jesus – Page 19

dogma, false doctrine, jesus, mary worship, mediator, pope francis, s bible

Pope Francis prays to Mary in Lampedusa

Posted on July 27, 2013 by elizabethprata

Outside of Catholic circles, you may or may not know that Catholics pray to Mary. They believe she is co-redemptrix. They also believe she was a virgin all her life, that she never sinned, and that she ascended bodily into heaven, where she co-rules with Jesus. All this is false of course. It is blasphemy and idolatry.

Here is the translation of the prayer that Pope Francis prayed today

Pope’s Marian Prayer at Lampedusa
Here is a translation of the Holy Father’s prayer to the Blessed Mother at the conclusion of the Mass celebrated in the island of Lampedusa this morning. Oh Mary, star of the sea, once again we recourse to thee, to find refuge and serenity, to implore your protection and help. Mother of God and our Mother, turn your sweet gaze towards those who face the dangers of the sea everyday to guarantee their families the necessary sustenance for life, to protect the respect of creation, to serve peace between peoples. Protector of migrants and itinerants, assist with maternal care all men, women, and children who are forced to flee their lands in search of a future and of hope. May their meeting with us and our people not become a source of new and heavier slavery and humiliation.

Mother of mercy, ask forgiveness for us who, blinded by selfishness, concerned by our interests and prisoners of our own fears, have become distracted towards the needs and sufferings of our brothers. Refuge of sinners, obtain the conversion of heart for those who generate war, hate and poverty, who exploit their brothers and their fragility, who make an undignified commerce of human life. Model of charity, bless all men and women of good will, who receive and serve those who dock on this land: may the love received and given be a seed of new brotherly ties and the dawn of a world of peace. Amen

The bible says that we are only to pray to God. Jesus is our only intercessor. (1 Timothy 2:5, Hebrews 7:25). The Catholic will explain that prayers to Mary (or requests of Mary to pray for us) are biblically justified, despite the clear command to pray only to Jesus, and the prohibition against communing with the dead. (Leviticus 20:27; Deuteronomy 18:10-13)

In this video, a priest is teaching that because of the scene in Revelation 5:8, where the elders around God’s throne are holding harps and bowls of incense which are the prayers of the saints, that they intercede for us. He also says that in Revelation 8:3-5, that the angels do the same thing, bring our prayers to God. Yet the bible’s Rev 5 scene shows dramatically and clearly that though the elders hold the bowls of prayers, they are offering them to God, not rifling through the bowls themselves to pick a prayer to answer them. And, one would have to place Mary at the seated circle of elders so that she would be holding a bowl, in the first place, which the verse in no way describes.

This Catholic answers web page about praying to Mary states, “Secondly, because Mary was “favoured by God” [Lk. 1:30] when she was personally chosen by the Lord to become the mother of Jesus, God incarnated, Catholics believe that they have a greater chance of obtaining God’s grace for their daily physical and spiritual needs by asking Mary to intercede on their behalf. Thirdly, the above mentioned belief is partially based on the fact that Jesus is the King of kings and Mary, as the mother of the King, is the “queen mother.” Then, when studying Jewish history, it is discovered that the institution of the “queen mother” was established during the reign of King Solomon.”

However, you notice that the queen mother item is a man-made tradition. Nowhere in the bible does it call Mary royalty. As a matter of fact, Paul says simply “Jesus was born of a woman.”(Galatians 4:4)

The Catholic page continues,
In the Old Testament, we learn of the favoured position of the queen mother through the following words, “… then the king sat on his throne, and had a throne brought for the king’s mother, and she sat on his right. Then she said, ‘I have one small request to make of you, do not refuse me.’ And the king said to her, ‘Make your request, my mother, for I will not refuse you.'” [1 Kgs. 2:19-20]

Following the reign of King Solomon, many of the kings kept this practice. The mother of the king, through who the king received his throne, was trusted as a confident and advisor. So important was the function of the queen mothers in the days of the Old Testament that their names were listed in the succession records of the kings of Judah. [See 1 Kgs 14:21, 15:13; 2 Kgs. 12:1, 14:2, 15:2, etc…]

Why not pray to Queen Esther? She really was a queen, AND saved all the Jewish people, something that, after all, Jesus did too. Why not pray to Queen Nitzevet, mother of King David and who was in direct line of the Messiah? Because we should only pray to “Queen Mary,” a Catholic might say? Well, where is that in the bible? You see how far off-track we get when we apply man’s traditions and extra-biblical interpretations on top of the bible.

Similar to the intercession of the Queen Mother, when a child desires a favour and cannot obtain it from his/her parents, frequently the child will make the request to the grandparent to intercede on his/her behalf, therefore obtaining the favour that was being sought. This does not mean that the child is seeking the parental favour from the grandparent. Rather, the child is seeking the intercession of the grandparents before the parents.

Likening a disobedient grandchild manipulating his two grandparents to Catholic Marian intercession is just false on the face of it. The child’s authority are the parents. Period. Going around the parents’ back means you have a disobedient child on your hands, and he should be punished.

“Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.” (Ephesians 6:1)

Furthermore, Catholics do not differentiate between the living (in this world) and the dead (those who departed) members of the Body of Christ (the fullness of the Church.) The fullness of the mystical Body of Christ is found in the union of all the saints, past and present, here below and those above in Heaven.”

Catholics would have to see the living and the dead as the same for their false construct to hold up, as well as purgatory and indulgences and many other false Catholic doctrines.

For more information explaining why praying to Mary is a blasphemous activity, go here. Here is a snippet:
“The Bible nowhere instructs believers in Christ to pray to anyone other than God. The Bible nowhere encourages, or even mentions, believers asking individuals in heaven for their prayers. Why, then, do many Catholics pray to Mary and/or the saints, or request their prayers? Catholics view Mary and the saints as “intercessors” before God. They believe that a saint, who is glorified in Heaven, has more “direct access” to God than we do. Therefore, if a saint delivers a prayer to God, it is more effective than us praying to God directly. This concept is blatantly unbiblical. Hebrews 4:16 tells us that we, believers here on earth, can “approach the throne of grace with confidence.”

I mention the Marian prayer by Pope Francis for two reasons. First, to show how subtly the false religions twist the bible. It takes skill and discernment to see how and why the Catholic stance is incorrect. I listened to the priest three times in that video. Not because I believed him but I wanted a thorough understanding of what he was saying and how he was saying it. He used Revelation 5 very well. He is very plausible sounding. Yet the bible says that the false doctrines will sound plausible.

“I say this in order that no one may delude you with plausible arguments.” (Colossians 2:4)

Secondly, in this day and age of “tolerance” I want to keep saying all the more boldly and flatly: anyone adhering to these doctrines is not saved and will go to hell if they die believing them. If Pope Francis were to die tonight, he will go to eternal fiery torment in hell. He is a child of hell (Matthew 23:33) and a curse upon the earth. (Galatians 3:10). He is in all likelihood a very nice man, that is not the issue. He is a child of the devil. (1 John 3:10).

How can I say these things with such certainty? No one becomes pope unless they have demonstrated throughout a lifetime of believing, protecting, teaching, and promoting these false doctrines. And tonight we see the fruit: praying to Mary.

I am not happy about the fact that if Pope Francis were to die tonight he would go to hell forever. Not at all. I wish no one would go there. But one must believe on Jesus alone and not a hellish amalgam of grace plus works plus a heavy dose of idolatry and blasphemy in order to be declared righteous before God.

Though I am sad that a man like Mr Jorge Bergoglio is going to hell, I am also upset that he is deluding many millions with these doctrines of demons.

Be careful not to be swayed by fine words using the bible. Be careful not to be drawn away by mystical practices which entice the flesh under guise of spirituality.

“But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction. And many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of truth will be blasphemed. And in their greed they will exploit you with false words. Their condemnation from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep.” (2 Peter 2:1-3)

Does Jesus need Mary as prayer buddy because He is too busy? Is she the heavenly secretary, bringing prayers to the overwhelmed CEO because His desk got piled too high? Never let it be so! Does He use Mary because He is distant and unloving? Then He is not God! Does He need Mary because He must be persuaded? Then He is not sovereign!

Jesus is our High Priest, loving, able, compassionate, willing to hear our prayers and grant them if they align with His will. (Hebrews 6:20, Hebrews 9:11). Jesus paid it all, and He was accepted by God as the one sacrifice for sins, therefore He now performs a most excellent office, Priest, interceding for us. Why would you WANT to pray to anyone else, when we have the most unique Being, the most perfect Judge, the most loving Shepherd, in the entire universe, who knows our name and the very numbers of hairs on our head?!

Love Jesus and love His offices of Priest, Prophet and King. He is the ONLY ROYALTY.

denny burk, drive by pneumatology, jesus, messiah

Follow up to defective Christology: The Many Things and the Main True Thing

Posted on July 14, 2013 by elizabethprata

I’m listening to Denny Burk’s lecture in the CD ‘Drive By Pneumatology’ called, “The Regenerating Work of the Spirit.” Mr Burk gave a good analogy about Christ that I’d like to share. In speaking of Jesus in John 3:16 with the setting of Nicodemus and Jesus, Mr Burk,

“As the King sits before him, all Nicodemus sees is a good teacher. He can’t see the kingdom. He can’t see Jesus for who He is. Somebody may ask me at this point, ‘good gravy, Denny, is it really such a big deal that Nicodemus doesn’t see that Jesus is the King? Shouldn’t we give at least a little credit to him for at least seeing that He is a good teacher from God?’

“If I were to invite a certain famous person to speak to us here today, and since I invited him I would be responsible for introducing him. I might say, ‘Here is a man who graduated from Yale, and Harvard Business School. He is a former airman in Air National Guard, and he comes from an important political family, maybe you heard of them, the Bushes? He once ran an unsuccessful campaign for the Texas House of Representatives. After that he became an owner of the Texas Rangers!

Ladies and gentlemen please help me to give a big Texas welcome to George W. Bush.”

“If I was to introduce him like that, how would that be received?… People would look around saying who is this idiot introducing the President? Why would they say that? Because it doesn’t matter how many true things I say about President Bush if I don’t say the main thing that’s true about about President Bush, namely, that he was former President of the United States! In fact all that other stuff is kind of piddly in light of the fact that he was the President and I probably shouldn’t even mention them.

If I leave that out it is not a bad reflection on the President, it just reveals to everyone how dimwitted I am. It doesn’t matter how many true things you see and believe about Jesus if you don’t see and believe the main thing about Jesus!

None of the rest matters unless you see that. You can see and believe that He is a great prophet, as the Muslims do. You can believe He is a good moral teacher as the Jews do. You can say He is loving and kind like almost every secular person believes. But if you fail to see that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God, then none of the rest of the true things you believe about Jesus matters.

——————

Another Jesus: an example of defective Christology

Posted on July 12, 2013 by elizabethprata

The truth is that there is “this same Jesus” (Acts 1:11) and there is “another Jesus”. (2 Cor 11:4).

I’ve explained before that there are a great many people who claim Jesus who are not saved. This is because they claim another Jesus, not this same Jesus as revealed in the bible.

We read the bible and we read its theology, its history, its poetry…and then we go on with our day, never making a practical application from what we just read as to our church’s theology, our personal history, our poetic hymnody and music. But we must make practical application. Jesus is too important and false doctrine and false teachers who bring these teachings are too destructive.

So what is meant by ‘another Jesus’ as stated in 2 Corinthians 11? Satan is very seductive. John MacArthur explains ‘another Jesus’ in his sermon on the Corinthians verse, titled “Christian Loyalty, Part 2“

“They identified somehow with Jesus, the name Jesus, but it was a different Jesus. … They had somehow invented another Jesus. You have to listen so carefully because Satan is so seductive. They talk about Jesus. They love Jesus. Jesus is the Savior. But it’s not the true Jesus.”

HOW is it not the true Jesus? Look how hard it is sometimes to unearth the seeming follower’s different Jesus — MacArthur continued:

“I said to the Mormon man that I met with, I said, “I want you to tell me who Jesus is.”You love Jesus.” “They said yes.
“You believe Jesus is your Savior.” Yes.
“You believe Jesus died on the cross.” Yes.
“You believe He died a substitute for your sins on the cross?” Yes.
“You believe that salvation comes by faith in the death of Jesus on the cross?” Yes.
“You believe that’s gracious of God to give you that?” Yes.
“You believe Jesus bore your sin in His own body on the cross?” Yes.
I said, “That’s…that’s true, that’s all accurate.”
“You sing praises to Jesus, you long to serve Him, you love Him?” They said yes.
I said, “Who is Jesus?”
“They said Jesus is the created spirit child of God.”
I said, “That’s another Jesus, that’s not the Jesus that we preach.”

Let’s go to the scene in Matthew 16:13-18a. It is very important in considering one’s Christology. It all boils down to the question: “Who is Christ?”

“Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” And they said, “Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church…”

Jesus did not congratulate the ones who said, ‘You are John the Baptist’, saying, ‘Yup! Pretty close! Come on up and stand with me on the Rock.’ He didn’t affirm the ones who said He was Elijah, inviting them to come on in. He didn’t bless the ones who said ‘You are Jeremiah or a prophet.’ He said that the one who said He is ‘the Christ, the Son of the living God’ is blessed. Note, “THE Christ. The one and only. Belief is a bull’s eye and a bull’s eye only. If you’re off on who Christ is, you’re off on everything.

Finally, He told Peter that Peter understood this fact because the Spirit had revealed it to him.

If you know who Christ is, THE Christ, you have the Spirit, because only the Spirit reveals these things. If you claim another Christ, you do not have the Spirit.

Paul said in 2 Corinthians 11:4 that
“For if someone comes and proclaims another Jesus than the one we proclaimed, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or if you accept a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it readily enough.”

–Note Paul said ‘if someone comes…’ but remember that Teachers, Pastors, and Disciples AKA Believers are sent. (Matthew 28:19). Believers are sent in Christ’s authority but the false professors come in their own authority.
–Note Paul said ‘proclaims another Jesus’- indicating it was already happening in 60 AD, an no less from the people that Paul, a first generation witness to the risen Christ, had personally taught!
–Note Paul said they will proclaim this other Jesus ‘by another spirit’, not the Holy Spirit.

Christianity has standards for including believers into it. Non-believers and in some cases even non-members of a particular church may NOT partake of The Lord’s Supper at Communion. (1 Corinthians 11:27-29; 1 Corinthians 10:16). Only believers may be baptized. (Romans 6:3-4). Christianity has commands and is exclusive, separate, and distinctive. Jesus said that His sword of truth is so precise it will divide son from father, mother from daughter. (Matthew 10:34-36). We should not accept anyone and everyone as a brother in the faith simply on the basis their surface proclamation of Jesus. Paul was chiding the Corinthians over that. ‘You accept a different gospel readily enough’.

When Paul arrived at Jerusalem and said “I’m a member of the body of believers in Jesus Christ” the local body didn’t accept him at first. They were afraid of him, even though Paul had been preaching Christ for three years by the time he got to Jerusalem. (Acts 9:26). After all, Saul/Paul had been the chief persecutor and torturer of believers. They had a right to be afraid. But isn’t a false believer who brings a different Jesus just as destructive? Yet we overlook their kind of killing belief, and accept them without a second glance. For many undiscerning people, they utter the holy name of Jesus as simply a magic password. Too many believers have thrown out the “listen carefully” warning. This evidences their lack of discernment.

How is your Christology? Who is Christ? That is the question. Is Jesus God? Was He born of a virgin? Was He both fully man and fully God? Was He sinless? Is He the Word, revealing Himself in the bible? Did He die on the cross as the substitute for our sins, and was resurrected on the Third Day? Is He judge? Is he holy? And so on. Who IS Christ?

The church has watered down theology today because they have accepted many in their midst who have an outwardly pious and sincere belief in another Jesus.

Because of this watering down, the essential doctrines of our faith are under attack. Many people think you can disbelieve in one or more of them and still be in the faith. Not so. There are essential beliefs, and they are absolute. Where Jesus said a belief was essential, it is essential. For some of these, He even included a penalty for NOT believing.

Jesus is going to return and show Himself as Who He really is. His robes will be stained with blood, He will speak a word and millions will be slain at Armageddon, He will judge the living and the dead. JUDGE them, calling them account for their lives- the distinguishing benchmark being whether they believed in this same Jesus, or not. If they did not, they will be sent to hell for all of their conscious tormenting eternity.

Be distinguished from the world NOW, believe on the Christ of the bible. Study Him carefully, diligently, from His word (not visions and dreams and impressions and purpose-driven, motivational books.) Because belief in Him (this same Jesus) is the standard by which your eternity will be divided- heaven or hell, narrow road or broad, there is no other subject to which a person ought to devote himself with more fire or zeal or attention. If you claim Jesus, make sure you claim THE Jesus, and not another.

“and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people.” (Matthew 24:11)

———————–

‘It’s a darkness that claws at your sanity…’

Posted on June 27, 2013May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

Darkness is a primal thing. No one likes it. No one seeks it. We think we have beaten our ancient fear of it, but it is only the fragile light bulb that makes us think we are less primitive than we are.

Darkness is disorienting, you cannot see the ground ahead of you nor the prey sneaking up on you. As a child, the prey is the alligator living under the bed. As an adult, the darkness is a thing to be laughed at in the light and a thing to be dreaded while in the dark.

For generations and centuries, man hated to see the sun set, having no candle to ward off the night spirits. Even with a candle or kerosene lamp, its flickering glow seemed too meager to combat the oppressive night.

Sailors for millennia will tell you that the night watch from 2-4 am is the most chilling. Terrifying is the night, especially if there is no moon and the stars are obscured. Samuel Taylor Coleridge captured this in the stanza about sailing at night in his famous Rime of the Ancient Mariner,

The Sun’s rim dips; the stars rush out;

At one stride comes the dark;

With far-heard whisper, o’er the sea,

Off shot the spectre-bark.

We listened and looked sideways up!

Fear at my heart, as at a cup,

My life-blood seemed to sip!

The stars were dim, and thick the night,

The steersman’s face by his lamp gleamed white;

From the sails the dew did drip—

Till clomb above the eastern bar

The hornèd Moon, with one bright star

Within the nether tip.

George Grie ‘Final Frontier Voyager’ Wikimedia commons

Night sailing is vertiginous, captured here in Grie’s painting. At every moment one believes the edge of the world looms and we will be pitched into a void from which there is no escape.

The River Styx is the Greek mythological river that separates the outer world from the underworld. It is a kingdom lorded over by Hades, and guarded by Cerberus the three headed dog. Charon is the ferryboatman who brings the lost souls across the river to their eternal doom. The term ‘stygian darkness’ comes from the Styx.

Here in the book Stories of the Ships, by Lewis R. Freeman, we read a description of a storm at night-

Riise3

“The ship was reeling through the blackness of the pit when I clambered to the deck after dinner, so that the driving spray and ice-needles struck the face before one saw them by even the thousandth of a second. The darkness was such as one almost never encounters ashore, and it was some time before I accustomed myself to close my eyes against the unseen missiles (when turning to windward) without deliberately telling myself to do so in advance.”

“Into the Stygian pall the vivid golden triangles from the signal searchlights on the bridge flashed like the stab of a flaming sword. One instant the darkness was almost palpable enough to lean against; the next, the silhouette of funnels and foretop pricked into life, but only to be quenched again before the eye had time to fix a single detail.”

“Darkness you could lean against” … so apt!

I was in total darkness once. I do not mean the dark night, or even the dark when sailing, though that is very dark. I mean under-the-earth kind of dark where there is no spot of light nor any particle of brightness nor any beam of luminosity…just oppressive dark. It was when we toured the Queen Copper Mine in Bisbee Arizona. The tour takes you down under the earth and as you go along, they explain about mining. When we got to the bottom, the tour guide says to turn off your headlamps, and for 5 to 8 seconds we sit in a darkness so black is it alive. It suffocates, and permeates the brain to the extent that you want to scream and scrape your way out. It is a darkness that is palpable, suffocating you with its wild dementia. It is a darkness that claws at your sanity. When the lights come back on your mind relaxes at the soothing balm that brightness brings.

In darkness such as this, your eye has no opportunity to grasp a single detail, and instead, the mind is floating as a raft upon the darkness, free-wheeling and unhinged from the anchoring light.

In this NY Times review of an art installation, Darkness Visible, and Palpable, the author wrote,

“Usually, when we see something, we see it in advance: we know we can approach it; we can assess it as we move forward. Sight helps shape our sense of the future.

Here we have a different experience of time. Sounds help us anticipate, but in this strange, darkened space, even voices seem to float, positionless, in a void. We don’t know what is about to happen; we aren’t sure where we have been; and it is a problem finding out just where we are. No wonder horror movies rely on darkness: Anything can take shape in front of our eyes, and we would hardly know it. The world becomes immaterial in one respect but all too solid with dangers in another.”

Dore’s illustration in Dante’s Inferno,
Gates of Hell, ‘Abandon all hope, ye who enter here’

Studies have been done. Darkness does things to us. Participants in an experiment were put into a dimmed room. Their behavior became more dishonest than the participants in the well-lit room. In another study, participants were situated in a well-lit room with another person, except then they were given sunglasses. Participants wearing sunglasses acted more dishonestly than participants without.
Read more about “What darkness does to the mind” at The Atlantic.

The bible frequently uses light and dark to contrast truths. Ecclesiastes 2:14b says that the fool walks in darkness. John 12:35b says “Whoever walks in the dark does not know where they are going.”

The way that darkness is used here is that movement in the absence of light could cause self-injury or harm to others. You walk slowly when it’s dark, you don’t run. That is because you do not know where danger is. Pulpit Commentary says, “they will drift over the fathomless unknown into infinite and endless suspense. When the Light of the world is spurned, … humanity and the world have no goal set before them; there is no end at which they aim – no mind or will to guide the progress of mankind.”

Sin is darkness. “Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them.” (Ephesians 5:11)

The power of satan is darkness. (Acts 26:18)

The LORD spoke much in the Old Testament about the Day of Darkness. His judgment brings darkness.

“Woe to you who desire the day of the LORD! Why would you have the day of the LORD? It is darkness, and not light” (Amos 5:18).

“Give glory to the LORD your God before he brings the darkness, before your feet stumble on the darkening hills. You hope for light, but he will turn it to utter darkness and change it to deep gloom.” (Jeremiah 13:16)

But Jesus IS THE LIGHT!!

“Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” (John 8:12)

How wonderful we can follow Him, a Light that never goes on and never dims. We will never walk in darkness if we follow Him. He knows the way, because He IS the Way!

If you do not follow Him, O, my heart aches in sadness to say, but there the person will remain in outer darkness all their lives throughout eternity. A person who dies in their sin, will remain in that clawing, palpable, screaming darkness forever- in hell.

Hell is a place of outer darkness (Matthew 22:13) where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth (Matthew 8:12).

People, the precious Light has come!

“Believe in the light while you have the light, so that you may become children of light.” (John 12:36)

beast, false wonders, jesus, revelation

The image of the beast that speaks

Posted on June 4, 2013May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

“‘I know where you dwell, where Satan’s throne is. Yet you hold fast my name, and you did not deny my faith even in the days of Antipas my faithful witness, who was killed among you, where Satan dwells.” (Revelation 2:13)

“And it was allowed to give breath to the image of the beast, so that the image of the beast might even speak and might cause those who would not worship the image of the beast to be slain.” (Revelation 13:15)

At first, those two verses may not seem connected. And they may not be. But here is a bit of history, and then a speculation. You decide.

The Antipas that John spoke of via Jesus in Revelation 2, was the bishop of the church at Pergamum. Pergamum, now known as Bergama, was part of the Greek Empire. It is located in what is now Turkey, having been overcome in 1453 when the Ottomans swept in and absorbed Greece. The Ottoman Empire, AKA the Turkish Empire, retained Greece under its rule from 1453 until Greece declared independence in 1821.

The Revelation verse mentions the throne of satan, Antipas, and the martyrdom of Antipas. Because of the mention of Antipas, the common interpretation is that the place where satan dwells is Pergamum where Antipas was bishop.

This city was an important political center that influenced all of Asia Minor. Though the city itself was beautiful it was one of the darkest, creepiest cities of all- spiritually. The city was home to a plethora of complex of pagan cults, including worship of Zeus, Athena, Dionysus and Asclepius, the healer, being of special importance. The people there were known as the “temple keepers of Asia.” The largest temple was the Temple of Zeus, and it is this temple that is thought to be the one Jesus was referring to in Revelation 2:12 when Jesus says that the people of Pergamum live in the place where satan has set his throne. If a ‘god’ has sat down, it indicates he feels comfortable enough to sit, that he is ‘at home.’

Antipas was the leader of the Christian church there, ordained by John and killed for the faith in around 92AD. Antipas’s death must have been very recent when John was inspired to write Revelation 2. This was during the reign of Domitian. Christians were heavily persecuted toward the end of Domitian’s reign (89-96).

In Pergamum, the tradition goes, Antipas had been very successful in casting out demons. So the priests in the city decided that Antipas was a threat to their way of life, and a threat to all the religions, and to the emperor. Tradition says that Antipas was given the opportunity to make a sacrifice to the emperor, but he refused. He was condemned to death. The common method of executing someone in that city was at the Temple of Zeus, one of the marvels of architecture of the day.

What they would do is put someone inside a huge brass, hollow bull, tie them up, and light a fire under the bull. The person inside would slowly roast. However, to add to the drama and mystique, the builders had designed the bull in such a way that made it seem to come alive. Author Rick Renner explains,

“They would take the victim, place him inside the bull, and they would tie him in such a way that his head would go into the head of the bull. Then they would light a huge fire under the bull, and as the fire heated the bronze, the person inside of the bull would slowly begin to roast to death. As the victim would begin to moan and to cry out in pain, his cries would echo through the pipes in the head of the bull so it seemed to make the bull come alive.”

Source

You can just imagine with the smoke and the fire, and the marble allowing for sounds to bounce off all the walls, how eerie it must have seemed to see this huge bull and listen to what sounded like moaning and crying emanating from it behind the smoke.

In Revelation 13 we read that there will be another image and that it will seem to have breath and to have come alive, and cause all to worship it. It is not so hard to imagine that this once again may be the method of making the bull seem alive. Though some have proposed that modern technology will have advanced to the point where the “image” spoken of in Revelation 13:15 will be a hologram, or a complex robot, or some such, it is not so hard for a man like the antichrist who will have been given power to cause false signs and wonders, to make a bull or other image seem alive. However, I am sure that it will be amazing, just as millions were overcome with mesmerizing sensuousness at Hitler’s speeches or Obama’s appearances, millions again will be swayed by flatteries and false miracles. Let’s take a look at the beast that can seem to speak in Revelation 13, even though Habakkuk 2:19 says,

“Woe to him who says to a wooden thing, Awake; to a silent stone, Arise! Can this teach? Behold, it is overlaid with gold and silver, and there is no breath at all in it.”

As for the beast that can seem to speak, “Now this is amazing. This powerful Antichrist, this world leader is established as the focus of world worship and the false prophet is given somehow the power to give him breath in the very form of that image so that the image can speak. Please notice the word is breath here, it’s not life, it’s not zoe, it’s not bios, the two Greek words for life. It’s pneuma. And I believe what you have here is the presence of the appearance of some kind of phenomena that looks like life but not bios and not zoe, not life. Some would like to say that this image comes to life, but I don’t see that. Satan cannot give life. [Strong’s definition of pneuma, ‘a movement of air (gentle) blast; of the wind].” (source)

The spirit of antichrist is now in the world, as Apostle John wrote in 1 John 4:3, “and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already.” This spirit is one that hates God and seeks to stop the mouths of the people who proclaim the wondrous name of Jesus.

All the former antichrists have tried to stop the Christians; Antiochus IV, Emperor Titus, Nero, Domitian, Hitler…they were pictures and types of antichrists, which will lead to the final antichrist, the Beast. The persecution is coming, I mean the global persecution against Jews and Christians described in Revelation 12. But the Bride will not be here to experience it. For those who have already died a faithful death like Antipas, and for those who will die a faithful death in the Tribulation, refer back to the verse in Revelation 2…

“and you did not deny my faith even in the days of Antipas my faithful witness, who was killed among you”

…a personal commendation from Jesus! What a treasure! Those who die martyr’s death will receive a crown, the crown of life,

“Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him.” (James 1:12)

“Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and for ten days you will have tribulation. Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life.” (Revelation 2:10).

The best part is that soon, the beast who will be allowed to speak, and I am talking of the Beast who speaks flatteries and causes deception (Daniel 11:32), will have his day and then he will speak no more. After the Tribulation he will be tormented forever in the Lake of Fire,

“And the beast was captured, and with it the false prophet who in its presence had done the signs by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped its image. These two were thrown alive into the lake of fire that burns with sulfur.” (Revelation 19:20).

He will speak no more!

Jesus speaks forever!

” LORD, Your word is forever; it is firmly fixed in heaven.” (Psalm 119:89, Holman)

covenant, jerusalem, jesus, shekinah

Jerusalem! Part 3, Its Wondrous Spiritual Future

Posted on May 28, 2013May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

Jerusalem: Introduction
Jerusalem Part 1: The Land
Jerusalem Part 2: The Nation

In this third and final part of looking at the city of Jerusalem and the land of Israel, we’ll look at the spiritual aspect of this holy city. We looked at the land itself in part 1, the geography, animals, and plants. In Part 2 we looked at the political entity that is today’s Israel. Now let’s see what God has in store for the city where He placed His name!

I had said in the introduction that in listening to John MacArthur preach through Zechariah, I have been encouraged, astounded, and blessed as the meaning of that tremendous book opens my mind in awe of God. In one of the sermons he preached about “The Future Glory of Jerusalem“, and it swept me away so completely that I decided to do this three-part series. Here is a small snippet of what he preached. I encourage you to listen in its entirety

Let me give you a little fast history, hang on. It first appears in Scripture as the city of Salem, ruled by a man by the name of Melchizedek. In Genesis 14 he is called the king of Salem. Most people assume the name Jerusalem or Salem comes from the Hebrew shalom, which means peace. Twenty centuries before Christ it existed as the city of Salem. The next time we see Jerusalem in history it appears as a Canaanite stronghold with an allegiance to Egypt. Soon after that we see it in reference to Joshua. This is 600 years after the Genesis record or 1400 years before Christ. Joshua in Chapter 10 sets his sights on this city as he conquers Canaan. And in Chapter 15 Joshua says that this territory, including this city, has been given to Judah when the land was divided among the tribes. But even though it was 1400 years before Christ that the city was said to belong to Judah, it wasn’t until 1003 B.C. that David stormed Jerusalem, which was then a fortress of the people called the Jebusites and according to II Samuel 5, David took the city, which was later to bear the name the city of David. The city never really became much under David. It wasn’t until David’s brilliant son, Solomon, that Jerusalem reached its golden age.

And under Solomon the wall was extended, an incredible palace was built, an amazing and marvelous wonder of the world the temple was accomplished, and Jerusalem became something astonishing, something astounding. But after Solomon the ages that flowed on brought no comparable glory to Jerusalem and by 586 B.C. or about 400 years after Solomon, the city was a rubble, destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar. Nehemiah went back and rebuilt it but it remained rather insignificant from then on. Finally in 70 A.D. after the birth of Jesus Christ some 70 years the city was wiped out again and destroyed by the Roman army, as we saw last week. Jerusalem arose rather meekly from the ashes a little after 70 A.D., but by 132 A.D. whatever was left was crushed by the Emperor Hadrian from Rome. And until modern times even in our modern era Jerusalem has been kicked back and forth between the Turks and the Christian nations, the Moslems and the Christians kicking it back and forth.

And finally in our generation the marvelous rebirth of the state of Israel has occurred, a miracle of sociology, a miracle of the perpetuity of a race of human beings. I dare say nobody has ever met a Jebusite, a Hivite, a Amorite, a Moabite or a Edomite, or any other -ite around the Bible, but we sure have Israelites because God has preserved them in their own land. They’ve come back, but the hold it very tenuously don’t they, surrounded by enemies. In fact surrounded on every side of them that is land they are locked in with literally bloodthirsty enemies and their hold is tenuous and they are always on the edge of war. Incredible as it is from Melchizedek in the fourteenth chapter of Genesis to 1977, the story of Jerusalem weaves its way through history. Cities come and go but not that city, it just continues. The city of Melchizedek, the city of David, the city of Christ, the city of Paul, the city of Salidine, the city of General Allenby, the city of Ben Guion, the city of Moshe Dayan, it is ever the perpetual city and someday it’ll be the city of the seat of David, the Lord Jesus Christ yet again.

This final chapter hasn’t been written. It’s final hero hasn’t arrived yet, but He will. For about 2,000 years now the Jews have been going to the Wailing Wall at one point or another to pray for the peace of Jerusalem, to plead with God to send a deliverer and break Gentile power.

When God decides the timing is right for that to happen it will be stupendous! During the Tribulation the glorious city will be trodden into the mud. It will become so perverse that it will be called metaphorical Sodom and Egypt. (Revelation 11:8). Both Sodom and Egypt were known for oppression, perversity, and sin. Armies will circle around the city (Luke 21:20). The Gentiles will trample it. (Luke 21:24). An earthquake will split it into three parts and 7,000 will die (Revelation 11:13, Revelation 16:19). Jerusalem is going to have a rough, rough time.

But we cannot leave it like that.

The Lord chose this city for His name. He endowed it with His presence. (Luke 2:9). He chose to be crucified there. And when he returns, it will be to JERUSALEM!!

“And in that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives,
Which faces Jerusalem on the east.
And the Mount of Olives shall be split in two,
From east to west,
Making a very large valley;
Half of the mountain shall move toward the north
And half of it toward the south. (Zechariah 14:4)”.

And He will change the topography of the area to raise up Jerusalem!

It shall come to pass in that day
That there will be no light;
The lights will diminish.
7 It shall be one day
Which is known to the Lord—
Neither day nor night.
But at evening time it shall happen
That it will be light.

8 And in that day it shall be
That living waters shall flow from Jerusalem,
Half of them toward the eastern sea
And half of them toward the western sea;
In both summer and winter it shall occur.
9 And the Lord shall be King over all the earth.
In that day it shall be—
“The Lord is one,”
And His name one.

10 All the land shall be turned into a plain from Geba to Rimmon south of Jerusalem. Jerusalem shall be raised up and inhabited in her place from Benjamin’s Gate to the place of the First Gate and the Corner Gate, and from the Tower of Hananel to the king’s winepresses.” (Zechariah 14:6-10).

Ezekiel 47 parallels the scene. It is tremendous. Please go read it. It is too long to put here. But the Middletown Bible Church of Middletown CT has put up a page with a drawing in addition to a biblical essay about Jerusalem’s final position. They write,

“In Zechariah 14:8 we learn that half of this river will empty into the Dead Sea and half of the river will empty into the Mediterranean Sea. This river is also mentioned in Psalm 46:4 (and notice the context in Psalm 46:9-10 which clearly speaks of the kingdom).”

Jerusalem! The LORD is there. (Ezekiel 48:35). How close is the time for Jerusalem to be inhabited safely (Zechariah 14:11) and the glorious city and temple to be glowing with the manifested presence of God who is Jesus in the flesh? I do not know, but when it happens, it will be mercy…He promises mercy…

“Therefore thus said the LORD; I am returned to Jerusalem with mercies: my house shall be built in it, said the LORD of hosts, and a line shall be stretched forth on Jerusalem. 17Cry yet, saying, Thus said the LORD of hosts; My cities through prosperity shall yet be spread abroad; and the LORD shall yet comfort Zion, and shall yet choose Jerusalem.” (Zechariah 1:16-17)

IT DOESN’T GET ANY BETTER THAN THAT!!!!!!!!!!

identity, jesus, watch me daddy

"Watch me, Daddy!" Our identity in Christ

Posted on May 3, 2013May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

Remember when we were kids, and we could run fast as a cheetah, jump as high as a kangaroo, turn cartwheels as fast as a bowling ball? We felt it, we knew it.

photo credit: Runs With Scissors via photopin cc

As kids we loved moving for the sheer joy of it. However, it made the movement all the sweeter when we shouted to Mom or Dad, “Watch me!” It seemed desperately important for our parents or grandparents to see us. We needed that confirmation of our identity. Doing our trick or running real fast somehow wasn’t as good if mom or dad didn’t see it. Kids yearn for that acknowledgement when we acquire a new skill. Children love praise. It makes our new skill all the nicer when we can see that dad approves.

On the playground I’m asked all the time to “Watch me run!’ “Watch me flip!” Watch me do a cartwheel!” I remember the intensity of wanting my mom’s eyes upon us. It meant everything. It had to happen! They had to watch! So when I’m asked on the playground at school to watch, I always say yes. I always wait until they return and say “did you see?” because they always ask. “Did you see?” I say “yes, great job!” And they run away happy.

What is it within a child that makes it such a desperate need to be seen? It’s as if our entire identity is cemented as long as we receive that parental confirmation. It’s as if even our entire existence is validated as long as father sees us and applauds. Kids desperately seek attention from their father, don’t they?

As adult Christian believers, we don’t have to say, “Father watch me!” By faith, we know our identity is in Christ. Our very existence, we owe to Him. And by faith we know He watches us, as much as is eternally possible and all the time. We don’t have to ask.

The LORD himself watches over you! The LORD stands beside you as your protective shade. (Psalm 121:5)

He does not take his eyes off the righteous; He enthrones them with kings and exalts them forever. (Job 36:7)

For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to give strong support to those whose heart is blameless toward him. (2 Chronicles 16:9).

Does he not see my ways and count my every step? (Job 31:4).

Brethren, friend, loved ones, His eyes are on you! He watches us with delight!

the LORD delights in those who fear him, who put their hope in his unfailing love.

(Psalm 147:11)

While we are trophies of grace, He doesn’t look at us just to look at us, nor does He look at us because we’re so great. He does love us. But don’t you look at your own trophy case? Admire your work? Hang your platinum albums on the wall? Pin the pennant up over your bed? He watches us because He will magnify HIS OWN name by us, His trophies of grace. (Ezekiel 36:23).

We do not need to shout to our Father, “Watch me!” anymore. We toil on earth, not letting the left hand know what the right hand is doing. We give, edify, pray in our secret closet. We don’t need to ask the Lord to watch us acquire a new skill, because we know by faith He watches. What we do as His ambassadors is to say “Watch our Father! Look what He can do!”

When He calls us home and we stand before Him at the Bema rewards, and He says “Well done, Son, well done, daughter! Well done good and faithful servant!” Our identity will be finally realized, fulfilled, and made eternal. We become one in flesh with the Father, and then have an eternity to enjoy Him as He enjoys us, the Bride finally home with the Groom. And we can look Him full in the face and we can say about HIM- look at our Father! watch HIM!

photo credit: ClaraDon via photopin cc

gonorrhea, jesus, robert a. j. gagnon, sexual sin

Sexual sins are worse. Here’s why

Posted on May 2, 2013 by elizabethprata

The UK Daily Mail has this story:

Doctors warn that antibiotic-resistant strain of gonorrhea could be ‘worse than AIDS’
Doctors are warning that an antibiotic-resistant strain of gonorrhea, now considered a superbug, has the potential to be as deadly as the AIDS virus. Gonorrhea is the second most commonly reported sexually transmitted infection in North America. This particular strain of gonorrhea, known as HO41, was discovered in Japan two years ago in a 31-year-old female sex worker who had been screened in 2009. The bacteria has since been found in Hawaii, California and Norway. HO41 has so far proved resistant to current antibiotic treatment and so it has been placed in the superbug category. ‘This might be a lot worse than AIDS in the short run because the bacteria is more aggressive and will affect more people quickly,’ Alan Christianson, a doctor of naturopathic medicine told CNBC. Nearly 30 million people have died from AIDS related causes worldwide, but Christianson believes the effect of the gonorrhea bacteria is more direct.

Wow. That kind of came out of nowhere…

What kind of problem does gonorrhea usually present? The Center for Disease Control reports on their gonorrhea fact sheet,

CDC estimates that, annually, 820,000 people in the United States get new gonorrhea infections and less than half of these infections are detected and reported to CDC.

Gonorrhea is a sexually transmitted disease, given or received by any sexually active person, heterosexual or homosexual.

Sexually transmitted diseases at their basic root are a judgment from God in the way that all disease is a function of the decay the people who dwell on the earth experience as a general consequence of it. Disease is a fact of the wrath of God He is allowing to be present in this age. Judgment aside, sexual diseases ARE a consequence of wanton sexual activity outside the biblical confines of marriage. There is a reason God set it up so that one man and one woman enjoy conjugal relations for a lifetime. Abandoning that opens a person up to sin, emotional decay, and physical disease. Remaining in a committed marriage with only one partner, or celibate if single, immeasurably decreases your chances of contracting such a disease.

In addition, Romans 1:18-32 describes God’s wrath against sexual sin and worse perversion.

So how does one avoid God’s displeasure in sexual sin, particularly when the culture is so immoral? Even insurance advertisements use adultery and lasciviousness to sell product! Well, the bible says, “Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. (1 Corinthians 6:18).”

Barnes Notes explains,

Flee fornication – A solemn command of God – as explicit as any that thundered from Mount Sinai. None can disregard it with impunity – none can violate it without being exposed to the awful vengeance of the Almighty. There is force and emphasis in the word “flee” φεύγατε pheugate. Man should escape from it; he should not stay to reason about it; to debate the matter; or even to contend with his propensities, and to try the strength of his virtue. There are some sins which a man can resist; some about which he can reason without danger of pollution. But this is a sin where a man is safe only when he flies.

Remember Joseph. He is our example here.

But one day, when he went into the house to do his work and none of the men of the house was there in the house, she caught him by his garment, saying, “Lie with me.” But he left his garment in her hand and fled and got out of the house. (Genesis 39:11-12)

The prophecies in the bible about the last days and the Tribulation indicate that disease will run rampant over the entire earth and kill a great many people. Death and Hades are given authority to kill a fourth of of the earth’s people by sword, famine, beasts, and disease. (Revelation 6:8). Jesus warned that in the last days there will be pestilences (Luke 21:11).

It is no accident, in my opinion, that the CDC and other agencies are worried about and reporting on an increase in drug resistance. Superbugs didn’t exist as commonly as they do today when I was a child. There have been outbreaks, but none like the ones predicted in the Tribulation.

This website lists the five deadliest pandemics in history. Smallpox, a mystery disease, Spanish Flu and good old bubonic plague have been with us since recorded history.

In The Peloponnesian War Pestilence, a disease killed 30,000 Athenians and was never identified. About half of Athens perished.

The Anotonine Plague, thought to be smallpox, ran its course in 15 years and killed 5,000 a day and a total of 5 million people.

The Plague of Justinian occurred in 541-542 AD, this disease now known to be bubonic plague killed 10,000 people in Constantinople every day. With no room nor time to bury them, bodies were left stacked in the open. it is estimated that almost a quarter of the Mediterranean region was killed during this course of the disease.

In the 1300s, the Black Death (bubonic plague) took a heavy toll on Europe. The fatality was recorded at over 25 million people or one-fourth of the entire population.

The Spanish Flu of 1918-1919 affected every continent. It is perhaps the most lethal pandemic in the history of humankind: between 20 and 100 million people were killed, more the number killed in WWI itself.

And now this disease poised to be “worse than AIDS”. The World Health Organization reports that 1.5-1.9 people died of AIDS related illnesses in 2011. Since the beginning of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, 60 million people have contracted HIV and 25 million have died of AIDS-related causes.

And this new gonorrhea bug may be worse? And rising at a time when the Lord said that pestilence will be rampant? And when the Restrainer ceases His restraining ministry after the rapture and sexual sin will explode? Good gravy, please believe on the Lord Jesus and escape all these things by being part of the Bride and rise at the rapture!

His faithfulness is such that He takes ALL sinners, no matter who confesses and repents. He is loving, just, merciful and kind. However, though He is those things, after the rapture He will unleash His wrath and anger, and render unto the unbelieving and sinning world the due consequences of their actions. The above list of ‘five worst pandemics’ will seem like a summer cold by the time the bodies are stacked up at the end of the Tribulation. You do not want to be here for that.

In case you missed it above, sexual sin, any sexual sin, (pre-marital sex, AKA fornication, homosexual sex, adultery, pornography, and all other perversions) is worse than other sins because…here it is in 1 Corinthians 6:18 again.

And a word of caution to us all before the blessed event of the rapture takes place: FLEE from sexual sin, and that includes thoughts as well as actions. “Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous.” (Hebrews 13:4)

Jesus is GREAT and faithful to help us. You do not have to be a slave to sexual sin. “He saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit.” (Titus 3:5)

Amen!!

—————————-

Woman ordained as Catholic priest

Posted on April 28, 2013May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

How bad is rebellion? Are there degrees of falsity? Is it like Animal Farm, all animals are equal but some are more equal than others? All rebellion is bad but some rebels are worse than others?

Catholicism is a false religion. Catholics who hold to Catholic dogma are not saved. Yet it gets worse, with the move from the top down, from Pope Francis down to rogue women, to ordain women as priests and/or place them in higher positions. It’s rebellion wrapped up in more rebellion, hypocrites behaving falsely. They wax worse deceiving and being deceived. Rebels rebelling in yet more rebellion.

Kentucky woman ordained as priest in defiance of Roman Catholic Church
In an emotional ceremony filled with tears and applause, a 70-year-old Kentucky woman was ordained a priest on Saturday as part of a dissident group operating outside of official Roman Catholic Church authority. Rosemarie Smead is one of about 150 women around the world who have decided not to wait for the Roman Catholic Church to lift its ban on women priests, but to be ordained and start their own congregations. In an interview before the ceremony, Smead said she is not worried about being excommunicated from the Church – the fate of other women ordained outside of Vatican law.

“It has no sting for me,” said Smead, a petite, gray-haired former Carmelite nun with a ready hug for strangers. “It is a Medieval bullying stick the bishops used to keep control over people and to keep the voices of women silent. I am way beyond letting octogenarian men tell us how to live our lives.”

And that last statement sums it up. They say “I’m not letting a man tell me what to do.” Their same attitude is held toward God. They are not letting God tell them what to do. Disobedience from His ways and His word always results in catastrophe for the rebel, and I am so sad that this woman is leading other women down a very perilous path.

Do you see the hypocrisy below? The woman priest seems to submit to God but she is only making a show, for she already declared she does not submit to men who hold a doctrinal opinion alternate from hers. She is ultimately rebelling though seeming to submit. And yet the whole thing is a hypocritical endeavor because the entire Catholic Church is false. She is already not submitting. It is what Jesus said,

“Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.” (Matthew 6:1)

“And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others.” (Matthew 6:5)

The problem is, her attitude of dismissing men who are in authority (though Catholic priests and Pope have no authority) infects Christian denominations in a flood. Christian Caine, Beth Moore, Priscilla Shirer, and many others not as well-known are ordained and/or function as pastors despite the fact that the bible prohibits women from that office.

Women pastors / preachers? What does the Bible say about women in ministry?”

So with women Catholic priests you have an unbibical position falsely created by the false Catholic Church, absolving sins as an “alter Christus”. The Catholic doctrine of ‘alter Christus’ means another Christ, and that is who they believe priests are. It is why they say they have the power to absolve sin. Yet 2 Corinthians 11:4 says that if anyone comes and preaches another Christ, let him be accursed.

And it only makes matters worse to say that a woman is ‘another Christ’. God revealed himself as a man. Much like William P. Young in the blasphemous book, The Shack, who presented God as a woman, and the Holy Spirit as a woman, it is equally wrong to say a woman can be another Christ.

The false ones change what Jesus said, but no longer content with that, they now change who He is.

The only way to combat that in your own life is to know who He is. Read the word, that is where God revealed His Son to us, and it is the only place where we can be sure of the truth. The truth of who Jesus is is not contained in visions, nor dreams, nor other religions, but only in holy scripture.

And once you know who Jesus is, you can know who you are, and you won’t be deceived by people coming along whispering … ‘I’m another Christ, let the men be damned’.

evil, jesus, love

The rapidity with which the world is descending into chaos is amazing

Posted on April 16, 2013May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

I’m dizzy. Literally dizzy- physically, emotionally and spiritually.

Just in the last 24 hours there has been a terrible terrorist bombing in Boston, a meteor that swooped across Spain and was seen from the north to the south, a series of quakes at Oklahoma and a major quake at the Iran-Pakistan border.

I wrote about the meteor, and a few minutes after that I saw the quakes at OK, so I wrote about them too. Then I went to dress for work and when I checked the news again just 10 minutes later, the quake at Iran had occurred.

Is there any doubt by now that the signs are not coming year upon year, or month upon month, but minute upon minute?

When people say, ‘it isn’t the end because there have always been earthquakes and meteors and signs as described’ they are right AND they are wrong. There always have been these things, to be sure.

The only question that Christians who understand prophecy have, is how long these will be signs and not

Credit: Courtesy Dan Lampariello

judgments. Because the rapture is a sign-less event, not presaged by anything in particular. The birth pangs of Matthew 24 relate to the Tribulation. However, if we can see the solidity of the groundwork being laid for those signs, how much closer is the rapture?

The Christians are not under judgment, we are not appointed to wrath. (1 Thessalonians 5:9). The wrath upon unbelievers will begin in Revelation 6 as stated by those who are left on the earth after the rapture, in Rev 6:16-17. The seal judgments will have been opened, thus signaling the beginning of the wrath. The earth’s population cries out and mourns because of it. (Revelation 6:15-17). The Church will be gone by then.

At some point the Church Age will end, the rapture will occur and the wrath will begin.

Bystanders in Karachi Pakistan after today’s 7.8 mag quake

Until then, remember what Jesus said–

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 this–

“and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already. Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.” (1 John 4:3-4).

Notice the tense, not that you will overcome the spirits of antichrist who hate. But that you ALREADY HAVE.