Category: discernment

Posted in beth moore, discernment, false teacher, proper speech, wisdom

Beth Moore’s strangely disappearing tweet: a discernment lesson

Posted on by elizabethprata

In interesting little incident happened on Beth Moore’s twitter stream yesterday. Mrs Moore wrote:

Even some of her followers were puzzled by Moore’s inadvertent unbiblical admission.

I tweeted the following:

A few other people made mention of Moore’ puzzling admission too. And then the usual happened. Usual for these apostate days:

Beth Moore’s tweet went POOF.

There are a few discernment things to understand here. First, on the literal side of things, Beth Moore’s tweet demonstrates two simple biblical failures. Of course Keith Moore is not “inclined” to study scripture. None of us are. Our flesh always battles Godly disciplines. However the point of the Christian life is that we deny those fleshly indulgences by picking up our cross (Mt 16:24), and we rely on the Holy Spirit to help us overcome the flesh (our ‘inclinations’) to pursue holiness. All of 2 Peter exhorts for growth in godliness and pursuing the holiness our Lord deserves. That Mr Moore gives in to the flesh so as to avoid pursuing holiness is not sanctification.

Secondly it fails the husbandly aspects of a Godly marriage. The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary has a guide for husbands regarding this aspect of marriage. I quote it because the Moores have stated many times they are Southern Baptist, belong to a Southern Baptist church and are proudly Southern Baptist. “Lead Your Wife Spiritually: A Guide for Husbands”

it’s especially true of husbands who bear the responsibility to lead in a marriage. Your marriage should be a significant source of your wife’s sanctification. Consider Paul’s words to the Ephesians again:

Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. (Ephesians 5:25-28) 

Clearly, you’re not Christ. There is a sanctifying work that only Jesus can do, but as you model your love on the sanctifying relationship of Christ in the church, you do have a role in your wife’s sanctification. Even if your wife is more spiritually engaged and mature than you are, you still have a responsibility to lead.

Next, moving away from the literal aspects to the conceptual aspects of Moore’s tweet, teachers of God’s word, as Beth Moore claims to be, should be mature, wise, careful, and self-controlled.

Paul advised young Timothy to “set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity.”

Show yourself in all respects to be a model of good works, and in your teaching show integrity, dignity, and sound speech that cannot be condemned, so that an opponent may be put to shame, having nothing evil to say about us. (Titus 2:7-8).

Titus 2:3 also advises elder women on behavior and comportment in Christian life. As does 1 Timothy 3:11-

In the same way, the women are to be worthy of respect, not malicious talkers but temperate and trustworthy in everything.

I would further state that advice for elder women goes in spades for when they are speaking publicly about their husbands.

On the discernment side, if you’re having red flags about a certain teacher or preacher, one thing to look for is if he or she makes hasty statements. Do they have to retract things often? Do they have to go back the next week and fix a wrong thing they said? I’m not saying teachers don’t ever make a mistake, but if the teacher or preacher you like or follow has a habit of always having to re-explain, correct, or retract, it’s an issue. Real teachers consider their words carefully and speak wisely to minimize such problems, as the 1 Tim 3:11 and Titus 2:7-8 verses says they should do.

I’ve said before that Beth Moore is not qualified to teach partly because of her undignified delivery. She speaks casually, quickly (both in tempo and in heart-haste). Her haste, multitudes of words, and thoughtlessness in her teaching was replicated in posting that tweet for the world to see. It was careless, as evidenced by her almost immediate deletion of it. The Bible says of a person who is hasty in words,

Do you see a man who is hasty in his words? There is more hope for a fool than for him. (Proverbs 29:20)

Be not rash with your mouth, nor let your heart be hasty to utter a word before God, for God is in heaven and you are on earth. Therefore let your words be few. (Ecclesiastes 5:12)

Now someone could say, “Gee, that was one tweet, maybe Beth Moore meant Keith wasn’t inclined to study scriptures with her right then.” That could well be what she meant. So in discernment, we don’t jump to conclusions but we watch fruit grow. LOL, it takes a long time to watch fruit grow. It’s like watching paint dry. It takes time and patience. So, in Keith’s case, is there any? What is the overall, long-term pattern and is there any evidence to support that this is a consistent husbandly failure on his part?

Yes, and yes. The Moores have had a long, public spiritual life. There is much evidence to support that Keith Moore has consistently failed his wife by abandoning the husbandly role, and in so doing, rebelled against his God and allowed a Jezebel-type to be born.

Beth Moore chose to be President of her multi-million dollar corporation, Living Proof Ministries. Her husband chose to be Vice President. In one video interview I watched of Beth, she said her husband Keith has no part in the company (ministry). She was saying that as if it was a good thing, but it is really a bad thing. In looking at Living Proof Ministries’ tax returns, Moore’s reported hours working at the ministry were 50 hours per week and Keith’s were 8 hours per week. She was President and he was Vice-president. He took no compensation. So what she said was true.

However, in ministry, the wife is supposed to be led by the husband. He is supposed to oversee her. If her non-profit was a ministry as she claimed on her IRS forms, the man needed biblically to be very involved so he could rightly make decisions and lead his wife. If it isn’t a ministry but is a corporation, then why was she taking the lead role, in that case she would be be leading a feminist lifestyle? Either way, it was a #fail.

In an interview in Charisma Magazine some years ago, Moore explained how she and her husband worked out their roles as Living Proof Ministries grew and placed increasing demands on Moore.

The only time Keith ever voiced any objection, both women say, was in the early days of the ministry when Beth, at God’s prompting, quit teaching aerobics classes and began to write Bible studies. The aerobics classes had brought in at least “a little part-time money,” Beth says. But at that time, the Bible studies were not for-pay publications; they were simply a tool she prepared gratis for the women who were attending her Thursday morning Bible class at Metropolitan Baptist Church in Houston. Keith didn’t understand Beth’s willingness to invest so much time in a project she wasn’t being paid for.

So her husband objected to Beth STOPPING her work outside the home and OBJECTED to her being at home more. In fact, biblically, it should be the opposite.

When Moore’s children were small the growing ministry required her to travel away from home. This was not a problem for Mr Moore. In the interview, Beth said that he simply stepped in to the wifely role as the wife stepped into the husband’s. From the same article linked above, it is reported in the interview and using their own words, that the children endured long and/or frequent absences of their mother away from home, that they strove to maintain normalcy when Beth was gone, that they lost family privacy, that the family endured trials because of Beth’s choice to work outside the home, that they all had to sacrifice for the sake of Beth’s ministry, that each time Beth left home the children saw their father (unbiblically) performing in the wife’s role, and that Keith totally supported Beth’s choices all the while. Moore says of her absences from home as a mother, her children

“invested in the kingdom every time they kissed their mother goodbye.”

This is what happens when the husband follows his fleshly “inclinations”, and fails to rightly lead. It is not surprising then, we end up with a false teacher like Beth Moore who does not know how to handle scripture. In the end, the answer is yes, there is along-term pattern of unfruitfulness so as to be able to credibly say enough evidence exists to support that this is a consistent husbandly failure on his part? We can answer the question Pastor Mike Abendroth asked, Where is Beth Moore’s Husband?

So the take-away discernment lessons here are:

1. Use social media wisely. It’s embarrassing for someone to speak impiously and worse to see the twitter stream littered with “unavailable tweets.” Proverbs 12:4 here, An excellent wife is the crown of her husband, but she who brings shame is like rottenness in his bones. Sin and error never lead to courage. They usually lead to hiding the sin and deleting the tweet. When you tweet, post, blog, vlog, or otherwise, do you stand behind what you’ve said? Even under fire, does what you’ve said, stand on solid ground?

2. Do not be hasty when speaking, especially publicly. If you are a teacher, be even slower with your words. Proverbs 12:18 says, There is one whose rash words are like sword thrusts, but the tongue of the wise brings healing.

3. Women, help your men do their duty of protecting and overseeing you. First, because it is a biblical command, and second, because the false teachers are just waiting to “creep into households and capture weak women, burdened with sins and led astray by various passions,” (Ephesians 5:22-24, 2 Timothy 3:6).

4. Women, you know that we have a tendency to be led astray and usurp the husband (Genesis 3:16). Stay submitted.

5. Sin always finds you out. (Numbers 32:23). Where a false teacher is concerned, both their doctrine and their lives (behavior) will be suspect. Yes, even Billy Graham’s. We detect the false doctrine earlier and more easily because false teachers can’t hide their teaching, that is their moneymaking, stock-in-trade. They can and do hide the sin in their lives more easily, but as the verse says, it will find you out. The natural man can’t keep a lid on his sinful behavior forever. It WILL come out.

In Beth Moore’s case she tries very hard to hide her private life. The Charisma interview I linked to is 13 years old. Not many interviews occurred after that. Or if they did, Moore insists on prepared questions ahead of time, denies tours of her office, and refuses to speak of certain periods or issues in her life (untransparent to the extreme). There are always some glimpses and gleanings of the all-important moral side emerging, though. She can’t keep a lid on all of it.

Usually at some point a critical mass is reached, the cracks in the dam can’t be plugged and the whole thing comes down.  Every false teacher always has some moral issue that emerges. We saw this with Mark Driscoll. Tullian Tchividjian. Creflo Dollar. Jimmy Swaggart. Joyce Meyer. Jack Schaap. The list is seemingly endless. That’s because a false teacher or false pastor has no hope of restraining the sin in him, and even a secret sin always finds its way out.

6. Honor your husband. It is a great example to set for the younger women. A solid, biblical marriage is wondrous to behold and that is because marriage is a picture of Jesus and His Bride.

Then I heard what seemed to be the voice of a great multitude, like the sound of many waters and like the sound of mighty thunder peals, crying, “Hallelujah! For the Lord our God the Almighty reigns. Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his Bride has made herself ready; it was granted her to be clothed with fine linen, bright and pure”– for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints. And the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.” And he said to me, “These are true words of God.” (Revelation 19:6-9)

Posted in bible, bible art journaling, discernment, God, jesus

Bible Art Journaling: No, No, No

Posted on by elizabethprata

The Second Commandment says that any graven images of the Holy God are forbidden.

“You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.” (Exodus 20:4)

The next sentence says nor shall you bow down to them, so this commandment is talking about worshiping idols. Matthew Henry Commentary explains,

It is forbidden to make any image or picture of the Deity, in any form, or for any purpose; or to worship any creature, image, or picture.

And then Henry goes on to explain the deeper meanings of the command..

So, I’ve been thinking about pictures lately, spiritual pictures. I became aware last week of Presidential candidate Dr Ben Carson’s portrait with Jesus. Carson claims to be a believer, but as a Seventh Day Adventist there are too many aberrant beliefs within that cult in order for me to take his claim at face value. (FMI on Seventh Day Adventism, please go here,  here  or here)

Yes Dr Carson’s portrait is real.

Carson has said it is representative of his faith and displays his gratitude that Jesus gave him ‘gifted hands’ as a surgeon. I personally believe the portrait is blasphemy. The Second Commandment said not to portray in pictures any image of the Deity, and yet there is a big old picture of the Second Person of the Deity. Worse, Carson is seated while Jesus is standing. At the least one would think Carson would be bowing.

I like this picture of the Robe of Righteousness by Lars Justinen. In Justinen’s painting, Jesus’ face is not shown. The focus is on His act of clothing us with His righteousness and the reaction of the sinner. I’m still not sure if the Justinen painting breaks the Second Commandment if Jesus’ face and His body is not shown. But it might.

A friend made a comment on Twitter last night. She posted a photo of a Bible that had been altered by the owner having added paintings all around the edges of the margins. Apparently it’s called Bible Art Journaling. Apparently Bible Art Journaling is a “movement”.

Many visually oriented folks know that prayer journals and art journals are a great way to record thoughts and reactions to scripture. I mentioned in last night’s essay that I made art journals and individual little books during my process of coming to salvation and just afterwards. As a new babe in Christ I had difficulty grappling with new doctrines and I’d often try to visualize them since words failed me. I also used my art journal to make collages in praise to the Lord. I was so excited! The depth of my gratitude overflowed and words failed me then, too, so I’d use pictures to express what I felt. I did them in my blank sketchbook, though, NOT in my Bible.

I have had a lifelong aversion to writing, drawing, or even underlining any book whatsoever. Not novels, not textbooks, nothing. I never even wrote my name in one. I don’t write in my bible nor do I underline anything in it. Since that book is God’s Holy Word I feel even more strongly that a Bible should be handled with gravitas and respect. I’ve never underlined or written anything in any of my Bibles. “Prettying up” a Bible with my own art is not necessary and mixes my paltry words and pictures with God’s. Besides, the Bible isn’t an art project! We don’t need tutorials explaining why gesso is not a good idea to use on the thin pages of God’s word, but stencils are!

Google Image search results page for search term “Bible art journaling”

Now, if the Bibles being decorated don’t violate the Second Commandment by depicting an image from heaven nor does the owner bow down to it, then why am I writing about it? Where is the concern? Isn’t it just a matter of preference?

I have three answers for that.

1. Yes, it is a matter of preference. There is no commandment that a Christian can’t find solace in creative work on the pages of one’s Bible. But not everything allowed is profitable. (1 Corinthians 10:23). See #2.

2. I don’t want to disrespect this young woman, but I do have concerns with this approach to “encountering Jesus.” This page is a tutorial page on how to “journal your Bible.” It’s called Bible Art Journaling Challenge, and the woman promises to “Help you encounter Jesus through creativity” through “52 weeks of life-changing creative fun!” She’s not the only one. Bible Art Journaling is being promoted this way in many places.

Now here’s the issue. There is nothing wrong with art. There is nothing wrong with creativity. There is nothing wrong with collages, illustrating a prayer, painting a verse. Visuals combined with words often helps us meditate on the Word. Here is a collage I did when I was a babe, regarding 2 Corinthians 4:4 and satan’s blinding of men to the truth. All the while people play games with their life, never heeding the seriousness of it and the squandered worship they could be performing.

Here is another one I did as a babe in Christ, musing on Philippians 4:7 and the peace that passes all understanding. No matter if there is violence, war, explosions, the gal sipping tea is peaceful and unperturbed because she has Christ.

Another creative outlet I employ is spending a lot of time matching a verse with one of my photographs, all the while thinking of what the verse means. I shared these with you to show I’m not a wordsmith purist nor an old fuddy-duddy, lol. Creativity is good. Visuals are good. It’s just not a substitute for engaging your mind totally on the unadulterated word of God. Reading God’s Word is the encounter with God. Painting swirls on a Bible page is not an encounter with God.

The difference is, God’s word should stand alone and not become an “fun activity.”

We read that satan is the most subtle creature in the Garden. (Genesis 3:1.) If he can do anything to divert a Christian’s attention from the pure, unadulterated word of God, he will do it. This Bible art journaling is just such an activity. The Bible is not an art project. Coloring on its pages does not bring you closer to Jesus. Painting on its pages does not spark an encounter with Him. Reading His word, meditating on it, and obeying it is what illuminates the mind of God to us. Satan is an incremental foe. I have no idea abut the theology of this blogger but this one paragraph struck me as the best description of satan’s ploy in incrementally changing our stance on doctrine.

Incrementalism is the single best arrow in Satan’s quiver…It is a subtle approach to change masked as genuinely positive, and since it always comes in slow, bite size chunks over time, you do not even feel that you have been deceived until too late.

See what this blogger said about her jump into the journaling Bible movement. Again, I don’t disrespect her, but her opening statement seems to perfectly capture the incremental nature of satan’s ploy as explained above,

Truth be told, I had resisted this whole “art journaling in your Bible” movement at first since I already do a lot of Bible studying and I didn’t want to take time away from that in order to “play”. BUT, the seed was planted. Just about every time I cracked open my Bible I could see how I could incorporate this into my life by keeping it simple and recording what I was already learning. (source)

So once the seed was planted when she opened her bible she didn’t see Jesus anymore but all she saw was how to use the space for her art. See? It’s a problem. We have blank sketch books for art. We have altered book tutorials. Not Bible art. As a matter of fact, bible art journaling IS a form of altered book art.

Altered books: An altered book is a form of mixed media artwork that changes a book from its original form into a different form, altering its appearance and/or meaning. An altered book artist takes a book (old, new, recycled or multiple) and cuts, tears, glues, burns, folds, paints, adds to, collages, rebinds, gold-leafs, creates pop-ups, rubber-stamps, drills, bolts, and/or be-ribbons it. The artist may add pockets and niches to hold tags, rocks, ephemera, or other three-dimensional objects.

Here is an example of altered book art:

Source

Here is an example of MY altered book art:

EPrata art

Here is an example of altered Bible art:

Source

Bible art journaling obscures God’s word. It competes with it. To be fair, the Bible art journaling blogger does not advocate abandoning devotional time nor substituting creative time for actual bible study. But that is the subtle genius of satan. He is an incremental foe. A sly insertion of an activity with the Bible instead of reading the Bible itself is the goal. A familiar proverb or saying goes,

“If the camel once gets his nose in the tent, his body will soon follow.”

#3. I’d said that satan is subtle. Usually there is not anything particularly wrong with an activity or practice. You can’t point a finger and show the smoking gun. However the incremental nature of satan, taking an inch here, a half an inch there, over time chisels away at the foundation and all of a sudden you look around and wonder, “how did I get here?”

Just as Catholic labyrinths were re-branded as Protestant prayer walking, just as occult channeling was re-branded as “hearing from God”, just as mystical “contemplative prayer” was re-branded as “Protestant contemplative prayer”, just as Hindu Yoga was re-branded as ‘Christian Yoga’, just as Wiccan pentagrams were re-branded as “circle making”…”. Remember enneagrams? Those have Sufi roots. Bible art journaling is already melding with Hindu Mandala coloring. “Color your way closer to God?” No, no, no.

This Mandala Coloring Book For Grown Ups Is The Creative’s Way To Mindful Relaxation

For the unfamiliar, a mandala is a sacred symbol in Hinduism and Buddhism, made from a nest of squares and circles, that represents the cosmos. As the Asian Art Museum put it: “mandalas are not just images to view, but worlds to enter — after recreating the image in their mind’s eye, meditators imaginatively enter its realm.”

Oh! You mean, an encounter with the divine through creativity! Like this Christian description!

Bible art journaling is part of the growing, Illustrated Faith and Bible doodling movement where many are creating on the pages of their Bible. The idea is to engage more freely with the Word of God in new ways and to record personally inspiring scriptures in creative and artistic ways, which serve to remind us of moments in our personal journey with God. (source)

Or like this book available at Amazon, coloring Hindu mandalas to match Christian hymns.

Abide: An Adult Coloring Book Featuring 30 Great Hymns of the Faith: Where Art-Therapy and Soul-Therapy Meet

With original mandala artwork and hymn excerpts to color, Abide is certain to stimulate spirit and heart. Turn on some background music to play along as you color. Each coloring sheet is one-sided, with hymn texts printed on the back of each design.
Carefully selected hymns to appeal to young and old. Original mandala artwork. Artistic script designs. Simple, but beautiful mandala designs.

Source

People, Mandalas are HINDU. They are not, nor will they ever be CHRISTIAN. They represent something sacred to the unsaved. Something sacred to the unsaved is an IDOL. We are back to the Second Commandment I opened this essay with. Don’t believe me? See mandalas defined-

Definition of mandala:Mandala (Sanskrit Maṇḍala, ‘circle’) is a spiritual and ritual symbol in Indian religions, representing the universe. The basic form of most mandalas is a square with four gates containing a circle with a center point. In Hinduism, a mandala (yantra) is a two- or three-dimensional geometric composition used in sadhanas, puja or meditative rituals. It is considered to represent the abode of the deity. Each yantra is unique and calls the deity into the presence of the practitioner through the elaborate symbolic geometric designs. According to one scholar, “Yantras function as revelatory symbols of cosmic truths and as instructional charts of the spiritual aspect of human experience”. (source)

Do you really think it’s innocent to color a mandala just because some money-grubbing, undiscerning author re-packaged a pagan activity by pasting a line from a beloved hymn over the top of it and adding “Christian” to the title?

That is where Bible art journaling leads. It’s a diversion.

The Puritans had a high view of the Bible. Puritan Richard Baxter wrote in the mid 1600s,

The reading of the word of God, and the explication and application of it in good books, is a means to possess the mind with sound, orderly, and working apprehensions of God, and of his holy truths: so that in such reading our understandings are oft illuminated with a heavenly light, and our hearts are touched with a special delightful relish of that truth; and they are secretly attracted and engaged unto God and all the powers of our souls are excited and animated to a holy obedient life.

Therefore I do not believe that painting butterflies on my Bible’s pages is an encounter with Jesus. Doing so incrementally adulterates it, alters it, and then slowly degrades the high view we should have of it. The Bible is not an art project.

See? I like butterflies. Really.

Posted in discernment, false teachers, God in a box

"God can use it…"

Posted on by elizabethprata
“I don’t agree with everything [insert false teacher’s name here] but there are some good things he/she says.” In rebutting this notion, author Michelle Lesley phrased it best. She said in her essay titled,

Mayoral Candidate Opal Covey Rebukes Fred and Speaks in Tongues–

Ladies, you want to know why I warn against false teachers? This is why. You start out with “gateway drugs” like Beth Moore and Priscilla Shirer, thinking, “It’s OK. It’s only a little unbiblical teaching. I can stop any time I want,” and pretty soon you end up like this lady, strung out and face down in the gutter of blasphemy and false doctrine. This is an embarrassment to the church, an awful witness to the lost, and a black eye for Jesus. Just say no to false teaching.

There is the story of the demon-possessed slave girl in Acts which relates here.

As we were going to the place of prayer, we were met by a slave girl who had a spirit of divination and brought her owners much gain by fortune-telling. 17She followed Paul and us, crying out, “These men are servants of the Most High God, who proclaim to you the way of salvation.” 18And this she kept doing for many days. Paul, having become greatly annoyed, turned and said to the spirit, “I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.” And it came out that very hour. (Acts 16:16-18)

Why didn’t Paul say, as so many pastors and teachers and women say today, “She is speaking truth. I don’t agree with everything she says, but God can certainly use her. I’ll let her speak for me”?

Because it isn’t about the words such a person says, it’s the source. Paul taught,

Do not be bound together with unbelievers; for what partnership have righteousness and lawlessness, or what fellowship has light with darkness? Or what harmony has Christ with Belial, or what has a believer in common with an unbeliever? (2 Corinthians 6:14-15).

He made four explicit points:

Righteousness v. lawlessness
Light v. darkness
Christ v. Belial (satan)
Believer v. unbeliever

He made four implicit points. The goal among believers is to be in:
partnership
fellowship
harmony
in common

Whatever flavor your favored partly or all-false teacher demonstrates from the second column, God will not use it. The dividing line is clear. Have nothing to do with those who are lawless, or dark, or of satan, or are an unbeliever.

EPrata photo, not EPrata

For people who say, well, ‘Don’t put God in a box, He can use anything’, you’re right, God can use anything. He can turn me into a giraffe. But will He? No, He created animals after their own kind. Just because God CAN turn me into a giraffe doesn’t mean He will.

He can do anything, even use a demon-possessed girl speaking truth – but He won’t. He didn’t. The Holy Spirit inside Paul was tormented hearing the slave girl speak heavenly glories from a satan-polluted mouth! (Acts 16:18). Any false teacher is demon influenced. In Galatians 1 Paul was astonished they were deserting the Gospel so quickly. In 2 Corinthians 11 he chastised them who put up with a different Gospel so easily. In Revelation 2, Jesus threatened the Thyatirans for tolerating a false prophetess. No, God won’t use falsity. His Son is too beautiful to Him and His Gospel is too pure. Why should he?

God chose to speak thru His Son (Hebrews 1:1-2), not through satan. So why would you limit God and put Him in a box by saying He can’t follow through on what He said He will do? Trust Him. If He said He will work through the Gospel given rightly, He will.

And what if…”God can use” a false teacher’s words not to draw women to Christ but to harden them in their sin? Be careful what you say “God can use.” God DOES use sinners, wolves, and false doctrine, but not in the way most people think. God CAN use Beth Moore to harden women in their self-esteem, legalistic, selfish ways.

I’ll end with another best quote from a sister in Christ. When the TV series “The Bible” was released by Roma Downey, Sunny Shell reviewed it. She put in a Q & A to her review. She hypothetically asked,

Q. “Even though there’s a lot of error in this movie, still, don’t you think it’s a great way to show people who God really is, I mean, can’t God use anything to save someone?

A. No, I don’t think this movie is a great way to reveal the truth about God since it’s filled with lies about God. And yes, I realize God can use anything to save someone, but He only chose to use the message of the true Gospel to save all men (John 14:6, Acts 4:12). Nowhere in Scripture does God command or allow His children to use the work of Satan to proclaim His truth. And God is clear, anyone who denies Him and defiles His holy character or word, works for the devil, not for God. 

Since the beginning of time, the devil has attempted to minimize and blaspheme God’s holy character by lulling us to disregard His holiness, justice and righteousness. God has never called His children of light to partner with the works of darkness (2 Cor 6:15-16). As God’s children, we are commanded to pursue holiness, rather than try to find a way to compromise the glory of Christ in order to “reach more people”.

Well said, Mrs Shell. As for false teachers, just a little bit of poison kills. We know that satan speaks through these teachers, and satan only speaks lies. He will meld a few lies in with the truth so that the two are nearly indistinguishable, and therefore appear harmless. His lies involve the lust of the eyes, the pride of life, and the lust of the flesh.

If I hear a woman saying “I know [such and such false teacher] doesn’t teach everything according to the bible, but I like some things she teaches” then I know one thing for sure. Something in that false teacher’s doctrine appeals to her flesh and she is unwilling to give that up.

Yet we are called to slay the old man in us. Romans 8:13 says,

For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.

Mortify the flesh, and kill off that part of you that wants to cling to a teacher others have said or shown you with the Word are not giving an authentic Gospel.

We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. (2 Corinthians 10:5)

Posted in bethel redding, bill johnson, discernment, false church, jesus culture

“Activating” the kids at Bethel Redding

Posted on by elizabethprata

If there was any ever doubt about how satan grabs your kids early, this should erase it. Satan is a relentless enemy, unswerving in his plot to usurp Jesus from His throne, and unstinting on the number of low and dirty tricks he uses to thwart the Gospel at any age and every age. But we read God’s Word “so that we would not be outwitted by Satan; for we are not ignorant of his designs.” (2 Corinthians 2:11).

Here is a good essay written by a friend, at My Word Like Fire. It shows in devastating manner the ease with which satan goes after the children. We know that Jesus is a victorious King, and that no plan or scheme of satan will ultimately prosper against those who love Jesus…but it’s still difficult to see the kids being chewed up like prey by a bloody and evil enemy.

My question is, to what lengths do you go to protect your children from the schemes of satan? Are you diligent in doing devotionals with them? Reading the Bible to them, and with them? Sacrificially making sure they attend a good Bible-based church for Sunday School or Wednesday night lessons? Do they see your marriage as a metaphor for the sacrifice of Jesus for His bride and submission to Him?

Here is the essay “Activating” the kids at Bethel Redding. Please read.

Bethel Redding leaders continue to present an unbalanced and unhealthy preoccupation with signs and wonders–or, as I have come to call it, a bells-and-whistles theology. It should be no surprise that this is also present in Bethel Redding’s children’s ministry.

Here is just one more example of the blasphemy coming out of Bethel Redding as exposed from My Word Like
Fire-

Bethel Redding Children’s Pastor says Jesus asked him for forgiveness

He said to His disciples, “It is inevitable that stumbling blocks come, but woe to him through whom they come! It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck and he were cast into the sea than that he should cause one of these little ones to sin. (Luke 17:1-2)

And in case you are thinking that Bethel Redding is just a faraway church on the other side of the country (or world) in California having nothing to do with you, Bethel Redding with pastor Bill Johnson has spawned both the Bethel School of Supernatural Ministry where you, too, can learn to be a prophet; and Bethel Redding Music, which is exported all over the world. You might know Bethel Redding’s song One Thing Remains, for example. “Your love never fails, never gives up, it never runs out on me”… among hundreds of other songs infiltrating all churches everywhere. It is written and sung by the group Jesus Culture, formed at Bethel Redding.

See? Satan never gives up, never runs out on you…

Posted in discernment, paths, satan

The old paths

Posted on by elizabethprata

Thus says the LORD: “Stand by the roads, and look, and ask for the ancient paths, where the good way is; and walk in it, and find rest for your souls. But they said, ‘We will not walk in it.’ (Jeremiah 6:16)

Watch the path of your feet And all your ways will be established. (Proverbs 4:26)

In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths. (Proverbs 3:6)

My foot has held fast to his steps; I have kept his way and have not turned aside. (Job 23:11)

All our righteous walking with Jesus is not without intervention by angels, strength of the Holy Spirit, and the will of God, because satan the adversary always tries to hinder us. He attempts to knock us off the path. He works to misdirect us.

because we wanted to come to you—I, Paul, again and again—but Satan hindered us. (1 Thessalonians 2:18)

Gill’s Exposition says of the Thessalonians verse,

Satan does all he can to hinder the preaching of the Gospel, the hearing of the word, the profession of religion, and the saints coming together, and having spiritual conversation with each other; being, as his name “Satan” signifies, an enemy to Christ and his interest, and to the souls of men: indeed he can do nothing but by divine permission, nor can he hinder the will of God, and the execution of that, though he often hinders the will of man, or man from doing his will; he hindered the apostle from doing what he willed and purposed, but he did not hinder the will of God, which was that Paul should be employed in other work elsewhere. 

Stay true to the Lord and His ways. Stay in the Word, and stay praying. God promised to those who walk in His paths that they will find rest for their souls. Though as we see in the Jeremiah verse, some refused to walk in His ways.

The old way isn’t the popular way! It is being abandoned daily by people who have decided that new is better. They are leaving the Bible, the old songs of the faith, old fashioned worship, praising the Lord, and preaching. Seeker services are replacing old time worship of the Lord. Yet, God has not changed, Heb. 13:8. I can find no room to change myself. I think I’ll ask for the old paths and walk in them. How about you? The enemies are changing the signs, but the Lord will knows the way. Let’s ask Him and He will lead! (source)

Amen!

If satan changed the signs on your path, would you still know which way to go?

Posted in atonement, cs lewis, discernment, purgatory, sacred cow

Of C.S. Lewis and sacred cows

Posted on by elizabethprata
EPrata photo

A sacred cow is…

An idiom is based on the popular understanding of the elevated place of cows in Hinduism and appears to have emerged in America in the late 19th century. A literal sacred cow or sacred bull is an actual cow or bull that is treated with sincere reverence. A figurative sacred cow is a figure of speech for something considered immune from question or criticism, especially unreasonably so. (source)

Are there sacred cows in Christianity? Yes. Just ask young Jessica Lam, who dared to gently chide Beth Moore’s teaching, and Moore herself came down on Mrs. Lam like a bag of hammers. You can read about it here.

Sacred cows Ravi Zacharias and Billy Graham also get a pass, being untouchable from criticism, or even from examination of their teachings. The Pope and Mother Teresa are also sacred cows, but they are not in the faith to begin with.

CS Lewis is another sacred cow.

At Church Leaders.com, C. Michael Patton asked a great question. Why do we love CS Lewis and hate Rob Bell? Speaking to the notion of the sacred cow, Patton opens his essay this way

Theologically, there is some stuff people try to sweep under the rug as well. In fact, though I say C.S. Lewis is loved by all, I do remember walking into church one day years ago. They were giving away a bunch of the “overstock” books from the library. I saw a church elder throwing away a lot of books as well. They were all C.S. Lewis! When I inquired about his odd blasphemous actions, he said that C.S. Lewis was a heretic because he did not believe in inerrancy. While this is something of an extreme example, I think it is important to realize that not everyone likes C.S. Lewis. Almost everyone, but not all. Why? 

Because he had some “non-evangelical” leanings. Besides not believing in inerrancy, he also believed in the theory of evolution, denied substitutionary atonement in favor of a “ransom to Satan,” bordered on a Pelagian idea of human freedom, seemed to advocate baptismal regeneration, and regularly prayed for the dead. To top it all off, he held out hope for the destiny of the unevangelized, believing that Christ might save them outside of direct knowledge of him (inclusivism). With all of these foibles, I seriously doubt any evangelical church would take a second look at his resume were he to apply for a pastorate at their church today. In fact, this list alone would be enough for many to call him a heretic. However, we still love him. We still read him. We still defend him. We still hand out his books by the dozens to friends and family who are struggling with their faith. This man who had his Christianity affirmed by Dr. Bob Jones but questioned by Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones is beloved by just about everyone, making him off-limits for serious criticism. Why?

The writer goes on to defend Lewis despite Lewis’ aforementioned “theological foibles.” Pardon me but many of the things Lewis believed in, noted above and also including the Catholic concept of purgatory, are heresy, not ‘foibles’. But Lewis gets a pass. Why? On the strength of Lewis’ persuasive arguments? (Colossians 2:4). His well-written philosophies? (Colossians 2:8).

When I first became a Christian, people urged me to read CS Lewis’ work. I said “OK.” I read Mere Christianity. I did not like it. I read The Great Divorce. I hated it. I read The Screwtape Letters, and was amused by it, but that waned halfway through. I never finished. I never even started Chronicles of Narnia. I don’t favor animal stories. Miracles? Blech. Weight of Glory? Didn’t understand it, biblically. I really tried hard, too.

I thought to myself “What is the big deal all about??” So I looked up Lewis’ theology. I was shocked that anyone would regard him as an evangelical. The man’s theology was a mess.

But I held my peace and went on my way.

In 2011 The Gospel Coalition’s Kevin DeYoung cautioned us on Mere Christianity.

C.S. Lewis’ Mere Christianity is a classic. It is a winsome, thoughtful, well-written defense of the Christian faith. Some of its better known sections–like the famous liar, lunatic, Lord, trilemma–have become part of the way evangelicals think and speak. No doubt God has used Lewis and Mere Christianity to awaken affections for Christ, engage the mind for Christ, and remove obstacles for the Spirit to draw people to Christ. I’m thankful for all this. More than that, I’ve benefited from every Lewis book I’ve read. But C.S. Lewis was not an evangelical. Mere Christianity shows why. Let me highlight two significant problems.

In 2013 Southern Baptist Theological Seminary noted there were some difficulties with Lewis’ theology, but continued to value his contribution to the canon of Christian thought and literature.

CT writer J.D. Douglas paraphrases Lloyd-Jones, saying Lewis’ view of salvation was “defective in two key respects: (1) Lewis taught and believed that one could reason oneself into Christianity; and (2) Lewis was an opponent of the substitutionary and penal theory of the Atonement.” In the same essay, Douglas notes Lewis’ wide celebration among evangelicals and even credits Lewis with making “righteousness readable.”

In 2015 we hear a pastor urge us to quit Lewis. I always appreciate Pastor Mike Abendroth’s biblical stance and plain honesty. Here is this short clip, he says, “Stop Quoting CS Lewis”. I totally agree.

In discernment, the command in God’s word is, test all things. Hold fast to the good. (1 Thessalonians 5:21). The Jamieson-Fausset Commentary says of the Thessalonians verse,

Locke says, Those who are for laying aside reason in matters of revelation, resemble one who would put out his eyes in order to use a telescope.

Test ALL. You might be surprised at what you discover, cow plop and all.

Posted in america, christianity, discernment, heresy

The biggest heresy in America

Posted on by elizabethprata

Listening to John MacArthur’s second sermon this morning, on “Why The World Hates Christians, part 2” he mentioned an 11-month-old survey done by Ligonier and LifeWay Research. The research involved identifying the biggest heresy in America. Before MacArthur revealed what it was, I’d thought it might be Prosperity Gospel, or Charismatic errors. Nope.

Here is what Ligonier/LifeWay found: The biggest heresy in America was a denial of human depravity. Human depravity is the concept that after Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden, all humans from that point on are completely unable to see the things of God, to do any righteous deeds pleasing to God, or to respond in any way to God. We are completely unable. Our inability renders us dead in our sins, and being dead in our sins renders us unable. We need God to draw us to Him, to make us see Him, and to be able to respond to Him. This doctrine means, we as humans prior to repentance and justification, cannot “choose God.” As John MacArthur explains complete inability:

This doctrine has been called “Total Depravity,” but I feel that the “total depravity” is a misleading term.  If you look up “depravity” in the dictionary, it’s a synonym for viciousness.  It’s a synonym for being vile.  In fact, to be depraved, according to the dictionary, is to be degraded, debased, immoral to a dangerous degree like rapists and serial killers.  The word “depraved” sort of connotes a level of evil that’s just not applicable to everybody.  To say someone is totally depraved, you know, you think of Jeffrey Dahmers, or Charles Manson, or somebody who has not a vestige of human goodness, and void of all normal affection and restraint.  To call someone “totally depraved” would set them outside normal people as vicious perverts.  

That is not what is meant when theologians refer to total depravity because not everybody is as bad as they could be, and not everybody is as bad as everybody else.  What we’re talking about here is what I’ve chosen to call “absolute inability.”  What is true of everybody is we have no ability to respond to the gospel.  We are completely unable to raise ourselves out of a state of death.  We are completely unable to give our blind hearts sight.  We are completely unable to free ourselves from slavery to sin.  We are completely unable to turn from ignorance to truth.  We are completely unable to stop rebelling against God, stop being hostile to His Word.  

We are not only unable but we are unwilling to do that, unwilling to repent, unwilling to believe.  And if we are to repent and to believe, then it must be like it was for Lazarus, where God who commands the dead to rise has to also give them the power.

The church I used to attend is just such a church, participating in promoting the biggest heresy in America. From the pulpit and in Sunday School the Calvinist-hating pastor used to promote the notion of “free will” and our ability to choose Jesus as Savior. He would talk about our minds having just a ”flawed rationale’ and ‘clouded thinking’, not the fact that the Bible states we are completely blind (2 Corinthians 4:3-4) and totally unable to do anything for God. (Romans 3:10). Five minutes into one Sunday School lesson he explained free will and on that same Sunday in a 20 minute sermon he mentioned it again 5 more times. Talk about indoctrination. And this was just a dinky little Southern Baptist Church in a rural county.

Here is a web page listing all the verses which explain man’s incapability to choose God.

With such indoctrination about the false concept from churches from east to west, and on television and in books and in movies that we have freedom to choose Jesus, it’s no wonder that this heresy has grown so monstrously pervasive. I’m glad Ligonier/LifeWay named it a heresy.

Here is an excerpt from their research conclusions-

Thanks to a recent survey by Ligonier Ministries and Lifeway Research we now know the biggest heresy in America. Pushing errors regarding the trinity and the church into second and third place is the denial of the Bible’s teaching about the doctrine of sin, especially in the related areas of human depravity and human inability. I say “related” because what we believe about human depravity impacts what we believe about human ability; what we are determines what we can or cannot do.

Regarding human depravity, the research showed: 

  • 67% agree “Everyone sins at least a little, but most people are by nature good.”
  • 40% agree “God loves me because of the good I do or have done.” 

Regarding human inability, the statistics were: 

  • Only 16% agree with the doctrine that says “people do not have the ability to turn to God on their own initiative.
  • 71% of Americans agree that “an individual must contribute his/her own effort for personal salvation.”
  • 64% of Americans agree “a person obtains peace with God by first taking the initiative to seek God and then God responds with grace.” 

In summary, the vast majority believe that: 

  • Though we sin a little, by nature we are good.
  • We can do good and God rewards our good deeds by loving us.
  • We have the ability to turn to God on our own initiative.
  • Salvation involves us taking the initiative that God then responds to.

Go to the link above for more information and Ligonier’s infographic. Their conclusion was this:

“The future belongs to Christians with conviction.”

Is that you? Do you stand by what you believe? Are you strong on biblical knowledge and exhibiting a practical holiness? Because now is the time to know what you believe, why you believe it, and be ready to defend it- at all costs. Luke 14:28.

Posted in children, discernment, satan

Here is an example of how satan targets children

Posted on by elizabethprata

Satan is targeting your children. You know this. But do you really know it?

We read the newspapers about what the world is doing to children in schools, with the teachings on the false theory of evolution, with gender-neutral bathrooms, the homosexual agenda in “sex ed.” But outside of schools behind the scenes there is monstrous pressure, relentless, shark-like never ending pressure to succumb to evil. Here is an excerpt from an unsolicited email I received this week. It is one of many I receive from authors and publishers wanting me to promote their books. If they are sending me, a small, insignificant blogger, emails like these, you can be sure they are papering their doctrines of demons from wall to wall, top to bottom.

I would love to send you a new book that teaches The Law of Attraction, and other metaphysical ideas, to children. The author is a Reiki Master and proficient in the Bowen Technique, as well as has a diploma in Energetic Healing. Even if you do not typically review books, we did want to offer the book to you in case you felt so inspired to share it with the children in your life, and, if they enjoy the book, perhaps post about it on social media or in your newsletter or recommend it among like-minded friends.

It’s gut-wrenching and startling to read something like this, isn’t it? Satan is at work, prowling like a lion, seeking whom he may devour. Be honest, when you read that verse, you picture in your mind that satan is going after you, or friends- adults. But instead, picture satan the lion devouring a child. He rips their little souls to shreds, their innocent faith crumbling under massive badgering to see the world satan’s way.

From the beginning of the Bible, we see that human-kind understood that children are a blessing from God, given by Him. Eve said,

Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, saying, “I have gotten a man with the help of the Lord.” (Genesis 4:1).

In Genesis 33:5 we read,

Then Esau looked up and saw the women and children. “Who are these with you?” he asked. Jacob answered, “They are the children God has graciously given your servant.

The LORD thinks highly of children. He blesses a family by giving a child to them!

Behold, children are a heritage from the LORD, the fruit of the womb a reward. 4 Like arrows in the hand of a warrior are the children of one’s youth.5 Blessed is the man who fills his quiver with them! He shall not be put to shame when he speaks with his enemies in the gate. (Psalm 127:3-5)

So if children are a blessing, a heritage, and a reward, how should we be raising them? In the knowledge of the LORD and His ways, of course. But these days, easier said than done.

Now, I do not have kids, so even commenting on parenting children and raising them in the Lord is a tough row to hoe for me. However, I am an educator in an elementary school and have been since 1983. I’ve seen the decline of morality, and the foundation of family crumble, from a mass perspective if not a personal one. in looking at classroom after classroom of wide-eyed innocents. Let me tell you, the decline is precipitous.

So given how high-risk these days are, and given how hard satan is going after the children, here are a few good resources for parents and relatives to peruse and perhaps use in contending for the spiritual safety of the kids.

Parents—Don’t Leave Teaching to the Church

The church is not the only place our children should be taught biblical truth. Parents can do many practical things to combat the evolutionary indoctrination their children face. In addition to ensuring that their children receive meaningful instruction from church, parents are responsible to build a biblical worldview in their children on a daily basis.

On. A. Daily. Basis.

Don’t wait until the children are one year old, or two years old. Or entering daycare. Or wait until Pre-Kindergarten. From birth, teach Jesus on a daily basis. AND live it in front of them.

Michelle Lesley wrote a series entitled The 10 commandments of Parenting.

Commandment 1: Thou Shalt Be A Believer
Commandment 2: Thou shalt put God first in thine own life
Commandment 3: Thou shalt have a Christ-centered marriage 
Commandment 4: Thou shalt make a pro-active decision that thy household will be a Godly one
Commandment 5: Thou shalt train thy children in the words of the Scriptures
Commandment 6: Thou shalt teach thy children to pray
Commandment 7: Thou shalt consistently and lovingly discipline thy children
Commandment 8:
Commandment 9: Thou Shalt Be Forgiving
Commandment 10: Thou Shalt Love

Grace To You: Ten Commandments of Parenting

One of the most common questions I get from Christian parents is about parenting.  They want specific and practical advice for rearing their children in the very best way. Couples usually understand their general parental responsibility, but will often speak of the need for help in specifically framing their biblical commitments to optimally shepherd and train their children.

Children don’t know when their innocent and correct worldview is being chipped away at. But it is, since the first moments they take a breath. Guard the kids!

Posted in death, discernment, hell, jesus, love, sin, wrath

When love includes hate

Posted on by elizabethprata

I had a Twitter interaction this week. With an opening like that, you know how the rest of this is going to go.

There are Christians on Twitter who tweet verses about God’s love. This is fine and great. I do that too! But there is an overemphasis in social media on God’s love, and rarely presentation of our personal sin, or His wrath, or the world’s curse or death, or hell. Yet Jesus spoke more of hell than heaven.

As the writer at Bible.org stated,

It may be worth noting that in Deuteronomy 28 (and following), the blessing section (28:1-14) is a great deal shorter than the cursing section (28:15-68). 

Speaking only of hell or wrath isn’t good either. God is a balanced and perfect God, and speaking of any and all of His attributes is always fruitful. But the excessive focus on “love” is, well, sickeningly sweet to me. Presenting only the ‘good’ attributes like love to the world, gives the world a picture of a Holy and Sovereign God as needy and wimpy.

Here is how the Twitter conversation went. I saw this tweet being re-tweeted by someone who I follow and follows me:

So I replied with this from Revelation 19:11,

And she valiantly and staunchly tweeted back:

She didn’t even tweet back a verse of love, but instead chose to deliberately cut out the part of the verse that says He makes war and judges. Those attributes are not so popular, and they get very little airing on public forums like Facebook, comment sections, and Twitter. So I answered:

And there was no reply.

I had heard a Phil Johnson sermon this weekend that I enjoyed. (What Phil Johnson sermon ever isn’t to enjoy? 🙂 Here is the part where Pastor Johnson was explaining how an overemphasis on Jesus’ love diminishes even the holy attribute of His love to a man-centered false notion of love that is far from the truth. Here is Pastor Phil Johnson:

Love Not The World

Now this is vital, because there are a lot of people who want to make the principle of love a kind of ethereal goodwill that is strewn about indiscriminately on every conceivable object. In fact, in the culture of American Christianity, if you include the mainstream denominational groups and everyone in our society who uses the label “Christian,” I think it’s fair to say that the prevailing notion of Christian charity in society at large is an idea of love that is always benevolent, always congenial, always positive about everything. 

I hear this all the time. Years ago, when I first began to investigate and catalogue the Christian resources on the Internet, I made a large list of links to other Christian Web sites. And in order to keep them all straight in my own mind, and in order to help Christians who might not be very discerning about doctrinal dangers on the Internet, I classified my links to other web sites Web sites according to their doctrinal soundness. So there’s large a category of links I have labeled helpful, and then there are other categories called “Bad Theology” and “Really Bad Theology.” And then a few years ago I found I had to add a category called “Really, Really Bad Theology.” And I’ve annotated every link on those pages to help explain why I categorize them as bad.

And to this day, nearly every week of my life, I get e-mail messages from people who are convinced that it is inherently unloving to label anyone else’s ideas bad theology. And they write me to chide me for posting my disagreements with other Christians’ doctrine on the Web. 

But the love that is called for in the New Commandment is not a vague, indiscriminate congeniality. Real love for the truth necessarily involves hatred for error.

Real love for God includes hatred of error. One error is the gauzy exclusive focus on Jesus-as-boyfriend, “in love” with His bride wearing a wrath of braided daisies and never the Crown of many diadems. Here is where the rest of the Revelation 19:11 verse takes us. To verses 12 and 13:

And I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse, and He who sat on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and wages war. 12His eyes are a flame of fire, and on His head are many diadems; and He has a name written on Him which no one knows except Himself. 13He is clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God.

The picture of Jesus than the one where He is smilingly depicted as sitting among the disciples among a field of, um, daisies is the one that social media and immature Christians exclusively present. The picture of Jesus as a bloody, judging, sin-avenger? Not so much.

Both pictures are true. Always tweeting, showing, describing, or even living, one picture of Jesus exclusively and not the entirety presents a false God.

John MacArthur’s sermon “Why the World Hates Christians, Part 1” also urges us Christians to speak of Jesus and His holy attributes of wrath, sin, judgment etc. It’s important. Don’t neglect putting them out into the world, he said, because it’s sin if we don’t. Here is Pastor MacArthur:

The world will hate you if you “start identifying evil as evil. We don’t want to do that. Let me help you. The Pope is evil. He is from the Kingdom of Darkness. He is anti-christ. Anyone who would say atheists are going to heaven, is anti-christ. Jesus said you will die in your sins and where I go you’ll never come because you believe not on Me. Not only do you need to believe on god but on Jesus Christ.

Homosexuality is evil. Gender identity tampering is evil. Adultery is evil. Fornication is evil. Lying is evil. Pride is evil. Self-centeredness is evil. Self-righteousness is evil. That’s why they killed Jesus, because He said their religion was evil. … 

John 7:7 says that the world hated Me before they hated you, because I testify of the world that its deeds are evil. If we don’t SAY that, we’re sinning. You can say it in love, but it has to be said.

Call evil what it is: evil.

We must love and talk of the attributes of God that the world hates to hear about, such as judgment, hell, wrath, and sin. If we don’t, who will?

Posted in critical issues commentary, discernment

Putting God in a box?

Posted on by elizabethprata
Bob Dewaay’s work at Critical Issues Commentary is wonderful. Mr Dewaay writes thorough essays covering a particular issue that is affecting Christians. As it’s written on his About page,

Critical Issues Commentary is … a series of carefully researched essays on important theological issues. Since 1992 more than 80 articles covering more than 60 specific “critical issues” have been published. Each article contains Biblical exegesis as well as interaction with famous teachers and teachings. Our prayer is that God uses this effort to help readers grow in their faith and be strong in their witness. Critical Issues Commentary was founded to help people find their way out of unbiblical teachings that confused their understanding of the faith.

In an excellent essay covering the topic of Christian Contemporary Divination, a particular paragraph piqued my attention.

Putting God in a Box?
I have debated people about these techniques many times. They often say, “God can do anything and use anything, you are tying to put God in a box.” You probably have heard that argument. When I was doing my research on divination for the previous issue of CIC, I thought about the “putting God in a box” accusation. The Biblical record shows that it is God who purposely limits the ways we can come to Him. If there is a “box” God made it. I think a better analogy than a box, is a sheepfold. It is a Biblical analogy.
Jesus said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter by the door into the fold of the sheep, but climbs up some other way, he is a thief and a robber” (John 10:1). The true sheep enter the sheepfold through the door, Jesus Christ (John 10:7). He as the Good Shepherd lays down His life for the sheep (John 10:11). He protects His sheep from the wolves, gives them pasture, and abundant life (John 10:10-15). Being in the sheepfold may seem restrictive compared to the adventures of exploring the bigger world out there unencumbered by the guidance of the Shepherd. However the restrictions are there to save our spiritual lives. 

The restrictions God places on how and by what means we may legitimately come to Him and receive spiritual truth are for our own good. The spirit world that Christian mystics like Morton Kelsey want to explore is far more complex than even Jung and Kelsey give it credit for being. The dangers of deception are far more real. In fact, if we journey into the world of the spirits by means other that what God has ordained, we will be deceived, not may be deceived. The spirits who inhabit that world have been there for many thousands of years practicing the art of deception. They willingly give people whatever experience they would tend to think is from God. Jose Silva, who is Catholic, when he went into his alpha level to gain guides received Jesus and Mary.The spirits will give you what you would expect is from God in your own context. They will provide any experience that serves their deceptive purposes, including sending a spiritual “Jesus” (see 2Corinthians 11:4). The prohibitions on divination are there to protect us from these malicious entities. 

So we are not putting God in a box, God is putting us in a sheepfold if we are willing to be there. The practices of “thinking outside the box” that are so popular today are fatal when it comes to spirituality. God has not left access to spiritual truth in the hands of innovative thinkers who like pioneers blaze new trails. God has given access to Himself, once for all, through Jesus Christ who is our heavenly High Priest. The truth is revealed once for all in the Scriptures.