Uncategorized

One day as a thousand years, a thousand years as a day

Posted on March 9, 2017March 9, 2017 by elizabethprata

The reality of a faith-filled life is a beautiful thing. Jesus’ sweet intercessions, His providential care, the magnanimity of His salvation, the ongoing gratitude we feel during increased sanctification, are all wonderful buttresses to the daily grind we experience. It’s wonderful to have Him to focus upon as the object of our adoration and awe.

Just as pondering His love and kindness is an encouragement, His wrath and judgment are weighty topics that should be mulled over as well. The fact is, many human beings will populate the Lake of Fire for all eternity, a devastating thought if you really chew on it for a while.

I’ll be posting a three-part series on the verse from Romans 9:22 about the vessels of wrath prepared for destruction. I’d found a wonderful sermon from Robert Murray M’Cheyne, his last sermon in fact. He raised three important points about God’s electing people to be His ‘vessels of wrath prepared for destruction,’ and I intend to post them piecemeal over the next 3 days.

Meanwhile, I’ve been thinking about the reality of hell for the lost. One of the verses I studied today was this from 2 Peter 3:8.

But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. (2 Peter 3:8).

In context, Peter is assuring his readers that the Lord’s final plan regarding His return and the judgment WILL come to pass. God is not slack concerning His promise, Peter goes onto state. The point of the verse was to remind the audience that God is outside of time and in control of everything. We read a parallel to the time thing in Psalm 90:4,

For a thousand years in your sight
are but as yesterday when it is past,
or as a watch in the night

The Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Commentary explained the thousand year/day v. day/thousand year part of the 2 Peter verse.

No delay which occurs is long to God: as to a man of countless riches, a thousand guineas are as a single penny. God’s œonologe (eternal-ages measurer) differs wholly from man’s horologe (hour-glass). His gnomon (dial-pointer) shows all the hours at once in the greatest activity and in perfect repose. To Him the hours pass away, neither more slowly, nor more quickly, than befits His economy. There is nothing to make Him need either to hasten or delay the end. The words, “with the Lord” (Ps 90:4, “In Thy sight”), silence all man’s objections on the ground of his incapability of understanding this

When reading the J-F-B about the gnomon, œonologe, and horologe, I got pretty excited! More stuff to study. But for today’s thought, back to the beginning of thinking over the fate of the lost in the Lake of Fire for all eternity, it might be helpful to see the thousand year part of the verse this way. Though there is not a literal ‘day’ in heaven or in hell:

–Those who are with the Lord in heaven experience such post-life joy that a thousand years passes as one day.
–Those who are with the Lord in hell (He is not there but His wrath is), experience such post-life torment that one day is as a thousand years.

It is a sobering thought.

discernment, Uncategorized

Is the god of The Shack the God of heaven?

Posted on March 8, 2017March 8, 2017 by elizabethprata

Almost ten years ago author William P. Young published what became a phenomenal success in the publishing world, a book called The Shack. It has recently been made into a movie, which was released this past weekend.

I’ve written about The Shack’s theological issues and heresies before, and many other people have written against it as well. As a matter of fact, I was so upset about The Shack’s heresies and inroads in deluding my friends, that I write about it on my personal blog in 2008. It as that essay that started me thinking about creating a second blog to deal solely with theological issues, and a few months later I began my blog The End Time, which you are reading now.

I mulled over whether to post about The Shack, and had decided against it. There is already so much circulating about the movie that any Christian can easily find what they desire about the film, both supportive AND negative, more’s the pity.

But my friend Pastor James Bell of Gallatin TN wrote an essay and emailed it out, and I truly enjoyed his perspective. Pastor Bell isn’t a towering name in the evangelical world like Paul Washer. He’s not a preacher leading a famous church like John MacArthur. Nor is he President of a seminary like Dr Albert Mohler. He’s not someone of whom you have likely to have heard. He is a regular pastor who lovingly and consistently labors over his sheep in his section of the world, contending, encouraging, and sharing his wisdom and perspective via his pulpit and Facebook. He has been pastor at his church for 42 years, a feat I greatly admire the Holy Spirit for sustaining.

I’m going to re-post his piece because it’s wise and discerning and I wanted to give it an audience that might not otherwise be exposed to it. His piece is thorough because it’s a white paper, so it’s long. That’s OK. Just settle in and read it when you have time and no distractions.

So, Pastor Bell’s piece is below and then below that I post a link to my own essay about The Shack which also contains further links explaining why The Shack, book or movie, is not good food for the Christian, no matter how fervently a friend might gush that ‘it’s just so encouraging.’ The Shack is not encouraging. Really. It’s not. Please don’t convince yourself that The Shack is OK to read or watch because ‘it’s just fiction’. It’s not. Really it’s not.

——Pastor James Bell, Southside Baptist Church, Gallatin TN——

The Shack! In January, 2008, I went to Amazon.com, and was immediately amazed at all the praise of the book from pastors, theologians, and teachers along with other folk.

From the many reviews, I was promised that this was a most exciting book, that I would not be able to put it down, that it would be life-changing, that it would be a great resource to help folk win over bitterness and anger, that it was a great story of forgiveness, that most of all it was a great story about the love of God— especially about actually experiencing the love of God and experiencing close fellowship with God.

Moreover, I was promised that I would learn much about the true nature of God. So, I immediately ordered, received, and read the entire ‘SHACK’ book.

Here is some of what I found.

William P. Young, who calls himself, Willie, writes an apparently fictitious story about a man named Mack who (as a child) was beaten with a belt and with Bible verses by a drunken father. He later graduates from Seminary, marries and has a family. He, Mack, is described as not very religious and occasionally showed up at the local ‘pew and pulpit Bible church’… But Mack is an angry man. He is angry at God and especially after one of his children is abducted and murdered. However, it is evident that Mack’s concepts of God, the Bible and the Church of Jesus Christ are very flawed.

It is indeed a real life tragedy that masses folk— the religious, the not so religious and even many genuine Christians— have serious false concepts about God, the Bible and the Church of Jesus Christ. To solve this problem, Young’s book weaves an imaginary story to show how Mack was introduced to a very different god from the one he grew up hearing about.

However, now we are confronted with a new problem: The god Young creates for Mack is very different from true and living God revealed in Holy Scripture, who is quickened to believing hearts by the wonderful COMFORTER, the Holy Spirit.

Thus, The Shack is a very tragic book. As I read the book,

I went from being badly bored to being really sad.

Religious Fiction is a poor substitute for Biblical truth and also a poor substitute for truth teaching soundly grounded in and faithful to the pure revealed Word of God.

The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Truth, He leads us into all truth; and it is the truth that sets us free.

The Shack is tragic because it is the story of a troubled man who clearly has a false concept of God, who is given yet another set of false concepts of God from the imagination of William Young.

Mack started with an idol and ends with a different idol. O, but many will protest—the story ends with Mack being forgiven and forgiving, set free and happy!

Yes, you can make fiction fit your desired conclusion. And, indeed, in real life there are multitudes who FIND a false peace and a false freedom by means of various false gods and religions.

Bottom line: Here are a few of the troubling quotes from THE SHACK.

I will reference the page numbers:

1. Page 16, We learn that Mack literally receives a type written note from ‘Papa’ [God]… telling Mack, “Mackenzie, It’s been a while. I’ve missed you. I’ll be at the shack (the place where Mack’s daughter was killed) next weekend if you want to get together. – Papa

COMMENT: Nowhere in 248 pages does Mack ever receive any specific instruction or revelation from God through the written Word of God! Instead he receives this above note; plus massive amounts of imaginary communication, via visions, dreams or whatever.

Of course, the defenders will claim that the book is ‘based upon’ much Scripture! Yes, there are a few concepts here and there that ‘square with’ Scripture… But no one ever bothered to tell Mack! For after all, Mack was enjoying a far superior way of God’s communication– God speaking in one’s mind and in visions and dreams. This is nothing but deadly… a path where every man will lean upon his own understanding.

Page 65- Mack, “In seminary he had been taught that God had completely stopped having any overt [open, not hid] communication with moderns, preferring to have them only listen to and follow sacred Scripture, properly interpreted, of course. God’s voice had been reduced to paper and even that paper had to be moderated and deciphered by proper authorities and intellects.”

COMMENT: William Young (henceforth- WY) sets forth a bad situation and then offers his solution. I’m sure that there are religionists who are as he describes above. But that is not the Biblical model. Moreover, WY never offers the Biblical model as a solution, but rather he sets forth his own imagined solutions. This is true over and over in the book.

But also, if you take at face value the above statements— WY is SLAMMING the true nature and place of God’s Word. Indeed, he obviously does not hold to the absolute authority of God’s Word… for he does not set forth the revelation of God’s Word as solution for the problems Mack faces.

Mack is presented as needing to REALLY KNOW GOD and how to enter into a LIVING RELATIONSHIP with God, of how to understand the human problem of suffering, of how to deal with bitterness and anger, of how to have hope and joy.

The Holy Bible is FULL of amazing and manifold revelation of God! Manifold attributes of God are unfolded and HUNDREDS of names of God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are given.

And the Holy Spirit, who BREATHED OUT the Sacred Scriptures, is now the believer’s DIVINE COMFORTER AND TEACHER… And IN CHRIST, our hearts are now HIS HOME… By the Holy Spirit, Almighty God makes His home in the believer’s heart. Indeed, the true Christian life is not religion but a living RELATIONSHIP.

The Bible is full of divine revelation as to suffering, as to depression and anger, bitterness, forgiveness, etc… and THE HOLY SPIRIT is ever present to personalize and apply the truth to hungry hearts.

But WY never tells Mack any of this. He never tells him that every real Christian is a believer-priest with the Holy Spirit, the MASTER TEACHER indwelling! WY never points Mack to any of the DIVINELY REVEALED NAMES OF GOD… and there are over 200 of them!

INSTEAD, WY pushes aside the pure and wonderful God-breathed Word of God in favor of his imagination. And thus, WY introduces Mack and all the rest of us to WY’s triune God!

1. God the Father is ‘Papa’… and he is a SHE— (page 82)- Mack arrived at the shack, knocked on the door, “the door flew open, and he was looking directly into the face of a large beaming African-American woman.”… and her name (page 86) is… “You may call me Elousia.” How interesting. God in His God breathed book has given divine revelation of His name… In fact, He has revealed Himself by many names. ELOUSIA is not one of them! Yes, the word ‘ELOUSIA’ has historical connections with false gods and has a root meaning of ‘tenderness’…

Is there ‘tenderness’ with the LORD, GOD ALMIGHTY? Yes! But consider: Let’s say, that your name is ‘John Henry Jones’… but I refuse to call you by your name… I give you a name that I want to use! EVEN ON A HUMAN LEVEL, THAT WOULD BE ARROGANCE and disrespectful.

But in The Shack, the author is supposed to be revealing the true God. We are dealing with ALMIGHTY GOD, WHO has revealed himself in creation, in redemption and with a multitude of divinely sanctioned attributes and names.

And all of God’s names and attributes, given in sacred Scripture, REVEAL who God is and what He is like. WY rejects a ton of Biblical revelation and creates his Shack god that has the features and characteristics that WY wants and not more. Such is the way with all man-made idols.

2. God the Son, Jesus is called Jesus in the book; and the Holy Spirit is shown as an Asian woman (page 87) whose name is Sarayu. Once again, there are many glorious descriptions and names given the blessed Holy Spirit in the pure Word of God. Sarayu is not one of them. Again, much like Elousia, Sarayu has a background in manmade religion… and also means, ‘air or wind.’

BUT HERE IS WHAT WE HAVE:

WY says he wants to show us what God is like; and yet he REJECTS, ignores, counts as unworthy of consideration the God-breathed revelation of Scripture and substitutes with his own creations! This is astonishing. And the masses love him for it!

3. All throughout The Shack, WY sets forth a very humanized god– all in the name that we need a God that understands us, that loves us, that wants a relationship with us.

And WY’s ‘Papa’ god is not only a woman, but she is VISIBLE to Mack and she has the SAME WOUNDS on her body as Jesus… (Page 95)…”…and for the first time Mack noticed the scars in her wrists, like those he [Mack] now assumed Jesus also had on his. She allowed him to tenderly touch the scars, outlines of a deep piercing… tears were slowly making a way down her face…

COMMENT: There is a ‘theological’ name for this false teaching: From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Patripassionism is a Christian heresy from the time of the early church. Its adherents believe that God the Father [Patri] was incarnate and suffered on the cross. This is problematic in the context of the doctrine of the Trinity because the Christian Scriptures record Jesus Christ as speaking to God the Father while he was on the cross.

Let me be plain: On the authority of God’s holy Word, there is not the slightest bit of truth in what WY is saying.

If one is writing a book about a mere human; and they take ‘literary liberties with a few of the facts and details… OK… it helped make a good story or a good movie… it was ‘based on fact’…. But not a true history lesson.

HOWEVER, in dealing with Almighty God— to deny and ignore His revelation and to create a god one likes and to set him forth as VISIBLE when He is not— SUCH is not literary liberty. It’s just not the truth.

4. And then… on page 96… When Jesus cried out, “My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me?”….. WY’s god says, “Regardless of what he [Jesus] felt at that moment, I never left him.”

Wow! Now… who shall I believe— WY? or Jesus?

I’ll stick with JESUS!

5. Page 119-120… Mack asks the Shack god woman—“Weren’t you always running about killing people in the Bible? You just don’t seem to fit the bill…. But if you are God, aren’t you the one spilling out great bowls of wrath and throwing people into a burning lake of fire?”

WY’s created god of his imagination says, “I am not who you think I am, Mackenzie. I don’t need to punish people for sin. Sin is its own punishment, devouring you from the inside. It’s not my purpose to punish it; it’s my joy to cure it.”

BE IT FROM Mack’s misconceptions about God’s righteous judgments… set forth in a way to slander the righteous character of the True God or in WY’s blatant denial of the holy wrath of God— IN BOTH CASES, horrifying man pleasing deceptions are set forth!

In a strange twist, WY has his papa/mama god saying, “Lies are one of the easiest places for survivors to run. It gives you a sense of safety, a place where you only have to depend on yourself. But it’s a dark place, isn’t it?” (page 187)

Such are the deceptions of the Shack book— The masses run to them. Man has always loved his own creations! Man loves a humanized god. He seeks to hide from the true God revealed in the Word of God and revealed in creation and revealed in the VISIBLE image of the invisible God, Jesus; and made real to human hearts by the indwelling Holy Spirit. But in the end, such hiding only brings darkness!

6. Page 198- “Mackenzie, religion is about having the right answers,…but I am about the process that takes you to the living answer and once you get to him, he will change you from the inside… You may see me in a piece of art, or music, or silence, or through people, or in Creation, or in your joy and sorrow… And you will hear me in the Bible in fresh ways. Just don’t look for rules and principles; look for relationship—a way of coming to be with us.”

As is often the case, the false and the true are mixed. Such is the case here. By the way the reality is that you can be almost anyone from any background and love the Shack. Why? It has no clear revelation or solutions. Each man is left to his own subjective interpretations.

A false dichotomy: The informal fallacy of false dilemma involves a situation in which two alternative statements are held to be the only possible options, when in reality there exists one or more other options which have not been considered. The concept is also known as false choice, false dichotomy, falsified dilemma. WY once again sets up a false dichotomy: 1. On the one hand we have all of Mack’s false concepts about God, about the Bible and about church… 2. Then WY will produce his solution in some form of his subjective, humanized sweet all love god.

WHEN ALL THE WHILE,

1. Yes, Mack has some real problems… many folk do; and there are real, even major problems in the churches… In fact— A lot of what claims to be God’s church, according to the Word of God, is not! She is harlot. She is not bride. She is broad road to destruction…. With a multitude of options, ideas, and experiences.

2. But the REAL solution is not found in subjective imagination or humanistic creation. You see, the problem is not that the Bible and/or Biblical Christianity has been tried and found lacking. The sad reality for most… and certainly for Mack… BIBLICAL CHRISTIANITY and the true triune God had never been experienced.

From page 202, it is clear that Mack only had a ‘works’ concept of how to relate to God. He was a stranger to grace through faith in Jesus Christ.

WY IN 248 PAGES NEVER CLEARLY SETS FORTH THE BIBLICAL TRIUNE GOD NOR THE PROFOUND GOSPEL OF GOD’S AMAZING GRACE.

REALITY: God SPEAKS in and through the Bible, quickened to us by the Holy Spirit… and HE DOES NOT STUTTER! God’s Word is not opinion; nor is it for us to simply read and give our opinion. The Bible is the infallible written Word of God, quickened to us by the Holy Spirit.

In and through the Word of God, God speaks and THUS there are Sins to confess; Promises to claim; Attitudes to change; Commands to keep; Examples to follow; Prayers to pray; Errors to avoid and Truth to believe!

BUT FIRST OF ALL AND MOST OF ALL—The Word of God has been given to us that we might KNOW the God of the Word. Above all else the Bible is God-breathed revelation of GOD HIMSELF.

Closely tied into this, of course, is the God-breathed revelation of God having created man for fellowship with God, the revelation of man’s fall into sin and the glorious story of REDEMPTION… of fellowship and RELATIONSHIP restored through Jesus Christ the LAMB of God!

There are several good books dealing with the Divine Attributes of God, with lots of Scripture:
1. J. I. Packer– Knowing God.
2. A. W. Tozer– The Knowledge of the Holy.
3. A. W. Pink– The Attributes of God

———-end James Bell / http://www.southsidegallatin.org———

The End Time: The Shack: A discernment lesson. More links here

The Quiet Life: The Shack is a devilish deception. More links here

prophecy, Uncategorized

The second best moment in all the universe

Posted on March 7, 2017March 7, 2017 by elizabethprata

But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed. Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn! But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. (2 Peter 3:10-13)

Waiting….waiting…

The best moment in all of the universe through all of time, of course, is when Jesus arose from the grave, victorious over death and sin and Hades. The second best moment in my opinion, will be the culmination of all things, when God puts an end to sin and refreshes the universe by scrubbing it from His presence forever. This will include destroying the old heavens and earth and making a new heavens and a new earth.

The end of this world is a good thing. Jesus will regenerate the earth, He will cleanse us from our sins by glorifying our bodies, He will heal us completely, He will resurrect the saved, He will restore the damaged children, He will appear to us in His full glory, and much more. Who wouldn’t wish for that?

We are blessed, yes, blessed to be watching the Lord of the Universe work visibly in the world. He gave us the Word, and He is allowing us to see His word alive, organic, living and breathing coming true before our eyes in His providence and in His people. He regenerates hearts and His children bear fruit before our eyes. He transforms lives and we watch it before our eyes. The cycle of seasons march through years, and we see His hand ordaining and sustaining it all.

His promises are true, and though no one likes to see hunger and pain and grief, but we do see through those hardships that His promises are true. His promises that trials will come also include all of the above as well- the glory and the justice concluded and the conclusion of His work in the Church Age.

And in addition, when the day comes for your death, or the rapture, you will say as Paul did, “For I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time for my departure is near. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. (2 Timothy 4:6-7).

There is no shame in longing for His appearing!

Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing. (2 Timothy 4:8)

Do not be embarrassed at wishing for His will to be done! There is glory! His glory, made manifest in us who walk the earth doing His will, pointing to the only Hope!

We are waiting…waiting…

encouragement, Uncategorized

A note of encouragement: Don’t be discouraged by the Internet

Posted on March 6, 2017 by elizabethprata

I’m thankful for the internet. I leaped on that thing the minute it was invented! I’ve been an Amazon customer for 20 years. I’ve had the same email address for almost 20 years. Recently I was looking at my Flickr account, it’s ten years old. I have over 1500 photos there. I can’t believe so much time has passed. I’ve been blogging for ten years. I started word processing on a computer with Windows 3.1 in 1997. This was a big deal to a writer used to carbon, typewriter ribbon and whiteout.

I know we complain about how the internet is a vast wasteland, as Newton Minow famously said in 1961 of the then new technology of television. New technology always degrades because the unsaved human always degrades. But the opportunities today via the world wide web to get the Gospel out, to hear long lost sermons, archived books like Pilgrim’s Progress on CCEL, is truly astonishing, says this lady who was an adult before the internet was invented.

I know that Social Media oftentimes is not social, especially if you have a conservative or evangelical point of view. Warning about false teachers, presenting the Gospel, sharing Bible verses makes people angry. If you need to limit your time on social media so as to stay encouraged, positive, and joyful, then do so.

But the technology itself is tremendously encouraging to me. I enjoy listening to music from a streaming local Christian radio station, or Pandora. I enjoy hearing sermons on RefNet.fm or Expositor.fm. I love reading the classics or getting access to posted dissertations, papers, and theological material otherwise I’d never see. Youtube’s plethora of clips and sermons is amazing, not to mention archives of long-gone but not forgotten preachers like Martyn Lloyd Jones, S. Lewis Johnson, James Montgomery Boice and Donald Grey Barnhouse… Never mind that last week was the annual Shepherds’ Conference sponsored by Grace Community Church, where 4500 pastors from around the world come to hear biblical preaching, enjoy fellowship, be encouraged, and be served- and it was live streamed and recorded for posterity.

The capacity for us to dwell on the negative is human. It’s always present. If you are having bad experiences online, it’s human nature to let those dominate your thinking and color your perspective. I use filters on Twitter to exclude certain words. I’m not shy about muting certain people. On Facebook, I use F.B. Purity, a free app that lets me exclude certain words, and arrange my wall to limit ads, crass headlines, and other things I don’t want to see. On my blog, I delete comments that tout false doctrine or are simply ad hominem- and I don’t think twice about it. If I say something that ticks someone off because of the Gospel, I reply once or maybe twice, and then end it there if the conversation isn’t going anywhere. I don’t fight. I don’t read sites that fight. I use social media to contend, but not to fight.

Use any and all means available to tailor what you need to tailor on social media so as to keep your sanity and your positive attitude.

But, don’t throw out the baby with the bathwater. Retain a wonder and a gratitude for this amazing vehicle called the world wide web. Use it to be an example of His kindness, and use it to promote His name and His gospel. 🙂 Jesus gave us His peace:

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid. (John 14:27).

discernment, Uncategorized

Angels: Majestic messengers of God

Posted on March 5, 2017March 5, 2017 by elizabethprata

Valentine’s Day has just passed, two weeks ago. All those chubby little Cupid cherubs flying around with stubby wings, shyly lobbing arrows to create ever more happy, lovestruck couples. Sigh. Cupid comes from Greek and Roman mythology.

The Renaissance Italians did a good job of presenting constant erroneous depictions of angels. Although initially slender, Cupid, the god of love, was increasingly shown as a chubby boy with wings. Wikipedia explains,

In classical mythology, Cupid (Latin Cupido, meaning “desire”) is the god of desire, erotic love, attraction and affection. He is often portrayed as the son of the love goddess Venus and the war god Mars. He is also known in Latin as Amor (“Love”). His Greek counterpart is Eros.

Beginning in the early 1400s, Donatello began the Renaissance revival of the Middle Ages’ depictions of the putto, Italian derivation of the word toddler or child. Soon, the myth of Cupid blended with the putti in art and you had infant angels flying all over the place in paintings, sculpture, and architecture. They became ubiquitous, so much so, that the biblical description of the majestic Cherubim were diminished in peoples’ minds down to the infantile antics by harmless flying cherubic toddlers. This is a peeve of mine.

The picture shows an architectural detail of the Old Sacristy
in the church of San Lorenzo in Florence, by Donatello, 1428-43.

The Rustic Banquet, detail of putti making music,
from the Sala di Amore e Psiche (1528)

The putti and the cherubs are as far from the truth of angelic activity and majesty as the east is from the west. So what roles do angels perform for God?First, the Bible tells us that there is a hierarchy of angels. There are thrones, and powers, and dominions.

The collection of holy (and sometimes unholy) angels is called the heavenly host, the word host in this context indicating an army. God is called the Lord of Hosts. (GotQuestions, See 1 Samuel 1:3; Psalm 24:10; Isaiah 22:14; Jeremiah 2:19; Amos 4:13; Haggai 2:9; Zechariah 8:6; and Malachi 2:16.We are more used to thinking of angels as ministering spirits, (Hebrews 1:14, Matthew 18:10), flying here and there at God’s command, delivering messages and helping people. (Daniel 9:20-21, Luke 1:26-27, Luke 2:10).

We see angels helping Jesus after His Temptation. (Matthew 4:11). We know that sometimes we entertain them unawares. (Hebrews 13:2).Though angels are servants of God, ministering, helping, watching, (Daniel 4:17) and messaging, they are in fact powerful soldiers, enacting God’s judgments. In Revelation we see the angels as extremely active in carrying out God’s judgments. We read of one event early in the Bible of this power angels have to slay many at the same time, in 2 Chronicles 32:21, where an angel of the LORD was sent to kill 185,000 Assyrian soldiers at once. Angels gave the LAW! (Acts 7:53, Galatians 3:19).

Why then the law? It was added because of transgressions, until the offspring should come to whom the promise had been made, and it was put in place through angels by an intermediary. (Galatians 3:19).

Barnes’ Notes says of the Galatians and Acts verses of the Angels giving the Law,

And it was ordained by angels – That is, the Law was ordained by angels. The word ordained here διαταγεὶς diatageis usually means to arrange; to dispose in order; and is commonly used with reference to the marshalling of an army. In regard to the sentiment here that the Law was ordained by angels, see the note at Acts 7:53. The Old Testament makes no mention of the presence of angels at the giving of the Law, but it was a common opinion among the Jews that the Law was given by the instrumentality of angels, and arranged by them; and Paul speaks in accordance with this opinion; compare Hebrews 2:2.

In Revelation, powerful angels stand on the sun, they hold back all 4 winds, they deliver the Gospel to the entire world at once…and this. Just this:

Then I looked, and behold, a white cloud, and seated on the cloud one like a son of man, with a golden crown on his head, and a sharp sickle in his hand. 15And another angel came out of the temple, calling with a loud voice to him who sat on the cloud, “Put in your sickle, and reap, for the hour to reap has come, for the harvest of the earth is fully ripe.” 16So he who sat on the cloud swung his sickle across the earth, and the earth was reaped.

17Then another angel came out of the temple in heaven, and he too had a sharp sickle. 18And another angel came out from the altar, the angel who has authority over the fire, and he called with a loud voice to the one who had the sharp sickle, “Put in your sickle and gather the clusters from the vine of the earth, for its grapes are ripe.” 19So the angel swung his sickle across the earth and gathered the grape harvest of the earth and threw it into the great winepress of the wrath of God. 20And the winepress was trodden outside the city, and blood flowed from the winepress, as high as a horse’s bridle, for 1,600 stadia.

God’s Providence is the understanding that God is in control of all things, and He commands and decrees all outcomes. Angels are important agents of providence, enacting God’s will so that His decrees come to pass in His will and timing.We do not worship angels. (Colossians 2:18, Revelation 22:8-9), but we do respect God’s creation. We respect His orderly fashioning of all things, including the angelic hosts in their spheres. Angels are not winged infants full of childish antics. They are majestic beings as part of God’s order who enact important tasks in worship and obedience for the LORD of Hosts.

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Never forget what sinners we are, and what a Savior! (repost)

Posted on March 3, 2017March 3, 2017 by elizabethprata

This was originally published on this blog in June 2014.

The actual wickedness of men’s lives bears a very small proportion to what is in their hearts. But when lust is inwardly cherished, it will break forth into outward sin. Those who tempt others to drunkenness never can be their real friends, and often design their ruin. Thus men execute the Divine vengeance on each other. Those are not only heated with sin, but hardened in sin, who continue to live without prayer, even when in trouble and distress.” ~Matthew Henry’s Commentary on Hosea 7:1-7

Gustav Kaser said of icebergs,

Think of an iceberg! Only about 1/7th rises above the surface of the water. The remaining 6/7ths are under water and not visible to the human eye. A human being is comparable to an iceberg.

The wickedness we see above the surface is only a small proportion to what is in our hearts…

Therefore, praise God that He sent His Son! Jesus lived a sinless life. He died shedding His blood for those appointed to salvation, and pleased with His Son, God raised Him to life on the third day. Now instead of staggering under the weight of all my sin, that which is seen and that which is unseen below the surface, Jesus sees it all, and He saved me anyway. Now I have His righteousness declared upon me by God. As long as I am in this sinful body breathing air on earth, I have been released from the power of sin via the Holy Spirit indwelling me. I have the glorification to look forward to, when I’m no longer even in the presence of sin.

I will greatly rejoice in the Lord; my soul shall exult in my God, for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation; he has covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself like a priest with a beautiful headdress, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels. (Isaiah 61:10)

encouragement, Uncategorized

Visual Theology: He restores my soul

Posted on March 2, 2017March 2, 2017 by elizabethprata

Chris Powers is creating visual resources for the global church. His resources are free and meant to be shared. Chris creates tract cards, visual exegesis that can be shared separately or through his book Visual Exegesis Vol. 1, study guides and lessons, animations, and more. Please visit his website at fullofeyes.com. He is also on Patreon, and you can donate to his ministry just once or on a recurring basis. He needs $2,000/month to be self-sustaining, and currently the level of giving is $1,947. Won’t you consider being the patron who puts him over the top?

Thank you for reading and if you’re led, sharing his work and/or giving.

Click to enlarge

“He restores my soul. He leads me on paths of righteousness for His name’s sake.

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,

I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.”

Psalm 23:3-4

Artist’s Explanation: By Chris Powers

I wanted this image to visually express the transition from the pastures into the valley that takes place between verses 2 and 4. The overall color scheme is much darker and the jagged edges of the valley frame the distant pastures in the background.

Verse 3 emphasizes the sovereign leading of the shepherd. It is he who guides and goes before His sheep. This is significant to note because in verse 4 we find ourselves in the Valley of the Shadow of Death. The implication is that the sheep is in the valley because the Shepherd has led him there. And—because the entrance into the valley of shadow is by the design of the Good Shepherd—I wanted to show that the sheep is no less in the almighty hand of his shepherd in verse 4 than he was in verses 1-3. In fact, the sheep’s intimacy and dependency upon the shepherd is only intensified by the valley.

In the pastures the shepherd’s presence and goodness were mediated by the grass and water, but in the valley the mediators have been removed and the shepherd himself has become the desperate and hope-filled focus of the lamb (“I will fear no evil for you are with me.”).

The attacking wolf represents the onset of the valley and its terrors (It need not be only death. The Hebrew word translated “shadow of death” can apply to various grievous and hard to bear sufferings that come as we live life in a fallen world. Sickness, loss, a season of doubt or darkness in the soul might all be categorized under this shadow). The shepherd’s hand on the wolf’s head is intentionally ambiguous. He could either crush the animal’s skull into the ground….or allow it to continue its trajectory toward the lamb. However—whatever the outcome— the hand on the wolf’s head declares the shepherd’s sovereignty over all that befalls his own (John 10:28, 21:19, 22).

The wounds of the shepherd visible behind the head of both the lamb and the wolf declare two different truths. The wound behind the head of the wolf reminds us that Christ’s death and resurrection has overcome all of His people’s enemies and that—should they be allowed to harm His beloved—it will only be to the enemy’s final downfall and His people’s exaltation (John 16:33, Philippians 1:28-29, 2 Thessalonians 1:5-8, Revelation 12:11).

The wound behind the lamb’s head is a reminder that our Lord and God and Shepherd Himself has suffered equivalent to and greater than any suffering He may ordain for us. The hand wounded in sovereign love authors our sorrows, and because He Himself is a slain yet living Lamb, He has infinite compassion on those whom He leads. The shepherd who laid down his life as a lamb is the one who goes before us (Isaiah 49:10, Micah 2:12-13, John 10:4, Hebrews 2:18, Revelation 7:17). And since he has led the way through suffering into glory, He has transformed all of our suffering into an avenue for deeper fellowship with Him, fuller joy in Him, and greater exaltation of Him (2 Corinthians 12:9, Philippians 3:10, 1 Peter 2:21).

Notice also that, if the wolf is to attack the lamb, it must pass the through the cross (represented in the staff). This is yet another reminder that the death and resurrection of our Good Shepherd has “de-fanged” the enemy. Because of Christ’s victory on Calvary, tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, danger, sword—and whatever else might assail the people of God—cannot separate us from the love of God and, indeed, can only serve our ultimate good and His ultimate glory (Romans 8:28. 31-39).

Lastly for verse 4, I wanted to really emphasize the intimate fellowship with the Savior that often comes in the context of suffering (though it might not feel like it in the moment). First, notice that the lamb is intently focused on the shepherd and that the shepherd’s head is inclined toward the lamb. Though the wolf is slathering and raging, it is not the focus, rather, its onslaught has driven the sheep closer to the master. Second, the light of the two halos forms a sort of quiet, personal space—shared by the sheep and shepherd—amidst the darkness and motion in the rest of the image. And lastly, notice that the distant green pastures and still waters are visible through the face and torso of the Shepherd. The soul-restoring kindness of the shepherd, previously mediated through grass and water, is now accessed directly—and only—through communion with the Shepherd Himself.

In conclusion, I want to point back to verse 3. There we read that YHWH leads His people in paths of righteousness for His Name’s sake. There is much to say about that statement, but for this image the main thing I tried to emphasize is that the paths into which YHWH sovereignly leads His own are intended to make the goodness and beauty of His Name known to them and to those who observe their lives. This is true even (and especially) of those paths that lead through dark valleys because the Name of YHWH is most perfectly communicated in the death and resurrection of Christ, and when the Christ-follower is led through a time of hardship, the glory of Christ’s crucifixion and resurrection is—in a sense—echoed in their lives.

Christ’s love-borne death reverberates in His people’s sufferings as they entrust themselves humbly into the hand of God to do with them what He will for His glory (1 Peter 2:19-21). And the joy of Christ’s resurrection radiates from His Bride’s face as she endures hardship with hopes set, not on the things that are seen, but on the unseen, blood-bought, and resurrection-assured glory that is to come (2 Corinthians 4:14-18).

So, by making the practical implications of Christ’s death and resurrection visually apparent in this image, I am attempting to show that the valley experiences of God’s people bring the crucifixion and resurrection to the foreground and, consequently, glorify the name of our Shepherd and God who is climactically declared at the cross (Psalm 23:3, John 17:26).

discernment, Uncategorized

Greed is good?

Posted on February 28, 2017February 28, 2017 by elizabethprata

We know from Revelation what the very last days will be like; the people respond uniformly to the Antichrist (except for the Christians) and allow him to coalesce the world’s broken economy into a one-world economy around his mark. (Revelation 13). All of chapter 18 in Revelation gives the Christian what s/he needs to know about the world economic system run by the Antichrist just prior to Christ’s return. It is one that still has a healthy trade in luxuries, despite the desperately impoverished condition in which most of the world’s population dwells, and despite the people knowing that it is God sending the judgments! (Revelation 16:9).

For all the politically liberal people’s talk of social justice, sharing equally, and helping the poor, we see the stark opposite when push comes to shove during the Tribulation. The poor cry for bread and the rich buy and sell fine flour and wheat, ignoring their cries even as they die in the street.

It’s partly why the Tribulation will occur, to allow sin to run its full course, revealing the depths of man’s depravity.

We as humans are greedy. Greed defines us. It’s a besetting sin that the sinful person lives with every day. The Christian must guard against and slay the remnants of greed still within us. How many Bible verses warn against greed!

Then he said to them, Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions. (Luke 12:15 )

The love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, (1 Timothy 6:9-10)

Do not put your trust in wealth (1 Timothy 17-18)

Greed is listed among the sins which will prevent one from attaining heaven:

For of this you can be sure: No immoral, impure or greedy person – such a man is an idolater – has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God (Ephesians 5:5).

It’s interesting that the verse connects greed and idolatry. See here in the Tribulation, when money is in short supply and supplies are in short supply, at least for the common person, they still create idols out of gold and silver in order to worship!

The rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands nor give up worshiping demons and idols of gold and silver and bronze and stone and wood, which cannot see or hear or walk, (Revelation 9:20)

The movie Wall Street came out in 1987. The 80s were a heady time of pell-mell stock surges, whirling real estate flips, dizzying income heights…it seemed that nothing was impossible and money would last forever. In that atmosphere came the movie Wall Street, in which financier and stock raider Michael Douglas’s character Gordon Gecko famously gave his ‘greed is good’ speech. Here it is in part:

I am not a destroyer of companies. I am a liberator of them! The point is, ladies and gentleman, that greed, for lack of a better word, is good. Greed is right, greed works. Greed clarifies, cuts through, and captures the essence of the evolutionary spirit. Greed, in all of its forms; greed for life, for money, for love, knowledge has marked the upward surge of mankind. And greed, you mark my words, will not only save Teldar Paper, but that other malfunctioning corporation called the USA. Thank you very much.

It’s easy for us to look back on the 80s and point fingers at the excesses which were fueled by greed. But are the times so different now? We are still greedy, and at least the fictional character Gordon Gecko and the men he was based on were true to their sin. In today’s time we have an unhealthy attraction to the Prosperity Gospel, which is just anther ‘greed is good’ speech cloaked in Jesus’ name. Which is worse. Way worse. Yet if the remnants of greed are present in a Christian’s heart, the Prosperity Gospel will be attractive to him.

9Marks asks the question, Why Is the Prosperity Gospel Attractive?

Sadly, in spite of the Scriptures’ clear warnings, the prosperity gospel has a large and growing group of followers. This isn’t hard to understand, since the message appeals so directly to our native greed. Yet it is sad and bewildering that many people remain in the movement for a long time, even their whole life, since its preachers cannot fulfill their promises.

‘Our native greed’. Greed is not good, ladies and gentlemen. Greed is bad.

The author continues in his interesting essay to briefly present the psychology of the Prosperity Gospel, its effects, and at the end he offers ‘immunization instructions.’ In America we’re plagued with the likes of prosperity theologists Joyce Meyer, Joel Osteen, Kenneth Hagin, but other continents have their plagues too. Africa and Latin America also are rife with prosperity gospel preachers deluding the unwary.

The 9Marks article ends with this:

Above all, present Christ as the pearl of great price, who infinitely surpasses in value anything that this fleeting world may offer (Mt. 13:44-46; Phil. 3:7-8)

When you have Jesus, you already have everything. When you have Jesus, there’s no need for greed. Or a prosperity gospel, which is no gospel at all.

discernment, Uncategorized

Practical magic’s resurgence

Posted on February 27, 2017 by elizabethprata

The NY Times published an article titled The modern charm of practical magic. I found it interesting for many different reasons. I was not saved by grace of the Lord Jesus until I was 42 years old. I spent all of my adulthood prior to the salvation moment, searching for the magic key to the magic in life, the unexplainable, explained. I dabbled in lots of different kinds of magic. Ouija boards, Kirlian aura photography, dreamcatchers, sage burning, Reiki, astral projection, summoning spirits & spirit guides, clairvoyance…

We all want to know what’s on the other side. We do enjoy peeking behind the veil, knowing the unknowable. Because, the unsaved person knows there is a higher power. (Romans 1:19-20). They just deny Who it is. ‘Oh it can’t be God. It must be runes…solstice…labyrinths…”

The NYT article says that they notice more than ever, people seeking answers through magic,

You may have noticed it at work. Perhaps your co-worker has ornamented her cubicle with rose quartz crystals? Has a friend uploaded an I Ching app onto his phone? Or maybe your boyfriend blamed his failure to respond to your text messages on Mercury being in retrograde?

Why magic, and why now? The lack of religious faith so prevalent in our age is an anomaly in history. Magic, which usually does not demand faith in a particular deity, or the sometimes exclusionary imperatives of organized religion, allows people to access a sense of the miraculous on the level of the quotidian.

The article concedes the yearning for a higher power but subtly warns against it actually being God,

There is relief to be found in simply accepting a higher order, in letting go, but what of appeals to reason? Is it not important to disbelieve things that aren’t real? Might faith in the healing powers of a vibratory sound bath lead the next day to outlandish conspiracy theories?

I liked this NY Times article, for many reasons but mainly for its use of my favorite word, quotidian. Where else are you going to read an essay where the author uses such a fancy word which means mundane?

The Christian is bombarded with practical magic all the time. Did you know that? The fads are part of the devilish worming into your home of these magical activities. Labyrinths, Breath prayer, mantras, prayer beads, Mandala coloring books, the false gospel of telling you your words have power, drawing prayer circles, horoscopes, seeking the Presence (which is actually summoning spirits)…and more, are just different kinds of old magic that satan is using to take your eyes off Jesus.

Beware of the charm of practical magic, brethren. The warning is not just for unbelievers, but for believers. Satan insinuates practical magic into our lives under the guise of it being Christian, but it never is. We have the answers. We have the mind of Christ. (1 Corinthians 2:16). Our answers are in the all-sufficient Bible. We do not need additional practices that promise to deliver information, (but never does), or promises to give added insight (but won’t) or gives a special closeness to Jesus (but never does).

Here are some resources about the dangers of Christian magic:

Desiring God:Jesus vs. the Occult

Critical Issues Commentary: Contemporary Christian Divination

GotQuestions: What does the Bible say abut Divination?

prophecy, Uncategorized

We live our lives in a waiting room

Posted on February 26, 2017February 26, 2017 by elizabethprata

Life is a waiting room

It might seem strange to say this, but we are not living to live. Living is not the point of our living. Waiting is. We live while we’re waiting.

For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, 12training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, 13waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, (Titus 2:11-13).

Paul is giving Titus some instructions and reminders as to our duties as Christians, to be done while we wait.

Matthew Henry’s Commentary on the Whole Bible reminds us also that this life is a preparatory for the one to come.

To look for the glories of another world, to which a sober, righteous, and godly life in this is preparative: Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ. Hope, by a metonymy, is put for the thing hoped for, namely, heaven and the felicities thereof, called emphatically that hope, because it is the great thing we look and long and wait for; and a blessed hope, because, when attained, we shall be completely happy for ever.

In today’s time it’s not considered mature to speak of prophecy. I believe that’s wrong. I believe that because so many verses stress that we are to look forward, to hope in His coming promises, to wait for His return. I can’t think of a better encouragement than to dwell on His prophecies. This life is difficult. (John 16:33). It’s full of evil people and seducers waxing worse and worse. (2 Timothy 3:13). It’s full of disease, strife, challenge, and vigilance. (1 Corinthians 11:30, 2 Corinthians 12:7-10, Proverbs 28:25, Psalm 46:1,1 Peter 5:8).

We are being trained while we wait. But waiting is our task, our joy, our hope. We should look to His return for encouragement. He is the blessed hope!

Illustration by Chris Powers