Category: theology

Posted in theology

The Spiritual Groping: Seeking Meaning in a Material World

Posted on by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

I watch Youtube for a few topics, among them, thrifting videos. I like to learn about antiques and vintage items and their production, origin, or history. I watch some content creators who are Christians but most are not Christians, they are just living their lives and making money by making these videos as their job.

As we go along in their walk with Christ, we become more and more saturated with a biblical worldview. Our former secular worldview is increasingly shaved away. No longer blind, we now see. Many times what we see is sad, because we are increasingly recognizing the ‘lostness’ of the people around us. They are searching, groping.

We grope for the wall like people who are blind, We grope like those who have no eyes. We stumble at midday as in the twilight; Among those who are healthy we are like the dead. (Isaiah 59:10).

Jesus talked of people blindly stumbling as they went along, even falling into a pit. It’s a vivid metaphor for the lost, who vainly search for what they know now and even if they find it, reject it.

He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation, that they would seek God, if perhaps they might feel around for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us; (Acts 17:26-27)

So this one thrifting video lady I watch on Youtube had a video recently where she was at home, not thrifting, and just spoke from her heart. She said she had been doing thrifting-reselling videos for 13 years. For the past year or so, she said, she’s been spiraling. She feels like she is losing her identity as a person and as a content creator.

“It’s causing me some emotional turmoil at times. I’m struggling with my identity because I feel like pieces of my identity are being taken from me piece by piece and when those pieces are taken away I’m no longer an original. I’m not who I thought I was. I’m having an identity crisis. If I’m no longer me who am I this has been my question for the past months who am I what am I doing?”

She said what she does for work is becoming monotonous. She needs something new, she said to the camera.

She s groping for meaning in her life, if I may state my opinion about her self-revealing video. What to do when the “thrill of the find” wears off? The rush you get from finding the exact treasure at Goodwill that you didn’t know you needed, wears off. It’s fleeting. The rush of adrenaline from selling that item for more money than you paid for it, also wears off. It’s fleeting.

It is the same no matter what you do in this life. Whatever you try, it will not be fulfilling. I know. I’ve been there. During my groping years I sought fulfillment in a different job, fame, travel, books, justice, education (wisdom), people, you name it. I still groped, stumbled, and remained unfulfilled. Who am I? What was I doing in this life? What is my identity, just a blob of flesh that in the end, dies and decomposes? Yes, I actively wondered about these things.

The Book of Ecclesiastes is all about that seeking and not finding. The “Preacher”, usually attributed to King Solomon, reveals that depression will inevitably result when seeking happiness in worldly things. The world cannot satisfy. It only leads to emptiness and despair.

So the Youtube lady shared in her video that to resolve her identity crisis and to stop ‘struggling’, she bought a house that she will turn into an AirBnB. THAT will give her new resolve to enjoy her life she intimated. She needed another layer to her life “to hold onto.” As far as I know she is also married with a child or children.

So, her solution was simply more of the same, to thrift for items, but this time to decorate a different house, an AirBnB house instead of her own house or to resell. It won’t work.

I was saddened by this admission and more saddened by her attempted resolution. It got me thinking about Apostle Paul. He was strong, resolute, and diligent in his walk. He was also emotional. He wept for his churches. He mourned over the lost. He cried over the Corinthians’ unruliness. He was angry with the Galatians incipient defection.

Paul cried a lot-

Acts 20:19, serving the Lord with all humility and with tears and trials which came upon me through the plots of the Jews;

Acts 20:31, Therefore, be on the alert, remembering that night and day for a period of three years I did not cease to admonish each one with tears.

2 Corinthians 2:4, For out of much affliction and anguish of heart I wrote to you with many tears; not so that you would be made sorrowful, but that you might know the love which I have especially for you.

Philippians 3:18, For many walk, of whom I often told you, and now tell you even as I weep, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ,

He cried because he was concerned for others’ spiritual well-being. He cried because he had a passionate commitment to God’s work. He cried over the lost of the world in deep spiritual grief. He cried because he loved Jesus so much and wanted everyone to know Him as well.

May we all have such concern, compassion, and such care for the people around us and the people in the world. They are lost, groping, and wondering why they do not feel a deep sense of restful satisfaction. We know. The restful, peaceful soul knows Christ.

Finding rest in Jesus
Posted in theology

Billy Graham: Standout evangelist, or sad example of one who will say ‘Lord, Lord’?

Posted on by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

I made a comment the other day in a recent essay about Billy Graham. A person directly asked me if I was saying Graham was not saved. I said I didn’t know about his salvation, but given his stances over the years, it is not likely.

Billy Graham was a 20th century (and a bit of 21st century) itinerant evangelist. He was known for his “Crusades”, which were events that filled arenas to the max and so popular they were held over multiple days, weeks, or even months. He’d preach, there would be choirs and singing, testimonies, and a final “Just as I Am” song with invitations for attendees to come and pray with a counselor on the field, and then be referred to a local church for follow up.

Los Angeles Crusade, I think, 1963. Source

Graham was listed by Time Magazine and others as “pastor to Presidents”, meeting with 13 presidents, from Harry Truman to George W. Bush, over his career. He was known as “America’s Pastor” and was seen as a major religious figure of the 20th century. 

Rolling Stone wrote of Graham,

Since the late 1940s, when two of the country’s most powerful publishers – William Randolph Hearst and Henry Luce – helped turn the ambitious blond hunk of North Carolina farmboy into a national celebrity, Graham had merged old-time fundamentalism with modern media to create a wildly popular civic religion. The Billy Graham Evangelistic Association produced movies, radio shows, magazines and syndicated newspaper columns. Its crusades were television spectacles watched by millions of families like ours. They sometimes became headline news: Just a few years earlier, a single night of “crusading” in Seoul, South Korea, was attended by a jaw-dropping 1.1 million people. You might have called Billy Graham the rock star of Biblical literalism, except that he was bigger than Elvis and the Beatles combined. Source

It’s hard to picture a man who spent his entire adult life ‘crusading’ for Jesus and “winning souls” all over the world as a false teacher or a false convert. Our minds have a hard time going there. He was so busy! He was so fervent!

But the Bible pierces that mental resistance and trumps it. Matthew 7:21-23 says that on that Day, “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; LEAVE ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS.‘ (Matthew 7:21-23).

There are many other warnings about being true to Jesus and not false, as well, like James 1:22, Luke 6:46, John 14:21, 1 John 2:4, Romans 2:13…

Judas lived with the other disciples day and night, was trusted with the treasury, and heard every sermon and teaching that came out of Jesus’ mouth for three and a half years. Yet none of the disciples even had a whisper of an idea that Judas was false. They first suspected themselves over him.

So it is possible to be ‘doing’ for Jesus but not ‘knowing’ Jesus.

David Frost, a famous English interviewer and mid 20th century journalist followed Billy Graham’s trajectory from the 1940s and onward. Cecil Andrews of Take Heed Ministries said in a talk about Graham,

“David Frost said in the early days Billy Graham would usually preface things by saying the Bible says but he says as time went on he dropped that and it began to be more what Billy Graham thinks rather than what the Bible says. I think that really sums up the problem where Billy Graham is concerned.“

We see in the book Examining Billy Graham’s Theology of Evangelism by Thomas P Johnston on page 379, a table showing the four phases of Graham’s drift over the years. Johnson lists the five fundamentals for belief as a saved person and how Graham compromised on all of them over the years. By the end, Graham even taught that even if someone didn’t know Jesus, they were saved.

Cecil Andrews participated in a Crusade as a counselor in the later 20th century and also sang in Graham’s choir once or twice in England. Andrews said,

“I know a number of men who do door to door work in Northern Ireland and they constantly come across people whose view is ‘oh I made a decision at a Billy Graham crew said but I don’t go to church now I haven’t gone for years and so on’. But yet somehow or other they’re relying on this emotional response 30 or 40 years ago. Yet they would have gone down as one of the people who went forward as an Inquirer. They would be viewed rightly or wrongly by others as fruit…”

Did you know that people streaming down the aisles at the end of the Crusades during the ‘Invitation’, would be funneled to receiving counselors of their home religious tradition. If a Jew, there was a rabbi there. If a Catholic or ex-Catholic, they would receive counseling from a priest. So, no, those likely would not be bearing fruit for the Lord. Nor the ones who made an Arminian decision once (“prayed a prayer”) and then never honored the Lord by attending church.

Are the people who said they were ‘saved’ at a Graham Crusade really saved? It’s another question I was asked.

I am sure though that of the masses of people who had contact in some way with something Graham has said or taught, that the Lord in his providential wisdom saved some.

The Youtube talk by Cecil Andrews of Take Heed Ministries is called “Billy Graham: The man and his message” and it’s been on Youtube for 12 years. I’ve watched it several times, including 12 years ago, when barely anyone said Graham’s evangelism methods were problematic. Andrews was clear but humble in the talk, pointed about orthodoxy but sensitive when delivering his biblical perspective. I recommend the talk.

There are many reasons why Graham in my opinion will be one of the sad souls pleading with the Lord on Judgment day Lord, Lord. Many. Dissertations, books, and essays have been written about Graham’s personal life and how it didn’t follow the biblical pattern for a godly husband, and many essays recounting Graham’s non-biblical stances- all of which indicate he was not a true believer. Too many to explain and back up in one essay. But the point is:

Not everyone who says “Lord, Lord” will gain heaven. Event he most seemingly busy and fervent workers for Jesus may be false.

The Pharisees spent their lives ‘doing’ religious things for God, but were not saved. Also the Sadducees. Also Cain, Demas, Judas, and the hordes who will cry out on Judgment day as per Matthew 7. These false teachers and false converts masquerade as righteous, (2 Corinthians 11:13-15) and masquerade means they wear a disguise to cloak and hide their unrighteousness. It is hard to detect some of these. Others, well, the mind does not want to go there, as in the case of Graham.

Therefore, do not be surprised that one who seems so fervent for the Lord, so busy doing for the Lord many not be all he or she seems to be. Be discerning.

Posted in theology

Oops I did it again

Posted on by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

New Year’s Resolution. I said to myself, “Self, NO MORE BOOKS.”

There.

I lasted one month.

But what is a bibliophile to do when there is a great sale on books AND the person is a Christian who needs the money? Buy a bunch, of course.

Bibliophile: “a person who collects or has a great love of books.” I love books, everything about them. Their construction, their looks, the possibilities they offer for imagination taking flight, for reality being put aside for just a little bit. I love old books, first editions, oir just good books. They are friends.

I love finding them, inventorying them, shelving them, thinking about them.

Bookworm: “a person devoted to reading.” I love reading but admittedly as I’ve aged and I’m still working full-time in a mentally demanding job, I have little energy to read on a weekday evening anymore, pitifully.

What’s the difference between a bibliophile and a bookworm? Not much. They often go hand in hand. A bibliophile is someone who loves books and often collects them, while a bookworm is an avid reader. Bibliophiles may also enjoy the physical aspects of books, such as their smell, feel, and appearance, while bookworms may be more interested in the content, says AI. I’m both.

My home growing up didn’t have many books or even a bookshelf but both parents read. In a later childhood home there were lots of books. The downstairs den had floor to ceiling built-in bookshelves. I used to enjoy looking at the titles of these grown up books. As for me, my library card was fairly worn out with how much I was there getting more and more books to read.

I also love giving them away. If someone needs a book, either any book or a certain book, they can have it if I have it.

I’ve got three other bookcases with books in them, all secular. One is in the bedroom and two are in the living room. A small shelf in the kitchen has cookbooks, and on my table is a small shelf of ‘what I’m reading now or next.’

My theological library-

trunk is antique with an old map for its covering. both these chairs are vintage.

It’s been many years of accumulating, curating, looking. About 18 years, to get to this point.

OK, this is it. No more books. 😉

Posted in theology

Prayers for Leadership: Christians Respond to Trump’s Faith Advisors

Posted on by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

Televangelist Paula White and President Donald Trump on Feb. 6. Photo by Schwartz/Sipa/Bloomberg via Getty Images

You’ve heard by now, probably, that President Trump is creating the White House Faith Office led by Paula White. He began the initiative in 2018. One of the people included in the inside of that initiative was Justin Dean, former communications officer for Driscoll’s Mars Hill church, which is also not a good sign-

Dean said on X,

“Trump started the White House Faith and Opportunity Initiative. He would invite faith leaders to speak into policies and decisions, and sought out their opinions. This led to major prison reform, disaster aid for churches, adoption and foster care reform, and further protections for religious liberty, among others… most notably the appointment of common sense pro- life judges, and the decision on Roe v Wade.”

Good stuff. That is something to praise the Lord for.

The bad part is this: Dean continued, “This initiative included Paula White, Greg Laurie, Jentezen Franklin, Franklin Graham, and many others from all walks of faith and beliefs.”

All those people mentioned are false teachers. Dean continued,

“We have participated in almost monthly calls with political leaders, many times with President Trump joining the calls. He would ask for and listen to our advice, and let us pray over him. We met for many in-person gatherings”…

Good to know that they are so heavily involved, so we can be aware and pray against bad religious advice. We can also pray that the President is searching for truth and will eventually come to the true faith. The alternative is that the bad religious advice he’s receiving will be along the lines of the verse in Matthew 23:15,

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you travel around on sea and land to make one proselyte; and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves.”

Sadly, Dean then said this:

“Trump may not be the best example of a Christian leader, but he does respect and understand the importance of surrounding himself with Christian leaders, and he has proven over the years that he listens and has made many great actions based on their advice. This group has been more influential over his policies and decisions than you’ll ever realize.”

President Trump is not a Christian, nor are the others. It’s good to know, though, that he seems to understand and respect Christianity, such as he understands it. I am old enough to have seen many political leaders simply USING Christianity for their own gain. I don’t sense that here. Of course I am sad that the President’s soul-searching is leading him down this broad path. Perhaps the Lord has a course correction in mind later to the narrow road. I don’t know. The Lord knows.

It’s really no different than Obama being advised by false teacher Rick Warren, or most the the previous generation of Presidents being advised by Billy Graham, who was also false.

What true Christians can do, now that you know how deeply these wolves are involved in governing activities, is to pray for true shepherds to be allowed near the President.

My advice is this: I’ve seen a lot of shock and outrage and distress over Donald Trump’s choice of Paula White. Don’t be shocked. Don’t be distressed. Don’t be outraged. What else can we expect from a non-believer? Why are Christians surprised when non-saved people act like non-saved people? We know Trump is not a believer, so we shouldn’t expect him to act like one. He doesn’t know how to choose a righteous man to help him along the path of righteousness. He can do no less.

What we can pray for is that these wolves will at least even accidentally give the gospel to the President and for him to be saved. And, for him to continue works that align with God’s values, if not the faith, as in opposing abortion, major prison reform, disaster aid for churches, adoption and foster care reform, further protections for religious liberty and so on.

The Lord raised President Trump at this time to lead. He has His reasons. We should do like we always do, pray, watch, and pray some more.

Posted in encouragement, theology

Finding Stability in Faith: Jesus as the Rock

Posted on by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

I grew up in The Ocean State, Rhode Island. Yes, it’s small, really small. You’re never far from the ocean. My grandparents had a summer house on Narragansett Bay and we were there constantly in the summer, every weekend. When I got older my mother let me ride my bike the 3 miles to their house. I’d spend all day in the water or on the sand.

Continue reading “Finding Stability in Faith: Jesus as the Rock” →
Posted in theology

Should Christian Women Take Selfies?

Posted on by elizabethprata

by Elizabeth Prata

Photo by Cristina Zaragoza on Unsplash

Lori Alexander The Transformed Wife of Twitter’s @godlywomanhood is the negative gift that keeps on giving. She is so prodigious in her errant output, there is a lot to choose from when I write an essay instructing sisters in discernment.

The genius of satan’s false teaching is that false teaching sounds good on the surface. It even has a grain of truth. If false teaching was overtly wrong, everyone could detect it. “The ocean is dry” is something that’s so patently false you know right away it’s wrong.

Satan is subtle and crafty (Genesis 3:1). It’s the first thing we learn about him.

Issue #1L KJV-Onlyism and word usage

Lori is a King James Onlyist. She agrees with her idol Michael Pearl who claims that only “the King James Bible is the word of God and not the other books“(source) and that all the other translations “are not really translations, they are not preservations of the word of God, they are modern renderings which involve somewhat the imagination of the authors. They are all done for the sake of selling something.” (Source). So, that is the first error from Lori, to reject all other translations. She does not have a handle on how or why Bible translations are done. Some translations are better than others, but to reject out of hand the NASB, LSB, ESV, NKJV and other good translations as not the word of God is a mistake.

Resource: What is the King James Only movement?

The other day Lori posted the following on X (formerly Twitter):

OK, good food for thought, right? Partly, yes. I mean, for one, it is an issue that Lori neglected to include a verse and just stated her opinion. On the other hand, selfie culture is self-absorbed. I mean, it’s right in the name. It makes you think, is taking selfies something God would be displeased with?

But I mention the King James issue for a reason. The language in that particular version is archaic, which means, some of the words have shifted meaning. Words are living, organic. I love certain verses better in the KJV myself, but I have no illusions that it is the ONLY translation worthy of including in the cadre of translations.

For example, in 2 Timothy 3:3 in the King James version we read that in the latter days, people will be “Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good,“

The word incontinent is a late Middle English word. It meant a person who is unable to exercise self-control or restraint. Nowadays it means an inability to control the flow of urine from the bladder. The chart displays its common usage over time, which has declined.

The verse Lori alluded to when she wrote shamefaced is 1 Timothy 2:9. I use the NASB and LSB. The link takes you to a page with ALL the translations.

KJV: In like manner also, that women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shamefacedness and sobriety; not with broided hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly array;

The word ‘broided’ is not a typo. It is defined as to decorate with needlework or embroidery. We don’t use that word much anymore either. The KJV was completed in 1611. Words have shifted meaning in 400 years. If anyone doubts this, read Shakespeare.

EPrata photo

Comparing to the NASB: Likewise, I want women to adorn themselves with proper clothing, modestly and discreetly, not with braided hair and gold or pearls or expensive apparel,

Legalism is ugly

“shamefaced” literally in the Greek means “modestly”. In fact, prior to the KJV that Lori loves so much, the word was translated shamefastness. You see the archaic language and the fact that words change. Using a synonym modestly for shamefaced is perfectly fine, and easier for modern readers to understand.

Issue #2, Basing your Christianity on just 2 verses

Secondly, Lori’s insistence on teaching ONLY from the verse in Titus 2:3-5 means she often takes verses out of context. The verse to which she alludes (but doesn’t name) in her post involves the comportment of women in public worship, not taking photos of themselves in other life venues.

Barnes’ Notes explains: The world, as God has made it, is full of beauty, and he has shown in each flower that he is not opposed to true ornament. There are multitudes of things which, so far as we can see, appear to be designed for mere ornament, or are made merely because they are beautiful. Religion does not forbid true adorning. It differs from the world only on the question what “is” true ornament…

However, the concept of self in photographs is one that we should look into. Rather than misusing a verse, rather than taking a half of a verse out of context, rather than using an allusion to a verse as one’s own opinion, let’s take a look at the idea behind Lori’s comment.

Issue #3: Selfie culture can be dangerous

Should we be taking selfies? Is it indicative of an untoward self-absorption as a Christian woman?

GotQuestions takes on the issue in this essay What does the Bible say that would apply to selfie culture?

“A “selfie culture” is one in which people take a lot of selfies, of course. But, for the purposes of this article, we will further define a selfie culture as a widespread obsession with self-expression, self-esteem, and self-promotion, evidenced by the proliferation of self-portraits on social media. The Bible was written before the advent of camera phones, but God’s Word still has plenty to say about one’s view of self. While there is nothing inherently wrong with taking a selfie and sharing it with others, selfie culture, as defined above, is steeped in narcissism.”

A woman can decide for herself if she wants to take a photo of herself.

If a woman is consumed with self and posting obsessively all kinds of pictures of herself, then yes, there is a self-absorption issue and she needs to repent.

God’s commands to women are many. ONE is to be modest. Others are to serve others, to be selfless, to take care of her family, and so on. Taking a selfie now and then does not violate God’s commands for women. I mean, obviously not, else Lori herself would be violating God’s commands for her nearly daily selfie videos, right?

Ladies, watch out for the craftiness of false doctrine. It sounds good at first, but like a candy coated cyanide treat, it will eventually kill you. Look carefully before consuming.

Posted in theology

Global Gospel: Songs from Around the World

Posted on by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

Meg Basham on Twitter-X has been posting well-known Gospel songs sung in other countries in their language. They are terrific! I love listening because it is a wonderful and happy reminder the Gospel is being spread to Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the rest of the world.

We will be greeted in heaven by people from all nations, tribes, tongues, and what a day that will be!

This Southern Gospel song “When the Roll is Called Up Yonder” from Russia especially takes off when the male singer comes in. Simon Khorolskiy – When the Roll Is Called up Yonder – На небесной перекличке:

This is Kenyan singer Samson Maombi who covers famous country Gospel music hits in Swahili language. (Warning: He is Seventh Day Adventist- his song is good, his religion is not).

Southern Gospel by way of India! The Living Stones Quartet from Kerala India

The Kiffness x Gogo Gloriose – Everyday (I need the blood of Jesus)-Rwanda

The Kiffness x Rushawn – It’s a Beautiful Day (Original song by Jermaine Edwards)- Jamaica

The Lord reigns over all! His GOOD NEWS penetrates to the smallest corner of the world and in even the darkest heart!

Posted in theology

Jen Wilkin is so gone (and what is the ‘ordo amoris’ anyway?)

Posted on by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

Today on X (formerly Twitter), a theologian noted that Jen Wilkin made a nonsensical statement by twisting a biblical concept while on a Q&A Panel. He said,

I’ll have three points here:
1. In general, avoid Jen Wilkin,
2. Specifically, explaining the error of her statement that was posted yesterday,
3. Explaining what the ordo amoris is.

1. In general, avoid Jen Wilkin

I have written about Jen Wilkin several times here on my blog, once positively (long ago!) and then always negatively. Jen is a teacher and preacher out of Matt Chandler’s church, The Village Church in Flower Mound, TX. She has been the Director of Curriculum, she has been teaching pastors & missionaries, and she preaches as a guest in other churches. Of course, the Bible says a woman may not preach or teach men in the church. (1 Timothy 2:11-12). It is disgraceful for her to do so. (1 Corinthians 33-35).

She is an egalitarian, feminist, rebel, Bible twister, unhumble, unteachable, and in general, one to be avoided. She is false. Resources supporting my claims will be provided below.

2. Specifically, explaining why her statement today is error

The entire video from which this short clip is taken is available on Youtube. It is from a Gospel Coalition series titled Good Faith Debates, and the debate was “Should Christians Send their Children to Public School?” Wilkin’s stance is pro-public school. She believes in the “public school ideal” and thinks that Christian children, even kindergarteners, should be in public schools to be a witness and to be engaged in society. So that is her overall stance.

In this specific short clip Jen said, “The most common phrase I hear thrown out in these conversations is ‘well I just need to do what’s best for my family.’ I think that’s something that as Christians we have to push back on. Philippians tells us each of you should look not just to your own interest but to the interests of others.“

Something that dishonest debaters do is to make a generalization. Here, Jen said ‘conversations I’ve heard’. Normally, people have conversations with people who think and believe the same as they do. If she has heard conversations of people saying that 5 year olds need to be active witnesses in public school then I am positive this is a biased view of the situation. It’s also too narrow. Her statement is not based on wide-ranging, unbiased fact. Or the Bible in context.

Secondly, another dishonest debating trick is to restate the question as an either-or. She split what should not be split. Here, Jen subtly poses the question as ‘Christians either ONLY do what’s best for their family’ (and by implication, no one else). She makes it seem as if Christians in this debate are only concerned with their own family and are ignoring the needs of the rest of the world.

No one in their right mind is going to ‘push back on’ having a primary view of doing for one’s family. No one. In addition, most Christians are concerned with the needs of others. Philanthropy is alive and well among the brethren.

3. What is the ‘Ordo Amoris’?

The term originates from Augustine, if not the concept from the Bible. He wrote about it in the City of God. We know that we are supposed to love the right things; holiness, our spouse, His word, our neighbor, His name (Psalm 5:11), and so on. We also are not supposed to love certain things- we are not supposed to love violence Psalm 11:5, or worthless things (Psalm 119:37).

But in addition to knowing what to love, we are supposed to love in the right order. That’s where ordo comes from, it’s a Latin word. So is amoris. We love pizza, we love our football team, we love our home, our children, our spouse, Jesus. Not all of those loves are measured with the same weight. We don’t even love all the people in our lives the same amount.

“For whatever reason, Jesus had His Peter, James, and John, and He had His twelve, and He had His seventy. And so there are these concentric circles of intimacy, it seems, that mattered to Him.” ~John MacArthur

We love our family first, the nuclear family is the first priority. Our deep love and care goes to the people living under our roof. That is found in 1 Timothy 5:8. “But if anyone does not provide for his own, and especially for those of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.“

It doesn’t say not to provide for anyone else except your family, it says to be kind to all, but especially one’s family, indicating a hierarchy. There are circles of responsibility. As pastor John Michael LaRue said on X,

“To add to this, Paul’s recognition in 1 Corinthians 7:33-34 of the divided interest of the married man undergirds the reality that the husband and father has responsibilities of protection and care for his wife and children that a single man does not have.“

Then a close second in love are extended family members, then our neighbors, then love our community, then our country, and then consider the interests of the rest of the world. Of course these can overlap and even shift. The concentric circles are not in stone.

Galatians 6:10 says “So then, while we have opportunity, let’s do good to all people, and especially to those who are of the household of the faith“, again indicating a concentric circle of mindfulness when considering to whom we donate. Jesus said to love your neighbor and defined it as, well, anyone in whose proximity we can share God’s love with.

My view on this ordo amoris discussion is, I trust true Christians to do and to give wisely based on their good decisions, true Christians who are making unwise decisions will be dealt with by Jesus (not me), and if they are not true Christians, then when they face Jesus they will have worse things to worry about than who or what to whom they gave donations.

In an essay about the ordo amoris, not specifically commenting about Jen Wilkin’s either-or statement, Owen Strachan said not to be “confused by silly dichotomies. You can love your natural family AND love the global body of Christ AND seek the salvation of the lost among the nations.”

The point is to use wisely the means (money, expertise, energy) Jesus has given us. Being a wise shepherd means making wise decisions about how to deploy what Jesus has gifted us with. After settling one’s obligations for the month, there may be discretionary money to use to fulfill others’ needs. Even if there is no money leftover we can use our energy, time, expertise to help fulfill others’ needs. As Christians we DO help with needs, as Christians we do so wisely.

Conclusion

False teachers abound, and Jen Wilkin is one of them. False teachers use deceptive language to divide the brethren, to confuse them, and to advance their evil agenda. Third, the ordo amoris is just a fancy phrase for being wise in providing for the people in your circles and extending outward with care and attention, founded by prayer and biblical principles.

Further Resources

Samuel Sey at Slow to Write: Is JD Vance’s ordered love biblical?

John MacArthur essay “Authentic Love“

JC Ryle essay: Christian Love

Jen Wilkin discernment article: If I ever meet him I’ll probably sock him in the face

Jen Wilkin discernment article: Boundary stones and slippery slopes

Cut to the chase, a shorter discernment article on Jen Wilkin

Posted in theology

I will not drown in shallow water

Posted on by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

Shallow water at Machias, Maine. EPrata photo

In 2002-2005 I went through a severe trial. It was in the middle of that time that I became saved by the grace of Jesus Christ, who extended His hand and lifted me from my sins and the muck I had lived in, thinking it was a palace. No, His hand grabbed me by the scruff of the neck and shook the mud off and He gave me His righteousness. As I grew in Christ, I was humbled, no, awed, but the fact that He absorbed the Father’s wrath for these very sins I’d been living in for 42 years.

Salvation came in the middle of the trial, so I had opportunity to view it from two vantage points. One was when looking back, from own worldly perspective having tried to overcome the pit in my own strength. The other was His heavenly perspective, HIS strength given to me to overcome those trials. After the cross punctuated my life and split my history, the trial was still hard but I had another viewpoint to deal with it: HOPE.

Beforehand, my mental/internal picture was of me in a deep pit. I was a struggling worm, trying vainly to climb out. Afterward, I saw myself climbing the steep, muddy bank of a shallow but raging brook, slipping and sliding, clawing and hanging on, but making upward progress.

After salvation, the embankment was still steep, and the mud was still very real, but my steps became surer. Like the hinds’ feet,

The Lord GOD is my strength, And He has made my feet like deer’s feet, And has me walk on my high places. For the choir director, on my stringed instruments. (Habakkuk 3:19).

People have verses, quotes, and hymns or praise songs that they often turn to in times of need, in order to grab hold of something outside themselves to help them persevere. For me during that awful time, it was a song by Randy Travis,

Shallow Water, Randy Travis

I will not drown in shallow water.
Not with your love within my reach.
I did not come this far to falter.
And will not rest until I’m free. 

Through Your love my eyes are open
Through Your love I’ll learn to see
And in Your name my bread is broken
By Your grace I’ll rest in peace

I had reached the breaking of day within the long dark night of the soul. The Light is beaming, the Lighthouse awaits. No, I will not drown in the mud and muck, what I learned was actually sin. I will not drown in raging waters of turbulence and strife. The water was shallow all along! I can climb the embankment because HE sets my feet on a sure path. I can persevere, now that I’m acting in His strength, not my own, which had only brought me lower, if I’m honest. I’m NOT a struggling, buried, insignificant worm dwelling in mud that blinds, I am a daughter of Christ, loved, and washed by His blood. I won’t faint. I will live!

I heard that song again recently after some years of it having sunk below the piles of newer songs. It all came tumbling back to my memory, as these things often do when they’re triggered by a smell…a sound…a song.

Shallow Water was published in 2000 as part of an album called Inspirational Journey. The album peaked in 2001, but the individual songs kept on, and were popular during the time I was undergoing the trial.

Friends, the water is shallow. The lions are chained.

“Now before he had gone far, he entered into a very narrow passage, which was about a furlong off the Porter’s lodge, and looking very narrowly before him as he went, he espied two lions in the way. Now, thought he, I see the dangers that Mistrust and Timorous were driven back by. (The lions were chained, but he saw not the chains.) Then he was afraid, and thought also himself to go back after them; for he thought nothing but death was before him. But the Porter at the lodge, whose name is Watchful, perceiving that Christian made a halt, as if he would go back, cried unto him, saying, Is thy strength so small? Mark 4:40. Fear not the lions, for they are chained, and are placed there for trial of faith where it is, and for discovery of those that have none: keep in the midst of the path, and no hurt shall come unto thee.” John Bunyan Pilgrim’s Progress

Stay on the path and He shall make your feet sure, like hinds’ feet climbing to high places. O, what a day when we mount up on eagles wings!

But those who wait on the LORD Shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings like eagles, They shall run and not be weary, They shall walk and not faint. (Isaiah 40:31, KJV)

No, I will not faint. The Lord is with me. Nor shall I drown in shallow water.

What are your go-to verses or songs or hymns from which you receive solace?

Posted in theology

God’s Response to Human Questions in the Bible

Posted on by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

God came to Moses in a burning bush. The bush was burning but not consumed. Moses saw the spectacle and his amazement awakened, He turned aside to view it. That’s when God announced His presence and said Moses was standing on holy ground.

Just think on that for a second. What if you were going about your daily life, and by the side of the road you saw a car that was burning but not consumed. Would you stop? Would you believe it if God said I AM to you?

Anyway, we know Jesus is not making appearances these days but we tend to take for granted the shocking biblical moments when we read about when the supernatural breaks into the mundane. ‘Oh yah, that’s the burning bush’ we think. But pause and consider what it was REALLY like for Moses.

God told Moses what Moses must do. Yet, Moses wasn’t too sure about these marching orders. He questioned God in Exodus 3 in a series of questions. He asked several reasonable questions and God patiently instructed Moses. It was only the last one, where Moses’ questions turned to objection, that God became angry. This is instructive for us.

1. But Moses said to God, “Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should bring the sons of Israel out of Egypt?” (Exodus 3:11).
2. Now they may say to me, ‘What is His name?’ What shall I say to them?” (Exodus 3:13).
3. Then Moses said, “What if they will not believe me or listen to what I say?” (Exodus 4:1)
4. Then Moses said to the LORD, “Please, Lord, I have never been eloquent…(Exodus 4:10a).
5. But he said, “Please, Lord, now send the message by whomever You will.” (Exodus 4:13). Other translations say that Moses said ‘Send someone else’.

NOW the Lord became angry. Moses’ questions, while initially reasonable, drifted to faithless objection. He wanted out from the responsibility. There was a consequence to his attitude, as Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary states,

“The anger of the Lord was kindled against Moses—The Divine Being is not subject to [boiling] passion; but His displeasure was manifested by transferring the honor of the priesthood, which would otherwise have been bestowed on Moses, to Aaron, who was from this time destined to be the head of the house of Levi (1Ch 23:13).“

Mary asked a reasonable question to the angel Gabriel informing her that she would soon be pregnant. Very reasonable! She wondered about this, an event that had never happened before and never would again. “How can this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?“(Luke 1:34). In her innocence, she was not rebuked. Her question was sincere and pure.

Habakkuk asked God about the timing of God’s plan, and was patiently instructed. The Prophet was earnestly inquiring. More at Habakkuk Questions the Lord, a Ligonier article.

But Zechariah the father of John the Baptist questioned the angel Gabriel too. Why was he punished and Mary wasn’t? Because of all people, a priest of God should have remembered the same angel Gabriel brought a message to Daniel. He should have remembered that Abraham and Sarah bore Isaac in their dotage just as Gabriel said Zechariah and Elizabeth would bear John. Worse, Zechariah asked for a sign- “how shall I know this?” and thus, demonstrated his unbelief. Gabriel replied exactly that -“because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled at their proper time.” (Luke 1:20b).

Where Mary accepted the news in submission, Zechariah’s question showed unbelief, so he was punished. JC Ryle here on Zechariah’s question: Zechariah’s Unbelief .

The Pharisees asked a whole bunch of questions. Their questions were insincere, dishonest, and came with an evil agenda (they were trying to trap Him, test Him, and destroy Him.)

God encourages us to ask questions. If we are truly wondering, seeking, grappling with the enormity of it all, God understands. He answered Habakkuk and Mary. He was patient with Moses (to a point). Jeremiah, Job, and Elijah all asked God to let them die. They were not rebuked or punished. Instead, GotQuestions explains:

Through the prophet Jeremiah, God says, “Ask me and I will tell you remarkable secrets you do not know about things to come” (Jeremiah 33:3, NLT). How could it be wrong to question God when Jesus Himself encouraged, “Keep asking, and it will be given to you. Keep searching, and you will find. Keep knocking, and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who searches finds, and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened” (Matthew 7:7–8, HCSB).

The point is, we can ask questions of God sinfully, thinly veiled queries which are really asking Him to justify Himself. We can ask questions sinfully like the Pharisees did, just to gather evidence that God is not worthy. Or we can be a Mary or Habakkuk and sincerely ask and give him worshipful praise when the answer comes- or not, as Job did.

All the articles linked to here are good to explore the question of whether it is OK to question God. Ultimately though, Mary’s and Job’s conclusion, “Let it be done to your servant as you will,” and “Shall we actually accept good from God but not accept adversity?” is the best thought to rest on as you await an answer- whether it comes or not.