By Elizabeth Prata
I like to write on a variety of Christian topics. Anything related to the Bible, Jesus, the Church- I’m all in.
Lately I want to strip back some layers and get back to some basics. It’s easy to go off-script and get involved in hair splitting theological debates, or write about myself, or the culture- anything that drifts from Jesus. So I want to do a few essays in these turbulent times related to the root of our faith: Jesus, the Gospel, and the blood.
By Elizabeth Prata
Grace Community Church in Sun Valley CA has been harassed and sued by both Los Angeles County and the State of California for about 18 months- ever since the initial COVID 3-week ban on worship gatherings expired and the county and State tyrannically continued it- while allowing riots and other gatherings to continue to occur with no restrictions. That’s when worship at GCC resumed, and the trouble began.
Continue reading “Pastor John MacArthur on the Grace Community Church lawsuit victory”By Elizabeth Prata
Assurance of salvation is something many Christians struggle with. It’s normal that a believer might enter a period when they doubt their salvation. We still sin, and if a person sins repeatedly, it’s also normal to wonder if the Lord has sealed the Spirit in us and that we’re actually saved for the day of redemption. It’s normal that a believer might have a (short) period of performing besetting sins or as known in the Christian culture, “backslide”. We often feel in life that we are not making progress (like the Pilgrim in John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress, who also slid down the hill at times).
The Holy Spirit is sealed in believers and if a person possesses the Spirit, He will not allow the believer to continue to sin. His ministry is to sanctify. Persistent sin in a believer would be at odds with that progress, so if a person does not allow conscience to prick their heart and repent, eventually the Spirit will make Himself known more strongly- either through a bigger conscience prick, or sending someone to confront you, or raise certain Bible verses to you, or even a mishap in life to knock sense into us.
Continue reading “Can I lose my salvation? How can I be sure?”By Elizabeth Prata
“And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come. ” (Matthew 24:14).
Twelve years ago the Gideons organization marked their 100th year of giving out Bibles.
Gideons mark 100th year giving Bibles: "Nearly 76.9 million Gideon Bibles were given out in nearly 85 languages in 187 countries last year [2008]. Close to 1.5 billion Bibles have been distributed since 1908, when the Gideons first began to place Bibles in hotel rooms.
Did you know that when you make an order of any kind from Amazon, a portion of that can be dedicated through Amazon Smile to an organization of your choice?
Continue reading “The Gospel preached to the whole world”By Elizabeth Prata
Romans 8:38 comes to mind,
“For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Do you believe this? Believe it!
And also remember, Jesus said we all will be pressed someday to choose the state government, or act for Christ in dangerous or uncomfortable circumstances. I wrote that very line 12 years ago on my blog (at Blogger) and some commenters disbelieved that it could ever happen in the United States. Well, it’s happening.
Continue reading “Be ready to choose whom you will serve”By Elizabeth Prata
Does it seem to you that people are becoming more thin-skinned? I seems that way to me.
Should believers worry? Of course not! All things are possible in Jesus, for does not Romans 12:21 say “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” Our ‘skin’ should be as thick as possible, for we have on the inside the Holy Spirit and on the outside the full armor of God. Share Him with as many as possible, so they also can know the peace of the Heavenly Spirit.
Continue reading “Now is not the time for thin skin”By Elizabeth Prata
Spiritual war is real and it manifests as either good or evil fruit in today’s society. The war front is invisible, and it’s not against people but “against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.” (Ephesians 6:12).
Lately we see more societal interest toward the occult, people are particularly fascinated with ‘beings’ from the other side. I believe this is a direct deception from the fallen angels and demons who influence our thinking into areas the Bible expressly forbids. There are no ‘helpful’ ghosts wandering about trying to bring “messages” to the living. And there are no UFOs, or aliens. “UFOs” and “Aliens” are just fallen (demonic) angels deceiving the unwary.
Continue reading “There’s ‘probably’ not a poisonous snake in this box”
By Elizabeth Prata
I used to spend the Fourth of July in Lubec-Eastport Maine. If you visualize Maine as the profile of a dog, Eastport and Lubec would be the nostrils. These two towns are as far east as you can go in Maine and not be in Canada. The highest tides in the world begin there, with the Bay of Fundy funneling the Atlantic into a small inlet where massive 30′ tides are pushed up then down several times a day. Lubec and Eastport are nautical cities, driven by the sea, which surrounds both of them. And as for the air, there’s cool, fog, and cold. Those are the seasons. (Notice the shadow side on the left and the sunny side on the right. The difference in temps would be at least ten degrees)
Continue reading “The sunny side of life is warmer”By Elizabeth Prata
It was a tough week in my little sphere. A lot of people are struggling, we’re all stretched thin. Prices are rising fast and I juggle and jiggle and juggle the budget again and again to adjust. I arrive home hot and tired. I’m waiting for the brutal Georgia August to slide into September cooler fall weather.
Continue reading “A wonderful end to my week: The Lord sustains us in little ways too”By Elizabeth Prata
When you go to the bank, or grocery store and you see the lines, you wonder which line to pick. If I go in this line will it go faster? Or will that line end up being faster? I always pick the wrong line. If I see that it was moving faster, the moment I get in it, suddenly the cashier runs out of receipt paper and has to reload…or the customer starts writing a check…or the clerks end their shift and swap over. Something, lol.
Being in the wrong line is part of the daily condition and sometimes makes us chuckle with the absurdity of life. Ending up in the wrong checkout line doesn’t have eternal consequences.
Continue reading “Gospel-Prophecy week #5: More important than ever- Am I Saved?”
