theology

No wonder they were grasshoppers in their sight: The Very Large

Posted on September 26, 2023October 9, 2023 by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

Numbers 13:33 says, There also we saw the Nephilim (the sons of Anak are part of the Nephilim); and we became like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight.

The Nephilim were a race of antediluvian giants. GotQuestions says,

The Anakim/Anakites were a formidable race of giant, warlike people (Deuteronomy 2:10, 21; 9:2) who occupied the lands of southern Israel near Hebron before the arrival of the Israelites (Joshua 15:13). The Anakim’s ancestry has been traced back to Anak, the son of Arba (Joshua 15:13; 21:11), who at that time was regarded as the “greatest man among the Anakim” (Joshua 14:15).

The name “Anakim” most likely means “long-necked,” i.e., “tall.” The Hebrews thought them to be descendants of the Nephilim, a powerful race who dominated the pre-Flood world (Genesis 6:4; Numbers 13:33). When the twelve Israelite spies returned from exploring the Promised Land, they gave a frightening report of “people great and tall” whom they identified as the sons of Anak (Deuteronomy 9:2). The Israelites, seized with fear and believing themselves to be mere “grasshoppers . . . in their sight” (Numbers 13:33), rebelled against God (Deuteronomy 1:26-28) and refused to enter the land God had promised them.

Other vestiges of large peoples are seen in the Old Testament. Taking the a Hebrew measurement of a cubit being about 17.5 inches and converting it,

Goliath: (1 Samuel 17) was 9’9″.
The Egyptian was 5 cubits, or 7’2″. (1 Chronicles 11:23- He had also struck down an Egyptian, an impressive man, five cubits tall. Now in the Egyptian’s hand was a spear like a weaver’s beam, but he went down to him with a club and snatched the spear from the Egyptian’s hand and killed him with his own spear.)
Og King of Bashan (Deuteronomy 3:11- “For only Og king of Bashan remained of the remnant of the Rephaim. Behold, his bedstead was an iron bedstead; it is in Rabbah of the sons of Ammon. Its length was nine cubits, and its width four cubits by ordinary cubit”). King Og’s bed was 13″, so we can assume the King was around 11 or 12 feet tall.

To put it into visual perspective, let’s take a look at what the world calls “The Tallest Man Who Ever Lived”: Robert Wadlow. (American, 1918-1940). Wadlow’s height was 8 ft 11.1 in. And Goliath and King Og of Bashan were taller than this!

Source: **Guinness Book of World Records**

No wonder the spies were scared and seemed like grasshoppers in the giants’ sight! The giants seemed invincible.

But if God is with you, all things are possible. The seemingly impregnable walls of Jericho fell down flat. The huge Assyrian army 185,000 strong were all killed overnight by the angel of the Lord. The King of Aram’s army was not alone but was surrounded by God’s military forces, invisible to all but Elisha and his servant. The mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.

It is a shame that the world consults the Guinness book instead of THE Book for verification of the tallest people who ever lived. There is no more sure word than God’s word.

Speaking of very large things, did you know the reproduction of the Ark in Kentucky at the Ark Encounter is the largest free standing timber structure in the world? If you consult Google with that question, the Ark in Kentucky won’t come up. But it is the biggest: The Ark Encounter, the world’s largest timber-frame structure, is seven stories tall and 1.5 football fields in length – 510’ long, 85’ wide, and 54’ high (based upon the Egyptian cubit of 20.4”).

The New Jerusalem recorded in Revelation is a huge city. It is said in the Bible to be ‘12,000 stadia’, which equals 1,400 miles in length, width, and height (Revelation 21:15-16). Scripture says that the dimensions are given in “human measurement” (Revelation 21:17). A city that big if plopped in the middle of the United States, would cover from Canada to Mexico and from the Appalachian Mountains to the California border. So, most of America. Most of Australia, too, if you overlaid the dimensions on that continent.

Trust the Bible. Even something we read seems outlandish and hard to believe, the dimensions given for the people, animals, structures in the Bible are true and good.

Today we looked at the very large. Tomorrow: let’s look at the very small. 🙂

theology

“Why do you like the session about false teachers best?”

Posted on September 25, 2023September 25, 2023 by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

Screen shot of the Justin Peters’ title card for his talk at G3 2023 National Conference

I have returned home to digest the edifying material I absorbed at the recent G3 National Conference in Atlanta. This is a 3-day conference featuring stupendous music (solid hymns accompanied by orchestral instruments), and wonderful preaching all around a theme. This year the theme was The Sovereignty of God.

Many different sermons were offered on the topic. There are endless ways to plumb the topic. You could do so for a thousand years and not even come close to scratching the surface.

A common question heard around the convention hall was “Which one was your favorite?” Every man who was selected to preach or woman who was selected to lead a breakout session has the skill to exegete their portion of scripture, and do so expertly. It isn’t a question of personality. It’s a question is which presentation spoke to your mind, which session that the Holy Spirit convicted you with or that He encouraged you with. It’s a spiritual question.

Emotions do play a part, yes. When one is convicted or encouraged on the basis of the preached word, it not only illuminates your mind but it expands your heart. The word does something to you. It is living and active after all.

The material presented to me at the G3 conference which most affected both my my mind and my heart, is Justin Peters’ talk on how false teachers attack the sovereignty of God.

False teachers attack God’s sovereignty through His omniscience, through His use of suffering and sickness, through His solitariness, through His work in salvation, and through him in general. Justin culled clips from some of the most popular of the heretical speakers of the day who demonstrated these points.

It’s one thing for a speaker to say the quotes, it is quite another for us to watch these people say them. AND have their audiences by the masses…applaud.

Their heresies were jaw-droppingly blasphemous. They were unutterably sickening. They were unrelentingly scandalous.

When Justin presented a clip featuring one of these false teachers saying one of their heresies and blasphemies, the G3 audience at Justin’s session would groan or exclaim involuntarily. We could not help it. Truly, it is amazing how deeply the false teachers hate God.

So, why would I bask in this session? Why would I say it was my favorite? Why would I even want to come close to a presentation featuring this cesspool of abyss-worthy hate?

Have you ever gone to a real jewelry store? Or seen someone on TV or a movie go to a jewelry store? Maybe you’re looking for fine jewelry for your mother, or you’re a man looking or an engagement ring for your girlfriend. You peer down into the glass case and see a jewel you like. You ask the clerk to please take it out of the case so you can get a better look. What does he do?

He takes it out for you. You anticipate looking at the sparkle and brilliance. But that is not all he takes out. He places a square of black velvet on the counter too, and lays the jewel on it. Why?

The black backdrop of the velvet enhances the brilliance of the diamond. It can be seen more clearly. Its sparkle is brighter. The jewel remains sharp and well-defined against the dark background.

And so it is. When a heretic’s words issue forth into the air, they become the black backdrop to the Lord’s brilliance in holiness and purity. The contrast makes me see the Lord as exalted even higher. My love for Him increases, and my hatred of my own sin grows. Seeing black sin for what it is against the purity of our Holy God is a contrast I always want to keep present in my mind.

Now, I don’t recommend a steady diet of purposefully seeking to contrast heresy vs. Truth. Swimming in heretical waters is a risk and not one that we take lightly. The Lord has done a superlative job of keeping Justin Peters sane and spiritually safe as he researches these items to bring to his audience’s attention. For me, it’s not a risk I want to take very often. But once in a while when the opportunity presents itself, like it did at G3, reminding myself with knowledge of the hatred these false teachers have for God, and refreshing my own soul with reminders of God’s brilliance as THE jewel of the universe, is good for me.

It also propels me into a desire to always be a precise steward of the truth. Falsity begins somewhere. These heretics didn’t start out at the bottom of the abyss. Sin is incremental, and it grows. I don’t ever want even a germ of falsity in my writing or speaking the glories of Jesus. I know there will be at times, because I’m not glorified and I have a mind that needs renewing every day. But the goal is to minimize it and to cast it out when its presence is brought to my attention. Heresy is a death sentence. But it begins with a small waver from the center line of orthodoxy.

So that is why I liked the conference session about false teachers best.

theology

G3 Conference Day 3: Final day, Final Thoughts

Posted on September 23, 2023May 20, 2025 by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

I waited two years for this conference. That’s 730 days. It was over in a heartbeat, just 2 and a half days. That’s just 0.34% of the time of the last 2 years.

But it was everything! It was 100% edifying. 100% eternal. 100% joyous.

We started the day with an altered schedule. Last night just as the movie The Essential Church was to begin its showing, a bomb threat was called in. The building was evacuated. Many of the speakers were staying at the next door hotel, and as police pushed people further and further back, and when it became obvious they were not going to be able to return to the building, they gathered in that hotel lobby – and began singing praises to the Lord.

Religious conference proceeds Saturday after bomb threat

The morning’s first speaker by video would have been John MacArthur, but since the building had been closed all night, the GICC crew needed extra time to clean it, which hadn’t been possible the night before. The day would start an hour late. So the video sermon sent in by John MacArthur was canceled and the second slated speaker was now going to be first in order. It was Ken Ham and sermon titled God’s Sovereignty in Creation.

Ham spoke passionately about the attacks on God starting in Genesis 3. The man is 71, and I was thinking after, I pray the Lord gives me as much passion and articulation within my niche as He has given Ken Ham all these past 40 years of beating the drum for Genesis 1-11. Answers in Genesis, Ham’s organization, offers an INCREDIBLE mount of material for all ages on all types of platforms. Homeschool, Sunday school curricula, videos, books, kids’ books, you name it.

“God made the animals according to their kinds, but He made man in HIS image. Man is not an animal.” ~Ken Ham

After a short break we listened to Mike Riccardi speak on the Sovereignty of God in Particular Redemption, expositing the answer to the question “In whose place did Jesus stand in absorbing God’s wrath?” He is an articulate man whose theological precision is only equaled by his clarity. I’ll put a link to these men’s biographies and where you can listen to them in the future.

Steven Lawson was closing the conference but I couldn’t stay to listen- our hotel checkout time was noon.

Our checkout experience was smooth and soon we were on the road to home. After a group photo of course, of most of the ones from our church who came to hear these wondrous things.

G3 (Gospel, Grace, Glory) 2023 national conference speakers

Now all that is left is to pray that the Holy Spirit would apply these truths to me in His inimitable way.

These people are precious to me: some of the young people from our church who traveled to the conference. Is there anything sweeter than seeing young people dig into their Bible with all eager attention?

Points I’m pondering:

–I loved the seminary-level teaching at G3 from seasoned and credible men of the faith.
–Many of the doctrines they taught that were related to Election were the SAME we have recently been taught in my own church. So: the blessing is there is seminary-level teaching at my home church as well! I love my pastors.
–I loved seeing the excitement of the younger people we traveled with and the new friends I met there. God ALWAYS leaves a remnant and a next generation for His name.
–I loved meeting my social media friends. It was a great reunion!
–I’m getting old. Leaving home was a struggle. Absorbing all the firehose of teaching for 8-9 hours was also a struggle. I ain’t a spring chicken. Where does the time go???
— The best part was when the bomb threat occurred, the men lingering in the hotel lobby and deciding to praise the Lord in song. They do not just preach God’s sovereignty, when tested, they showed that they LIVE it.

If you ever have an opportunity to attend this conference, please deeply consider it. Conferences aren’t real life. But getting away once in a blue moon to refresh and reset by and with the word of God given by top theologians and singing with 8000 other people is a foretaste of heaven. It propels a person forward even as we step back into the mundane day by day tasks.

Blessings to you and thank you for reading!

theology

G3 Conference 2023: Day 2

Posted on September 22, 2023September 23, 2023 by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

We slept well and had a hot breakfast offered by the SpringHill Suites at Marriott. The breakfast was free and it was unusually lavish. Usually “free breakfast means they throw a cellophane wrapped muffin at you and say see ya bye”. Not the SpringHill Suites. They had hot eggs, sausage, granola, cheerios, biscuits, muffins, bagels, iced water, juices, and more stuff I can’t even remember. It was nice to relax in the breakfast area over a hot meal and speak with the fellow conference-goers around me.

Our venue is across a small road with a path to it. The bookstore is almost straight ahead, so that’s where we headed.

That feeling when you’re almost the first people in the bookstore at opening and you have it all to yourself.

I bought God’s Battle Plan for the Mind: The Puritan Practice of Biblical Meditation by David Saxton and : Robert Murray m’Cheyne and the Pursuit of Holiness. Yay!

So I bought 2 more books. But that’s it. No more. Done. Fini. The end. Fade out. Really. I mean it.

Our first session on Day 2 was Canadian pastor James Coates. James was jailed in a maximum security prison in Edmonton during the covid era so called pandemic. He brought a message about the Sovereignty of God in Election from Romans 9. His message was clear, indicating he is clear thinker, and his demeanor was humble and reverent. I enjoyed his sermon.

The auditorium is huge. There are more than 8,200 attendees, and from front to back feels like a mile. But the acoustics are good and there are jumbo-trons stationed all over, so there is no really bad view.

“God cannot pursue less than His own glory.” ~James Coates

We went straight to the next session, James White of Alpha & Omega Ministries with a message I was really interested in: God’s Sovereignty over Time.” Dr. White focused on Isaian 41 and God (speaking through Isaiah) calling the idols to account in His legal courts. God’s sovereignty is then demonstrated by His precision in prophecy. I want to go back and re-listen to this one.

All the sessions and breakouts were livestreamed, captured on video. When they are finalized with editing I will happily re-watch. I know I will pick up more concepts the second time and the Spirit will further renew my mind and enlarge my heart for Jesus.

“God desires to reveal Himself and be known by His people so they can know what He is doing and they can love Him properly.” ~James White

I attended a luncheon with some G3 people which was very ice to be away from the hubbub, and then meandered through the Exhibit Hall where all the vendors were. I LOVED meeting everyone! Martha Peace, Susan Heck, Doreen Virtue, Steadfast Women, Allen Nelson and his wife and daughter, ReggieP2 at GBTS booth, Phil Johnson, Justin Peters, Gigi’s Sewing Room…tweeps from Twitter and Facebook.

My friend and I also ran into our other friends from church who are separately attending. I love seeing the joy in their young faces as they breathlessly recount insights gained and how much they love Jesus as they come to know Him more. Really Spirit shining faces. It does an older woman like me so good when I see the Lord raises up the next generation for His name.

On to the session with Justin Peters. I love this man and I think highly of him. His talk was on “False Teachers and the Sovereignty of God.” He demonstrated how false teachers oppose God in a myriad of ways; by attacking His sovereignty in our sickness & suffering, solitariness, omniscience, in Creation, and in general.

He showed clips of the ways these false teachers oppose God and their comments were breathtakingly, jaw-droppingly blasphemous statements from their own mouths. Several of these false teachers were teaching that God needs us and needs our permission to do anything.

“God does not have a man-shaped home in his heart.” ~Justin Peters

“False Teachers hate God. They only love the god they have created as an idol.” ~Justin Peters.

The final session we attended, though there were two more afterwards, was the highly popular Q&A with all speakers. Lined up on the stage, absent Paul Washer, were L-R, Scott Aniol (cut off), James White, Owen Strachan, Voddie Baucham, Josh Buice, James Coates, Mike Riccardi, Steve Lawson, Phil Johnson, and Moderator Virgil Walker.

A favorite question is always about what books they are reading or what books have impacted them. Virgil asked the men what book on the soveeignty of God has impacted them most. A frequent answer from all the men was Jonathan Edwards’ The End for Which God Created the World. Also popular was AW Pink’s book The Sovereignty of God.

Paul Washer came walking in at that point. Steve Lawson asked “Why are you late? Paul washer answered “There is one answer to that: I am a missionary”. When the audience finished clapping, Washer continued, I was sharing the Gospel with a beautiful young lady. There is nothing more important than that.”

Amen, Mr. Washer. Amen.

Though there were two more speakers to come, Washer and Voddie Baucham, my friend and I headed back to the hotel to decomopress and discuss our day.

The Movie The Essential Church was going to be shown at 7:30pm, but just as the moderator was about to come on stage, a bomb threat was called in. Thousands were evacuated from the Georgia International Conference Center, and rather than despair, many of them went next door to the nearby hotel lobby and they began singing the hymn Great is Thy Faithfulness.

Amen.

https://www.wsbtv.com/news/local/south-fulton-county/religious-conference-evacuated-college-park-convention-center-by-police/7MIQEPWUPJDMBKD6G2UZJ7OG5Y/

I’ll recount the final day later when I get home tomorrow afternoon.

theology

G3 Conference 2023: Day 1

Posted on September 21, 2023May 20, 2025 by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

My friend and I went early to the conference this morning. We are in a hotel across the street, it only takes 5 minutes to walk over there.

Once inside the cavernous building, it takes a minute to actually get to where we’re going. We passed the Answers in Genesis booth along the way.

The Answers in Genesis folks at #G32023 are having a wonderful time, their joy is evident! That ministry sure has been a blessing to me.

The bookstore was fairly empty as we arrived at about 8 am. The first speaker wasn’t scheduled until 9, so we felt in no hurry while browsing around. Books are 40% off!

Later in the day, the bookstore was quite crowded.

We are a religion full of readers. This is the checkout line at #G32023 bookstore. I promised myself I would not buy any books! I lasted 2 minutes. I bought 2 books! The guy said “You should have bought John Owen’s Temptation: Resisted and Repulsed first!” I fell over laughing!

Below, Virgil Walker, Executive Director of Operations for the G3 Conference, and one half of the duo of Just Thinking podcast, welcoming the 8200 attendees and opening the conference.

The song worship is glorious. The leader is Matt Sikes, who is Discipleship and Worship Pastor at Pray’s Mill Church. The songs selected are strong hymns and the musical accompaniment includes an orchestra composed of cello, or oboe, piano, and violin. It’s wonderful.

Immediately after the singing was Owen Strachan, preaching on The Sovereignty of God and Perseverance of the Saints. I really enjoyed this one.

Walking, walking, walking is the order of the day. Lots of it.

Time for lunch. Despite G3 having provided food trucks and food vendors, the lines were incredible. My friend and I anticipated this, and had brought our own food. We sat in the large hallway people-watching and munching on our snack-y lunch.

Next up in the demanding and packed schedule were breakout sessions. The rooms hosting the various sessions to choose from are small, and only accommodate about 200 people. I fervently wanted to attend Carl Hargrove’s talk on “How Does God Govern the World by His Providence?” So I got there early. Not early enough. Not only was every seat taken, people were sitting on the floor, standing in the doorways, and spilling into the hall. I stood hesitantly at the doorway desperately looking for a seat, but none were to be had. None, that is, until a kind younger gentleman offered his. I demurred at first, but he insisted, and he sat on the floor in front of his wife.

We went right into another breakout session. This one was highly anticipated, not just by me, but most of the conference, it seemed! It was Erin Coates’ “Godly Women remain Faithful in Suffering”. Every bit of floor space was taken by a sitting disciple, all seats taken, tons of people at the doors and in the hall trying to listen. And if they did hear, they received a blessing, because Erin’s talk was stupendous.

Once again, we swept into the hall when Erin concluded and set off at a fast pace to the main auditorium for Phil Johnson’s sermon, “Love that will not let me go.” I love Phil’s preaching. I really, really do. He is my favorite preacher, along with John MacArthur (who will be speaking Saturday morning by video). Phil spoke on 1 John 4:19; We love because He first loved us.

The Hall was filled. I had a very hard time finding 2 seats together. What a blessing to be among like-minded people who are all there to hear about the excellencies of God!

A small slice of the cavernous auditorium filled with worshipers there to hear Phil Johnson

By now it was a bit after 5:00 and we were tired and hungry, having missed breakfast. The free breakfast offered at the hotel was eaten by hungry Christians and was wiped out completely by the time we got there. The hotel later apologized and said they will be better prepared Friday morning. And our lunch was cheese stick, almonds, and carrots.

There was one more speaking session to be had, by Steve Lawson, and the premiere of the move Cessationist. I really wanted to see the movie. But we were both tired, hungry, and bleary from the day. I’d gotten up at 4:15 am, and she had gotten up at 5:00. Long day. We packed it in, headed for the hotel, ate our supper and decompressed.

Tomorrow is another G3 day!

theology

I’m at G3 Conference for the next 3 days

Posted on September 21, 2023September 21, 2023 by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

My friend and I are at the G3 Conference in Atlanta today, tomorrow, and Saturday. This is a once-every-two-years conference put on by Josh Buice and Prays Mill Church outside of Atlanta. The conference features some of the world’s best expositors, preaching sermons in a set theme. The Theme this year is “The Sovereignty of God.”

I am especially looking forward to Ken Ham of Answers in Genesis speaking on “The Sovereignty of God Over Time”, Justin Peters’ talk on False Teachers and the Sovereignty of God, and a breakout session for the ladies with Erin Coates on “Godly Women Remain Faithful in Suffering.” I am also looking forward to meeting people IRL that I know from online, singing with 8000 other people, and taking some photos of the area! I’ll keep you posted as we go along, here, Instagram, on Twitter, and on The End Time Blog Facebook page.

theology

“Who has the right to govern our conscience?” Film Review: The Essential Church

Posted on September 17, 2023 by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

Wow.

This documentary packed a punch. And I’ve seen a lot of documentaries.

The film began with a recounting of a crucial moment in church history with the ever growing tension between King and Church. It was 1657 and Britain’s King Charles I had been encroaching on the sphere of the church with mandates of what to pray and from what book to pray. He had been insisting on using Episcopal rites and now, insistence on using the Book of Common Prayer added to the tension.

The final showdown occurred when the minister in St Giles’ Cathedral began reading from the Book of Common Prayer at a service in which Jenny Geddes was sitting. Outraged, Jenny, a lowly market women, threw her stool at the minister’s head, and is claimed to have yelled, “Devil cause you colic in your stomach, false thief: dare you say the Mass in my ear?”

A fracas ensued as others began picking up the beat.

Her act is reputed to have sparked the riot that led to the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, which included the English Civil War.

Many such moments have appeared in Church history, where the pushme-pullyou tension between government and church comes to a head. It doesn’t often begin with a splashy bigness. The Lord often uses the weak and insignificant as the spark. Individuals who retain a supernatural conviction in the midst of a storm, stalwart and unmoved by the pressure of the government coming against them.

The film continues with the struggle of the Scottish Covenanters movement that formed after Jenny threw her stool, to John Bunyan, the Great Ejection, and the Puritans from past history. Weaving into these pivotal moments in church history the film recounts a similar recent battle between the Canadian government and pastors James Coates & Tim Stephens, and John MacArthur and California’s intrusion into worship.

The Covid-19 so-called “pandemic” era struggle of three churches is highlighted as part of this long history of opposing the government when it dares to enter into church matters: California’s Grace Community Church led by Pastor John MacArthur and its elders, James Coates of GraceLife Church of Edmonton Canada, and Tim Stephens of Fairview Baptist Church of Calgary Canada.

The documentary interviews elders and the pastors concerned with the line between obeying government as the Bible says we must do, and defying government when it intrudes on matters only Jesus administers, also as the Bible says we must do. The thought process and final decision processes were described by all of the church players in this drama. [The government players refused to be interviewed].

The Canadian pastors were actually jailed in maximum security prison for continuing to hold in-person services during the time when government said no such gatherings were allowed. Pastor-teacher John MacArthur was threatened with jail.

The film then recounts the legal battle of Grace Community Church, the arrest and imprisonment of Coates and Stephens, and the effect on their families. The film did well illustrating the conviction of courageously certain believers of the past, unmoved and refusing to sign/agree/kowtow to governmental authorities who would press them to violate their conscience- even to the point of threatened death and martyrdom for some.

It sensitively portrayed the spiritual heartache of the currently embattles pastors who looked out upon empty pews, aching to deliver the precious word to their sheep. Their angst was palpable, their anguish real. So was the heartache of elders prevented from visiting their shut-ins and their hospitalized congregants. Men who labor for Jesus and His truth are knit to Him strongly and feel the weight of their calling to bring truth, song, fellowship and succor to their people. The empty pews, the scattered sheep, were a grief to them and makes the point how church is essential.

MacArthur preaching to empty pews and a camera lens

Rev. Ian Hamilton serves as minister of Cambridge Presbyterian Church and was interviewed several times. Hamilton asked what I believe was the crucial question of the movie. The film wasn’t about expose covid lies, although those were exposed. It wasn’t solely about a recounting of church history, though it was recounted. Nor was it to highlight the courage of Christian convictions in the face of terrible pressure and even death, though certainly that was present in the film. No. It was this:

“Who has the right to govern my conscience?”

The Essential Church is extremely well done, extremely. It ends with a warning and a hope. One of the final statements was by Phil Johnson of Grace Community Church. Even though the church was successful in court, the battle is not over. And then John MacArthur gave the Gospel.

MY REACTION

My opinion is that it is a pivotal film and one that everyone who believes in Jesus should see. We increasingly in these days are viewing a Romans 1 judgment tightening the noose around the false church and revealing the true. At some point, soon perhaps, each and every one of us will have to sift through the Bible’s precepts, apply them to our individual consciences, and make a stand.

Margaret Wilson, Scottish Martyr, killed at age 18. By John Everett Millais – DMVI, Public Domain

It was noted strongly in the film that government is not neutral. Yes, it was established by God to restrain sin, and to a large extent it does that, but it is also corrupt and hates both of the other spheres God has established- Family and Church. Church history shows that given even half an inch, government will tyrannically try to overpower both to become the dominant force in every human’s life.

In the end of the end, government will succeed (for a time).

I was glad I watched at home. I cried and cried and cried. I first cried in joy at the Lord’s provision of strong pastors. He raises up good men in each era to lead by conviction with a true heart for the people and His word. The Lord is good to keep our church leaders strong. I was glad to learn about Coates and Stephens. The Lord has many others all over the world at this moment who are unknown to us but laboring with lion-heart convictions. This is a blessing and an encouragement.

Then I cried in frustration and rage at recalling what the evil the government did to us during 2020-2022 – the frail and old dying alone in nursing homes, fomenting false fear based on lying science, BLM/rise of Marxism, and worst of all, Tim Stephens’ little boy sobbing as they arrested Tim, saying “bye daddy!” and his little hand reaching for dad as the police drove Tim away. Then cried at the end when JMac gave the Gospel, in crushing humility that the All Powerful One who saves, and saved me.

He is worthy.

The film is available for streaming for a fee at https://watch.salemnow.com/pages/home/d/salemnow

or preorder on Blu-Ray or DVD here https://essentialchurchmovie.com/

Further resources

Documentary Through the Eyes of Spurgeon (free)

Documentary (fee): Logic on Fire: Martyn Lloyd-Jones

Essay: The cost of loving Christ: The Two Margarets

Podcast (free): 5 Minutes in Church History with Stephen Nichols

Documentary series (fee): Puritan: All Life to the Glory of God

theology

Little Known Bible Characters #2: ‘The List of Offenders’

Posted on September 16, 2023May 19, 2025 by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

Little Known Bible Characters #8: Tryphena and Tryphosa
Little Known Bible Characters #7: Salome
Little Known Bible Characters #6: King Chedorlaomer
Little Known Bible Characters #5: Harbonah the Eunuch
Little Known Bible Characters #4: Eutychus
Little Known Bible Characters #3: Trophimus
Little Known Bible Characters #2: ‘The List of Offenders’
Little Known Bible Characters #1: Iddo

I started an occasional series covering little known Bible characters. These are men or women who are named in the Bible, but we do not know much about apart from their names. Though, the Word of God is always worth plumbing its depths, and we can elicit from the text more than we think.

I had thought of several people named in the New Testament to focus on, but as our teaching elder concluded his series on Ezra, the last chapter listed by name, many offenders. That is what the section of text is called in my NASB Bible, “The List of Offenders”.

And among the sons of the priests there were found that had taken strange wives: namely,… (Ezra 1018a).

GIll’s Exposition:

And among the sons of the priests there were found that had taken strange wives,…. So that it need not be wondered at that this evil should spread among the people, when those who understood the law, and should have instructed the people in it, set such an example: namely:
of the sons of Jeshua the son of Jozadak; who was the high priest; and perhaps for this fault of his, in not restraining his sons from such unlawful marriages, is he represented in filthy garments, Zechariah 3:3, and his brethren, Maaseiah, and Eliezer, and Jarib, and Gedaliah; these were the brethren of Jeshua.

The Holy Spirit chose to name the men who had grievously sinned by marrying foreign women who brought foreign idols into the sheepfold. The offense was not marrying women of different race or ethnicity, but that they worshiped other gods.

We saw the problem when Solomon married foreign wives who worshiped other gods.

Again, it wasn’t their ethnicity. Canaanite Rahab converted and married Joshua, Moses married Zipporah a Cushite, Ruth was a Moabite.

Do not be mismatched with unbelievers; for what do righteousness and lawlessness share together, or what does light have in common with darkness? (2 Corinthians 6:14).

and you might take some of his daughters for your sons, and his daughters might prostitute themselves with their gods and cause your sons also to prostitute themselves with their gods. (Exodus 34:16)

There were only about 100 or so who intermarried, among tens of thousands of returnees from Babylon, but remember a little leaven… spreads like gangrene. Ezra was so appalled he tore his clothes, his hair, and his beard, and sat in a puddle of prayers appealing to God for mercy.

Every man who had married an unbeliever and thus brought idolatry into Israel was named. This is the “List of Offenders” at the end of Ezra 10.

Imagine…being named in the Bible. So many people were named as a congratulations for their faith. There’s Hebrews Hall of Faith in chapter 11, where men and women are expressly named and commended.

The positively named in Hebrews are, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Moses’ parents, Moses, Rahab, Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel, and the prophets.

Others from the New Testament were named for their faith and/or service also: Anna, Mary, Dorcas, Lydia, Tychicus, and many others of course. We can be sure when they arrived in God’s holy abode in heaven, Jesus was pleased to say to them, “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)

But to be named in the Bible because of your sin, enscripturated forever as an example of disobedience, what a woe and embarrassment to them! And what a warning to us.

–Sin is a corrupting influence
–Leaders should be an example to the positive, not the negative
–Sin hurts the reputation of the church and brings reproach to the name of Jesus.

Sin must be dealt with. If we don’t address it with genuine repentance, God will.

In this New Testament era, our names are written in heaven in the Book of Life. What a grace, mercy, and gift! Let us be thankful and do our best to follow the Lord’s statues in obedience as a thank you in return.

Instruct me, O Yahweh, in the way of Your statutes, That I may observe it to the end. (Psalm 119:33).

Further Resources

theology

A little nugget embedded in a longer verse

Posted on September 14, 2023 by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

For the love of Christ controls us, having concluded this, that one died for all, therefore all died; (2 Corinthians 5:14).

Powerful. Have you ever thought about that before? That the love of God controls us? Or as KJV says, constraineth us? The word here whether it’s control, constrain, or compel, means in the Greek,

I press together, close, (b) I press on every side, confine, (d) I urge, impel,

Picture our ever growing sanctification as entering the wide end of a funnel, and slowly being drawn down the narrow end, the sides all around being Christ’s love to us which we ever grow in reflecting back.

Or, picture the scene where Balaam’s donkey was on a path so narrow the hedges pressed him in on all sides and the animal could not even turn around.

Some commenters on the subject-

with irresistible power limits us to the one great object to the exclusion of other considerations. The Greek implies to compress forcibly the energies into one channel. Love is jealous of any rival object engrossing the soul. Jamieson, Fausset, & Brown

Love has a constraining virtue to excite ministers and private Christians in their duty. Our love to Christ will have this virtue; and Christ’s love to us, which was manifested in this great instance of his dying for us, will have this effect upon us, if it be duly considered and rightly judged of. Source- Matthew Henry’s commentary on the whole Bible.

The phrase “the love of Christ” means His love for us as seen in His sacrificial death. “We love Him, because He first loved us” (1 John 4:19). He loved us when we were unlovely; in fact, He loved us when we were ungodly, sinners, and enemies (see Rom. 5:6–10). When He died on the cross, Christ proved His love for the world (John 3:16), the church (Eph. 5:25), and individual sinners (Gal. 2:20). When you consider the reasons why Christ died, you cannot help but love Him. Source, Warren Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). “Be Series.” The Bible exposition commentary.

Yes, we cannot help but love Him! Jesus is the most lovely, wondrous, majestic person in the entire universe! He created all things and upholds all things, yet condescended to incarnate into human flesh, and live among sin, sinners, and this sinful world! He died on the cross shedding His blood for us.

Let the love of Christ control you today.
Let the love of Christ constrain you today.
Let the love of Christ compel you today.

theology

Casting the first stone

Posted on September 13, 2023October 9, 2023 by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

We are so used to certain phrases in the Bible that we may have lost the original sense of the meaning. For example:

The fly in the ointment is from Ecclesiastes 10:1, and a drop in the bucket is from Isaiah 40:15.

You’ve heard of “cast the first stone” right? Well, in Deuteronomy 17:7 we learn what it means. In a capital case, upon the finding of a perpetrator guilty, the witness must cast the first stone and thus begin the execution.

This is sobering. It ensures that the witness was sure about what he saw or said, else his conscience would be heavy. Also, the LORD would judge that witness guilty on judgment day.

John 8:7 a similar situation existed where Jesus said to the false witnesses of the woman caught in adultery, “When they persisted in asking Him, He straightened up and said to them, “He who is without sin among you, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.”

No one on earth is without sin, so Jesus did not mean anyone who is sinless may cast the stone. No, as Geneva Study Bible explains, the comment was meant-

Against hypocrites who are very severe judges against other men, and flatter themselves while they are sinning.

Barnes’ Notes on the Bible says of the John 8 verse,

This was in order that the witness might feel his responsibility in giving evidence, as he was also to be the executioner. Jesus therefore put them to the test. Without pronouncing on her case, he directed them, if any of them were innocent, to perform the office of executioner. This was said, evidently, well knowing their guilt, and well knowing that no one would dare to do it.

We should have soft consciences, pricked at wrongdoing. I see so much false witnessing, people flinging accusations and bearing false witness that seems not to affect their conscience at all.

In Romans 2:14-15, the word used for conscience is Suneidesis. It is used 32 times in the New Testament. The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia defines it as, “An inner witness that testifies on the rightness or wrongness of one’s actions or motives and, on the basis of them, pronounces judgment concerning the worth of the person.”

What is conscience? “The conscience is generally seen by the modern world as a defect that robs people of their self-esteem. Far from being a defect or a disorder, however, your ability to sense your own guilt is a tremendous gift from God. He designed the conscience into the very framework of the human soul. It is the automatic warning system” ~John MacArthur

It is a heavy, heavy thing to make an accusation and then have enough of a clean conscience to start the execution – the killing – of a human being. Be careful not to harden your conscience. Bearing false witness, especially on social media, seems like an easy thing for people to do. And the more they do it the easier it gets to press enter.

I recently read a book called Taming the Fingers: Heavenly Wisdom for Social Media by Jeff Johnson. It is very short, 88 pages. But it has scripture laden advice for monitoring one’s self on social media.

With wisdom from the Proverbs, Pastor Jeff Johnson offers five practical questions that can help us cultivate heavenly wisdom in our use of social media:

Am I controlled?
Am I calm?
Am I careful?
Am I compassionate?
Am I conscientious?

I have found that asking myself these questions has helped slow me down to make sure I am not impugning anyone’s reputation by insinuating wrong things or worse, making a false accusation.

Let none of us be hypocrites by casting the first stone.