The entertainment-driven church

Posted on by elizabethprata

I love a serious church.

When I attend a worship service on Sunday that has all gravitas, seriousness, and intent to learn about, praise, and glorify the Lord, I am lifted up to great heights.

Our church is a Reformed-doctrine church that adheres to the ecclesiology of a plurality of elders. Our main teaching pastor exposits the scriptures verse by verse, book by book. He is good at it. We also have a confession time, where one of the elders gives us some scriptures to think about as he explains them, and then there’s a time of silence to repent or plead with God in any way we need to in order to prepare for receiving the preached word. Our music is doctrinal and Christ-exalting too. We do not pass the offering plate, but instead we have spots around the sanctuary during the service to place our money. Also we can give online.

It’s a serious church, all the more remarkable by the fact that we have many young adults (college students, grad students, and folks just beyond college) who are members. Their presence is encouraging. This is because of their dedication to learning the word, speaking the word in Godly conversations, and participation in local and far-off missions. Some of these ‘kids’ have already gone to Indonesia, South America, Seattle, and to other locations near and far to share the word of God. It’s joyous to be around them because of their zeal.

I realize I’m currently blessed, because many churches are not serious. There are things at the pulpit that take place that are far from explaining the word of God, the main reason for a pulpit. There are dances, skits, jokes, comedy routines, feel-good lectures, book promotions, smoke machines, rock bands, concerts that do not look any different from the world’s…

For example, from the Museum of Idolatry:

“Villains, Bad Guys and Minions” —series at Church by the Glades
Hillsong, 2015 Vision Sunday

I was speaking with a young student at school. She said she used to go to church before she moved here. I asked about her old church. She said that at her old church they served big snacks. She loved the snacks. Then after a while the church went to smaller snacks, so they tried to find a church that served big snacks. Then they moved here. They haven’t found a church with snacks yet. It was all about the snacks. She never mentioned Jesus or anything she’d learned.

I can’t fault her for that, she’s young. If we attract kids to church on the basis of snacks, then that is what they will associate with church, not Jesus.

Many churches’ Vacation Bible School budgets are larger in the snack department than the Bible materials department. Snacks are getting more and more elaborate, and the time to eat them longer and longer, and the Bible time shorter and shorter. Or, the craft time exceeds the Bible teaching time, or the song and dance moves with hand motions are the major part. I long for the old days of Bible Drills, Bible quizzes, and mini-sermons.

I don’t know who said it first, but “What you win them with is what you win them to.” If you attract people with prizes & trinkets, promises of fun, snacks, entertainment and the like, then you will always have to provide that so they’ll stick around. As people become more bored with what you’re presenting, you have to go bigger and more elaborate, to retain their attention. It brings to mind Janet Jackson’s secular song, “What Have You Done For Me Lately?” The people eventually only want entertainment and not sermons. So many churches are entertainment-driven and consumer oriented, not worship-driven and service oriented.

Charles Spurgeon was a preacher in the mid-to-late 1800s. He is called The Prince of Preachers. His pastorate in London lasted 38 years. During that time he preached numerous times per week, and

founded a pastors’ college, an orphanage, a Christian literature society and The Sword and the Trowel magazine. Over 200 new churches were started in the Home Counties alone, and pastored by his students. His printed sermons (still published) fill 63 volumes. Source

His sermons at the Metropolitan Tabernacle and then the Royal Surrey Gardens Music Hall drew 10,000 people on a Sunday. His work has held up to this time. He seems almost prescient, and that is because he stayed strictly within the narrow road of God’s Word, and thus he always seems fresh. Here is something he said-

Within suitable bounds, recreation is necessary and profitable; but it never was the business of the Christian Church to supply the world with amusements. Source

The above from which I’d excerpted the Spurgeon quote is a good one. It is titled, Spurgeon on the Entertainment-Driven Church and goes on with other reasons that a focus on entertainment in the church,

–Our Mission Is Not Entertainment
–Entertainment Negates the Weightiness of the Cross
–Entertainment Attacks the Preaching of Christ

I recommend the article.

Another article about trinkets and winning people to Christ (though not entertainment) caught my eye. I’ve been involved with the Christmas Shoeboxes at a previous church. It is a well-intentioned mission where people fill a shoebox with “stuff” for disadvantaged or impoverished children in Third World countries, along with Gospel tracts and/or Bibles. Operation Christmas Child (OCC) boxes are shipped through Samaritan’s Purse. The items OCC recommends items to put in the shoebox are

quality ‘wow’ item such as a stuffed animal, soccer ball with pump, or clothing outfit that will capture the child’s attention the instant he or she opens the box. Operation ShoeBox

At the GilandAmy blog, we read that Amy has some thoughts about Operation Christmas Child, prompted from some experiences a Tanzanian church planter shared with her. Thoughts such as,

“What happens when the life-transforming gospel of Jesus Christ is associated with dollar-store trinkets from America?” and, “…we don’t see in the Bible this model of ‘gift giving’ being used for disciple-making and planting churches,” and “So I started to wonder: Do we want children to expect toys at Christmas? Has that tradition produced good fruit within our own culture? Is that a Christmas tradition that Americans want to export to the rest of the world?” (Source)

Instead of skits at the pulpit, its own smaller way, have we paired games and entertainments with the Gospel in a shoebox?

We need serious church.

John MacArthur has some thoughts about the necessary gravitas for serious church:

We should be characterized by the worship of God. It should be lofty. It should be exalted. It should have a gravitas, a seriousness about it. Christ should be constantly being exalted. It ought to be Christ-centered, not man-centered. It’s not about you, it’s about Him. Here we should be engaged in endless praise. We should be learning, so that the knowledge of divine truth is increasing. We should be pursuing holiness and serving with joy. That’s how heaven comes down. That only happens in the church, the ordinary church. I love the church because it is heaven on earth.

I began these thoughts with Spurgeon about the need for seriousness of worship and in church and I’ll end with him. These words are true today as when he uttered them 150 years ago:

A time will come when instead of shepherds feeding the sheep, the church will have clowns entertaining the goats.

If you have to give a carnival to get people to come to church, then you will have to keep giving carnivals to keep them coming back.

An unholy church! It is useless to the world, and of no esteem among men. It is an abomination, hell’s laughter, heaven’s abhorrence. The worst evils which have ever come upon the world have been brought upon her by an unholy church.

I pray you as well as I are mindful of the gravity and privilege of worshiping the Great and Holy God in truth. He made Himself known to us in special revelation, and it’s His due to be worshiped seriously, intentionally, and as purely as possible, according to His word.

Paul wrote of church services:

But all things must be done properly and in an orderly manner. (1 Corinthians 14:40)

 

Posted in discernment, Uncategorized

Tips and resources on using Social Media

Posted on by elizabethprata
social-media-2636256_960_720
Photo Pixabay ,CC

Do you feel trapped by social media? Does it make you sad, or anxious? Do you waste time? Many people say yes to all of the above.

I like social media. I have an account at Pinterest, Twitter, 2 Facebook pages- (a theological page and a personal page), two blogs (one theological and one personal) and an Instagram. My personal blog is 11 years old, my theological blog is 9 years old. I have 4,325 essays at my theological blog.

I am also on GroupMe, a mass group text messaging service. LOL I obtained my very first cell phone last month, solely for the purposes of calling AAA when my car breaks down (and is always does) and to receive church messages. I have photo accounts at Flickr and Unsplash. My account at Flickr is 11 years old and I have 1,936 pictures there. Unsplash is newer. I joined when it began, three years ago.

So you can see that I enjoy social media, to say the least. But then again, I have a lot of time, being unmarried without children. I like to stay-at-home and use the internet for witnessing in discrete and selective quantities. (I also attend church, go to small groups, disciple, and witness in real life, to be clear.) I also use it for my entertainment, having no television.

I’m old enough to remember when the internet didn’t exist, and it was hard to get your message out. I mean in that era when I was unsaved, my message was my secular writing. It was hard to break the gates of publishing in the 80s and 90s. So when self-publishing on blogs and such came along in the 2000s, I was thrilled. No gatekeepers except my conscience.

Being unsaved for most of my early adult life, until age 43, I didn’t have a Jesus message to share. But now that there are so many venues to share about Him and learn about Him from others’ social media pages, I enjoy using it all for that purpose. I like being able to get the message itself out more widely. Therefore, I have a goal, to use social media as a platform to share the beauty and truth of Jesus Christ. I use it to encourage, exhort, teach, and edify. I use it to learn from others.

Even then, I still have to limit my use of it. Temptations abound! I think long and hard about who I am going to ‘Follow’ or ‘Friend’. I do not want excessively negative things passing before my eyes. I liked when FB implemented an option to mute friends, that is, not to unfollow them but to not see their posts. I don’t like to see continual political posts. I won’t look at abortion photos. I won’t follow someone rambunctious or rebellious. Constant ‘woe is me’ pity parties get a mute.

As for my ministries, I also work to get the me-centeredness out of my fingers typing, and stick with my goal and plans: focus on saying something scriptural, something positive about Jesus, and something encouraging to my friends and church members every day. If I don’t, what is the point of all these social media accounts?

Still with all that social media can be very depressing. Often, it displays the worst of man, unsaved and saved. Here are four essays that I hope will help bring perspective and encouragement regarding social media.

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

Social media requires a different kind of brain work than does sitting for long periods with a book. Personally I think the two kinds of reading are at odds. I strive to maintain the ‘book reading’ skills I’d taken for granted most of my life. I do feel a negative impact in this area from social media use. So does Michael Harris:

 I have forgotten how to read

For a long time Michael Harris convinced himself that a childhood spent immersed in old-fashioned books would insulate him from our new media climate – that he could keep on reading in the old way because his mind was formed in pre-internet days. He was wrong

Some people take long breaks from social media, or take the drastic step of abandoning it altogether. Here, Aaron Armstrong has some tips for using (or not using):

You don’t need social media (even if your brain tells you otherwise)

This weekend, my wife and I spent a great deal of time talking about social media—specifically how she responds to it. For a few years she was on Facebook, up until a particularly negative incident led her to abandon it.

In the old Bulletin Bard days (with 300 baud, remember that? lol) something called “flame wars” would erupt. That’s just internet lingo for people fighting online. Arguments are easier online because we forget there are actual people on the other side of the screen. Somewhere. Flame wars ignite on Twitter, Facebook…anywhere there are people. Here, Michael Coughlin reminds us at Things Above Us that

You Don’t Have To Enter Every Argument You’re Invited To

Everyone you meet is made in the image of God. Thus, each person you encounter has a level of dignity because of his or her Creator, and you are responsible to treat folks with respect as a consequence of this fact.

I was a journalist for almost 6 years. I hunted stories, dug up stores, investigated, published. Of course, a reporter is driven to get the story first. That drive still ignites me when a major even happens, but as a Christian, even a Christian ex-reporter/now-blogger needs to hold back and ‘consider these things’ first. And pray. When everyone is jumping on the bandwagon is takes maturity, patience, and wisdom to know when to speak and when not to speak. Not everyone needs to know my opinion. But then again, if we have some insight that might help a local body, then by all means publish. The wisdom is to know which to do when. Chris Martin has a few ideas for us.

3 Ways NOT to Use Social Media Immediately Following a Tragedy

I made a concerted effort to stay off of social media most of this past weekend because I was already a bit exhausted at a lot of the response I was seeing to the tragedy last Wednesday. … I should say before I continue, what follows are my opinions. These suggestions are not stone-cold social media sins. So, take them as you will. Here are three ways NOT to use social media immediately following a tragedy:

Posted in discernment, Uncategorized

Hate Week Essay #6: When will we hate Jesus? Answer inside

Posted on by elizabethprata

No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money. (Matthew 6:24)

Jesus is an all-or-nothing proposition. This is because He is all. He is the all in all (Colossians 3:11). He is everything good, He is sufficient. Nothing should compete with Him. Hence the warning about two masters.

Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

No man can serve two masters … – Christ proceeds to illustrate the necessity of laying up treasures in heaven from a well-known fact, that a servant cannot serve two masters at the same time. His affections and obedience would be divided, and he would fail altogether in his duty to one or the other. One he would love, the other he would hate. To the interests of the one he would adhere, the interests of the other he would neglect. This is a law of human nature. The supreme affections can be fixed on only one object.

Please be aware of any growing idols in your (and my) life, whom you (and I) are serving. We cannot have two masters else we will hate the one. Jesus is too precious to risk hating Him, even if for a short while before realizing and then repenting.

Answer to the Title’s question: We will hate Jesus when we serve another master.

prickly 6