Category: theology

Posted in theology

Year end wrap-up: Looking Toward 2026 with Grace-given Faith

Posted on by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

In a few weeks I will have been blogging here at The End Time for 17 years straight. I’ve mainly posted a blog a day. This blog comprises 7,105 essays, with few repeats. That is not a testament to my skill or ingenuity, but a testimony of how unfathomable the depths of scripture are and how infinite this seemingly finite book is.

The earliest blogs from 2009-2010 didn’t transfer from Blogspot when I exported them to WordPress here, because there was a byte limit to the export. That’s OK, many of them were newspaper eisegesis anyway. I grew out of that thanks to the Spirit but I still remember and value the initial rush of understanding post-salvation. I was amazed to have at hand so many answers to the complex questions of life that I’d futilely searched for, such as ‘why are the Jews so hated?’ ‘what is the point of life?’ ‘why are there earthquakes and other natural disasters?’ ‘why is there always turmoil in the Middle East?’ and so on. The Bible held those answers and early blogs were my outworking of my theological education on those matters as I then saw the world with new eyes.

As for 2025 here at the blog (and the podcast- which I have been highly irregular on recording), the answers continue. The essays are still an outworking of my own processing of matters I’m studying. They are also answers to reader questions, using the Holy Spirit-given spiritual gift of discernment He has dispensed to me. Or encouragement for ladies in these dark times. Those remain my focus 17 years later: theology/doctrine, discernment, and encouragement.

2025 wrap-up

I began 2025 with this essay on January 1: 7 bullet points on why the Passion Conference is one to avoid. I had spent some time in 2025 re-vamping some of my discernment articles into shorter essays, with added content, and to that end, I created the ‘bullet point’ series. Attention spans have shortened in the last 17 years. Also, some people just need a ‘cut to the chase’ moment, so that is what I named the series.

In 2025 I published 361 posts. My streak of ‘every day/365’ was interrupted by a period of illness. Working in a school, lol, I get sick a few times a year. This year I had a high fever for a few days and did not produce an essay. One of the days I missed posting was because I’d lost power for 24 hours, sigh. It was a rough day being launched back to the 1800s with no electricity! lol.

In my “Spotify end of year round up” I learned that the most listened to podcast essay was the one titled: Listening to Wives: Lessons from Genesis. It was played 215 times more than any other episode. I wonder what caught the people’s attention? If you prefer reading to listening, the essay is here to read.

Spotify says my listening audience increased 53% over last year. 999% of those listeners were new. So I feel doubly bad I have not paid as much attention to recording my essays as I should.

This year for my Bible reading plan, I used the John MacArthur Daily Bible: Read the Bible in One Year, with Notes from John MacArthur, NASB. I loved it and I’ll use it again. I liked the leather binding, the easy to read pages, and of course the content is wonderful. I never write in my Bibles, I use arrow post-its. You can see all the interesting things I’d tabbed for follow up!

Other Bible Reading Plans I have used in the past have been the McCheyne, Grant Horner, G3 (several inside a bundle), and one a friend wrote that was chronological. Justin Peters is reading what appears to be M’Cheyne’s plan, (the link is to Jan 1 reading,) https://youtu.be/ewqy6JKOhAM. Ligonier lists many choices for Bible Reading Plans in 2026, here.

The ever-dependable and solid Michelle Lesley has a roundup of Bible Reading plans by type, here.

Other links: Grant Horner’s , M’Cheyne‘s , MacArthur Daily Bible , G3 5 Day Bible Narratives Reading Plan (free downloads accompany this bundle, listed below:)

Free Downloads

Books

These are the book I’d read in 2025. I listed the religious ones first (10 of them), and secular ones next (16 of those) for a total of 26 books read this year.

  • Human Nature in its Fourfold State, Thomas Boston (not finished yet)
  • Innumerable pamphlets like Free Grace Broadcaster and others from Chapel Library,
  • Jonah & Nahum: Grace in the Midst of Judgment: (A Verse-by-Verse Expository, Evangelical, Exegetical Bible Commentary on the Old Testament Minor Prophets – MOTC), John MacArthur,
  • The Scandal of False Teaching, James Durham,
  • The Greatness of the Soul and Unspeakableness of its Loss Thereof, John Bunyan,
  • Christmas According to the Gospel, Allen Nelson IV,
  • Christ Triumphs Over Sin and Death: The King’s Victorious Return, John MacArthur,
  • Love Came Down at Christmas, Sinclair Ferguson,
  • A Word Fitly Spoken: Theology of Communication, Aaron Garriott (not finished yet),
  • Finishing Well, John MacArthur
  • The Bookshop, Penelope Fitzgerald (novel),
  • The Bookshop: A History of the American Bookstore, Evan Friss (non-fiction),
  • Bendigo Shafter, Louis L’Amour,
  • Laced (Regan Reilly Mysteries, ), Carol Higgins Clark,
  • Land of My Heart (Heirs of Montana, ), Tracie Peterson,
  • The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion: Vol. 3, Beth Brower,
  • The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion: Vol. 2, Beth Brower,
  • The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion: Vol. 1, Beth Brower,
  • Midnight at the Blackbird Café, Heather Webber,
  • Wreck of the Medusa: The Tragic Story of the Death Raft, Alexander McKee,
  • Beautiful Day, Elin Hilderbrand,
  • The Innkeeper of Ivy Hill (Tales from Ivy Hill, ), Julie Klassen,
  • The Rural Life, Verlyn Klinkenborg,
  • The Full Cupboard of Life (No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency, ), Alexander McCall Smith,
  • The Berry Pickers, Amanda Peters,
  • Morality for Beautiful Girls (No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency, ), Alexander McCall Smith

What’s Next in 2026?

I plan to keep writing, as long as I feel that is what the Holy Spirit wants. I do plan to try and record more essays. I received a free gift from Chapel Library of Pilgrim’s Progress parts I and II, and I will read that. I also ordered booklets from Chapel Library (for free) Bunyan’s The Fear of God and The Acceptable Sacrifice: The Excellency of a Broken Heart – Bunyan.

I inventory all my books using LibraryThing (a free online system but you can set it to private) and I was surprised to find that after John MacArthur, the authors I have the most books from are RC Sproul (28), and John Bunyan, (17). Next was Jonathan Edwards with 11 books by him or about him.

Chapel Library is a ministry offering older theological material to download or sent through the postal mail in hard copy for free.

Chapel Library: “Classics to read and share! Want a packet mailed to you FREE? Chapel Library will ship 1 order of up to $20 value per month to your door free of charge.”

What a blessing they are.

2025 was a big year in my opinion. We had the Steve Lawson adultery scandal in 2024 and a few months later Lawson breaking his silence in 2025. Josh Buice, president of G3 Ministries outed as a liar and a hypocrite. We lost Voddie and MacArthur and James Dobson. The assassination of Charlie Kirk shook evangelical political conservatives to the core. It seemed to me that Kirk’s killing caused a major shift of some kind from which we are still feeling the fallout.

False teacher Jennie Allen shifted her sadly growing “If:Gathering” conference to a streaming global event. It was 24 hours of featuring many false teachers such as Allen, Francis Chan, Christine Caine etc on every continent (except Antarctica & Greenland.) The internet and streaming are boons for those behind closed countries, homebound, and the general person who wants access to a wide variety of Christian material and preachers. However it is fraught with pollution that satan is so good at infiltrating. Gather25 was a discerner’s disappointment.

People look at the numbers and say foolish things like “But look how If:Gathering has grown so much in 10 years! God MUST be behind it!” No. Look at how fast sin had grown from the garden to the Flood, from Genesis 3:1 to Genesis 6:5. Satan was behind THAT. Growth and speed are not always God-given indicators of theological solidity.

So my goals this year in 2026 are to keep reading, keep praying, keep writing, record and publish the podcast more regularly, keep attending my church and serving and worshiping there, keep working at school, keep loving the people around me. In my opinion, the key to the Christian life is consistency. This blog essay by John MacArthur addressing the unremarkableness of a normal Christian life (outwardly) caught my attention when it was published almost 15 years ago. Here it is again, if you are feeling disadvantaged, useless, inconsequential because you are not doing “BIG THINGS!” for Christ, don’t feel bad. Jesus wants unremarkable faith in ordinary, consistent lives. He grows us incrementally as we make steps, sometimes strides, sometimes stumbling, only to be picked back up by grace to continue plodding ahead.

Sometimes he raises up a Paul or a Martin Luther or a John MacArthur. You can count on one hand those men or women who have made a huge, positive, detectible impact for the faith. But we cannot count the innumerable Christians who lived faithfully all their believing lives and died in obscurity- who made impacts too. That’s you and me. And remember, heaven is not a place for Christian celebrities. There is only one celebrity there. JESUS.

https://www.gty.org/blogs/B110104/an-unremarkable-faith

Happy New Year to all my readers. I wish you a frutiful and thriving 2026!

Posted in advent, theology

Advent: Thirty Days of Jesus: Day 27, He Rises

Posted on by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

We are coming toward the end of our look at the life of Jesus through scripture. The first section of His life was seen through verses focused on prophecy, arrival, and early life.

The next section of verses looked at Him as the Son, second person of the Trinity, by looking at Jesus as the Son and His preeminence, His works, and His ministry.

Under ministry & works, I chose verses showing His attributes and aspects of being servant, teacher, shepherd, intercessor, and compassionate healer; and His attributes of omniscience, having all authority and power, and sinlessness.

Of course this doesn’t cover all of it. If one were to record all about Jesus all the books of the world could not contain the information. I selected verses and attributes that were on my heart and what seemed logical.

Continue reading “Advent: Thirty Days of Jesus: Day 27, He Rises” →
Posted in theology, thirty Days of Jesus

Advent- Thirty Days of Jesus: Day 25, Jesus’ Authority

Posted on by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

This section of verses that show Jesus’ life are focused on His attributes. We’ve seen Him through what He does, as servant, teacher, shepherd, intercessor, and healer. Now we look at who He is by looking at His attributes. We looked at His omniscience yesterday and today we ponder His authority.

How to represent the authority of Jesus over life, in pictorial form, since this series is mainly pictorial? That was a tough one. I settled on the notion of the dock being the long journey of finite earthly life in the flesh, then we come to an inevitable end and launch up and into the eternal heavens. Jesus has authority over every step.

I recently wrote an essay focusing on the authority of Jesus. It is linked below if you’re interested, along with a couple of additional essays from credible sources.

thirty days of jesus day 25

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Further Reading

The End Time: Jesus Has the Authority
What does this mean, exactly? Let’s look into the nature of the word authority and what it means when Jesus says He has been given all of it.

AIG: What is the extent of Jesus’ authority?
When Jesus told His disciples He has full authority in heaven and earth, His declaration came before giving them a direction: “make disciples of all the nations.” … Yet we easily forget that the implication of biblical authority is much more than defending truth. In the case of Matthew 28:18–19, upholding the authority of the Bible is about doing. If God’s Word is authoritative, we must not overlook any directive in it. We should never consider one passage more authoritative than another.

Ligonier Devotional: The Authority of Jesus
In today’s passage, Mark highlights the matter of Jesus’ authority by recording an exchange our Lord had in the temple with “the chief priests and the scribes and the elders” not long before He went to the cross. 

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Thirty Days of Jesus Series-

Introduction/Background

Prophecies:

Day 1: The Virgin shall conceive
Day 2: A shoot from Jesse
Day 3: God sent His Son in the fullness of time
Day 4:  Marry her, she will bear a Son

Birth & Early Life-

Day 5: The Babe has arrived!
Day 6: The Glory of Jesus
Day 7: Magi seek the Child
Day 8: The Magi Offer gifts & worship
Day 9: The Child Grew
Day 10- the Boy Jesus at the Temple
Day 11: He was Obedient
Day 12: The Son!
Day 13: God is pleased with His Son

The Second Person of the Trinity-

Day 14: Propitiation
Day 15: The Gift of Eternal Life
Day 16:  Kingdom of Darkness to Light
Day 17: Jesus’ Preeminence
Day 18: The Highest King
Day 19: He emptied Himself
Day 20: Jesus as The Teacher
Day 21: The Good Shepherd
Day 22: The Intercessor
Day 23: The Compassionate Healer
Day 24: Jesus’ Omniscience

Posted in theology

Reiner & Sykes: Two Lives, Two Deaths, One Eternity

Posted on by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

SYNOPSIS
The text reflects on the recent deaths of two well-known men—Christian opera singer Jubilant Sykes and actor-director Rob Reiner—both allegedly killed by their adult sons in similar stabbing incidents in California. The author contrasts the two men’s lives and legacies: Sykes is portrayed as a devoted Christian who used his musical talent to glorify God, while Reiner is described primarily through his political activism, Democratic influence, and secular beliefs.
The piece emphasizes core Christian doctrines about sin, repentance, salvation through Jesus Christ, and the belief in only two eternal destinies—heaven or hell. It argues that merely admiring Jesus’ teachings is insufficient without true faith and repentance. While expressing some hope that Reiner may have converted before death, the author concludes by urging readers to reflect on mortality, eternal judgment, and the necessity of confessing Jesus as Lord, citing Romans 10:9. The text ends by noting similar reflections shared by Pastor Don Green.

Continue reading “Reiner & Sykes: Two Lives, Two Deaths, One Eternity” →
Posted in advent, theology

Advent- Thirty Days of Jesus: Day 23, Compassionate Healer

Posted on by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

This section of verses that show Jesus’ life are focused on His earthly ministry. We’ve seen Him as servant, teacher, shepherd, intercessor, and now healer.

Jesus healed people of their afflictions and diseases. He healed Mary who had 7 demons. He healed the woman who’d had a blood issue for 12 years. He healed lepers, even touching them, a dramatic departure from protocol. He healed the Centurion’s servant from a distance. Whether with a word or a touch, the power of Jesus to heal was demonstrated. He healed the blind, the sick, even the dead. He healed Peter’s Mother-in-Law. Strangers or friends, he healed. He did this to show who He was who He said He was- from God and Son of God, Messiah, the prophesied one.

He did this to show His omnipotence. He healed to show His compassion. The word Splagchnizomai, meaning compassion, is used 12 times in the New Testament, and each time it’s used it’s Jesus who is experiencing it. Prior to the NT, the word when used meant courage. Splanchnizomai is not the only word used for compassion in the NT but it is distinctly used with Jesus and in the context of His healings.

Jesus took the term a step further and used it to define the attitude that should capture the life of every believer. In the parable of the unforgiving servant, the master had compassion and forgave the servant’s debt (Matt. 18:27). The prodigal son’s father had compassion on him (Luke 15:20). The good Samaritan had compassion on the injured traveler (Luke 10:33). Jesus had compassion on the crowd (Mark 6:34). People needing help asked Jesus for compassion (Mark 9:22; cp. Matt. 9:36; 20:34). Source: Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary

People who need help are the ones who need compassion. Jesus is a God of compassion and He demonstrated this in His willingness to heal.

Usage: This word is used 12 times:

Matthew 9:36: “when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them, because they fainted,”
Matthew 14:14: “a great multitude, and was moved with compassion toward them, and he healed”
Matthew 15:32: “his disciples unto him, and said, I have compassion on the multitude, because”
Matthew 18:27: “lord of that servant was moved with compassion and loosed him, and forgave”
Matthew 20:34: “So Jesus had compassion on them, and touched their eyes: and immediately”
Mark 1:41: “And Jesus, moved with compassion, put forth his hand, and touched him,”
Mark 6:34: “much people, and was moved with compassion toward them, because they were”
Mark 8:2: “I have compassion on the multitude, because they have now been with me…”
Luke 7:13: “Lord saw her, he had compassion on her, and said”
Luke 10:33: “where he was: and when he saw him, he had compassion”
Luke 15:20: “his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran,”

Photo by Karen Maes @karen1974 at Unsplash

“Health is a good thing; but sickness is far better, if it leads us to God.” JC Ryle

Further Reading

S. Lewis Johnson The Healing of the Blind Man

“It’s a picture of an omnipotent Savior, master of human fate, able to heal, able to give forgiveness of sins, able to save to the uttermost those that come unto God by him. And when he touches the eyes of our blindness we sing, “Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me”

Sermon: Does God Still Heal?

Perspectives on faith healing often seem as varied as the number of faith healers around. Some say God wants to heal all sickness. Others come close to conceding that God’s purposes may sometimes be fulfilled in our illness and infirmity. Some equate sickness with sin. Others stop short of that but still find it hard to explain why spiritually strong people get sick. Some people just flat out blame the Devil, and they think if they can tie the Devil up in a knot and send him off to Tibet or something, everybody’ll get well.

Joni Earickson Tada: A Deeper Healing

He asked him, ‘Do you want to get well?’  Jesus said to him, ‘Get up and walk.’  I cannot tell you how many times I would lie in that bed, straining to make my muscles move, and I would sing a hymn that I had learned as a child, ‘Savior, Savior, hear my humble cry.  While on others Thou art calling, Jesus do not pass me by.’”  But I never got up out of that bed and walked.  And it seemed back then that Jesus had passed me by.

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Thirty Days of Jesus Series, Overview-

Introduction/Background

Prophecies:

Day 1: The Virgin shall conceive
Day 2: A shoot from Jesse
Day 3: God sent His Son in the fullness of time
Day 4:  Marry her, she will bear a Son

Birth & Early Life-

Day 5: The Babe has arrived!
Day 6: The Glory of Jesus
Day 7: Magi seek the Child
Day 8: The Magi Offer gifts & worship
Day 9: The Child Grew
Day 10- the Boy Jesus at the Temple
Day 11: He was Obedient
Day 12: The Son!
Day 13: God is pleased with His Son

The Second Person of the Trinity-

Day 14: Propitiation
Day 15: The Gift of Eternal Life
Day 16:  Kingdom of Darkness to Light
Day 17: Jesus’ Preeminence
Day 18: The Highest King
Day 19: He emptied Himself
Day 20: Jesus as The Teacher
Day 21: The Good Shepherd
Day 22: The Intercessor

Posted in theology

Do representations of Jesus in Nativity scenes violate the 2nd Commandment?

Posted on by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

SYNOPSIS
The essay explores whether Nativity depictions violate the Second Commandment, emphasizing idolatry as the true prohibition. Drawing on Scripture and RC Sproul, ultimately deciding that conscience and worship—not nativity images themselves—determine faithfulness, urging grace toward differing convictions among believers.

Continue reading “Do representations of Jesus in Nativity scenes violate the 2nd Commandment?” →
Posted in theology, thirty Days of Jesus

Advent- Thirty Days of Jesus: Day 22, Jesus as Intercessor

Posted on by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

This section of verses that show Jesus’ life are focused on His earthly ministry. We’ve seen Him as servant, teacher, shepherd, and now intercessor.

thirty days of Jesus day 22

Grace To You sermon: Jesus Christ: The Perfect Priest

And so the sympathetic high priest is Jesus Christ, who in the days of His flesh felt what we feel. And of course, the climax comes when He offered prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears. What incident in His life does that speak to you about? Does that remind you of the Garden of Gethsemane? Sure. That was the greatest climax of His suffering for there He began to bear the sins of the world didn’t He? There He began to feel the crush of sin upon Him. He began to feel Satan bruising Him, and it hurt. Do you remember the Garden of Gethsemane, the night before He went to the cross? He went into the Garden to pray and He agonized there and He sweat as it were great drops of blood and He cried to the Father. And His heart was grieving and broken at the prospect and the pain of bearing sin. And He felt the power of sin and He felt temptation. He felt everything Satan could throw at Him, and He got it all even on the cross. He felt everything you’ll ever feel.

THIS is what makes Jesus the perfect High Priest. Fully God and fully man, He knows the pain, sorrow, temptation, and devastation of sin, closely and intimately.

Ligonier: The Intercession of Christ
A time would come when Satan would sift Peter, and he would fall under the weight of temptation and deny his Lord. But what did Jesus say about that time? He comforted Peter by assuring him that he would not lose his faith. And the reason his faith wouldn’t fail was that Jesus had prayed for him. Peter would not fall away from the faith because Jesus had interceded for him.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Introduction/Background

Prophecies:

Day 1: The Virgin shall conceive
Day 2: A shoot from Jesse
Day 3: God sent His Son in the fullness of time
Day 4:  Marry her, she will bear a Son

Birth & Early Life-

Day 5: The Babe has arrived!
Day 6: The Glory of Jesus
Day 7: Magi seek the Child
Day 8: The Magi Offer gifts & worship
Day 9: The Child Grew
Day 10- the Boy Jesus at the Temple
Day 11: He was Obedient
Day 12: The Son!
Day 13: God is pleased with His Son

The Second Person of the Trinity-

Day 14: Propitiation
Day 15: The Gift of Eternal Life
Day 16:  Kingdom of Darkness to Light
Day 17: Jesus’ Preeminence
Day 18: The Highest King
Day 19: He emptied Himself
Day 20: Jesus as The Teacher
Day 21: The Good Shepherd


Posted in advent, theology

Advent- Thirty Days of Jesus: Day 20, Jesus as the Teacher

Posted on by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

thirty days of Jesus day 20

How can we know God unless He reveals Himself to us? The creation confirms His existence, but what does the creature know of His attributes, Person, or Power? Unless He teaches us about Himself, we will not know. God sent His Son Jesus to earth as a born-babe, to live the full life of sinlessness under the Law, and to teach us about Himself. He was prophesied to die as the atoning sacrifice, and then rise again to receive His people through His work on the cross. Grace abounds.

Continue reading “Advent- Thirty Days of Jesus: Day 20, Jesus as the Teacher” →