jesus

Your new name!

Posted on November 16, 2025 by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

Here is a prophecy to look forward to!

Believers, if you have been faithful and your persevering walk is evidence of that faith, you will be given a pass into eternal glory upon which the Lord of Hosts, the Ancient of Days, the Holy-Holy-Holy Lord has written upon it Himself, personally for just YOU!

“He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who conquers I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, with a new name written on the stone that no one knows except the one who receives it.’’ (Revelation 2:17)

“But there’s an interesting little historical note, when a victor won in the games, whatever great games were being held, it was not uncommon for the victor to be given as part of his prize a white stone. And the white stone was his admission pass into the festival that was held following the games for all the victors. Could it be that the overcomer will receive the ticket to the eternal victory in heaven?”

Commentary on that verse:
“And then He says, “And a new name written on the stone,” and I read where they would do that. They would give the victor, like a trophy, a stone with his name and he alone could use it as his pass. “A new name written on the stone which no one knows, but he who receives it.” I can’t tell you how many people have asked me…what is that name? A lady will come to me any time I preach on the book of Revelation and say, “What is the name that no man knows?” Folks, I don’t know what the name is. If I knew what the name was then this verse couldn’t say what it says, it would have to say, “And no one knows except John MacArthur.” The only one who knows what it says is the person who receives it, that’s how personal it is. What it is to me is some kind of personal message from Christ to the one He loves which is given as an admission pass into eternal glory. I’ll know mine and you’ll know yours and we’ll know the Lord wrote them for each of us and for none of the others of us.” (source)

WOW! It is huge to think of the precious Savior not only saving me, not only guiding and protecting me, not only providing for me, but when He brings me to glory (amazing!) He gives me a personal message just for me, out of the millions thronging there!

Friend, if you have ever been picked last at PhysEd, if you have ever had unwanted divorce thrust upon you, if you have ever been fired from a job, marginalized at home, or left in any feeling invisible and unwanted, THIS should pick you up. A secret message/name is waiting for you, just for you, with the Savior’s love and care personally imprinting it and gracefully extending it to you in heaven. What a day that will be!

discernment, doctrine, false teachers, jesus, teaching

When to Follow or Reject a Teacher: Biblical Guidance

Posted on November 14, 2025November 14, 2025 by elizabethprata

SYNOPSIS: People wonder when it is reasonable to leave off following a teacher. What are the standards for giving loving benefit of the doubt, or assessing them as false and banning them completely from your purview? Both are called for in the Bible.

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forgiven, jesus, redemption, sin

Finding Hope in God’s Forgiveness and Forgetfulness

Posted on October 8, 2025 by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

SYNOPSIS

I encourage believers amid the world’s growing sinfulness by recalling Charles Spurgeon’s sermon, “God’s Non-Remembrance of Sin.” As believers grapple with their own imperfections, Spurgeon offers hope that God not only forgives but forgets sins. This message remains relevant, urging believers to embrace and share God’s mercy and grace.

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jesus, new earth, pets, rapture

Animals & Pets in Heaven: Biblical Perspectives

Posted on September 4, 2025September 4, 2025 by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

The discussion revolves around whether pets will be present in heaven, from a Christian perspective. Although humans uniquely reflect God’s image, there is speculation about the fate of animals post-New Earth. The article emphasizes God’s care for animals and suggests trust in His intentions, ultimately asserting joy in heaven will be fulfilled in Christ.

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death, eternity, hell, jesus

When it is your turn to die

Posted on August 17, 2025August 17, 2025 by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

In 2013, Aerobatic Wing Walker Jane Wicker and her pilot Charlie Schwenker were killed when the plane crashed at a Dayton, OH airshow.

The second before the plane crashed, the Dayton Ohio air show announcer said as wing walker Jane Wicker positioned herself on the upside down wing: “Jane Wicker, on top of the world!” One second later, she was dead.

I often speak of the soon return of Jesus. Today is one day closer to His return than yesterday was. Paul used to speak of Jesus’ soon return often. As a matter of fact, every New Testament book except Philemon speaks of Christ’s coming. You need to be ready.

However, we are not guaranteed a tomorrow. Yes, Jesus could come, but death could come also.

James 4:14 says “yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.”

I often wondered what Ms Wicker was thinking as she sat on the upside down wing. Nothing indicated that one second later she would be dead. Did she think she had loads of time left to ponder the deep mysteries of faith and salvation? Had she put it off until tomorrow, but tomorrow never came?

I hope she was saved by grace of Jesus.

So many people are abruptly taken out of this world to meet their eternity. Yet so many people put off for tomorrow what they should be reconciling today. I remember during a sermon one of my elders had said that as a teen they were evangelizing in a grocery store. One of the team gave the gospel to a man who was exiting. He said he did not need Jesus. He walked out of the sliding door to the sidewalk and fell down dead right then.

If you are not saved, then do not put off to tomorrow what should be done today. God has appointed you to a limited number of days in this lifetime. You do not know what that number is.

“Show me, LORD, my life’s end and the number of my days; let me know how fleeting my life is. You have made my days a mere handbreadth; the span of my years is as nothing before you. Everyone is but a breath, even those who seem secure.” (Psalm 39:4-5).

Taking care of business means coming to grips with a few things. First, this life is not all there is. We are given a limited number of days to dwell upon the earth, but this body and this life is only phase 1. After death, there is a phase 2. If you have repented of your sins and believed on the resurrected Jesus as Lord and Savior, you will go to heaven and be with Him. You will be given a glorified body that is impervious to death or sickness, has no sin nature, and can withstand the full blast of His glory and Holiness. (1 Corinthians 15:42-44, 50; Philippians 3:21).

If you rejected Jesus in this life- and you don’t have to actively reject Him but passively fail to accept him (doing nothing is the same as rejecting) then you will go to hell after you die. This is a place of eternal separation from God and you will be given a body that can withstand the full blasts of the punishment that will be inflicted on you as eternal payment for your sins and crimes against Him. (Revelation 14:11, 2 Thessalonians 1:5-9)

It is a lie that you will be annihilated, that there is nothing else after death. It is a lie that hell is only temporary. It is surely eternal, as your sins are eternal and as Jesus is eternal. (Matthew 25:46). That is why Christians can dwell with Him forever, (Matthew 28:20; John 14:3) because He is eternal and He paid the price for our sins eternally when He took God’s punishment on the cross. (Romans 3:23-24).

You say, “God is loving, He would never send people to hell for punishment.” Really? It pleased Him to crush His Son! (Isaiah 53:10). Jesus absorbed all of God’s punishment while He was on the cross. Is God loving who would do that? Yes, He was making a way for YOU, whom He also loves. Jesus did that voluntarily, because He loves His people. If you reject Jesus though, you reject the way to heaven. (John 14:6).

Eternity is real and it is permanent. You do not know what today will bring. Ms Wicker didn’t. I hope these few words from my heart makes you think of the afterlife. For the Christian, it is a joy to ponder the time we will be with Jesus. For the unsaved, there is dread and fear of the unknown. But you can know, your eternity could be secure- if you repent. (Mark 1:15).

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Reviving Christian Zeal: Remember Your Early Days

Posted on June 19, 2025June 19, 2025 by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

New Christians are so full of zeal and fervor! They run hither and yon, proclaiming and exclaiming the glories and perfections of Christ. Those early days of their grace-filled life are sweet to witness. Do you remember your early days?

As sanctification grows, so does the fruit of the Spirit. The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. (Galatians 5:22-23).

Grapes in a Tuscan vineyard. EPrata photo

As a bundle of one fruit, the fruit in growing saints sweeps in as a rushing tide, later to settle as a gentle march of steady growth. Knowledge is added to zeal.

But as time passes for the mature saint, does the early zeal grow slack? Does it wane? Does the slow growth sadly reduce to a pace of frozen molasses, inching along only imperceptibly? Let it not be so! Let not the grace filled days of zeal sputter into a distant memory.

Spurgeon said of Christian zeal aimed rightly-

We do little or nothing, the most of us; we fritter away our time. O that we could live while we live; but our existence—that is all we can call it—our existence, what a poor thing it is! … O that we may become inexhaustible and permanent rivers of usefulness, through the abundant springs from whence our supply cometh, even the Spirit of the living God. … We cannot advance so far as the Saviour’s bloody sweat, but to something like it the Christian ought to attain when he sees the tremendous clouds of sin and the tempest of God’s gathering wrath. …

How can I see souls damned, without emotion? How can I hear Christ’s name blasphemed, without a shudder? How can I think of the multitudes who prefer ruin to salvation, without a pang?

I have to close by commending zeal. Let my words be few, but let them be weighty here. In commending zeal, let me say, I think it should commend itself to every Christian man without a word of mine, but if you must have it, remember that God Himself is zealous.

Charles H. Spurgeon, “Zealots” sermon No. 639

If we constantly think back to our beginning days, we can fan the flame of zeal when we remember our former state. We remember His work to deliver grace to our pitiful soul. We remember our joy in the relief of the terrible burden of sin and judgment. John Bunyan wrote:

It is profitable for Christians to be often calling to mind the very beginnings of grace with their souls. … It was Paul’s accustomed manner (Acts 22), and that when tried for his life (Acts 24), even to open, before his judges, the manner of his conversion: he would think of that day, and that hour, in the which he first did meet with grace; for he found it support unto him. When God had brought the children of Israel through the Red Sea, far into the wilderness, yet they must turn quite about thither again, to remember the drowning of their enemies there (Num 14:25). For though they sang his praise before, yet “they soon forgat his works” (Psa 106:11-13).

My dear children, call to mind the former days, “and the years of ancient times: remember also your songs in the night; and commune with your own heart” (Psa 73:5-12). Yea, look diligently, and leave no corner therein unsearched, for there is treasure hid, even the treasure of your first and second experience of the grace of God toward you. Remember, I say, the word that first laid hold upon you; remember your terrors of conscience, and fear of death and hell; remember also your tears and prayers to God; yea, how you sighed under every hedge for mercy.

John Bunyan, Grace Abounding

Saint, remember the early days. Remember all that Jesus has done. Extol His virtues and perfections, His willingness to endure the cross with all its loneliness and wrath. His death and burial, and glorious resurrection. Remember all that, so the grace that He delivered to us in forgiveness of our sins will revive the quieting heart, renew the callousing heart, resound the forgetting heart. Jesus was zealous for His Father’s house. We can gather and be zealous for His house also. Zealous in love and submission and awe and worship.

Have a wonderful day!

bible, grace, jesus

Two Mother’s Day essays for those women struggling with Mother’s Day

Posted on May 11, 2025 by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

SYNOPSIS

In this essay I reflect on the complexities of motherhood, highlighting both the ideal, and the painful realities some experience, particularly with non-believing mothers whose beliefs contradict their actions. Sunny Shell offers compassion and encouragement, while Dayspring McLeod discusses biblical infertility, emphasizing it as a chance for God’s transformative work, urging faith amid challenges.

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chris koelle, chris powers, discernment, evil, halloween, jesus, william blake

Halloween and Demons, and all that

Posted on October 25, 2024 by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

Halloween is coming, a holiday that is impossible to ignore when you work in a public elementary school among the youngest of students, as I do. I have an abounding abhorrence to Halloween.

As a child, my particular dislikes involved costumes, makeup, mascots, noise, and chaos; so being among ALL of that was a trial for me. I also didn’t like approaching homes and talking to people. So, ditto. But I loved candy and running around outside with friends. Being allowed out after dark was thrilling too.

As a Christian adult, promoting a night of evil and buying into satan’s lies perplexes me. Some churches forgo the evening entirely and do nothing regarding a “Fall Festival” or “Harvest Fest,” while others change the name of their event from Halloween to ‘Hallelujah Fest’ and invite the community in for hot dogs and games as a Gospel outreach. I’ve wrestled with both sides of the argument: I hate satan…I love outreach.

However, since it is a question of Christian liberty, I try to do all as unto the Lord and not cause anyone to stumble, so I remain silent about my decisions and simply helped where I could and then bowed out where my conscience came in. Make your decisions thoughtfully and prayerfully, and remember not to become prideful about whatever you decide.

Here are a few balanced essays discussing the question of Christians celebrating Halloween.

Should Christians Celebrate Halloween?

Where Did Halloween Come From? Can a Christian celebrate it?

Christians and Halloween

Speaking of evil spirits, here is a terrific essay on demonology from Answers in Genesis. In American culture we are so sanitized, so scientific, such a high-falutin’ advanced First World country that even Christians find mention of demons or evil spirits distasteful. The subtle or not-so-subtle undercurrent to such discussions even in church is “Haven’t we gone beyond that?” Well, no. And certainly satan has not, either.

The opposite problem holds true as well. Churches, especially ones that are starting to absorb Charismatic doctrines, tend to attribute every negative thing to satan, as if he was hiding behind every tree and was the evil force behind everything from spilling your coffee to the paper cut on your finger. When the fact is, our own flesh is usually the cause of of our sins. Our flesh is always with us and our lusts are more normally the cause of sinning than demons are.

Here is a biblical view of satan in an excellent article by noted scholar C. Fred Dickason. Professor Dickason served on the faculty of the Moody Bible Institute for thirty-four years and is known as a biblical expert on angelology and demonology. It is hard to find a balanced and not nutty article on demonology! He presents the truth of satan’s influence, extent, and limits, while focusing on the grace of God and the hope we have in Jesus. I recommend the article.

Demons on a leash at Answers in Genesis by C. Fred Dickason
Demons are alive and active today, but we can rest in the reality of our Father’s gracious and powerful control.

He examines the following topics in the article:

Biblical Perspective on Satan’s Role
Demons Through the Ages
Demonic Activity in the World
Demonic Opposition to Believers
The Time of Satan’s Fall (and refuting the popular ‘Gap Theory’)
God’s Provision in Our Battle
God’s Sovereign Control
Our Authority in the Battle

As Halloween approaches evil is increasingly on the mind of the pagans and even the Christians. Our eyes are assaulted by movie posters lauding the latest graphic depiction of the underworld. Our eyes avert from the neighbor’s brutal yard art depicting scenes of evil, all in “celebration” of Halloween.

Our sensibilities may be assaulted by seeing yet another child absorbed into dallying with the occult, or simply enduring the abounding sin that Halloween seems to loose. Yet we take heart. Jesus has overcome the world.

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). And the evil within it.

But thanks be to God, who always leads us as captives in Christ’s triumphal procession and uses us to spread the aroma of the knowledge of him everywhere. (2 Corinthians 2:14)

He made a spectacle of those unholy angels AKA demons in His triumph of the cross!

He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him. (Colossians 2:15)

heaven, jesus

Your new name!

Posted on October 6, 2024 by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

Here is a prophecy to look forward to!

Commentary on that verse from John MacArthur:

“And then He says, “And a new name written on the stone,” and I read where they would do that. They would give the victor, like a trophy, a stone with his name and he alone could use it as his pass. “A new name written on the stone which no one knows, but he who receives it.” I can’t tell you how many people have asked me…what is that name?”

“A lady will come to me any time I preach on the book of Revelation and say, “What is the name that no man knows?” Folks, I don’t know what the name is. If I knew what the name was then this verse couldn’t say what it says, it would have to say, “And no one knows except John MacArthur.”

“The only one who knows what it says is the person who receives it, that’s how personal it is. What it is to me is some kind of personal message from Christ to the one He loves which is given as an admission pass into eternal glory. I’ll know mine and you’ll know yours and we’ll know the Lord wrote them for each of us and for none of the others of us.” (source)

It is huge to think of the precious Savior not only saving me, not only guiding and protecting me, not only providing for me, but when He brings me to glory (amazing!) He gives me a personal message just for me, out of the millions thronging there!

Friend, if you have ever been picked last, if you have ever had unwanted divorce thrust upon you, if you have ever been fired from a job, marginalized at home, or left in any feeling invisible and unwanted, THIS should pick you up. A secret message/name is waiting for you, just for you, with the Savior’s love and care personally imprinting it and gracefully extending it to you in heaven. What a day that will be!!!!!!!

bride, jesus, prophecy, symbol, wife, woman clothed with the sun

The Four Women of Revelation

Posted on May 15, 2024 by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

Gotquestions.org offers an introductory paragraph regarding this highly symbolic yet also highly literal book. It, along with Genesis, are two of my favorite books of the bible.

The Revelation of Jesus Christ was given to John by God “to show his servants what must soon take place.” This book is filled with mysteries about things to come. It is the final warning that the world will surely end and judgment will be certain. It gives us a tiny glimpse of heaven and all of the glories awaiting those who keep their robes white. Revelation takes us through the great tribulation with all its woes and the final fire that all unbelievers will face for eternity. The book reiterates the fall of Satan and the doom he and his angels are bound for. We are shown the duties of all creatures and angels of heaven and the promises of the saints that will live forever with Jesus in the New Jerusalem. Like John, we find it hard to describe what we read in the book of Revelation.

I have the MacArthur study Bible. I read the note for the verse 1-2, the woman with twelve stars. The note was interesting. It said there are four women mentioned in Revelation.

1. Jezebel. This woman represents the pagan church. This isn’t the actual queen Jezebel who once actually lived. (1 Kings, 2 Kings). This Jezebel mentioned in Revelation 2:20 was more likely a Jezebel type. She was a woman who actually was living and harming the church at Thyatira, but was called by Jesus “Jezebel.” This was not a compliment.

Queen Jezebel by John Liston Byam Shaw, 1896

But I have this against you, that you tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess and is teaching and seducing my servants to practice sexual immorality and to eat food sacrificed to idols. I gave her time to repent, but she refuses to repent of her sexual immorality. Behold, I will throw her onto a sickbed, and those who commit adultery with her I will throw into great tribulation, unless they repent of her works, and I will strike her children dead.

2. Woman clothed with the sun. This woman represents Israel.

And a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars. She was pregnant and was crying out in birth pains and the agony of giving birth. (Revelation 12:1-2)

*The Great Red Dragon and the Woman Clothed with the Sun,* c. 1805. By William Blake

MacArthur’s note reads:

Not an actual woman, but a symbolic representation of Israel, pictured in the OT as the wife of God. (Isa. 54:5-6; Jer. 3:6-8, 31:32; Ezek. 16:32; Hos 2:16). … That this woman does not represent the church is clear from the context. ‘clothed with the sun, …moon under her feet…twelve stars…Cf., Gen 37:9-11. Being clothed with the sun speaks of the glory, dignity, and exalted status of Israel, the people of promise who will be saved, and given a kingdom. The picture of the moon under her feet possibly describes God’s covenant relationship with Israel, since new moons were associated with worship (1 Chron 23:21; 2 Chron 2:4, 8:13; Ezra 3:5; Ps 81:3. The 12 stars represent the twelve tribes of Israel.

3. The Scarlet Woman. This woman represents the apostate church.

Colored version of the Whore of Babylon illustration from Martin Luther’s 1534 translation of the Bible

And he carried me away in the Spirit into a wilderness, and I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast that was full of blasphemous names, and it had seven heads and ten horns. The woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and jewels and pearls, holding in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and the impurities of her sexual immorality. And on her forehead was written a name of mystery: “Babylon the great, mother of prostitutes and of earth’s abominations.” And I saw the woman, drunk with the blood of the saints, the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. (Revelation 17:3-6).

The Bible note says,

Purple and scarlet…the colors of royalty, nobility and wealth. The woman is portrayed as a prostitute who has successfully plied her trade and become extremely wealthy. Adorned…Prostitutes often dress in fine clothes and precious stones to allure their victims. (cf. Prov 7:10). The religious harlot Babylon is no different, adorning herself to lure the nations into her grasp.

4. Wife of the Lamb This woman represents the true church.

[ The New Jerusalem ] Then came one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues and spoke to me, saying, “Come, I will show you the Bride, the wife of the Lamb.” And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great, high mountain, and showed me the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God, (Revelation 21:9-10)

The New Jerusalem takes on the character of its inhabitants, the redeemed.

So you have heard of the four horsemen of the Apocalypse…now you know of the four women of Revelation! 🙂

Read Revelation. It promises a blessing for those who do! (Revelation 22:7). It also has another promise.

Behold, I am coming soon, bringing my recompense with me, to repay each one for what he has done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.” (Revelation 22:12-13)

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