discernment – Page 55

"Spot the Difference at the E Churches – Reformation21 Blog"

Posted on March 30, 2014 by elizabethprata

I read this from Carl Trueman at Reformation 21 blog, and I thought it was terrific. I love doing what he did. We tend to overcomplicate things, and we tend to stray from the Word. If we just compare what we do or say to the bible, we are all set. The bible brings clarity to everything.

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Spot the Difference at the E Churches
Posted by Carl Trueman

I wonder if highly observant readers can spot the subtle differences between these two descriptions of the ideal candidates for ministry?

Elevation Church:

The typical applicant is 23-30 years of age who is a recent college/seminary graduate or someone with relevant experience. However, do not let the age range deter you from applying. The applicant should also be someone seeking to join with Elevation Church, who is a high capacity leader with the ability to multi-task and thrives in a fast paced ministry environment.

Ephesian Church:

The saying is trustworthy: If anyone aspires to the office of overseer, he desires a noble task. Therefore an overseer must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, sober-minded, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not a drunkard, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money. He must manage his own household well, with all dignity keeping his children submissive, for if someone does not know how to manage his own household, how will he care for God’s church? He must not be a recent convert, or he may become puffed up with conceit and fall into the condemnation of the devil. Moreover, he must be well thought of by outsiders, so that he may not fall into disgrace, into a snare of the devil.

beth moore, discernment, false teachers, priscilla shirer, roma downey, unwrap the bible

Heretic Beth Moore partners with New Age Mystic Roma Downey in new bible convention touted as "America’s Largest Bible Event"

Posted on March 22, 2014October 16, 2022 by elizabethprata

The bible says that Adam was made first, then Eve. (1 Timothy 2:13). Man was made to have a woman in his life because otherwise he is not complete, and woman was made to be a man’s helpmeet. (Genesis 2:10). When a woman is out from the protection of a man, her father, older brother, husband, etc, she is vulnerable to deception. (1 Timothy 2:14).”

“Just as Satan’s strategy was to deceive Eve, so heretical false teachers have frequently chosen to spread their falsehoods by the same method. It doesn’t mean that they don’t approach men also, it’s just that Scripture’s telling us this is their target very often.” (source)

In secular life, “American women influence 80 percent of all automotive purchases…Chances are, you rule the roost when it comes to deciding which vehicles your family will drive. Your fella may want that Ferrari but cooler heads prevail, since you can’t really slap that child safety seat into the back of a California. Yes, women do make most family vehicle decisions…”

This UK Telegraph article reports that Women are key decision-makers in the home, DWP says
“But they are increasingly taking charge of traditional male household decisions such as choosing the family car, which pension provider or utility firms to choose and where to go on holiday.”

Satan sees an opportunity to weaken the church through the women, by women. We see this clearly in Revelation 2:20-23.

“But I have this against you, that you tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess and is teaching and seducing my servants to practice sexual immorality and to eat food sacrificed to idols. I gave her time to repent, but she refuses to repent of her sexual immorality. Behold, I will throw her onto a sickbed, and those who commit adultery with her I will throw into great tribulation, unless they repent of her works, and I will strike her children dead. And all the churches will know that I am he who searches mind and heart, and I will give to each of you according to your works.”

Apparently, a woman was teaching in Thyatira even though the bible says women are not to teach in the church over men. (1 Timothy 2:12). Worse, she was teaching heresy. Worst of all, the discerning Christians in the church at Thyatira knew she wasn’t fit and wasn’t true, but tolerated her anyway. Jesus said unless she repents, and her followers also, He will kill them. The ones who tolerated the false teaching from a women, He has this against them. It is the most weighty matter to have the God of the Universe against you.

Here is the problem. First, the penchant for big convention events is growing. I remarked that the Passion event held at the Georgia Dome for youths between ages 18 and 26 is at root a Gnostic event. I further mentioned that rounding up youths and taking them away from their parents for a several-day sleep-away event apart from their home church to learn doctrines from people with no accountability is simply not a good idea. The Women of Faith organization also has staged Revolve events aimed at teenage girls since 2005.

There are huge bible events, Christian retreats, revivals, and workshops held for many reasons targeted at many segments of the population, and for men, this may or may not be fine. But for youths and for women, it is not good. Youths and women are being separated from their families and home church, rounded up by wolves as it were, as sheep and getting them away from the safety of the pack. Once apart, they are either shredded by false doctrine, gangrenous theological disease, and poisonous leaven- or, they are planted with false doctrines to bring back to their home church and let bake in a slow cooking oven of leaven and the church dies from the inside.

So, increasingly, youths and women are being targeted for infiltration at huge “live events” where doctrine will be taught away from the oversight of the husbands or parents. Another new women’s convention has just concluded, and it is touted as the biggest bible event in Christianity. It is put on by Women of Faith, which is reported by Wikipedia,

“Women of Faith is a Christian-based live events organization. It stages non-denominational events across North America. According to the company, its events have been attended by more than ~~four~~ five million people in total.”

Five million people! That is a lot of people. What are some things the Women of Faith live events are offering? The newest is-

“We’re thrilled to announce with our friends at Women of Faith, America’s largest event for Christian women, the creation of a brand new bible event, ‘Unwrap the Bible.’ ” (source)

Who is involved in Unwrap the Bible? Mark Burnett and Roma Downey.

Burnett & Downey in promo video for “Unwrap the Bible”

This husband and wife duo are not saved. They are workers of evil. They are heretics. They are not in partnership with the Light. They do not know Jesus. I am trying to be very clear. Mrs Downey has a spiritual degree from a New Age teaching institution, practices mysticism, Catholicism, and necromancy (seeking communication with the dead). On live television, Downey communicated with her dead mother through a medium on live TV. Necromancy is strictly forbidden in the bible-

“Do not turn to mediums or necromancers; do not seek them out, and so make yourselves unclean by them: I am the Lord your God.” (Leviticus 19:31). Also Deuteronomy 18:9-12, 2 Kings 21:6, Isaiah 8:19, Revelation 21:8.

The same duo created The Bible miniseries seen last year on the History Channel, and from that series, edited it down to a 90 minute movie focused on Jesus, called Son of God and released this month in movie theaters. The TV mini-series and the movie theatrical release both were fraught with biblical omissions, twistings, and outright heresy and in no way represented the accurate truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ nor did they correctly reflect His spotless character and Person. Yet Mrs Downey is considered a Christian. She is partnered with Women of Faith in this new bible teaching endeavor.

Why I am NOT watching the History Channel’s miniseries ‘The Bible’.

Why I am NOT going to see the Son of God movie

The lineup of bible teachers at the Unwrap the Bible convention (just concluded a few weeks ago) are below. Beth Moore is one of the teachers who taught at the convention. Some of the materials the women of faith are using are the clips from the Son of God movie. The promotional material states,

“In addition to the in-depth Bible study, dynamic worship pastor and recording artist Kari Jobe will lead musical worship and praise throughout the event. The program will also include video clips from Mark Burnett and Roma Downey’s “The Bible” mini-series, illustrating stories from the Scriptures.”

The venue for this largest bible event in America featuring a lineup of utter heretics is, Lakewood Church, Joel Osteen’s Church, a church of heretics led by a heretic.

Now let’s add up the numbers, starting with Women of Faith, five million women. I don’t believe all their events stretching back to the first one in 1996 were all false, I don’t know for sure, but the nature of apostasy is for seducers to creep into to households and by flatteries deceive women. (2 Timothy 3:6, Jude 1:4). So a ministry may start out good, sound good, look good, but if there are any evil doctrines in there, they will eventually come out and pervert the women.

Beth Moore has a following on Twitter of over 450,000 women. She is the cornerstone of LifeWay teaching materials, even being the anchor for their worst quarter when the economy turned sour. In other words, her materials sell briskly to millions of people. Moore has an ongoing rotation of television shows, speaking engagements through Living Proof Conventions, a blog, podcasts, and more. Shirer has 130,000 Twitter followers, plus a webshow, a blog, a bible study and is partnered with Lifeway in Sunday School curriculum, etc.

Aside from the Unwrap the Bible convention, the Passion Convention, Women of Faith conventions, there are other female teachers out there. We haven’t even mentioned the biggest female powerhouse teaching heresy. It’s Joyce Meyer. Her influence and popularity is incredible and deeply penetrating across many denominational lines. Millions of women are influenced by Meyer. Meyer is an outright heretic, claiming that Jesus stopped being the Son of God on the cross, and that she herself isn’t a sinner. The bible says that Jesus is the Everlasting God (Isaiah 40:28, Hebrews 1:8) and anyone who says they don’t sin doesn’t have the truth in them. (1 John 1:8).

In any case, The Christian Post says “Another adept Twitter user is Joyce Meyer Ministries, previously reported as having the most retweeted messages on the network, above brands like ESPN, the Miami Heat and CNN Breaking News.”

Did you know that 140 characters at a time, Meyer is tweeting poisonous and heretical messages cloaked in pious sounding Christianese which are re-tweeted to the tune of being more penetrating than CNN Breaking News??

Retweets are messages Meyer sends out over Twitter, and then someone else sends it out again, in ever widening circles. As of March 21, 2014, Meyer had 2.69 million followers on that particular social media. Meyer has a television show called Enjoying Everyday Life which reaches potentially two-thirds of the world in 32 languages. She has brisk sales of her 30+ books, over 5.2 million likes on Facebook, live speaking engagements, podcasts, and many other venues into which she pours her poison. And this poison is picked up by women and brought into homes, who they are entrusted with the care of the Godly seed, the children. Many times the husband is unaware or barely aware that Meyer, Moore, Shirer, Caine etc teach doctrines contrary to the one Jesus gave us. This infiltration is repeated with Rachel Held Evans, Ann Voskamp, Oprah Winfrey, Lynne Hybels, Jen Hatmaker, Kara Powell…

You see the progression- a household life of the women in charge, yes, even in Christian households, a female’s natural inclination to be spiritually deceived if a male is not guarding her, an incredibly powerful and popular slate of female Christian bible teachers, infiltrating homes with false doctrine at a massive rate with the power and force of a tsunami. Inattentive or undiscerning husbands. You see the problem, the false teachers, many of them women, are coming for the women. And they are succeeding. They did when Paul wrote to Timothy, (2 Timothy 3:5-9) and they are succeeding now. In this sermon by bible teacher John MacArthur on the 2 Timothy 3:5-9 verses, he explains,

Who do you think they’re after? Weak women who are vulnerable because they’re out from some protection and who are captivated by these people because they promise them deliverance from the burden of sin and guilt and they promise them a system of truth … Just as Satan’s strategy was to deceive Eve, so heretical false teachers have frequently chosen to spread their falsehoods by the same method. It doesn’t mean that they don’t approach men also, it’s just that Scripture’s telling us this is their target very often. Women not strong in virtue, weighed down by sins and driven by impulse and lust, women not strong in truth, women who want to know the truth, who are always learning but have never come to the epignosis, the deep knowledge of the truth are the victims. … And then in verse 7 it says they probably are the kind of women who have a curiosity about religion. They’re attracted to easy solutions that don’t really call for a radical change and don’t deal with the real issue, the issue of sin before a holy God and salvation in Jesus Christ. They’re interested in a cheap gospel. They’re the kind of women who maybe are always learning, taking it all in, attracted to some kind of religious teaching.

Fortunately we can review the verse in Revelation when Jesus said he was angered by the prophetess Jezebel and by those who tolerated her. Jesus also said that He gave her (the Jezebel false prophetess) and her followers time to repent. Jesus is merciful! These false teachers have time still to repent!

Any person following these false teachers or promoting their teachings or even just tolerating them can repent! Jesus forgives, He wants His children to be pure and holy, as He is holy. The church however should be guarded always, and this is an active, never-ending activity until the glorification comes. It means NOT tolerating sin, and actively confronting it. In Thyatira’s case, the church failed because of poison from the inside.

We women are entrusted with the Gospel, with helping our husbands, with the children. It is a precious cargo we women have given to us. As Oswald Chambers said, Let us do our utmost for His highest! In this case it is protecting ourselves from false doctrines by reading the word, submitting to male spiritual authority, and constant prayer. In this way, that we may help our husbands or the church in proper encouragement and support, and keeping our children away from heretical teachings.

For you yourselves know, brethren, that our coming to you was not in vain, but after we had already suffered and been mistreated in Philippi, as you know, we had the boldness in our God to speak to you the gospel of God amid much opposition.

For our exhortation does not come from error or impurity or by way of deceit; but just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, so we speak, not as pleasing men, but God who examines our hearts.

For we never came with flattering speech, as you know, nor with a pretext for greed—God is witness— nor did we seek glory from men, either from you or from others, (1 Thessalonians 2:1-6a)

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Is the fact that 2014’s been dubbed ‘Year of the Christian movie" a good thing? Well, was Ahaz redecorating the temple a good thing?

Posted on March 16, 2014May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

The year 2014 has been dubbed “The Year of the Christian Movie.” Ten years ago Mel Gibson’s “The Passion of Christ” was released and it became a blockbuster by any standard but especially for a Christian movie. Then…nothing. Crickets. No mainstream Hollywood movies with a Christian theme have been released. Until now.

All of a sudden, in 2013 New Ager Mystic Roma Downey and her equally lost husband Mark Burnett released a television mini-series called “The Bible”. They relentlessly hyped it in print, promoted it on tv and flogged it to preachers. Many mega-church bought into their hype, like Joel Osteen and Rick Warren (who were on the series’ ‘doctrinal staff’) and so the mini-series was even promoted from pulpits. Only thing, it wasn’t a series about Jesus, at least, the one from the actual bible, the Word of God. There were so many doctrinal errors and aberrations that it could easily be seen that the series was not spiritually profitable. But it was terribly financially profitable.

Except that many Christians couldn’t or didn’t see that the series was not about the real Jesus and it had left the real bible in the dust.

Spurred by the mini-series’ success, the Downey/Burnett duo extracted scenes from and re-worked the mini-series into a feature movie for theaters. The hyping, flogging and promoting went apace, and it was released this month. Once again the movie did brisk business at the box office. This has opened the bible-based movie floodgates, so to speak, as a Hollywood movie called Noah starring Russell Crowe is out, and almost a dozen Christian or bible based movies are ready for release or are in development or talks. 2014 has been dubbed the year of the Christian movie and many undiscerning pastors, congregants and others are hailing this as a mark that ‘the world is hungry for Jesus.’

Except it’s not. But more on that in a minute. Let’s take a look at the slew of media based on the bible that will be an affront to Jesus and unholy to everything we hold dear.

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February: Son of God, reviewed here, and here where there are even more links to other reviews.
March: Noah (Russell Crowe). Noah is depicted as a boat-building psychopath wanting to murder his grandkids. Ray Comfort of Living Waters said of Noah: “They have no qualms about sensationalizing the story of Noah in order to make it more profitable,” he says. “That’s their bottom line. But the movie strays so far from the biblical account that it omits its essential message – God’s judgment for man’s sin and evil.”

March: Noah and the Last Days (Ray Comfort made this movie to respond to and oppose the Crowe movie Noah)

Spring: Left Behind, reboot of the old Left Behind released in 2000 by Jerry B Jenkins, Tim LaHaye. This one stars Nicolas Cage. Reboot translated means ‘better special effects.’

March: God’s Not Dead, Willie and Korie Robertson from Duck Dynasty. The Robertsons, while well-intended, are part of a church that preaches baptism is necessary for salvation. Go here to view a response as to whether this is correct doctrine and advance to 4:00 mark. Or here to read one.

April: Heaven Is For Real, book by Todd Burpo. Go here to read Justin Peters explain why trips to heaven do not line up with the bible.

December: Exodus (Directed by Ridley Scott, who once called religion the “source of evil.” Starring Ben Kingsley and Sigourney Weaver)

Easter 2015: Mary Mother of Christ, starring The Bible and Son of God actor Diogo Morgado as Joseph and 16 year old Israeli Odeya Rush plays Mary. Ben Kingsley and Julia Ormond round out the star power. Joel Osteen is Executive Producer.

In development: Gods and Kings, (biography of Moses directed by Ang Lee.)
In talks: Pontius Pilate (potentially starring Brad Pitt)
In talks: Cain & Abel, dir by Will Smith

And in a weird and horrifying turn of events, a new video game:

Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture video game PS4, “The game will take place in a village in Shropshire during the apocalypse.”

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So are you excited that after a ten year drought of movies depicting the God of the Universe with His Holy Word as the script that finally a slew of entertainments using the bible as source are slated for your popcorn pleasure? No? Good. Because it’s not good. It’s apostasy is what it is.

Photo CC, Liz West

Hollywood is not making movies to edify your soul, they are making movies to line their pockets. Run out of creative ideas, they saw the response from the Bible miniseries and went for a long-ignored source for the craven entertainment of the pagan populations. They ran like rats to a carcass to rip off a piece for themselves before all the ‘best characters’ were taken. They are not making movies that show a real Jesus as THE Son of God, they are re-making Jesus into a comfortable idol they can feel good about having brushed up against, if only on celluloid.

I’d mentioned above that 2014 has been dubbed the year of the Christian movie and many undiscerning pastors, congregants and others are hailing this as a mark that ‘the world is hungry for Jesus.’ The world is most assuredly NOT hungry for Jesus. The world does not want Christianity. The world hates Jesus, hates Christians and hates everything we stand for. Hates.

“If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you.” (John 15:18)
“The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify that its works are evil.” (John 7:7)

The matter is very simple. If it comes from the world, its works are evil.

The interest of Hollywood in bible movies is one prime example right off the bat they they are showing a false Jesus and presenting aberrant doctrine. ‘The Bible’ was almost universally praised. So is Son of God. I call the following verse the curse of popularity-

“Woe to you, when all people speak well of you, for so their fathers did to the false prophets.” (Luke 6:26)

Buddy Christ, from movie Dogma

The only reason they are making bible and Jesus movies, and they hold their nose while they do it, at least until they change Jesus enough for them gulp the putrid air they are used to breathing, is to make money. And again, Jesus said this would be so.

“And in their greed they will exploit you with false words. Their condemnation from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep.” (2 Peter 2:3)

‘Son of God’ Kicks Off Flood of Religious-Themed Films in 2014
“Hollywood is looking for that new market and it’s ignored that market for a while,” says the Rev. Michael Morris, who teaches film and religion at the Dominican School of Philosophy and Theology in Berkeley, Calif. It is a great marketing device and a direct appeal to a market that has somewhat been estranged from movies and are not going to go unless they get their money’s worth,” Morris says.

Biblical films’ Hollywood comeback
Whatever happens, Noah will have the same advantage for studios as the other biblical epics. Unlike movies based on superheroes, or the latest literary sensation such as Fifty Shades of Grey, the studios will not have to pay millions of dollars in copyright and licensing fees. The stories in the Bible are free to use.

Just the combination in the same sentence of the mention of 50 Shades of Grey, a porn movie, and movies about Jesus is enough to make one shudder. But to flippantly state that the bible is an even better source because there are no licensing fees, is over the top.

But what the Hollywood movie-makers are doing and saying is not any different than what evil King Ahaz did. Ahaz went up to the King of Assyria and saw in his temple at Damascus some cute furnishings. Ahaz returned home and treated God’s house like “Extreme Makeover: Temple Edition.”

“When King Ahaz went to Damascus to meet Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria, he saw the altar that was at Damascus. And King Ahaz sent to Uriah the priest a model of the altar, and its pattern, exact in all its details. And Uriah the priest built the altar; in accordance with all that King Ahaz had sent from Damascus, so Uriah the priest made it, before King Ahaz arrived from Damascus. And when the king came from Damascus, the king viewed the altar. Then the king drew near to the altar and went up on it and burned his burnt offering and his grain offering and poured his drink offering and threw the blood of his peace offerings on the altar. And the bronze altar that was before the Lord he removed from the front of the house, from the place between his altar and the house of the Lord, and put it on the north side of his altar.” (2 Kings 16:10-14)

Pulpit Commentary says of this passage and the verses subsequent:

“He had a new altar made and introduced into the temple, which at first he used for his own private sacrifices (vers. 10-13); then, that his new altar might occupy the pest of honor, he removed from its place the old brazen altar of Solomon, and put it in an inferior position (ver. 14). After this, he required all sacrifices to be offered on the new altar (ver. 15). Finally, he proceeded to interfere with several other of Solomon’s arrangements, with what particular object is not very apparent (vers. 17, 18). … One sin leads on to another. Having introduced his self-invented quasi-idolatrous altar into the temple, and so inserted “the thin end of the wedge,” Ahaz was not satisfied, but proceeded to another innovation.

For example, the High Priest was not to be commanded by the king in matters of worship but was only to be commanded by God. And so little by little, a redecorating here, a move there, and pretty soon God’s divinely ordered Temple was a shambles of scurrilous offerings and idolatrous activity. It is the same with the culture today. We do not have a temple but we have the word of God which is also divinely authoritative. But a little wedge here and a camel nose there, and you have seen how quickly the flood of blasphemous movies made by blasphemous people has swept in and one innovation proceeds to another. Satan was removed from Son of God because he looked too much like Obama. Noah is dark and psychotic and the reason for the flood has been omitted. And so on. These are not good innovations.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary,
“The sin in this affair consisted in meddling with, and improving according to human taste and fancy, the altars of the temple, the patterns of which had been furnished by divine authority (Ex 25:40; 26:30; 27:1; 1Ch 28:19).“

The bible is divinely authorized, and to meddle with or improve to human taste or fancy, and in these cases from Hollywood, to line pockets, is sin.

They keep asking the question, “Why are there suddenly so many bible movies?” and the undiscerning response has been “because the world is hungry for Jesus.” We have seen that it is not so. They are hungry for a spiritual idol of their own making, and soon they will find it in the antichrist. Rearranging the Temple went badly for Ahaz. And re-arranging the word of God to suit fancies or line pockets will go badly for those who participate also.

“Being then God’s offspring, we ought not to think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of man. The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.” (Acts 17:29-31)

Or an image on silver celluloid.

Never fear! “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.” (Acts 1:11)

No amount of celluloid adulterating can ever tarnish the wonderful God we have in Jesus. He is holy and pure and unchanged, and He is coming to rescue His children, who persevere in the faith.

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Why do I want man to put ashes on my forehead when God will mark my forehead later? No Lent for me!

Posted on March 8, 2014May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

I’m not for Lent. It has a pagan foundation and is perpetuated by the false Catholic religion. It’s associated with golden calf-Mardi Gras and Pharisaical rituals. In addition it is contrary to the Gospel. I know some say that Lent for them is just a personal time of preparation for the upcoming Resurrection Sunday AKA Easter. But personal preparation is also called for in advance of the Lord’s Table (1 Corinthians 11:28) and to some extent every time we prepare for Sunday worship. (Ezra 7:10, Romans 12:1). Actually we’re supposed to pick up our cross daily, so why set aside a special time once a year for self-examination, obedience, and repentance? Why do we make a display of preparing for just as sacred as an event so publicly? Why smear our faces with ashes and mourn when we have overcome the world, have His peace and have been given His joy?

“Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven.” (Matthew 6:1)

labeled for reuse. Cardinal Dolan on Ash Wednesday speaking to reporters

“But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, that your fasting may not be seen by others but by your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you. (Matthew 6:17-18). [underline mine]

Further, the activity of placing a mark on our forehead looked at thorough a biblical lens… The bible shows that the false prophet places a mark on the hand or forehead of those who follow the antichrist. (Revelation 13:16). These will be doomed forever. The Whore of Babylon has a secret name written on her forehead. (Revelation 17:5). Who wants to be associated with THAT?

On the positive side, during the Tribulation, angels mark the foreheads of those who serve Jesus (Revelation 7:3, Revelation 14:1). Finally, gloriously, “They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads.” (Revelation 22:4). The name of Christ will be upon our foreheads, placed there by angels at the behest of God, or by God Himself, so why do I want man to put any mark on my forehead? Can somebody explain that to me? Anyone? Anyone?? No thanks. I’ll wait for God to do it.

Wikipedia CC

I know the pride of my heart. I know that participating in public displays of external worship activities will only go to my head and I’ll end up promoting my own sanctity done on my own steam. No thanks, I don’t need any help in substituting works for grace. Maybe others can withstand the temptation. I know I can’t and I don’t even want to tread one inch over there. Here are some people who feel the same but have expressed it much more eloquently. The first one is by a woman named Amanda-

Counting it all Joy: A Vent About Lent
“And here’s where I may be upsetting to the more theologically-minded, but it really isn’t first and foremost about a principle for me. Or a confession. It’s about me thinking this is contrary to the GOSPEL.“

John MacArthur on Lent’s beginnings and how it is nowadays an abuse for sinning as much as possible-
Another vent about Lent:
“Some even more religious souls feel that you sort of have to work your way up to resurrection Sunday, and so they celebrate what has become known as Lent. Forty days of eating no meat and, supposedly, expressing penitence for sin. I suppose its, in most cases, hypocritical, since penitence for sin is not accomplished by some self-directed abstinence or some self-motivated plea toward God, and its hypocrisy is also seen, I think, in the fact that before Lent, people tend to really pile up the sinning since they have to do without for a while…

In fact, there are two words that come to mind when you think of the pre-Lenten season. One is the term Mardi Gras, and the other is carnival. In our country, we’re familiar with Mardi Gras. In other parts of the world, they celebrate carnival. It is a time of unbridled sinning, of drunkenness, rioting, sexual misbehavior, getting ready for penitence…in view of Easter. In fact, Mardi Gras comes from two French words. If you know French, you know that the French word Mardi means Tuesday, and gras means fat. Fat Tuesday is the last day before Lent, and you better get fat now, because you’re gonna go without for a while. Carnival comes from words that we’re familiar with. Carne, we know from chili con carne, means meat. Val, we know from high school days when somebody was the valedictorian and gave a farewell speech, means farewell. Carnival means farewell to meat. So you have a big party before you get spiritual just to make sure you don’t miss anything; and then you hope against hope that it’ll all turn out in the end if you’re penitent enough and abstain from enough, maybe someday God will raise you up.

By the way, as a footnote, Lent is not from the Bible. There is no such thing in the Bible. It comes from the mystery religions of the cults of Babylon and was connected with the supposed killing of Baal by a wild boar; and for forty days and forty nights, the priestesses and the followers of Baal mourned his death until, supposedly, he rose from the dead on the 40th day, and that is where Lent came from, and it has been superimposed on Christianity…“

Annnnd, this too, from Jeremy Walker,

This Lent I am giving up….reticence
Whether or not it is a vestige of the Emerging/Emergent appetite for a range of ‘spiritualities’ or an enthusiasm for an over-ripe liturgical renewal, I cannot say, but I wonder if it is in part a matter of distance both of time and space. This alleged ‘recovery’ of Lent and Easter is not actually a matter of historical sensitivity and an inheritance regained but of historical unawareness and an inheritance lost. Whether or not it is the high-grade muppetry of entire churches being urged to tattoo one of the stations of the cross on some part of their anatomy, or some gore-drenched re-enactment of the unrepeatable sacrifice, or some spotlit image-fest in which a total insensitivity to physical representations of the Christ – the image of the invisible God – is displayed, or some be-robed priest-figure half a step away from incense and obeisance, it does not come from Scripture and it does not belong in Christ’s church.

So that is my thought on Lent. Why is it making a comeback into Protestant churches? Here are two essays discussing Lent.

What is the meaning of Lent?

What is Lent?

discernment, holy living, kings, opposing false doctrine

Failure to actively oppose false doctrine/false teachers is a sin

Posted on March 8, 2014 by elizabethprata

In reading 1 and 2 Kings, patterns emerge. In a recent blog essay I’d mentioned that reading the books of the Kings is like watching the tide go in and out. The king was good, the borders enlarged. The king was bad, the borders came in. In and out. Repeat.

Another pattern is seen in the LORD’s declaration of where on the spectrum the king’s goodness or badness was. Sometimes the King was declared by God as outright evil. Very bad. Sometimes not so bad. Sometimes good. Here is an example. In 2 Kings 3:2a this is what is declared of Jehoram the son of Ahab who became king over Israel in Samaria:

“He did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, though not like his father and mother,”

Why wasn’t he as bad as Ahab and Jezebel? After all, “he put away the pillar of Baal that his father had made.” (2 Kings 3:2b). But Jehoram also clung to the sin of Jereboam which had made Israel sin, and this angered the LORD.

The lesson is twofold. Leaders set the example and when they are below reproach, the followers follow suit, also falling below reproach. In addition, you can’t repudiate some sins, you must repudiate ALL sins. There is no picking and choosing.

Now, how about Jehu?

“Thus Jehu wiped out Baal from Israel. But Jehu did not turn aside from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, which he made Israel to sin—that is, the golden calves that were in Bethel and in Dan. And the Lord said to Jehu, “Because you have done well in carrying out what is right in my eyes, and have done to the house of Ahab according to all that was in my heart, your sons of the fourth generation shall sit on the throne of Israel.” But Jehu was not careful to walk in the law of the Lord, the God of Israel, with all his heart. He did not turn from the sins of Jeroboam, which he made Israel to sin.” (2 Kings 10:28-31)

Did you catch that? “All His heart”. King David was a man after God’s own heart. (Acts 13:22). This is a high honor bestowed on a man. Why was David given such an honor in the bible? He loved and feared the Lord. He had absolute faith in God. You might wonder, David was a great sinner, how could he be deemed a man after God’s own heart? He sinned, but he repented, fully. His heart was always pointed toward God.

David loved God’s law. (Psalm 119:47-48) He delighted in it! Yet you note that despite Jehu doing what was in the LORD’S heart, he “was not careful to walk in the law of the LORD.”

David was grateful for God. God was not a means to a kingly end for David, God was the end. (Psalm 26:6-7; Psalm 100:4).

In another case of the LORD deeming a king pretty good, we see Amaziah. “And he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, yet not like David his father.” (2 Kings 14:3). Amaziah did not remove the high places and the people still sacrificed to other gods there. (2 Kings 14:4). However he did follow through on a point of God’s law whereupon ‘he struck down his servants who had struck down the king his father’ but correctly did not kill the children of those, as the Law states. (2 Kings 14:5-6).

As you read through the Kings the recurring theme is worship of other gods on the high places. The First Commandment is to have no other gods before Him. That the King worshiped God wasn’t good enough, he must set the example by destroying the altars of other gods. Leaving them in place is an implicit agreement with them.

This theme is seen in most of the NT books whereupon the Apostles or authors of almost every book decries false teaching. Following false teaching is following another god. Failure to repudiate false teaching is also a sin. See Revelation 2:20,

The church at Thyatira knew this woman, a Jezebel-type, was teaching falsely, and they tolerated it. They themselves weren’t following her, which was good, but they did not strike her down from her high place, as it were. The Lord commended them for not following actively (Rev 2:24) but was still against them that they didn’t dig out the cancer of her false teaching and protect the daughters of hell she was making. (Revelation 2:23).

Discernment is active on all fronts. It means relying on the Spirit to open our eyes to false teaching, and actively asking Him to do this. It means practicing discernment by reading the word and testing what teachers teach against it (Acts 17:11). It also means when you see brethren falling under the beguiling sway of false teachers, to do something about it. Don’t tolerate it. If you do, thee Lord has that against you. Do what it right in the sight of the Lord!

“So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.” James 4:17)

discernment, false teachers, test all things

False Teachers and flatteries

Posted on February 26, 2014May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

I write about discernment very often. I post essays showing how to discern and detect a false doctrine or a false teacher. Oftentimes I name the teacher or the doctrine.

Just as often, I receive comments denying that person could possibly be false. One of the most common rebuttals I receive regarding why someone can’t be a false teacher is that “They preach Jesus”. Or, “They use scripture.”

First of all, it stands to reason that since satan masquerades as an angel of light, “Therefore it is not surprising if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness.” (2 Corinthians 11:14-15).

We are supposed to test the spirits. (1 John 4:1). This means “Test, dokimazo, a term used in metallurgy to assess the purity of metal.” (source)

In discernment, it is important to do three things when approaching the topic. First, actually read the bible. If one never reads it, one will never know that warning verse is in there. Second, stop and think about what it means. Lift your eyes from the book, slow down, and think about what the Spirit is telling us here when He inspired Paul to write this verse, and every word in it. “masquerades”, “light”, “ministers”, etc. Third, put application on the ground. The bible is a book of intellectual depth, a historical document unparalleled, sensitive and beautiful poetry, but it is also a manual of life. We are to lift our eyes from it and look around and apply its words to what we do, say, and hear.

source

In this case, we’re told that it isn’t surprising satan and his minions roam around as angels of light, therefore we know that satan’s deceptions will be both common and expected. Disguises means that initially one will not be able to tell that the teacher or preacher is from satan. He will wear a mask. Only if the mask slips or if the teacher varies from the word will we be able to detect who he really is. (I refer back to #1, read the bible). Usually it takes time to tell if a teacher is true or not. This is because it takes time for fruit to ripen. (Matthew 7:16).

Now as for the actual application and detecting, and back to the ‘oh but he can’t be false, he preaches Jesus!’ comments. Let’s take a look at the beginning of the bible and the end. In Genesis 3 and Revelation 6 we are given examples of the two most successful deceivers the earth has ever and will ever see, satan, and the antichrist.

In Genesis 3 satan is introduced to us as subtle. In Genesis 3:1 the first thing said about satan is that he is subtle (crafty). In the bible, a thing mentioned first is the most important. So if there is a list of qualities, look at the first one, or if they are repeated, (ie, HOLY HOLY HOLY) it is the author’s way of emphasizing. We have CTRL-B for bold font now, but in those days they simply mentioned the first thing first that the Author wanted emphasized. For example, though satan was the most beautiful of all the angels, (Ezekiel 28:12), this is not the first thing mentioned about him. The first mention is a negative quality, he is crafty.

In Daniel 8:25 we are also told that the coming antichrist will cause craft to prosper. In both cases the word is used in a negative sense. It means deceit, treachery and cunning.

We see a picture of all this in Revelation 6:2,

“And I looked, and behold, a white horse! And its rider had a bow, and a crown was given to him, and he came out conquering, and to conquer.”

You see the antichrist rides a white horse. He is holding a bow (but no arrows). He wears a crown. So the antichrist is disguised. He is masquerading. He appears on a horse of a heavenly color (white), having kinglike qualities, (crown) and holding a bow but no arrows (an nonthreatening diplomat rather than a bloody warrior).

As to that last one, a bow but no arrow, a diplomat rather than bloody warrior, the devil and the antichrist use their voice to win the kingdom. The devil speaks, he doesn’t kill directly. His words are his weapons.

He cloaks himself in the liturgical vestments of the clergy while using smooth oratory to win over undiscerning believers to doctrines of demons.
SourceThe coming antichrist does it the same way. By speaking flatteries.

In his place shall arise a contemptible person to whom royal majesty has not been given. He shall come in without warning and obtain the kingdom by flatteries. (Daniel 11:21)

Why should it be any different for all of the mini-antichrists (1 John 2:22) to insinuate themselves, by flatteries, smooth speech?

For such persons do not serve our Lord Christ, but their own appetites, and by smooth talk and flattery they deceive the hearts of the naive. (Romans 16:18).

Of course they speak of Jesus (more often, they speak of God than Jesus, but anyway…) The second word out of satan’s mouth was ‘God.’ False teachers will speak of God. They will speak of Jesus. They will use scripture. Testing the spirits does not mean you stop there. It means really listening. Then it means comparing what they say with the bible.

“These also are proverbs of Solomon which the men of Hezekiah king of Judah copied. It is the glory of God to conceal things, but the glory of kings is to search things out. As the heavens for height, and the earth for depth, so the heart of kings is unsearchable. Take away the dross from the silver, and the smith has material for a vessel; take away the wicked from the presence of the king, and his throne will be established in righteousness.” (Proverbs 25:1-28)

———————————–

Two examples of satan’s attacks through children’s ministries

Posted on February 23, 2014 by elizabethprata

“But Jesus answered them, “My Father is working until now, and I am working.” (John 5:17)

God and Jesus and the Spirit are always working. We know this. But we forget that satan is always working too.

I’m not equating satan with Jesus, but I’m reminding us that satan is restless, relentless, and remorseless.

Satan prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. (1 Peter 5:8).
Satan roams the earth (Job 1:7).
Satan schemes. (2 Corinthians 2:11).
Satan blinds. (2 Corinthians 4:4).
Satan sifts. (Luke 22:31).
Satan deceives. (2 Corinthians 11:3)

I have recently published a review of Rend Collective Experiment‘s music, a contemporary music-worship band. Some contemporary music sung in church as praise music is theologically OK, much of it is not. I’ve been concerned with the appearance of theologically weak adult contemporary music and its rapid embeddedness into worship. I’m also concerned of course with the outright biblically aberrant adult contemporary music.

However, where we think satan has been resisted successfully in one area, he appears in another. Like children’s music.

Thank the Lord we are in a body and working as a unit, each of us operating in the gifts He has given us. I read a very good essay by Tom Chantry this morning about the theology of some children’s music sung in church.

It’s Sunday Morning; Do You Know What Your Children Are Singing?

Here is an excerpt. I recommend reading the full essay at Mr Chantry’s blog

I am no advocate of the full-throttle family-integrated approach, but I have been concerned by what is now the well-established trend of separate worship for kids. Parents accept the idea that children’s ministries do a better job than church of introducing their kids to Jesus. What they fail to ask themselves is just who this “Jesus” is that their kids will meet.

His essay is a good reminder to me that there is no sphere satan will overlook in his attempts to weaken the Bride. He even attacks children! So let us remember that we work too. It is a never-ending work in which we are not to become weary. We’re not only working, but we are in a battle. Keep up your sword! If your arms become weary, let another help you lift them! (Exodus 17:12). We can do it until He comes!

We resist satan. (James 4:7, 1 Peter 5:9)
We humble ourselves. (1 Peter 5:6)
We obey. (Colossians 3:22)
We fight the good fight of the faith. (1 Timothy 6:12)
We wrestle. (Ephesians 6:12).

We stand!

“For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm.

Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one; and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication.

To that end keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints…“
(Ephesians 6:12-18)

And it might do to take a look at the lyrics of the songs your children are singing in your church. The controversy surrounding Steven Furtick and Elevation Church’s children’s ministry, his cult-like exhortations in his church’s children’s coloring book, is even more evidence that satan will not overlook children’s ministries in order to do his hellish work.

But if we resist the devil, he will flee from us, and the Light of Jesus’s glory will shine so brightly! May all that we do be for Your glory, Jesus, now and forever.

beth moore, discernment, false teachers, idol

An editorial about Beth Moore’s teaching, and her followers

Posted on February 21, 2014May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

This is an opinion editorial.

Pam Terrell runs the blog “The Secret Life of a Pastor’s Wife“. Mrs Terrell recently published a critique of Beth Moore, here. The same thing happened to her as happens with anyone who says anything negative about Mrs Moore. Her next post was titled “The Day My Blog Blew Up.”

Wikipedia CC

Mrs Terrell explained what happened, and how many comments she had received. Some were positive, along the lines of ‘thank you for posting this discerning information about a false teacher.’ Others were rabidly angry that their idol had been poked.

I sympathized with her. I had previously quoted Mrs Terrell in one of my many, many, MANY essays about Beth Moore but I had not seen the follow up. Every other blogger that I’ve read who posted something negative about Beth Moore (and they were few & far between for a long while, whistling in the wind) ALL got the same reactions, the same content in the comments, even. One thing I read recently that hit me is “to see if something is an idol, poke it and see how the followers react.”

One comment that people who try to defend Moore’s teaching say a lot is that “you’re jealous.” The ‘you’re jealous’ comment perplexes me the most. Commenters reacting to my pieces on Moore also say that I’m inhibiting people from delving into the word, it’s just my opinion, and I need to stop being critical. Not one ever comes up with a biblical reason to rebut my biblical reason for taking issue with Moore’s teachings. That’s because there aren’t any.

Saying ANYTHING negative about Beth Moore provokes a rabid-push back. Lately though, and thankfully too, some men have been speaking out against her methods and her false theology. Todd Friel, Mike Abendroth, Justin Peters, Jim Murphy, Tim Challies and Matt Slick at Christian Research and Apologetics Ministry (all pastors) have all recently said negative things about Moore in one aspect or another, based on her handling of the bible and what/how she teaches. I wonder if these female commenters would say that the men are “jealous” too!

Moore makes weak disciples because her teachings promote straying from from sola scriptura, providing a poor model for the new Christians coming up. She makes doubters, offers legalism, and puts in lots of conditions to faith. As a result, people wander from Jesus-the-rock and becoming scared of their doubts (i.e ‘am I doing faith right?’) they go back to Moore. It’s why she has so many groupies.

It’s hard, as a discernment person, to see so vividly how the false ones are damaging the faith and striking the sheep. I worry deeply and almost every day for women in my own congregation. So my fears are not just for the women ‘out there’ but also ‘in here’.

Moore, Rick Warren and formerly Billy Graham have been the 20th century’s worst wolves, and I am sad to say I have to put Osteen in that category too now. I say ‘sad’ because it’s so OBVIOUS Osteen is false, but increasingly, people don’t see it. At least Moore, Graham and Warren hid their apostasy for so long that it took a keen eye and a God-delivered wisdom to detect it. In other words, props for subtle cunning. Osteen is just blatantly blasphemous. However the bible does say that apostasy will increase, and Osteen certainly is evidence of that.

“For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; and they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables”
(2 Timothy 4:3-4).My sadness with Moore is now she is passing into the grandma stage, an elder woman of the faith, meaning she has been around so long she has birthed spiritual daughters…just like Revelation 2:20-23 says of the false prophetess-type Jezebel.

This is a subject near to my heart. I just want to run around to every woman and put my arms around them to protect them. But my arms are too short. The way to do that is prayer. Jesus’s arms are long enough.

dead church, discernment, doctrine, gangrene, jesus

Do you know how fast false doctrine spreads?

Posted on January 25, 2014May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

“and their talk will spread like gangrene. Among them are Hymenaeus and Philetus,” (2 Timothy 2:17)

In the book of Second Timothy, Paul realizes that his time on earth is short. He is pouring as much Spirit-inspired knowledge into his protegee, Timothy, as he can. The concern and love Paul has for his men and his churches is evident. Paul warned Timothy about two things mainly, remain in passionate love for Christ, and stay in true doctrine. These two things are linked.

Artist’s depiction of Paul Writing His Epistles,
16th century (Blaffer Foundation Collection, Houston).

After Paul warned Timothy to stay in true doctrine (and there are 25 imperatives in this letter) Paul said next in verses 15-18 for Timothy to avoid error. This brings us to the verse quoted above. False teachers’ talk spreads and it spreads fast. It is like a wildfire. Strong’s Concordance defines gangrene as it is used in the verse:

“a gangrene, a disease by which any part of the body suffering from inflammation becomes so corrupted that, unless a remedy be seasonably applied, the evil continually spreads, attacks other parts, and at last eats away the bones“

Barnes Notes explains,

“This word – gangraina – occurs nowhere else in the New Testament. It is derived from graiō, grainō, to devour, corrode,” and means “gangrene” or “mortification” – the death of a part, spreading, unless arrested, by degrees over the whole body. The words rendered “will eat,” mean “will have nutriment;” that is, will spread over and consume the healthful parts. It will not merely destroy the parts immediately affected, but will extend into the surrounding healthy parts and destroy them also. So it is with erroneous doctrines.

They will not merely eat out the truth in the particular matter to which they refer, but they will also spread over and corrupt other truths. The doctrines of religion are closely connected, and are dependent on each other – like the different parts of the human body. One cannot be corrupted without affecting those adjacent to it, and unless checked, the corruption will soon spread over the whole.”

We all know what gangrene does, even if we are not medically trained. Anyone who saw the Lonesome Dove television miniseries knows. It is a disease that spread fast and destroys. As you read this definition of how gangrene kills medically, apply these words spiritually to your mind. Physiologically, gangrene kills the living organism by cutting off the blood supply. To reverse the effects of the poison, a debridement must occur. According to Merriam-Webster, Debridement is “the usually surgical removal of lacerated, devitalized, or contaminated tissue. Let’s stop and consider the importance of a healthy blood flow to the members of the faith:

“For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it for you on the altar to make atonement for your souls, for it is the blood that makes atonement by the life.” (Leviticus 17:11)

The Crucifixion, seen from the Cross, by James Tissot, 19th century

If allowed to progress, the tissue dies and then the entire appendage becomes contaminated. Remedies now must include an amputation. At this point, it’s interesting to consider these words from Matthew 5:30,

“And if your right hand causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell.”

If no remedy is applied by this time, the organism dies. The gates of Hell shall never prevail against His world-wide church, but parts of the body can die. Individual congregations die. Revelation 3:1 records one such dead church: Sardis.

Abandoned church in NM, by Emma, Wikimedia Commons

“And to the angel of the church in Sardis write: ‘The words of him who has the seven spirits of God and the seven stars. “I know your works. You have the reputation of being alive, but you are dead.'”

There is so much here to ponder. First, this cements beyond all discussion that parts of the body can and do die. Where is the church at Ephesus? The church at Thyatira? Sardis? They died.

Second, Jesus knows the outside and the inside. He knows what is in a man. (John 2:24). Do you read the word reputation? That’s what we humans see. Have you ever seen a bustling church, read the long list of ministries on their web page, attended ‘Trunk or Treat’ and watched hundreds of little kids running around and smilingly indulgent parents standing by? It is a sure bet that somewhere a church like that is dead. Their reputation is one of acclaim, successful ministries, being busy, and even salvations, but Jesus knows the fact of the matter.

Third: churches that look alive can be in fact, dead.

Chickens run around for a while after their heads are cut off. So do churches. The end result is the same for churches that have been strangled by gangrenous doctrines that cut off the blood. Jesus hates false doctrines! (Revelation 2:6). Jesus’s Gospel IS doctrine, and without it, any individual or congregation will die. Therefore if Jesus as Truth is not the Head of the church, the church will die. First for a little while after they have left their first love, (Revelation 2:4) they’ll go on. Then they will exclude Jesus completely and put Him outside, (Revelation 3:20). Even if the the heartbeat of the church continues for a while the only end result will be death because they have slowly and painfully and maybe even unknowingly swapped true doctrine for false.

That is what false doctrine does. It kills.

The Good News is that Jesus said His church will never fail. (Matthew 16:18). Jesus made a charge to the Church at Ephesus when He said they had left their first love. However, before it is too late, there is always a remedy!

“Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first.” (Revelation 2:5a).

Excise that false doctrine immediately, get it out of the Bride, before it can kill even one living cell in the body. Repent and He will forgive.

If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent.” (Revelation 2:5b)

Micah Exhorts the Israelites to Repent, Gustave Dore, 1866, Wiki CC

Paul told Timothy later in the letter,

“I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom; Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.” (2 Tim 4:1-2)

Remember the lesson of gangrene: is is poison, it spreads fast, and it ultimately kills. Doctrine matters!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
For further reading:

9 Marks: How does inattention to sound doctrine kill churches?

Thom Ranier: Autopsy of a Deceased Church: 11 Things I Learned

GotQuestions: Why do some churches thrive while others die?

Grace to You Article, Does doctrine really matter?

Ligonier Ministries: Drawing the Line: Why doctrine matters

contemporary music, discernment, praise band, rend collective experiment, worship

A review of new contemporary music band: Rend Collective Experiment

Posted on January 14, 2014May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

Does the kind of music we worship in church matter? Yes, it does.

In researching the state of the contemporary music bands for a blog essay I wrote a month ago, I came across a winsome new band from Northern Ireland called Rend Collective Experiment. Actually, they remind me of In Tua Nua (kudos if you know who they were ;). Rend Collective Experiment (RCE) deliberately used the word rend purposely to point to God who rent the heavens and sent His Son. The word collective is used to emphasize, well, I’ll let the band member explain,

“We are a collective of people like a family and not just a band. We want our music to be what we call Organic worship, an honest and natural connection with God, something which is authentic and not artificial. We want to create an environment for people to have genuine encounters with Him and to find themselves singing to Him in ways that they find real.” (source)

So. Whatever that means.

I watched a video in which I enjoyed the song, but for the wrong reasons. This is an example of how and why contemporary praise bands, with all clean eagerness and winsome smiles can be detrimental to the faith.

RCE video “Come On (My Soul)”. She’s looking up.

The song I’d listened to is called “Come on (My Soul).” It is a three-minute song. I enjoyed the video, it was very well done cinematically and stylistically. Attractive youths in a variety of funky garb, nose earrings, and cool haircuts dance around an evening bonfire. Embers fly to the sky. A man displays skill using a flame thrower. The youths dance on the sand around the fire, and they make Chinese Sky Lanterns and light them and launch them aloft as they look up in wonder and ecstatic joy. They twirl. They look sincere. They are having a unique, organic worship experience.

The first thirty seconds are a simple hypnotic percussion beat. Then the singing kicks in. Here are the lyrics. They are sung repetitiously.

Come on my soul

Let down the walls

And sing my soul

Come on, come on, come on, come on

It’s time to look up

That’s it, there is no more. I searched several other sites to try and find lyrics that would expand the song and give it spiritual meaning and depth, but these are the only words for two-and-a-half minutes. The song is repetitive, hypnotic, and throbbing. It is exactly the kind of music used to enter an altered state, not to prepare the heart for worship. I’m the first to admit that it sounds good and it looks good. But it’s empty!

Cool pagan balloons going aloft!!

As for the content of the lyrics, they are sung about one’s self, to one’s self, urging one’s self to do something (nebulously). It is not about Jesus and does not prepare the mind to think of Him. This is the kind of music I am talking about in a previous blog I wrote a month ago exploring this issue of vacuousness of today’s contemporary music in general.

I’ve mentioned the form and the content. Let’s look at the images. There is nothing wrong with standing around a bonfire singing. Kumbaya is almost a cliche nowadays, the quintessential campfire song. However look at what the youths are doing. They are lighting sky lanterns, a pagan activity done at pagan festivals. The people look aloft just as the lyrics are sung that ‘it’s time to look up’. Are we looking up to see if Jesus is returning? Or to send prayers to a false god on a pagan lantern? That is precisely the problem with “organic” & “authentic” worship. Everyone does what is right in their own eyes. They do what feels good for them. The scene has no meaning because it could be anything.

Because, what’s a praise song
without a flame thrower?

“During the Yi Peng festival, a multitude of lanterns are launched into the air where they resemble large flocks of giant fluorescent jellyfish gracefully floating by through the sky. The most elaborate Yi Peng celebrations can be seen in Chiang Mai, the ancient capital of the former Lanna kingdom. The festival is meant as a time to obtain Buddhist merit.” (source)

The activity seen in a “Christian” band’s video is pagan, and is no different than the Asherah pole Ahab set up which they all danced around. The LORD’S anger was roused at this. (1 Kings 16:33).

Worship is not organic. It has rules and a structure. In the OT Nadab and Abihu discovered the penalty for breaking those rules was instant death. So did Uzzah. So did Korah. In the NT Ananias and Sapphira lied to the Holy Spirit and also died instantly. The Corinthians were rebuked for their “organic” worship, which all too easily turned into a drunken fest similar in behavior to what the pagans were doing, and this is always to the derision of God’s enemies (Exodus 32:25).

The spiritual seeker wants to be free and worship naturally but natural worship always winds up like the dance around the Golden Calf (or a pagan bonfire with Buddhist prayer balloons). God sent a plague to the people who had made the calf (Exodus 32:35) and further promised to visit their sins upon them in the Day of His visit. Some of the Corinthians who had abused the Lord’s table with drunken, gorging behavior had become sick because of it and died. (1 Corinthians 11:30). The Lord is serious about His worship!

As in everything regarding Jesus, in music, watch the small things. Also watch the language. The ethereal language RCE uses is another example of poor worship. God is declarative. He is clear. He is definite. In spiritual realms, there is pressure to offer vague ideals, so that no one will be turned off and all can come and participate. Inclusivity is tantamount, not exclusivity. This is from the RCE song “Second Chance“

“When sin and ugliness
Collide with redemption’s kiss
Beauty awakens by romance“

It sounds good and it can mean whatever you want it to mean. That’s fine, for politics. But not for worship. And romance? People, Jesus is not our boyfriend.

Or this from Shining Star,

The angels watched in mystery
As You bore all our misery

NO! He bore all our SIN. Spell it, S. I. N. Sin sin sin.

In fact, there is no ‘second chance’ that the cross brought. It is the only chance. We are depraved individuals and our default condition from birth is sinner, and at age of accountability, hell upon our death. The cross brought the only chance. And ‘redemption’s kiss’? More like God’s wrath that Jesus feared so greatly He sweat blood.

And this lyric from Christ Has Set Me Free, is just ridiculously stupid:

“Christ has set me free From negativity …
You’ve given my soul the space to breathe,
And discover what it is to simply be.”

Did Joel Osteen write that lyric? Imagine your pastor saying that.Uttering words like that and thinking they are worshipful is just wrong. NO, Christ did not set me free from negativity. He absorbed all of God’s wrath on the cross as the punishment for my and the world’s sin.

If you are a parent looking into who your kids are listening to, look at the band’s videos and see if the images being presented are appropriate. And the lyrics, are the lyrics about self, or about God? Is there a lot of talk about what “I” will do? Is the band’s bio full of post-modern, vague talk, like this from Rend Collective’s Bio?

“Their heart is to bring not only a fresh approach to congregational worship, but also a heart and message through the spoken word. Their partnerships and tours with church leaders like Francis Chan, Louie Giglio and Shane Claiborne certainly shows this.”

Any time you hear of a “fresh approach” watch out. If God is the same yesterday today and forever, so is His approach. And since the Word is living and active, He is still fresh. He is not stale. There is no expiration date on Him.

“An inherent desire for something spiritually substantive in our increasingly artificial world is exactly what brought the movement of friends together. United by a common purpose, these twenty-somethings began exploring the intersection between God, life and community.”

I still can’t figure out their purpose. That is an indicator also. “Something spiritually substantive” sounds good but is just vague enough not to offend.

I don’t mean to pick on RCE band. Some of their lyrics are good. Some of their songs are good. I liked their song Alabaster. Keep Me Near is also good. As church worship music though, no. Absolutely not. And just because some of their songs are good doesn’t mean that all their songs are. But they are packaged on a CD and if your child is listening to Alabaster then they are listening to Second Chance.

Here is the point of what I’m saying–

1. Don’t underestimate the powerful effect of how today’s praise band lyrics dilute the essential doctrines. Propositional and definite words we’ve used for centuries are substituted for nebulous words, used to a softening effect. Words like sin are deleted for negativity, wrath is deleted for redemption’s kiss, submission is deleted for romance, guide our hearts is included instead of the concept ‘make us holy‘.
2. Don’t underestimate the power of the absence of the essential doctrines. I looked at lyrics of 15 songs and never read the word holy. Not even in “You Bled.”

If Rend Collective Experiment is not in your church yet during ‘worship time’ (AKA contemporary praise music time AKA Organic and authentic worship, unlike the artificial and fake worship everybody else has been doing) then they probably will be soon. It is a sure bet they are on your teenager’s iPod. They’re touring heavily Jan-March 2014 though the central US and south. They are appearing at Billy Graham Training Center at the Cove in May.

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Too many contemporary music bands are like shark’s teeth. “Shark teeth are attached to the jaw by soft tissue, and they fall out all the time. This is crucial to the shark’s effectiveness — worn or broken teeth are continually replaced by new, sharper teeth. In some sharks, such as the great white, these teeth are arranged in several rows.” For every Petra that disbands, another one like RCE is pushed forward into the spotlight.

Yes it’s tiring to always monitor your child’s iPod, iPad, computer, CD collection, friends, and social life. “Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.”(Ephesians 6:4). Training up your child in the way they should go is a moment-by-moment, daily, lifetime commitment. (Proverbs 22:6). Keep alert with all perseverance! (Ephesians 6:18).