Category: theology

Posted in theology

A Day in the Life of A: Concubine

Posted on by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

When we think of a harem, artistic rendering like this may come to mind, beautifully adorned young women lounging languidly. And that may indeed been part of the harem girl’s day. But that’s not all it was.

“Girls of the Harem” (Italian artist Fabio Fabbi 1861-1946)

12Now when the turn came for each young woman to go in to King Ahasuerus, after the end of her twelve months under the regulations for the women—for the days of their beauty treatment were completed as follows: six months with oil of myrrh and six months with balsam oil and the cosmetics for women— 13the young woman would go in to the king in this way: anything that she desired was given her to take with her from the harem to the king’s palace. 14In the evening she would enter and in the morning she would return to the second harem, to the custody of Shaashgaz, the king’s eunuch who was in charge of the concubines. She would not go in to the king again, unless the king delighted in her and she was summoned by name. (Esther 2:12-14).

Xerxes

Xerxes was not a talented king. We read from the book From Cyrus to Alexander: A History of the Persian Empire by Pierre Briant:

The Year 479 and Xerxes’ Reputation: Traditionally, modern historiography has presented a terrible image of Xerxes’ personality and reign. This image was already fully fashioned in Rawlinson’s Five Great Monarchies, a work published in 1867: with Xerxes began the disorders of the harem, assassinations, and conspiracies; around him were unleashed the passions of the court princesses and the growing influence of the eunuchs, with the result that “the character of Xerxes sank below that of any of his predecessors.” The king was weak, easily influenced, immature in his appetites, egotistical, cruel, superstitious, licentious.

What is a Concubine?

Concubines are a term used to describe a King’s woman used for sexual intimacy, without being a lawful wife. Lexham Bible Dictionary defines concubine as “A woman who is conjugally related to man but holds a secondary or inferior status to his primary wife.” For many women throughout history, the position served as one of the highest she could achieve in terms of power and safety. Hagar and Keturah were concubines of Abraham. Romans also had concubines.

The Old Testament contains 37 occurrences of the word “concubine” (pilegesh).

Belshazzar had concubines, see Daniel 5:1-3. They were present at the great feast when the Hand appeared and wrote on the wall.

Saul had a concubine named Rizpah. (2 Samuel 21:11).

King Solomon had 300 concubines.

So did David. (2 Samuel 5:13)

Pharaoh took Abram’s wife Sarai into his palace as an intended concubine. (Genesis 12:15).

Judges chapter 19 describes a concubine degraded. In Patriarchal times a concubine had no authority in the family, and they could not share in the household government. Since they were not a legal wife, they could be sent away (example: Abraham and Hagar.)

Many kings in the Bible had concubines but Xerxes’ harem was the only one described with any detail, so we will focus on his harem for this essay. And Xerxes’ harem apartments have been excavated!

Harem excavation photos: Harem of Xerxes from the University of Chicago, Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures. Caption is already contained in the photo. The ruins were excavated when the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago sponsored an archaeological expedition to Persepolis and its environs under the supervision of Professor Ernst Herzfeld from 1931 to 1934, and Erich F. Schmidt from 1934 to 1939.

What was it like in a harem?

Harem might be a familiar word to us but since harems existed in ancient times in China, Japan, India, Assyria, Persian, and Egypt, their practices and characteristics differed from one culture to another.

A harem is a place where women are sequestered in order to separate them from the world. Once in the harem they had very little interaction with the outside world, unless they were dismissed or in some lucky cases, retired. The women in a harem could not see the outside world and the outside world, including family (if they lived nearby) could not interact with them.

Where did all these women come from? They got there in different ways. Mostly coerced. Normally in a harem there were different classes of women, different groups, living in separate quarters and heavily guarded for their safety and privacy. In Xerxes’ case they were separated by virgin vs. concubine.

The third group of harem women were concubines, beautiful girls (Plutarch, Artoxerxes, 27; Diodorus, 17.77.6; Esther 2.3) bought in slave markets (Herodotus 8.105; Plutarch, Themistocles, 26.4), or received as a gift (Xenophon, Cyropaedia, 4.6, 11; 5.1, 1; 5, 2, 9, 39) and tribute (Herodotus 3. 97), or collected from different parts of the empire (Esther 2.2-3;), and even captured from rebellious subjects (Herodotus 4.19, 32; Cf. Grayson, 1975, p. 114). (Source Iranicaonline.)

Harems were highly regulated

System and Restrictions: Harems typically operated as a system of segregated living quarters for women, often within a palace or residence. They were usually guarded by eunuchs or trusted servants to maintain the privacy and security of the women inside. Women in harems often had limited freedom and were subject to strict rules and protocols. (Source).

The throne hall in the background…you can imagine Esther walking from this large harem complex tot he throne room, not knowing if she was going to be executed. “And then I will go in to the king, which is not in accordance with the law; and if I perish, I perish.” Esther 4:16.

What did they do all day? Greek Philosopher Aelian in his Varia Historia, 12.1 wrote- “While still virgins, they were kept and groomed in the harem’s “first house of women” (Esther 2.9), and trained as musicians, dancers and singers in order that they might entertain their king or the magnate lord at banquets or throughout the night.”

Their education was much better than women usually receive outside the harem. They were instructed in all the arts but also reading and math. They were also taught manners and traditions. It was the ultimate charm school. If the concubine did not excel at her education she would likely have been assigned tasks such as cooking or laundry in the harem. Of course also we see in the Esther verses there was a strict beauty regimen. All this would have taken up her time during the day.

As we see in the Esther verses above, once the woman has ‘gone into the King’ she was moved to a different harem than the one she occupied with the other virgins. In the second house she probably would have been helping to raise any children running around from the union of the concubine and the king. And as in any large system of operations, the women would have been accomplishing tasks such as continuing their education, practicing their musical instruments, or serving others. We know that Esther was given 7 maidservants. (Esther 2:9).

Josephus said in his Antiquities, 6.200 that Xerxes had 400 concubines.

In order to house 400 women, their guards, eunuchs, and servants, the complex would have had to be large!

What happened to Concubines?

Aging and Weakness: The fate of women in a harem as they aged or became weaker depended on the specific circumstances and the attitudes of those in power. In some cases, older or weaker women in a harem may have been assigned roles as caretakers or advisors to the younger members. Others might have been granted some level of freedom or retirement within the palace. However, there are also instances where elderly or weak women were marginalized or had diminished status within the harem. (Source).

A large and ornate harem was often constructed to display the king or sultan or pharaoh’s wealth and power. It would have been highly decocrated

Some were executed. The wife/queen of the king or sultan often wielded much power, and any concubine caught in an intrigue that displeased the queen or the king could be executed. In the 1640s Ibrahim the Mad, an Ottoman king, was told by one of his favored concubines that one of the others had slept with an outsider. Ibrahim was furious. He had his eunuchs investigate, then torture his 200+ concubines in the harem but either the tale was false and it didn’t happen, or they refused to give up one of their own. So Ibrahim had all 280 women sewn into weighted sacks and drowned in the Bosporus Strait. That was definitely a case where an intrigue blew back into unfortunate heights.

In a harem full of women, whether the virgin harem or the concubine harem, rumors and jockeying for position was rife. We see from the verses below that virgins could be favored, and since that is true, there must have been intrigue to catch the attention of the eunuch in charge of them to gain even more favor. But Esther didn’t do that. She trusted God and in HIS favor, Esther rose to the top without her having to curry attention or otherwise plan intrigues.

Esther Finds Favor: So it came about, when the command and decree of the king were heard and many young ladies were gathered to the citadel of Susa into the custody of Hegai, that Esther was taken to the king’s palace into the custody of Hegai, who was in charge of the women. Now the young lady pleased him and found favor with him. So he quickly provided her with her cosmetics and food, gave her seven choice female attendants from the king’s palace, and transferred her and her attendants to the best place in the harem.

Conclusion

A harem was a busy place. The women were physically prepared, intellectually prepared, and prepared in the arts, charms, and traditions of their culture. They worked raising the children, teaching others, or serving others. Of course if they were chosen, they worked at night, too. Though they had access to better food, education, clothing and even oils, perfumes, and jewels they might not have had access to ‘on the outside’, life in a harem was not always easy. They existed at the whims of the king, and walked a tightrope of luxury vs. execution or abandonment. We know that Esther took her life in her hands by approaching the unstable king Xerxes without his calling for her. It was only by the providence of God she was not executed, as was the rule.

Though the story of Esther is mainly taught to show us the providence of God, it also shows me personally how a life of jockeying and intrigue, gilded cages and sinful jealousies can ruin a life, where even in that environment trusting God for His provision and His life plan for us is always best. Doing so doesn’t always give rise to queenly proportions as it did for Esther, but her demeanor was queenly even before Xerxes took her into his heart, because she is the daughter of THE KING of KINGS. Her reliance on God, peaceful attitude, and kindness shone out among the hundreds of other women in those harem apartments in ancient Persia.

Further Resources

Little Known Bible Characters: Harbonah the Eunuch

Posted in christian life, theology

A Day in the Life of: Introduction

Posted on by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

Do you enjoy reading the Bible? I do. Too often though, I allow my mind to drift to the novelization of it, laying aside that this book recounts real, literal events with real, literal people. It’s easy to start thinking of the people we read about as either superheroes, or characters in a novel.

To combat the creep of fictionalization of the pages, or alternately, to make them more real to me, I often think about the people in the Bible going about their day. Our teaching elder recently preached through John 4, the Woman at the Well. This scene of this illegitimate housewife is easier to imagine as she goes about her day, because the time of day and her wifely task is often preached as an important part of the scene. How the housewives gathered in the early morning or later afternoon to draw water from the community well because it was cooler. How that was all the water they had to use during the day, unless they wanted to walk the whatever miles to get more from the well. And so on. A housewife’s day is also recounted in Proverbs 31.

But there are a lot of other professions mentioned in the Bible besides housewife. Shepherds are rife throughout the pages. King, scribe, farmer, fisherman. Tanner, tent-maker, baker, fig picker, seller of purple, cupbearer, cook, hunter, and so many other professions mentioned. What was a fisherman’s day like? What did a seller of purple do? What is a tanner, anyway? Is there still a job of cupbearer?

I decided to do a series on people in the Bible going about their day doing their job. For example, A Day in the Life of: A Tanner, A Day in the Life of: A Merchant. A Day in the Life of: A Cupbearer, and so on. I’ll select professions to write about based on the amount of reliable information I can find (and understand, lol). If there is a profession mentioned in the Bible you’re interested in learning about, what a day in that Bible person’s life would have been like, let me know. I’ll do my best to research it out.

collage 1
Baker, fig picker, fisherman, scribe… What was the first century Palestinians’ job like?
Posted in theology

At the gates

Posted on by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

The Proverbs 31 wife has a husband at the gates, Her husband is known in the gates, When he sits among the elders of the land. (Proverbs 31:23).

The famous Ishtar Gate, before 4BC. now in Pergamon Berlin Museum. Note the scale, compare the people to the gate. Photo By Rictor Norton – CC BY 2.0. Nebuchadnezzar II inscribed the gate and gave credit to ‘Marduk, lord of the gods’. He will learn later Marduk does not exist.

Gates. I never thought much about ’em until I moved to rural Georgia. My first apartment here in the south had a horse gate. I had to stop my car and get out, unlock and push open the gate, drive through, then repeat the procedure in reverse. Many farm driveways have a cattle gate. Same with a lot of homes that have animals of one kind of another. Big gates, small gates. Gates.

EPrata photo

What does this mean, ‘sitting at the gates’?

In Bible times the cities were walled and you could only enter by a gate. The bigger the city, the bigger the wall. Nineveh with a population of 120,000 and three days’ walking breadth had walls so wide a chariot could run along the top.

The system of gates at the fortress Acrocorinth near Corinth, Greece. Nicolas von Kospoth. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Acrocorinth_Gateway.jpg. CC

At the gates of cities courts of justice were frequently held, and hence “judges of the gate” are spoken of (Deut. 16:18; 17:8; 21:19; 25:6, 7, etc.). At the gates prophets also frequently delivered their messages (Prov. 1:21; 8:3; Isa. 29:21; Jer. 17:19, 20; 26:10). Criminals were punished without the gates (1 Kings 21:13; Acts 7:59). Source, Illustrated Bible Dictionary and Treasury of Biblical History, Easton, M. G. (1893).

The gate wasn’t like what we may think of with a wall, an open gate, then voila, you’re in. Since the gate was the most vulnerable part of the city’s defensive system, there was a gate, then some chambers, or barriers. Or, more gates.

“During the Iron Age, the period of Israelite monarchy, two-, four-, and six-chamber gates are found. … Undoubtedly, the development of new weapons, including more effective battering rams, required new defensive strategies. Among such innovations were the introduction of inner and outer gate structures. Such double-gate structures may well have been intended to strengthen defenses. Assaulting an outer-gate structure would not give access into the city proper; it would only lead through a narrow passage (where an invading army would be under continual assault by defenders on the walls above) to an inner-gate structure, likewise well defended. Sites with inner- and outer-gate structures include Tel Dan, Megiddo, and Lachish.” Source- Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary.

Typically, the city’s market or bazaar would be close to the gate, so merchants would not have to drive their animals through the whole the city. Since there was so much activity coming and going at the gate, this is where the elders sat to judge, mediate, and consider city business.

EPrata photo

Below we see a photo of the inside of a city gate, a four-chambered one. Photo and caption by Ian Scott:

“This is one of the four chambers that line the gate complex of Iron Age Gerar. Note the well-preserved bench running around the inside of the chamber. This is where soldiers might prepare to repel invaders who penetrated the outer gate. It is also in such gate chambers that the town elders would pass hot days, hear complaints, and adjudicate disputes.”

Gate-chamber at Gerar. CC BY-SA 2.0,https://www.flickr.com/photos/38000818@N06/5794307714

Lot had a position at the gate. This means he was an elder of the city of Sodom. Genesis 19:1 says, “Now the two angels came to Sodom in the evening as Lot was sitting at the gate of Sodom.”

Boaz was an elder at the gate, too. Now Boaz went up to the gate and sat down there, and behold, the redeemer of whom Boaz spoke was passing by, so he said, “Come over here, friend, sit down here.” And he came over and sat down.” (Ruth 4:1).

Eli was at the gate. When he mentioned the ark of God, Eli fell off the seat backward beside the gate, and his neck was broken and he died, for he was old and heavy. And so he judged Israel for forty years. (1 Samuel 4:18).

Gates where were a triumph was proclaimed, or prisoners of war displayed. A conquering King and his men would stand at the gate to show their victory, because the gate was considered the place of authority, economy, justice, and was actually the all-in-all life-blood of the city.

Much is made of Deborah’s position as Judge and Prophetess in the Bible. People who wish to imbue women with more authority than the Bible gives often revert to Deborah as the model and example. No. Further, it is interesting to see that Deborah did not sit “at the gate” as was customary. She was not located in a city. She judged under a palm tree in the hills of Ephraim. (Judges 4:5).

So perhaps that is more than you wanted to know about gates and elders sitting at the gate, but I thought it was interesting architecturally and theologically.

Further Resources

Deborah: The Exception, not the Rule

What is the significance of a city gate in the Bible?

Posted in theology

Cut to the Chase discernment: Avoid Jen Wilkin

Posted on by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

About the series: I have written discernment essays critiquing various teachers. In articles like that, I include sources, explain the teacher’s errors thoroughly, and provide examples. All this make the essays longer. Nowadays however, people like to read less lengthy material. So I cut to the chase and made shorter essays showing why these folks are false. In the Cut to the Chase I include links at the end if you care to go to my longer essays and/or other resources.

Why should we avoid Jen Wilkin?

1. Poor hermeneutic. Wilkin’s emphasis on gender and pushing for opportunities for women to teach (no focus on exercising the other gifts, solely teach, preach, or be hired leader-staff) is starting to twist her hermeneutics. I saw this in each of the messages I watched, including a Bible teaching from 2014 supposedly expositing Joshua, the Rahab segment of that speech. Her teaching is off. I would not trust it and sadly do not recommend Jen Wilkin’s Bible studies. Some have called her recent teachings ‘gynocentric’ which I think is apt.

2. Discernment. Jen is partnering with and promoting questionable/false teachers. She is increasingly speaking with Kelly Minter, Christine Caine, Priscilla Shirer, and Beth Moore. Also Jackie Hill Perry. See one example here. Another is the Lifeway Women’s Leadership conference in February 2020. More recently Jen spoke at an Oklahoma Women’s Retreat alongside Whitney Capps, who is part of false teacher Lysa TerKeurst’s Proverbs 31 Ministries and Lifeway Women…and The Gospel Coalition Women with Muslim Isa-dreams believer David Platt.

3. Egalitarian. In one famous example, Wilkin based her entire talk on the biology of men and women, avoiding the biblical/spiritual foundation. When she does refer to the Bible it was to present a different interpretation of the creation of humans in Genesis 2.

3a. Preaches to men: In that speech, Wilkin explained to the attending male pastors and church planters, that it’s important to understand the biology of men and women when you’re planting a church, and so you can use women in “visible leadership”. You hear this phrase from Wilkin a lot … “visible leadership”. She is big on women in visible leadership. As opposed to “hidden leadership”? Wilkin tries to make the case that men and women are interchangeable and therefore their roles are too. She does not preach the beauty of an Abigail, Anna, Lydia, Mary, Dorcas. Her sole focus of late is women who leading, and often mentions Deborah and Huldah. She is against the concept of complementarian helpmeet, which is why she needs to reinterpret Genesis 2.

3. Attitude. Titus 2:3a says, Older women likewise are to be reverent in behavior
Wilkin is on record as being angry and being snarky. Greear said in his introduction about her that he’d first heard of her as ‘The Bible Girl’ and talked with her, testing her for her biblical knowledge, and “she’d always give back a snarky answer, to let me know that she knew a whole lot more than I did about whatever I was asking about, so I learned to be very respectful around her…”

Unknowingly Greear made Proverbs 27:15-16 come to life-

A constant dripping on a day of steady rain
         And a contentious woman are alike;
He who would restrain her restrains the wind,
         And grasps oil with his right hand.

Wilkin sometimes demonstrates a barely suppressed anger, a vitriol that in one case clearly came through. She actually called one noted and credible theologian “a pervert”. It was uncharitable in the extreme. In another case of an author of a commentary writing that Rahab was a prostitute, she said to her audience, “If I ever meet him I’ll probably sock him in the face.” Maybe her anger is not so suppressed after all.

Show yourself in all respects to be a model of good works, and in your teaching show integrity, dignity, 8and sound speech that cannot be condemned, so that an opponent may be put to shame, having nothing evil to say about us. (Titus 2:7-8).

4. Omissions. Wilkin does not teach the role of women as submissive learners, content in her God-designed role to serve at home and humbly in the church. She does not teach women mentoring other women. She does not teach positively about the women who submitted to their biblical roles, like Lydia, Eunice and Lois, Anna. Jen speaks of “the gifts” but restricts ‘the gifts’ to teaching and not the other gifts such as administration, hospitality, support, etc. She focuses on the teaching and positions of women in “visible leadership.” Omissions are harder to detect but once you realize Jen gives only part of the story of our roles and joys, you can’t forget it. She is unduly entranced with gender politics and it’s affected her teaching and her own walk.

Further discernment essays from The End Time critiquing Jen Wilkin-

I went back and re-edited the following two series. They are slightly shorter now.

“If I ever meet him I’ll probably sock him in the face” said Jen Wilkin, Redefining Rahab, part 1

“If I ever meet him I’ll probably sock him in the face” said Jen Wilkin, Redefining Rahab, part 2

“If I ever meet him I’ll probably sock him in the face” said Jen Wilkin, Redefining Rahab, part 3

Slippery Slopes: A discerning look at Jen Wilkin, part 1

Slippery Slopes: A discerning look at Jen Wilkin, part 2

Slippery Slopes: A discerning look at Jen Wilkin, part 3


Posted in theology

God cares for us

Posted on by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

The ultimate care for us is that God sent His Son, Jesus, to live a sinless life, die on the cross shedding His blood as the sacrifice required, be buried, be resurrected and ascend to the place of honor next to the Father. This process opened the door for humans to repent of sin and go to heaven through Jesus as the door, be justified from our sin, declared righteous. The Father sees a repentant human as having Jesus’ righteousness.

Now I make known to you, brothers and sisters, the gospel which I preached to you, which you also received, in which you also stand, 2 by which you also are saved, if you hold firmly to the word which I preached to you, unless you believed in vain.

3 For I handed down to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, 5 and that He appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. 6 After that He appeared to more than five hundred brothers and sisters at one time, most of whom remain until now, but some have fallen asleep; 7 then He appeared to James, then to all the apostles; 8 and last of all, as [e]to one untimely born, He appeared to me also. (1 Corinthians 15:1-8).

This is the Gospel.

God could have wiped out Adam and Eve when they sinned, but He did not, instead shepherding His lambs throughout the eons of history to culminate in the cross. What grace! What love! What care!

My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. (John 10:29).

This care is permanent. It is eternal. Who can’t take us from Jesus after we repent and are justified? Who is greater than Jesus to be able to do that? Is there a strong man who can do this? No! This care is not only available, but it is eternal.

Examples of God’s care throughout these eons:

He took care of all the earth’s animals of their kinds, and took care of Noah and his family before, during, and after the terrible deluge.

But God remembered Noah and all the animals and all the livestock that were with him in the ark; and God caused a wind to pass over the earth, and the water subsided. (Genesis 8:1).

Short devotional explaining that God remembering does not mean that God forgot then came to mind. God Remembered Noah

When the Hebrews were wandering in the wilderness, their sandals and clothes didn’t wear out! His care extends from the sustaining of the universe so we can live within it, to the eternality of our souls, down to the minute details of life!

And I have led you in the wilderness for forty years; your clothes have not worn out on you, and your sandal has not worn out on your foot. (Deuteronomy 29:5).

The fresh manna appeared every day except Sunday for 40 years. And meat, too.

At twilight you shall eat meat, and in the morning you shall be filled with bread; and you shall know that I am the Lord your God. (Exodus 16:12b)

He feeds the birds.

EPrata photo

Look at the birds of the sky, that they do not sow, nor reap, nor gather crops into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more important than they? (Matthew 6:26).

Pau’s thorn was a care! God was guarding Paul from becoming conceited.

And He has said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.” Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. (2 Corinthians 12:9).

If your circumstances are dire, if you are anxious for the near future, just remember no matter the external conditions, your soul is safe, even your daily care down to the smallest detail is in the Father’s hand. Trust Him.

Posted in theology

“Without blame” – Of Epitaphs and Headstones

Posted on by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

EPrata photo

When a person dies, the eulogy tends to be flowery, and usually leaves out the negative characteristics of a person, and focuses on the positive. We want a dearly departed loved one to be remembered well. We erect gravestones, some larger or more ornate than others. Some of these have simple born-died facts, others have a life verse, motto, or even a flowery description.

“Seventeenth and eighteenth-century stones generally had solemn epitaphs which prompted passers-by to contemplate mortality and the fleeting nature of life on earth.” (Source).

These epitaphs or selected Bible verses on headstones were meant to demonstrate both how the person shepherded his or her life, and to cause those reading the gravestone to think about their own life after death.

Many early New England epitaphs contained this poem, which this blogger calls “The Classic”–

“Behold And See As You pass By, As You Are Now So once Was I, As I Am Now So You Must be, Therefore Prepare To Follow Me.”

EPrata photo. “Resting in hope of a glorious resurrection”

An inscription probably from 5th century found in Sicily, reads in translation:

“Here lies Marinna who lived honorably and without blame, and left this world to go to the Lord at the age of 37 years, paying her debt on December 24, but she loved God.” source The Catacombs by Paul Carus.

Many early Christians’ graves were marked simply “without blame.” If you ponder that for a second you realize just how beautiful that is. To be a Christian is to be a person whom God sees as without blame (or spot or blemish- meaning, sin).

Catharine Wilcox, Jan 29, 1824 was laid to rest in Mt. Zion Presbyterian Cemetery. The Inscription and Notes read as follows, “Age 25. w/o Cyprian Wilcox. “She was a Christian” : “In that solemn hour when the last enemy appears, what conquering power like this I know my sins forgiven.” (Source).

In fact, if you look up the word ‘blameless’, you see it is often used in both the Old Testament and the New.

What does it mean to be without blame?

but now He reconciled you in the body of His flesh through death, in order to present you before Him holy and blameless and beyond reproach— Colossians 1:22

just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. (Ephesians 1:4)

God said Job was blameless. (Job 1:1). Noah, too. (Genesis 6:9).

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It doesn’t mean that they were without sin. Only Christ is without sin. It means, “not absolute or faultless perfection (compare Job 9:20; Ec 7:20), but integrity, sincerity, and consistency on the whole, in all relations of life (Ge 6:9; 17:1; Pr 10:9; Mt 5:48). It was the fear of God that kept Job from evil (Pr 8:13).” (Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary).

It means that Noah and Job always chose to do good in God’s name, had integrity, and their character was faultless in their constant pursuit of holiness. Satan attributed Job’s character to his prosperity but it was the fear of God that kept Job blameless.

We have the gift of the Holy Spirit to aid us now, so anyone who has repented of sin and is in Jesus is seen by the Father through His Son as blameless, perfectly righteous.

What an incredible shepherding of life to have written on stone that the Christian was blameless in living. They must have borne much fruit to be seen so. Of course the true epitaph occurs in heaven, when we eagerly stand before Jesus upon our arrival and hope to hear those golden words, honey to our hearts,

His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful slave. You were faithful with a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter the joy of your master.’ (Matthew 25:21).

How incredible to be ushered into eternal joy, spotless, blameless, all because of the sacrifice of Jesus. He laid down His life, shed His blood as God’s lamb, and was buried. Rising again and ascending to the Father, Christ is and was and always will be blameless. He is the true origin of blamelessness, and we are grateful He ordained His elect to be so, after Him and through Him.

If you’re interested, as I am, lol, in historic cemeteries and gravestones and epitaphs, here are some links that have more information.

A Guide to Reading Early Epitaphs

Cemetery Epitaphs Through Time

Gravestones and Epitaphs

Epitaphs Tell Tales in New England’s Graveyards, New England Historical Society

The Stranger of Gray. Confederate soldier buried in northern New England, grave Maintained by Ladies of the Gray Historical Society. More here

Posted in theology

Mrs. Wallis, the nobody behind the nobodies

Posted on by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

Today in these times, there are a lot of women ‘teachers’ claiming that the best or only way to show women you value them in church is if they can lead and preach. The two biggest issues with alleged Bible teachers who go false, are that these women either claim direct revelation, or promote usurpation into a pulpit. Those are the two biggies.

History remembers. Revelation’s Jezebel was directly rebuked by the same Jesus she was allegedly hearing from in her false prophecies. I hope that threw cold water onto her sinful prophecies! Anne Hutchinson of the 1600s usurped and brought chaos to the Puritan colony. Beth Moore and Aimee Byrd stirred division in their respective entire denominations (Baptist and Presbyterian) with their prancing and their complaining. When women remain in their roles all goes well. When they don’t, chaos reigns.

There are so many wonderful examples of named women in the Bible who did submit to their roles and as a result the orderly workings of God’s plan proceeded apace, with many souls saved or many brethren edified. Isn’t this what we aim for in life? To glorify God by obeying Him and to love one another as ourselves? Yes!

Was Lydia’s or Martha’s hospitality for nothing? Was Dorcas’ sewing for naught? Was Susannah’s financial support for nothing? Did Anna waste her widowhood? Of course not!

Providentially, I learned of another woman who is engraved on the hearts of many in Baptist history. Martha Wallis of Kettering, England.

Beeby and Martha Wallis were staunch supporters of traveling evangelists, local preachers, and churches. They did all they could to help, including opening their home in Kettering. The Wallis’ were so well known for their hospitality, their home was fondly nicknamed The Gospel Inn. They were faithful members of Andrew Fuller’s church where Mr Beeby was a deacon for 24 years. Mrs Wallis was fully on board with her husband, helping for the last 20 years of hospitable service to those brethren who knocked at their door. Sadly, Mr Beeby departed this life on April 24, 1792.

Widowhood in the 1700s was no easy path. Even though she was still mourning, Mrs. Wallis continued the tradition of opening her home to the brethren for lodging, meetings, and support.

In October of 1792 there was one particular meeting of a local group of pastors that we know the details of to this day. At the prompting of William Carey, 12 pastors, one deacon, and one student, 14 in all, gathered at Wallis home AKA ‘The Gospel Inn’, and were served humbly by Mrs. Wallis, just as she had done these 20 years past for many others.

The group was to discuss how to catalyze the local ministers to support missions abroad. The Carey story is one that books and books written could not finish the glorious story. When William started out, circulating the idea that the Matthew 28 commission was a duty to fulfill in those 1700s times, he was called a “miserable enthusiast”. His group was thought of as “nobodies from nowhere”. Why?

Most of the men assembled led churches of fewer than 25 souls. Their congregations, indeed, the local area itself, was impoverished, illiterate, and ill-equipped to launch a global missions concept. Yet these men were undeterred by their congregation’s circumstances.

Mrs Wallis was undeterred as well, despite the loss of her beloved husband. By that standard, Mrs Wallis was as far as possible from what Jen Wilkin calls “visible leadership”, hosting then retreating so the men could discuss. Joseph Timms, who was a wool-stapler, had just been elected to fill Mr. Wallis’ place as a deacon, and Timms acted in Mrs. Wallis’ stead as official host. Martha Wallis was a nobody behind the nobodies!

Here we read from Carey’s great-grandson Pearce Carey,

“For the evening fellowship and bounty and business the ministers were welcomed, as so often before, into the hospitable home of the Wallis’s, the home that they used to call ‘ Gospel Inn,’ so many preachers having been guests there through the twenty years of its standing. Deacon Beeby Wallis himself had died just a while before : nonetheless his widow gathered them to her table, arranging, it would seem, with Joseph Timms (a wool-stapler) who had just been elected to fill her husband’s place on the Kettering diaconate, to act in her stead as nominal host.”

And what was the fruit of that propitious meeting? Global Missions! It was here the first churches decided to send, here that the organization that became The Baptist Mission Society was born. Here was the desire for faraway souls burst into flames. Here was the commitment to pursue the Great Commission. In a hospitable widow’s living room.

“After this fellowship and bounty they adjourned for the day’s chief business into the cosy lean-to back-parlour. The fire was lit within him, [William Staughton] always said, in Widow Wallis’s back- parlour. So American as-well as British Baptist Missions were in the womb of Kettering that night.” (Source “William Carey“)

How beautiful for a woman to provide a place where matters could be discussed, organized, cemented in the bosoms of men who go forth in loving honor for the Lord!

Mrs. Beeby Wallis continued her support and her hospitality until her death at about 1812. Her will bequeathed £400 to the minister and deacons of the Particular Baptist Congregation; as to £2 10s. to the minister for preaching occasionally in neighbouring villages, £2 10s. in Bibles and hymn books for poor of congregation, £5 to poor of congregation, £4 10s. in repair of Meeting House and residue for minister. (Source). She continued to take care of her people even after death.

The historic Wallis House is now the “Carey Mission House.” A featured attraction is the “Martha Wallis Court,” now a residential facility of the elderly. The room in which fourteen men met, on October 2, 1792, to form the Baptist Missionary Society, still contains the table and chairs they used.

That hospitable house, the Gospel Inn, is a place of honor today, to which many come to view, to see the spot where God moved momentously.

“There gathered thousands in 1842 to hold the first jubilee of modern missions, when commemorative medals were struck. There in 1892 the centenary witnessed a still vaster assemblage.” (Source)

“The little parlor which witnessed the birth of this society was the most honored room in the British Islands, or in any part of Christendom; in it was formed the first society of modern times for spreading the gospel among the heathen, the parent of all the great Protestant missionary societies in existence.” (Source)

The Carey House
engraving of Carey House scanned from ‘The Sunday at Home A Family Magazine for Sabbath Reading” dated 1862

There is a plaque in front. It reads:

“In this house on Octr. 2nd 1792, a meeting was held to form a society for propagating the Gospel among the heathen and £13.2s.6d was contributed for that purpose. Andrew Fuller was elected Secretary and Reynold Hogg Treasurer. William Carey to whose sermon at Nottingham in May of the same year, the movement was due, embarked for India on June 13th 1793. This meeting marks the founding of the Baptist Missionary Society and the inauguration of modern foreign missions.“

Yet millions of single women, (Gladys Aylward), widows (Anna, Martha Wallis), married couples (Prisca and Aquila, Katy and Martin Luther, Susie and Charles Spurgeon), and mothers (Mary, Monica) have helped shape Christianity on this side of the veil and have honored the Lord on the other side. We don’t serve in order to receive a plaque and to be remembered, but the LORD allows honor due those with whom He is pleased in His Son’s name. Mrs Wallis is one of those, her ‘simple’ service celebrated and respected to this day.

No service for the Lord is simple. No service is hidden. No service is lowly. Spiritual strumpets like Beth Moore, Jen Wilkin, Aimee Byrd and others prance around the pulpit stage, demanding to be installed in places where God has not intended, rejecting as useless and lowly the honorable biblical service God set before them. These women forget that on his knees, Jesus washed feet.

Posted in theology

God is not hindered

Posted on by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

Paul wrote 4 epistles while he was in jail, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians and Philemon. Paul was in chains but he exulted that the Gospel was not chained.

Now I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that my circumstances have turned out for the greater progress of the gospel, (Philippians 1:12).

God is not hindered by the circumstance of Paul’s imprisonment. In fact, God causes or allows everything to occur on the earth, so Paul being in chains was part of His plan. Paul knew the Gospel well enough to know this, and he exulted in Jesus and His Gospel and was humbly confident in the Lord he could be used. Paul’s confidence spread to others,

and that most of the brothers and sisters, trusting in the Lord because of my imprisonment, have far more courage to speak the word of God without fear. (Philippians 1:14).

The Gospel goes out to whomever the Lord determines it to go out to, whether an individual or a group, tribe, or nation.

What else is God not hindered by?

God is not hindered by someone’s lack of eloquence. 2 Corinthians 11:6, Exodus 4:10.

God is not hindered by someone’s imprisonment. Acts 12:10, Philippians 1:14.

God is not hindered by distances. Paul’s letters reached their destinations whether close by or far afield. (Romans 16:1). So did John’s Revelation even though he was exiled on an island rock.

God is not hindered by poverty. Paul commended the severely impoverished Macedonian church for giving liberally out of their extreme poverty. 2 Corinthians 8:1-4.

God is not hindered by lack of education. Acts 4:13

No matter where you are, who you are, how rich or poor, educated or uneducated, God can and will use you. Pray to Him and ask to be used. It doesn’t matter if it is a great way like Moses and Paul, or a small way invisible or unknown- God knows. His glory is our chief end, and to enjoy Him. What a privilege to be used by God for His glory! Us! Meager and pitiful humans, stumbling along, yet used to further His plan and purpose!

Paul’s amazement and joy over this fairly leaps off the pages of the Bible. Asking to be used, and being used, glorifies God.

Q. 1. What is the chief end of man?
A. Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him for ever.
1 Cor. 10:31; Rom. 11:36; Ps. 73:25-28.

HOW do we enjoy God? See these two paragraphs from this church blog

Norman Maclean, in his autobiographical work, A River Runs Through It, shared a memory of his childhood as it pertained to this question. “In between on Sunday afternoons we had to study The Westminster Shorter Catechism for an hour and then recite before we could walk the hills with my father while he unwound between services. But he never asked us more than the first question in the catechism, “What is the chief end of man?” And we answered together so one of us could carry on if the other forgot, “Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy Him forever.” This always seemed to satisfy him, as indeed such a beautiful answer should have.”

Indeed, it is a beautiful statement. It reminds us of what we were created to do, and that there is true enjoyment in doing it. God, the author and creator of life, created us to worship him, to glorify him in all things! But there is more here. By glorifying God, we find that we actually enjoy him. We find fellowship and communion with our heavenly Father that is eternal in scope. This is our true contentment! Being created to glorify God doesn’t just benefit God (not that God could be enriched or benefit from us!). No, rather, we find that we, the created finite beings, are the ones who benefit infinitely.

http://proclamationpca.com/blog/2015/1/9/westminster-shorter-catechism-qa-1

God is not hindered. Have full confidence in Him, even if you do not have full confidence in yourself!

Posted in theology

Kay Cude Poetry: The Love of God

Posted on by elizabethprata

Kay Cude is a Texas Poet. Used with permission

Kay Cude exultation:

IN SONG AND IN PRAISE LET US PROCLAIM TO ALL NATIONS THE MERCY AND THE LOVE OF GOD

Verse:

But when the kindness of God our Saviour and His love for mankind appeared, He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out upon us richly– through Jesus Christ our Saviour, so that being justified by His grace we would be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. Titus 3:4-7 NASB1995

Song: The love of God is greater far: Written by Frederick Martin Lehman

The love of God is greater far
Than tongue or pen can ever tell;
It goes beyond the highest star,
And reaches to the lowest hell;
The guilty pair, bowed down with care,
God gave His Son to win;
His erring child He reconciled,
And pardoned from his sin.

Refrain:
Oh, love of God, how rich and pure! How measureless and strong! It shall forevermore endure- The saints’ and angels’ song.

When hoary time shall pass away,
And earthly thrones and kingdoms fall,
When men who here refuse to pray,
On rocks and hills and mountains call,
God’s love so sure, shall still endure,

All measureless and strong;
Redeeming grace to Adam’s race-
The saints’ and angels’ song.

Could we with ink the ocean fill,
And were the skies of parchment made,
Were every stalk on earth a quill,
And every man a scribe by trade;
To write the love of God above

Would drain the ocean dry;
Nor could the scroll contain the whole,
Though stretched from sky to sky.


Songwriters: Robby Shaffer/Jim Bryson/
Mike Scheuchzer/Nathan Cochran/Bart Millard/Pete Kipley
image: pixabay.com/en/tatras-mountains-sky-clouds-haze-2470928/ expression by kaycude 03/23/21 AD

Posted in theology

Q&A: Is warning about a person (ie. Beth Moore) different than gossip?

Posted on by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

EPrata photo

I received this question in my comment section. Here is the question and my answer. I thought it was a good one. See what you think:

Q. I was convicted by the article about gossip, but wondered if you could explain how warning about a person (ie. Beth Moore) is different than gossip. Thank you.

A. Good question. Today’s climate has become so sensitive that anything that is said negatively about another person is screamed to be GOSSIP! (or slander). If warning something negative about a false teacher like Beth Moore is gossip, then Paul gossiped when publicly called out in his letters Alexander, Philetus, Hymenaeus, Demas, Phygelus, and Hermogenes; or John against the Nicolaitans. The instructions in Matthew 18 for church discipline where two go to confront a person in their sin, or if they have to confront the person in front of the church as we are instructed in some cases, would also be gossip.

We are told in Ephesians 5:12-12 Do not participate in the useless deeds of darkness, but instead even expose them; for it is disgraceful even to speak of the things which are done by them in secret.

Warning the sisters or sharing with your pastor is one way to expose them.

Let’s understand the terms, first. I found this definition online: “casual or unconstrained conversation or reports about other people, typically involving details that are not confirmed as being true.”

Meanwhile, discernment is a conscious effort to consider the right and wrong of a situation based on biblical doctrinal or behavioral standards.

Gossip: “I heard that Susie is having an affair and her husband is considering a divorce!” (unsubstantiated negative news and unnecessary to repeat).

Gossip: “Susie told me she flunked the Bar Exam again!” (substantiated because it came from the primary source, but unnecessary to repeat)

Not Gossip: “Pastor, Elder John confirmed to me he is having an affair and divorcing Susie, and he refused to repent when I and Jim confronted him about it”. (Substantiated and necessary to repeat to proper authority as per 1 Timothy 3:2, Matthew 18).

Not Gossip: “Pastor I need to let you know that John, who has recently come to our church and applied for membership and to serve in Kids Club, has a record of child sexual molestation in another state according to that state’s online sex registry, and he is hiding this fact from you.” Obvious why this substantiated information needs to be repeated to proper authority.

While many people warn others about the dangers of a particular false teacher’s teaching, sermons, Bible studies etc, when we begin warning because of their lifestyle, the claim that someone is gossiping becomes more heated.

Yet we are to watch both life and doctrine. Most of the qualifications for teachers of the faith are behavioral. 1 Timothy 3:1-7 has it as well as Titus 1:5-9. Behavioral standards for youths, women, and slaves are contained in Titus 2, among other places (Proverbs, etc).

Joel Osteen is known for his false teachings of the prosperity gospel, (doctrine) but Mark Driscoll was disqualified mainly due to his unbiblical behavior (behavior).

Older women likewise are to be reverent in their behavior, not malicious gossips nor enslaved to much wine, teaching what is good, 4so that they may encourage the young women to love their husbands, to love their children, 5to be sensible, pure, workers at home, kind, being subject to their own husbands, so that the word of God will not be dishonored. (Titus 2:3-5).

While all gossip is bad, the verse here emphasizes “malicious gossip”. The meaning in Greek is a “false accuser; unjustly criticizing to hurt (malign) and condemn to sever a relationship.” The intention is to hurt another person or to harm a relationship.

Jesus said to test the fruit of the teachers’ lives (Matthew 7:15–20) and this includes behavior- good fruit or bad fruit. Paul urged the Thessalonians to test his fruit in 1 Thessalonians 1:5, saying  just as you know what kind of men we proved to be among you for your sakes and then in verse 6 Paul urged the congregation to imitate him. His behavioral witness was part of his qualification.

While it is harder to know what kind of men (or women) they prove to be if they are a celebrity Bible teacher and you know them only by online works, it is still possible to make an assessment and to substantiate it (test the fruit). Except, be careful not to spread secondhand news, OR to spread news of a behavior that has happened only once or twice. Be patient, look for a pattern, like the police look for a MO (modus operandi, which means “mode of operating”.)

Mainly, we can test if it’s gossip vs. a warning if the information is true, if the information be substantiated, and if it is necessary to repeat. Warning someone about a false teacher, if that has been substantiated, is necessary. It’s actually commanded. It would be like if the Sheriff came to your neighborhood homes to warn about an escaped convict in the area and gave you the details of his behavior and what he looks like, and you told him that this is gossip and you won’t listen. The sheriff came to you for your protection. It’s the same with discernment, warning about an evildoer outlaw is for your spiritual protection.

Keep the questions coming, I appreciate them. Finally, I thought this was a good link explaining the difference:

Uncomfortable Truths vs. Gossip

Further Resources

The Masters University- Beware of False teachers

Article by Matt Mitchell: The Scriptures do not provide a definition of gossip in one location. Instead, they describe gossip in action and intimately tie it to the character of the people participating in this tantalizing sin. The Bible often uses the word gossip to describe a kind of person more than just a pattern of communication. FMI- What is Gossip? Exposing a Common and Dangerous Sin