Category: sin

Posted in forgiveness, gay, homosexuality, lesbian, sin

It’s 2012 and homosexuality is still a sin

Posted on by elizabethprata

Culture and Godliness are anathema. We do not belong to the world. “If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. (John 15:19). What God wants for His people and what the World wants for its people are distinct opposites. Just remember the scene from the Garden in Genesis 2 between the serpent, Eve, and Adam. So as we approach the end, we are reminded of Jesus’ words about the state of the culture at the time He calls an end to sin and He intervenes personally and visibly. These are known as the Days of Noah and the Days of Lot:

“Just as it was in the days of Noah, so also will it be in the days of the Son of Man.” Luke 17:26

The Days of Noah were described in Genesis 6:5: “The LORD saw how great man’s wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time.”

Jesus also went on in Luke to say that despite the wickedness people would still be doing normal things and thinking these were normal times, just as those in Sodom did when Lot was called out if the city by the angel. “People were eating, drinking, marrying and being given in marriage up to the day Noah entered the ark. Then the flood came and destroyed them all. It was the same in the days of Lot. People were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building.” Luke 17:27-28.

As for Days of Lot, you remember that Lot hailed from Sodom, a most wicked city. That city was destroyed because of its sins, homosexuality being chief. Homosexuality is a judgment upon a progressively disobedient culture. (Romans 1:18-26 describes the effects of unbelief and its consequences)

Matthew 10:15 reminds us that the judgment of Sodom and Gomorrah are still to come. ” tell you the truth, it will be more bearable for Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgment than for that town.” The cities themselves have been erased from earthly physicality but their sins have not been dealt with. They will be. And this is a reminder that they serve as an example to any nation who promotes, tolerates, accepts homosexuality (and any sin) to the degree that those two cities did. (Jude 1:7- “In a similar way, Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding towns gave themselves up to sexual immorality and perversion. They serve as an example of those who suffer the punishment of eternal fire.”). In other words, Sodom is gone but not forgotten by God. And Sodom is gone but should not be forgotten by us.

Please keep those verses in mind as you read the following news excerpts from this week…

Why gay people make the best parents
“But research on families headed by gays and lesbians doesn’t back up these dire assertions. In fact, in some ways, gay parents may bring talents to the table that straight parents don’t. Gay parents “tend to be more motivated, more committed than heterosexual parents on average, because they chose to be parents,” said Abbie Goldberg, a psychologist at Clark University in Massachusetts who researches gay and lesbian parenting. Gays and lesbians rarely become parents by accident, compared with an almost 50 percent accidental pregnancy rate among heterosexuals, Goldberg said. “That translates to greater commitment on average and more involvement.” And while research indicates that kids of gay parents show few differences in achievement, mental health, social functioning and other measures, these kids may have the advantage of open-mindedness, tolerance and role models for equitable relationships, according to some research. Not only that, but gays and lesbians are likely to provide homes for difficult-to-place children in the foster system, studies show.”

Indiana unveils its first license plate for gay youths
“Indiana’s first specialty license plate that benefits gay causes is now available for purchase. Bureau of Motor Vehicles spokesman Graig Lubsen said the Indiana Youth Group plate has been available since Dec. 28. The plate bears a logo with hands in rainbow colors reaching up. Some $25 from sales of each $40 plate goes to the group serving lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender youth. The Indianapolis-based organization operates an activity center, helps develop Gay Straight Alliances in high schools and assists communities in forming youth services. The group serves about 1,400 youths and young adults ages 12 to 21, The Indianapolis Star reports in a Wednesday story. She said Indiana is the second state in the nation with a specialty plate benefiting gay youths. Maryland was the first, she said.”

Gay marriage gaining momentum in WA Legislature
“The last time same-sex marriage was debated in the Washington state Legislature, lawmakers voted to ban it. Fourteen years later, the issue is before the Legislature once again after a multiyear effort that has incrementally increased rights to gay and lesbian couples in the state. And this time around, it looks like Washington could very well become the seventh state plus the District of Columbia to legalize same-sex marriage.”

Rumor of the day: Obama to endorse gay marriage in State of the Union Address this week
White House won’t rule it out
“White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said on Friday he wouldn’t rule “in or out” the possibility of President Obama endorsing same-sex marriage in the upcoming State of the Union address. Carney made the remarks on whether Obama would announce support for marriage equality during the State of the Union address, which is set to take place Tuesday before a joint session of Congress, in response to a question from the Washington Blade.”

I’ve said before that governmental promotion of homosexuality will bring judgment upon the nation.

Whenever the Bible mentions marriage, it is between a male and a female. The first mention of marriage is in Genesis 2:22-24 shows the God-ordained model for marriage:

“The LORD God fashioned into a woman the rib which He had taken from the man, and brought her to the man. The man said, “This is now bone of my bones, And flesh of my flesh; She shall be called Woman, Because she was taken out of Man.” For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother, and be joined to his wife; and they shall become one flesh.”

In passages that contain instructions regarding marriage, such as 1 Corinthians 7:2-16 and Ephesians 5:23-33, the Bible clearly identifies marriage as being between a man and a woman. Biblically speaking, marriage is the lifetime union of a man and a woman, primarily for the purpose of building a family and providing a stable environment for that family. (more here).

That we are seeing such acceptance of homosexuality, transgenderism, lesbianism, and perverted lifestyles, is not just a symptom of the state of our culture, it is a judgment.

God in His mercy will forgive any penitent person when they appeal to God. If you are in a lifestyle that you know deep down is harming you, failing to bring fulfillment, and you want out, then throw yourself on the mercy of Jesus, who forgave your sins at the cross. He will forgive, then He will send the Spirit to help you resist the devil, and the devil will flee from you. (James 4:7).

If you are in one of these lifestyles and you do NOT feel it is harming you, if you think it IS bringing you fulfillment, then I submit that you are in deep danger of missing out on the universe’s greatest blessing, the blessing that comes after repentance and forgiveness by Jesus, His bringing you into the very family of God. Stop now and pray to Him before your heart becomes even more hardened to the soft influence of conscience, which is the Spirit telling you Jesus is near. Because once He gives you over to your desires, that’s it. (Romans 1:24)

If you are in a family where you are devastated to have a beloved family member involved in one of these lifestyles, then keep praying, pray! Jesus is bigger than any sin, and He hears the prayers of the righteous.
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Posted in costa concordia, shipwreck, sin

More Costa Concordia observations

Posted on by elizabethprata

It is now more than one week after the terrible shipwreck of the Italian passenger cruise liner Costa Concordia off the Tuscan coast. The tragedy has captured the world, as shipwrecks always do. I’m sorrowful for the families of the victims who are still missing and those who are dead. I am sad for the wrecked lives of those who are related to the Captain, and I’m sad for the captain himself. I wrote last week about the bravado he displayed in using the cruise ship as a personal yacht and maneuvering close to the shore for a personal reason. I’d thought about Paul’s admonition to Timothy in 2 Timothy 3:1-5 that in the last days certain emotional conditions would be driving humanity; selfishness, greed, disobedience, hatred, brutality, etc. The captain’s behavior certainly illustrates several of the prophesied those conditions, and moreover, how the conditions of those who exhibit them affect all of us.

The UK Guardian has a retrospective piece called “An All-purpose symbol for our times” that is poetic at times and its tone the appropriate level of melancholy. In part, they wrote:

“A giant white ship lies on its side in the glittering Tyrr- henian Sea, the hi-tech wedding cake of its once-towering superstructure now food for thought and shellfish as it forms a man-made reef close to the dwarfed land. The wreck of the Costa Concordia is a grave to a still uncertain number of people, yet it is also a metaphor. Where other transport accidents might be discussed with muted horror and careful respect, a shipwreck brings out far more primitive and irrepressible responses.”

“When you look at pictures of the fated ship, from the shore, or the air, or even from space, the size of it is staggering – seeing these cruise ships sailing in and out of Venice recently, it was astonishing how their towering decks loomed above churches and dwarfed palaces. But as with any maritime disaster, the shell of the ship is also a mystery, concealing stories of horror and courage.It is impossible not to imagine the invisible world inside, flooded cabins, inverted restaurants, corridors become watery tombs. The imagination of disaster fills in the unseen details. Nothing grips the imagination like a tragedy at sea. George Orwell was a child when the Titanic sank. As an adult he wrote decades afterwards that it meant more to him at that age than any single piece of news from the first world war, which broke out two years later. He remembered how every detail in the newspapers of the Titanic’s sinking and the terrible struggles of the survivors haunted his young mind. Above all, he recollected imagining the last moment when the ship stood completely vertically in the water before plummeting into the depths, and the people still on board hung from railings high above the water.”

One by one: Infra-red footage shows passengers of the Costa Concordia queuing up (on the right) and then slipping down one-by-one (on the left) the belly of the ship via a rope. Source

“The giant cruise ships of today reflect our own society just as exactly as the Titanic reflected the world of 1912. The moral questions that hover over exactly what happened on the Costa Concordia inevitably resonate far wider than the incident itself.”

I agree. Though The Guardian remarked on the symbolism the global media is making about the shipwreck mirrored against the economic times, I’d like to make that observation balanced against our moral times. Courage, duty, man against creation, life, death all are part of the moral discussion and is relevant against what Paul prophesied in 2 Timothy 3. Cruise liners are called “floating pleasure palaces” for a reason. They are designed with an intent to offer the maximum relaxing, hedonistic, pleasure-filled time of carnality that anyone can indulge in. It is the most carnal vacation, practically, that anyone can experience on earth. Thus, part of the discussion is hedonism, and how God views it. (James 1:13-14; Gal 5:16-17)

Ecclesiastes is a book that reveals the depression & melancholy that invariably results from seeking happiness in worldly things. Just about every form of worldly pleasure is explored by the writer in the pages of that wise book, and none of it gives him a sense of meaning. For those who embark on a cruise with a hope that this vacation, this indulgence, will give long lasting satisfaction, will be sorely disappointed.

I am NOT saying that the shipwreck was a judgment of God. Ship happens. I am NOT saying that taking a cruise means a person is unGodly or wanton. For many people it is a safe, affordable way to take a vacation, simple as that. But it could be ungodly and wanton, and for many it is. For even more people, that is the point of the experience. For those people, you might as well call the ship a ship of sin, because any temptation can be found within the ship’s halls. Everything about a cruise ship is designed with an intent to satisfy the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, the pride of life. (1 John 2:16). Gambling, drinking, sexual indulgence, gluttony, adultery, fornication, immodesty, carnal entertainment … the list goes on. The News program 20/20 did a spot Friday night of the Costa, and also the cruise ship industry in general. I was shocked but not surprised to see video depicting the worst effects of sinful man in the cruise ship hallways, as drunkards stagger, vomit, fornicate, fight. The number of brawls amazed me, as the cruise industry admitted that free-flowing alcohol with no moral restraints inherent in such cruises invariably leads to more frequent brawling than the industry likes to admit.

Again, a cruise is and can be a wonderful thing. If you have gone on one and had a great time, then I am really happy for you. But they are also a carnal thing and even if you are steady in your moral compass you know you will be trapped on board a floating pleasure palace where others’ decisions to succumb to temptations will affect you. As it did to those on Costa Concordia when the captain, in the company of a young woman not his wife, ordered dinner with her an hour after the ship had hit the rocks and some passengers were only minutes away from dying.
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Posted in judgment, occupy wall street, sin

Occupy Wall Street: The Entitlement Generation

Posted on by elizabethprata

In 2008, Obama got elected and the economy crashed. Both of those events’ later dissections showed us that there was rampant voter fraud, and rampant government and banking fraud. People may become disappointed when their favored candidate loses, but overall acceptance of the system remains intact for one important reason: they trust it.

In 2009 people started to get angry. Their trust that though the people within the system may be flawed, the overall system is a good one was being tested. Scandals from Lehman Brothers in the form of outrageous bonuses and handouts and bailouts, to other banking institutions’ revelations of rampant corruption, mortgage fraud, insurance fraud, nepotism and favoritism, and general malfeasance took root as a germ of anger in the American psyche. We don’t mind the rich getting richer, as long as they do it fairly. The American Dream was still alive, then.

As more news came out about these things, the American people began to get really angry. CNBC Pundit Rick Santelli seemed to capture the spark of anger and ignite it in his soon to be dubbed “Shout Heard Round the World” a reference to the phrase “The Shot heard Round the World” regarding the historical events at Lexington and Concord which ignited the American Revolution.

Santelli’s rant was 4 minutes of reverberating truth that captured the hard feelings about the injustice and corruption in the American system of governance and finance, and it sparked the Tea Party. For the first time, Americans began to think of a wholesale, instant change to the system, rather than incremental change from within the system. Protests were ongoing from 2009 to 2010.

Then in 2011 a series of other protests started, called “Occupy Wall Street.” Occupy Wall Street is an ongoing series of demonstrations in New York City based in Zuccotti Park, formerly “Liberty Plaza Park”. The protest was originally called for by the Canadian activist group Adbusters; some compare the activity to the Arab Spring movement (particularly the Tahrir Square protests in Cairo, which initiated the 2011 Egyptian revolution). (source Wikipedia).

The suspicion of the inherent corruption in the system had morphed to overt anger and calls for violence, something the Tea Party had never ventured so far as to do. The Occupy Wall Street (OWS) anger is evidently deepening, while at the same time, the focus of the anger is widening from mail in a tea bag to Congress to illustrate that it is still the people in charge, to peaceful protests at known locations against big government, to the OWS general mayhem of protesting against social and economic inequality, corporate greed, and the influence of corporate money and lobbyists on government, among other concerns. Many other concerns.

The OWS protests have been characterized by arrests, poor judgment, and violence and calls for violence. They are growing, and the world leaders are taking notice, as the Washington Post reports. The protests have grown in scope and momentum over the last 3 and a half weeks, spreading across the US and now to other nations.

Speaking of divergent demands, in an ongoing series in the National Review on the Occupy Wall Street protests, the latest posting shows us this:
An Occupy Wall Street protester wants college paid for because that’s what he wants.
“But nothing had prepared me for meeting this gentleman, who wants his college paid for because, well . . . that’s what he wants. He has perfectly articulated a sentiment I have heard repeatedly but was struggling to distill with anything like the clarity he achieved: That being that if there is something someone doesn’t like about their life, someone else somewhere should change it. And if they don’t, well then, the American Dream is dead:”

Though we know that in the Tribulation, peace will be taken from the earth, (Revelation 6:4), and that the very wealthy will live in gross luxury while most of the world starves, (Rev 18), there is a deeper root for the current OWS protests. The Christian Post explains:

“Like most protests, the Occupy Wall Street folks are better at identifying something that is wrong than identifying a way forward that is right. But even if the protesters don’t understand much about financial economics, they have a clear sense that something is wrong. That something, however, lies deeper than the behavior of a relative handful of Wall Street moguls. That something, I believe, is a sense of material entitlement that has crept into the American psyche. This sense of material entitlement has infected our personal choices, our politics, and our financial system.”

“The crisis has spiritual roots. Jesus warns his followers, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions” (Luke 12:15, NIV). But a syncretistic form of Christianity has emerged in our country, a syncretism that mingles genuine New Testament Christianity with the consumer materialism of the American Dream.”

The reality is, ““In America, you are the 99%, but in the rest of the world, you are still the 1%,” reads one image that’s been making the rounds, juxtaposing the protesters with starving African children. … “As it turns out, the bottom 99 percent of the United States doesn’t make the top 1 percent of household incomes worldwide — but it comes surprisingly close. Branko Milanovic, lead economist for the World Bank research group, sent me this comparative analysis based on household income or consumption surveys worldwide, adjusted for purchasing power differences. Those at the 34th percentile of income in the United States are at the 90th percentile globally, and those at the 50th percentile in the United States are at the 93rd percentile globally. Even the very poorest Americans — those at the 2nd percentile of income in the United States — are at the 62nd percentile globally.”

In other words, by world standards, we are rich, even the poorest of us. Yet we want what we want. Like that young man in the video above idling his time away at the protests with a hand made sign asking someone to pay his tuition.

That mindset is not one which sacrifices for others, as the bible calls us to do. That mindset is opposed to the notion that we are poor in spirit and not worthy of anything good except what God in His grace gives us from above. It is the result of a corrupt American spirit rejecting Christianity because Christianity doesn’t give us anything and expects us to give what we have to others. The bible is clear that God does not promise ease to us. The notion of love under trying circumstances, giving, sacrificing, and humility is at odds with what we see on the streets these days. The nobility of a Christian character being purified through a Godly life is anathema to American entitlement culture today.

However, the last shall be first. The persevering will find satisfaction. The troubled will be eased. The tearful shall weep no more. “Shout for joy, you heavens; rejoice, you earth; burst into song, you mountains! For the LORD comforts his people and will have compassion on his afflicted ones.” (Is 49:13).

Entitlements. Pfffft. I’m only entitled to judgment and hell for my crimes against Jesus. But He pardoned them at the cross and rose again to extend that pardon to me. I believed on Him and now have been adopted into the family of God.

These protests may or may not spark a Second American Revolution, but we know for sure that the Tribulation will bring sin to the fore, and will be rife with violence as peace is taken from the earth. By His grace all believers can remain apart from the corruption of the world, knowing in secure promise that we will one day be living in a perfectly just, pure, and wholesome system of finance, governance and lifestyle for all eternity.

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Posted in beth moore, end of days. prophecy, false christians, sin, when godly people do ungodly things

Conclusion: How do Christian authors end up channeling spirits and producing books from them? Pride

Posted on by elizabethprata

Part one: Making no distinction between Victorian channeling writers of yore and today’s Christian authors
Part two: Walsch, Young, and Beth Moore: ungodly channelers all
Part 3: Walsch, Young, and Beth Moore: ungodly channelers all (Part 3)

I hope that the thoughts expressed here these last three essays have offered you food for thought and an area of discernment to look for when digesting ‘Christian’ books. I’ve spent the first two essays showing you how a person can wind up being used by the other side, and the third essay illustrating potential reasons why. Now in this conclusion I want to speak of pride.

Pride in my opinion is the the root cause of sin. Satan fell due to pride. What happened to Satan? Ezekiel recorded “Your heart became proud on account of your beauty, and you corrupted your wisdom because of your splendor” (Ezekiel 28:17). Isaiah explains that satan fell because he thought he was better than God. Isaiah 14: 12-15 states — “How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High. Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit.”

“An high look, and a proud heart, and the plowing of the wicked, is sin.” (Proverbs 21:4)

I want to bring your attention to two statements from writers I’ve been showing you, Beth Moore and Neale Donald Walsch. They are really blasphemous, in my opinion, and need to be examined thoughtfully against what the bible says.

Neale Donald Walsch has said: “In the spring of 1992…an extraordinary phenomenon occurred in my life. God began talking with you. Through me.”

Let’s pull that apart for a minute. God is speaking to the world through Walsch. However, the bible says, “In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son,” (Hebrews 1:1a). “Has spoken” is an ongoing past tense. So now one must decide whether God is speaking only through Jesus in the Word, or is He speaking to the world through Jesus AND Walsch, or is He speaking only through Walsch. If you decide that God can speak to the world through Jesus AND Walsch, that means Walsch is elevated to a position of equality with Jesus. If you believe God is speaking to the world through Walsch alone, it means God has supplanted Jesus as the verbalizer of the faith. In some way, you must reconcile what Walsch has said with the Hebrews verse.

“Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock.” (Mt 7:24)

If you accept that God is speaking through Walsch, then do we place our house on the rock of Walsch’s words?

Jesus said, “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.” (Mark 13:31) So does that mean that Walsch’s words will not pass away, either?

We can go on here, but I think by now you see the extreme pridefulness of what Walsch has said, and that it cannot be reconciled with the Word. Therefore avoid the books Conversations with God.

In the preface to Beth Moore’s book When Godly People do Ungodly Things Moore said on page xi,–

If she didn’t write the book, the rocks and stones would cry out?? Here is the biblical reference: “Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples!” I tell you,” he replied, “if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.” (Luke 19:39-40). Barnes Notes explains what is happening in the context of that scene-

“The stones would …cry out – It is “proper” that they should celebrate my coming. Their acclamations “ought” not to be suppressed. So joyful is the event which they celebrate – the coming of the Messiah – that it is not fit that I should attempt to impose silence on them.”

Matthew Henry’s Commentary explains:
“Whether men praise Christ or no he will, and shall, and must be praised (v. 40): If these should hold their peace, and not speak the praises of the Messiah’s kingdom, the stones would immediately cry out, rather than that Christ should not be praised.”

So Moore is saying that her book is so important that all of creation would cry out if she didn’t write it. That is what she is saying. And further, she is putting herself as an equal to the Apostles who were praising JESUS at that time. Moore’s pride in elevating her book to the level of importance akin to joy expressed at the arrival of the Messiah illustrates a prideful heart. We can go on here, but I think by now you see the extreme pridefulness of what Moore has said, and that it cannot be reconciled with the Word. Therefore avoid Beth Moore’s books.

Now, pride is dastardly, It is something that the prideful person may not even detect as a sin. I mean, sexual sin is obvious. If you are having an affair, you know you are sinning. But pride…that one is sneaky.

Gotquestions.org explains God’s view of pride like this:

“Psalm 10:4 explains that the proud are so consumed with themselves that their thoughts are far from God: “In his pride the wicked does not seek him; in all his thoughts there is no room for God.” This kind of haughty pride is the opposite of the spirit of humility that God seeks: “Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:3). The “poor in spirit” are those who recognize their utter spiritual bankruptcy and their inability to come to God aside from His divine grace.”

Check yourself for pride. It is a sly, sneaky sin and it besets us before we know it. I did a repentance check myself this morning, asking the Lord to reveal to me any and all pride I have and to remove it whilst giving me a humble heart. I don’t want to be proud, not even for a moment. It is way too easy to believe your own press clippings, and Walsch and Moore among others, have lost their way detouring along the prideful path. Pray for them that the light will guide them back. I want for all Christians to gain discernment in matters such as books, movies, doctrines, tracts and all other things purporting to be biblical through your own study, prayer, and seeking the Spirit’s guidance. We need pure food these days, and pride is a dish best left to the garbage heap.
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Posted in bible jesus, end of days, end time, prophecy, sin

Why TV cooking shows have morphed into adventure programs

Posted on by elizabethprata

I’ve been talking about two things lately. First, are the increasing superlatives that must be attached to describe the events we’re seeing in the world. Because Jesus likened the time to birth pangs, we know that birth pangs get worse and worse, more and more painful as the big event nears. The weather is record shattering, this flood is the worst ever, this tornado outbreak is the biggest in history. Yet the superlatives keep getting attached to the events in ever bigger form as the events grow larger and records keep getting shattered. It is an upward spiral that eventually will bring everyone down.

The second thing I’ve been mentioning is ever-deepening sin. Sin’s depths know no bounds. In 1969, Charles Manson was discovered to have led a bevy of mind-controlled females and males into committing the Tate/LaBianca murders in California. Nine people died and it absolutely shocked the country. Nowadays if there aren’t at least nine killings on a television show the ratings dip. As one sin becomes passe, another worse one has to take its place. There is simply no where else to go for the rush except to top it and try and repeat the rush next time.

This deepening of sin and its combined adrenaline rush is played out in television show titles. I was noticing on the television listings about the nature of the titles of reality shows. The Food Network for example. In decades past, the shows used to feature gourmet chefs who were galloping, or were frugal. The titles were benign, inoffensive, charming. The very first cooking show on television was James Beard in 1946. (no, not Julia Child, she came along more than a decade later, in 1962). Beard’s show was simply called “I Love To Eat.”

Nowadays we have gone from:

Top Chef … to … Chopped …to… Iron Chef …to… Extreme Chef. Where once upon a time, people were content to simply sit still for half an hour and watch a competent chef teach them something new, we watch quick-edits of chefs running in the desert and dodging hailstones while extracting ingredients from a block of ice or using a Swiss Army knife as a lone cooking utensil, being are pushed to their physical and mental limit. All for a good pasta.

In 2003 “The Restaurant,” a reality show featuring two owners at odds with each other, was compelling enough to spawn more restaurant shows, each with a more adrenaline-rush name:

Hell’s Kitchen … to … Restaurant Nightmares… to …Restaurant Battle …to … Restaurant Impossible. Impossible! As each television season unveils a new show, the names have to be tougher, the people participating in them have to be rougher, the fights bigger, the injuries worse. And these are the cooking shows. In order to lure increasingly jaded audiences, they entice them with teasers promising blood, crashes, fisticuffs. Again, I’m talking about cooking shows.

In 2000, The History Channel aired a 46-minute episode titled “Ice Road Truckers” as part of the ‘Suicide Missions’ series. The IRT episode became a break out show on its own. After four years, Ice Road Truckers alone wasn’t good enough (not enough of them sank beneath the cracking ice to drown their drivers in a frozen lake?) so we got IRT: Deadliest Roads in the Himalayas with constant quick-cuts to crushed vehicles at the bottom of precipitous inclines.

The shows titles and of course their material are getting more extreme. I think if we looked at a prime time television line-up schedule from 1965 and then looked at one now we’d be shocked at the mentions of extreme, death, deadly, etc. Like this- What’s after ‘Fear Factor’? “Terror Factor”?

The only place to go is down. Television is rapidly becoming more and more shallow, nasty, and polluted. However, being a mirror for our culture, it is only reflective of the people who watch it and our descent into sin is also rapid, polluted, and nasty. It is a progression James 1:15 aptly describes: “Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.” The lust he describes is not just a sexual lust, it is a coveteousness, desire, sensuality that seeks to fill the emptiness inside. That emptiness is a place just waiting for Jesus, His light, His holiness, His righteousness. But if they do not accept Jesus, they continually seek to fill it with ever deepening poisons and perversions.

Unbelievers say that they are free. They are not, they are slaves to their lusts. The television schedule shows us that, plainly. But Jesus is the INSTANT answer to the need for that emptiness to be filled. He is waiting to fill it. You will be a participant in His plan to regenerate you from the inside out. He replaces lusts and poison and depravity with light and holiness and righteousness. You feel fresher. You no longer seek and seek and seek the next high, because you have finally found the ultimate High: Jesus.
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Posted in bible, brain chemistry, dopamine, lust, satan, sin

Eve’s sin: lust. A very special kind of lust (part 2)

Posted on by elizabethprata

Yesterday we looked at the biblical background for the moment when Eve sinned. That was Part 1, and I recommend you read it or at least skim it to get the context and flavor if what I am going to say next.

The central verse we’re exploring is this one, “So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate.” (Gen 6:6a).

We mentioned yesterday that biologically, the eyes see the world but in the verse it is a metaphor for the mind’s eye, and that mind’s eye is connected to the heart. It is a heart connection. Jesus said “Where your heart is there your treasure shall be also.” That verse in Matthew 6:22 is preceded by talk of eternal treasure and followed by talk of a good eye and a bad eye.

We noted yesterday that the Hebrew word for ‘pleasant’ to the eyes was much more than the seemingly benign pleasantness of a piece of fruit. It means literally she saw the fruit through eyes that were lusting exceedingly and greedily. Wait, all that over fruit? I’d asked, Eve saw that fruit every day. Why were they drooling over it now? What was the difference? Satan. I have an idea of one of the schemes he uses to reduce the unwary to a lusting, slavering greedy sinner. He doesn’t use it every time with all sinners, it actually is a method that is used in few instances, but of that moment with Eve, I think he did it. What is it, then? For the answer, let’s look at vampires.

I am sure that you have heard, or read, or watched a movie or even a crime show where the conversation revolves around a criminal or an evil person, and they say “He has such a hypnotic stare”. Or the sociopath has “such penetrating eyes”, “piercing eyes.” “One glance and she was under his spell,” as they say in the romance novels. The current fascination with vampirism firmly centers on how the vampire looks at the hapless woman, “pinned under his penetrating gaze.” Accompanying the hypnotic stare is the erotic element so familiar to any vampire aficionado.

The first story in English of a vampire was written by John Polidori. This publication also spawned the Gothic genre of literature. Not only was the story in English for the first time, but up until the publication of The Vampyre, the undead beast had been universally seen as a demonic kind of thing, to be feared and run away from. Polidori’s depiction introduced the vampire as: “characterised in folklore: from the peasant classes, living a rural existence, uneducated, dirty and quite frankly having no appeal whatsoever for its victims. This is clearly the Nosferatu, a violent scavenger, a brainless revenant seeking only for the blood it needs to survive. … At this time however the Nosferatu was the familiar shape for the vampire to take.”

“With the advent of Polidori the figure of the vampire took a dramatic leap forward, leaving behind the shabby, stupid, blundering image of the Nosferatu for a more sophisticated and refined social animal, the Toreador or Byronic vampire. Here is a creature in strictly human form, with no huge teeth in the front of its mouth (the canine fangs were a later invention), and no bald head or pointed ears, a creature with human emotions and human drives, a creature that can pass freely in the world of men and need not fear detection in the enlightened society through which he stalks. The aristocratic figure who mingles in high society, delighting and thrilling all with his strange mannerisms and moods, is a far cry from the lonely beast rampaging through the forest tearing out the throat of any passing creature in order to carry on his vile existence. Here instead we have a creature altogether more terrifying in its sheer plausibility: it looks human, acts almost human, talks like a human, and moves among the highest echelons of society. Surely the menace inherent in such a creature is of a more insidious and horrifying kind than that of the weird, supernatural entity of the Nosferatu.” (Source)

Who’s going to get further with a woman, the lumbering beast or the dashing gentleman with the hypnotic gaze? That when he gazes at you, makes you swoon with eroticism and lust? We are all familiar with the cultural references of the link between eroticism and the pull of the vampire’s gaze. It is the same across cultures, the vampire is lusty. I believe that cultural ubiquitousness exists because there is a germ of truth to it. I believe satan (and all the fallen angels) have an ability to gaze into a human’s eyes and manipulate the physiology to the degree where you are reduced to a puddle of lusting flesh, insensible to your true surroundings to the point where you simply succumb to the sinful pheromones now coursing through your body. I think satan did that to Eve.

Angels have a different physiology than humans. They exist on a different plane or dimension than we do. They are endowed with powers that far outstrip ours. I mentioned some of their powers in the essay on Angels. All these are biblical facts. That satan could look into our eyes and manipulate the brain chemistry is something that is entirely possible.

Biologically, the optic nerve is the pathway to brain and then the central nervous system. It IS the lamp of the body. We know that human interaction includes chemistries and one of those are pheromones, which are simply secreted or excreted chemical factors that trigger a social response in members of the same species. Dopamine is the brain’s natural neurotransmitter in triggering arousal and desire. Suddenly Eve ‘saw’ the fruit, it was ‘pleasant’ to the eyes, and she ‘desired’ it. How easy would it be for an evil angel to manipulate brain chemicals within our biology? Let loose a little dopamine and watch us swell up with sexual desire, swooning for more and tied begging for more of that pleasant drug that is behind the fallen angel’s eyes? Easypeasy. The optic nerve, also called cranial nerve II, transmits visual information from the retina to the brain. This is interesting news from 2007: “A neuroscientist believes a little-known cranial nerve may be the secret to lust, and evidence suggests it may be the conduit for sex pheromones.” Hmmm.

Dr. Robert Hare wrote in his book “Without Conscience, The Disturbing World of the Psychopaths Among Us” that psychopaths often make very intense eye contact, or have unusually piercing eyes. Other researchers have also mentioned the “reptilian gaze” of the psychopath, resembling that of a predator about to consume his or her prey. Victims of the psychopath also often refer to the ‘laser beam stare.’ Strangely enough, women often confuse this gaze with sexuality, and find it attractive. Many films depicting seductive yet immoral creatures such as vampires, often depict the vampire as having a very strong, psychopathic stare. Some psychologists have compared the psychopath to the vampire, or state that the psychopath has a ‘vampiric personality’ or lifestyle, as well as being parasitic.” Note that the author chose to present his book with a cover illustrating the hypnotic eyes.

What if satan pierces Eve with his gaze, inducing a lustful response – one which we know was different from all the other times she had looked at the fruit- and after all, the bible shows that she had a strong and inappropriate reaction to it?

“Pheromones are odorless, airborne chemical signals that are released by an individual into the environment. These chemicals affect the physiology or behavior of other members of the same species. Although pheromones have been shown to exist in virtually all species of insects and mammals, they also control the behavior of humans, acting as sexual attractants.” (Source) More on brain chemistry here.

There is a reason vampires and romance heroes are said to have a hypnotic, powerful, penetrating, or otherwise piercing gaze. There is a reason why eroticism and loosened inhibitions are included in the descriptions and depictions of vampires. Remember at the beginning of this essay when Polidori’s Vampyre story showed not a lumbering beast but a ‘sophisticated and refined social animal, … a creature in strictly human form, …with human emotions and human drives, a creature that can pass freely in the world of men and need not fear detection in the enlightened society through which he stalks. The aristocratic figure who mingles in high society, delighting and thrilling all with his strange mannerisms and moods…” And we are reminded of the Hebrews 13:2 verse that says “Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by this some have entertained angels without knowing it.” “And no marvel for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light” (2 Cor 11:14) so we know they delight in appearing as human and for the fallen ones, they delight in tricking us.

Remember the verse that says “In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not lest __ the light of the glorious gospel of Christ who is the image of God should shine unto them” (2 Cor 4:4) and here blinded the mind means “blowing smoke which causes (spiritual) blindness, i.e. experiencing “clouded vision.”

I think satan and his fallen angels, when they incarnate and pass for human to do their work of lying and destruction, can look into a human’s eyes and make them drip with lust and swoon with cloudy brain to do and say all sorts of things they might not otherwise.

NO, I am NOT saying that Eve is not at fault. She is. We all are responsible for our own sins! But vampires have to be invited in, (According to the lore anyway), and that old fallen angel Lucifer would not have gotten as far as he did if Eve had done the correct thing and responded to satan’s question “Hath God really said…” with “YES, HE SAID, now go away.” She didn’t, and this was satan’s invitation to press further. We know the rest.

The verses in Matthew 6 about the eye being the lamp of the body allude to a heart condition. Satan severs the eye from the heart and suddenly when you look at something you are lusting for it and excluding God. Your eyes should not be on the things of the earth but on the treasures of heaven. That is the doctrinal message of these two part of the essay about Eve. The supernatural message is that the vampire stories in my opinion have a grain of truth and that grain is in the ability of fallen angels to look into our eyes and manipulate our brain chemistry to sway under their spell. I think this will be a common method for them after the rapture, with so many willing participants in the lusts of the earth that post-rapture living will be. Third, I think they are here now, doing it in smaller measure. If you run across someone who has this marvelous way of looking at you that excites you beyond normal capacities and for no reason…RUN! Like Joseph shedding his cloak from Mrs Potiphar, run away immediately. Do not look, for entertaining their double-tongued talk and gazing into those hypnotic eyes will only lead to destruction.

Prayer: O, Lord,
“Incline my heart to Your testimonies,
And not to covetousness.
Turn away my eyes from looking at worthless things,
And revive me in Your way.”
Psalm 119:36-37
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Posted in forgiveness, resign, sexting, sin, weiner

Weiner to resign, but go easy on the chortles

Posted on by elizabethprata

NY Congressman Anthony Weiner is resigning today. I am glad for this.

Weiner has spent the last three weeks battling for his job, which is representing the people of his constituency. It might be said that he definitely failed the moral standard of proper representation. On May 27th, he posted a prurient photo of himself on his Twitter timeline, apparently making the mistake of publishing it to all 47,000 of his followers instead of to the young woman to whom it was intended privately. Oops.

Weiner’s first response was that his account had been hacked. Then attempts were made to shift the blame to “conservative bloggers.” Two days later, when reporters were pressing Weiner on the point, he refused to answer, even calling one reporter a ‘jackass.’ On June 1, Weiner went on national television and said that the photo was not of him. The boom was lowered on June 6th when Breitbart published more photos of Weiner sent to different women. He finally admitted that he did the deeds being reported. It turns out that he had contacted an underage girl, many times, and police investigated. A photo of his naked genitalia surfaced he’d sent to someone and was published on the web. He had sexted a porn star and then asked her to lie. Other women were coming forward to say that he sexted them also, one from the local area.

He said he had an “addiction.” His colleagues said he needed “help.”

The country was transfixed, giggling like junior high school boys and pointing fingers. An ethics investigation was ordered by the Speaker of the House. Allegations were made amid growing calls for a resignation.

Finally, three weeks after it began, it was over. Weiner quit today. Now he will return to the home that he shares with his pregnant wife, and try to pick up the pieces. All he ever knew was politics. No one knows what fallback plan Weiner has. I dare say, no one cares.

Let’s list the sins: adultery, lying, lewdness, profanity, abuse of power, child endangerment, dereliction of duty. Wow. That’s, that’s…just like a sinner. The default condition of all unsaved people is a sinful heart, mind, and soul. We all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. “[T]he mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God” (Romans 8:6) and ““But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised” (1 Corinthians 2:14).”

What are we to expect from one who is dead in his sins? It is struggle enough when we have the aid of the indwelling Holy Spirit to avoid sin, as Paul well knew. (Romans 7:14-25). Without the Holy Spirit there is no hope to avoid the ever deepening descent into the pit of sin.

One wonders about the coming tortured silences inside the Weiner home tonight, as his embarrassed wife, pregnant and bulging with their child, considers her options. Without Christ, there will be almost 100% certainty of a divorce, adding another sin to the pile. With Christ, it will be hard enough for that couple…and their child.

We know the famous line in the bible, “He who is without sin among you, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.” (John 8:7). Even those of us who have the Spirit in us because we repented and were forgiven, are sinners. I don’t like what he did, not one bit. I was disgusted personally and embarrassed nationally. But there is a cure for the sin nature, we can be cleansed and made a new creature in His likeness. Having so recently been on the side of the reprobate mind, at open hostilities with the Lord, I remember well the perplexing and unwanted draw of sin for a season, so sweet at first then so bitter. Yes, Weiner needs help. Yes, he has an addiction. His addiction is to sin and satan, and the help he needs is Jesus. I pray that many will pray for him and not mock him. Let he and his wife be bathed in prayer and let those Gospel seeds take root in them for a magnificent regeneration.

As John Bradford sat in his Tower of London jail cell in 1553, a reformer against the Pope, he looked down at the courtyard and saw a prisoner going to his execution. He famously uttered, “There, but for the grace of God, goeth John Bradford.” That phrase is an idiom now, shortened to “There but for the grace of God, go I.” At one time we Christians were all in chains, all being led to the execution and death of our spirit. But for the Grace of God we all go. But it is His grace that saves us. I pray that the grace of God shines on Anthony Weiner, a flawed, sinning, reprobate person in need of Jesus’ intervention as much as we all do, and did. So go easy on the chortles, and pray for the man instead.






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Posted in atonement, doctrines of demons, end time, prophecy, sin

Call language that hides or softens sin what it is: lies

Posted on by elizabethprata

“Americans need national repentance and atonement.”

That was the headline of an editorial written by Rabbi Michael Lerner. He is editor of Tikkun http://www.tikkun.org, and chair of the Network of Spiritual Progressives (an interfaith organization, open to atheists as well). I got positively excited! It was published in Counter Currents, an alternative webjournal culling news and analysis on the fight against economic globalisation and other issues. A spiritual person, writing about needing atonement! How wonderful!

The declaration of the fact we are sinners is rare these days. I’ve become saddened that so many people refuse to see that they are indeed wretched sinners, in need of a savior. The mere mention of the fact that we sin is enough these days to engender a harsh reaction, even profanity and blasphemy. I’m not kidding, the reactions are loud and brash.

That was why I was excited to see a published column about national repentance and atonement. With beating heart, I began reading.

“Now that the Iraq war is supposedly winding down, America needs a period of reflection, repentance and atonement before rushing into more of the same mistakes we’ve been making globally and domestically.”

Oh. It’s about Iraq. The Rabbi continues, “So I’d like to invite my non-Jewish neighbors and friends and allies in the struggle to heal and transform America to join with Jews…”

‘Heal America’? How about healing the soul? A healing that only Jesus can accomplish? Nope, the Rabbi continues: “…taking collective responsibility for our larger world.” Unfortunately, the rabbi’s stance of taking collective responsibility for our larger world means that the rabbi is less interested in the front and center fact of individual sin, and would rather submerge that concept into a diluted context of national sin. Removing the immediacy of sin from the actions of the individual person to one that’s further afield (like a ‘nation’) makes it feel less convicting, that is for sure.

And then the horrible zinger comes: “Rather than see ourselves as at the core evil, the Jewish tradition sees us as created in the image of God and hence intrinsically good and worthy-and it is with this understanding that Americans can then feel safe to explore where we’ve gone off course, missed the mark, and hence need a mid-course correction.”

NOOOOOOOO! It is a pure satanic twist, perpetuating the oldest and most basic satanic lie: changing the fact of our craven sin nature to one of intrinsic goodness and worthiness. If we are intrinsically good and worthy, we do not believe we need a savior, which suits satan just fine. Satan’s first lie is that man is intrinsically good. We are not. Satan says if we are left to ourselves, we will do things that are moral, just and upright, (like heal the planet and refrain from wars, as the rabbi states.) Don’t you think that if we could collectively do that which is just and moral we would have already? Satan’s lie about just how good we are is refuted in Romans 5:12 “Wherefore by one man sin entered the world and death by sin, so then death is passed upon all men for all have sinned.”

The essay states that once the notion of sin is pushed from us to the realms of national stumbles, we can feel safe in taking the safe path toward a correction. That path is NOT safe, it is the worst of dangers and snares! “The fear of the LORD is a fountain of life, That one may avoid the snares of death.” (Proverbs 14:7).

The rabbi then proposes a course of action, “It won’t take long to help each of us to construct a list of the areas that we need to address in our repentance. We could start with the easy ones: our inability to stop deep ocean drilling for oil and gas even after the Gulf oil disaster; our inability to limit carbon emissions even though the scientific evidence is clear that rising emissions are above the level consistent with continuing human life (and possibly all life) on earth; our inability to acknowledge the pain we’ve inflicted on the Iraqi people by our invasion,…” So the author believes the sins of the world can be cured by intrinsically good and worthy people working together to stop the ‘mistakes’ of oil drilling and excessive carbon emissions. This is another satanic lie, that we can control our own destiny. Certainly, making lists is not going to save us. Satan says man “is the captain of my own fate.” The LORD is the captain of our fate. The Scripture says, “A man can do nothing except it be given him from heaven.” (John 3:27) and “We can make our plans, but the final outcome is in God’s hands.” (Proverbs 16:1)

The worst is yet to come. There is included in the essay a prayer template in which we are to among other things, ask for atonement “For the sin of not doing enough to challenge racist, sexist, and homophobic institutions and practices…” I ask, just whom do we ask for atonement of these communal ‘sins’? He writes,  “For these sins we ask the people of this planet and the Earth itself to forgive us.”

This essay dismisses the fact of individual sin, proposes safety on the path away from God, and ultimately removes God entirely from the conversation of Whom to ask for forgiveness. “They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator–who is forever praised. Amen.” (Romans 1:25). Earth-worship is not new, but calling oil drilling a sin we need to ask each other for forgiveness of, is.

Now, the rabbi knows God, but “although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles.” (Romans 1:23-24)

I don’t mean to pick on the Rabbi personally. He is likely a very nice man. He cares about the problems of the world. But he is in a position as editor and contributor to influence a great many people. In his widely circulated journals he has a responsibility to rightfully handle the word of Truth. As a Jew, he may not acknowledge the words in the New Testament but the Pharisees themselves said in Luke 5, when Jesus forgave the sins of the paralytic, “The Pharisees and the teachers of the law began thinking to themselves, “Who is this fellow who speaks blasphemy? Who can forgive sins but God alone?” Asking the ‘earth’ and ‘other men’ to forgive our sins is blasphemy, which the rabbi should well know.

It is the end time. “The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons. (1 Timothy 4:1). In the photo above, the author urges us to collectively lift up the earth as an object of worship, as a created thing we must exalt. In this illustration below, we are told what we must do:

In these days of doctrines of demons, we read a great many things that are couched slyly as satan would say, with insinuating concepts of God as outdated, of personal sin as too harsh to accept against our innate goodness, of men who can collectively make a list and change the world through strength and actions of their own control of destiny. Watch for articles like those, of conversations that accept these lies. We must be strong and call these statements what they are, not mistakes, or wrong thinking, but lies. We do not need correction of national mistakes, but forgiveness of personal sin. Why be so clear and pointed? Jesus calls them lies. Jesus calls them antichrists. “For many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh. This is the deceiver and the antichrist.” (2 John 1:7). “Children, it is the last hour; and just as you heard that antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have appeared; from this we know that it is the last hour.”

Posted in end time, end time. prophecy, jesus, mire, sin

Sin rising, mire deepening, Jesus coming!

Posted on by elizabethprata

Jeremiah was a faithful prophet. He preached the Word no matter the cost to himself. Even though the LORD had promised “Then I will make you to this people A fortified wall of bronze; And though they fight against you, They will not prevail over you; For I am with you to save you And deliver you,” declares the LORD” (Jer 15:20) it still could not have been easy for Jeremiah to go through all the things he went through. One day, he was preaching (again) in advance of the coming Babylonians, and the princes of King Zedekiah had had enough. They conspired to throw Jeremiah into a pit and they brought their petition to the King, who, though knowing Jeremiah was a prophet, did not stand for truth when push came to shove. The king said essentially, “go ahead, do what you will’ sort of like Pilate did later on.

So the princes took Jeremiah and threw him into what was probably an oubliette but is called a cistern in the NASB.

“Then the officials said to the king, “Now let this man be put to death, inasmuch as he is discouraging the men of war who are left in this city and all the people, by speaking such words to them; for this man is not seeking the well-being of this people but rather their harm.” So King Zedekiah said, “Behold, he is in your hands; for the king can do nothing against you.” Then they took Jeremiah and cast him into the cistern of Malchijah the king’s son, which was in the court of the guardhouse; and they let Jeremiah down with ropes. Now in the cistern there was no water but only mud, and Jeremiah sank into the mud.” (Jer 38:4-6).

An oubliette is from the French meaning forgotten place and is a derivative of oublier, “to forget”. We also get the English word ‘oblivion’ from oublier. Prisoners whom their captors wish to forget were thrown into an oublier, which was deep with a hole and a grate over the top. The prisoner had no way of escaping. Some oubliers were bottle shaped so the prisoner could not sit down nor even turn around. One famous oublier had no grate but prisoners were simply hustled along a dark tunnel at sword-point until they fell into the hole, shocked and stunned at their sudden descent. In the illustration, notice the man in the right-oubliette (or cistern) with upraised hands.

Whether it was a cistern being used for prisoners or was a purposely built dungeon, the pit was a terrible place. Full of garbage, decay, and rats, being in the lower most parts of the castle, the pit was usually filled with water that seeped up from the earthen floor, making survival almost impossible. Which was the point.

I notice that though the princes hated Jeremiah’s words, they were careful not to toss him but carefully lowered him by ropes. However, once lowered, he sunk way down, (Josephus said that Jeremiah sunk in up to his neck) and then Jeremiah began his lamentation.

Lamentations 3:53-57
They tried to end my life in a pit
and threw stones at me;
the waters closed over my head,
and I thought I was about to be cut off.
I called on your name, O Lord,
from the depths of the pit.
You heard my plea: “Do not close your ears
to my cry for relief.”
You came near when I called you,
and you said, “Do not fear.”

Louis Ginzberg’s Legends of the Jews says of the scene: “Hardly out of prison, he again advised the people to surrender, and the nobility seized him and cast him into a lime pit filled with water, where they hoped he would drown. But a miracle happened. The water sank to the bottom, and the mud rose to the surface, and supported the prophet above the water. Help came to him from Ebed-melech, a “white raven,” the only pious man at court. Ebed-melech hastened to the king and spoke: “Know, if Jeremiah perishes in the lime pit, Jerusalem will surely be captured.” With the permission of the king, Ebed-melech went to the pit, and cried out aloud several times, “O my lord Jeremiah,” but no answer came. Jeremiah feared the words were spoken by his former jailer Jonathan, who had not given up his practice of mocking at the prophet. He would come to the edge of the pit and call down jeeringly: “Do not rest thy head on the mud, and take a little sleep, Jeremiah.” To such sneers Jeremiah made no reply, and hence it was that Ebed-melech was left unanswered. Thinking the prophet dead, he began to lament and tear his clothes. Then Jeremiah, realizing that it was a friend, and not Jonathan, asked: “Who is it that is calling my name and weeps therewith?” and he received the assurance that Ebed-melech had come to rescue him from his perilous position.”

I am guessing that the first thing they did for him was give him a bath and clean him up. Gave him some clean robes to wear.

In thinking about the mire, I can’t help but wonder what bible symbol mire is used for in this case. Since bible interprets bible, I find Isaiah 57:20 -“But the wicked are like the tossing sea, which cannot rest, whose waves cast up mire and mud.” The sea is the wicked and what they toss up is mire, muck, and dirt. The mire is the “fruit” of the wicked. Moreover, the picture of the pit is one that has a soft bottom. Jeremiah didn’t land with a thud, he landed with a plop. Then sunk more and more and more, like we do in sin. We cannot get out of the pit by ourselves and indeed all our vain efforts will only succeed in getting us in deeper. But He will lift us out!

Psalm 40:2 – He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand.

NO ONE needs to be in the pit, ever. Jesus died so that He could lift us out of our sins of the pit would be washed away. If we ask Him, He establishes us on the rock and from which no one, not even the gates of hell, can toss us off. But you have to ask.

Jeremiah was cast into the mire, but Jesus volunteered to leave His heavenly abode and to not only spend three and a half wearying years among sinful humans, but He hung on the cross and BECAME sin. He allowed Himself to succumb to the mire and sink below it … for our sakes.

“Save me, O God! For the waters have come up to my neck. I sink in deep mire, where there is no standing; I have come into deep waters, where the floods overflow me. I am weary with my crying; my throat is dry; my eyes fail while I wait for my God.” (Psalm 69:1-3)

Imagine His horror, as He became miry sin for us all and the Father turned away … “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” (Psalm 22:1). For the first time since eternity began, Jesus was separated from the Father … His own throat dry and His own eyes not seeing His glory…but only mire.

Jesus was alone in sin, AS sin, but He does not leave us alone in it. We sink, but if we call out He raises us up out of the mire. As this old world becomes more and more sinful, does it feel to you, Christian, that we are up to our noses in mire? This entire essay began last night as a plea to Jesus to release me and all Christians and children from the sin so prevalent that feels like it is up to my nose. I can barely breathe because of the odor of sulfurous sin from all around, enveloping me. Suddenly the picture of Jeremiah came to me and how he was up to his nose in mire.

Do you feel the sins of the world are so high it strains the neck to stay above it? True repentance means hating the stench of sin, and realizing that all our actions are as nothing to wash away that smell. Only Jesus can wash it away. Well, blessings, He will raise us up! He will snatch us away and take us to the clean place and give us clean robes to wear. “And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.” (These are not the tribulation saints but the Church Age saints snatched out of the Tribulation, out of from the Greek word ‘ek’ meaning away from the time, place, and cause) Soon and very soon! Out of the mire, out from the fire, into clean garments and washed by His blood! And remember, though sins pile up all around us, Jesus sunk below that awful mire. He was alone in the universe, apart from the Father, and for that, we sing “You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased men for God from every tribe and language and people and nation.” (Rev 5:9)

Posted in bp, end time, oil, pollution, prophecy, sin

Man’s failure at stewardship

Posted on by elizabethprata

The BP Gulf oil spill is heart-breaking. Knowing that the Gulf economy is wrecked, the fishing industry is kaput, tourism is gone, and the lovely and stunning beaches and marshes are oil-slicked ruins is completely disheartening. Also knowing that the animals are suffering is also hard to watch, because they are innocent. What did a dolphin ever do to us?

As a matter of fact, God set it up so that they would depend on us and our stewardship. He gave dominion of the animal world to us, saying to Adam, “have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.” The bible talks a lot about stewardship, and many people take that to mean money and tithing, and it is, but it also means conscientious handling of the earth. [Above, An oil soaked bird struggles against the side of the HOS Iron Horse supply vessel at the site of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Louisiana. Photograph: Gerald Herbert/AP (Guardian / UK) – May 10, 2010.] We are definitely failing in our stewardship charge.

Today I saw some photos of an ‘illegal highway’ in Arizona, a path where Mexicans apparently go across the border and when they do, they drop what they are carrying so as to blend in better with the local illegal and legal population once they emerge from the desert. The photos were accompanied with the typical “Good for Arizona and Oh gosh those filthy Mexicans” kind of tripe. Here is one photo example making the rounds:

But then thanks to Coyote Blog‘s entry ‘Glass Houses”, I started thinking of other areas of the world where such trash piles accumulate. Left unpicked-up, trash accumulates in National Forests,

In bucolic New England towns, from people too lazy to cross town to get to the dump, where they leave “Bags of trash, mattresses, cardboard boxes, metal barrels, tires, and car seats were just some of the items found on a quick inspection of the area on Tuesday. [K]ids found dead animals in trash bags a few years ago. Typically the trash has been household garbage, washers and dryers, tires and sometimes adult magazines…”

And from rich Americans and Europeans atop Mount Everest, where a massive expedition has been undertaken to remove it.

From the forests to the prairies, from the mountains to the sea, we’re pigs. We have totally abandoned God’s call to stewardship of the planet and of the animals.

It reminds me of a great Twilight Zone episode called “The Masks.” In it, a rich guy with an attractive and well-tailored but craven and evil family summons the gang to his deathbed. He tells them that if they wear some Mardi Gras grotesque masks until midnight they get all his money but if they don’t all they get is train fare home. Uncaring of his imminent death and wanting the money, they comply. As the evening progresses, they writhe under the unbearable discomfort the masks afford, and beg to remove them. Reminded that the riches will not be theirs until the appointed hour, they reluctantly leave them on. The patriarch dies after making his final speech. Joyous that they could now remove the grotesque masks, they reach up only to find that the masks had morphed into their faces, rendering their outward likeness as a mirror of their interior character and nature.

In Matthew 23:26 Jesus said, “Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean.” What is on the inside of us will come out as filth. Unless our insides are cleaned by Jesus, it will always result in filth. The photos of the trash and death and destruction of the earth are simply an outward representation of what is inside us, for “Their feet run to evil, and they make haste to shed innocent blood: their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity; wasting and destruction are in their paths. (Isaiah 59:7). As long as the world is ruled by a fallen man, the fruits will surface, and the fruits of fallen man are trash. “All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away.” (Isaiah 64:6).

However that is not the end of the story. He will make all things new!! “And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful.” (Rev 21:5). He is true and faithful, He will remake the earth that we have messed up in our sin and filth, and forevermore sin will no more pollute the earth- or our souls! Hallelujah.