Category: encouragement

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Brown University, depraved minds, & biological impossibilities

Posted on by elizabethprata

I’m from Rhode Island. I was born in Providence, I lived there a while, and it’s where my grandparents lived their entire lives. I’m very familiar with Providence.

Brown University is an Ivy League school located on what is locally known as the “East Side”.The Boston Globe describes this area as,

communities unto themselves, such as Providence’s East Side. The area is college-centric, with Brown University and the Rhode Island School of Design figuring prominently in life here. But even if you largely avoid the two college campuses, visitors still find the East Side rich in history, unique architecture, culture, and culinary flavor.

With Ivy League and Art college ‘culture’ usually comes liberalism. And so we see this headline below,

It’s enough to make me simultaneously sigh, say ‘gross’, and laugh at the absurdity of a man trying to use a tampon because he think’s he’s a woman who gets a period. SMH at biological impossibilities. Headlines like this also sadden me at the state of affairs in the world.

However I also smile in joy because Jesus never leaves us without a witness. Therefore, meanwhile…on the other side of the city, at the same time…

…at Grace Community Baptist Church, we have this-

I’m so grateful for the Lord who is the Head of His church. He is always working, raising up teachers like Dr Lawson, who teach men to preach well, who raise up solid congregations, who in turn identify more men for seminary or local leadership, who nurture youth as they grow, the next generation…

Yes these men will have their work cut out for them. Providence is a liberal city. But then again, Rome, Ephesus, and Corinth were liberal cities at the beginning. They were pagan through and through, without one believer…until the Apostles showed up. Until the women raised their boys in the Lord. Until the churches nurtured believers.

And so it goes. The Lord always leaves a witness. Elijah said to the LORD,

“He replied, “I have been very zealous for the LORD God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, torn down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too.” (1 Kings 19:14 NIV).

The LORD answered

Yet I reserve seven thousand in Israel–all whose knees have not bowed down to Baal and whose mouths have not kissed him.” (1 Kings 19:18 NIV)

By the way, you see the first photo of Brown University’s official crest & the University’s Motto? It’s “In Deo Speramus”, which means, “In God We Hope”.
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Etiquette of meeting the monarch

Posted on by elizabethprata

There is an HBO series called John Adams which I believe to be one of the best historical treatments of one of our Founding Fathers, John Adams. That’s the title, and there is a scene I believe to be fraught with just as much tension as any thriller, and just as much import as any broadcast news flash. The moment was Adams’ torment at how to behave at his upcoming meeting with King George, whom the newly formed United States had vanquished in the Revolutionary War. Now Adams, no longer a royal subject, as a diplomat was was preparing to meet the King.

Wrapped into the wrinkle of defining their new relationship, was also the knowledge that Adams, originally a farmer from Quincy Massachusetts, was about to meet royalty, He lacked the proper etiquette. How does one show deep respect to someone in high authority? Meeting royalty was a minefield of rules and prescribed behaviors, of which Adams knew nothing. Quick lessons ensued. Continue reading “Etiquette of meeting the monarch” →

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TV, Movies, the Conscience, and Entertainment

Posted on by elizabethprata

I just wanted to watch a nice movie. It had been a long and stressful week. I’d worked all of Saturday writing and by Saturday night I wanted simply to turn my brain off and watch something enjoyable without having to think to much.

I searched for a nice movie like Up. Despicable Me. Babe, Lassie 1997. Eddie the Eagle. Something nice. Children’s movies from this summer didn’t interest me. I am over Nemo, so Finding Dory wasn’t in the cards. She can stay lost as far as I’m concerned. I don’t like Rudyard Kipling so Jungle Book was out. Already saw Secret Life of Pets.

I looked up “faith based movies” and was depressed at the list. There were so many false doctrinal movies on it, and I’d seen the one or two that were good. After having resisted it all this time I tried Mom’s Night Out. Nope, terrible. I was soooo right to resist it. I tried Risen. Nope, terrible. Platitudes and mushy love talk but no Jesus as risen God and no Gospel. Also, it was agonizingly slow.

Sinking Sand seems to have emerged for a nanosecond and disappeared from every radar known to man. I spent a good half hour looking for it online or on any streaming video service. Nope.

Sigh. Continue reading “TV, Movies, the Conscience, and Entertainment” →

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God’s Providence is like a Pointillist painting

Posted on by elizabethprata

This essay was first published at The End Time in February, 2014

——————————————

We know that the church is a body, a united body of believers.

For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. (1 Corinthians 12:12)

The Holy Spirit ordains where each believer is to be and what gifts he is to have. He ordains where we are in the body so as to contribute to the good of the whole.

All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he wills (1 Corinthians 12:11)

It could be said that the Lord is painting a picture.

If you’re familiar with the Impressionist movement of art that emerged in the late 1800s in Paris, then you’re familiar with the works of Monet, Manet, Sisley, Renoir, & etc. These artists used short brush strokes to convey movement and impression, rather than precision. There was a sub-culture of the Impressionists called the Pointillists. Here is Georges Seurat’s famous pointillist painting, “Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte“.

As the website IncredibleArt.org states,

Strictly speaking, Pointillism refers to the technique of using dots of pure color in such a way that, seen at the appropriate distance, they achieve maximum luminosity.” (source). Georges-Pierre Seurat made this technique famous. His painting,

Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte (1884-1888) is one of the most famous paintings in the world. … At left you see a closeup of Seurat’s painting. It is a closeup of the the man laying down on the lower left. Even thought he appears to be wearing white pants, as you can see, the part of the pants in the shadow just above the grass has no white in it. It’s only when you look at it from a distance that the colors blend in. Seurat spent two years on this painting. He carefully planned it out with several sketches first.“

It could be said, that the earth is the canvas and the people are the points of paint God daubs precisely here and there, working toward an end.

I’ve seen pointillist paintings at museums. You look very closely and all you can see are daubs of color. Dots. If you back away to a distance, you can see the scene clearly. It’s amazing how the colors blend to make a seamless and beautiful picture.

We can think of ourselves as dots. We can’t see the whole picture, we don’t have the right perspective. God does. He puts a pink next to a blue and though all we can see is the blue next to us, we have to trust that the Great Artist is making something beautiful. Even if you don’t like the color pink, you know and trust that the Artist’s purposeful placement of it next to you will make the picture as a whole perfect when it is complete.

Just like heaven.

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East is from the west: cardinal directions in the Bible

Posted on by elizabethprata

People don’t refer to cardinal directions of north, south, east, west very much any more. If someone asks for directions and you tell them to go north three blocks, they look at you like you just lapsed into Hindi.

In the days before we were too reliant on GPS, people traveled by using the sun, moon, and stars. They spoke of cardinal directions.

In the Bible there is a lot of talk about the east and the west. (Of course, north and south is also spoken of but I’m concentrating on east-west today).

East is a major direction in the Bible and not just for the directions, but for the symbolism.  Let’s look at a few examples.

The Garden of Eden was planted toward the east. (Genesis 2:8).

The scriptures specify the LORD placed cherubim  at the eastern entrance of the Garden, to protect it and the tree of life.

After God drove out the man, He placed a cherubim with flaming sword to protect this eastern entrance. (Genesis 3:24).

The tabernacle faced east. (Numbers 3:38).

When God’s glory comes/came to the Temple, it comes/came from the east:

Then he led me to the gate, the gate facing east. And behold, the glory of the God of Israel was coming from the east. And the sound of his coming was like the sound of many waters, and the earth shone with his glory. (Ezekiel 43:1-2).

The wise men followed the star which had risen in the east.

Saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him. (Matthew 2:2 KJV)

The Lord will return from the east. (Matthew 24:27).

For as the lightning comes from the east and shines as far as the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.

 The sun rises in the east and its rays shine from that direction. John 1:5 says God is Light, in Him there is no darkness at all. The west is where the sun sets, bringing darkness. The east is where the Light is.
When the sun rises, the light comes from the east. When the Son returns, His Light comes from the east.

There is much more that can be studied on even so mundane a topic as cardinal directions. The wonder of the Bible is that you can take practically any topic, any word, and explore. And do you know what you will come up with?

Jesus.

That’s why the Bible is so great. All scripture points to Jesus.

Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me. (John 5:39 KJV)

Graphics Fairy
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“Encouragement In Grace” launch day

Posted on by elizabethprata

Forty-three years and thirteen years in the making, seven-and-a-half years of writing and three months of editing & formatting, today my eBook “Encouragement In Grace” launches at Amazon.

For 43 years I was an unsaved rebel enemy of Christ. Hating Him at every turn, I tried ignoring my festering conscience. I was perplexed by the revelation of God to the world through the world, but rejected the solution of Jesus as Creator. Finally I dabbled in almost every other religion I could find to salve my anxious and offended soul. For forty-three years, nothing worked.

After a torturous series of events lasting several years, at long last and in His perfect timing, I was saved by His grace. I did not have an aisle-walking pillow soft Just As I Am salvation. I did not have an easy experience with warm sensuous embraces by an invisible Groom. I did not hear a gentle voice calling me toward clouds. I was dragged kicking and screaming over the threshold of the Door and was given the grace to repent despite my howling objections. At last, I succumbed.

As a result, I value His grace so dearly.

Post-salvation, the Spirit prompted me to begin using my time and writing ability for His glory. I began blogging and exploring theological issues in the topics of discernment, encouragement, and prophecy, the gifts the Spirit had delivered to me. For nine years I blogged, accelerating my writing activity for the last seven years by blogging daily. I wrote on the range of topics in the way I prayed would encourage or convict readers and honor the Lord.

The internet, and blogs in particular, were a gracious addition to the technology the Lord has allowed to be invented. They have been a wonderful relief to me, a writer who has been minimally published, but despaired at the hurdles and gatekeeping of the tightly-knit publishing industry. Blogs allow authors to side-step all that. What a benefit to live in a nation that allows free expression and discussion of Christian topics on self-publishing platforms.

Years later, along came self-publishing platforms such as Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing. Hallelujah! KDP and other programs make self-publishing easier … but never easy. Writing is not easy. Writing about God and for God is even less easy. Neither is it easy researching among the competing self-publishing platforms, proof-reading, formatting, and marketing. But it makes the process of disseminating material written by people like me more straightforward. For that, I’m grateful for the opportunity to make Jesus known through these means.

The next two books in this series will be published approximately four months apart. As with Encouragement In Grace, the next eBooks will be published through the Kindle Direct Program, Lord willing. They’ll be called –

Prophecy In Grace

Discernment In Grace

If you should choose to buy the eBook, I pray that “Encouragement In Grace” convicts, enlightens, or sheds some other aspect of Jesus onto your heart and mind.

 

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Faith of a child

Posted on by elizabethprata

I was in a non-church setting with some 7-year-olds recently. They were drawing a picture to go along with the story about pizza they had just read. When one boy finished his drawing he still had room on the page. He asked if he could draw a cross. I said sure.

Of course then the others wanted to draw a cross too. Most or all of them have been exposed to Jesus. As they drew their crosses they began to talk about Jesus. The original boy said, ‘Jesus died on the cross’. Another said, ‘isn’t He living now’? I chimed in and said His is living now, that He walked around on earth for 40 days after His death and resurrection and talked with His friends.
Continue reading “Faith of a child” →

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Children are a reward not just for parents

Posted on by elizabethprata

Behold, children are a heritage from the LORD, the fruit of the womb a reward. (Psalm 127:3)

Children are a blessing and the verse above refers to children born to biological parents.

Many verses speak about children. The Bible makes it equally clear that all children (especially orphans) are to be regarded as vulnerable and to treat them kindly. Jesus holds them in high regard. They are to be trained up in the way they should go. They should not be provoked. They should be unhindered in their approach to God and His laws. They are to be protected else a millstone hung around the neck of one who causes them to stumble. They are a crown to the aged and streets full of happy children playing are a sign of God’s favor. They are an answer to prayer. Orphans (“the fatherless”) are objects of care and concern.

With all the attention given children, we know that the Lord cares for them. In thinking of kids, we often restrict ourselves to thinking of the family. I propose that anyone who works with children has a God-given privilege to adhere to the Bible’s verses regarding them, as well. The children are a heritage for the parents, but also for the teacher, the foster mother, the nanny, the social worker, the nursery school administrator, the playground monitor. Each and every child is a gift from the Lord, to each person the Lord has assigned to watch over them.

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.” (Genesis 33:5).

Children are a gracious gift, If you work with children in any way, you are blessed.

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Poetry by Kay Cude: Unity in Christ

Posted on by elizabethprata

Artist’s Statement:

I was compelled to do a piece about “unity in Christ” and what Christ means, not what “we” assume He means. [The picture] is Christ the Lamb of God who manifested all that “unity” of the redeemed in God the Father and God the Son!

For more information on the topic of unity, please see Mike Oppenheimer’s (Let Us Reason) pieces on “UNITY”, (“The Gospel of UNITY,”  and “Unity Without Truth or Christ,”

Photo and poetry below. Used with permission. Click to enlarge.
kay cude unity.jpg

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Do you have the peace that passes all understanding?

Posted on by elizabethprata

And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:7)

Even if the worst happens on our shores (war, earthquake, tsunami…) I have the peace that passes all understanding. He is in control and our anguish and our life is but a breath, so it will only be for a short time. I pray you have that peace as well. Barnes Notes explains the peace that passes all understanding so well.

Which passeth all understanding – That is, which surpasses all that people had conceived or imagined. The expression is one that denotes that the peace imparted is of the highest possible kind. The apostle Paul frequently used terms which had somewhat of a hyperbolical cast (see the notes on Ephesians 3:19; compare John 21:25, and the language here is that which one would use who designed to speak of that which was of the highest order. The Christian, committing his way to God, and feeling that he will order all things aright, has a peace which is nowhere else known. Nothing else will furnish it but religion. No confidence that a man can have in his own powers; no reliance which he can repose on his own plans or on the promises or fidelity of his fellow-men, and no calculations which he can make on the course of events, can impart such peace to the soul as simple confidence in God.

Are you saved? If so, then demonstrate that faith by clinging to Him, His promises, and His Truth. It is the best- the only- safe port in a storm! This is a great time in the United States to be peaceful, for others will see your calmness and through the grace of the Holy Spirit, they will ask you…”what is it that you have…?” and you will have the inestimable privilege of saying, “Let me tell you about Jesus…”

If you are not saved and you see someone who seems calm and graceful all the time, whose countenance seems glowing. (Exodus 35:35) it is because we have what Jesus has given us- His peace. We have been with God. We are no longer at war against Him but have become friends and sons of the Most High God. He imparts a peace that allows His children to look upon earthly circumstances with an eternal perspective.

Dear unsaved person, your good works are not enough to get you to heaven. Being really, really nice is not enough to get you to heaven. You can never do enough to get to heaven. The only way is through Jesus. You wonder what is it about Christians that makes them (us) seems o gentle and calm and they just look different? It’s His peace. The sin struggle is over. The unanswered questions about why we are here and how the world was born and why people are like they are…these questions are answered. Right now would be a good idea to start praying seriously to the Lord above to resolve your internal war. You are a God-hater, perhaps actively but certainly passively. Do you want peace and rest from always striving and yet not knowing? (2 Timothy 3:7). He will provide His peace, upon repentance and faith in His resurrected self.