prophecy – Page 19

Why the Book of Revelation should be energizing and reviving to the Christian

Posted on August 11, 2018 by elizabethprata

I found the book of Revelation one of the easiest to understand. Its intent for the reader is plain to read, it has its own built-in study guide, and contains a double promise from Jesus that those who read it will be blessed. Jesus WANTS us to read Revelation. It’s a wonderful book. The following was written by Pastor James Bell and I found it concise and helpful. I hope you do too. I love speaking up for the Book of Revelation and I love anyone else who does too! It’s a great book of the Bible, sadly undermined, ignored, and misunderstood. Perhaps this essay below will help dispel that.

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The Revelation
By Pastor James Bell, Facebook
Southside Baptist Church, Gallatin TN

PLEASE do not slander the Holy Spirit, the ultimate Author of the last book of the Bible– by claiming that this grand Unveiling of Jesus is hard to understand and scary. The truth is that the primary messages of The Revelation are exceedingly plain to see and the primary truth of the book is most comforting. The Revelation IS scary to satan, demons, and all other haters of God. Doubtless, Satan does not want saints to enter into the profound comfort and instruction that God has in The Unveiling of Jesus. Moreover, let all saints beware of heeding our deceitful flesh that hates the corrections and the commands found in The Revelation!

Through the exiled and imprisoned Apostle John, the Holy Spirit gave The Revelation— which is the unveiling of Jesus as He is today. In this grand unveiling of Jesus, we are given much to heed and much to obey.

We are clearly shown that no matter how bad the storms get on planet earth — Jesus is still the Great Captain of the good ‘ship’ earth! The risen, ascended, ruling from heaven King of Kings and LORD of Lords will accomplish all of the Great Triune God’s good purposes! Jesus is sovereign and Supreme!

*** A WAKE-UP CALL: We are kidding ourselves if we think that we can stand firm in the midst of the present and coming ‘storms’ if we are not deeply grounded in the Unveiling of Jesus AS HE IS TODAY!

Keys to great profit from The Revelation:

[1] REMEMBER that this last book of the Bible was FIRST OF ALL written to persecuted Christians, who needed some encouragement, who needed to know that Jesus, not Rome was in command, who needed commendations, commands, and corrections.

[2] PLACE YOURSELF IN THE MIND-SET of one of those first Christians to receive The Revelation. Family members and other fellow saints were missing. They were not AWOL. No, they had been fed to the lions… or maybe banished like the Apostle John to slave labor on the isle of Patmos. Rome was mighty.

The saints were becoming fearful. Some were wondering if they were but fools. Some were already tolerating sin and apostasy. (Revelation 2-3)

But at just the right moment, Almighty God invaded the isle of Patmos by the Holy Spirit and moved John’s pen! And when The Revelation was completed, some how, God got The Revelation, the unveiling of Jesus Christ, to the churches.

Can’t you just imagine, the persecuted saints at Ephesus, meeting in secret… and a ‘runner’ comes in… and they are startled and wonder, “Is he a spy?” No, he proves his credentials… He has just left the aged pastor/Apostle John and likely reported something like, “I have in my hand a scroll that God has given to John to give to the churches!”

Amazed and excited, they listened as the entire Unveiling of Jesus was read! I am convinced that by the time the last ‘Amen’ of the Revelation was read — well, words cannot capture the joy, the excitement, the hope, the repenting, the revival that took place!

[3] THEREFORE, please, if you have never done this— read The Revelation straight through in one… and with the mind-set of those who first heard it read!

Let us so prayerfully read, so seek to hear, and so commit to obey the things written in The Revelation— That we too, will enter into a new day of joy, excitement, hope, repenting,… in other words— God-sent revival!

—-end Pastor Bell—-

Amen and Amen. Please don’t be afraid to read Revelation. Those are the very last words Jesus chose to speak to His church before He comes again. They are highly important and as Pastor Bell wrote, instructive and comforting.

revelation 1 verse

prophecy, theology

The Different Kinds of God’s Wrath

Posted on August 8, 2018 by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

Thomas Hooker, a Puritan preacher of the 1600s, said in his book The application of redemption by the effectual work of the word, and spirit of Christ, for the bringing home of lost sinners to God (don’t you love their lengthy titles, lol? And their antiquated spelling? )

who shal comfort, who can releeve what ever he doth, whereever he is, the wrath God abides upon him, thou art not within the Mercy nor the compass of that Redemption?

Jonathan Edwards said the word “wrath” 52 times in his famous sermon Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God. He said “anger” 6 times. He preached,

The Wrath of God burns against them, their Damnation don’t slumber, the Pit is prepared, the Fire is made ready, the Furnace is now hot, ready to receive them, the Flames do now rage and glow.

What IS the wrath? Most people, if they think of God’s wrath at all either think of Jesus exhausting it on the cross for forgiven sinners, or the last day when Jesus returns in wrath, blood, fire etc to pour His wrath out on unforgiven sinners.

The wrath of God is not an easy topic. It is not a popular topic. It is not often directly preached from pulpits, nor spoken of on social media or in conversation. But it is an important topic. Upon death, the final state of all humans who were not saved during life will be to endure horrific wrath forever. The wrath hangs over every unsaved person while they are alive.

The wrath is something that Jesus endured and died for so we believers would not have to encounter it. When we say are saved, what are we saved from? God’s wrath. The wrath is half of the Gospel. So we need to understand it in all its different aspects, speak of it, include it judiciously in conversation. It is an attribute of God. And though we love to think of Jesus the babe meek & mild, He is also wrathful. He will return to deliver that stored-up wrath one day.

However there are different kinds of wrath. Just because we don’t see fire and brimstone raining down from heaven does not mean God is not expressing His righteous anger against sinners this very moment. Let’s look at the different kinds of wrath that exist and have existed for all time.

John MacArthur preached on this a number of times, here is a paraphrase / excerpt from one of the sermons. Please note that though MacArthur put the different wraths in a descriptive list, by no means is the list extra-biblical. It’s just that people aren’t used to thinking about the wrath in different types delivered at different times.

1. Eternal wrath – because it is the punishment that God brings upon unbelieving sinners forever in hell. (Matthew 25:41-46, many other verses).
2. Eschatological wrath, that is the wrath of God that is released at the end of the world described by some of the Old Testament prophets, described by Jesus Christ Himself in the Olivet Discourse, and clearly laid out for us in the book of Revelation. (Luke 21:23, Romans 2:5, Revelation 6-18).
3. Cataclysmic wrath, like a tsunami, a volcano, a hurricane, an earthquake… Noah’s FLood and the destruction of Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, & Zeboiim are examples of this wrath. Cataclysms are a reflection of the judgment of God. (Numbers 16:31-35).
4. Consequential wrath. Consequential wrath is the sowing and reaping wrath, you live a certain kind of life and you set in motion certain forces that will produce judgment. The resulting wrath can be reflective of the consequence of the sin-choice a person makes. (Acts 5:4-5, 1 Corinthians 11:29-30).
5. The wrath of abandonment. It is that wrath exhibited by God when He turns His back on a group, society, or individual. (Romans 1:24, 28, 28).

We should be careful though, not to attribute any particular event as an example of a specific kind of wrath. The tornado-wind that destroyed Job’s house was not wrath. (Job 18:18). The man born blind did not experience a lifetime of infirmity due to sin. (John 9:2-3). The Tower of Siloam fell over because the Tower of Siloam fell over. (Luke 13:4). Someone whom God has seemed to have turned over to their sin in a wrath of abandonment could become the unlikeliest convert (Saul/Paul).

Unlike in Edwards or Hooker’s time, in today’s Christianity God is talked of as a kindly grandfather in the sky, or Jesus is treated as a romantic boyfriend. However, God’s wrath is real. It is already present and it is also to come. Humans may not live any way we want and God will sit idly by smiling upon His wayward children. He has high moral standards and a high holy standard. Departure from His standard will result in wrath. Since none of us can attain these standards on our own, it means we are all due to experience His wrath. This presents a problem because none is righteous, no, not one. We are all separated from God. Yet He desires communion with His creatures.

Graciously, Jesus lived a perfectly holy life, died on the cross as the sacrifice, having exhausted all of God’s wrath for those whom He will save, and after laying dead in the tomb for three days, God raised Jesus to life. Those who repent of their sins and turn to Jesus as Lord and Savior will never experience His wrath. Praise God for that.

Since we have now been justified by His blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through Him! (Romans 5:9).

We truly don’t have any idea of what is coming. Read Nahum for an example. It’s just three short chapters. Read Revelation for a glimpse. God is angry with the wicked every day. (Psalm 7:11).

Repent now, while there is still time.

After the arrest of John, Jesus went into Galilee and proclaimed the gospel of God.and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.” (Mark 1:14-15).

wrath verse

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In love with Nahum

Posted on July 19, 2018 by elizabethprata

My internet went out at 4:00 yesterday afternoon. I took a quick nap, did some other things, and after an hour or so saw it was still out. I turned the modem on and off, still no internet. I called my company and they said it was a widespread outage due to node failure. No word on when it was coming back.

It’s certainly disconcerting to be disconnected. All my lectures, sermons, entertainment, notes in the cloud etc. require online connection. I have no TV or stereo. Absolutely everything I do is online.

I have some downloaded lectures on my laptop from Todd Friel, in a series called Drive By Discernment. I bought them about ten years ago and went through them all at that time, about 70 lectures, delivered by various men. It’s one of the only and in my opinion, best, series on actually teaching what discernment IS and how to practice it. 70 lectures sounds like a lot but it isn’t. Drive By is the series, and it’s so named because the lectures are 7-11 minutes each. It’s to be listened to, you guessed it, as you drive to work or wherever. So they made the lectures fairly short so people can grab a listen on the go.

Two of the men on the series have since fallen. RW Glenn and Art Azurdia. It is so sad to see the progression of sin and the devastation of what it does to a man and his ministry. Here are a few of the quotes and thoughts from lesson #1 of Drive By Discernment, Todd Friel, speaker:

False teachers hate Jesus. They hate the Bible.

They carry a Bible around on the stage. They put it up on the big screens behind the podium. They claim to love Jesus, but the Jesus they love is the Jesus of their imagination, or the Jesus that makes their bank account better. It is the Jesus that gives them power. It is the Jesus that allows them to live a licentious life- which are all the markings of false teachers.

Believe it or not, there are some positives of false teaching-

1. Heresy clarifies orthodoxy.
2. Heresy sharpens believers in being able to give a reason for the hope that lies within us.
3. It increases the suffering of false teachers. This one is harder to swallow, but given God’s hatred of sin and His vengeance against those who draw His beloved people away from Him, it makes sense.

There are 3 reasons to practice discernment

1. Love of truth
2. Love of people
3. Love of God

Thomas Brooks said, “False teachers are hell’s greatest enrichers!”

I recommend Drive By Discernment. You can listen to the first three sessions for free here on Sermon Audio.

During the offline time I did spend time of course in my Bible and in prayer. I started the Book of Nahum. I finished the book of Nahum. It’s only 3 chapters, lol. I love the Old Testament prophets, Major or Minor. Yesterday I’d heard a sermon from the wonderful series from Grace Community Church, Sundays In July, about the Major Point of the Minor Prophets. For my Bible reading, I decided to spend some time renewing my acquaintance with some of the OT Minor prophets again.

I say again, because I’ve read them all. I read through the OT when I was first saved and I focused a lot of my time on the OT prophets. I love the OT Prophets. I can’t say that enough.

There was a new book on sale that I’d bought back along, a Nahum commentary called Severe Compassion, The Gospel According to Nahum, by Gregory D. Cook. The commentary is so easy to read, insightful and biblical. I also have all of Roy Gingrich’s OT Prophet outlines.

Roy Gingrich contributed uniquely to the faith by making outlines of most of the books of the Bible. Instead of lengthy prose treatment explaining all the aspects of the verses, his outlines succinctly state the main point of each verse in one or two sentences. In his introduction to the book of Nahum, Gingrich wrote:

The book has great value because of its teachings concerning God’s righteousness. It teaches that God ultimately destroys the wicked and delivers the righteous. It teaches that God is severe to His enemies and good to His friends. It is majestic in its moral descriptions of God—No other Bible book excels Nahum in this respect. Gingrich, R. E. (2003). The Books of Micah and Nahum (p. 28). Memphis, TN: Riverside Printing.

As I read through Nahum, I was so moved by the poetry, the images, the contrast of man who thinks he is mighty and the true Mighty One. The OT Major and Minor prophets are majestic pieces of work. Nahum is particularly known for its poetic imagery.

If you are new to the faith, Minor Prophets are called that not because they are of less value, for all scripture is good for correction, edification, and reproof. But they are simply shorter books. Nahum, as I mentioned, is just 3 chapters.

We’re familiar with Jonah, mainly because of the strange tale of the runaway prophet who was swallowed by a great fish. Jonah was sent to Nineveh, the capitol city of Assyria, to preach that God was going to destroy the city. The Ninevites heard the message and repented.

They remained in God’s good graces for a few generations, but after 100 years passed, the Ninevites were back in the same boat. They were committing atrocities, they were boastful, they were spiritual adulterers. God determined that the time had come. He sent Nahum to preach to Judah that their oppression and harassment by this nation was about to be over, and gave Nahum an oracle to deliver. That message comprised the book of Nahum.

Nahum is a straightforward book, offering no interpretive challenges. Its history doesn’t bear a lot of digging into because it’s not complicated. Assyria & Nineveh, your time for destruction has come. That’s it.

Nahum is one of the most beautiful of the prophetical works, being the most vivid in imagery and poetry. Give Nahum a try. Better yet, read Jonah, then Nahum. I think you will learn a lot about God.

nahum

prophecy, theology

Why Study Eschatology?

Posted on July 17, 2018 by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

1. Why Study Prophecy (the prophetic scriptures)

It’s a sanctifying hope. Keeping our eyes on the heavenlies keeps our hope in the future reward alive. Our citizenship isn’t here on earth, it’s in heaven. Hoping in faith for Jesus to come, each day, (‘When you pray, pray…Thy Kingdom Come…’ Matthew 6:10) keeps us inside a sanctifying hope. Our eyes lodged firmly on Jesus, we can better resist the flesh, which, in our sanctifying hope, we know will pass away

And every man that has this hope in him purifies himself, even as he is pure. (1 John 3:3)

2. What does it mean to keep our eyes on our future?

It means we always remember this earth is not our home. Once your mind is awakened to this concept that we are pilgrims, you will see the reference and types throughout scripture from the Old Testament to the New. The Bible alternately uses words like sojourner, exiles, foreigners, aliens, and strangers.

You shall not oppress a sojourner. You know the heart of a sojourner, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt. (Exodus 29:3)

Hear my prayer, O Lord, and give ear to my cry; hold not your peace at my tears! For I am a sojourner with you, a guest, like all my fathers. (Psalm 39:12)

Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul. Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation. (1 Peter 2:11-12)

The word in Greek as used in the 1 Peter 2 means,

parepídēmos – a sojourner (foreigner) – literally, someone “passing through” but still with personal relationship with the people in that locale (note the prefix, para, “close beside”). This temporary (but active) relationship is made necessary by circumstances.

The writer of Hebrews noted the patriarchs that have come before us, and concludes,

All these people died in faith, without having received the things they were promised. However, they saw them and welcomed them from afar. And they acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth.

Do we acknowledge we are in relationship with the citizens of earth but know this relationship is temporary? Or do we participate in the world systems, for example the political, with a do-or-die attitude?

3. What will happen at the very, very end?

But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up. (2 Peter 3:10).

As John MacArthur said of global warming: “So, your hairspray isn’t going to do it. Go ahead and spray.”

This is one startling example of reasons not to get entangled in world systems. In the above case, it’s environmentalism. In the vein of the word sojourner above, we have a relationship with the people in our lives and our surroundings, and God did tell us to shepherd the earth (care for the garden). But getting embroiled in saving the earth is a quite different activity. It is an activity that people who are eternally attached to the earth will do. We are not attached to the earth. Upon salvation, our citizenship was transferred off the earth, to heaven.

We can rejoice in knowing our future is with Jesus and He is sovereign over all things, including the prophetic plan.

prophecy, theology

Speaking up for prophetic scriptures

Posted on July 2, 2018 by elizabethprata

They used to say that the Puritan preachers were so heavenly minded they lived in heaven 6 days a week and came down on Sunday to preach. I don’t think it could be said that the Puritans gained biblical knowledge for knowledge’s sake and failed to apply it. In my opinion, the more you study the Bible, including prophecy, the more you want to apply it. Why study prophecy? Aside from the fact that we are commanded to? (Mark 13:37)

I study prophecy because –

–it is part of the Bible, God’s revelation of Himself through holy inspired word
–it is commanded (See above)
–it instills in me an urgency to live righteously and to witness. We don’t study just for the information and go our way. It has to affect our Christian walk, just as any scripture does.
–it’s beautiful
–It comforts me to think of these things being fulfilled:

“In the last days the mountain of the Lord’s temple will be established as chief among the mountains; it will be raised above the hills, and peoples will stream to it. Many nations will come and say, “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob. He will teach us his ways, so that we may walk in his paths.” The law will go out from Zion, the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. (Micah 4:1-2).

If you are driving in a fogbank, you get disoriented. You slow down. You look carefully. You are on high alert. You see a fogline at the edge and you know how far to go.

When in the fog you look for distinct landmarks, but the fog may be so heavy you don’t see them unless they are large or unless they are close. Eventually you start to emerge from the fogbank and you can see more clearly, landmarks near and far. The Bible in all its glories clear the mind and allow us to see with a Christian worldview. The more we study all of it, the clearer our minds become.

It’s sad that many people avoid studying prophecy because they think it’s isn’t a worthy part of the canon…or they don’t know how (as if the prophetic scriptures are less or more challenging than the scriptures of Law or Poetry or History), or it causes arguments.

Again, why study prophecy? Observing and studying not just for knowledge but
–to learn the entire sweep and scope of God’s promises,
–to instill a wonder at His sovereign hand from beginning to end
–to create in us an urgency so as to live righteously and to share boldly
–to be encouraged

A good commentary can help. Also a good study Bible. James Montgomery Boice preached well through the prophetic books that most preachers don’t pay attention to, such as Haggai, Daniel, Amos, and the like.

What a glorious prophetic future we have to look forward to:

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place[a] of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. (Revelation 21:1-3).

prophecy

prophecy, Uncategorized

The Man of God and the old prophet (and don’t forget the shriveled hand!)

Posted on May 27, 2018May 27, 2018 by elizabethprata

1 Kings 13 has an interesting little scene. The book was written about 550BC. It’s rich with drama, meaning, and life lessons even for us at this telescoped end of time. The chapter 13 I’d read yesterday regarded the coming destruction of the false altar at Bethel, and the king Jeroboam, who’d allowed it and even served as priest there. “A Man of God” was tasked with bringing the King a message about the false worship at Bethel and God’s extreme disapproval of it.

There are so many lessons in this chapter. We could look at the chapter in terms of the idolatrous worship … or the precision of God’s pronouncements …or how we must believe His word … or what constitutes right worship … or how God formerly authenticated His word by signs … but I’m not focusing on any of those wonderful lessons today. First, I’ll recap.

God sent a Man of God (AKA prophet) to speak truth to King Jeroboam. ‘Man of God’ is a title Paul designated to Timothy (1 Timothy 6:11) and also was given in the Old Testament to Moses (Deuteronomy 33:1), David (Nehemiah 12:24), Elijah (1 Kings 17:18) and Elisha (2 Kings 4:7). The phrase designates the man as set apart and having a unique relationship with God and bringing missives originating in God and from God. The Man of God AKA prophet is God’s special representative, one whom God has personally chosen and sent.

The Man of God pronounced judgment upon the King by prophesying a future King emerging from the house of David (which Jeroboam hated) who will be born 360 years into the future named Josiah who will pull down the false altars, pour out the ashes onto the ground (unclean) and burn human bones on them (indicating a slaughter of the false priests).

The King did not take the message lightly and stretched out his hand, pointed to the Man of God, and said ‘seize him!’ The King’s hand withered, a sign that the messenger was true. After some pleading and tears, the King’s hand was restored and the Man of God went his way.

God had said not to stop for hospitality anywhere at any time, in fact, to go home another way. The Man of God refused hospitality at the King’s table (after the King’s hand was restored), a huge snub in the Middle East and a further message not to consort with Jereoboam. But then we see the Man of God idly sitting under an oak tree. He is not hurrying, he has no sense of urgency to leave the idolatrous area.

Here comes is the interesting part.

“He … found him sitting under an oak” (1 Kings 13:14). It must be considered significant that the man of God was idly resting under an oak tree instead of returning to Judah, and the man could not have been blameless, because God had dearly instructed him to waste no time on his mission. Many a servant of God has been overcome with disaster in a moment of idleness. Coffman Commentary

Compare with Abraham’s servant sent to fetch a wife for Isaac. In Genesis 24:33, the servant would not eat until he had spoken his piece. Afterward, he was urged to delay his departure, but the servant still would have none of it, even though the wife had been obtained and seemingly, his mission was done. He said, “Do not delay me, since the Lord has prospered my way. Send me away that I may go to my master.” (Genesis 24:56).

Abraham’s servant kept the LORD first.

Back to the 1 Kings 13 chapter. There lived another prophet from the immediate area. The prophet’s sons came to him and told what had happened with the King. The old prophet purposed to go find this Man of God. The prophet did not repent. He did not fall on his face. He did not go to the King. He made a plan, a dastardly plan instead, to seek out the messenger.

He asked his sons which way the Man of God went. He asked his sons to saddle the donkey. He went out searching for the Man of God. He took time and effort to seek out the Man of God. Note this. When the prophet found the Man of God, he asked the Man of God to eat with him at his house. The Man of God said no, I can’t. I must go my way.

Here is where the prophet’s plan gets dastardly. Up to now one might defend him, might, thinking he wanted to speak further with such a Man of God, learn from him, pray with him. Perhaps a case could be made for the old prophet’s good will. But here the Bible plainly says, the old prophet lied.

He told a whopper. The old prophet claimed to have heard from God, via an angel, bearing a message that directly contradicts the Man of God’s previous command. The old prophet said the angel told him that God said it was now OK to come and eat and stay.

There is such a thing as an earthly chain of command. The command hierarchy is there for a reason. Even more so in dealing in spiritual warfare. If you have orders from the General of the Army, and you receive a contradictory order from a Captain, what will you do? Seek verification, of course.

One might wonder why the Man of God didn’t seek verification from the LORD of hosts.

In any event, the man of God was quite foolish to believe the words of the lying pretender. Would God have told the man of God one thing and then have contradicted it by sending an authentic word by another? “Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God” (1 John 4:1). Although not stated, there appears to have been an unworthy desire on the part of the man of God to return, and, where there is an antecedent willingness, there is always provided by the Evil One an opportune invitation to do wrong.

The Bible never said why the old prophet lied. He had his reasons. Likely jealousy, power, or greed, the usual sins behind why people lie. How devastating to know the old prophet used God as a cover in his lie!

As Coffman said above, the Man of God is not without culpability. He lingered, he listened to the old prophet, and he failed to seek verification of the message allegedly from God. He did not keep God first, but disobeyed God to satisfy an appetite. Soon after, he was killed on the road home by a lion.

Today there are a lot of the types of ‘old prophets’ running around claiming to be men and women of God and teaching lies. They say, ‘an angel from God told me to tell you’ … When you listen to one of today’s (false) Bible teachers, and they pronounce some kind of revelation from God they’ve allegedly received, it will be obscure and ambiguous. “I see a coming outpouring…” or “I believe that the Lord has placed it on my heart to tell you…”

Remember the clarity and precision with which the Man of God in this chapter pronounced God’s word to Jeroboam. It was given expressly, authenticated by a miraculous sign, and came true perfectly as stated 360 years later.

Take aways:

–The man (and woman) of God needs to keep God first.
–Obey God as exactly as possible.
–Be purposeful in our duties.
–When listening to other ‘men of God’, verify the message.
–There are people who claim to be of God who are just liars who work hard at catching you in order to speak lies and divert you (and me) from our duties.
–Let us not be caught lingering under a tree. Being purposeful and productive makes us harder to catch.

The warning for present-day Christians in this is clear enough. There are many pious, attractive, and pretentious religious propositions in our own times that, in the last analysis, are nothing but lies, dressed up with every plausible appearance of authenticity by the devices of Satan, but still unqualified lies. Coffman’s Commentary

The Old Testament is a wonderful wonderful book. I’ve been camped out on this chapter for two days and I barely scratched the surface of meaning and illumination. What a great gift the Bible is!

prophecy, Uncategorized

Spiritual warfare is real

Posted on May 24, 2018May 24, 2018 by elizabethprata

This post appeared on The End Time on May 24, 2011.

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I was at some friends’ house, and after dinner we played a Bible trivia game. Here is one of the questions:

“How many angels are named in the Bible?” At first blush the answer seems easy. Can you guess? Pause.

Answer: Three. Michael, Gabriel, Lucifer. Most of the teams gave the answer as two, Michael and Gabriel. Those two are easy to remember, but we forget Lucifer was an angel, who is that old serpent, satan.

Angels have many jobs.

Luke 1:19 we read of the messenger angel Gabriel-

The angel said to him, “I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I have been sent to speak to you and to tell you this good news.”

In Daniel 10:13 we read of Michael the warrior angel, who is an archangel-

But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me one and twenty days: but, lo, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me; and I remained there with the kings of Persia.

Paul reminds us of the hierarchies of angels, both good and fallen:

For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him (Colossians 1:16)

Ephesians 6 is the famous chapter where Paul reminds us that we are in enemy territory here on earth, that the territory has a hierarchy, and that we are always at war, (whether we know it or not):

For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. (Ephesians 6:12)

We often forget about Lucifer as an angel, his name means star of the morning, or shining one. Isaiah laments Lucifer’s fall from the high holy place of guarding God’s throne, to his low position of evil rebel destined for the hell (Matthew 25:41).

Hebrews and Revelation together show us that about a third of the angels fell with Satan. (Hebrews 12:22; Revelation 12:3-9). Hebrews also reminds us, “Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by this some have entertained angels without knowing it.” (Hebrews 13:2).

If angels visit us and engage with us on a personal and even intimate level (‘hospitality’ translated, “in one’s home”, “receive as a guest”) then who is to say that we are always visited by the good angels? Sometimes we are visited by the bad ones, too. Probably more than sometimes, probably we’re visited by them often.

I was in another friend’s home, and I mentioned that a pastor’s latest series is on spiritual warfare. She replied, “Oh! I don’t even like to think about spiritual warfare!” I was stunned by this, she being a seasoned Christian. I remarked that we are at war whether we like to think about it or not.

Not only are we in war against the principalities and powers and rulers of darkness, but we are war against our own sin nature!

Because of sin, the earth is a battlefield. Satan and his angels battle for souls every day. 1 John 5:19 tells us that the entire earth is under the jurisdiction, so to speak, of the evil one. In Luke 4:5-6 satan tempted Jesus in the wilderness, and in one of the temptations, offered Jesus all the kingdoms of the world. Jesus didn’t rebuke satan for making that claim.

In Ephesians, Paul tells us to pray and to wear our spiritual armor. 1 Timothy 1:18 Paul tells Timothy to prepare for the battle. 2 Corinthians 10:2-4 describes the kind of war we Christians are in. There is war-like language all throughout the New Testament, referring to the fact that we ARE in a war. It is a spiritual war, but a war that has eternal consequences for each participant.

I was struck by the two incidents – the Bible trivia question about Lucifer where it was so easy to forget he is really an angel, and the Christian who dismissed spiritual warfare topics as something unsavory she doesn’t like to think about.

Christian, be aware that we are dwelling in enemy territory, and this is not our home. Our own flesh and blood is an enemy.

We are unwanted intruders on earth. We are under attack all the time. Not daily, but frequently and constantly. We are attacked by demons, by our own sin, and by the curse of the world. We are in a war and that war will not be concluded for us individually until we die or are raptured. That war for all of us as a body in Christ will not end until after the 1000 year Kingdom when satan will be let out of the pit, will foment one last war and he will be squashed and sent to the lake of fire forever.

But remember an even greater truth. Unlike every other warrior who ever fought in a war, we know the outcome prior to the war’s end! We may be battling, but “You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.” (1 John 4:4).

Jesus won the war for us, on our behalf and in obedience to the Father’s will. Jesus is the victor, and through Him we win the war. So, battle on in confidence, but never forget we are in a war.

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Prophecy thoughts

Posted on May 19, 2018May 19, 2018 by elizabethprata

Here are various thoughts on prophecy from me.

When men misuse the teachings of the Savior for their own evil ends it is a heinous thing to watch. It is written, “But these, as natural brute beasts, made to be taken and destroyed, speak evil of the things that they understand not; and shall utterly perish in their own corruption;” (2 Peter 2:12).

God means what He says. He will not be used, abused, or mocked.

Apostasy is a brutal condition, far worse than most Christians think.

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Often, the bible will predict owls to come to roost on places that are waste places, or ruins, or uninhabited. Same with vultures and eagles. The picture that had formed in my mind of reading the articles related to the snowy owls coming to roost silently all over the US was the verse of the angel at the end of the Tribulation calling the birds to feast on the dead. It is called The Great Supper of God

“And I saw an angel standing in the sun, who cried in a loud voice to all the birds flying in midair, “Come, gather together for the great supper of God,” Rev 19:17.

This moment is after Jesus bursts back onto earth on a white horse with His saints following, and slays all those hundreds of millions assembled at the battle of Armageddon. The angel then calls to the birds to come eat the dead.

Ezekiel 39:17 at the end of the Gog-Magog war depicts God’s use of His birds

“Son of man, this is what the Sovereign LORD says: Call out to every kind of bird and all the wild animals: ‘Assemble and come together from all around to the sacrifice I am preparing for you, the great sacrifice on the mountains of Israel. There you will eat flesh and drink blood.”

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No matter how serious the news is, His constancy, His sovereignty, His plan, and His ways are Good. Even if you feel you do not have much to praise Him for, you DO! Seek ways to thank Him. He is active in our lives to the n-th degree. Nothing escapes His hand, from the most high work of salvation of souls, to the smallest sparrow’s needs. How much more, then, are YOU valuable to Him? (Matthew 6:25-26)

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Despite the Great Tribulation to come for the Jews, for the Middle East, for all those left behind who delayed their decision to repent and were not raptured, the LORD is merciful! He saves His people personally, from the first day to the last days invading Gog-Magog coalition. He says He will send mercy upon the Jews, look at this verse-

“I will no longer hide my face from them, for I will pour out my Spirit on the house of Israel, declares the Sovereign LORD.” (Ezekiel 39:29)

He will pour out His spirit. POUR. Not ration it out. Not mete it out. Not distribute it. Not send it. Not give it. POUR it. When you pour something it means “To stream or flow continuously or profusely.” The Hebrew word in use here means translated, “to gush”. That is what I mean by the LORD being merciful. He gives so freely, so copiously. He is good and gracious. He has not forgotten His people the Jews, nor will He forget His sheep living now on a fallen earth with terrible sins all around.

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JESUS IS COMING SOON! He has always been imminent. I pray you live with that imminence in your heart and mind.

Brethren, examine yourselves to see if you are in the faith.

“Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you–unless, of course, you fail the test?” 2 Corinthians 13:5.

It would be devastating to fail the test. How do you know that you are in the faith?

Because you are sensitive to sin.

Because when you are tested, your faith grows stronger, not weaker.

Because you bear forth fruit

How to detect a false conversion

prophecy, Uncategorized

Jerusalem is the center of the world

Posted on May 16, 2018February 25, 2026 by elizabethprata

Israel is the center of the world. We know this because in Genesis 12:3 God said to Abraham- “I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.” Israel is the lens through which God judges nations. What happens to Israel affects the entire world. (Above, Bünting clover leaf map. A 1581 woodcut, Magdeburg. Jerusalem is in the center, surrounded by Europe, Asia and Africa.)

Other nations and cities have incorrectly named themselves the center of the world. When Rome was at its height as a city and as an empire, it called itself the center of the world and even marked the spot with a tower and a plaque. The Romans installed the marker dubbed “navel of the city of Rome” (Umbilicus Urbis Romaen) in the Forum, from which all distances to the ends of the civilized world were marked. It was mile zero. This marker was one of the first things I had wanted to see when I visited Rome, because my travels around Italy, even over obscure and distant dirt back roads, invariably led to a road sign pointing to Rome. It is true, in Italy, all roads lead to Rome.

Ecuador is named after the equator, which runs through the country. A museum complex marks the spot and it is called “Mitad Del Mundo” or Middle of the World. Wikipedia says its 30-meter-tall monument, built between 1979 and 1982, was constructed to mark the point where the equator passes through the country in the geodetic datum in use in Ecuador at that time. I was one of the thousands of goofy tourists who have stood with one foot on one side of the painted red line representing the Equator, and the other foot on the other side, laughing while someone takes a photo of me. It was an interesting place, and I really liked the red line of the physical representation of the middle of the world. (photo right, of the Mitad del Mundo, by Elizabeth Prata)

But Jerusalem is really the navel of the world. In the Middle Ages it was even depicted that way. Did you know, that the Hereford Mappa Mundi, drawn in circa 1300, depicted Jerusalem as the center of the world? In the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem there is also an omphalos, Greek word for belly button or navel. The existence of this stone is based upon the medieval thought that Jerusalem is the spiritual if not geographical center of the world.

In all of history, there’s never been a distinct people group who dwelled outside of a national homeland for thousands of years yet retained their identity like the Jewish people. There has never been a people on earth restored to their homeland after dozens of generations. There has never been a case where generations upon generations who forgot their own language and let it die, had it restored to the entire nation. No people, that is, except for God’s people in God’s land.

This tiny nation is mighty in many ways, because her very existence has generated hate and war since her birth. Just existing provokes the world into hating her. Allowing her to make her own sovereign decisions as a nation inflames the world (satan).

And again, war will come to her but that time it will be one of the last times. We know from prophecy that the Gog-Magog war will be a surprise attack on Israel as stated in Ezekiel 38-39. We know that Damascus will be destroyed (Isaiah 17:1) indicating some kind of war-like event that obliterates the world’s oldest continuously inhabited city. Psalm 83 has variously been interpreted as either an intercessory prayer about a war, or a foretelling of a last days war. And Armageddon, the last war, will occur. The list of wars is long. There will be so many wars that peace does not exist anywhere from the moment the 2nd seal is opened in Rev. 6:4 when peace is taken from the earth, until Jesus returns to restore peace Himself.

Pray for the peace of Jerusalem!
“May they be secure who love you!
7Peace be within your walls
and security within your towers!”
8For my brothers and companions’ sake
I will say, “Peace be within you!”
9For the sake of the house of the LORD our God,
I will seek your good.
Psalm 122:6-9

prophecy, Uncategorized

Holy Fear: The Great Earthquake, part 3/3

Posted on May 10, 2018May 10, 2018 by elizabethprata

This series first appeared on The End Time in March 2011. Today’s essay has been edited & updated.

Part 1 here
Part 2 here

“The earth shook and trembled; the foundations also of the hills moved and were shaken, because He was wroth.” (Psalm 18:7).

The USGS essay regarding the historical New England earthquake of 1727 and its aftermath continues

“The people of New England were affected by this earthquake as they had never been before, being fearful of divine judgments for their sins and lax responsiveness to the call to religious duties. The clergy taught them that it was “a loud call to the whole land to repent and fear and give glory to God.” The next morning great numbers of the inhabitants of Boston gathered at the old North church for prayer and other religious services. The fear of further immediate danger was somewhat dispelled in the pleasant sunlight, but as soon as the sun had set their fright returned, and in greater numbers than in the morning the people crowded to the old Brick church, which could not hold them. The old South was then opened, and those who failed of admission to the Brick church flocked thither, and that was also filled. Rev. Thomas Paine of Weymouth, Mass., and some other ministers, tried to prove to their congregations that the earthquake had not a natural cause, but was a supernatural token of God’s anger to the sinful world.”

“The selectmen of Medford, Mass., appointed the next Wednesday as a day to be observed by fasting and prayer on account of the earthquake; and Lieutenant-governor Dummer recommended that Thursday should be kept in the same way for the same purpose throughout the province. Many sermons delivered on the latter and other days were printed and are still extant. In Salem, Mass., a meeting was held on Saturday at the upper meeting-house (then so called) which was attended by the largest congregation that was ever in that edifice.”

They repented, the fasted, they prayed, and they entreated. The people fell down before a mighty God and supplicated in proper Holy Fear.

In his sermon “A Holy Fear of God and His Judgments” John Cotton defined Holy Fear:

–Trembling for fear of God implies our solemn an awful apprehensions of the great God, who brings such judgments upon us

–Trembling for fear of God means that we are sensibly touched and affected with the consideration of the judgments that are or may yet be brought upon us.

–Trembling for fear of God means our humbling ourselves exceedingly before Him who is thus visiting and threatening us.

Do we tremble? Rarely. We strut, we dismiss, we forget the power He wields, and holds back. Holy Fear, repentance, and awe of His majesty are not popular topics today. Prosperity, ecstatic experiences, all paths leading to heaven are the topics of today, when the bible is even referred to at all.

I remember the bright fall day of September 11, 2001. I was in my newspaper office happily writing the last of the articles for upcoming publication, and then my world shattered. Planes smashed into the Twin Towers in NYC, the Pentagon in Washington DC (where we lost a home town boy) and into the Pennsylvania ground. Our complacency was gone and the world never looked the same after that day.

More to the point, the event shook all of us in America. The next Sunday, churches were full. People wanted – needed – answers. Intuitively we knew any answers that came from ourselves would be inadequate. We sought them from ‘somewhere or something else.’

The rush to church was short-lived, as it inevitably must be in a pagan nation.

After 9/11, a short-lived rush to church: Mark Chaves on how church business boomed briefly after 9/11

Church Attendance Back to Normal

Repenting. Falling down on our faces. These are proper responses when disaster strikes. It’s intuitive that people do these things because as Romans 1:18-20 shows us, we all know, saved or not, that God exists and is in control-

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. 19 For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. 20 For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world,[g] in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.

Do we weep day and night for our own sins, faults, and failures? Do we weep for neglecting to give glory to God? We do not react thus: “When I heard, my belly trembled; my lips quivered at the voice; rottenness entered into my bones, and I trembled in myself.” (Habakkuk 3:16).

We shake our heads at the poor folks way over there experiencing natural disaster, such as the Hawaiians losing their homes to the volcano, and we move on. We do not do the first and proper thing: repent. I am talking to believers who may have forgotten what it means to be a sinner falling into the hands of an angry God.

Why are not the churches in America full today? Why are not people weeping at altars, seeking forgiveness? Do we evidence a Holy Fear? No, we talk of prosperity with a flashy smile.

Rev Cotton finishes, “Oh, what need we have then to cry mightily unto God that He will make the impressions lasting on the souls of parents, children, young, old, rich, poor, bond and free! We have done it already. We will continue to do it, and we hope the Lord will not turn away our prayers nor His mercy from us.”

Will the dreadful impressions of God after 9/11-Japan quake-Indian Ocean Tsunami-Joplin tornado swarm-Hawaiian volcano- etc last in you? In me? It is an awesome thing to see His power in creation. It’s even more powerful to see His work in a human soul.

Give glory to God for His power. Give glory to Jesus by repenting, and living an obedient, honorable, and moral life in Him.