Uncategorized – Page 48

List of important Christians to follow on social media (not). Plus, ridiculous books

Posted on December 13, 2017December 26, 2017 by elizabethprata

Crosswalk Ministry recently posted a story titled 20 Important Christians You Should Follow on Social Media. **Note see below.

Crosswalk.com’s About says,

Crosswalk.com aims to offer the most compelling biblically-based content to Christians on their walk with Jesus. Crosswalk.com is your online destination for all areas of Christian Living – faith, family, fun, and community.

After seeing the list of “important” Christians you should follow, Crosswalk should not be your destination for anything. Why? Most of their list is populated by false teachers. Sadly, the author of this list states that she is a teacher/leader at her church. It is apparent that the author lacks discernment, which is terrible for a church teacher/leader. It’s clear that the publication’s editors lack discernment, too, because they allowed it to be published.

paul meme

We can pair this list of who (not) to follow with a recent vlog by Challies-

5 Most Ridiculous Books to Ever Become Christian Bestsellers

If you were to scan the lists of the best selling Christian books of all time you’d see some truly amazing books there. You’d see some books that have helped us better understand who God is and books that have instructed us. and how we as Christians can live lives of obedience to Him, and like you, I’m genuinely thankful for these books. Sadly though, you’d also see some truly flat-out awful books. Today I’ve narrowed down that list to the five most ridiculous books to ever become Christian bestsellers.

Asked what the biggest problem facing the American church is, John MacArthur replied that it is a lack of biblical knowledge, a lack of biblical discernment. When you see a list like Crosswalk’s, this certainly seems to be sadly true.

And besides, didn’t the Bible tell us that no believer is more “important” than another? (Galatians 3:28, James 2). Their list is a who’s who of false teachers. The list is a slideshow, and as each page came up it got worse and worse. I couldn’t think of any worse people to put on the list if I tried. They’re all there. I thought to myself, “Surely they won’t put Joel Osteen on their list, but when he popped up at #15 my heart sank lower than the floor.

Anyway, here is Crosswalk’s list of “important” Christians you should follow in their order:

Beth Moore
Steven Furtick
Toby Mac
Lysa TerKeurst
Franklin Graham
Max Lucado
Judah Smith
Joyce Meyer
Andy Stanley
Rick Warren
Jen Hatmaker
Tim Keller
Candace Cameron Bure
Levi Lusko
Joel Osteen
Sadie Robertson
John Piper
Shauna Niequist
Christine Caine
Brian Houston

Most of these people teach a false doctrine of one kind or another. I know that no one is perfect, and we all hold to some error at one time or another before being graciously corrected. However many of these people on the list teach not immature and temporary error, but permanently damning heresy. Meyer teaches (or taught) that she isn’t a sinner, and that Jesus went to hell and allowed satan to stomp all over His back. Joel Osteen refuses to preach half the Gospel (sin and wrath). Beth Moore gets extra-biblical revelation knowledge and purports to add to the canon by the prophecies and directives Jesus supposedly gives her.

These are actions that by God’s own word, the one who teaches them are doomed. (2 Timothy 4:3-4, Acts 20:28-30, 1 John 4:6, Titus 1:16, 2 Peter 2:3, Romans 16:18…)

Others teach error (Piper, for example) but at this point he can’t said to be false.

I’ve looked at Bure’s statement of faith and her life trajectory and can’t find anything that seems to contradict a foundational tenet or is a damaging teaching. So 1 out of the 20 might be solid, and she isn’t even a Bible teacher or preacher or ministry leader but is an actress (one who albeit takes her platform seriously and promotes Christian standards through the transparency of her life).

Discernment is spiritual insight that is honed by experience and age. However, discernment isn’t by osmosis. It doesn’t just drop in one’s lap. Wisdom is accrued through careful study of God’s word, prayer, and constant application. Through study, one becomes instantly familiar with what is true and what is false, even a little false. In other words, the discerning person has nuance and a humble spirit. The person who can discern displays biblical knowledge, wisdom, and the ability to proclaim it, apply it, and use it.

Ultimately, though, discernment comes from God. David prayed for discernment. Psalm 119:125 says (NIV)

I am your servant; give me discernment that I may understand your statutes.

It’s obvious that the current global church lacks discernment in tremendous and devastating ways. Just as over the centuries, the leaders of Israel and eventually the Pharisees turned God’s glorious light and truth into a dark and perverse religion, today’s leaders of the Christian church have turned Christianity into a perverse and ridiculous paper tiger religion that saves no one.

Fortunately, God always has a remnant, which is what true believers are. We are certainly not the majority, if we ever were. A remnant, standing on the rock, proclaiming truth for the glorification of Jesus’ name remains unsullied. The rest, the so-called Christians on the top 20 list and their followers, are a crowd that lacks discernment, to their detriment, perhaps eternally.

Here is my list. Top 20 people not to follow- and why

Beth Moore (no)
Steven Furtick (Steve Kozar says no) (Todd Friel says Furtick’s false)
Toby Mac (Ryan Martin at Religious Affections says no)
Lysa TerKeurst (Michelle Lesley says no)
Franklin Graham (no)
Max Lucado (no)
Judah Smith (no)
Joyce Meyer (CARM says no)
Andy Stanley (Josh Buice says no), (no), (And just no)
Rick Warren (Challies says no), (Warren publicly prayed to Islam’s false god), (JMac negatively reviews Purpose Driven)
Jen Hatmaker (Christine Pack says no), (Denny Burk says no)
Tim Keller (no)
Candace Cameron Bure
Levi Lusko
Joel Osteen (nope)
Sadie Robertson (maybe)
John Piper (there’s issues…) (and other issues)
Shauna Niequist (Michelle Lesley gives her a ‘not recommended‘)
Christine Caine (Rosebrough says no)
Brian Houston (no, with a lot of other NO’s inside)

Pray to the Spirit for wisdom and He will give it without reproach (James 1:5). Be wise as serpents regarding “Christian” publications including mine and others listed on this page. Use your eyes to see and ears to hear when reading or listening to Christian material. Compare to scripture and give no place to falsity. Jesus is too precious and His torture, death, separation from the Father too heart-rending to cover with any compromise in doctrine by accepting false teachers.

It’s too bad about Crosswalk. That list sure is ridiculous.

**NOTE

A reader alerted me to the fact that the original page has been removed. I searched Crosswalk, thinking it might have been moved to a different part of their site. I could not find it anywhere. I searched Google. I could not find a live version anywhere.

The screen shot is of the introduction to the original article, and the link is to the archived version at the Wayback Machine (Internet Archive).

https://web.archive.org/web/20171213230306/https://www.crosswalk.com/slideshows/20-important-christians-you-should-follow-on-social-media.html

20 important

encouragement, Uncategorized

Thirty Days of Jesus: Day 17, Jesus’ Preeminence

Posted on December 13, 2017December 14, 2017 by elizabethprata

thirty days of jesus day 17

Thirty Days of Jesus: Day 16, Two Kingdoms

Posted on December 12, 2017December 13, 2017 by elizabethprata

thirty days of jesus day 16

Pearls in the New Testament

Posted on December 11, 2017 by elizabethprata

The Parable of the Pearl of Great Value
Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls, who, on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it. (Matthew 13:45-46).

pearl

In the time when his text was written, pearls were the most valuable item of all. The most precious wasn’t gold, though gold was precious. Not diamonds, or other gems which are mentioned, (e.g. rubies, Prov 3:15 NIV) or silver, pearls where the most sought-after item. Thsi makes sense, being a desert region. The pearl oyster is found in the Persian Gulf and the Red Sea.

Pearls are mentioned often in the New Testament. Jesus said for believers not to throw their pearls before swine. This is a contrast of the hightest vs. lowest. Pearls, being the most expensive, are representative of God’s truth, His word. Pearls are not to be thrown before swine, the lowest of all animals. Swine in the metaphor is representative of the worst pagans who reject, mock, and dismiss Jesus and His word.

Temple prostitutes often braided pearls into their hair as a show and display. Paul was saying in both 1 Peter 3:3-4 and 1 Timothy 2:9-10 not to dress the same as the pagan women and especially not even close to looking like the temple prostitutes. Here in 1 Timothy 2:9-10 we read,

likewise also that women should adorn themselves in respectable apparel, with modesty and self-control, not with braided hair and gold or pearls or costly attire, but with what is proper for women who profess godliness—with good works.

That’s why Paul connected respectability and modesty in the verse with pearls and costly attire. Culturally, it was pagans and loose women who made a show of their wealth through the way they dressed, especially with the pearls, if they had them.

Pearls are also mentioned in Revelation 21:21. It is where we get the colloquial reference to “pearly gates”.

And the twelve gates were twelve pearls, each of the gates made of a single pearl, and the street of the city was pure gold, like transparent glass.

Since the walls are 1500 feet high and the gates in the walls would also have to be 1500 feet high, these pearls might be symbolic and not actual. Or they are real and made by Jesus and not by an oyster. Either way…Read this quote John MacArthur offers from his sermon on the verse, “The Capital City of Heaven“.

And then, we’ll close with this tonight, John describes the gates. And this is mind boggling. Now remember, these gates could well run the full height of the city. Verse 21, “And the twelve gates were twelve pearls.” That is some oyster. No, these have to be pearls of God’s own making. These pearls are like nothing ever produced by an oyster. Each one of the gates was a single pearl, a 15-mile-high pearl…1500-mile-high pearl. Why? Well maybe there’s some marvelous spiritual symbolism there.

John Phillips writes this, “How appropriate. All other precious gems are metals or stones, but a pearl is a gem formed within the oyster. It is the only one formed by living flesh. The humble oyster receives an irritation or a wound and around the offending article that has penetrated and hurt it, the oyster builds a pearl. The pearl, we might say, is the answer of the oyster to that which injured it. And the glory land is God’s answer in Christ to the wicked men who crucified heaven’s beloved and put Him to open shame. How like God it is to make the gates of the new Jerusalem pearls. The saints as they come and go will be forever reminded as they pass the gates of glory that access to God’s home is only because of Calvary.

“Think of the size of those gates. Think of the supernatural pearls from which they are made. What gigantic suffering is symbolized by those gates of pearl? Throughout the endless ages we shall be reminded by those pearly gates of the immensity of the sufferings of Christ Those pearls hung eternally, as it were, at the access routes to glory will remind us forever of One who hung upon a tree and whose answer to those who injured Him was to invite them to forever share His home,” end quote.

Beautifully said, isn’t it? Heaven is entered through suffering by a wounded Redeemer. And we’ll always be reminded of it as we pass the pearls.

Pearls are beautiful, but Jesus is the most beautiful of all. That was a little information on pearls in biblical times. The luster and polish of a gorgeous pearl will be nothing compared to the glory of Jesus we will see when we get there.

encouragement, Uncategorized

Thirty Days of Jesus: Day 15, The gift of eternal life

Posted on December 11, 2017December 12, 2017 by elizabethprata

thirty days of Jesus day 15

Further Reading

John Gill’s Exposition of 1 John 5:11

GotQuestions: What is Eternal Life?

Compelling Truth: What is eternal life?

Grace to You blog: Is eternal life always eternal?

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

Thirty Days of Jesus Series-

encouragement, Uncategorized

Praise for Jesus as the I AM

Posted on December 10, 2017December 10, 2017 by elizabethprata

I’m so glad I have a Savior who is eternal. Because He is eternal, He is independent, self-sustaining, and forever self-sufficient. He is outside of time and matter, therefore He is the I AM, as seen in these metaphorical statements-

I AM the Bread of Life (John 6:35, 41, 48, 51);
I AM the Light of the World (John 8:12);
I AM the Door of the Sheep (John 10:7, 9);
I AM the Good Shepherd (John 10:11,14);
I AM the Resurrection and the Life (John 11:25);
I AM the Way, the Truth and the Life (John 14:6);
I AM the True Vine (John 15:1, 5).

And these absolute statements:

Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.” (John 8:58)

God said to Moses, “I am who I am.” And he said, “Say this to the people of Israel: ‘I am has sent me to you.’ ” (Exodus 3:14).

Praise Him today for one of His attributes.

encouragement, Uncategorized

Thirty Days of Jesus: Day 14, Propitiation

Posted on December 10, 2017 by elizabethprata

thirty days of jesus day 14 propitiation

Further Reading

GotQuestions: What is Propitiation?

Ligonier Ministries: What Do Expiation and Propitiation Mean?

Bible Hub Topical Bible- Propitiation

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

Thirty Days of Jesus Series-

movie review, Uncategorized

Movie Review: Hallmark’s Garage Sale Mystery with Lori Loughlin

Posted on December 9, 2017 by elizabethprata

Hallmark Movies & Mystery Channel features a series of movies in the “Cozy Mysteries” genre.

Cozy mysteries, also referred to as “cozies”, are a subgenre of crime fiction in which sex and violence are downplayed, and the crime and detection take place in a small, socially intimate community. Cozies thus stand in contrast to hardboiled fiction, which feature violence and sexuality more explicitly and centrally to the plot. The term “cozy” was first coined in the late 20th century when various writers produced work in an attempt to re-create the Golden Age of Detective Fiction. Wikipedia

Hallmark has adapted several cozy book mysteries into movies.

There are the Aurora Teagarden movies starring Candace Cameron Bure. These movies are based on a fictional character created by author Charlaine Harris, in a series of ten crime novels written from 1990 to 2017. “In the first book of the series, twenty-eight-year-old Aurora (Roe) Teagarden is a professional librarian and belongs to the Real Murders club, a group of 12 enthusiasts who gather monthly to study famous baffling or unsolved crimes.”

There’s the Flower Shop Mysteries based on Kate Collins’ books of the same series title. The series stars Brooke Shields as a “professional librarian and belongs to the Real Murders club, a group of 12 enthusiasts who gather monthly to study famous baffling or unsolved crimes.”

In the Garage Sale Mystery, Lori Loughlin stars as a vintage store owner who scours garage sales and estate sales for items for her store, and stumbles across mysteries and murders along the way. This series is based on the books by Suzi Weinert. The executive producers of Garage Sale Mystery are also executive producers on the Hallmark television series When Calls the Heart, so the Garage Sale Mystery series features many of the same actors.

You might remember Lori Loughlin from the 1980s television family friendly series Full House. She also stars in When Calls the Heart, and other Hallmark productions.

I like a good caper movie, mysteries, and crime books and movies, but I do not like the gore, psychological tension, or horrible/evil murders especially involving children. I also don’t like dark movies, either in psychology or in cinematography.

The Garage Sale Mystery (GSM) features none of that. The main character, Jennifer Shannon, lives in an affluent town in Virginia. The homes she visits throughout the movie and including her own, are beautiful mansions. If you remember the iconic series Columbo, his ‘clients’ were always in Beverly Hills, lived in gorgeous homes, and were from the upper class. If I’m going to watch a mystery, at least I’m not watching gutter dirty dark psychological thriller, but a tea drinking, well dressed attractive woman with a genial personality. In GSM there’s always lots of light and sunlight and bright colors in most every scene. The main character is in a happy, stable marriage with a movie-perfect husband and two movie-perfect teenage children. She is a good mom. The children usually have some kind of sub-story.

Somehow, the way the movie is written, and despite the fact that a murder does occur and Jennifer is usually in life-threatening peril by the climax, the atmosphere isn’t heart-rending or dark. The writers maintain in Jennifer a hopeful innocence with a razor-sharp mind and a high-level ability to observe and remember. As a matter of fact, the last shot of each movie shows Jennifer in a close-up with a big smile. This is an enjoyable way to conclude a movie. The relationship Jennifer has with the co-owner of her store is a good one, always pleasant. No harsh words are spoken, even when Jennifer confronts the murderer. It’s a relief to watch a movie where all the interpersonal interactions are warm and polite.

It is a ‘cozy mystery’ to a Tee.

What I find amusing is that despite the fact that Jennifer seems to stumble on a dead body seemingly every time she leaves her house, the series avoids the claustrophobic feeling of the Cabot Cove Syndrome. This is a TV Trope named after the location in which fictional character Jessica Fletcher of the television series Murder, She Wrote lived. The television series aired for 12 seasons with 264 episodes from 1984 to 1996 on CBS. Angela Lansbury was the main character, and “murder occurred with such regularity in her vicinity that the term “Cabot Cove syndrome” was coined to describe the constant appearance of dead bodies in remote locations. Indeed, if Cabot Cove existed in real life, it would top the FBI’s national crime statistics in numerous categories, with some analysis suggesting that the homicide rate in Cabot Cove exceeds even that of the real-life murder capital of the world” (Wikipedia). The UK Daily Mail has more-

The most dangerous place on Earth is revealed to be… the fictional setting for TV series Murder, She Wrote

The idyllic seaside town of Cabot Cove looks at first glance like a pleasant and relaxing place to live.

In fact, it is the murder capital of the world and far more dangerous than the most violent parts of the globe, including Honduras in Central America. Thankfully, it is just the fictional New England setting for popular TV series Murder, She Wrote. Amateur detective Jessica Fletcher, played by Angela Lansbury, encountered a total of 274 killings in the small town in Maine, despite it having a population of just 3,500. This gives it an annual murder rate of 1,490 per million — more than 50 per cent higher than Honduras, where it is 910 per million.

The British mystery series, Agatha Raisin based on the books by M.C. Beaton, is another series that in my opinion suffered terribly from Cabot Cove Syndrome. There were several issues with the single-season series, and one of them was that the series is set in the British area of the Cotswolds. This is an area of outstanding natural beauty and much of it is protected, but the villages dotting the aforementioned beautiful hills are small. Very small. By the end of the one season that was broadcast, I surmise that the fictional death rate was even higher than in Cabot Cove.

Anyway, the confined feeling I got from Murder, She Wrote and Agatha Raisin is absent in Garage Sale Mystery. The series presents an aura that is expansive enough not to be claustrophobic but small enough to maintain the cozy atmosphere so important in this genre.

I also enjoy the garage sale aspect. I like a good hunt myself for just the perfect item that has a history behind it and is also a good deal!

I recommend the Garage Sale Mystery series. They’re clean. It can be seen on on Hallmark, Sling TV, an occasional older movie on Youtube, and elsewhere.

——————————————–

Further reading

Finding Wonderland, Review: The Deadly Room

Dove review: Garage Sale Mystery

Amazon Customer reviews: 215 reviews of this series (92% are 4 & 5-star)

encouragement, Uncategorized