encouragement – Page 79

adam, encouragement, Eve, eyes, Garden, sin

Seeing God with eyes closed

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

I’ve mentioned on my other blog that I love to play around with my photos using the online photo editors. I think it’s cool what you can do these days with a photo by manipulating it into something different or even nearly unrecognizable.

Not that new is necessarily better. I learned about heliogravure and collotype which produced stunning photographs and reproductions with clarity, tone, and detail almost unsurpassed by today’s digital photos. But I digress.

The colors of fall are spectacular. Once the summer haze and humidity clears out the night sky becomes ablaze with stars and the day sky is a deep blue like a sapphire. Years and years ago, I took this photo of a fall tree in Maine, its leaves having dropped and its bare arms crookedly reaching under an azure sky. I’ve always liked the picture.

EPrata photo

I monkeyed with the picture and made this:

EPrata photo

I like the altered photo too. Are they the same picture? The same scene? Do they depict the same reality?

They do … and they do not. By blocking out some tones and colors, it brings forth others. By reversing some aspects, it shows others.

I enjoy reading and studying the first three chapters of Genesis. I spend a lot of time there. In this instance, I was thinking about the moment when Eve and then Adam ate of the fruit.

But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths. (Genesis 3:4-7)

Their eyes were opened? Of course we know that isn’t literal. They were not blind before, they could literally see. Eve “saw the fruit was good for food”. In chapter two of Genesis, God brought the animals to Adam, who obviously saw them before he named them. Adam saw which tree not to eat from, because he instructed Eve likewise after she was created. So they could see.

As Albert Barnes’ Notes state,

It must therefore mean that a new aspect was presented by things on the commission of the first offence.

As the two photos above showed, a new aspect of things that had been there all along but now were in the forefront. The happy blue sky is gone, it is now darkened. The glory-white clouds are now ponderous boulders in the sky, scudding ominously. The tree which was of good AND evil, now shows the aspect of evil and ghostly death that the pair could not see before.

Gill’s shows us the depth of the loss:

And the eyes of them both were opened,…. Not of their bodies, but of their minds; not so as to have an advanced knowledge of things pleasant, profitable, and useful, as was promised and expected, but of things very disagreeable and distressing. Their eyes were opened to see that they had been deceived by the serpent, that they had broke the commandment of God, and incurred the displeasure of their Creator and kind benefactor, and had brought ruin and destruction upon themselves; they saw what blessings and privileges they had lost, communion with God, the dominion of the creatures, the purity and holiness of their nature, and what miseries they had involved themselves and their posterity in; how exposed they were to the wrath of God, the curse of the law, and to eternal death:

They had been naked and unashamed (Genesis 2:25) but also unaware. Now they were aware. Their eyes had been closed to evil and thus only glory filled the lamp of their eye. Upon eating of the fruit (disobeying God) the eye’s shutter that had excluded all sin and evil was now opened, allowing its full flow into their eyes, heart, and mind.

When we’re glorified, the shutter of our eyes that was opened in the garden will be closed once more. We will never look upon sin again! We will only see the glory of God, unfiltered and fully Bright. As His children with childlike faith, we will see with eyes closed. Did you ever think that our eyes being closed will be a good thing?

Source

church, encouragement, end time, fellowship, gather together, prophecy, putnam

Churching Alone: The Collapse of American Churches

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

In 2000, an important book was published. Robert Putnam wrote Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community.

Since the founding of America, we as a nation have always emphasized the importance of a strong and active civil society to the consolidation and perpetuation of democracy. When Thomas Paine wrote “Common Sense” before the American Revolution, people grabbed up his pamphlet and brought it to the tavern to discuss. Taverns and public squares were abuzz with discussions of ideas, concepts, philosophies. A robust public conversation with personal engagement among neighbors was the foundation of democracy.

I grew up in Rhode Island, the 13th state in the American Colonies, a place where there are more pre-colonial buildings still standing than anywhere else in the US. The first American Jewish synagogue is in Newport. (Touro). The first Baptist church is in Newport. A letter written in 1790 from George Washington to the RI Hebrew Congregation, assuring them, citizens of a newly independent United States, of tolerance and freedom of religion. Washington wrote,

May the children of the stock of Abraham who dwell in this land continue to merit and enjoy the good will of the other inhabitants — while every one shall sit in safety under his own vine and fig tree and there shall be none to make him afraid.

But back to the old days. Men discussed ideas together in public spaces- taverns, the town square, the general store, front porches. They argued, persuaded, they met, they wrestled with ideas and formed community. It was that wrestling and knitting that made us strong enough as a collective of disparate farmers, millworkers, sailors, and the like, to dare to poke the eye of the mighty United Kingdom, and fight for freedom, including freedom to assemble and freedom to worship.

In this paper, the Daily Life of the American Colonies: The Role of the Tavern in Society Noon Inn Barroom, we learn of the importance of a citizenry discussing ideas together,

In the century or so leading up to the Revolution, colonial taverns and inns were an essential part of the community. Horses need frequent rests, travel by coach and horseback were far from comfortable. In Massachusetts on the roads leading to Boston, taverns and inns were spaced about every eight miles, which worked out to a reasonable journey in the winter cold before a person needed to warm up, inside and out.

The main reason for the importance of the colonial era tavern was as a social hub. Issues of the day were discussed and hammered out here, in fact, often in official settings. The City Tavern in Philadelphia, was the site of the first continental congress. The Virginia legislature met in the taverns of Williamsburg. And the initial investigations of the Salem Witch trials were supposed to be held at Ingersoll’s ordinary, [a name for a small tavern] though it was in the end was too small for the crowds.

To the common man, the tavern was where you learned the current prices for your cash crops. It was where you could find a newspaper, often read aloud for those who couldn’t read. It’s where local issues were debated and local governments met. The colonial era tavern was the link to the outer world for those in rural areas, and a place where you could meet your neighbors for conversation, games and diversion.

Entertainment included gambling; on horse racing, cockfights as well as cards. Actually the colonists were known to gamble on almost anything, including guessing the weight of pigs, a practice eventually outlawed on Long Island as it led to too many fights. The tavern also served as courthouse, where you learned of new business opportunities and worked out trades with your neighbors.

The tavern also served as post office. Originally the practice was to put your posts on a table, which travelers would then take along the route with them. It was commonly accepted that the travelers had the right to read your mail, providing a bit of entertainment along the way. Mail arrived in the community in the same way that it left, eventually becoming more organized and efficient.

In addition, recruitment and deployment of the militia took place in the taverns. Prior to the battle of Lexington, the militia organized and fortified themselves at Buckman’s tavern, before marching out onto the Lexington Green and into the history books.

In Newport RI, where our family would often drive on a Sunday, the White Horse Tavern still stands. It was constructed before 1673, is one of the oldest tavern buildings in the United States. It is located on the corner of Farewell and Marlborough streets in Newport. We used to eat brunch there. I’d sit in one of the many small rooms, with small fireplace blazing, hardwood floors and ladderback wooden chairs, and wonder about the Colonists who lifted a tankard in debate as to whether to separate from England.

In Wikipedia it is stated,

“In the first half of the 19th century, Alexis de Tocqueville had observations about American life that seemed to outline and define social capital. He observed that Americans were prone to meeting at as many gatherings as possible to discuss all possible issues of state, economics, or the world that could be witnessed. The high levels of transparency caused greater participation from the people and thus allowed for democracy to work better.”

White Horse Tavern, Newport, in 2009. Wikipedia

And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers. (Acts 2:42 KJV)

If the foundation of a democracy was forged by citizens together in community, discussing things of import, ideas traded, dispensed with, held onto; how much more should those behaviors be replicated in the church? Where do the community of Christ’s members gather, discuss, flesh out biblical ideas, knit ourselves together in His name? Where are the robust discussions, healthy praises to Jesus, songs and fellowship? Because it’s not in church. And increasingly, it’s not in homes, either. Forget the public square, if a gathering occurs, say at Cracker Barrel, the talk is rarely biblical. Other times, Christians are prevented from speaking of Jesus in public.

Public domain

Corporate worship is extremely important. In this sermon by Phil Johnson called A Foretaste of Glory Divine. Pastor Johnson explains the verse from Psalm 122.

Notice the plural pronouns in the first two verses: “I was glad when they said to me, “Let us go to the house of the LORD.” Our feet are standing Within your gates, O Jerusalem.” One of the distinctive joys David is writing about here is the corporate nature of this worship experience. He had spent much of his youth alone on the hills tending sheep and meditating on the truth of God in solitude and that’s certainly a good and valid exercise. But it cannot take the place of fellowship and public worship with the multitude of God’s people. That is why the feasts were so important in Israel. Verse 4: “The tribes go up, even the tribes of the LORD–An ordinance for Israel–To give thanks to the name of the LORD.”

And,

There’s a sanctifying influence in the gathering of believers that you will not benefit from if you think watching a church service on TV or streaming church on the Internet is a valid substitute for real live participation in the public worship of God’s people. Hebrews 10:24-25: “Let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.”

There are two problems in today’s ‘churching alone’ era. One is that people increasingly satisfied to stay at home and watch someone on TV or streamed online. The second and the greater problem is that when people do attend church for any reason at any function, rare is the talk of doctrine. We might sing some ‘me-oriented’ songs, listen to a (too-short/self-help/topical) sermon. And then when the last ‘Amen’ is said, people are out the doors, never to speak of Jesus again until next week.

When believers gather these days, too often it is not really to worship God but merely to entertain one another. ~Phil Johnson
What are we losing by ‘churching alone’? What are the effects on the church when its members forgo social intercourse, fellowship, and good discussions and praises to the Lord? Wikipedia summarizes Putnam’s book,

Putnam surveys the decline of “social capital” in the United States since 1950. He has described the reduction in all the forms of in-person social intercourse upon which Americans used to found, educate, and enrich the fabric of their social lives. He believes this undermines the active civil engagement which a strong democracy requires from its citizens.

iPhone wallpaper

When we ‘church alone,’ whether at home or alone as an island at church, our biblical lives are not enriched. When we are not educated in biblical literacy, we weaken. When we are weak, the scarlet thread of our lives that should be evident when we gather with others isn’t connected. And the Preacher said in Ecclesiastes 4:12,

And though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him—a threefold cord is not quickly broken.

If Putnam’s notion of social capital is an investment in social relations with expected returns in the marketplace, then in the church world, social capital is investment in spiritual-social relations with expected returns in the church. In Acts 2 we see the priority of fellowship, and along with that came praise for the Lord. (Acts 5:42)

It seems clear that the more we meet in His name, breaking bread, having fellowship, and discussing His doctrine, then the more we have glad hearts, generous spirits, and praise for Jesus on our lips. It stands to reason that the opposite is true too; less we get together, the fewer times we discuss His doctrines, break bread, and have glad hearts, and thus we praise Him and proclaim Him less.

And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, (Acts 2:46)

And truth be told, if we do get together, how often do we really discuss His doctrines as the verse in Acts 2:42 states the first church did? Not a lot.

Whoever isolates himself seeks his own desire; he breaks out against all sound judgment. (Proverbs 18:1)
Yet personal engagement at an all-time low. The previous networking availabilities in church, such a personal visits, dinners on the ground, home gatherings, have gone the way of the dinosaur. People don’t do that anymore. We do not ‘continually devote ourselves to… fellowship.’

More often than not, the way this generation engages today is via social media online. Visiting in person is a relic from the past.

What do colonial times in the 1770s to 1800 have to do with today’s church? Cut to 100 years later, the 1900s. There was still a public square. Before television, before the internet, people sat and talked. They had coffee. They visited. They had Sunday suppers. They sat by the pot bellied stove at the feed store and talked. People played bridge, gathered for parties, told stories. They discoursed.

The iconic Andy Griffith show reflected this reality- front porch sitting was a favored past time.
It was a time when people were invested in each other’s lives. They know when someone wasn’t feeling well. Or wasn’t themselves. They knew when someone was struggling. They celebrated victories and pitched in during hard times.

We have lost that.

We’re “crazy busy” now.

Yet the youngsters don’t know any other way of engaging except what they see online or through their parents or other trusted adults. They think fellowship is gathering at a google hangout.

I’m not saying anything that is unknown to anyone living in the year 2014. It’s old news that we do not socialize anymore. Here is the new news. New, at least to me.

We are forgetting HOW to socialize.

The influence of personal cellphones and texting have infiltrated our psyche to the extent that front porch sitting, passing the time, just being with someone is a lost art.

If people socialize at all in person now, it includes a phone interruptions and texting, looking at email, or a myriad of other things that distract from looking fully into someone’s eyes and listening to what they are saying with full attention.

This is my favorite episode from Andy Griffith. A business man in a hurry breaks down in Mayberry on a Sunday. Initially chafing at the slow pace of life and the almost uniform commitment by its inhabitants to the priority of fellowship on the Lord’s Day, the man eventually succumbs to the love shown to him- and he slows down.

Will you visit someone this week? Will you sing with them, or speak of the glories of our savior, or read the bible together? Will you linger at church for a while afterward and praise the sermon and flesh out some of its points- coming to happy agreement with a fellow believer? Let us not “church alone.” The foretaste of glory divine Mr Johnson was preaching on is the corporate gathering of believers on earth being the glad foretaste of the gathering in praise of all of history’s saints at the end of time. What a true foretaste- glorying in the Lord together, never alone forevermore.

Then the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.” (Genesis 2:18)

Man in a Hurry- full episode

christianity, encouragement, glory, great apostasy

Being cheerful and confident amid the collapse of cultural Christianity

Posted on October 23, 2014May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

I read two things today that encouraged me. Though they are on separate topics, they are kind of the same topic.

First up is a great essay at 9Marks. It is titled:

Cheerful Confidence after Christendom

It is apparent to even the most casual observer that cultural Christianity is dying. I’ve used the term “cultural collapse of Christianity” and others speak of ‘post-Christian era’ and 9Marks essay author Timothy Larsen says “dissolution of Christendom” but it all means the same thing, the end of an era. Mr Larsen explains it well and encourages us to relish the time such as this in which the Lord in His plan and wisdom put us. Being joyful and confident and triumphant in a time of evil and darkness and uncertainty will be an anomaly to one and all. Here is a short excerpt from Mr Larsen’s essay:

THANK GOD FOR GRANTING US NOW

God has granted me the privilege to live now—in my own times. To wish otherwise is not only pointless, it is ungrateful. It is also self-defeating. Every season of life has its own joys. Foolishness is to want to have the joys of adulthood when still a teenager or the joys of adolescence when middle aged and so on.

Likewise, there are unique joys, privileges, and opportunities for serving God in each generation. We are called not to hanker after a different age, but rather to jump in with relish to following Christ at this moment. There is an old Puritan saying: “If you would make the greatest success of your life, try to discover what God is doing in your time, and fling yourself into the accomplishment of his purpose and will.”

YES, THERE ARE UNIQUE CHALLENGES

Our times, of course, have unique challenges. We are witnessing the dissolution of Christendom. Christendom was a long period of time in the West when Christian commitments and beliefs were buoyed up by political and cultural supports. In Christendom, there were worldly incentives to at least pretend to believe Christian doctrine and to observe Christian practices. To do so was good for one’s professional and social success.

The other item that was encouraging was another of Phil Johnson’s sermons on the Psalms. It is an exposition of Psalm 122. The sermon is titled “A Foretaste of Glory Divine“

So many Christians moan and groan about life, because they either do not study the prophetic scriptures to know what’s coming, or they don’t have an eternal perspective, or both. Mr Johnson expertly and beautifully opens the Psalm to us and eloquently describes the manifold and unspeakable glories to come. Here is but a taste: (and it is much better heard than read, but if you have connection problems a transcription is available.)

What Jerusalem was to David, the church is to you and me. It is the dwelling-place of God. It is a living, breathing, holy convocation of God’s people, who gather to worship Him in unison. It is the very same fellowship of saints that will one day culminate in a heavenly convocation. It is a place of safety from the evils of a decadent world. It is a place where God’s authority is acknowledged and submitted to with gladness. It is an oasis of divine grace in a desert of corruption. It is quite literally a foretaste of glory divine.

The greatest joy in heaven the centerpiece of it all will be the unspeakable glory of God. God’s full glory will be on permanent display, and you will be able to see it with an unhindered view: examine it, and bask in it, and reflect it in all its perfection. You will be able to stand in the resplendence of that glory without any sense of guilt or shame. You will have a pure love for God that exceeds any love you have ever known. And the natural, inevitable, joyous response of your heart will be pure worship.

Please do take these two items as a matched pair. Be encouraged that you were placed here by the wisdom of God for just such a time as this, and that we have unspeakable joys to look forward to…SOON!

Public Domain

contending, encouragement, jesus

Encouragement for the battle-weary Christian soldiers

Posted on October 11, 2014May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

Oh well, I’m tired and so weary but I must go along
Till the Lord comes and calls, calls me away, oh yes

Weary. CC

We’re all familiar with the opening lines of that beautiful song, Peace in the Valley. It is a song of comfort and promise, based on verses of comfort and promise. (Psalm 23, John 14:27, Isaiah 11:6…).

I believe all true Christians are also familiar with that feeling itself from time to time, perhaps more than time to time. It seems sometimes that a permanent weariness has settled in and we all feel it. The weight of our sin and the world’s sin presses down on us so heavily that ‘going along’ gets harder with each passing day. We’re climbing a mountain with a heavy load that gets heavier with each passing step.

Burdened. EPrata photo

The wolves come and snarl and claw at us. The lions prowl closer and closer, ready to devour. The enemy combatants lob word-grenades at us when we stand up for the truth. In some places, they lob real grenades.

It is a wild and unforgiving world out there, sometimes worst of all in the church! People definitely don’t want to hear about Jesus, sin, wrath, truth, vs. false doctrines today, do they?

The verse about tickled ears is coming alive before our eyes. (2 Timothy 4:3). I think wolves is a good and apt metaphor for those who reject the truth. When they surround us on social media or at home or in church or at work, they snarl and claw and do everything they can, including dirty tricks, to protect their false notions.

Paul experienced these things, constantly, from people he had nurtured and considered friends. He was betrayed over and over again by false converts who left him, (Demas), by true converts who went away (Mark), others who simply got drawn away into false teachings for a while or who became unruly (Corinthian church). In 2 Tim 4:16 Paul wrote that ‘all left him’ at his first defense. Ouch.

Of course, our highest example is Jesus, who was betrayed by an inner circle friend, by the Israelite people He had promised to deliver, and by the world. But He is full of grace and love and left his disciples (and us) with encouragement-

I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world. (John 16:33)

Source

In reading the verse, the phrase ‘take heart’ jumped out at me. I looked it up in the Lexicon. The Lexicon for the word ‘take heart’ is defined this way- and I hope all of you who are contending for the truth take heart from these words,

Take heart: tharséō (derived from /thársos, “emboldened from within”) –
–properly, bolstered within which supports unflinching courage
–literally, to radiate warm confidence (exude “social boldness”)
–because warm-hearted.

tharséō (“emboldened to show courage”) refers to God bolstering the believer, empowering them with a bold inner-attitude (to be “of good courage”). For the believer, 2293 /tharséō (“showing boldness”) is the result of the Lord infusing His strength by His inworking of faith (“inbirthed persuasion,” 4102 /pístis). Showing this unflinching, bold courage means living out the inner confidence (inner bolstering) that is Spirit-produced.

Do we have social boldness? If we do, the world tries to beat it out of us. That is the weariness many western Christians are feeling now. We crave that peaceful valley.

Digital art, CC

Contending for the faith is a process. We have faith in Jesus, He delivers the Spirit into us, the Spirit infuses us with Jesus’ strength to endure trials, and the knowledge that He does this gives us our confidence, because it is His confidence. He empowers us with a bold inner attitude and in that way we are His lights. The light shines and encourages others. Yes, the light draws the moths but it also shines truth to eyes that are blind and hearts that are dark.

Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven. (Matthew 5:16)

Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us. (1 Peter 2:12)

I am sure that though you’re being buffeted, Jesus looks down and says to His holy angels, ‘see that little light of mine? She is doing a good work for Truth in My name’.

We take the example of David, who lived a turbulent life. As I listened to the Phil Johnson sermon this morning called Sanctuary, Pastor Johnson said that the only peaceful time in David’s entire life was when he was a boy and youth. One day he was called from the fields and anointed King, and his life was never peaceful or calm after that.

Yet from that turbulence, we have the Psalms, songs from David where he poured out his anguish onto the Lord and from which we receive our comfort. As Pastor Johnson said,

As he pours out his heart to the Lord, He naturally begins to focus his thoughts on the Lord, and there he finds hope in the midst of every trial, because he knows the Lord is faithful. And Psalm after psalm that begins on a note of fear or crushing sorrow closes with a profound expression of hope and faith.

Turning your attention to Jesus helps loosen our burden as we lay it down before Him, and naturally then we ponder the greatness, tenderness, and faithfulness of our Shepherd. Focusing on Him, as Pastor Johnson said, helped David time and again

“…makes him look at his troubles from the perspective of eternity, and he realizes that even though it sometimes feels like he is on the precipice of hell, the trials of this life are as close to hell as he will ever come, but this is also is as close to heaven as his wicked adversaries will ever get.

When you are surrounded by wolves because you’ve contended for the faith, whether online or in real life, turn to the Lord as your sanctuary. As you pour out your griefs to Him, you will find peace there as David did. Our Lord is faithful.

So, how can I go along when my strength fails? When I am so weary? I can do it

BECAUSE HE LIVES.

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

The UN tries to solve the world’s unsolvable problems

Posted on October 6, 2014May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

I read an interesting article last week. It concerns the opening of the United Nations General Assembly. The UN website states the purpose of the General Assembly:

The General Assembly (GA) is the main deliberative, policymaking and representative organ of the UN. Decisions on important questions, such as those on peace and security, admission of new members and budgetary matters, require a two-thirds majority. Decisions on other questions are by simple majority.

Every year in September, the world gathers at the UN Headquarters in New York. The Secretary-General of the UN gives his “State of the World” speech. This year’s speech (the 69th) was much darker, with much less hope than previous years. Here are some excerpts from this year’s speech by Secretary General Ban Ki Moon.

“This year, the horizon of hope is darkened. Our hearts are made heavy by unspeakable acts and the deaths of innocents,” he told the assembled leaders from 193 nations. “Not since the end of the Second World War have there been so many refugees, displaced people and asylum seekers. Never before has the United Nations been asked to reach so many people with emergency food assistance and other life-saving supplies,” he said.

“It may seem as if the world is falling apart, as crises pile up and disease spreads. But leadership is precisely about finding the seeds of hope and nurturing them into something bigger. That is our duty. That is my call to you today.”

Another article about the UN Opening Day session reports a bleak world picture as well. It was published this morning before the Secretary-General gave his speech.
Here are some excerpts from this article.

World leaders meet with multiple crises on agenda

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Facing a world in turmoil from multiple crises ranging from wars in the Mideast and Africa to the deadly scourge of Ebola and growing Islamic radicalism, leaders from more than 140 countries open their annual meeting at the United Nations on Wednesday with few solutions.

Looking at the array of complex challenges, Norway’s Foreign Minister Borge Brende told The Associated Press: “It’s unprecedented in decades, that’s for sure.”

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who will deliver his state of the world report at Wednesday’s opening of the General Assembly ministerial session, gave a bleak preview to reporters last week: The world is facing “multiple crises,” with all featuring attacks on civilians and having dangerous sectarian, ethnic or tribal dimensions.

World problems have always been difficult. The world after WWII when the UN was formed was very different than the world that had existed before the war began. Two atomic bombs had been dropped, ushering in the atomic age, and then the space age came in. Every generation has had to deal with complex problems and policy makers at this highest level have always gone into the UN General Sessions knowing that.

However, every generation has had to deal with problems that have been incrementally more difficult than the generation before. It was only a matter of time until the problems outpaced man’s ability to solve them. I think we are reaching that tipping point.

Source

It is a restless, sinful world, nation against nation.
Isaiah 17:12, Isaiah 57:20, Matthew 24:7.

These world problems will only grow more seemingly unsolvable. The unsolvable problems will grow so large and wearisome to the people that they will stagger under the weight of tension from the world coming apart at the seams, not only as Ban Ki Moon said, but also as US Vice President Joe Biden said this week:

“The international order that we painstakingly built after World War II and defended over the past several decades is literally fraying at the seams right now.” ~Joe Biden

He’s right, the world IS coming apart at the seams. Not uncontrollably, but under the sovereign and perfect eye of God. The world will continue to stagger under threat of global pandemic, tribal uprisings, civil uprisings, moral decay, government enforced cultural perversity, famine, drought, …until one king comes along and he’s got the answers-

And at the latter end of their kingdom, when the transgressors have reached their limit, a king of bold face, one who understands riddles, shall arise. (Daniel 8:23).

This man understands riddles, he is cunning, comes out of nowhere, he will seem greater than his companions (Daniel 11:21, Daniel 7:8, Daniel 7:20).

He will be energized by satan, and remember, satan is described in Ezekiel 28 as an angel “full of wisdom”. Satan is an angel ascribed the term ‘wisdom’ many times in that chapter- but his wisdom was corrupted by his pride and arrogance. This same wisdom, though corrupt and evil now, is still endowed to satan. He hasn’t lost it. He gives it to the antichrist, who appears on the world scene like a god. After a while the antichrist will believe his own propaganda, that is actually IS a god, and force all to worship him. (Daniel 8:25)

The world will accept him. Weary of problems, they just want some relief. This man promises it.

I have come in my Father’s name, and you do not receive me. If another comes in his own name, you will receive him. (John 5:43, Revelation 13:3)

What a heartbreaking moment. An ignorant world rejected Jesus, the precious Creator and Savior, but will accept the one called The Beast and Man of Sin.

But our Savior did not leave us without hope. He will rapture us when He is ready to get His bride, and He will render the due judgment on the unholy world that it deserves. All we have to do is persevere. Persevering is the sign that we are saved, it is the assurance of the seal of hope we have within us. It is the signal the the power of the Spirit is working in us to help us be His light in this present darkness. (Ephesians 6:12.)

They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out, that it might become plain that they all are not of us. (1 John 2:19)

If they go out from us, they never were of us. Therefore, staying in Him proves we are of Him. Persevere! 2 Timothy 2:12, Galatians 6:9, Revelation 3:11. It all has a very happy ending!

confess, encouragement, forgiveness, sanctification, sins

Oliver Cromwell, "Warts and all"

Posted on October 5, 2014May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

BBC History describes Oliver Cromwell as:

an English soldier and statesman who helped make England a republic and then ruled as lord protector from 1653 to 1658. After overthrowing Charles I and then successfully defending the republic from his son Charles II, Lord Protector Cromwell reorganised the national church, established Puritanism, readmitted Jews into Britain and presided over a certain degree of religious tolerance. Abroad, he ended the war with Portugal (1653) and Holland (1654) and allied with France against Spain, defeating the Spanish at the Battle of the Dunes (1658). Cromwell died on 3 September 1658 in London.

Such an august person would naturally sit for a portrait, and in the Puritan days, Flemish painter Peter Lely was the go-to court painter. Wikipedia says,

Lely was of Dutch origin, whose career was nearly all spent in England, where he became the dominant portrait painter to the court. … His talent ensured that his career was not interrupted by Charles’s execution, and he served Oliver Cromwell, whom he painted …

In the days before photography and social media, controlling one’s personal image was easy to do, and common. Leaders commanded idealized portraits, paintings, or statues, as opposed to realistic depictions. As this blogger opined about idealized portraiture,

It goes back as long as portraiture itself, of course; early classical portraits of emperors and such tended to cycle through emphasis on either a rugged, realistic appearance (as would befit a warrior and statesman) or an angelic, unblemished appearance (as would befit a god). In the same way, later emperors (such as Constantine) saw value in associating themselves in the public eye with prior, well-regarded emperors.

In modern times, photographic airbrushing was common as well. See the official photograph of Mikhail Gorbachev, last Secretary General of the old Communist Party of the USSR (it was to Gorbachev that President Reagan urged, “Tear down this wall!”)

Where is Mr Gorbachev’s birthmark?

Oliver Cromwell was a not too attractive man whose ruddy complexion and wrinkles was studded with pimples and warts. Cromwell commissioned Peter Lely for the official portrait. Lely sketched Cromwell and then presented the proofs for perusal. There were no warts.

For whenever our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and he knows everything. (1 John 3:20)

In one of those 100-years-later (mis)quotes, Horace Walpole allegedly captured Cromwell’s reaction,

“Mr Lely, I desire you would use all your skill to paint my picture truly like me, and not flatter me at all; but remark all these roughnesses, pimples, warts, and everything as you see me; otherwise I will never pay a farthing for it.”—Anecdotes of Painting in England (1763) by Horace Walpole>

It seems that the quote is likely somewhat accurate, since the final portrait did indeed to have been controversially painted in realistic and not idealistic fashion. Whatever Cromwell actually said, it is generally accepted that this incident is where the phrase, “warts and all” comes from.

“I the LORD search the heart and examine the mind, to reward each person according to their conduct, according to what their deeds deserve.” (Jeremiah 17:10)

We’re all vain to some degree. We all want to put forward ‘our best face’ as it were. Just think of Facebook. We all put out our best sayings and our most cordial attitudes but our warts still show.

He said to him the third time, ‘Do you love Me?’ And he said to Him, ‘Lord, You know all things; You know that I love You’ (John 21:17). Peter did not conclude from Jesus’ knowledge of his heart that he knew all things; rather he concluded from the omniscience of Jesus that he knew his heart.
See, that’s the thing. There is no point in hiding our warts. Cromwell’s were on the outside but ours are on the inside. It makes no difference to Jesus, He sees all of them. Nothing is hidden from Christ. He knows all our sins, all our flaws, all our foibles, all our proclivities. Our Father loves His children anyway. That is really the miracle. Our Holy Savior loves His sinful children.

There is no point in hiding from Him. There is no point to airbrushing away our flaws. We really are like little children when we fail to go to the throne and confess our sins. It’s like we’re toddlers who scurry to the bed and pull the covers up to hide from mom, thinking if we can’t see mom, then mom can’t see us.

Source, CC

And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account. (Hebrews 4:13)

Since He sees us as we are, and He has already forgiven us, it glorifies Him to approach Him and confess our sins. This is our part in participating in our sanctification, where He is conforming us to His likeness.

Live humbly before Jesus, with no pride or vanity. Live before Him warts and all. I believe we will find in the end, that the more we do this, the more beautiful our face will become, because it will be like His.

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

Butterflies: the Death and Resurrection Theory

Posted on October 3, 2014May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

I recommend the following one-hour documentary:

Metamorphosis: The Beauty and Power of Intelligent Design, explores compelling evidence for intelligent design as revealed through the life cycle of butterflies.

The transformation from caterpillar to chrysalis to adult butterfly defies Darwinian evolution through random variation and small gradual steps. In fact, some evolutionary biologists have called the process of metamorphosis “butterfly magic.” That’s not surprising, given that inside the chrysalis, the cells of the caterpillar break down into a chemical soup. Then new cells – butterfly cells – form from the molecular components. In just a few days, these cells are reassembled into an adult butterfly that has virtually no resemblance to a caterpillar, a process which defies evolution.

I work as a teacher’s aide in a kindergarten in a public school. At age 5 and 6, girls love butterflies. They wear butterfly shirts, have butterfly hair clips, and love to chase after butterflies on the playground when they happen to flutter by.

Maine butterfly. EPrata photo

As adults, we often stop what we are doing and watch a butterfly alight on a flower. We might not stop to smell the roses, lol, but we usually stop to admire a butterfly. There’s something magical about this little insect, something colorful and worth pausing in our day to wonder about.
Butterflies exist on every continent, except Antarctica. The come in all colors, some quite vivid, and some, transparent as glass.

Source

We know that the moth is mentioned in the bible, moths come out at night, and destroy in secret. God likened Himself to a moth once. In Hosea 5:12 God said “But I am like a moth to Ephraim, and like dry rot to the house of Judah“. Barnes Notes says of the verse,

“Therefore I will be unto Ephraim a moth – Literally, “and I as a moth.” This form of speaking expresses what God was doing, while Ephraim was “willingly following” sin. “And I” was all the while “as a moth.” The moth in a garment, and the decay in wood, corrode and prey upon the substance, in which they lie hid, slowly, imperceptibly, but, at the last, effectually.”

But what of the butterfly? It specifically is not mentioned in the bible, but a similar kind of transformation is.

Vintage butterfly drawing: The Graphics Fairy

We all know from first grade science, that a caterpillar is born from an egg. It is “very hungry.” It munches its way through a couple of weeks of leaf eating, and then spins a chrysalis. It tucks itself into the chrysalis, and unseen by human eyes, it transforms itself into a butterfly, emerging in fully winged glory two weeks later.

Until recently, scientists did not know exactly what went on inside the chrysalis. Now that they do, they are astounded, and scrambling to defend evolution. Even if scientists find a way to defend evolution, they have to come up with theories that have amazing twists and turns to explain this process. Why?

“Metamorphosis” Pixabay Free pics

Evolution does not support that an animal completely disintegrates, where every cell commits suicide in an orderly fashion as it were, and then re-forms to emerge as a new animal. Survival of the fittest says that if the caterpillar had turned into cellular soup once, the animal would have died out. Its caterpillar brain did not say, “Oh, let’s commit suicide because I know that I’ll re-form into different cells later!” To put it simply.

So scientists are asking,

Are Butterflies Two Different Animals in One? The Death And Resurrection Theory

Here’s a dangerous, crazy thought from an otherwise sober (and very eminent) biologist, Bernd Heinrich. He’s thinking about moths and butterflies, and how they radically change shape as they grow, from little wormy, caterpillar critters to airborne beauties. Why, he wondered, do these flying animals begin their lives as wingless, crawling worms? Baby ducks have wings. Baby bats have wings. Why not baby butterflies?
His answer — and I’m quoting him here — knocked me silly.
“[T]he radical change that occurs,” he says, “does indeed arguably involve death followed by reincarnation.
What he’s saying is, while a moth appears to be one animal, with a wormy start and a flying finish, it’s actually two animals — two in one! We start with a baby caterpillar that lives a full life and then dies, dissolves. There’s a pause. Then a new animal, the moth, springs to life, from the same cells, reincarnated.

Now…here’s a question. Why is it a ‘crazy, dangerous thought’? Christians know it is dangerous for the unsaved to ask this because the unsaved already know that God is real in creation, for He has made it plain to them. (Romans 1:18-19). To allow one’s mind to drift into holy territory is dangerous to them because to them it is enemy territory. So satan causes them to suppress that thought.

Dangerous thoughts: poster outside City Lights Bookstore,
San Francisco. EPrata photo

One does not usually see them express creation thoughts in print on liberal websites. But this is how powerful the butterfly’s transformation is. It pushes through the chemical fog in the unsaved’s brain to pop up unwanted and uninvited.

Yet look how hard satan pushes back. The scientist who sees plainly that the butterfly defies evolution, came up with a theory as to why. You see, according to science, the explanation is that two different animals mated in the distant past. From the same article:

According to this theory, long, long ago, two very different animals, one destined to be wormy, the other destined to take wing, accidentally mated, and somehow their genes learned to live side-by-side in their descendants. But their genes never really integrated. They are sharing a DNA molecule like two folks sharing a car, except half way through the trip, one driver dissolves and up pops his totally different successor. Driver No. 2 emerges from the body of driver No. 1.

Um…okaaaay. Or, God.

The migration of the Monarch Butterfly is another wonder.

What Mysterious Cloud Over St. Louis Turned Out to Be

A mysterious cloud that appeared on weather radar over southern Illinois and Central Missouri last week turned out to be a swarm of monarch butterflies. Meteorologists from the National Weather Service analyzed the shape-shifting cloud that was moving toward Mexico to figure out what exactly it could be. “We think these targets are Monarch butterflies.,” the National Weather Service said in a Facebook post. “A Monarch in flight would look oblate to the radar, and flapping wings would account for the changing shape!” With the mystery solved, the fine folks at the NWS wished the butterflies “good luck and a safe journey” on their trip south for the autumn and winter.

What a delight to ponder our God as Creator. He is magnificent and powerful.

With my great power and outstretched arm I made the earth and its people and the animals that are on it, and I give it to anyone I please. (Jeremiah 27:5)

adam, encouragement, Eve, garden of eden, genesis 3

The Sin of Discontent

Posted on September 30, 2014May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

Everything was perfect. The Garden was perfect. The two humans were perfect. The animals were perfect. God declared His creation “very good”. The humans’ relationship with God was perfect.

source

We do not know how long Adam and Eve were in the garden but no matter how long it was, there was absolutely nothing to be discontent about. Adam and Eve had full run of the Garden, the animals were submissive, they had plenty to eat, they were neither hot or cold.

When did Eve become discontent? John MacArthur said in his sermon “The Fall of Man,”

“She falls rather innocently into the conversation and the solicitor’s strategy is progressively deceptive. It begins with what appears as this very innocuous question by just this interested observer. Here’s just an animal in the garden like a lot of other animals and this animal comes up and says, “Indeed, has God said you shall not eat from any tree of the garden?” This is the first question, by the way, in the Bible. Before this there were only answers. There weren’t any dilemmas because there was nobody to introduce a dilemma. And the question is designed to start Eve on a path, a path of questioning God, a path that leads from questioning God to doubting God, to distrusting God to disobeying God. It’s a very clever plan and it’s the essence of all sin. All sin follows the same pattern. You have a right to question God, you have a right to doubt God, you have a right to distrust God that leads to disobedience.”

Along came satan, and here we find the first question in the bible. “Hath God said?” by that question released into the world…and it is this deadly force, the assumption that what God said is subject to our judgment.”

Source

Once that assumption that we have the right to judge what God hath said, and Eve entertained it, it turned Eve’s mind in a new direction. With every human afterwards, in sinful flesh, born into a cursed world, we make room for discontent. We must cling to God in order to squeeze out the disgruntledness we tend to feel. Abel was content, and he was close to God. How do I know? Abel sacrificed rightly. God accepted Abel’s sacrifice. Cain was not close to God and he offered a wrong sacrifice that God did not accept. His discontent was expressed in his incorrect sacrifice.

With Eve and Adam though, what was there to be discontent about? Nothing. So how does a person go from complete contentment to utter sin in just a few moments? Drift from God’s word, that’s how.

Source

The Hebrew word for pleasant in verse 3 is ‘avah’, or ‘taavah’ and it means “exceedingly, greedily, lusting.” There is a parallel event in the bible that talks about lust of this kind. The parallel is in Numbers 11:34, 35; 33:16. The place is named Kibroth-Hattaavah. It translates to “the graves of lust.” The graves of lust, one of the encampments of Israel in the wilderness, where the wandering Israelites desired to eat flesh for their sustenance, declaring they were tired of manna. God became angry, and He sent quails in great quantities; but while the meat was in their mouths, God smote so great a number of them. So many were killed, that the place was called “the graves of those who lusted.” Sin always leads to death.

Psalm 78:30-31, a series of verses to warn mankind against the sin of discontent, also records the historical incident and presents the warning in its title “Tell the Coming Generation”:

he rained meat on them like dust,
winged birds like the sand of the seas;
he let them fall in the midst of their camp,
all around their dwellings.
And they ate and were well filled,
for he gave them what they craved.
But before they had satisfied their craving,
while the food was still in their mouths,
the anger of God rose against them,
and he killed the strongest of them
and laid low the young men of Israel.

What was it that the coming generation needed to know? Do not be discontent with what God has provided. Trust His word, His promises, and do not look elsewhere to satisfy any earthly craving.

1 Corinthians 10:5-6 repeats the warning. The heading to this set of verses in the New Testament is “Warnings from Israel’s Past”-

Nevertheless, with most of them God was not pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness. Now these things took place as examples for us, that we might not desire evil as they did.

Desiring something different than what God promised or is already delivering is evil. It is rebellion against Him. It is the sin of discontent. Discontent will bring us to “the graves of lust”.

source

The evil that Eve did was exactly that- discontent. She didn’t want this fruit, she wanted THAT fruit.

The Israelites didn’t want this manna, they wanted THAT quail.

Paul taught us to be content no matter what, with whatever the Lord is doing in our lives.

for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me. (Philippians 4:12b-13)

Jesus Himself is the source for all the strength we need to persevere, to resist sin, to rejoice, to be content.

From whence does the sin of discontent arise? It arose in Eve the moment she separated from God’s word. Eve had a relationship with God, we presume. We know she had a relationship with His word. She repeated His word to the serpent. She was fine with standing on His word until the serpent came along.

So it is the serpent’s fault? No, he was just a vehicle. The sin in Eve began the moment she failed to adhere to God’s word, and in that little sliver of separation, the serpent got in and widened and widened it and widened it, until the sin inside her was manifested in the action she took, bringing on the Fall.

Eve had a moral choice, she could have said-

“Who are you and where do you come from?”
“Adam, what is this serpent really saying?”
“Yes, God said that, now please leave me in peace.”
“[Falling to her knees in prayer] God- help! I need to understand and the best Person to help me understand You is You!”

Eve did none of those. And her discontent grew with each subtle and crafty comment of the serpent.

Ultimately, what happened? Eve and Adam went down to the graves of lust.

We are commanded not to covet. Coveting is a sin. Why should we covet? We have no reason to!

If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him! (Matthew 7:11)

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. (James 1:17).

What He gave Adam and Eve was good and perfect. What He gives us is good and perfect. Why not be content with that?

Just remember, satan was successful in instilling discontent into Eve by separating her from God’s word. Learn to be content in whatever circumstance you find yourself in by reveling in His revelation of Him self to us. Whatever circumstance you find yourselves in, (even in persecution – Paul was writing from jail) know He is working, (John 5:17) and know that this work He is doing is for the good of those who love Him. (Romans 8:28).

source

encouragement, life

Breathing out milkweed

Posted on September 28, 2014May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

EPrata photo

I think milkweed is pretty. I’m tickled by how ephemeral it looks, shining delicately in the sun, and then, poof, the next day the threads are all gone.

Milkweed is an apt illustration of the temporary nature of our days on earth. We usually look to the James verse to make the point (James 4:14) but I got stuck on this Isaiah verse this morning.

Stop trusting in mere humans, who have but a breath in their nostrils. Why hold them in esteem? (Isaiah 2:22)

All the puffs we’ve already breathed are gone. The next breath is not promised. We only have the breath that’s in in our nostrils now.

What will we do for Christ?

How will we live for Him?

Don’t take too long to decide.

american humanist association, atheists, discernment, encouragement, monument, pesecution, prayer, red raiders

The scripture laden Madison County Red Raiders Monument and the Humanist Association who wants it gone

Posted on September 27, 2014May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

I had planned to write today about the wonder of butterflies. The local news has prompted me to pray, research, and write in another direction.

You undoubtedly have heard of the various anti-religion groups who make charges of infringement whenever a Christian scripture verse or Christian icon appears on or near a public building. At graduations, we read about ceremonies that are challenged when the valedictorian or adult official led a prayer or used scripture in their speech. Prayer before, during, or after high school football games, as well as banners with scripture emblazoned on them, have been subject to challenges that make the news. Scriptures on government buildings such as courthouses are not immune from challenge either. At Christmas time we usually read in the news about Nativity scenes displayed on public property being challenged by such groups. We read about Christmas songs on the school musical program being quashed. And so on.

Local Nativity Scene. EPrata photo

There are several groups at the forefront of these kinds of confrontations. The Freedom From Religion Foundation and the American Humanist Association are two. The American Civil Liberties Union is also behind many of the challenges of public display of religion. It is usually just the Christian religion that seems to raise their ire, it should be noted.

We in Georgia are considered the Bible Belt, but the world hates the bible because it is the Word of God. The world hates Jesus, who IS the Word. So the challenges have increased here in our state lately. We’re not immune.

Last August,

A Georgia high school football program may have God on its side, but not the Constitution, according to critics who say prayer and proselytization have no place in the playbook. Football coaches at Chestatee High School in Gainesville are accused of quoting scripture on team documents and pre-game banners and regularly leading the War Eagles in prayer in a religious blitz the American Humanist Association (AHA) declares unconstitutional. “There’s really no defense for doing this,” AHA attorney Monica Miller told FoxNews.com. “It’s not even solely student prayer — it’s teachers and coaches praying with students. And we have reason to believe it’s not an isolated event.”

Well, the football team is an extra-curricular activity occurring after school hours and participated in by club volunteers who choose to be there. But I digress.

In a release by the American Humanist Association, we read,

“When a teacher or coach leads or participates in prayer with students, the prayers become sponsored by the school,” said Monica Miller, an attorney with the Appignani Humanist Legal Center, said in a news release. “The cases make clear that public schools must not even give the appearance of taking a position on religious belief, yet in this program we see ongoing biblical verses and references to religion. This evidences a complete disregard for the First Amendment rights of all students.”

That Monica Miller sure is busy. Well, our little county, a sweet place nestled in the foothills of the North Georgia Mountains, has had a challenge exactly like the one in Chestatee High School in Gainesville, an hour away. It is from the same people, the American Humanist Association and the Freedom From Religion Foundation, and the leader of the challenge is the same woman as mentioned in many of these challenges the AHA have lodged across the country, Monica Miller. Here is the short article from our local newspaper.

Groups aim to have Red Raider monument removed over Christian references

Two groups are seeking to have a Red Raider football monument with Christian references removed from the Madison County High School campus.

The Freedom From Religion Foundation and the American Humanist Association have written the Madison County School District protesting the approximate two-ton monument that was placed on the MCHS campus between the new field house and the football field in August. The monument quotes Romans 8:31: “If God be for us, who can be against us?” The base of the structure is also inscribed with Philippians 4:13. Madison County football players have started a new tradition this year of touching the privately donated monument as they take the field on Friday nights.

In a Sept. 25 letter to the school district, the American Humanist Association states that the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause “commands a separation of church and state” and the group writes that the government cannot “advance, promote, affiliate with, or favor any particular religion,” or “favor religious belief over disbelief.” “This letter serves as an official notice of the unconstitutional activity and demands that the school district remove the monument immediately or at a minimum, remove the religious references from the monument,” wrote Monica Miller of the American Humanist Association. “In the meantime, we ask that you cover up the monument until such removal takes place. We kindly ask that you notify us in writing within two weeks of receipt of this letter setting forth the steps you will take to rectify this constitutional infringement. Thank you for turning your attention to this important matter.”

Madison County School Superintendent Allen McCannon said officials are speaking with their attorneys on the matter. “We have discussed the situation with our attorneys and are in the process of responding to the entities and forming a plan to deal with the situation,” said McCannon Thursday.

Monica Miller again. I have to give her credit for pursuing what she believes is the right approach to good living. According to their website, the organization exists to “strive to bring about a progressive society where being good without a god is an accepted and respected way to live life. She certainly is vigorous in that regard.

I wish a lot of Christians were as single-minded and as diligent pursuing good as Ms Miller is in her pursuit of evil.

Because, rebellion against God is always evil. It is sin. This isn’t said to be mean or hateful, it is a simple fact that God is God- He deserves glory and worship because He is holy.

As for the AHA and their pursuit of ‘good without ‘a god’,” Christians know there is no good without God. Isaiah 64:6a says,

All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags;

And he said to him, “Why do you ask me about what is good? There is only one who is good. If you would enter life, keep the commandments.” (Matthew 19:17)

The people behind the FFRA and the AHA will find ultimately that their lives had been pointless and their pursuit will be fruitless. It will never go anywhere except toward sadness, grief, and then hell. For any monument taken down, any prayer silenced, any Christian activity quelled, the pagans may celebrate victory but it is a temporary victory, very temporary. Jesus has already won, and He will call those who reject Him to account. We can and should have a great deal of compassion for these people, and show them love in the face of their hate of Jesus.

For local people who are up in arms about this issue I have a few thoughts to share. Some of these thoughts will not be popular.

Facebook Red Raider Photo page

The monument has a sword embedded in the top. This is a reference to (unwitting or not) to the pagan myth of the King Arthur and the Sword in the Stone, the sword being Excalibur. Wikipedia says,

In Arthurian romance, … Arthur obtained the throne by pulling a sword from a stone. In this account, the act could not be performed except by “the true king,” meaning the divinely appointed king or true heir of Uther Pendragon.

Christian scripture and pagan myths do not mix.

Second, the scriptures chosen for display on the monument are a tragedy in themselves. There are two,

–Romans 8:31,“If God be with us, who can be against us?”
–Philippians 4:13 “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” which had been shortened on the monument to read “I can do all things”, and, “strengthen me”

I am not impugning the motivations of the anonymous person who created this fine gift to our county. I like that he or she thought of gifting us with a strong monument with the holy scriptures on it. Any time the bible verses get into the public sphere it is usually a good thing. However, the choice of scriptures, in the context of placement on the field, seems to indicate that God is with us … in the football game. But the verse is actually talking about His sovereign election and predestination of His elect! A weighty matter that should not be trivialized in the context of a game field and leisure-sports entertainment.

The doing all things through Him who strengthens us verse is about the fact that because believers are in Christ He infuses them with His strength to sustain them until they receive some provision. In the context, Paul is talking about having nothing to eat or plenty to eat and knowing how to be content in all situations in which he finds himself. However, these verses are used frequently in stadiums and on sports monuments. Ben Irwin wrote earlier this year about the Philippians verse in the context of football. In his essay, Five Bible Verses you need to Stop Misusing, he said

“I can do all things through him who strengthens me.” (Philippians 4:13, New Revised Standard Version) What happens when we treat the Bible as a random collection of freestanding verses? Well, for one thing, as Tyndale House Publishers editor Keith Williams told Christianity Today, “Philippians 4:13 is going to refer to an athletic performance rather than perseverance through need.” For some, “I can do all things” means scoring touchdowns and clearing the bases. But that’s not exactly what Paul had in mind. Paul was sharing that he’d learned to be content no matter what his circumstances – rich or poor, hungry or well fed, in prison or out. What Paul was saying is not so much “I can achieve anything,” but “I can endure anything” – which, in his case, included prison.

And again, because it bears repeating,

As Dr. Eric Bargerhuff writes in The Most Misused Verses in the Bible, “[Philippians 4:13 is] not really about who has the strength to play to the best of their abilities in a sporting contest…. This verse is about having strength to be content when we are facing those moments in life when physical resources are minimal.” – Source

Worse, when the football players rush out of the field house before a game, they touch the monument for good luck. This behavior is idolatrous. In Georgia, football is already an idol, and to include a scripture-laden monument on the field used as a near-altar of stone hewn by human hands where people touch it ‘for luck’ is idolatry. Pure and simple.

Compelling Truth explains idolatry,

What the Bible categorically condemns is the use of superstition to gain the favor of God or any deity to bring fortunate results. Religious rites to draw luck from a pagan god are useless, as pagan gods don’t exist and, therefore, can’t act on behalf of anyone. And God so hates being manipulated by worship practices that He’d rather we abandon those traditions He put into place and worship Him from the heart than obey Him for the sole purpose of gaining favor (Amos 5:21-24).

Compelling Truth again, explaining superstition

A superstition is a belief that an action, object, or circumstance can affect a situation even if they are in no way related. The cause and effect have no natural link, but are believed to be connected through magic or chance.

11Alive News

The power is not in the hewn stone, but in the word of God carried by the Spirit! Remember the story of Dagon, god of the Philistines. When the Philistines had captured the ark of the covenant, they put it in their temple next to the fish-god Dagon. Overnight, God tipped Dagon over so that when the Philistine priests arrived the next morning they saw Dagon face down before the Ark of God.

They righted the Dagon statue and went on with their day. Overnight again, the LORD tipped Dagon over, this time severing his hands and head. Only the body remained. God is serious about idols!

“A stone that causes people to stumble and a rock that makes them fall.” They stumble because they disobey the message–which is also what they were destined for.” (1 Peter 2:8)

We know God is using this for the good of those who love Him. I don’t know of course, but maybe God is removing an idol, for our benefit and to His glory. Something to think about.

Next, this is a ‘soft’ persecution. We should not be surprised. The Bible Belt is not immune to any challenge or marginalization of our religion. In these late days of human history, it is to be expected.

Christians are persecuted every day by being killed, tortured, maimed, or jailed. That is hard persecution. In America we have – so far – escaped hard persecution for our religious beliefs. But soft persecution exists here. People have to close their business or be forced to do something that violates their Christian belief. They go bankrupt in legal defenses of their religion. They can’t get a job or are fired from their job for their Christian beliefs. They are socially marginalized or ostracized. Children are bullied. Christian Clubs or churches are booted from their rental properties.

“These things I have spoken to you so that in Me you may have peace. In the world, you have tribulation, but take courage, I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33)

John MacArthur preached a great pair of sermons about the persecution in Acts, and how God used it for His glory. Especially when Peter and John were hauled before the Sanhedrin, and the Sanhedrin men asked Peter questions, Peter gave them the Gospel! The men of the Sanhedrin never would have heard such an exposition of the scriptures otherwise, and God used Peter’s arrest for His glory! So all things work to the good and God is using this right now for His glory.

Well, as one of my pastors said today, perhaps this religious confrontation is to awake us, and energize us to speak His name in the public sphere. Or perhaps it is to apprise us that we in Georgia are not immune from challenge by the atheists who hate God.

Today in our county Jesus is all the talk. The local newspaper, which normally gets 3-10 comments on any given article, maybe 30 on a hot topic, so far has 140 comments on this article, and the number is climbing.

Whether it is removal of an idol, sparking us out of a sleepy Christianity, energizing us to prayer, or to cause a discussion, there are a myriad of ways God can and will use this for the good. We can’t even possibly think of them all!

In any case, the words on the monument are written on my heart. WE ARE THE MONUMENT! We, His children, are His witnesses and His ambassadors. They can take away that monument and it would not make a bit of difference in my Christian walk. I was a strong Christian before the monument went up and I am a strong Christian now and I will be a strong Christian if it is ever covered up or taken down. My faith does not rest in stone. I know His word and I know Jesus. I am supposed to be the living monument testifying of His grace and mercy because He is the Living God!

Our reaction to this issue is very important. We must submit to our leaders. We are blessed with godly leaders, and conscientious lawyers who are looking out for the greatest good and adherence to the law. Our Superintendent is a most Godly and kind, humble, professional and intelligent man. He is good. We have good people here. They will do the right thing. In addition we need to be gracious to each other in our discussions, be kind to those who persecute us (give them the other cheek!) and pray for our leaders, for the enemies of God, and for each other.

Finally, please think about this. Monica Miller is leading the charge with her association, the American Humanists. She is very young. She is in a great deal of spiritual pain, look what her bio says in part-

Monica is also an attorney for the Nonhuman Rights Project, working to obtain common law personhood rights for nonhuman animals.

Her mind is not right, OK? Isaiah 44:18 says this

They know not, nor do they discern, for he has shut their eyes, so that they cannot see, and their hearts, so that they cannot understand.

Romans 1:28-31 says it too

And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless.

Ms Miller is dedicating her life to rebellion against Jesus, and is in league with satan as his agent. The bible declares her foolish, ignorant, deluded, evil, a hater of God and is destined for eternal punishment.

Her world is very dark, very. Let’s be compassionate! She deserves it more than just about anyone I know! She is not the enemy. The Freedom From Religion Group is not the enemy. Satan is.

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. (Ephesians 6:12)

The senior pastor of my church wrote,

Don’t lose sight of the fact that Jesus has already won. Pray about how we, as His followers, respond to those who oppose Him. It is God they are hostile toward and He forewarned us that this would happen. Matthew 5:16,44. What a great opportunity to show the world what Christianity is truly about! The love and grace of God.

John MacArthur preached about persecution, hard and soft recently. He said,

If you live a godly life in the world, you will be confronted, and you will likely be persecuted. Submit to that with a gracious attitude. Don’t retaliate.

Know our leaders will handle this rightly, submit to the government and courts, have love and compassion for those who are challenging us, and trust the LORD to make it all work our for His glory and our good. Is your faith in a stone monument? Or is your faith in the Living God who sees all on the earth?

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